Poetry sub-menus:

From 1996 to 2001 I was actively involved in the performance-poetry community here in Chicago, as well as the national poetry-slam community. I ended up writing over 300 short pieces for public performance in that time period; here below, I have collected my 100 or so favorites of those years, listed first by the year they were written, then in alphabetical order (or you can click here for a fully alphabetized list, if there is a particular piece you're looking for). A red dot next to a title means that it is one of my personal favorites.

1996
1984
The absolutely true story of my ten-year high school reunion
Jimbo, the duck who sold out
Kathie Lee Gifford likes to fuck!
opium.com

1997
175113
AstroGirl
Coming and going
The dog who loved too much
A found poem which demonstrates my lack of faith in humanity
How to tell you're about to turn thirty
I wanna be your spleen
Jasonettes
A job I'd really like to have
A man
Missouri dreams
The night we pretended we were married
An open letter to Jerry Springer
The potential, the kinetic
Princess my princess
Red wine makes me sick
She's eating a bagel
Skylab is falling, the chicken told me
They can have my Macintosh when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers
Two minutes to talk to Jack Kerouac
Typing on keyboards in bars
Well, Steve Albini was nice to me
What really happened between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi

1998
10 oh one this morning
Albuquerque
Arkanon (written with Greg Gillam)
Christmas story, 1998
Crush on musician, number 1710
The dirty little violent things you have done to me (and the other dirty little violent things you have yet to do)
Eleven thoughts that will get me a penny from Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Five short poems inspired by Shag
Getting in touch with my pain
Lance Burton died for your sins
Lewinsky
My fourteenth day
My girlfriend (a found poem)
None of the above (a found poem)
Over there
Take me out (to the ballgame)
Taking a lover
There oughta be a law
There's something about a girl in uniform
Untitled (suicide poem)
Wedding haiku (a found poem)
The wonderful thing about poets
You and I will never love again

1999
dynasty
Eight haikus concerning the last night of 'Pow'
Jane the Geek
A little story about my last temp job
Maddie, the queen of internet pornography
me&thegirls&theporn&thedildos
My girlfriend thanks you for all the great things you taught me about sex
The mod kids
An obscene poem for my new lover
One of those moments
Only Nixon could go to China
She Number One and She Number Two
strangeplastikrobot
We are the sum of everything that has come before us
The world ends in 422 days
You are all the Prozac I need.

2000
A day without caffeine
Hello, Kiki Shelton?
I didn't go to Prom
Immaterial Boy: Fan fiction from Greg Gillam
Jason Pettus is one bad motherfucker
King of the losers
The legend of the tower people
A letter to Monika Pohle at the millennium
The man who masturbated without using his hands
Manifesto of the obvious
My name is Jason Pettus and I am not your ex-boyfriend
Open Letters (Kathy)
Open Letters (Katie)
Open Letters (Mike)
Open Letters (Theo)
A poem for Ellen, who in a moment of weakness asked for one
The Tattler
Tempe
Untitled (roommate story)
Untitled (Time is a fucked-up concept)
Way of the drunken warrior
You fuck like Sleater-Kinney

2001
Anyway - a poem for two voices
An ode to the 'We Should Be Famous Club' on the occasion of Yammer's fourth anniversary
A poem to myself on my 32nd birthday
Snowmen

2002
Concerning 'Yammer' and the inherent contradictions of poetry open mics
A poem for willow, who is now my ex-girlfriend