- Poem
In this issue, we’re pleased to welcome guest poet Paul Bukovec, whose writing brings to light the kind of knowing that lives in everyday lives and hard-won experience. Raised in a working-class North Jersey neighborhood and shaped by the political energy of the 1960s, Bukovec’s early path took him from draft resistance to teaching in Zambia. After returning to the U.S., he settled in Philadelphia, where he spent four decades as a psychotherapist, educator, and pioneer in domestic violence intervention—creating the city’s first two Batterers Intervention Programs. Through it all, he listened closely to the people around him. His poetry emerges from those years of listening: gritty, sharp-eyed, full of heart and humor.
His first book, Crusty Bits of Scrapple (2024), offers vivid sketches of the people and places he knows best. His second, On My Way Here (2024), is part memoir, part noir, reflecting on where he’s been and how far he’s come. Bukovec’s voice adds depth and character to this issue’s exploration of semiotics, cognition, and culture—reminding us that meaning doesn’t just live in theory, but in the stories we carry and the people we remember.