Come Together

Happy Summer, friends! In addition to continuing work on my most recent manuscript, which is totally out of my control, it seems—and lovingly so—it has also been a time of solicitations and collaborations lately. Last year, I was solicited for a poem on Detroit music for the forthcoming anthology on Michigan State University Press entitled …

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Music into Words into Music

In the early spring, I received an email from the magnificent composer David Biedenbender, who'd already composed a piece for my poem "Staying the Night," which has been performed in Idaho, Ohio and Michigan, and several other places, thus far. His composition for "Staying the Night" was already an honor—as David himself was inspired to …

The Year Ahead

Hello friends! And Happy New Year! 2017 was an especially fruitful year for me that saw the publication of Our Sudden Museum, my most recent collection. I conducted several readings from that book throughout the year, and have been thrilled at its reception by many kind readers. If you've yet to purchase a copy, fret …

New Review in NewPages!

Thanks so much to Natalie Tomlin, for her review of Our Sudden Museum in NewPages.com, and to all who take a moment to read it! It is thrilling and gratifying to read another's words about my work. Here is a link, if you'd like to re-post the review--which is so helpful in getting the word out …

Discussions: Our Sudden Museum

Thanks to Kimberly Ann Priest for this challenging and delightful interview in The Tishman Review about Our Sudden Museum. "Anticipation and Resignation: An Interview with Robert Fanning." The Tishman Review, Issue 3.3., P. 144. July 31, 2017. by Kimberly Ann Priest.   To read more conversations about Our Sudden Museum, click below, or visit the Media page. …

Full Bloom

Hello, friends. This spring and summer I've been quite busy, doing more than 10 readings to promote my most recent collection, Our Sudden Museum, published in April. I'm so thankful to everyone who has hosted my readings and been in attendance, and to those who have purchased copies of my new book. If you still …

Out & About

Thanks so much to all of those who've bought my new book, Our Sudden Museum, my third collection—and to all those who've come out to hear me read poems from the book. Since the release in D.C in February, I've enjoyed sharing poems across the home state in Grand Rapids, Elk Rapids, Ann Arbor, Detroit and …

Mo’ Promo

Our Sudden Museum, my new book, is a little over a month old already. It still has that new book smell! Thanks to all those who showed up at my launch and book signing in DC, at the great launch reading here in Mt. Pleasant alongside the great fiction of Matthew Roberson, and at my recent …

Sneak Preview: The Field Between Us

In the days before the launch of Our Sudden Museum, my forthcoming collection of poems, I'm posting audio of some of them. This poem, "The Field Between Us," was sparked (pun intended) while considering the magnetism—so palpable and nearly visible—when we lose someone. Hope you enjoy it. And if you don't, that's cool, too. https://soundcloud.com/robert-fanning/robert-fanning-the-field-between-us?in=robert-fanning/sets/poems-from-our-sudden-museum  

3…2…1…Launch

Hi all, Here at AWP in Washington DC, where I'll launch my third full length collection of poems. Hope to see you! On Thursday, February 9, 2:30-4:00pm, I'll be at the Salmon Poetry Booth in the Book Fair (#509) signing copies of my book. Please come by so I can say HI and give you …

Sneak Peek: First Snow

There's this phrase I hear myself saying to my kids in the winter, I said it again the other day: Be careful. There's ice. Today, finishing my winter walk, I ended up face down at the end of my driveway after slipping on a patch of ice. I did not get hurt. So, I laid there for …

Sneak Peek: “What is Written On the Leaves”

Happy New Year, friends. As we're all looking to lighten the load, here is a poem. "What is Written on the Leaves" will be featured in my forthcoming collection Our Sudden Museum, which will be released next month, from Salmon Poetry in Ireland. You can listen to the poem here. Thanks to New Issues Press, …

Sneak Peek: “Refuge”

REFUGE Take refuge in the barren field, snow-draped and fallow. In a Ferris wheel, thick fog. Take refuge in the empty subway, urine-dank and midnight. In the shadowed figure, the hallway light. In the one who might take you far away. In satellite dishes tipped toward stars. In the mind’s electric wiring. Take refuge in …

Bright House

Super excited! The cover of my forthcoming collection Our Sudden Museum is in the works. Here is a sneak preview, sent today by the editors of Salmon Poetry in Ireland. Featured on the cover is the Pennsylvania farmhouse of Sean Horan, a friend, taken by his brother Glen. When I saw the picture on Facebook, …

Between the Lines

I'm in the business of knocking on words. The woodwind words. The bell words. Blowing into the fluty throats of words. Seeing what music they make when rubbed together. Or when I smash them! In the luckiest moments, the words will resonate and hum; the sound waves they make will wobble and stretch harmoniously (or …

What is Up

Well, let me catch you up. Late 2015, Sheet Music was published by Three Bee Press.  Thanks to Editor Greg Wahl, who letterpress printed the book, and bound it by hand with his sister, Elizabeth. If you wish to purchase a signed copy, they're going fast--and there were only 150 copies to begin with: visit my …

The Seed Thieves Revisited: Blueprint of the Ruins

To join with those all around the globe celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Seed Thieves, my first collection of poems,  I have decided I will share a weekly poem from the collection with some insider information, because 1) why not, and 2) I’m weary of how so many dozens of famous critics have misread my work over the …

The Seed Thieves—Revisited: The Messiah Complex

To join with those all around the globe celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Seed Thieves, my first collection of poems,  I have decided I will share a weekly poem from the collection with some insider information, because 1) why not, and 2) I’m weary of how so many dozens of famous critics have misread my work over the …

The Seed Thieves—Revisited: Scarecrow Cross

To join with those all around the globe celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Seed Thieves, my first collection of poems,  I have decided I will share a weekly poem from the collection with some insider information, because 1) why not, and 2) I'm weary of how so many dozens of famous critics have misread my work over the …

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

Editor Greg Wahl of the brand-new Three Bee Press  just uploaded a working draft of the new website, and continues to design my forthcoming chapbook, Sheet Music, the press's inaugural book of poems. The book features the first six poems of my full manuscript, Severance, a linked body of poems about two marionettes who escape the …