Poet & Pubs

BRIAN HARMAN lives in Southern California where he received an MFA in creative writing from California State University, Long Beach, across the Vincent Thomas Bridge from Charles Bukowski’s grave. His poetry mentors include the late Gerald Locklin and Charles Harper Webb. His works have been published in Nerve Cowboy, Chiron Review, Pearl, Misfit Magazine, The Literary Underground, Shō Poetry Journal, Meat For Tea, Cholla Needles, a moon of one’s own, and elsewhere. He is the author of Suddenly, All Hell Broke Loose!!!, published through Picture Show Press. He lives across the street from Philip K. Dick’s last apartment, where he enjoys local craft beer, tacos, beachy dreams, poetry talks with his poetry goddess who he co-runs a used bookstore with, Blue Font Books, in Orange County, CA. He loves spending time with his son.

FAVORITE POETS:

Shannon Phillips, Fred Voss, Charles Simic, Donna Hilbert, Pablo Neruda, Anne Sexton, James Tate, Charles Bukowski, Joan Jobe Smith, Gerald Locklin, Charles Harper Webb, Clifton Snider, Kevin Ridgeway, Wendy Rainey, Curtis Hayes…

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pi measures immeasurables
with pleasure, or

a drill to the head in the mirror

—Superpresent

Americana

who is that desperate for a bookmark
except for maybe an avid reading
paranoid mattress company employee
who is hiding their mattress crime
of selling untagged mattresses
on the black market of bedding,
or is there such a thing as a literary brothel

—The Literary Underground

Cerberus Goes to Alpine

she lays out some scraps
of leftover chile verde, pulls
cactus spines from its lion paws;
the three-headed dog owes her,

—Big Bend Literary Magazine

Double Makers

a place
for those who would drink
a Rusty Nail with a T-bone

—The Rye Whiskey Review

Machineland

a poetic justice in the machineland
a lotus flower shot out of a gun
a TGIF Beer Foam Resurrection
a blue collar beanie
to warm the head from
the cold truths of this cruel world

—Beach Chair Press

Making the Bed

making up for
lost time of what could have been
if only the past was made up of her
natural beauty in the morning afters,

—Making Up: Poems

Goodwill

Maybe I should follow the money too instead of writing poetry, I thought. Or maybe if I listen to more disco.
Then I went to the bank down the street to see if they knew anything about this.

—Stink Eye Magazine