William Barker

William Barker (1978 - ) was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and currently resides in Hawthorne, New Jersey with his wife, two sons, and black cat Ziggy. Primarily a novelist and short story writer since adolescence, poetry came into his life around 2006 when he was in his late twenties. He was nominated for a PUSHCART PRIZE in 2025. He has produced two full-length books of poetry: Shards (poems 2007-2010), and Workhorse (poems 2012-2015) along with seven chapbooks: The Writing Must Leap Upon You Like a Wild Beast (2012), Sleeping Children Are Still Flying (2015), Under the Water of My Shadow Music (2023, Alien Buddha Press), Cupping the Muck (Crying Heart Press, 2025), When the Ride is Over You Can Go To Sleep (Crying Heart Press, 2025) and most recently The Vacancies in Standing Still (Pure Sleeze Press, 2026) His poetry appeared in anthologies by Silver Birch Press (2013) and Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing (2014) while poems of his have appeared in publications by Heroin Love Songs, Laughing Ronin Press, Between Shadows Press, River Dog Press, Soup Can Magazine, The Literary Underground, Trailer Park Quarterly, and Otherwise Engaged Literature & Arts Journal.