The Best Essays I Published This Year

Also! Poems!

Every year I make a list of the best things I wrote. Usually I try to be fairly inclusive, but…does anyone actually click those links? Maybe not.

So I thought I’d be a little more selective this time. I chose just 12 pieces that I was particularly proud of. That means they’re mostly somewhat longer. They’re sort of loosely listed starting with my favorites, but not very systematically.

Also! At the end I listed all my poetry publications for the year. Because why not?

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The Best Essays I Published This Year

On Candyman and sound: Horror is a sound you can’t stop saying. (Chicago Reader)

Bloodsuckers: Vampires, Antisemitism And Nosferatu At 100  (Quietus)

Servant of Her Voice: A rediscovered Armenian folk song connects immigrants to their homeland (No Depression-print)

The Turner Diaries and Pulp Fascism (LARB)

Rereading Roger Ackroyd in the Age of Trump (LARB)

Is Elon Musk evil, or is he a fool? (Both. It’s Both.) (Public Notice)

The White Actor in Imitation of Life (Patreon)

The Most Iconic Swimsuit Moments in Movie History (Wealth of Geeks)

On R.H. Harris and how Chicago gospel changed the world (Chicago Reader)

To defend democracy, you need to defend trans people. (Public Notice)

Don’t Worry Darling is going to be a cult classic someday. (NBC Think)

The dying art of jingle writing (Chatty)

Poetry Publications

“You Say Grief” (3rd Wednesday Review)

“Send $19.99 For Supplements and Freedom” (Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest)

“Not North, Nor Northwest” (Temz Review)

“Cyborg Song” (lickety split)

“I Should Have Been Working But I Wrote This Instead” (New Feathers Anthology)

“Nor Am I Out of It” (Asses of Parnassus)

“No Scones” (Welter Online)

“Amidah” (Orchards Poetry Journal)