john compton

Poet

Author's Bio

i love doing zoom readings!

john compton (b. 1987) is gay poet who lives in kentucky. his poetry resides in his chest like many hearts & they bloom like vigorously infectious wild flowers. he lives in a tiny town, with his husband josh and their dogs and cats. he feels his head is an auditorium filled with the dead poets from the past. poems are written and edited constantly. his poetry is a personal journey. he reaches for things close and far, trying to give them life: growing up gay; having mental health issues; a journey into his childhood; the world that surrounds us. he writes to be alive, to learn and to grow. he loves imagery, metaphor, simile, abstract language, sounds, when one word can drift you into another direction. he loves playing with vocabulary, creating texture and emotions.

book (publisher not in their directory)

• stranger in the attic of clouds [deadman's press ink]

chapbook (publisher not in their directory)

• the scalpel calms the grief [the grindstone]

Publications & Prizes

Books:
the calling hour & an exposition of the dead (Black Mountain Press, 2025)
,
my husband holds my hand because i may drift away & be lost forever in the vortex of a crowded store (new & selected poems) (FlowerSong Press, 2024)
,
the castration of a minor god (Ghost City Press, 2022)
,
trainride elsewhere (Pressed Wafer, 2016)
Chapbooks:
the skies fell revelations (Ghost City Press, 2025)
,
melancholy arcadia (Small Harbor Publishing, 2024)
,
blacked out borderland from an exponential crisis (Ethel, 2023)
,
how we liberated what secrets we modified (Etched Press, 2023)
,
to wash all the pretty things off my skin (Ethel, 2021)
,
a child growing wild inside the mothering womb (Ghost City Press, 2020)
,
i saw god cooking children / paint their bones (Blood Pudding Press, 2020)
,
ampersand (Plan B Press, 2018)
,
rust (Kindle Singles, 2018)
,
that moan like a saxophone (Kindle Singles, 2016)
Prizes won: 
  • pushcart nomination 2020: the men that made bonfires
  • pushcart nomination 2021: the every tree
  • pushcart nomination 2022: the waltz; or, how one becomes more clean

Watch

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
all my friends!

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Other
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, Disability, Homelessness, Illness/Wellness, Immigration, LGBTQ, Men, Mental Health, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Seniors, Teachers, Women
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
KY
Kentucky
Raised in: 
KY
Kentucky
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 04, 2024