About The Poet Thomas L. Vaultonburg

ThomasL. Vaultonburg  owns and operates Zombie Logic Press, in Rockford, IL.  Thomas is available for readings and workshops. Born in 1969, Thomas L. Vaultonburg grew up in the shadows of the Byron Nuclear plant. Despite this, or possibly because of it, he went on to have a distinguished career as a child, including winning three consecutive Presidential Physical Fitness Awards.

                   

                         The poet Thomas L. Vaultonburg 2026

Thomas L. Vaultonburg began publishing poetry in the small press scene at age 19, and encouraged by poets like Ron Androla, Gerald Locklin, Todd Moore and Charles Bukowski, soon wracked up an impressive list of publications before he dropped out of the publishing scene altogether to pursue a career in the restaurant/bar business, where he worked 12 years as a bartender, bouncer, and finally owned his own bar, Castaways, with his brother Dan. Since 1997 Vaultonburg's poetry can only be read at Zombie Logic Press.

Thomas L. Vaultonburg is a poet, actor, editor, screenwriter, bloggist, painter and founder of the Zombie Party (Z). He unsuccessfully ran for Winnebago County Coroner twice, but undeterred by his crushing defeats has set his site on statewide office in 2012. He is a lover of the Chicago Cubs, Devo, Tab Cola, and Women's Flat Track Roller Derby.

PeriodicalPublications:

• Exquisite Corpse
• Karamu 1990
• Red Cedar Review
• Pearl, Paper Radio
• Chiron Review
• Onionhead
• Minotaur
• Slipstream 1991
• Sulphur River Literary Review
• Fox Cry
• Trestle Creek Review
• Caliban 1995
• The Rockford Review
• Black Buzzard review
• Black Bear review
• Black Moon 1996-1997
• Bogg
• Abbey
• Gargoyle
• Lilliput Review
• The Plastic Tower
• Yefief 1197-present
• Danse Macabre 2011

Awards, Fellowships, Grants and Honors:

• Listed member of Poets and Writers Directory
• Listed actor on Internet Movie Data Base IMDb
  

Book Publications:

• Concave Buddha by Thomas L. Vaultonburg  1991 The Press of the Third Mind Chicago
• Detached Retinas by Thomas L. Vaultonburg  ISBN 0=9670191-0-9 Zombie Logic Press Byron, Illinois 1997
• Flesh Wounds by Thomas L. Vaultonburg  ISBN 0-9670191-1-7 Zombie Logic Press Rockford, IL 61103
• Submerged Structure by Thomas L. Vaultonburg  ISBN 0-960191-3-3 Zombie Logic Press Rockford, IL 61103
• Toughskin Rhinoceros Wrangler by Thomas L. Vaultonburg Illustrated by Jenny Mathews ISBN 0967019141 Zombie Logic Press Rockford, IL 61103

The poet Thomas L. Vaultonburg perhaps pissing on a wall.

Thomas L. Vaultonburg is a poet, publisher, editor, and writer living in Rockford, Illinois. Born in 1969 and raised near Byron, Illinois, Vaultonburg began publishing poetry in the independent small press at age 19. His early work appeared in literary magazines including Exquisite Corpse, Chiron Review, Slipstream, Gargoyle, Lilliput Review, and numerous other small press publications.

In 1997 he founded Zombie Logic Press, an independent publishing house devoted to poetry, outsider literature, children's books, and work that might otherwise have difficulty finding a home. Over nearly three decades, Zombie Logic Press has published writers and artists from Rockford and around the country while remaining stubbornly independent.

Vaultonburg's books include Concave Buddha (1991), Detached Retinas (1997), Flesh Wounds (2011), Submerged Structure (2012), Atrocious Poems A to Z (2017), Moonscape (2022), Tea With the Tigress (2023), Small Songs for Weary Travelers (2023), and Vanished Roads (2026), as well as other poetry and children's projects. His poetry has continued to appear in literary journals and haiku publications in the United States and internationally.

In recent years Vaultonburg has increasingly concentrated on haiku and short-form poetry, particularly poems concerned with nature, memory, grief, place, and the strange moments hiding inside ordinary life. In 2026 he published Vanished Roads, a collection of 104 haiku illustrated by Tré, through Wolf Twin Books.

Rockford itself has remained one of the persistent subjects running through his work. Through the Rockford Blog, Zombie Logic Blog, photography collaborations, local-history writing, and other projects, Vaultonburg has spent years documenting the city's landmarks, oddities, forgotten places, artists, businesses, characters, and stories. His collaborative project Haiku You! with Rockford photographer Ryan Davis combines photography and haiku created from years of walking through the city together.

Before returning his attention primarily to writing and publishing, Vaultonburg spent more than a decade working in bars and restaurants. He eventually became General Manager of Castaways On the Rock, the dive bar under a bridge where he organized events including Zombie Night and helped turn an unlikely location into a gathering place for part of Rockford's creative community. The Rockford Rage women's flat-track roller derby league was organized there during its earliest days.

More than thirty-five years after he first began sending poems into the small press wilderness, Vaultonburg is still writing, publishing books, documenting Rockford, and pursuing projects that reasonable people might have abandoned long ago.

He also remains a Chicago Cubs fan, proving that some hopeless causes are permanent.