Jason Baldinger, Featured Artist

the blurry reeling of benders

hoagie tattoo says there are no women

allowed in the the warren

pennsylvania elks lodge

except fridays

and then only with a

presumably male member

kimmie and missy

boo and hiss across the bar

they’ve been drinking

their way across the northern tier

long enough to be legend

they give no fucks

they’ll burn down an elks on schedule

claim the antler racks

leave ’em hanging, shotguns

in the rear window of a ’74 ram

rich hasn’t ever met a hangover

he’s dusting off forgotten bottles

things they won’t even drink here

and it’s come to my attention

they will drink anything here

they all top that, story on story

all the blurry reeling of benders

they agree that the swamp

outside of town

has the best chicken wings

no need to be nervous

walking across pallets

floating across wetland shores

they may have to give you galoshes

to get to the bathroom

if there’s been a little rain though

if you stop by sunday

and there’s a baby shower in progress maybe come back another day

Jason Baldinger is a poet and photographer from Pittsburgh, PA. He is the co-editor of Trailer Park Quarterly and co-runs the Odd-Month Reading Series. He’s penned twenty books of poetry the newest of which include: A History of Backroads Misplaced: Selected Poems 2010-2020 (Kung Fu Treachery,) American Aorta (OAC Books) and a forthcoming collection Waiting on Hummingbirds with Kansas poet James Benger (their fourth together.) his first book of photography Lazarus (OAC Books) was released last year and the ekphrastic collaboration Hope is a Prison with poet Rebecca Schumejda (OAC Books) just hit bookstores. More ekphrastic collaborations are in the works featuring his photography in 2025. His poems and photos have appeared across a wide variety of online sites and print journals. You can hear him read from various books on Bandcamp and on LP’s by the Gotobeds and Theremonster.