Just finished the current issue of Southern Humanities Review, and Adam Vines’s “Residency:Still Life: Two Sunflowers” is lingering with me. I love when a journal issue leaves one poem lit up in the mind afterward. Ask your local library to subscribe to Southern Humanities Review.: buff.ly/AFHKrxh

Happy Publication Day to my friend Jen Julian! Jen’s novel The Winter Folk is out now from Hachette Book Group. Read more / order here: buff.ly/DKym75e

I’ve just finished the Spring 2026 issue of The Southern Review, and Jennie Malboeuf’s “If Only” is the poem I keep returning to. A good issue has a way of sending you back into individual pieces again and again. Ask your local library to subscribe to The Southern Review: buff.ly/t1edAT2

Just finished Third Coast Issue 55/56, and I’m reminded how much I love a journal issue that feels carefully gathered—work speaking across genres, moods, and obsessions. Read the latest issue: buff.ly/50FRlbg And ask your local library to subscribe to Third Coast.

ICYMI: "Another Man," the award-winning collection by UNCG Creative Writing alum Jim Whiteside, is now available for pre-order from the University of Wisconsin Press buff.ly/6jHiyPB

Closed out the morning with Volume 67, Issue 2 of The Massachusetts Review, and Jaimee Hills’ poem “On Mistaking Flowers for Active Shooters” is still lingering in a way that resists easy summary—unsettling, precise, and hard to shake. Worth asking your local library to subscribe buff.ly/H4ZsE7m

Just finished reading the latest from The Journal, and I’m carrying that good lit-mag feeling: a little unsettled, a little sharpened, and grateful for the editors putting these voices in conversation. Ask your local library to subscribe: buff.ly/Fw4lqYa

ICYMI: "Gizzards & Hearts," the debut short story collection by N.C. author Matthew Fiander is now available for pre-order from ELJ Editions. buff.ly/ai10FJr In Gizzards & Hearts, people look for any escape as their world closes in around them.

we are not that kind of country. We are sanctuary for the hungry, the homeless, the huddled, held together by an idea our immigrant fathers believed in. Rendered, it meant independence. from "There Are No Kings in America" by Aileen Cassinetto buff.ly/QTcvd7K

Allegiance to the flag is a start. A promise. Begin there, says the teacher. Come, and we’ll climb the Hill at sunup, Daring, not disruptive. Dusk metes out mornings for Everyone who makes room For freedom to mold another day . . . from "Anthem for America" by Varsha Saraiya-Shah buff.ly/IdjdIRT

America, I sing back. Sing back what sung you in. Sing back the moment you cherished breath. Sing you home into yourself and back to reason. from "America, I Sing Back" by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke buff.ly/l64hIsF

When sleepless, it’s helpful to meditate on mottoes of the states. South Carolina, “While I breathe I hope.” Perhaps this could be the new flag on the empty flagpole. Or “I Direct” from Maine—why? from "United" by Naiomi Shihab Nye buff.ly/QxvkHaI

As I lifted the kettle from the hob, I heard the sound of drums from far away. I paused a moment. Then that hot water got heavy. But I listened while I worked: a steady rhythm, now and then a fife. from "The Continental Army" by Marilyn Nelson buff.ly/a8BfxI7

Do you remember our earnestness our sincerity in first grade when we learned to sing America The Beautiful along with the Star-Spangled Banner and say the Pledge of Allegiance to America from "Ghazal: America the Beautiful" by Alicia Ostriker buff.ly/RLIAdmj

There were packs of dogs to deal with and broomsticks whacking rubber balls and everyone stopping for aeroplanes and chasing fire engines and standing around where sidewalks on hills turned almost level . . . from "Independence Day" by Gerald Stern buff.ly/JjKSQE1

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. from "I, Too" by Langston Hughes buff.ly/5DHBdcS

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth! from "America" by Claude McKay buff.ly/S3pO2d2

I am the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass. Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me? I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world’s food and clothes. from "I am the People, the Mob" by Carl Sandburg buff.ly/cnC9rmb

Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the list’ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. from "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson buff.ly/jMk8xo1

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons, All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old, Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich, Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love, A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother . . . from "America" by Walt Whitman buff.ly/FMctZMa

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam . . . from "I Hear America Singing' by Walt Whitman buff.ly/hY6B1t7

Happy Publication Day to my friend Jim Haughey! Jim’s debut novel, The Broken Season, is out from Redhawk Publications. Order your copy: buff.ly/oHd6BBd #TheBrokenSeason #JimHaughey #PublicationDay #HistoricalFiction

ICYMI: "Guilt Ledger," the prize-winning collection by North Carolina poet Ross White is now available for pre-order from Blair. buff.ly/BHzuPSi

Just finished the latest Birmingham Poetry Review, and Emilia Phillips’s “Natura Morta” is one I keep turning back to. A strong reminder that a good journal issue gives you not just poems to read, but poems to live with for a while. Ask your local library to subscribe: buff.ly/to5gHIL

Just finished Issue 30 of THE SHORE, and I’m still thinking about the way Dan Albergotti’s “Listening to Heavy Metal, 1981 & 2024” and Ross White’s “Grunge” speak to music, memory, and the strange electricity a poem can leave behind. Read the latest issue: buff.ly/quvzgSu #Poetry #ReadLitMags

"PARTIAL GUIDE TO BEING HALF-MEXICAN," a new short story by UNCG Creative Writing alum Nicholas León is now up at BULL buff.ly/ggwQ1th

I’ve just finished the Spring 2026 issue of The Sewanee Review, and Rebecca Gayle Howell’s “How Will I Know You – ["The fawn"]” is still very much with me. A reminder of how a single poem can change your whole afternoon. Read the latest issue: buff.ly/LM9NJDF

Finished reading the Spring 2026 issue of The Missouri Review, “The Cost of Living,” and it’s the kind of issue that makes you remember why literary magazines matter: sustained attention, surprise, and voices you want to follow. Read the latest issue: buff.ly/RklVvnd

Just came up for air after spending time with Hayden’s Ferry Review Issue 78, and I’m still thinking about Luiza Flynn-Goodlett’s “[Reflected in this].” One of those pieces that keeps echoing after the page is closed. Read the latest issue: buff.ly/xycZC2p

Today is the birthday of poet, Dan Albergotti. I suggest you help Dan celebrate by asking your local library to order a copy of his knockout LSU Press collection, CANDY. buff.ly/oN8WE6X