Shared Heritage: 30 paintings paired with 30 poems
Hardback art book collaboration with Ojai Chumash Painter Brenda Mercado. Pub date: Nov 10, 2026: signed copies at launch events. $75 list price: Please click on image above for a 20% discount on advance purchase copies (through 9/1/26).
Advance purchase includes printed acknowledgement in the book (if ordered by 7/31/26)
Captions for Photographs: Poetry
My 17th poetry collection (October, 2026).
Photo: San Francisco Zen Center
Tide Pools: Short Stories
22 new short stories (October, 2026).
Photo: West Cliff Drive Picasso, Santa Cruz
21 Oregon Poems
Set in Coastal Oregon, Portland, Bend, Medford and Ashland
Insprired by the poetry of Gary Snyder ("Turtle Island") and the essays of the late Barry Lopez
Now available on Amazon
70 poems about work
A unique thematic collection, focusing on jobs the poet has held (auction runner, bank vault teller), jobs he has observed (realtor, country doctor, ditch digger), unique jobs (NFL place kicker, Ebola ambulance driver) and even a made-up occupation (door-to-door poetry salesman)
Inspired by the poetry of the late Philip Levine ("What Work Is")
Now available on Amazon
Mags & Journals (new)
- Santa Clara Review: "Elevation 2,138'" (2026)
- SALT Poetry Journal (CA), two poems (2026)
- Santa Barbara Literary Journal "Liminal: Noleta" issue: three poems (2027)
- The Florida Lady Rolls-Royce Magazine: two poems
- Cæsura literary journal (CA): one poem
"Forget Writer's Block. I read constantly: poetry, fiction, plus history & science. I don't wait for a Muse to show up at my desk. Here on Oahu, muses are everywhere. I met a muse on Pensacola, waiting for the 8 Holo bus. Another muse rides the 60 North Shore Holo bus with her gang box on wheels."
Call and Response
“Listening to the Light” is a 100-page hardback art book, to be published in Nov. 2026, featuring 30 paintings by Ojai artist Brenda Mercadeo paired with 30 poems by poet Jon Obermeyer. Santa Barbara natives, they have a shared language of landscape and seascape, and a soulful approach to their work.