Joshua McKinney’s fifth book of poetry, Sad Animal (2024), won the inaugural John Ridland Poetry Prize from Gunpowder Press. His work has appeared in such journals as Boulevard, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and many others. His other awards include The Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize, The Dickinson Prize, The Pavement Saw Chapbook Prize, and a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing. He is co-editor of the online ecopoetics zine, Clade Song.
in response to Mary Oliver You do have to be good, goddammit.Your repentance is required, is long overdue, in fact, and crawling across oceans of desert would be an appropriate start. Your animal body has grown softby loving what it loves, and it loves the wrong things. I am weary of hearing about your despair, and I have the tact… Read more →