steve zmijewski asks me a question

“quick question hot shot
when you’re a feature, how many
poems do you read”

on asking melissa: wanna walk?

she says: “i’m knee deep
in organizing my desk,
do you ever work?”

on receiving a job promotion

boss asks, “do you own
anything other than jeans?”
I laugh, then say “no”

on telling Joseph Fulkerson about receiving scathing rejections because I title my haikus

he says, “of course people
are upset, tohm… you’re
challenging tradition.”

Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have been printed widely in journals, zines, and online publications all over the world.  He is the author of twenty-four chapbooks and several collections of poetry, including “Cleaning the Gutters of Hell” (Zeitgeist Press, 2023).  He is the editor of Between Shadows Press. 

You can find more of Tohm’s work here on Ink Pantry.