Cover Proof of Etch and Blur

I found this in my email the other day . . .

 

 

Nothing left now but the printing . . . I think it turned out quite nicely.

Behind Schedule, Just a Bit

Though we are behind publication schedule on Etch and Blur, it is getting inevitably closer . . .

I Love the Smell of Poetry in Big Rapids

Hello all, just wanted to chime in to add a nice little reading coming up in the next few days in Big Rapids.

Yours truly will be reading. I’ll be reading from Etch and Blur, my nearly-released collection of poems from Brick Road Poetry Press.I’ll be reading with fellow Ferris State University faculty member, Betty Stolarek, as she reads from her new novel, One Amber Bead (written under the pen name Rebecca Thaddeus–she has a nom de plume, how rad is that.) It should be a good time–there’s poetry for the poet-types, prose for the prosers, and light refreshments for all.

 

The lowdown:

What: Reading: Jamie Thomas and Rebecca Thaddeus (aka Betty Stolarek)

Where: ArtWorks Big Rapids – 106 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids, MI 49307, (231) 796-2420

When: Thursday October 20th at 7pm

How: with our mouths mouthing the words

Why: b/c we love you

 

If you’re near you should come on out. and if you’re far, you should let someone who IS near know the skinny.

 

 

Hecht Prize Anthology – Coming in November

I just got done proofing the two poems of mine that will be included in the Hecht Prize Anthology (2005-2009). Waywiser Press decided that they would release an anthology of poems from poets who were Finalists for the Anthony Hecht Prize over the first 5 years the book prize has existed.

I was twice a finalist/semi-finalist for The Anthony Hecht Prize for my manuscript Etch and Blur (which will be published by Brick Road Poetry Press this Fall), and the Eds. were cool enough to include my work in this boss anthology.

I am extremely flattered to appear next to so many talented poets. Waywiser Press does a very god job promoting poets’ work–even those who advance but don’t win their book prize–each year including selection from finalists on their website, along with biographical material. It’s a nice touch for sure.

The Hecht Prize Anthology is due out in November, and, as I said, it is busting its seams with killer poems by killer poets. Everything kills you these days, but this anthology kills you with lines and verses.

 

 

A Couple Not-New Poems Dressed Up to Look Like New . . .

Waywiser Press has been real cool about promoting its finalists/semi-finalists of The Anthony Hecht Prize, with BIOs and poems from everyone on that list.

I’ve got a couple of poems up there right nowhe Eds. at Waywiser were cool enough to include me even though I had to pull my manuscript out of the running (unlike another press I won’t name–who struck me from their short list b/c I’d just placed the mss. elsewhere (whatever)).

Anyway follow the link here (The Anthony Hecht Prize 2010) if you want to check the poems out. And check out the other good poets with good poems you’ll find here.

The Michigan Poet

I am a Michigan Poet, in that I am a poet and I am from and currently spend my time in Michigan (for better or worse). So it makes sense that my work might be featured here. I sent them work not so much b/c I fit the criteria of the project, but b/c I think it is a very cool project and I wanted to be a part of it.

The Michigan Poet, like many other “lit mags” or outlets for Lit, is embracing our online virtual-constant-ness–our penchant for being plugged in. However, they are also interested in community, creating broadsides of a single featured poet per/month and plastering them all over Michigan, and in places off the beaten-poetry-path: in businesses, schools, etc. There is something so 1960s (in a very good way)–or 1760s for that matter–about posterizing/pamphleting towns in service of spreading the word to the masses; in this case the word is “poetry.”

For a taste of what they do, follow this link. I’ve got work up there for The Michigan Poet‘s first anniversary double issue–click the pics once you arrive.

Some New Work @ The Offending Adam

Okay all of you Skype-babies of the all-devouring interwebs, I’ve got some new poems up at this little online journal The Offending Adam. To be real real honest in a what-the-hell-do-you-care-but-I’m-gonna-confess-it-anyway sort of way, I have always been a little leery of the online medium; it has always felt so non-permanent; I can’t hold the contrib. copies (though I guess I could pace the house with my laptop cradled in my arms)–Easy come Easy go–but it has obviously become more and more prevailing, and, more importantly, there are those who are doing it right . . .

The Offending Adam is doing it damn-straight right. I love the format and the philosophy and am highly honored to grace their “pages.”

So check it out, all you twittering facebookers–“Dialogue in the Suburbs” and “Demolition Fable”