William Cullen Jr

William Cullen Jr is a veteran and was born in Petersburg, Virginia. He lived in Alabama, Georgia, and Germany before settling down in Brooklyn, New York, where he works at a social services non-profit.

His work has appeared in Gulf Stream, Lake Effect, I-70 Review, Poetry South, Spillway and The American Journal of Poetry.

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► William's microchap & selected poems are available below. Download the single-page PDF by clicking the title.

Origami Microchap

On Trial For Being

Click title to download PDF microchap

William Cullen Jr CVR On Trial For Being NOV 2019

Cover art by Lauri Burke

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Download every microchap

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from this website.

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Finding Out His Old Man Died

He did not weep
but lit his father’s pipe
and settling back in his porch chair
every once in awhile
when the clouds gave way
he blew a smoke ring
at the moon.

First appeared in Gravel

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A Tanka

peeling an onion
you weep tears for what's now gone
as if in your genes
you sensed a kindred soul
from your life before this one

First appeared in Pirene’s Fountain

Alone in a Graveyard

How quiet the headstones
as noon approaches
they pull their shadows
back into themselves
as if the overhead sun
were the warden
making sure everyone
is where they belong.

First appeared in Right Hand Pointing

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Email to My Late Wife

The storm last night
blew down a nest
from the tree you planted
and in the nest was a blue egg
unbroken and couched in hair
you lost to chemo
and found again by a robin
like you now gone
to wherever the wind goes.

First appeared in Spillway

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Poets