pAl Ortolani's newest collection of poetry, emOn the Chicopee Spurem, was released from New York Quarterly Books in 2018. emHow Wally Lost His Thumb and the Boy Scouts Became Cannibals, em a mix of old and new Wally poems also appeared from Spartan Press the same year. A previous collection, emGhost Signem, co-authored with J.T. Knoll, Adam Jameson, and Melissa Fite Johnson was selected as a Kansas Notable Book for 2017. In 2019, Ortolani was a winner of the Rattle Chapbook Series Award. He is the Manuscript Editor for Woodley Press in Topeka, Kansas, and has directed a memoir writing project for Vietnam veterans across Kansas in association with the Library of Congress and Humanities Kansas. After 43 years of teaching English in public schools, he currently lives a life without bells and fire drills in the Kansas City area.p