Vaughn M. Watson
Vaughn M. Watson is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer based in New York City. His poetry, fiction, and nonfiction have been published in literary journals as varied as Tahoma Literary Review, About Place, and The Common. His debut poetry collection, going out & being normal, was named Runner-Up for the 2025 Press 53 Award for Poetry.
by Vaughn M. Watson
Runner-Up 2025 Press 53 Award for Poetry
A Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection
Publication date: March 27, 2025 at AWP Los Angeles (booth 1118)
Pre-orders ship mid-March
ISBN 978-1-950413-94-2
9 × 6 softcover, 74 pages
In his debut poetry collection, going out & being normal, Vaughn M. Watson examines a broken society. Pairing prose poetry with more traditional verse, Watson’s speakers travel from Beijing to Brazil, they fence with future lovers and dissociate on trains, they see themselves in lockdown celebrity photoshoots and TSA bins. This collection, broken into 4 distinct sections, takes us on a journey through the mind of an overthinker and chronic observer who just wants to get things right, for once. Runner-Up 2025 Press 53 Award for Poetry.