New interview at Devil’s Lake Online

The lit journal “Devil’s Lake,” out of Madison, WI, recently did an interview with me and has posted it on their website here.  Not only am I grateful to editor Zac Fulton for taking some time with me on that, but I’m really geeked to be part of a journal named after the best rock climbing spot in Wisconsin (I would say the midwest, but that’s just because I haven’t climbed like a single other place in the midwest).

We touch on Michel Jackson, Philip Metres, Dead Prez, Amanda Smeltz, Aafa Michael Weaver, the Wire, Ito Hiromi and a bunch of other stuff I love.  I catalog a very incomplete line up of poets who I think are writing really socially-engaged work.  Go check it out and see if you’re one of them…

There’s only 4 questions, but I give four typically long-winded answers.  So you’ll get your money’s worth?

Alright, enjoy homies.

Nick

Bomblog and Smoking Glue Gun

This ominous Dan Witz painting appears with my poem "I'm Hot" on the Bomblog

Dear Real People,

wanted to let you all know that a poem of mine has been published on BOMB magazine’s online space, Bomblog.  Bomb magazine is a great publication with a very impressive history so I was really excited to get solicited by them for something.  Thanks to editor Peter Moysaenko for that.

Also, this is long overdue, but I wanted to give love to the new journal Smoking Glue Gun.  They were the first to publish poems from a really troubled, raw, intimate poem collaboration/correspondence between me and a really excellent poet form Chicago, Dolly Lemke.  You can read those here.  Go through the rest of the journal though, too.  The Lara Glenum poems are insane.  I love Lara Glenum.  One of my favorite living poets.

Okay, that’s all for now.  Enjoy.  And peace be with you.

love,

nick

Some videos from the tour

Thanks to Dustin Luke Nelson and Cody Edison for making these video during the tour.  The first was filmed in Manhattan and the second in Los Angeles.  Pretty excellent memories.  Thanks again, homies.

Social Networking and the Military Entertainment Complex, Daniel Bosch Style

There’s a new poem by Daniel Bosch, a poet I really really like, at Slate.  It’s a pretty interesting example of a poem that ties entertainment–or even capitalism–into the military industrial complex.  Check it out.  He’s had lots of other poems published there too so, if you like this one, look around in the archives for more.

 

Speaking of war and capitalism, I just read Philip Metres’s “Abu Graib Arias” chapbook this weekend, from Flying Guillotine Press, as well as a peace poetry essay he wrote called “With Ambush and Stratagem.”  I’m so into Metres’s work.  And his prose, especially, has really influenced the media and celebrity manuscript I’m writing currently.  But the arias is a sharp, majorly powerful piece of work.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the complexities of human cruelty and compassion.

Falcons on the Floor by Justin Sirois

Just got the news from Justin Sirois that his new novel is out.  Congrats, Justin!
http://www.publishinggenius.com/2010/11/falcons-on-floor-by-justin-sirois.html

• 

  Publishing Genius: Falcons on the Floor by Justin Sirois

  www.publishinggenius.com

Libraries in Crisis articles at Huffington Post

Just wanted to pass on a mess of Library articles that can all be accessed from one place here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/libraries-in-crisis/

 

Thanks to my coworker, Pat, who passed this along to me.

E-mail from Joseph Wood

Here’s an e-mail I got from Joseph Wood a while ago, which I honestly have not followed up on yet.  I wanted to post this, though.  Just cause I haven’t followed up doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to spread the word.  So here goes:

“Friends and Colleagues,

If you are receiving this email, you are someone who I have high regard for and who has consistantly shown a larger investment in the arts. I write today not to pimp a book or to promote a reading tour.

Rather, as many of you know, I am involved in an undergraduate poetry project entitled Slash Pine. I could go on and on about its theory, etc. Instead, while the main webpage is being reconfigured (as the program is reconfigured, now firmly fronting education and artistic method), I have blogged (I know, utterly trite, but…) about one major component of the internship that supercedes its boundaries–the creative writing exchange initiative, which is truly as ad-hoc as a university related thing can be.

I ask, if you will, two things:

First, would you take a few minutes and simply read the post (don’t even worry about the part where I speak of my own particular work):
http://josephpatrickwood.com/2011/11/09/small-vanishings/

Second, if you find the posting applicable or engaging, would you be willing to help spread the word. Even a simple mention on a blog, a larger web journal, etc. Maybe you might want to get involved in building an exchange yourself (even if you’re not in academia, we’re flexible). Or maybe you may simply cut and paste the blog post to a friend or set of friends.

Ultimately, I have never seen students so utterly empowered and engaged with art–not for its own sake, but for its ability to inherently transform their lives. And, to be quite frank, I have found myself enjoying their company as collaborators.

Please shoot me any comments or questions.

Best and thanks,

Joseph Wood”

Woodland Pattern Book Center seeks full-time Education Coordinator

Here’s a message I received from Chuck Stebelton at Woody P.  Anyone would be well advised to seek after this position:

Woodland Pattern Book Center is looking to hire a full-time Education Coordinator. Woodland Pattern Book Center is dedicated to the discovery, cultivation and presentation of contemporary literature and the arts. Our goals are to promote a lifetime practice of reading and writing, to provide a forum and resource center for writers/artists in Milwaukee and our region, and to increase and diversify the audience for contemporary literature through innovative approaches to multi-arts programming.

Position Title: Education Coordinator

Start Date: Between December 1, 2011 and January 15, 2012

Position Objective: To coordinate all aspects of Woodland Pattern’s growing Education program, including after school creative writing classes for children, in-school workshops, summer writing camps, evening and weekend workshops for adults, master classes with visiting writers and any other educational or community outreach activities. Education Coordinator directs the Urban Youth Literary Arts program.

Qualifications: Excellent oral and written communication skills, experience in educational and/or nonprofit setting, commitment to contemporary literature, grant writing and administration experience.

Pay Rate, Benefits and Terms: This is a professional position, full-time permanent, eligible for health insurance. The Education Coordinator reports to the Executive Director.

If interested, a lengthier job description is available upon request. Applicants should send their resume and cover letter to: chucks@woodlandpattern.org. Or: Woodland Pattern Book Center Attn: Chuck Stebelton 720 E. Locust Street Milwaukee, WI 53212 www.woodlandpattern.org

Catching up post tour: Jupiter 88

I’m back in Racine now.  That is great.

So a lot of good things happened while I was on tour…I will try to update this blog in regards to them over time.

For tonight, just this–gay earth mother and living legend poet CA Conrad was kind enough to feature me in an episode of his video journal, Jupiter 88.

Here is the video for that.  Enjoy and be healthy.

Love,

nick

 

Last two readings of the tour are Friday and Saturday

yo,

 

here’s info on the last two readings of my tour and links to where I found the info.  Hope to see you there:

 

Friday, November 4, 2011- 7pm

Darst, Demske, Göransson, Shea, Workman: 4 November 2011, Minneapolis, MN

Center for Visionary Poetics Presents:

GRAND ELECTRIC SKULL

Readings by Lightsey Darst, Nick Demske, Johannes Göransson, James Shea, and Elisabeth Workman

Music by Dan and Sharon Kaniess and Friends

Created By Sarah Fox

7:00pm – 11:00pm at SPOT ART
1828 Marshall St. NE
FREE

(taken from here)

 

November 5, 2011 – 5:00pm

Prairie Lights

NICK DEMSKE & JOHANNES GÖRANSSON

Poets Nick Demske and Johannes Göransson will read from their work. Nick Demske will read from his collection entitled Nick Demske which is part of The Fence Modern Poets Series. Joyelle McSweeney says that “Nick Demske writes from culture like the Hollywood version of a rebellious slave.” Nick Demske works at the Racine Public Library. His writing appears in Action Yes, Blazevox, Moria, and Queef. He curates the BONK! performance series in Racine and is editor of the online forum boo: A Journal of Terrific Things.

Johannes Göransson will read from Entrance to a colonial pageant in which we all begin to intricate. “Voluptuous, turbulent, and focused, inventive and strictly faithful to the performative instability of our queer moment, Johannes Göransson’s new book is an immensely important and absolutely thrilling experience. Read this!”  —Laura Mullen

Johannes Göransson was born and raised in Skåne, Sweden. He co-edits Action Books with Joyelle McSweeney and co-edits the online journal Action, Yes with John Dermot Woods. Göransson has translated the work of Aase Berg, Henry Parland, and other Swedish and Finnish poets. He is also the author of Dear Ra (A Story in Flinches), Pilot and A New Quarantine Will Take My Place. He teaches at the University of
Notre Dame.

(taken from here)