http://jasonbaltazar.com/work daily 1.0 2026-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1521490895414-CO72XZ9DH736HEFIYHQC/Extinctathon.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1739334173037-Y6JYMZOI96WZGWAUJ1S3/Screen%2BShot%2B2025-02-11%2Bat%2B11.16.27%2BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1739335369631-A1N84QFMHUIX5ACMAP0X/Screen%2BShot%2B2025-02-11%2Bat%2B11.41.00%2BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1740107692894-K5PMTXLPZI0LN90XNJL7/updates-transformed.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1740107897559-BQI6MW7KOFKC6A6AWRJH/Screen_Shot_2025-02-11_at_11.15.57_PM-transformed.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1740107984576-5JVYXPZCIBL9C8PH58GR/Screen_Shot_2025-02-11_at_11.17.03_PM-transformed.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1440046622189-K8LY4F8X5RBKIHO0HAJY/Oathkeeper.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1440046175950-Y4NKFL3NAC0XFEZNZ5UQ/Oathkeeper.jpg Work - Oathkeeper Digital Collage, 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1440046719327-N2RJYJ46NDPXFN81BIWD/No+Masters.jpg Work - No Masters Personal Project, 2013 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1417053694104-5KAU4HZYM7FP3H4CG5HT/untitled.jpg Work - Predation Theory Oil and Acrylic, 2010 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1417055463785-3VEMJMJBZRB2OTFX6VKI/First+Trumpet.jpg Work - First Trumpet Oil and Acrylic, 2009 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1416966880702-J10TCHILL72EQY5UGUGH/Burnt+Norton.jpg Work - I. Burnt Norton Album Art, The Fire and the Rose, 2014 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1427167338150-NGDNR4HET67DSVL75BSF/East+Coker.jpg Work - II. East Coker Album Art, The Fire and the Rose, 2015 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1454334702205-AZSNGMI5ICM2WD2ECSIM/DrySalvages.jpg Work - III. The Dry Salvages Album artwork, The Fire and the Rose 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1488082195196-G2PHLU0KXRO44TLXCGFH/Little+Gidding_Full+Size.jpg Work - IV. Little Gidding album artwork, The Fire and the Rose 2017 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1440045430297-9PORHY7NYRHHJP2CO9HD/Falling_Georgia+Kreiger.jpg Work - Falling: A Memoir in Verse Cover Design, Finishing Line Press https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1443977588882-7H1C3F0Z3RXFASW4WWS8/The+Black+and+Golden+Thing.jpg Work - The Black and Golden Thing Unused Illustration for 1001 Nights Podcast https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1521490265116-XG80GFMPOW6IWNI7NOYQ/Ghost+Repeater+I.jpg Work - "Ghost Repeater" Illustration for story by Joshua Philip Johnson, The Future Fire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1521490404841-7BNX6DCB2CB6PCRJGHOZ/GhostRepeater+II.jpg Work - "Ghost Repeater" Illustration for story by Joshua Philip Johnson, The Future Fire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1521490160173-GBGQ3XUU1N037Y9WQB35/Extinctathon.jpg Work - Extinctathon Album artwork, The Fire and the Rose, 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1521489485762-33S3JXA9K6BE5K4LHL56/SongofWanderingAgnes.jpg Work - "The Song of Wandering Agnes" Illustration for poem by Christyl Rivers, The Future Fire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/54188ed5-acec-4c7c-93da-048f5d5e88f0/pexels-photo-7451947.jpg Work - nnnnndddjzuuUUuuullm Have you discovered a hole in the earth that issues forth sayings in an unknown tongue that despite your inability to comprehend fill you with notions strange and sweet? We’ve all been there! Happily, I’ve spent decades absorbing over a dozen subterranean dialects for no reason at all apart from a love of learning. I’m here (to help)! Merely send a recording of the utterance and I will (in an amount of your human time) provide the transcription. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/ebbff08c-7bff-4b11-a182-70c9407d873a/Valediction_bnw.jpg Work - in ergot. When Erling returned with a fresh bottle, already half-drained, the quiet pressing among the three of them thickened. ‘Ugly’ was the word he’d dropped like a knifed animal into their unwanted visitor’s lap. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1c410c81-b3cb-414a-b34e-160f79d9ec35/Captain_Carnivore-transformed.png Work - in Passages North #46 There was once a wee scrawny birdling of a boy quite confused in his manners at table. [Quite confused, indeed. Go on.] And being quite confused, this skin and bone birdling, who had hopped down the stairs from his neat little nest holding the bannister in one hand and his mumble-grumbling belly in the other, sought the counsels of wise Captain Carnivore. <He always forgets Lady Lipstick.> https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/3376c75f-08d5-4409-a71d-ea6efebaf2c6/Eclipsingbnw.png Work - in ergot. This is my faith: When we observe something long enough, with focused intention, observer and observed blend together. This is my faith. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/ad46ed37-7d14-419d-b0ad-3f822f8b4d1c/Local+Extinction+Hotline+bnw.png Work - in Bourbon Penn #34 Bourbon Penn, Issue 34 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/c3ce0971-2874-492b-9087-a0c0747038fb/Corridoring_bnw-transformed.png Work - in Quarterly West #110 Quarterly West, Issue 110 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/87dad60f-0586-431f-910c-31edce0b4eac/Dirge_for_Our_Dead_Mountain-transformed.png Work - in ergot. ergot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/534e662f-3100-4b19-b330-29f685b4241b/Partial+Curriculum+by+blood.png Work - (personal essay) in New Delta Review #12.2 (Essay) New Delta Review, Issue 12.2 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/76157945-9137-4213-a1b9-2b5f32706044/Doom+Machines.png Work - in Always Crashing Always Crashing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/0dc3fb62-1fdc-4ba7-aa0b-b80986461d12/Monstrous+Tongue.png Work - in Timber #12.1 (Pushcart Prize nominee) Fact: Those who voice the monstrous tongue are neither unaware nor fully complicit. They dwell in a state between. Indeed, many have theorized it is in this ambiguous space that the opportunistic seed of malharmonious expression takes root. Subject [Floriana] describes the emissions as a form of cognitive resistance and assigns blame to a personified external/internal entity found in their speech organs. Note the lingual flux and the prevalence of metaphoric fricatives: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/4b71ade5-027e-41dc-b590-3724ac600f38/And_She_Moves_Like_Smoke-transformed.png Work - in Wigleaf And she licks rainwater from the palm of her hand. And she has that moon-eyed laugh. And she never wears any kind of shoe, no matter what the weather's doing. And she sprinkles menstrual blood over the spider plant's soil. And she puts her rent in a lavender envelope on the fridge under the Dollywood magnet and once when we opened the envelope all these glinting fairyflies skittered out stinging. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/a4a1a31c-1d12-49db-835b-6484b94fa8f9/Trilobite-transformed.png Work - in Abandon Journal #2 (Best Small Fictions nominee) When it abandoned the tide and scraped ashore, an ancient articulated island dredging our mainland, when the waters rolling off its thoracic segments flooded outlying neighborhoods, harbinger waves ferrying refugees and debris to the heart of the city, we said: Heck, that’s really something. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/b901bf9d-89a0-45e7-9841-3570e4ac8a9e/Two_Step_Program-transformed.png Work - in Bourbon Penn #19 The lock was busted, so Salguero pressed the sole of his bare foot against the stall door to prevent interruption. The polished aluminum sent chills running up his leg and he was fuzzy on just what had happened to his shoes, but that could wait. Everything could wait. Seven. He hadn’t made a report to his superiors for days and his body ached for it. Three. Numbers kept interrupting his thoughts, but he couldn’t pin down their meaning so he swatted them aside to focus on the only thing that mattered right now. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/ef3416a9-3ef3-4bea-814c-f689764bf0fe/Amorpho-transformed.png Work - in F(r)iction #13 (Pushcart Prize nominee) The spotlight flared. A familiar collective gasp rippled through the room. The sensation of every eye settling upon Amorpho’s churning body warmed him like an ant under a magnifying glass. The music started. Solid protrusions emerged from his flowing form, and he rose on two lengthening appendages as two more unfurled to the side for arms. The tissues of his body folded over each another, every inch alive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/ec613f41-f2da-445b-9a38-cd116ac70f54/Fashion+Week.png Work - in Boston Review So the thing about the Death Squads is that their outfits are super cute. There’s a clear sartorial vision at work, and that reassures me as a dutiful subject of civil authority that they know what they’re doing. I believe clothes really do make the manslaughter. Some person, or team of persons, as currently defined by the Statutes of Personhood, was given the task of dressing the Death Squads, and this person, or team of persons, as currently defined by the Statutes of Personhood, of course, they really leaned into that shit. Bravo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/14ee92fc-c285-4819-b6bb-200edace699c/Down_Creekside-transformed.png Work - in Bracken #3 The water fills the air with a travelling song. One has to practically press lips to another’s ear to be heard. In fact, if you were to scrape up a yell from your belly and send it up into the swaying green canopy until all the veins bulged from your red face, any hiker or mushroom hunter more than a hundred feet away would only wonder for a moment if maybe they just heard something. Then they’d go on with their lives. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/e2f83255-ce69-4c3d-9e40-d69d9ff7ea64/wormholing-transformed.png Work - in Coachella Review (Pushcart Prize nominee; Best of the Net nominee) Bourbon Penn, Issue 34 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/1d20dbaa-1029-46f7-99d8-61e6f4b1befd/when_people_laugh-transformed.png Work - in Arkana #11 Quarterly West, Issue 110 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/9c75ba72-a070-44b4-baf3-5d2790ef1773/inheritance-transformed.png Work - in Occulum #12 ergot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/d0b8425b-61d3-42ab-84c6-674c834954c4/enkindle-transformed.png Work - originally published in Ample Remains (R.I.P.) (Essay) New Delta Review, Issue 12.2 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/bf33aafd-8109-4c2e-9901-4fe5fb010730/our_students_paid-transformed.png Work - in COUNTERCLOCK Always Crashing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/0db35b26-4387-4c2e-8a35-88d01cebe905/when_worms-transformed.png Work - originally published in Electric Moon (R.I.P.) when words tumble earthworm / my mouth aspill/ loose soil / lost between open fingers / i stutter along the writhe-recede / delivered / unto dwelling / only wanting to be known: http://jasonbaltazar.com/about daily 0.75 2025-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/2d48920b-ab89-4a41-9465-c98e8416dc25/92+%281%29.jpg About Jason Baltazar is a proud Salvadoran American, originally from the Appalachian corner of Maryland. He represents the high school dropout to PhD pipeline (& is also a repentant former illustrator for the retail fashion industry). He currently teaches in the English Department at James Madison University. He believes imagination is sacred. He wants his work to leak across borders, conduct strange rituals, and speak with a weird heart on the tip of its tongue. His work has appeared in the Best Weird Fiction of the Year anthology and he is grateful to have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net in multiple genres. He is almost assuredly making something right now. Or looking at a bug. http://jasonbaltazar.com/enkindle daily 0.75 2025-02-12 http://jasonbaltazar.com/whenworms daily 0.75 2025-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545fe1fbe4b0efbe942d9107/047e83bc-9bcf-41dd-9db6-92d2ad2ea654/Screen+Shot+2025-02-11+at+8.01.15+PM.png Whenworms - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.