What do you think?
Rate this book
Water Works
John Burroughs is the poet formerly known as Jesus Crisis. His many books include It Takes More Than CHANCE to Make Change (2013, Poet's Haven) and The Eater of the Absurd (2012, NightBallet). He co-founded the annual Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest and hosts sundry poetry events around Cleveland. Since 2008, he has served as the founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press, publishing superb indie writers from around the world.
Your golden hair halo
above as below illuminates
all I'm inclined to know
renders sunlight redundant
while the scent of your wrist
and the touch of the back
of your knee and all
they surround and entail
never fail to keep me astir in
a day and night dream state
of hunger and thirst for
the next time your erotic
nectar graces my tongue.
Water Works was first published by Recycled Karma Press in 2012. The original edition is rare and difficult to find, so The Poet's Haven is delighted to bring you a new Archive Series release of this splendid collection!
Your golden hair halo
above as below illuminates
all I'm inclined to know
renders sunlight redundant
while the scent of your wrist
and the touch of the back
of your knee and all
they surround and entail
never fail to keep me astir in
a day and night dream state
of hunger and thirst for
the next time your erotic
nectar graces my tongue.
Water Works was first published by Recycled Karma Press in 2012. The original edition is rare and difficult to find, so The Poet's Haven is delighted to bring you a new Archive Series release of this splendid collection!
- GenresPoetry
36 pages, Chapbook
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
John Burroughs
55 books386 followersJohn B. Burroughs of Cleveland served as the National Beat Poetry Foundation's 2022-2023 U.S. Beat Poet Laureate and 2019-2021 Ohio Beat Poet Laureate. He is the author of The Wrest of the Worthwhile: Unselected, Uncollected and New Poems, 1983-2023 (2023, Far Queue Press), Rattle and Numb: Selected Poems, 1992-2019 (2019, Venetian Spider Press), and more than a dozen poetry chapbooks including, most recently, Awash (2025, Pure Sleeze Press). From 2024 to 2026, he served as a Vice President of the Ohio Poetry Association.
A dynamic performer who has wowed audiences from Oakland to New York City, Maine to New Mexico, and myriad points in between, John has hosted numerous poetry events in the Greater Cleveland area including the Poetry+ series at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Monday at Mahall's, PoetryElyria, and (with Dianne Borsenik) the Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza and Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest. He helps maintain the Cleveland Poetics blog and Northeast Ohio literary calendar at clevelandpoetry.com. Since 2008, has served as the founding editor for Crisis Chronicles Press, publishing over one hundred twenty books by esteemed writers from around the world. Find him at www.crisischronicles.com.
Older bio: John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis, is a nationally touring poet and performer, born in West Virginia, raised in Elyria, Ohio, and currently residing in Greater Cleveland. John is the author of Dogging Catastrophe (2022, The Grind Stone), You Can't Trust It to Remain (2022, Between Shadows Press), Loss and Foundering [NightBallet Press, 2018], The Eater of the Absurd [NightBallet Press, 2012], the collaborative book Oct Tongue -1 (with Mary Weems, John Swain, Steven Smith, Lady, Shelley Chernin and Steve Brightman) [2014, Crisis Chronicles Press]. and nearly a dozen chapbooks including Beat Attitude [NightBallet, 2015], It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change [The Poet's Haven, 2013], Water Works [Recycled Karma Press, 2012], Electric Company [Writing Knights Press, 2011] and, with Doug Manson and Bree, Identity Crises [Green Panda Press, 2009]. John has also published Cheap and Easy Magazine, Songs in the Key of Cleveland: An Anthology of the 2013 Best Cleveland Poem Competition, #ThisISCLE: An Anthology of the 2014 Best Cleveland Poem Competition, and the anti-censorship anthology Fuck Poetry.
John won his first poetry contest as a high school student in 1983. Around the turn of the millennium, John served as a playwright and occasional music director in residence for the Ministry of Theatre at Marion Correctional Institution. In 2007, his blog was ranked number 1 in several categories on MySpace when he abandoned it to create his own website. Subsequently, John won the first poetry slam he ever competed in; created PoetryElyria; formed Poets of Lorain County; has contributed irregularly to the Cleveland Poetics and Ohio Poetry Association blogs; served as the OPA's webmaster; has performed at bars, festivals, theaters, bookstores, libraries and galleries across the Midwest; and is perhaps most proud of his work (since 2008) as the founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press.
A dynamic performer who has wowed audiences from Oakland to New York City, Maine to New Mexico, and myriad points in between, John has hosted numerous poetry events in the Greater Cleveland area including the Poetry+ series at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Monday at Mahall's, PoetryElyria, and (with Dianne Borsenik) the Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza and Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest. He helps maintain the Cleveland Poetics blog and Northeast Ohio literary calendar at clevelandpoetry.com. Since 2008, has served as the founding editor for Crisis Chronicles Press, publishing over one hundred twenty books by esteemed writers from around the world. Find him at www.crisischronicles.com.
Older bio: John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis, is a nationally touring poet and performer, born in West Virginia, raised in Elyria, Ohio, and currently residing in Greater Cleveland. John is the author of Dogging Catastrophe (2022, The Grind Stone), You Can't Trust It to Remain (2022, Between Shadows Press), Loss and Foundering [NightBallet Press, 2018], The Eater of the Absurd [NightBallet Press, 2012], the collaborative book Oct Tongue -1 (with Mary Weems, John Swain, Steven Smith, Lady, Shelley Chernin and Steve Brightman) [2014, Crisis Chronicles Press]. and nearly a dozen chapbooks including Beat Attitude [NightBallet, 2015], It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change [The Poet's Haven, 2013], Water Works [Recycled Karma Press, 2012], Electric Company [Writing Knights Press, 2011] and, with Doug Manson and Bree, Identity Crises [Green Panda Press, 2009]. John has also published Cheap and Easy Magazine, Songs in the Key of Cleveland: An Anthology of the 2013 Best Cleveland Poem Competition, #ThisISCLE: An Anthology of the 2014 Best Cleveland Poem Competition, and the anti-censorship anthology Fuck Poetry.
John won his first poetry contest as a high school student in 1983. Around the turn of the millennium, John served as a playwright and occasional music director in residence for the Ministry of Theatre at Marion Correctional Institution. In 2007, his blog was ranked number 1 in several categories on MySpace when he abandoned it to create his own website. Subsequently, John won the first poetry slam he ever competed in; created PoetryElyria; formed Poets of Lorain County; has contributed irregularly to the Cleveland Poetics and Ohio Poetry Association blogs; served as the OPA's webmaster; has performed at bars, festivals, theaters, bookstores, libraries and galleries across the Midwest; and is perhaps most proud of his work (since 2008) as the founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 23, 2017
Great book
April 4, 2017
This small collection of 25 poems is a thoughtful, quick read but it bears more than one reading. The poems are deceptive and have more "meat on the bone" than they appear to have on first reading. They are a nice mixture of shorter and longer poems. Water and eroticism are woven together in several. But even the erotic takes on further meaning as you are led to take pleasure in the fluidity of word play used by the author.
My favorite poems were: Is Rain or Rhyme the Greater Crime?, Loveshot, Green Heart.
My favorite poems were: Is Rain or Rhyme the Greater Crime?, Loveshot, Green Heart.
July 22, 2017
excellent little gem - focused and engaging
April 4, 2017
This small collection of 25 poems is a thoughtful, quick read but it bears more than one reading. The poems are deceptive and have more "meat on the bone" than they appear to have on first reading. They are a nice mixture of shorter and longer poems. Water and eroticism are woven together in several. But even the erotic takes on further meaning as you are led to take pleasure in the fluidity of word play used by the author.
My favorite poems were: Is Rain or Rhyme the Greater Crime?, Loveshot, Green Heart.
My favorite poems were: Is Rain or Rhyme the Greater Crime?, Loveshot, Green Heart.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews