Issue 19 of Home Planet News is LIVE & living the dream with poetry by Israel Allen, Ace Boggess, W. Roger Carlisle, Peter Cashorali, A.S. Coomer, Roger Hecht, Susan Kaplan, Janis La Couvée, Theo Morris, Alison Stone, & Võ Thị Như Mai; fiction by Daniel Gauss & Alaina Hammond; a song by Levi J. Mericle; & art by Mark Williams. Many thanks to all!

BOOK RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT:

On a personal note, I’m happy to announce the release of Ordinary Fish, my fourth full-length poetry collection. You’ll find oodles of poems here, many of which have appeared in some of today’s top literary magazines (in print & on that worldwide web thing) as well as other poems that have never before appeared anywhere. I’m also happy to announce the release of Watt Worris (no relation), a mock biographical chapbook.

What makes the simultaneous release of these two books especially fun is that—thanks to the magic of tête-bêche binding—both titles are housed within the same volume. Like neighbors sharing a duplex, on one side resides Ordinary Fish, but flip the book over, turn it 180 degrees, & behold, there’s Watt Worris (no relation) sitting on the stoop, offering you a freebie.

Yes, you heard me right—it’s 2-books-in-1. The ol’ two-fer. A BOGO bonanza featuring altogether 60+ poems within the cover—er, covers. That’s far more poetry than great swaths of the world read in a lifetime.

According to Dr. William Carlos Williams, a practicing physician, let’s not forget, for nearly 40 years: “It’s difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.” In other words, “Difficile est / nuntium ex carminibus capere, / tamen homines miserabiliter cotidie moriuntur / ob defectum / eorum quae ibi inveniuntur.”

The point is, whether you want to heal yourself or the world at large, the prescription is generous doses of poetry. It’s not mere self-promotion, but a bona fide medical opinion, that regularly reading poetry provides a healthy alternative to death.

So be proactive & give Ordinary Fish/Watt Worris a shot. They’re just what the doctor ordered!

Now available at Bezos’ Behemoth (aka Amazon)

I hope you enjoy Issue 19 of Home Planet, & as always, many thanks!

Matt