January 4, 2012
Happy New Year! Click on the old-school cassette above to go to the first entry in this year's blog project, The Poetry Mixtape. It will feature commentary on poems that have been instructional or meaningful to me in some way. Last year's Tow Truck prompts are all archived for you on the blog if you didn't get a chance to try them out. Keep your ears open for a possible Tow Truck App at the end of 2012...
December 3, 2011
So pleased to report that one of my favorite journals, Linebreak, has accepted my poem "Digging In" for publication. I also have poems coming in the new year in THIS Literary Magazine and Cider Press Review.
October 19, 2011
My prose poem "The Canyon is My Alibi" is now live in The New Gnus. This is the second issue of this inventive online journal. Give it a read.
Also, looking ahead to December, I should be reading at the Fine Arts Building Birthday Bash on Michigan Avenue in Chicago on December 9th. Mark your calendars!
September 20, 2011
Propolis: a video triptych by Swoon, Nic Sebastian, and Kathy McTavish, featuring my poem "When I don't love you anymore is a Wasp" as well as poems by Lisa Cihlar and David Tomaloff is now completed. Click the title to watch their beautiful work.
Come Out, Virginia is now complete and available for purchase from me in person. I hope to have a Paypal link soon on the Chapbooks page.
Tilt A Whirl: A Journal of Repeating Forms has accepted my poem "A Pragmatist's Response to Rogers and Hammerstein" for its new issue which should debut at the end of this month.
September 5, 2011
Lots of news...
Friday's pentathlon was a great success! And I scored another win (just barely beating wonderful Chicago poet Jan Bottiglieri).
A new chapbook, Come Out, Virginia, is nearing its completion date. Stay tuned for details.
Caesura, a beautiful journal from California, has just accepted two poems for its "Brothers and Sisters" issue.
August 23, 2011
Coming next Friday, September 2 at 7:30 PM! The third annual Poetry Pentathlon! If you are in the Chicago area, come to St. Paul's Cultural Center at 2250 W. North Avenue in Wicker Park to watch me (and 11 other poets) compete head-to-head for the glorious prize of bragging rights in five categories: zombie poems, sestinas, rants, performances of Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and a poem to be written during the course of the evening's events.
This event is free and open to the public - and it's loads of fun! Come on by and watch the words fly.
July 20, 2011
The wonderful Cider Press Review has just accepted my poem "Morning After Mardi Gras" for Volume 13. Thanks to CPR for their confidence in my work.
July 18, 2011
I am happy to join the editorial staff of Mixed Fruit magazine as a poetry reader. Check out Issue #1 here.
PAST EVENTS
April 10, 2011 -Rhino Release Reading at the home of editor Ralph Hamilton.
January 30, 2011 at Brewed Awakenings with Kristin LaTour
I am pleased to join my friend and amazing poet Kristin Latour for an Illinois Poetry Society event at Brewed Awakenings in Westmont, IL at noon on January 30.
January 31, 2011 - Exact Change Only Release Party
December 10 at the Chicago Fine Arts Building - An Evening of the Arts.
I will be joining lots of other Chicago poets, as well as artists, musicians, composers, dancers, and other creative folks, at an Evening at the Fine Arts Center. This is a free, open-house event from 5-10 PM at a historic space in the city that is now a home to the arts. See flyer here.
December 20 at Cafe Ballou, 939 N. Western, Chicago
The weirdos at the Waiting 4 the Bus Collective (yes, they officially allow me to say that - in fact, they encourage it!) has scheduled me to feature at their Third Monday Open Mic night on December 20, 2010. Come for Open Mic sign up at 7:30, and stay for my feature after the Open Mic readers are done. You know you want to - and it's five days before Christmas, so you know you either are: A) not busy B) in need of a break from holiday preparations. And Cafe Ballou has wonderful coffees and teas for a cold Chicago night - and you can BYOB to make your own holiday fun!
Coming Soon in September!
Come listen as I host an event at the Hinsdale Public Library featuring former students/amazing poets from Hinsdale Central's Poetry Club. These talented writers/performers have been taking the area by storm, placing finalists in the Louder than a Bomb competition for two years running.
There will be a performance, a writing prompt activity, and an open mic. (I'm even trying to talk them into creating a chapbook of their work to sell in support of their club activities...) Come to listen, write, and be amazed! Tentative Date: 9/30
Feature Night at Molly Malone's! - July 12, 2010
I have been invited to be the featured reader at my favorite poetry venue, Molly Malone's, hosted by Al DeGenova and Nina Corwin every second Monday at 7:15 PM. Please come have a pint, some good food, and hear a guaranteed fantastic open mic before my feature - and hey, maybe even buy my book!
Molly Malone's
7652 Madison Street
Forest Park, IL 60130-1403
(708) 366-8073
Apparatus Magazine Turns One-Year-Old! - June 15, 2010
I will be a reader at the following event - good words, great fun, raffle prizes, food, and a worthy cause - what more could you want in an event???
Apparatus Magazine’s one-year anniversary reading will take place on Tuesday, June 15th (the exact anniversary of the journal). The event will be held at Winston’s Internet Café, 5001 North Clark Street, in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago, from 7:30-9:30 PM CST.
Some of the proceeds from the evening’s donations and raffle ticket sales will go to the Gerber/Hart Library – a GLBTQ library in Chicago that provides literacy programming and a safe environment for readers on the North Side. (http://www.gerberhart.org/
