Rye & I, by JK Miller

Poetry, prose, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Rye & I chronicles the daily routines of a rescue dog and his owner. From his mismatched ears and “presidential gaze” to his playful belly crawls through “tunnels of love”, Rye’s high-energy and charming character tug away at his owner’s heart. This is a little neighborhood of poems and poetic prose that feels like the Juan Ramón Jiménez classic Platero y Yo. The pieces overlap to explore the deep, unspoken bond between a dog and his owner, shifting from the dog’s perspective of the world, driven by his millions of scent receptors, and the human’s world of appearances, ambitions and pride. Rye helps his owner sense the beautiful invisible landscape beyond.

JK Miller is a former third grade dual language teacher. He lives on the edge of cornfields. He is the first place winner of the 2025 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest. His chapbook Bicycling Poems was published in October, 2025 by Bottlecap Press. His poems have appeared in shoegaze literary, Midsummer Dream House, Harrow House, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Rat’s Ass Review, 50-Word Stories, Verse-Virtual, Paratextos, Amethyst Review, The Poetry Lighthouse, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Up North Lit, Eunoia Review and The Zest of the Lemon, among others.