Michael Lee Bross's debut poetry chapbook, "Meditations on an Empty Stomach", winner of the 2015 "Arts by the People Chapbook Award", follows the philosophical wanderings of a new father taking his first steps into parenthood. His poetic journey leading him through crisis of faith, sexuality, and responsibility as he struggles to come to grips with his new role and his now outdated and abruptly shattered perspectives on life, death, existence, hunger, and his ability to guide a newborn life through a world he himself barely understands. This book challenges the patriarchal norms through at times serious, and other times whimsical poetic fancies, all while exploring the world through the imagine lens of his infant daughter.