Archive for the 'General' Category
Busy, busy, busy. Where do I begin? A month or two ago I found a wonderful online poetry magazine with the motto, “Good poetry is meant to be understood, not decoded” and since I agree with that wholeheartedly I decided to submit a few poems. Two of them were accepted and will be forthcoming on www.strongverse.org. One of the poems, a villanelle, “Resolutions” is currently on the website and the other, “First Encounter with Fatherhood” will appear soon. I am very excited to be published there because it’s a website that I’m reading daily and I admire their work.
Besides that I’ve been working on poems for the NC Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series. I’m working with a great professor, John Hoppenthaler. He’s given me thorough feedback, recommended a few good poets, and suggested insightful essays. I’m very lucky to work with him.
I’ve also been busy trying to write new poems. I went to the first Cave Canem South for a weekend of workshops and readings. It was amazing. If you don’t know what Cave Canem is, then you’re not reading what I’m beginning to believe is some of, if not the best poetry in the United States. The weekend I went was a joint venture between Cave Canem and the South Carolina Poetry Initiative and the weekend tutors were Kwame Dawes, Nikkey Finney, Patricia Smith, and Frank X Walker. All were great and I learned a lot in the three days I was in Columbia. There were also some great voices participating in the workshop and I will admit to being a little intimidated. I can’t wait to see what bright future is ahead for all the poets involved.
Valentine’s Day was a fun night as well. I’ll soon upload videos I’m editing from Wilmington’s Bad Love Poetry Night at the Browncoat Pub & Theatre. I’m taking part in a bunch of readings in April; I’ll post a list soon. Etched Press is also publishing a new chapbooks soon, so I’ll be busy preparing that. This has been, and will continue to be, a great year for poetry.
Not necessarily the top, but what I believe are 35 essential movies to see from the decade in no particular order:
Road to Perdition
Memento
Amelie
The Dark Knight
City of God
Avatar
Gladiator
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Meet the Parents
The Fountain
Inglorious Basterds
The Departed
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Count of Monte Cristo
Children of Men
Once
O’ Brother Where Art Thou
Borat
Brick
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Into the Wild
Whatever Works
Tupac: Resurrection
Mean Girls
RENT
Talladega Nights
The Incredibles
Good Dick
Knocked Up
Lost in Translation
No Country for Old Men
Serenity
There Will be Blood
Hero
Close, a week too early, but you should still see it:
Galaxy Quest (Dec. 25, 1999)
Movies to See that will make you go WTF:
3. Y Tu Mama Tambien
2. Deadgirl [Unrated Edition]
1. Ken Park
Good news. It’s not posted on their website yet, but I got the acceptance letter. I was officially selected as a Student Poet for the series. Yes! I’m very excited for the opportunity to be a part of this series. There will be more news and updates to come. I also wrote a new poem that I won’t post here because I’m going to submit it some places. I also met Ron Bayes this past weekend. I got to hear him read twice! He’s a great guy and poet. Also, the Cucalorus Film Festival was in Wilmington so I saw about 8 movies. Some good, one was honestly the worst movie I ever sat through though.
So far, so good. I read at the October poetry reading hosted by Word Salad Poetry Magazine (which I was published in last month) and on October 17, 2009 I’ll be in Carrboro, NC for the West End Poetry Festival. I’m also applying to work with a mentor poet as part of the NC Poetry Society Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Series. This could be a big month for me. The Word Salad reading went well, I kept it short reading only the two poems that were published in the magazine. I filmed the reading, so I’ll post videos soon.
I also launched the Port City Poetry YouTube Channel which will feature poetry in Wilmington, NC and Wilmington poets reading in other places. I hope to not only post the videos I record, but those of others.
I’m working on a series of poems right now about pregnancy and childbirth. I can’t wait to finish, but they are coming very slowly. I’m going to need to work on these a lot. I’m hoping the poems will eventually turn into my first collection.
Well, if you happen to be in the Chapel-Hill/Carrboro, NC area around 5:00pm on Saturday October 17, 2009 feel free to stop by the The Carrboro Century Hall and see me read. If not, I’ll post video footage later.
Have a good day!
After a long hiatus, Etched Press, the micro-press I operate is returning. Etched Press is still seeking chapbook length poetry collections, because I love the form, but there will be a big focus on the new literary journal, Etched Literary Journal. The projected release of the first issue is Spring 2009, but depending on the amount of submissions it could be Summer 2009, there are still a lot I have to go through and many responses I have to send out. I apologize for the delay to all who submitted, I had to sort out a few things in my personal life before I could move forward. Thank you for your patience and I invite all to www.etchedpress.com/etched for the literary journal and www.etchedpress.com for the press.
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