What is a poem for if no one can read it? One of my mentors, poet and professor Milton Kessler, always advised that as soon as a rejection came back in the mail, take the poems, stuff them in another envelope, and send them out to another publisher — never let your poems get stagnant.
That advice has always stuck with me. I refer to my sending out work as part of “my queue,” meaning my current list of poems and collections I have out in the world for possible publication. Every week, I keep an eye on my “queue” and fill it back up to where I want it to be. Duosuma and Submittable are my two online publication-call sites that I use and Duosuma has a great accountability feature whereby you can set “submission goals” for the year and the site will track your progress.
Here are my publications and collections:
Collections of Poetry
“Universal Monsters”, The Orchard Street Press, 2021
This is my sixth collection poetry and is very much a product of earning my Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2019. https://www.orchpress.com/index.php/en/catalog2-2/177-universal-monsters-by-eric-machan-howd
Thoughts on Universal Monsters
“All we feel is what is missing inside,” Eric Machan Howd writes in one poem though he fills that gap with the monsters, fears, and phantoms that haunt us, from some traditional monsters to characters like imposters and masochists. The point is these myths are not myths but the emptiness we all feel at one time or another. Few poets have the ability to face these issues and find a counter music where “the robin sings/red breast pulsing…/so beautiful/so vibrant.” In the end, then, what we do feel is a master poet filling an impossible emptiness with incredible passion. – Richard Jackson: author of “Broken Horizons” and “Where the Wind Comes From”
Richly inhabited by unusual iterations of “monsters,” this collection offers a compassionate and holographic take on monster-hood, from Frankenstein’s monster as a nocturnal gardener to be remembered goth girlfriend “creeping behind my tongue” to flashes of a deceased father given to violence. These poems are candid, musical, and beautifully crafted, the centerpiece of the book being the crown of Shakespearean sonnets that illuminates, through twists and turns, the complexities of father-son dynamics. – Leslie Ullman: author of “The You That All Along Has Housed You” and “Library of Small Happiness”
Monster comes from the word for “warning.” Of what we are warned in Eric Machan Howd’s Universal Monsters? These artful and various poems describe ways in which humans represent evil—and beauty, the two forever twined. “Wind arranges wind” in their music. Readers will simultaneously be haunted by “words…too heavy for paper” and delighted by the delicate touch of a poet who recognizes “all who have loved and lost/something to the earth.” – Natasha Sajé: author of “Terrior: Love Out of Place”
“The Last Cardinal,” sometimes Y publications, 2023
This fifth collection of poetry is part of the Back-Pocket Poetry Series I created for my small press, sometimes Y publications. The idea for the shape of this series came from the Beat poets and their publications that could fit into the back pocket of a pair of denim jeans. In this case, I design publications of 13-15 short poems based on themes that can be printed on one sheet of paper (both sides) and then folded three times to make a micro publications.
“Nature’s Essence,” R.H. Books, 2007
This fourth collection is a co-created art book from R.H. Books in Berkshire, New York. The collection has many of my poems along with photographs of the Berkshire, New York, area by photographer Ray Hunt. There were a few limited hand-bound hardcover editions of this collection as well as a paperback version of the edition. I love collections where art mediums can be mixed.
“Instances,” sometimes Y publications, 1999
This third collection of poetry is part of the Back-Pocket Poetry Series I created for my small press, sometimes Y publications. The idea for the shape of this series came from the Beat poets and their publications that could fit into the back pocket of a pair of denim jeans. In this case, I design publications of 13-15 short poems based on themes that can be printed on one sheet of paper (both sides) and then folded three times to make a micro publications.
“Origami,” sometimes Y publications, 1993
This was my second collection of poetry. The collection looks at how life can be folded in different ways to see different shapes and perspectives.
“Blaming Icarus,” Crane Publications, 1992
This was my first collection of poetry. It was based on mythology, love, and the stars.
Awards and Recognitions
Chronological
2025 – 1st Prize Dancing Poetry Festival Contest, with “The Book Burners”.
2023 – 1st Prize The Heart Contest from Nostalgia Press, with “Piano”.
2018 – 1st Prize Switchback Poetry Award, from the University of San Francisco, with “Mycology”.
2002 – 1st Prize Dancing Poetry Festival Contest.
2001 – 2nd Prize Dancing Poetry Festival Contest.
2001 – 2nd Prize PEN Knob Hill Poetry Competition.
2001 – Winner of the Inaugural Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Award, Harpur’s Palate, Binghamton University, with “Cell”
1993 – 3rd Place Red Dancefloor Poetry Contest.
1992 – Finalist The World’s Best Short Short Story Contest, Sun Dog: The Southeast Review, 1992, with “Shingling.”
Publications (Creative)
Chronological
Publication List …
Publications (Academic)
Chronological
Publication List ….
E. M. Howd 