Ohio Beat Poet Laureate (2019-2021) | US Beat Poet Laureate (2022-2023)

John Burroughs is a nationally-touring poet and performer from the Cleveland area and the author of over a dozen poetry books including Loss and Foundering, Water Works, Electric Company, Beat Attitude and The Eater of the Absurd. In various past lives, John’s blog was ranked #1 on MySpace, he won the first poetry slam he ever competed in, he served as playwright-in-residence for the Ministry of Theatre at Marion Correctional Institution, and he co-founded the infamous monthly Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza and almost-annual Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest. John has edited Cheap and Easy Magazine, two Best Cleveland Poem Competition anthologies, two Hessler Street Fair Poetry anthologies, the Oct Tongue literary annual, and the anti-censorship collection Fuck Poetry. He is perhaps most proud of his work since 2008 as the founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press.