J. P. Dancing Bear (1961 – 2026), known to his friends as JP, Jerry, or most frequently “Bear,” was an American poet and publisher beloved for his supportive and editorial contributions to the literary community. For three decades he provided important literary publications and resources, including Verse Daily, a free literary resource for all, and the books of myriad poets and other writers via Dream Horse Press, now known as Dog’s Heart Press. A lover of nature, people, and other animals, when he wasn’t encouraging and promoting the work of other poets or expanding his own repertoire, he spent much of the last twelve years helping to run a dog rescue and protection charity. 

Bear is the author of sixteen collections of poetry, including Of Oracles and Monsters, Fish Singing Foxes, Love is a Burning Building, Cephalopodic, Family of Marsupial Centaurs, Inner Cities of Gulls, The Abandoned Eye, Conflicted Light, andGacela of Narcissus City, and his individual works can be found in hundreds ofmagazines and anthologies around the world. From one of his early poems, “Caliban,” to the thousands of contemporary birthday poems written for his friends and peers, his works include both a nod to tradition and a chin up to experimentation.

Bear lived most of his life in California until relocating to Oregon in 2016. His unwavering hope, positivity, kindness, generosity, sense of humor and wit, keen yet compassionate socio-cultural eye, image-rich poetry, and subtle gravitas earned him the admiration of strangers, friends, and colleagues.

J.P. Dancing Bear is mourned by his wife of twenty-five years, author CJ Sage, by the editors, past and present, of DMQ Review, and by poets and journals everywhere.