“Spring has come to New York. We have 20 sleeping bags left, which means that we gave 30 away to people who are homeless & to homeless shelters. Instead of handing the remaining 30 off to shelters, we have decided to hold onto them until next season. Although I’m not feeling great at having not handed …
For the past 2 months Wendy & I, along with various friends, have been driving around delivering sleeping bags to homeless people. You can read more about it here: http://brooklynartists.tumblr.com. I’d suggest starting from the very beginning. It takes about 15 minutes in all. We have 29 bags left, & I would love to invite …
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There seems to be a great deal of young to mid-career writers online discouraging each other from engaging in self-promotion. This is a serious mistake–a deleterious form of group-think equatable to self-sabotage. Most successful writers will tell you, from experience, that you must FIGHT for the recognition of your artwork. Rare is a spotlight …
“The Vargas-Vargas Affair” is a poem I wrote that deals primarily with narrative’s possibly innate (hard-wired) ability to sway judgement. It can transfix us. It has the ability to build within us empathy for a character & ultimately for each other, but it can also be a great tool for propaganda. There is always …
Dear Jack, I wanted to say I opened your letter to Lorca, but before you get upset, know that I hear you when you say the personal adventure will at best show in the lovely pattern of cracks where autobiography shatters but does not quite destroy the surface of a poem, & that this …
I believe I just discovered the meaning behind Mike Tyson’s answer to a question I posed to him last night at the New York Public Library, where he was interviewed by Paul Holdengraber. The answer is a little overwhelming, truthfully. Through tears & self-effacing comments, he spoke about many things, but spent a good deal …
Photo Ric Camacho. Williamsburg changes, that is the constant. One group moves on top of the next, expands. The L train is a sardine can. They built highrise condos near the waterside, a perfect view of Manhattan. Then they built another highrise to block that highrise, pressing right up on the water. Get yours. Get …
Check out the Brooklyn Rail for a long poem I wrote about an evil twin. Which is evil? Neither, surely. But at least one is a lying, conniving sociopath. Click to read The Vargas-Vargas Affair. I wrote this poem as I write all my poems: music first, then meaning. A few minutes in & I’m …
We had a great turnout for the Anselm Berrigan reading at Lu Magnus this Saturday, thanks to the carnivalesque Kaleidoscope people dropping in for a bit of poetry on their parade about the city. I am so proud of this book. Jonathan Allen spoke before Anselm read, touching upon the impetus for his work, which …
YES! I finally found an opportunity to use that wild headshot Adam Courtney took of me last year! So last night I wrote a list of things you should be experiencing this week. It went out with the Hyperallergic newsletter, so if you’re not subscribed, you won’t see it. But I will say, it features Adam Larsen’s movie Neurotypical …
June is BAP’s open submission season. Luckily, I have readers, so I can focus on the 9 or 10 books I have to put out before Christmas. Plus, I’d really like to make a stab at getting another book of mine out next year, so I’m sending poetry off like everyone else, which I haven’t …
Kit Frick, the Chapbook Editor/Sapling Editor of Black Lawrence Press, interviewed me a few weeks back for the Sapling newsletter, which goes out to people who sign up for it. She’s allowed me to post the contents here: For this week’s feature, Sapling talked to Joe Pan, Managing Editor/Publisher of Brooklyn Arts Press Sapling: …
This month I chose a poem by Shane Book for Hyperallergic. Shane & I attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop together, & I’ve always been impressed by his work in both the poetry & the human rights spheres. He’s also a filmmaker, so be on the lookout for his work in that medium in the future.
Helen Diffenderfer, my grandmother, died today. She was 85 years old. She was a badass. She worked at Cape Canaveral. She wasn’t much afraid to die, & had a pretty good last few days, from what I can tell. She ate like a trucker: two Christmases ago she berated me for not giving her a …
Blue Safari by Josh Bell continues to show why he should be considered one of our great poets. In other news, I threw open the windows to the whole apartment & cleaned for two days straight. I could live there, I thought, looking in the room I live in.
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