Some Plugs

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There’s a few announcements I want to make today. One, I placed five new poems in the Oregon-based journal Indigo Rising Magazine. You can read them online here. They will also be in the print edition. What’s really cool about this is the fact that one of my former students at Keystone, Tricia Kinney, also placed poems in the same magazine and our work will be in the same print issue. You can read her poems here.  I think I’m more exicted by the fact that this is Tricia’s first national publishing credit! Furthermore, I’ve worked with her on some of these poems during a community poetry workshop I taught at the Vintage Theater, so it’s nice to see that the revisions paid off.

Second, I am doing a reading this Saturday with Dawn Leas for National Poetry Month. The reading will be held from 2-4 p.m. at the Osterhout Free Library, 71 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre. We’ll also have our books available for sale, and we’re also going to read a few poems by other poets. I have Langston Hughes and Terrance Hayes on my list so far. May add one more.

Dawn_and_Brian_poetry_reading[1]

Calls for submissions

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I wanted to take a moment and post some information regarding some journals looking for submissions.

First, a local journal, Word Fountain, edited by my friend Rachael Goetzke, is currently seeking submissions for its spring/summer, music-themed issue.  If you are interested in submitting, here is the contact info:

This is a music-themed issue, any genre, 1,000 words or less. Can be emailed to: wordfountain@osterhout.lib.pa.us or sent to:

Word Fountain Staff
c/o Osterhout Free Library
71 S. Franklin Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701

Word Fountain is also run out of Wilkes-Barre’s Osterhout Free Library, and it has a print edition and an online edition.

In addition, I have been asked to serve as a first-round editor for a new journal starting entitled East Meets West, American Writers Review.  Right now, we are working on the guidelines for submissions, but we are hoping to take submissions from mid-April-mid-June.

When I have more info about the guidelines/submissions, I will post them here.

Now, I need to get back to writing an article for another blog regarding National Poetry Month.

Happy writing/reading!

Towards the Splendid City

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I am currently re-reading Lofty Dogmas, a collection of essays on poetry edited by Maxine Kumin, Annie Finch, and Deborah Brown. For anyone interested in poetry, this is a great book to have on your shelf. It has some of the most important essays/letters written by some of the most influential poets, including John Keats, Percy Shelley,  William Wordsworth, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Pound, T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Rainer Maria Rilke, and some more contemporary poets such as Robert Hass, Elizabeth Bishop, Charles Bernstein, and on and on.

A lot of these essays I’ve already read a few times, but there is one I came across this time that I wasn’t familiar with and enjoyed thoroughly. The essay/lecture comes from Pablo Neruda, and it’s titled “Towards the Splendid City.” It is the speech/lecture he gave after winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 1971.

He raises some great points in it about the craft of writing poetry and the poet’s relation to society. First, he brings up the point that writers need a balance of solitude and interaction with community/society to produce good work. “I believe that poetry is an action, ephemeral or solemn, in which there enters as equal partners solitude and solidarity, emotion and action, the nearness to oneself, the nearness to mankind and to the secret manifestations of nature.”

There are a lot of ideas just in that one sentence, including Neruda’s belief that poetry is an action that requires time, space, and solitude, but  it is also an art form that requires connection to community and nature.

Neruda also stresses in the lecture/essay the importance of reaching out to the community. I think this is an especially important point. Those skilled in poetry should consider creating workshops, reading series, and other events to share poetry with others and to give people a chance to share their work with others. These experiences are rich and fulfilling for those involved, and often leave the community feeling inspired and more likely to keep writing.

Neruda makes some other good points in the lecture/essay and stresses that a poet should not be a “little god.” He goes on to say, “He is not picked out of mystical destiny in preference to those who follow other crafts of professions.” He adds that the best poets are those who “prepare our daily bread.”

Neruda ends the lecture/essay by commenting on his own work, saying, “I was the most forlorn of poets and my poetry was provincial, oppressed, and rainy. But always I had put my trust in man. I never lost hope.”

If you are interested in reading the full essay/lecture, you can do so by clicking here.

first tattoos

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A few of the poems in Front Man reference first tattoos and the meanings and reasons behind getting tattoos. One of the poems specifically references the ficticious front man getting a Clash tattoo, the cover of London Calling, on his forearm. That poem and some of the others have sometimes prompted people at readings to ask me if I have tattoos.

I actually have four of them-two on my upper left arm, one on the upper right arm, and a pretty big one on my right leg. Most of the tattoos were inked on me during my punk rock days, but all of them having meaning. Though I don’t have a specific Clash tattoo, I do have a few punk rock band tattoos, including two Hot Water Music-inspired ones and one of the inconic Lawrence Arms logo-the hourglass with the bat wings/time flies symbol.

So that then poses the question by people, Will you regret those music tattoos when you are older? Maybe my answer will change when I’m 55, but for right now, I don’t foresee any regrets.

 Truth be told, some of my best memories are of punk rock shows, like the time I saw the Lawrence Arms for the first time at the cramped basement hall at the First Unitarian Church in Philly, when they opened for Against Me! a number of years ago. Those bands  and shows remind me of being young and raising my voice with best friends to sing along with some of our favorite songs. And still, to this day, as soon as I hear Brendan Kelly or Chuck Ragan’s raspy voices roar over the crunch of power chords, I feel good.

Bright Star

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Last night, I re-watched the film Bright Star, which focuses on the life of John Keats, especially his love affair with Fanny Brawne and his untimely death at a young age. This is one of the few biopics about a poet I really like. First and foremost, the acting is superb, especially Ben Whishaw as Keats and Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne. The passion of their love affair is captured best in the film not only through the acting, but also through the use of some of the letters Keats wrote to Brawne while he was away in various parts of Europe writing and trying to earn some income. Some of his letters had as much beauty and poetic images as some of his best poems. Here’s one of the lines used in the film: “I almost wish we were butterflies and I lived but three summer days. Three summer days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could contain.”

For those not familiar with Keats or some of his poetic theories, seeing the film is a nice introduction to some of his key thoughts and his life. For instance, Keats’ theory of negative capability is addressed in the film, the idea that not everything can be resolved and that truths found in the imagination access holy authority and that there is a “holiness to the heart’s affections,” too, a phrase directly quoted in the film.

Some of his other theories are addressed briefly in the film, including his belief that one should immerse himself in poetry through the senses, that feeling is what matters most, and that if poetry “does not come as naturally as leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all.”

If you haven’t seen Bright Star and if you aren’t familiar with Keats’ work, it’s a good introduction to his life and some of his theories, theories that played a key role in the English Romantic poetic movement. His theories and work are also paramount because the Modernist poets in the 20th Century acted against them through their own work and essays.

New reading series

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This weekend, the Mulberry Poets and Writers Association hosted a reading at the Vintage Theater in downtown Scranton. While emcing the event, I met a local poet, Charles O’Donnell, who told me about a new reading series starting in Wilkes-Barre.  It will be held the third Friday of every month at 6 p.m. at the Art Seen Gallery, 21 Public Square.

Writers are encouraged to share original work, as well as a poem or two by another writer. I like the fact these guys want expose the public to other poets. When I do readings, I often read a poem or two by another writer, just to share poets I love with other folks.

So, if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, why not come to the reading?

heavy cuts to education

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Usually, I only write about poetry on this blog, but I want to take some time today to address the steep cuts in education Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett is proposing. You can find details about the budget by clicking here.  But basically, he wants to cut state funding in half for state-owned universities or state-affiliated universities. This constitutes a lot of major schools across the state, including Kutztown, West Chester University, Penn State, Temple, Pitt, and dozens of others.

Yes, it is true that Corbett’s budget as stands would not raise taxes, but at what cost? Is slashing education the way to go here? If he is serious about reducing the deficit, controlling spending, and not raising taxes, then why not tax the gas companies now drilling across our state?

This issue is so personal to me because I benefited from the state university system. I did my undergraduate work at West Chester University and had a stellar education. My class sizes, especially my creative writing courses, were no larger than 15-20 students. Furthermore, I was able to attend college because as a kid from a middle-class family, the state schools were my best options in terms of affordability. I am greatly concerned that if this budget passes as is, it will lead to a spike in class sizes  and in tuition. It will cut down on the one-on-one time students can have with instructors, and it will also make college far less attainable for low-income and middle-class families.

There is a letter writing campaign going on now to dissuade those in Harrisburg from passing this budget as is. I wrote a letter to Gov. Corbett last night. His contact info can be found by clicking here.  

Hey musicians and music fans!

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My friend Conor O’Brien, one of the head honchos at the Vintage Theater in downtown Scranton, sent me a message today regarding an art exhibit they’re having during the month of May that will highlight the musical history of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. Basically, he needs some help collecting memorabilia from any of the venues that used to exist around here-Proofrocks, Cafe Del Soul, Cafe Metropolis, Homebase. The goal of the exhibit is to focus on the “history and energy that is the area’s music scene.”

To pull this exhibit off, they’re going to need old flyers, pins, photos, shirts, and any other merch from past shows. I have a folder of flyers, photos, pins, and posters of punk rock bands that swung by Home Base, Metro, Del Soul, and some of the old venues. I’m going to lend some of that stuff to this exhibit. But again, if you have anything, please help out with this event. This area always has had a healthy, vibrant music scene, and some bigger bands have swung through here, too. There have also been bands that came out of this music scene, including Title Fight, Tigers Jaw, the Holy Mess, and my friends in the Menzingers, that have gone on to gain national attention in the punk rock/indie rock scenes. It would be nice to showcase that.

To find out more about the exhibit and how to help, click here.

Radio Interviews and New Poems

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A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Erika Funke, host of WVIA Radio’s ArtScene program. We mostly talked about my latest poetry chapbook, Front Man, and some new material I’m writing. I had a blast sitting in the studio and talking poetry with her.

The interview will air on 88.9 FM in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area this Thursday (March 3) at 11 a.m. They will rebroadcast the interview on Sunday, March 6 at noon. If you aren’t in the area and want to listen to it, you can listen to it online by clicking here.  The interview will also be posted as a podcast by Monday. The podcast will be available here.

I again want to thank Erika Funke for this wonderful opportunity.

In addition, I want to mention that one of my new poems, “Dive,” was published this week by the national blog Young American Poets. You can read the poem by clicking here.  I mentioned Young Amerian Poets a few months ago, and I like it a lot because they give voice to poets born after 1972, new voices in contemporary American poetry.

With or without music?

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The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog recently posted an entry regarding the writing process, exploring whether or not it’s helpful to listen to music while one writes. For the author of the blog post, music is too distracting while writing and causes her to hum along and crank the speakers instead of writing. I have the same issues, which may be surprising considering my first chapbook of poems, Front Man, consists of narrative poems about a front man of a punk rock band. But I can promise you not a single one of those poems were drafted or revised while I had music cranking through I-pod headphones or pumping through my turntable’s speakers. Like the blog post’s author, I get too distracted.

My writing process is pretty strict in the sense that I do most of my writing in the early morning hours. I try to get in a good half hour of journaling, drafting, and revising before leaving my apartment to teach. The rest of my writing is done in the evening, after dinner, and again, without music or distractions.

I still collect records and catch live bands when I can (though it’s less and less as I get older), but for me, music is separate from writing. Most of what I listen to now is on vinyl, so I have to carve out a chunk of time to listen to those records, just as I carve out time during the day to write.

Everyone’s writing process is different. I’ve had students in creative writing classes that need to plug their ears with I-Pod headphones while we write in class. For me, I need silence after I spin the records and I’m ready to write.