Upcoming events

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I have a slew of upcoming events, so I wanted to post some info about them here.

This Friday, July 15, I will be reading at the Art Scene Gallery, located at 21 Public Square in Wilkes-Barre. I’ll share the stage with NYC-based poet Angela Alaimo O’Donnell. The reading starts at 8 pm. A limited open mic will follow. We’ll both have books for sale/signing.

On Thursday, July 28, I’m reading at the KGB Bar, located at 85 East 4th Street in NYC. The reading starts at 7 pm, and I’ll share the stage with my friend Monique Lewis, a fiction writer. We’ll be joined by two other writers. Check out our bios here.

On Sunday, July 31, I’m the featured reader at the second Prose in Pubs. This will take place at Jack’s Draft House in Scranton at 7 pm. Other readers include Matt Hinton, Mischelle Anthony, and Jennifer Diskin.

On Saturday, August 20, I’m hosting a reading to benefit 4H at a farm on Osborne Road in South Sterling. The details for that are still in the works, but I know I’ll be joined by poets Dale Wilsey Jr. and Alexis Czencz Belluzzi, as well as fiction writer Bridget McIntyre. The reading should start around 4ish.

And on Saturday, August 27, I’m reading at the Cherry Street Cafe, located at 21 N. 3rd Street in Lewisburg, PA. The reading starts at 7 pm. I’ll be joined by Alexix Czencz Belluzzi.

More info about these readings can be found on the events page of my website.

Finally, I want to announce that one of my poems, “How She Hides Her Age,” was accepted for publication by the California-based journal San Pedro River Review. It will appear in the fall issue.

Happy Writing!

pondering 2012

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Recently, former New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote  a compelling article about the Obama Administration, specifically the faults of the administration in dealing with the economy and of selecting a poor financial team, specifically Tim Geithner.

Read the article here.

Rich does make great points, and he’s right to argue that if reelected, Obama  needs to get rid of his financial team and have a laser-like focus on creating jobs and doing something more to stimulate the economy, since unemployment is still around 9 percent.

But I also understand the dire consequences of NOT voting for Obama. If the GOP maintains the House and wins back the White House and Senate, this country is in serious trouble. This GOP has pivoted so far to the right that after the 2010 mid-term elections they have succeeded at stripping collective bargaining rights in some states, creating deep cuts to education (especially in PA), rolling back abortion rights in several states, and pushing forward new voter laws that would disenfranchise minority voters. Just imagine what would happen if the party controls all branches of the federal government after the 2012 elections. This is the party that is seriously willing to crash the economy because they refuse to tax the super-rich as part of debt ceiling negotiations. This is all a real possibility, and unfortunately, the Obama Administration’s failure to address the economy early on has made GOP super majorties a real possibility. I just hope he gets some sense before 2012 is closer and realizes what his party is supposed to stand for.

Ending Another Poetry Workshop

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Tonight, the second poetry workshop I taught at the Vintage Theater is coming to a close, concluding with a free, public reading of student work from 7-9 pm. A limited open mic will follow.

I’m eager to hear my students get up on that stage and share the work they’ve drafted and revised over the last month. I especially liked this group because of the mix of styles, talent, and various writing levels. I had two adults in the group that have been writing and reading for a while, and I had three college students eager to hone their craft. We had one young man who barely had any experience writing poetry and has written more prose in the past. But I’ve seen him make such progress over the last few weeks, and it’s been exciting to watch him develop his skills drafting a clear narrative, concrete imagery, and similes and metaphors. I hope he continues to sharpen his skills, especially as he takes an advanced poetry writing class with me at Keystone starting in a week and a half.

I was also impressed with this group because of the comments and debates they offered for nearly every single poem I brought in to teach them various elements of poetry. Some of the discussions got a little heated at times, but if  a piece of writing or art can draw such a reaction from a group of people, that’s only a good thing.

I hope there will be more workshops at the Vintage Theater. I’m certainly willing to teach them. And if you want to hear some of the students share their work, then come to the reading tonight. It starts at 7 pm. The Vintage Theater is located a 119 Penn Avenue in downtown Scranton. The reading is free and open to the public. I’ll also be reading a few poems with my students.

readings and book sales

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I had a blast reading at the Wilkes University Maslow Reading Series the other night, as part of alumni night. I was especially happy to share the stage with fellow alums Jennifer Diskin, Taylor Polites, Chris Bullard, and Laura Baudo, not to mention award-winning writers William Heyen and William Kennedy.

Everyone did a good job reading, I thought, and the poets were well represented! I’m glad I got the chance to read a few poems from my chapbook Front Man, considering most of those poems were drafted and revised while I was in the MFA program at Wilkes. But reading a few new poems was even more refreshing. I also enjoyed hearing Heyen read, especially his last poem of the  night, a new poem that addresses how print is used less and less. Before he started reading, he handed out small postcards to folks in the audience with one of his poems. Long live print!

I also picked up a slew of books at a sale held by the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes Barre. During the $3 bag day, I managed to pick up Elizabeth Bishop’s complete poetry collection, as well as works by Russian poet Joseph Brodsky, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, Marvin Bell, Robert Bly, and a slew of other stuff. But I’m most excited to read a memoir by Eileen Simpson called Poets in Their Youth. She was married to John Berryman for a while, and her memoir also includes accounts that feature other big-named mid-20th Century American poets, including Robert Lowell, Delmore Schwartz, and Randal Jarrell. Should be a great read.

Back to the Base

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Tonight, I’m reading as part of the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing alumni night. I’m sharing the stage with fiction writer Taylor Polities and poets Jennifer Diskin, Laura Baudo Sillerman, and Chris Bullard. The reading will be held at 7 pm at the Dorothy i Darte Center, and it’s free and open to the public. We’re also going to be joined by National Book Award Finalist William Heyen, a poet, and Pulitzer Prize winner William Kennedy, a fiction writer.

Over the last 9 or 10 months, I’ve read at so many venues, both locally and out of state, but this is a reading I’m really pumped for because several of the poems from my chapbook Front Man were at the very least drafted during my time in the Wilkes program. Furthermore, as a student, I was given a lot of attention and support from the faculty, especially the poetry mentors. So, it’ll be nice to return and present some of the poems from the book to faculty and students, especially to those that didn’t read the book yet.

I’m also pleased that I’m share the stage with some alums from my cohort. Taylor and Chris started the program when I did. So, our class is well-represented.

If you’re looking for something to do tonight, come out to the reading. Again, it’s free and open to the public.

World Tree

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David Wojahn wrote one of my favorite poetry collections of the last 2o years- Mystery Train, which contains a sequence of sonnets based on rock ‘n roll history. So many major rock ‘n roll players are covered in that book, everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis, to the Beatles, to Bob Dylan, to the Sex Pistols. I’m currently reading Wojahn’s latest full-length collection, World Tree, and preparing to write a review for the literary journal PANK.

I’m about halfway through his newest collection, and I’m already surprised by the turns it takes, by Wojhan’s ability to craft longer narrative poems that mix the political with the personal and his ability to create compressed lyric poems. Mystery Train was brilliant in itself and had such a cool basis, but World Tree feels like a richer book, with greater depth and scope.  In World Tree, Wojahn references everyone from John Keats to Bob Dylan, using some of their own words and phrases in his poems. But several of the poems also reference humanity and our prehistoric past, tying ancient events to more contemporary events, like when his mother voted for Nixon.

There are some music poems, too, but they compose only a short section of World Tree. And though Wojhan does reference some well-known musicians, including the Ramones, Joe Strummer, and Dylan again, he takes the time to pay tribute to some lesser known musicians, including  blues player Charlie Feathers and Jimmie Rodgers, who he calls “the hillbilly Keats of my father’s 78’s,” meaning both artists died young and poor. The music poems do tie into the book as a whole because Wojahn uses them to develop the theme that the dead are always speaking to us, that our past has a direct influence on our present and future.

I’m eager to finish the rest of the collection, and when the review is published, I’ll post a link here.

Some updates

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I took a much-needed vacation over the last few days and camped at the historic beach town Cape May with my girlfriend, Jenna. After doing readings nearly every weekend since the fall and the release of Front Man, I needed to lounge on the beach and decompress.

But now that I’m back, I want to give a big thank you/shout ou to Jess Meoni, Dana Bloom, and everyone else involved with the first ever Scranton ZineFest. It was remarkable to see so many zinesters from the East Coast (Philly especially) come together to exchange ideas and publications. Also, everyone that read at Anthology that night killed it! I hope this will be an annual event in Scranton because it did indeed feel like something special.

I also want to announce that I’m now writing poetry book reviews for PANK, a national literary journal. My first review was just published, and you can read it here.  Also, I have a fairly new poem, “One Night,” published in the new issue of Pennsylvania Literary Journal.

I also have a few readings coming up.  On Tuesday, July 26, I’ll be reading at the KGB Bar in New York City with some other writers I know. More details to come soon. I’ll also be reading at the second Prose in Pubs series on Sunday, July 31 at Jack’s Draft House in Scranton with Matt Hinton, Jen Diskin, Mischelle Anthony.

One Last Post About ZineFest

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Just a reminder that the first ever Scranton ZineFest is this Saturday! The tables of zines will be featured from noon-3 pm along Center Street. Zinesters are coming from Philly, Allentown, and all along the East Coast. You can read the full list of featured artists and zinesters by clicking here.  It’s now pretty extensive.

Following the table portion of the event, I will host the poetry reading from 4-6 pm at Outrageous Cafe/Pages and Places at Anthology, which is also at Center Street. The featured readers include Amye Archer, Rachael Goetzke, Alexis Czencz Belluzzi, Dale Wilsey Jr, and me. To read bios of the featured readers, click here.

The press has also been so kind to us, and there’s been write-ups in most of the major publications here. To read the Electric City article click here.  To read the Scranton  Times-Tribune article, click here. To read the Weekender article, click here.  To read the Go Lackawanna article, click here, and to hear the WVIA radio interview, click here.

And again, please come out to the event and support what Scranton is doing regarding the arts!