March

I’ve been neglecting my own website for the Brooklyn Arts Press website, which is brand new (praise be to Martin Rock) and seriously pleasurable to look at. I’ve also neglected writing about AWP, which was a wonderful experience, given how I was finally introduced to some of the authors I’ve published. Our reading at the […]

Joe Pan in New York Times

Visions of Drones Swarming U.S. Skies Hit Bipartisan Nerve By SCOTT SHANE and MICHAEL D. SHEAR ___________________________________ Last Friday I was in Boston attending the AWP conference when Wendy & I finished up dinner & drinks with some Boston friends & headed back to our hotel room. I figured I’d jump on Facebook before hitting […]

Ode to the MQ-9 Reaper (a poem by Joe Pan)

  I would like to thank the editors of Epiphany, in particular Brian Turner & Martin Rock, for their help in publishing “Ode to the MQ-9 Reaper” in print & partially online in their Winter/Spring 2013 War issue, as well as allowing me to talk a bit about the process of writing the poem (which is […]

Florida, a poem

Let me say something about contemporary poetry. It believes itself progressive. That is, when we write, as poets, we think of ourselves as creating something new in the world, that our thoughts & feelings & word choices are not replications of the past, though they are built of things from the past, the way a […]

Green Dance

Green Dance from Joe Pan on Vimeo. “Green” is a surreal work influenced by video games, the sonic permutations of language, competition, spring, the green of astro-turf, sex, & memory, featuring the poetry of Joe Pan.   Green Impetuous Impetus   The crassly fashioned. The crudely uttered. The caped crusader as a crêpe crew saber. […]

Soldier Suicides

  Last year, up through November, more active-duty soldiers killed themselves than were killed in battle: 177 to 176, respectively. One of the great difficulties of war is the post-service operation of reintegrating soldiers. Most return home to families that can’t fully grasp what they been through. The loneliness & the horrors of war stay […]

Green Dance

  For the past month I’ve been collaborating with choreographer Stephanie Sleeper on a piece that infuses modern dance with contemporary poetry. The work is entitled Green, and we will be performing the piece (yes, I am in it) on Friday & Saturday, October 26 & 27th, at the Triskelion Arts Center, located at 118 N. […]

Hyperallergic

  A few months ago, Hrag Vartanian, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Hyperallergic, approached me about serving as Poetry Editor of the online arts magazine/blog. Today marks my editorial debut, & I couldn’t be more thrilled. The inaugural poem is by Joanna Fuhrman, entitled “Poem for My 39th Birthday.” One of the great things about Hyperallergic is […]

Summer Lovin’

    My summer can be summed up in work. Even with the trip to Europe & upstate for Mt Tremper, I’ve worked everywhere, seven days a week. These three magnificent books are half of what I spent my time on, & I’m proud they’re out in the world.

Old friends

  Peyton Marshall, Xeni F. & Jim Sidel were in town & we all met up & had drinks in the Burg, settling into the garden at Soft Spot before moving later to The Counting Room for some catch-up conversation & good times. They’re each still funny, which helps conversation  that’s filling in the blanks […]

Reworking old material

There’s something that undercuts the nostalgia of reworking old material, & that something is the Oz of the fictional dream. We’ll call him Editor Emeritus, because he’s been around a while & is persnickety & panicky & full of pretense. He can’t believe you wrote that sentence in that way, but is too much the realist […]

Mount Tremper Arts Festival

(pictured top left clockwise to bottom left: Martin Rock, Jess Mynes, Joe Fletcher, Sampson Starkweather, Ana Božičević, Paige Taggart, Bianca Stone, Liz Clark Wessel, Mathew Pokoik, Iris Cushing, Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Joe Pan) Wendy P. & Liz S. not pictured. The trip to Mount Tremper Arts Festival was incredible, magical, a relief, a renewal, & so […]

Back from Vacation

  I’m back in the saddle, preparing 3 new books for publication with BAP, as well as running a clandestine poetry workshop, odd as that sounds. More on that later. In the meantime, check out my story “Bridge Jumping” in the new Cimarron Review.