Francis Shoots Pool at Chubb's Bar

Al Ortolanis newest collection of poetry On the Chicopee Spur was released from New York Quarterly Books in 2018. How Wally Lost His Thumb and the Boy Scouts Became Cannibals a mix of old and new Wally poems also appeared from Spartan Press the same year. A previous collection Ghost Sign 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.