Hind was a six-year-old girl, whose story gained international attention when she was the sole survivor of an Israeli tank shelling on the Kia she and her aunt, uncle and four cousins were riding in. Hind’s call for help with members of the @palestineredcrescent detailed how the family was targeted by the Israeli military, leaving her alone with the dead bodies of her family members for hours, telling medical personnel, “I’m so scared, please come” and that she (like most kids) was afraid of the dark. Eventually, all contact with Hind was lost.

Although two Red Crescent Society members tried to reach Hind, they too were found dead several days later. News reports show the Red Crescent was able to get within meters of the family’s car before also being targeted by a tank, despite clearly being marked as medical personnel.

Thank you to @palestinianmartyrs and @martyrs_gaza for sharing their stories. Go to https://palestinianmartyrs.org/ or https://ourgaza.com/martyrs/ for more stories of the now over 30,000 martyrs.

Published in the Fall 2023 Issue of Caustic Frolic (the journal of the NYU Graduate School of Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement), “The Last Abduction” is a short story that reflects on the experiences of an alien & a young boy, coming to terms with hyper-militarization in the West Bank.

Read the full story here. CW: depictions/allusions to graphic violence/death.

One interesting thing about the inspiration of this story, the artist Ampydoo (Alan Michael Parker) put out a call for drawings of aliens, and I drew one up on my iPad (above). Then I naturally started thinking about this alien (as one does) and the backstory to his life. I also happened to need to write a short story for my summer 2023 term fiction writing workshop (at UCF). Thankfully, my car needed service and there were no loaners available. “The Last Abduction” was borne from a mix of being trapped in the car dealership with way too much gratis coffee and Lotus biscuits (so good!). Given the subject-nature, I am so thankful that the editors and team at Caustic Frolic saw something special and chose to stand behind this story, particularly at this time when the efforts to silence voices in the Palestinian liberation movement are particularly strong.

Published in Cordite Poetry Review’s pop culture issue, “In case I say no to someone at the reveal of Love is Blind” reflects on expectations, results, sounds & how weird it was to see young Sean Connery for the first time. Read it here!

This was a fun one to write. Picture it: You’re sitting at a picnic table in a forest of creaky pine trees. Your kids are playing “baseball” with a stick in the yard between “leaf parties” and you’re working on a poem for your poetry workshop. Not sure where it is going or how to wrap up the last stanza, your spouse (who’s working on a speech) walks out and says the most random thing that miraculously pulls the whole thing together. Sometimes it really is just like that.

Follow the Insurgence on Substack (who will bring a little joy to your inbox daily) here.

Maybe I should have posted my Mother’s Day coloring sheet in advance of Mother’s Day like The Daily Drunk did here, but like I said I love updating my website for the year in one sitting. This is so great! Biggest blast!

Thankfully, my son was able to access it online, print it out, color, frame and so graciously surprise-gift it to me for Mother’s Day this year. Kids are the best!

Is this petty? Maybe, but it was my last resort. Read it and understand (if not weep):

Yay, I love updating my website in one sitting! This one goes back to May 2023, where Drunk Monkeys (! love them !) published one of my pop culture poems (which as you will see I have been leaning into this year). “On Capitalist Art & Aquaculture” considers the connections between perhaps the world’s worst billionaire, Limp Bizkit, M&M’s, Robert Durst’s pathetically bad wigs and more! Read it here on Drunk Monkeys.

Writing this piece was a lot like “Be My (Forever) Valentine” in that it plays on sound, with the poem moving itself forward between ideas that have a topical connection and/or rhyme. I think this form/style works really well for a poem reflecting on how we’re all swirling around in a nonsensical abyss (yay!).

It really all did start with a spark, didn’t it? Explore the connection between the Big Bang, my family’s broken trash compactor from the 90’s, our never-ending spoon dilemma & the ultimate questions of existence swirling around us all. the. time., “My son wants to know what happened before the universe &” reflects on way too many coincidences in one week.

This is one of those poems that really kind of writes itself, when I allow myself to be open enough to reflecting on everything around me. Writing this was similar to “The Very Hungry Little Turtles”, originally published in The New Verse News and set to be republished in the Bitchin’ Kitsch later this month (December). More on that soon…. For now, read the full poem, “My son wants to know what happened. . .” in Yellow Arrow Publishing’s Spark Issue.

I Choose, Therefore I Am is a peaceful and public art project created and curated by textile artist Rachelle LeBlanc. Created in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the gallery show was held in Houston, Texas from March 11, to April 30, 2023. The permanent online exhibition can be accessed here.

*Photo courtesy of I Choose, Therefore I Am Project, Facebook 2023.

“Women’s March 2022-” is an actual pink pussy hat worn at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, which coincided with the Trump Administration taking office. The clipped ear of the hat (as is done to stray cats once they are spayed to [insert Bob Barker voice] control the pet population), now bound back together haphazardly with blood-colored yarn, is indicative of the removal of agency and control over one’s own body that has been forced upon menstruating people across America—until further notice.

Inspired by “Things I Know” by the—well, inspirational—poet Sandra Simonds, “Things I Know About Patrick Swayze” explores the Ghost, Little Mermaid, Ghost Dad, Friedrich Nietzsche connection that seems to have been rolling around in my brain since I was devastated by the sight of Ariel’s new legs. I don’t know what else to say about it other than how grateful I am it found the coolest lit home at Maudlin House. Read it here!