I Have A Book Coming Out (Plus A Baby)

“You don’t have to read everyone’s book” – New York Magazine, discussing etiquette in the time of COVID

It’s been announced on social media, it’s been announced in the River River Books newsletter, I’ve talked about it on both podcasts, it’s hardly breaking news at this point, but I have a book of poems coming out.

It’s called LAKESHORE MONK, and it will be out in the fall of 2027 on River River Books.

Before I talk a little about the book, I want to say how stoked I am to be on River River. If you’ve read my blog before, you know I am an admirer of Han VanderHart and Amorak Huey as poets and people. You might also remember that I’ve been a fan of every River River book I’ve read, and I’ve got plenty still in my TBR pile. Throw a dart in their store and you’re gonna go home with a good book. More than simply putting out good books, though, Han and Amorak hustle for their writers. They’re at every AWP, they’re at any book fair they can reasonably get to. They’re relentless cheerleaders for their authors. Listen, my dudes, as much as I love the small press and indie lit community, there are some bad actors out there. This is a press that does it right.

I’m beyond thrilled to be joining this cohort of writers. Lydia T. Liu, Catherine Rockwood, Heidi Seaborn—what a lineup!

Okay, a little Q&A about the book feels appropriate:

Hey Chris, is this a novel or poetry or a novel-in-verse?

This is a book of poems. Lyrics. Most are one page long, although I of course haven’t seen galleys yet. One page on google docs anyway.

Can I pre-order the book?

You will be able to! You’ll also be able to request it at your local library, which is a great thing to do! But right now, you can do neither of those things. Rest assured, when there is a pre-order link, I will be very annoying.

How long did it take you to write?

Some of these poems date back to 2009-2012ish. By and large, though, I began this manuscript in 2023. I had a version I really liked that was a finalist for River River in 2025. “Finalist,” of course, is a nicer version of a rejection. A couple other presses rejected it, too. So I put it on the proverbial shelf for a couple months, worked on other things. A novel-in-verse, for one. But I had a deadline, because I knew I wanted to submit to River River again. So I spent the end of 2025 and early 2026 flat-out re-writing about 40% of the book.

That seems like a lot.

It was! But some things happened in late 2025 that made my poetics—well, not very different, but hardened. The book also became a lot more spiritual. LAKESHORE MONK honestly wasn’t the title until right before I submitted it the first time around. The title came screaming out of the cosmos at me, and I needed the year to interrogate why.

What was the original title?

Come on dude.

Fine. Are you saying that all of these poems are about spirituality and Midway Blitz?

No, but those two things play a big role. These are family poems, parenting poems, domestic house husband poems. They’re nature poems and kayaking poems. The driving force behind this book A POETICS OF FUN. That said, you gotta play minor chords sometimes.

Okay cool. Wasn’t there a parenthetical in the headline?

Yes! An indeterminate amount of days ago? We had a baby! I’m pre-writing this, because I’m pretty sure I’m still in the hospital on the morning of Wednesday, so I won’t say too much more here. None of the questions you want answered are things I could know, here in the past. [SOMEHOW I GOT A MINUTE TO UPDATE: WE HAVE A BABY GIRL, MALLORY’S DOING GREAT, WE’RE ALL VERY EXCITED] Check it out, though: Bob’s wedding this summer was child-free. We smuggled a baby in, though, inside Mallory’s uterus.

Now she’s out in the world. Life! What a thing.

Sorry you got an email,

Chris