Meet the Poets
Guy Kettelhack has authored, co-authored or contributed to more than 30 nonfiction books. His poetry has been featured in Outstretch, Van Gogh’s Ear, Melic Review, New Pleiades, Malleable Jangle, WORM 33, Triplopia (in whose July 2004 "laughter contest" his poem "Log On" won first prize), David Taub e-motion ("Harp Strings" was selected to be read as their monthly selection for Aug. 2004), Poetry Life & Times (where he has been a featured poet twice - June and August 2004), Poetry in Emotion (autumn 2004), Das Alchymist Poetry Review (March 2005), guest poet on the PK list anthology (December 2004), The Rose & Thorn (Spring 2005), guest poet Heretics and Half-Lives (February 2005), Desert Moon Review (Winter 2005). Two of his poems placed in IBPC competitions in 2004. His poem "Alter Ego" was selected as a quarterfinalist in the Lyric Recovery competition in March 2004. He won the Margaret Reid Poetry Prize for Traditional Verse in November 2004. Approximately 20 of his poems will appear in the New Pleiades Anthology of 2005. He lives in NYC.
Laurie's short stories and poetry have appeared in a dozen or so small presses. Additionally, her work has been published in The Literary Review, Single Parent, Aim, Chaminade Review, Grasslimb, Re:al Journal, The New Jersey Journal of Poets, The Red Rock Review, Potpourri, The Paterson Literary Review and others. She is in on-line zines "Miller's Pond" "The Writer's Hood, “Stirring” and “Melic Review.” Her work is twice nominated for “The Pushcart Prize.” Her children’s poem "A Captain's Cat" has appeared in Cricket Magazine and a textbook "Measuring up to the Illinois Learning Standards". It will be republished in a text for 3rd graders at 100k over the next 5 years. Her work draws on myth and fairytale and her experiences of foreign places in the years she worked as a travel agent.
Her poetry insists upon the continuing importance of fantasy, mystery and “the other” in our lives.
In the October 2005 issue of the journal “American Libraries” Lee Memorial library (where Laurie is head of circulation) was cited as one of the top ten public libraries. Laurie lives in New Jersey where she facilitates a poetry circle.
Loren Laird Burris is 23 and has lived in the Houston area most of his life. He began writing poetry seriously at 20. In addition to being a poet and a writer of short fiction, he is a chain-smoker and a leper.
Bret Addison : bio
Bret Addison was born in October of 1955 in Rushville Indiana. It's a small
farm town and county seat of Rush County. The only paper is named, "The
Rushville Republican." Rushville was the home of Wendell Willkie. He was
some guy that owned the city bank and got blown away by FDR in a
presidential election. Rush County, at one time, had more hogs per capita
than any county in the United States. You have the picture by now.
Bret joined the Navy and saw the World. He moved to Washington State and
went to college. He married a couple of times and had two children. He lived
in Montana, Arizona, Ontario, Louisiana, Venezuela, and all over Asia. He
traveled around the World being an electrical engineer until about six years
ago. He suddenly got sick and his legs no longer operated in accordance with
the specifications. He wondered where a man could go where the women cleaned
your fish, cooked it all yummy, made love all night, then went to church. He
scooted his walker to New Orleans.
Then Katrina knocked on his door, acting all crazy. She wasn't acting
though, and like a bitter ex-wife, she took his car, house and everything
else. At least, Katrina didn't leave those late night angry phone messages.
Finally, a church bus picked him up from a shelter, in a cane field and
toted him back to Indiana. He's starting over. All of the scrawls
accumulated over the last thirty years are gone now, along with all the
memories of the past five or six years. Broad swathes of his memories
throughout his life are now missing too. Something happened down South,
something too terrible to contemplate. After the initial shock and trips to
the hospital, life is a joy and a blessing for him now. Nothing like God,
giving you a swift kick in the nuts, to get them juices flowing.
Bret finally met the great love of his life. She has six children.
Depending on when you read this, Bret might be in Indiana, South Carolina,
Washington, Montana, or Texas. He won't be in New Orleans.
Below are excerpts from Bret's Diary, titled: "Let's Talk About Me"
"I've written poems since I was sixteen. I thought it would assist me in my
primary goal. Getting laid. It helped, but then I really started enjoying
the use of language to express what I don't know how to say or draw. Poetry
is wonderful as nobody can interrupt you until they have read the whole
thing and by that time, it doesn't matter. I've had my say. The images,
thoughts and words have already entered their brain. Now it's their problem.
I view my poetry as a gnat on the edge of a person's vision. A good poem
keeps buzzing around and the reader can't swat it, except by an extreme
amount of effort or luck."
Mike Todd
I was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1970.
I was a small baby, though average for my age.
The years have added more than they have taken away - so far. Each year
has added another year onto the total of years. This year-on-year action
has continued unabated - so far - for 35 years. Not surprisingly, the
grand total now stands at 35.
I live in the country (as opposed to a country).
I work in a box with many windows but no real doors. I shan’t be in the
box much longer: a box-breaking plan is afoot (or a foot, whichever).
I like a lot of things, especially variety. I like ordinary things: food
and drink (usually in that order, but not on Fridays). I like making
photographs (as opposed to taking pictures). I like walking, climbing
(which is really just extreme walking) and writing. I (try to) write
poetry.
Arthur Durkee is a musician, artist, and writer. Arriving in the last few minutes of Capricorn, with moon in the first few seconds of Gemini, born in Detroit but with the first half of his childhood spent in India before going to school in Ann Arbor, this has set the pattern for a life lived as a two-spirited creative shaman, with feet firmly planted in multiple worlds. Has traveled around the globe, including a year in Indonesia studying Javanese gamelan on a Fulbright grant, and currently is based in the San Francisco area. Has won numerous national, regional and local awards for his new music compositions, photography, visionary/shamanic artwork, and creative writing. Poems and essays have been published regularly in journals, small press mags, zines, and online mags and e-zines since the early 1980s. Worked for years in the book and magazine publishing fields, as designer, artist, illustrator, type designer, and various other geeky computer-related creative skills. Currently devoting full-time efforts to his creative endeavours, and starting up a business based on his nature photography.
I left school in 1966 aged 15, in those days in was more important to contribute to the family budget that to get an education. I started work on august 1st two days after England won the world cup, I don’t think anyone even realised I was there when all the talk was about football, I’ve hated football ever since. I must have written my first bits of poetry around that time because I remember an old printer named Jim Wigglesworth, (who had lost three of his fingers in a hand fed printing press when he was 14) reviewing it and saying “keep it simple, better to say too little than too much” . When I was 20 I joined a local drama group and co- wrote a pantomime with two other people, they wrote the words I wrote the songs, great fun, I played the dame. I also wrote a poem to advertise for more people to join the group, I think I still have it somewhere. Early 30s saw me joining Warwick Lifesaving club where again I wrote a poem as an advert, it’s still displayed on the club notice board. That was it then until about 10 years ago when I started writing poems about the swimmers at Kenilworth Masters swimming club, a great source of humour with the buzz of the adrenaline flowing in the changing rooms after training. I’ve had five or six poems published in various anthologies. Photo taken by the missus on our silver wedding.
Reid first jawed poetry the same month this portrait with Peteydog was made in October 2004. Both like bones with marrow.
Danny Flore
bio:
As an infant, Native American Indians babysat me. I like to believe their kindness and maybe a song they sang to me still washes calm in my subconscious. When I think of my early childhood I hear the delicate notes of a music box and see my hair, bleach blonde, slowly turning brown in time to the end of my innocence. I remember singing myself to sleep while my parents were on the verge of divorce. I always see myself from above when I think of that time. Perhaps that’s because I like to think that’s the point of view God watched me from. When I look back at my life, often seemingly happy times occasionally appear to be shrouded in night like a lone dying street lamp. However, I am grateful for the times I’ve had that were intensely illuminated.
I have written off and on my entire life. I am always searching for the non-judgemental joy of creation I had as a child, although judgement does have its merits when it comes to improvement. Criticism certainly has helped me since the time I wrote really bad poems about girls during geometry class in high school. Poetry has been a warm spot in the cold water of serious mental illness that I have battled since my early 20’s. In the future I plan to join my love of language with my understanding of brain disorders and become a Certified Poetry Therapist.
Arthur Woods Seeley lives in a small terraced cottage on the edge of the West Yorkshire moors in the heart of the Pennines.He has lived in Keighley since he was 5 years old.He was a teacher and lecturer in Mathematics and Mathematical Education for most of his adult life although he came to both as a mature student. Mathematics was his gift, poetry his love.Mathematics gave him a good life and took him round the world a couple of times but poetry pursued him.Married to his second wife, he has two sons, full grown, four grandchildren, one great grandson…..all blessings.Published on several poetry sites he is happy to share his thoughts and work with others and happy when his work is appreciated, even understood.Not many accolades really although he was delighted to get second place in the R H Blythe award 2004 for a haibun, by the World Haiku Club.
Just ten years ago, Jody Azzouni was well known only within local New York City poetry circles, as an animated reader at several small dark cafes, bars, and restaurants, where tiny groups of aficionados gathered on weekends. The dark imagery and playful erudition of Azzouni’s poems have caused many to wonder about the personality behind them.
Jody has added to the mystery by adopting new and unusual methods of publication. Upon abandoning the poetry scene and its bleak limitations, Jody prepared a series of miniature cards which, inserted into books in stores, provided a sort of alternative to the sparsely attended readings and to restrictive conventional media - thus creating a new guerrilla-publishing method, one which has provided a great deal of mystery for book buyers and not a little consternation among book sellers. And a series of poetry Go-Cards with colourful illustrations have been in Tower Records and in cafes in New York City, and across the nation.
You may also find information and a few poems on Jody Azzouni’s website: http://www.azzouni.com. These poems and many others which Jody has published throughout a long and evolving career are now brought together in a single publication, The Lust For Blueprints.
Jennifer lives in the Midwest - with the cornfields and the strange things that live in cornfields.
She is inspired mostly by music and people. The reason she writes is mostly a love for words.
Feelings and images they can elicit, The way they can break your heart or fill it. Move your soul,
inspire, and sometimes - keep you going. She wants to make the world beautiful and make the people in it happy. Even if it is just for seconds. She also would like to stop referring to herself in the 'third person' now.
Mark Allinson was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia (1947), where he has spent most of his life. An early interest was flying, and Mark gained a private pilot's licence for light aircraft when he was seventeen years old. After leaving high school, Mark joined a rhythm and blues band, and toured the east coast of Australia for some years. When the small musical talent he had was exhausted, he worked for some time in the Australian Civil Service, then toured Europe for three years, working in many jobs from the U.K. to Greece. Returning to Australia to study in the early 80s, Mark gained a teaching degree (B.Ed) and a Ph.D from Monash University, where he taught English literature for some years. Mark's doctoral research was on the English seventeenth century poet, John Donne. Since the virtual disappearance of literary studies from Australian universities ( the few remaining courses now better described as politics, French philosophy or sociology ) Mark has been teaching literature to adults in his own Adult Education business. Mark now lives in Tomakin, two hours South of Sydney, where he teaches and writes. With several academic papers published over the years, Mark has also recently published a number of poems in various poetry magazines, both paper and e-journals.
born and raised in the Midwestern US
now living in Upstate New York;
more formal education than three people need
in History of Science and Psychology;
worked as a therapist, shaman style;
spinner of words and fleece
been writing since I was eight
with a several decades hiatus
until nine years ago when I returned
to words;
chapbook in the works
blogging at http://suzannagig.journalspace.com
multimedia experiment at http://themodernword.com/gr/other_where.html
love struck by words . . .
name: J.M. Pengelly
d.o.b: 08.01.59
sex: F
location: London, U.K
Life, Death and The Universe are fascinating topics for this writer's imagination, but it's her enduring love for the written word that has remained a life-long affair.
Always an avid reader, filling her mind with the thoughts of other minds, her own early attempts at writing left her frustrated and dissatisfied - despite the
encouragment she received from teachers. She simply hadn't experienced enough of life to be able to reach in and draw upon it to good effect. Many, many years
later, having found love, tragedy and heartbreak and raising her family, she picked up her pen again - and began to write. What she wrote was raw and
undisciplined - but it was a beginning. Now, six years down the road, settled with her husband, their boys and the pets, J.M. Pengelly has earned enough wisdom
to realise that the more she learns - the more she finds she doesn't know, and that there'll never be enough days to read all she'd like to or write all she needs to - but
will nonetheless continue to try.
Since November 2004, she has seen twenty four of her works published or accepted for publication this year in four books and the May edition of Subtle Tea e-zine.
She co-hosts this site with her husband, Matrix, and has undertaken to gather as many of the finest contempory poets from the internet together under the one virtual
roof to exhibit their work in a fantastic on-line collection - the library - and, in doing so, build an important resource any reader or writer may delight in discovering.
Paul Ebbs is 40 and lives in Essex. He gave up real work three years ago to become a full time writer. He’s published a novel, short stories, contributed sketches to Parsons & Naylor and Dead Ringers for BBC Radio and written 20 odd scripts for television, including Casualty, The Bill. Doctors and EastEnders.
You are the first people to read his poetry. This is the bit where he’s found out as a charlatan.
contact Paul Ebbs at evilnuzzle@hotmail.com
Norm Milliken
I am an English teacher. My passions are long distance biking, running, reading, thinking, and, of course, writing. I served in Vietnam in 1968 as a machine gunner with the United States Marine Corps. I am married and have three adult sons. I’ve been published in DEROS, The Antietam Review, and The Oil City Review. I hope to live long enough to retire and discover the luxury of idle time.
contact info: nmilliken@qmail.com
Paul White was born in Cape Town, South Africa on 18 January 1986. He has roughly 3 billion two hundred and twenty four thousand nine hundred and eleven airs on his head. He thinks the previous sentence is funny. He hopes others do too. Currently studying to become a copywriter (after a rather boring, unsuccessful stint doing a Bachelor of Arts degree) Paul hopes to set the advertising world alight and eventually become a writer.
Alex Williams is a twenty-seven year old writer living in Leicester. He writes mainly poetry, though he has also been known to turn his hand to plays, lyrics and short
stories. Alex is a lover of visual imagery in poetry, and believes that words can speak a thousand pictures to the right person; he also thinks that poetry should
incorporate aspects of music and storytelling - in fact, he'd like poetry to magpie from every other artform around, apart from morris dancing, which is slightly dull.
Alex has been published on Pulp.net, and is due to have a poem included in the December issue of the Eleventh Muse, a magazine that has previously published the
American and Colorado poetry laureates; he is also a founder member of the arts collective/theatre company Fat House, and he has performed with them at the
Birmingham Custard Factory and The Phoenix Theatre in Leicester, amongst other venues. He is a regular performer of his poetry at Word, Leicester's premiere
spoken word night.
Erica l'huillier has been writing poetry for about three years. she is currently readying herself to pursue a degree in journalism and/or publishing. she is from northwestern pennsylvania. among her interests are knitting, reading, travel, art, coffee houses, and of course, writing. she is the editor of a high school literary magazine. her favourite writer, and idol, is richard brautigan.
http://www.livejournal.com/~lilyseyes
Vince Gullaci.
I was born in Italy and we migrated to Australia in search of
a better life.I am married with three children.I have worked in a foundry, forge
and assorted other boring jobs.I have only recently started to get some poems
published, though I wrote poetry for many years and am writing at a good clip.
With Rob Brown, he thinks the key to understanding some of his poetry is first understanding a bit about himself, his influences and the way he writes.
"I like poetry movements as opposed to individuals in them. I’d rather study the 18th century, lifestyle, moirés, etc. than any one individual living in the period who happened to be a poet. Studies like this of course naturally lead you well past the handful of 5 or 6 poets associated with each movement," says Brown.Equally important to his influences are his own means of writing poetry. "It is important in a way to understand the way I write because, I don't sit down and say ‘I know what I am going to do; I'm going to write a love poem.’" says Brown. "I have the words or what is gradually becoming a poem and... I am on my own. I do it myself, so I am just on my own in my office and I start doodling around, and what you see sometimes is what has come out on that day. Sometimes a whole stanza; a whole refrain or a whole poem comes out – some things are borne initially out of total improvisation," says Brown. He likes to think of himself as very involved emotionally, but sometimes the feel of initial work is so strong that it cannot be duplicated in editing or forcing words into a poem. "I have always written like that, you know; sometimes you get poems that are really stubborn and you sit down and say OK; I've got one line; I've got to write the rest. Other times you have a whole stanza; a refrain; something would suggest the mood of the poetry; or just as you approach it; it will write itself." Brown feels this style of composition is a strong way to compose, because it means the poem was always inside you and it comes out. "While a majority of the poetry I have written over the last 11 or so years has been about relationships, not near as much has been love poetry, even though it is what originally got me (and more than likely most poets) started writing, and what tends to attract the most attention from those who read poetry but don’t really know anything about it." Brown writes in what he calls ‘collections’ working on a group of 20 to 25 "demo" poems that get whittled down to about 18 to form a collection.
"If you only work on one or two poems at a time, I believe you aren’t giving yourself room to flex poetically and the work will either become predictably your own, or be so varied and off the map that your own poetical voice suffers." "What these collections do is represent a time period, feelings, thoughts and experiences. Instead of trying to write a poem about the entire experience of something, I prefer to live my life, and what comes to fruition over a span of about 6 to 8 months is what has influenced me," says Brown. Brown begins collecting his ideas, phrases, infamous bits, and sometimes pieces of nearly complete poems, until he has satisfied his creative urge. "If I notice notes are getting stale, or repetitive, chances are the creative portion of my brain is tapped for awhile, and it is time to put on the analytical cap on, start arranging things, seeing what works, what doesn’t."
Brown is very interested in overall feel of collections and poems. "Sometimes I try to stay away from love poems, but at the same time I must remember that that is how I started and yet it is something that I have always tried to get away from." Also, Brown believes there is a fine line between love poetry and stuff that is more introspective and slower reading poems. "I guess it is self defeating to try and go against what people think you are, and what you have done already while you want to try something new and the fact that people like you is for what you have done and then if you try and take these people with you somewhere else, they don't always let you, and they don't like you to do something that they are not expecting.
Some of his favorite poems have come out of the blue from one line, while others have been worked at for months. "There is no correct way to write poetry; sometimes it happens but most times it doesn't. The more poems I think are great for a writer with eleven years' experience that keep popping up; the better I'm getting as a writer. The poems that I think are strong for me are more frequent these days, which in turn should lead to better work period.
bravenet.com