Book cover of "Midwest Futures: Poems & Micro-Stories from Tomorrow’s Heartland” anthology depicts silver rocket launching over a green cornfield under a sunny, contrail-filled sky. Background graphic is a red-sky planet populated with mutant blue corn plants. Full quote from poet Aly Allen regarding "Midwest Futures": “The poems gently place the reader in the waving Midwest fields, then blast off, rockets and church spires piercing the grey sky. Looking into the future as much as at the ground beneath our feet, these poems reflect and resonate.”

“The poems gently place the reader in the waving Midwest fields, then blast off, rockets and church spires piercing the grey sky. [...]”
— @alyallen.bsky.social, author of “Paying for Gas with Quarters”

Info on Allen’s book: amzn.to/3LTLMP2
Info on "Midwest Futures" anthology: amzn.to/4bttZd2

They Took All the Titles

Congress must stop
the coup
you know who I am
talking to
I am talking to you
Congress must stop
the coup
be a voice a movement
the power you claim
to represent
Congress must stop
the coup

otherwise it is down to me and

I will be the featured reader at Green Feather Books in Norman, OK, next month! The event takes place during the Ark Walk (Feb 14). Starts at 7 with an open mic after!!!

Give a poet a couplet,
satisfy them for a day.

Teach a poet to stanza,
fill them with dread and

Thanks for sharing!!!

I’ll be reading on Saturday April 6th!

So excited!

@literatipress.bsky.social

a.co/d/0LxDGjI

I’ll be reading from my book, Paying for Gas with Quarters at Literati Press in Oklahoma City on Friday night at 730 with @jen_e_hudgens
Join us for poetry, community, and fun.

a.co/d/7EhfnAK

Literati Press Comics & Novels

www.literatipressok.com

Paying for Gas with Quarters book tour continues!

Reading at Literati Press (their new location!) in Oklahoma City on Dec 8th (730 pm) with the wonderful @jen_e_hudgens Come enjoy poetry and support small business!

💖

Excuse Me, I Am Sorry

I tried to refrain reframe
but the words unsaid whisper
repeat in eat my head

obligatory eye-contact rips
you pass before I speak
out of breath I inhale retell

#poem #poetry #regret

@alyallen.bsky.social is a poet, parent, & OEF veteran. I've been privileged to get to know her through her words, and to work with her to publish her first collection. It's brave & honest stuff. So is she.

She's reading in Tulsa, OK tonight, Nov. 11, 2023 at
linktr.ee/whittybooks #VeteransDay2023

Thank you!

@notasquirrel on Insta

a.co/d/gemMFAk

My book has been out for a month!!! I have my first in-person reading tomorrow and I’m stoked for that. To celebrate the release of my book I want to give 3 digital versions away. Add me on Instagram, shoot me a DM with your email, First 3 will get a Kindle copy of Paying for Gas with Quarters.

Contributor’s copy of “Things We Carry Still” arrived @middlewestpress.bsky.social
Grab one to read my poem Recall and everything else!

Join us this Veteran’s Day Nov. 11 at @shopwhittybooks in conversation with Oklahoma poets, professors, and veterans Aly Allen and Bill McCloud - thank you to Whitty Books for supporting poetry- event is free and open to the public. #tulsaartists #poetry #indiebookstore #tulsaevents #veteransday

a.co/d/iWX0XOu

Paying for Gas with Quarters got its first review!

My book is next to sbchilders at Bliss Books & Bindery in Stillwater, OK!!! I of course grabbed a copy of her new book Prodigals (and it was signed!) They still have a copy of her book and a few of mine on the shelf!

If Only We Knew To Carry A Tissue

When I was a soldier
they did not prepare us for the tears—
tears we would kill,
tears we would cause,
tears for tears,
tears of regret,
saltiness of being alive.

Do not cry for the soldier.
Cry out to them,
before they drown the world in tears.

#poetry

a.co/d/3Ydd1hx

Screenshot of a Poem by aly allen. Reads: THERE WON’T BE ANY VETERANS committing suicide if there are no veterans. Not extermination of the current. Elimination of the future. No service. No obligation. No ultimate sacrifice. No unpayable debt. Survivor’s guilt gone. Moral wounds gone. Unscarred. Disbanding the military could prevent depression, and think of all the civilians who won’t be casualties. The condolences and monuments we won’t have to craft. And,

aly allen’s poem There Won’t Be Any Veterans continued. Reads: if there are not veterans, perhaps also, there will be only a memory, a well-rehearsed verse about ancestors and war.

This is an anti-war poem from my book, Paying for Gas with Quarters

Writing Prompt:

Write about a time you were wrong
Was the change gradual or all at once?
End ruminating on how things are different after

Screenshot of poem from Threads @notasquirrel Reads: In Gaza, They Climb Every Day Have you ever climbed a mountain wearing sandals with a broken strap? Have you ever climbed a mountain that arose from rubble in the morning? Have you ever climbed a mountain made of your neighbors’ bodies? Have you ever climbed a mountain for anything other than a view? Have you ever climbed a mountain? When will the climbers crawl over you?

#poetry #protestpoem

Screenshot of a poem taken from Threads @notasquirrel Reads: When You Say That You Come To A Place Of Poetry To Escape Politics I Think You Don’t Understand Art The sunrise is like the Palestinian children dying much too quickly & every day. The rolling reds & cutting yellows revealing wounds caked, caked in bomb-dust, hospital ashes. Covered by walls, years, lies. Their killers claim themselves daylight. Daylight which displays true darkness.