NYU, Nuyorican, Radio Show, Rosen Fellowship, NY Poetry Festival, etc. Reply

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It’s the smile that comes with something not quite figured out yet, like a realization that’s coming, but it’s a good one, but it’s not fully understood: that’s what it’s like laying here in bed, writing up this post. If you recall, I did not expect any publications after the last post I made. That changed. I was published in the Junction and in Nine Lines, but it’s better than that. So much better.

Roy Scranton was told I’m a “cracking” poet by Maxim at the NYU veteran’s writing group, so Roy emailed me and looked at some of poems. He gave me the thumbs up to be a part of his reading on Governor’s Island on 22 July. I mean, what a huge break. But they’ve just kept coming. Maxim, Roy, you guys rock.

I had applied for the Rosen Fellowship which is giving me $5,000 to publish a book of poetry and go on tour and advertise. When I said “is giving,” that was your cue. If you’re one of those who jumps up and down at news of the success of others, you may begin. The board, Ms. Rosen and Stephen Gracia, thank you. And wait, it gets better.

I was invited to read at the Nuyorican this Saturday at 3:00pm, and one of the people who are curating that show read some of my poems and liked one so much that he threw some music behind it and sent it to me with a question: Would i like to collaborate? YES! Thank you Raymond Daniel Medina.

No, we’re not even close to done. Professor Douglas, who is brilliant, spent a few hours each week helping me revise the book of poetry that is getting published via the Rosen Fellowship. What Douglas did was change the way I view poetry, I mean, he swung wide the door of the wide, poetic world.  Still not done.

Professor Phillips has agreed to take me on for independent study for my Creative Writing Thesis which is a book. That’s two semesters of one-on-one work that will really be hugely beneficial. “Are we there yet?”

“10 more minutes.”

Well, man, I just got this mention in The Outlet which is a blog that is hosted by Electric Literature.  http://electricliterature.com/blog/2012/05/03/veterans-reading-at-nyu/comment-page-1/#comment-95685

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I want to reach into your mouth and fight to find the hand of your soul, feel the veins crisscrossing like super highways, red life speeding in one great machine we’re too tiny to comprehend, just one little cell ourselves, an entire universe of macro-micro infinity, all numbers pie of one holy circle. Plato are you there, caught between life and death, still part of the spinning eternity of it all? Ginsberg was right, we’re all so holy—and the day’ll come when we’ll slip from this aching flesh we’ve clung to for so long, see the perfection of it all, not just reflections of light, but math, the holy language of the perfect form resounding in a symphony where the monk chants in Tibet; where the priest cries for the poor souls in St. Marks; in Baghdad were an Imam sings to Mecca from rooftops; in Jerusalem where a Rabbi wails; inside NASA Space Station where a scientist sends sound waves into space;  in hospitals where a baby screams into life and an old woman sighs out of it, in the Tea Lounge where a poet whispers, at Zuccotti park where evicted ghosts still rage against the regime. Yes, we’ve raged since the first person asked why in the cave of dancing shadows—all of us from one ancestor, one cave, one flesh, one mind, one humanity—one—and look to see if everything can be solved by one and zero. If we’re not one, then we are zero, there is no other number, no other race, no other gender, no other. As one we are all the perfect circle of a zero. And this is the return to the good. The man on the moon was human, not American, not Lance, he was one of all making the giant leap of mankind—everything traced to one footstep from beginning to end. One.

What’s New? Reply

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Things are poppin’ and quickly. My body keeps getting weaker but my literary muscle is benching five-hundred pounds. I need a thousand pound literary muscle, but I’m working on it. Here’s what I have in the works. Two poems are accepted at Long Story Short, four are submitted at Brooklyn College’s journal, The Junction, and more are being submitted at Nine Lines, a journal out of New York University’s Veteran’s workshop. That’s not all. I’m the new web editor at The Kingsman newspaper, and with the help of a crack news team (we’d of kicked Ron Burgandy’s butt in that news brawl) we assembled a first ever for The Kingsman, newspaper, and the first issue launched on 14 February. Now I have two anniversaries to celebrate on the cheesiest of days.

To top it all off, there is a good chance that I will be hosted on Brooklyn College Radio for my poetry to both read and speak about it. It’s the upLife!

Thanks for checking in.

Publication: Blue Lake Review Reply

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So, I don’t expect anymore publications in the near future. I just haven’t been sending poems. I’m still working the poems out, ironing them like dress pants with a sharp crease before taking them walking to the interview. Good things are coming though. All good things. This particular poem came when my car which I could have easily sold for 5,000, before moving to Brooklyn, suddenly fell apart days before I was going to sell it. The poor life is a stressful life. The transmission and all four shocks went out at the same time. Wow. All this while I was paying rent in Brooklyn and Lebanon while quitting all of my jobs before moving. I was severely strapped for cash. Funny, I did not put much into this poem, but for some reason they chose it for publication. Ah, the mysteries of publications. I believe they’ve turned down much better. Here it is: http://bluelakereview.weebly.com.

Poem of the Year and Pulitzer Prize, Open Doors 2

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So, Long Story Short was the first to recognize my genius, lol (I do expect to be a pioneer of lol, and I believe that every respectable dictionary must include it from this moment and into forever). In all seriousness, I never expected the first poem I ever published to get published or make poem of the month.

Brace yourself, it has made poem of the year! I got cold hard cash for poetry as well. (Jumping like a cheerleader at a Bieber concert) Thank you editors of Long Story Short.

Wait, there’s more. They also interviewed me and the interview and the poem are being showcased for an entire year. So, I sent them more poetry because I love them. Truly. I love them.

Also, soon, in a matter of days, I’m being published with a Pulitzer Prize winner! What a year! More details to follow, my only faithful reader, me.

Joe Wade

Insert eyes here: http://www.alongstoryshort.net/InterviewSOTY2011.html