Jason O’Toole is Poet Laureate Emeritus of North Andover, MA and was co-founder of the Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest. He serves on the advisory board of the New England Poetry Club, and as treasurer of the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco. He is the recipient of the 2025 Amy Lowell Prize and the 2026 judge for this contest. He also serves as a judge for the Tom Nattell Peace Poetry Prize and the Capital District Slam Poetry Festival in NY. His third full collection of poetry is The Strange Misgivings of the Sadly Gifted (Dead Man’s Press Ink). Recent poems and prose have appeared in the anthology Love is for All of Us (Storey Publishing), as well as Wednesday Magazine, Ghost City Press, The Somerville Times, and Phil Lit.

The Strange Misgivings of the Sadly Gifted is a 2025 poetry collection by Jason O’Toole, featuring illustrations by his son, Alexander O’Toole, with cover art by Lisbon born Hello The Mushroom (Sara Lucas), published by Dead Man’s Press Ink. The book is a deeply emotional and personal work, exploring themes of fatherhood, love, loss, and societal critique through poems inspired by his son’s art, with a focus on the experience of a transgender child. The second edition published in 2026 features select artworks by members of The Collage Club including artists Juliette Pestel, Nancy Hoogstad, and Raquel França Batista who are based in The Netherlands, and Netherlands born and raised “Miss.Printed,” the Norway based founder of The Collage Club.

Links:

The Strange Misgivings of the Sadly Gifted 2nd edition (ships from the US)

To purchase in The Netherlands:

2025 Amy Lowell Prize winning poem: https://nepoetryclub.org/jason-otoole-astropastoral-the-second-pentacle-of-the-sun/

LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/jasonotoolepoet

Substack: @jasonotoolepoet

Poets & Writers page: https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/jason_otoole

Life’s Blood merchandise: https://prank.bandcamp.com/album/lifes-blood-hardcore-a-d-1988