April is just around the corner! (And today, we might even get some real spring weather!) In the last few years, I have taken part of April’s Big Poetry Giveaway, and this year, I am again participating! (If you want to participate, please see the guidelines for this giveaway found on the blog of poet Susan Rich.)
For those of you who are new to my blog, I’m a poet/writer who lives in Western Pennsylvania. I’m the author of two chapbooks, Stealing Dust and Wearing Heels in the Rust Belt. I teach at Jamestown Community College just across the state line. My main interests are working class studies and rural issues. Please leave me a note for a chance to win one of the collections below! (And yes, both titles have the word “rust” in them — I did that on purpose!)
My chapbook, Wearing Heels in the Rust Belt, winner of Main Street Rag’s 2011 Chapbook Contest, is the first selection. Part working-class narrative, part coming of age story, Wearing Heels features poems that were first published in 5 AM, Cave Wall, Copper Nickel, Harpur Palate, and River Styx. This chapbook also features my poem, “The Summer I Stopped Catching Bees” which was originally published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry and then was selected for Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net 2011 issue. (You can also read the poem here.) If you are a fan of narrative poetry, this chapbook collection may be something that you will enjoy!
Many of my regular readers already have a copy of Wearing Heels (again, as always, thanks for the support!). Still, you may want to throw your name into the hat, so to speak, for Rust or Go Missing by Lily Brown.
Rust or Go Missing is a collection of sparse images. This is not to say that the poems inside are sparse — indeed, Lily Brown’s poetry relies on the line, sculpting poems through white space and concrete images. This collection, published by the Cleveland State University Poetry Center, features poems that were originally published in Coconut, Denver Quarterly, Fence, Octopus, and Pleiades.
So, go ahead! Drop me a note (with contact information — preferably an email) for a chance to win. I will pick the winners during the first week of May and besides contacting the winners, I will make a formal announcement on my blog.
The Scrapper Poet 