Author: Doug Hoekstra

Doug Hoekstra is a Chicago-bred, Nashville-based writer and musician, educated at DePaul University in the Windy City (B.A.) and Belmont University in the Music City (M.Ed.), whose prose, poetry, and non-fiction have appeared in numerous print and online literary journals. His first set of stories, Bothering the Coffee Drinkers earned an Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) for Best Short Fiction (Bronze Medal). Ten Seconds In-Between, his latest collection of short stories, earned a Royal Dragonfly Award for Best Short Story Collection of 2021 and Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist 2022. Hoekstra has also worked extensively as a singer-songwriter with eight albums of original material on labels released on both sides of the pond, musical highlights including included Nashville Music Award and Independent Music Award nominations, as well as many groovy happenings. “A lot of people write songs, Hoekstra writes five-minute worlds” (Wired Magazine). His most recent CD, “The Day Deserved,” was released in the U.S. and Europe in 2021. www.doughoekstra.net

Melting

October 29, 2024October 29, 2024 Doug Hoekstra

Dusk covers the interstate Beyond the plate glass window Semi-trailer trucks accelerate and roar Driving over daylight savings time The distant sound of comfort I remember. Engines fade On the stairway, turning keys Amber scents and shadows Lost touch, tracing soft and supple To my left and to my right Read more

A Young Woman

July 22, 2024July 22, 2024 Doug Hoekstra

At the Georgia O’Keefee museum There was a picture of the artist As a young woman, with an impish grin Mischievous eyes and a wide-open face Full of possibility, unraveling the times Walking through the door, painted Over and over again, considering All the various ways a woman would venture Read more

Vibrate All

July 7, 2023July 7, 2023 Doug Hoekstra

i like the sound of no phone no retro ring tone no buzzing in my pants vibrate all vibrate who vibrate you the space between us right now the slipstream meditating words ideas feelings xoxoxo I like the sound of deeper meaning no space between us Photo by Jonathan Borba Read more

Game of Telephone

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 Doug Hoekstra

The telephone used to ring a lot You see it in old movies Heroes fumbling for their change Being pelted with rain Pursued, hiding, and afraid There’s only one way out In the middle of seduction In the parlor, lights down low The faithful always called The criminal element laughed Read more

Thunder

January 30, 2023January 30, 2023 Doug Hoekstra

Rolls like a kettle-drumon the other side of the passwhere my lover once livedin a plain wooden houseunder a sky that carried weightin its splendor and its solace We saved hours underneaththe dogwood tree, silentholding hands, lightly old-fashionedlovers bent on listening asthe yellow-billed cuckoo sangsadder than the rain Everything I Read more

Jazz

October 21, 2021October 21, 2021 Doug Hoekstra

When I got divorced I realized early on that I had to look at What I was gaining as opposed to What I was losing When I did, I found much to consider With all due respect Because this is the nature of the universe A place beyond words Invented Read more

Open D

March 13, 2020March 13, 2020 Doug Hoekstra

Long auburn hair Fingers picking, backhand Bottleneck thrashing Closer to the microphone Swaying to and fro Like a cat Or a snake Or a dream I could forsake But never forget As the blues played on In the way they never had The blues played on And of course, they Read more

Prairie Sky

October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 Doug Hoekstra

In the morning She yawns and stretches With dancing eyes Repossesses Sunlight spilling Through a battered blind Diamond set And still in time Her legs unfold Intertwine The horizon lying Distant in the past As far as the soul can see She turns And burns And covers me Like a Read more