I’ve been trying to make a summary of last year without slipping into the negative, so I’d like to single out a wonderful thing that happened in 2023: my second book of visual poetry was accepted by Sarabande. Boy, I started that sentence on a down note but typing to the end made me happy.

For the past three years or so I’ve been working with “Classic Crimes” by William Roughead, considered one of the first books of the true crime genre. This is a hefty NYRB book of around 600 pages about murders in Scotland more than 100 years ago. They are base and grisly murders, though the writing can be staid and sticks with the facts. I hope my erasures and collages give the pages a good airing.

At the moment the working title is also “Classic Crimes,” and will likely stay that way. The publication date is spring 2025. For the book, I’ve given the poems titles plucked from the obscured text from each page in the hope of preserving some of Roughead’s language.

Click HERE to see some of my favorites from Diagram: “To the Satisfaction of All Concerned,” “Of Whom We Shall Hear Again,” “Seat of Learning” and “Warm Bath.”

“The Old Story,” at right, was originally published in Shenandoah.

Sarabande published Hotel Almighty about three years ago and it’s been so gratifying to hear about all the people it has inspired. Thanks very much to everyone who read it.