Eric Howard
 California-born poet Eric Howard has spent most of his life in Los Angeles. After receiving a degree in English at Pomona College, Eric worked as a substitute teacher while living in an illegally converted basement apartment in the neighborhood of Silver Lake. There, he wrote Sinner.

He later used his retirement money to buy a house and be the live-in landlord of a bunch of misfits. This included taking part in pranks and art projects put on by the Los Angeles Cacophony Society.

He also obtained a master’s degree in English from California State University Los Angeles, studying formal poetry with Henri Coulette. This allowed him to bring his punk sensibility to verse. For almost two decades, he has worked as a magazine editor, which has informed his poetry about office life.

His book, Taliban Beach Party, addresses 9/11 and its aftermath in the context of Los Angeles history, beginning with satire but concluding with prophecy. The title poem describes a Cacophony event that took place at Dockweiler Beach in October 2001.
Heart-Shaped Ring

I want you more than a quarter.
You make me spin
chrome wheels and gears.
I could own this grocery store
but die without you,
shiny purple anodized
baby in a plastic bubble
that opens with a pop.
Your unpolished seam
scrapes my finger lovingly.
Do you know how far you’ll travel,
from house to house,
lost between cushions,
found in nightstands?
Rolling in my palm,
you circle the world.
You hardly weigh a thing.






© 2018 Eric Howard
Eric Howard was a Featured Poet at the June 2018 Second Sunday Poetry Series