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This bibliography documents the published books of Thomas L. Vaultonburg. Each entry includes standard bibliographic information together with references to authoritative cataloging and library databases whenever available, including the Library of Congress, WorldCat, and Google Books. Where applicable, entries also include ISBNs, publication history, reviews, related media coverage, and links to additional archival materials.
Rather than serving solely as a reading list, this bibliography functions as part of the Thomas L. Vaultonburg Literary Archive by documenting the publication history and bibliographic record of each work.
Books
Concave Buddha and Other Public Disservice Announcements (1991)
Author: Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Full title: Concave Buddha & Other Public Disservice Announcements
Publication year: 1991
Publisher: Press of the Third Mind
Place of publication: Chicago, Illinois
Language: English
Format: Print book / poetry collection
Bibliographic status: First published book by Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Catalog and archival records
University at Buffalo holding
Collection: Special Collections, Poetry Cabinet
Call number: V38.47662T 1991 C66
Copies listed: 1
Catalog source: University at Buffalo Libraries
Authority source shown by the catalog: Library of Congress Name Authority and Wikidata
Author notes: I wrote half of this book in two weeks after Bradley Lastname, publisher of Press of the Third Mind in Chicago informed me that we were doing a book. I had originally just intended to send him some poems for Bile. The short plays in Concave Buddha and Other Public Disservice Announcements were performed by the Neo-Futurists at Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind in 1991. The cover art for Concave Buddha and Other Public Disservice Announcements was done by Joel-Peter Witkin
Detached Retinas (1997)
Detached Retinas (1997)
Author: Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Publication year: 1997
Publisher: Zombie Logic Press
Place of publication: Byron, Illinois
Language: English
Format: Print book / poetry collection
ISBN: 0-9670191-0-9 (ISBN-13: 9780967019109)
Bibliographic status: Second full-length poetry collection by Thomas L. Vaultonburg.
Bibliographic and Archival Records
Bibliographic and Archival Records
Author notes: Most of this book was written on the porch in a house on Quincy Avenue in Rockford I shared with some other guys while we were all delivering appliances for Sears and partying pretty hard at night. I did the cover art myself after the woman I was dating decided to leave for art school in Milwaukee. It is the last book of mine printed on an offset press.
Flesh Wounds (2011)
Author: Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Publication year: 2011
Publisher: Zombie Logic Press
Place of publication: Rockford, Illinois
Language: English
Format: Print book / poetry collection
ISBN: 978-0615523590 (ISBN-13: 9780615523590)
Bibliographic status: Third full-length poetry collection by Thomas L. Vaultonburg.
Catalog and archival records
Author notes: This is a book I wrote primarily on cocktail napkins while I was working in dive bars, strip clubs, country clubs, sports bars, and fine dining. The title refers to all the acts of depravity and human frailty, but also the bliss and ecstasy one witnesses, and engages in, working in bars and restaurants. The cover of me replacing Saint Thomas and holding a Schlitz while inspecting Jesus' wounds in the Caravaggio painting The Incredulity of Saint Thomas was designed by me at a time when I was feeling quite irreverent about everything.
Submerged Structure (2012)
Author: Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Publication year: 2012
Publisher: Zombie Logic Press
Place of publication: Byron, Illinois
Language: English
Format: Print book / poetry collection
Bibliographic status: Fourth full-length poetry collection by Thomas L. Vaultonburg.
Catalog and archival records
Author notes: The cover for Submerged Structure was taken by my close friend Ryan Davis and is of an actual road sign that existed along the Rock River between my hometown of Byron, Illinois and Oregon, Illinois. The sign was a warning that something was below the water that wasn't visible, but needed to be accounted for, and for me that felt like the perfect of description of being diagnosed with Schizoid Personality Disorder in 1985 and the lifelong struggle of feeling the need to translate myself to other humans.
Moonscape: Haiku Phase I (2022)
Moonscape: Haiku Phase I (2022)
Author: Tré and Thomas L. Vaultonburg; illustrated by Tré
Publication year: 2022
Publisher: Wolf Twin Books
Place of publication: Rockford, Illinois
Language: English
Format: Print book / illustrated haiku collection
ISBN: 978-1-7378368-0-9
Bibliographic status: First volume in the Scape Trilogy and the first collaboration between Thomas L. Vaultonburg and Tré.
Catalog and archival records
Author notes: My first book with Tré. For an entire year we wrote about the moon together. Then Tré did an illustration for each one of ourcall- and- response haiku pairings.
Tea With the Tigress: Poems 2010–2020 (2023)
Tea With the Tigress: Poems 2010–2020 (2023)
Author: Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Publication year: 2023
Publisher: Wolf Twin Books
Place of publication: Rockford, Illinois
Language: English
ISBN: 979-8-9879911-0-7
Format: Print book / poetry collection
Bibliographic status: Collection of poems written between 2010 and 2020, bringing together a decade of previously published and unpublished work. The book was released by Wolf Twin Books in 2023.
Catalog and archival records
Google Books
WorldCat
Illinois Center for the Book
Goodreads
Author notes: Tea With the Tigress gathers poems written over a ten-year period, allowing me to look back on a decade of work as a single conversation rather than as individual publications. Instead of arranging the poems chronologically, I selected and organized them to create a cohesive reading experience. In many ways, it serves as both a retrospective of my later free-verse poetry and a bridge to the quieter, more attentive writing that eventually led me to devote myself primarily to haiku.
Small Songs for Weary Travelers (2023)
Small Songs for Weary Travelers (2023)
Author: Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Publication year: 2023
Publisher: Wolf Twin Books
Place of publication: Rockford, Illinois
Language: English
Format: Print book / haiku collection
ISBN: 979-8-9879911-1-4
Bibliographic status: Second haiku collection by Thomas L. Vaultonburg and the second title published by Wolf Twin Books.
Catalog and archival records
Author notes:Small Songs for Weary Travelers was written between 2020 and 2023, during a period in which my world had become unexpectedly small. A season of personal loss was followed almost immediately by the global COVID-19 pandemic, reducing both the physical and emotional landscapes through which I had once moved. Rather than searching for a way back, I turned inward, studying Buddhism and allowing Zen to quietly become my default way of seeing. On January 1, 2020, I began writing exclusively in the haiku form. These poems are the result of that practice. They reflect a gradual movement from grief toward renewed attention, discovering that even the smallest moments can hold unexpected freedom, companionship, and hope. My hope is that these poems meet readers as fellow travelers, offering a quiet place to pause and continue the journey.
Vanished Roads (2026)
Vanished Roads (2026)
Author: Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Publication year: 2026
Publisher: Wolf Twin Books
Place of publication: Rockford, Illinois
Language: English
Format: Print book / haiku collection
ISBN: 979-8-9879911-3-8
Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN): 2026939406
Bibliographic status: Third haiku collection by Thomas L. Vaultonburg and the fifth title published by Wolf Twin Books.
Catalog and archival records
The Haiku Foundation Digital Library
Author notes: Vanished Roads was written between 2020 and 2026, a period that followed profound personal loss, a stroke, and the isolation of the pandemic. Rather than searching for a way back to what had been lost, the book gradually became an exploration of what remains when familiar paths disappear. The haiku trace a movement from grief toward renewed attention, finding meaning not through resolution but through careful observation of the ordinary world. More than any of my previous books, Vanished Roads reflects the influence of Soto Zen practice and my conviction that paying close attention is itself a form of hope.
Critical Reception:
Magedah Shabo's Review of Vanished Roads
Sean Wright's Review of Vanished Roads
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