Mark March 19 on your calendar. Now.

Posted by Jeff on Jan 17th, 2022 in News | 0 comments

Here’s why:

The official Zoom launch party.
Hosted by Lisa Wolstenholme of Dragonfly Publishing, with special guest readings/performances by Heather Babcock, Skylar J. Wynter, Timothy Carter, Kraken Not Stirred… and more TBA!

In the meantime, here’s another reminder that I’m going to be one of six readers in the next Paper Teller Diorama anthology reading on January 22.
My experimental poem “How to Make Money in Poetry” appeared in this book, put out last August by Great Weather for Media in New York City. The press has been holding monthly Zoom events, including this one, featuring readings from contributors. I’ll be joined by fellow poets SaraEve Fermin, Erica Hoffmeister, Myles Taylor, Andres Vaamonde and Carl Watson.

You can join the Zoom for this event… or you can watch it on Facebook Live. Either works.
And you can buy Paper Teller Diorama at this link.

And now, just because I feel like it:

Happy snow month.

I’m gonna be a real novelist! (finally)

Posted by Jeff on Jan 9th, 2022 in News | 0 comments

Happy new year and stuff.

The big news:
My novel Hate Story has been accepted by Dragonfly Publishing (a small press in Perth, Australia).
If things go as planned, my book should be available in paperback and e-book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and other international online booksellers by the end of February.

Finally, the realization of a childhood dream. I’ve wanted to be a published novelist since I was about eight years old – it’s been a journey of forty years.
In a fair and just world, of course, I’d have accomplished this much sooner – say, fifteen or twenty years ago. I’m not supposed to be starting my novelist career now; I’m supposed to be a veteran with an impressive backlog of credibility behind me. But never mind about that now.

Mark March 19 on your calendar. Fun times will be had. More info to come.

In the meantime – I’m going to be one of six readers in the next Paper Teller Diorama anthology reading on January 22.
My experimental poem “How to Make Money in Poetry” appeared in this book, put out last August by Great Weather for Media in New York City. The press has been holding monthly Zoom events, including this one, featuring readings from contributors. I’ll be joined by fellow poets SaraEve Fermin, Erica Hoffmeister, Myles Taylor, Andres Vaamonde and Carl Watson.

You can join the Zoom for this event… or you can watch it on Facebook Live. Either works.
And you can buy Paper Teller Diorama at this link.

Since everybody’s sad about the (premature by three weeks) death of Betty White, here’s a great video of her in three live TV commercials from 1959 – preserved beautifully on colour videotape. I swear this looks as if it could have been taped in the ’90s, or even now:

Farewell, hello, farewell, hello.

Fire, dust, features, and a time for arriving

Posted by Jeff on Dec 4th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Happy holidays and stuff.

With December comes not only Xmas and Hanukkah and the rest, but also three (3) (III) upcoming Zoom poetry gigs. When features come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.

1) Fire and Dust Digital (this Thursday)
Run by U.K. literary publication Here Comes Everyone, this is a monthly Zoom reading based in Coventry, England. There’s an open mic too, with the order determined by a random draw. To attend, register via the Eventbrite page.

2) The Word Is Write: Feature of the Features (December 18)
Marissa Prada’s Saturday night series is putting on a special holiday show that features… many of the features from the past year, including me.

3) Time to Arrive Open Mic (December 21)
Dane Ince runs a weekly Zoom series on Tuesday nights, with feature and open mic.

But that’s not all, folks.

I’m sure you know (assuming optimistically, of course, that anybody reads this website) that I’ve got a novel. Hate Story.
I was expecting to have the thing available on Amazon by now… and something’s come up. Might be a good thing, I don’t know. It might be a mirage in the desert. I have to be vague because I don’t want to jinx anything. Just rest assured that the book will be available sometime, somewhere.

For now, let’s look forward to the holidays. And let’s not exclude the Wookies.

See you in 2022.

First, we take Massachusetts, then we take Scotland. THEN Manhattan.

Posted by Jeff on Sep 26th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Last month, I mentioned that I had a crazy whackload of online events coming up in October.
That has not changed. And I’ve started going to Zoom events again, but with hair grown on my head and face to cover the silly shingles blisters.

So the next Month of Jeff is going to go something like this:

1) First Friday Open Mic
I’m kicking off the month with a thirty-minute feature set at this series based in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

2) Like a Blot from the Blue
Only two days later, I get to be the headliner in this popular series based in Scotland, which attracts a lot of familiar faces in the international Zoom community.

3) Ad Lib’s Got Talent
Another one of these – a special Halloween edition.

4) Brownstone Poets
One of three featured readers at this long-running series in Brooklyn. This one requires pre-registration with a US$5 cover paid online.
(Fun fact – I’ve attended this series in real life… way back in 2011, I believe. I doubt they remember me.)

All of these events are also open mics, so bring something to share of your own. If you ain’t coming for me, come for your own exposure.

More, slightly bigger news coming later.
And now… ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty!

Happy Thanksoween.

What if Sean Connery were talking about a singles bar?

Posted by Jeff on Sep 5th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

The shingles isn’t healing as quickly as I’d hoped, so I’m still holed up at home and even limiting the Zoom events I’m attending these days. When I do attend, I keep the camera off. It still looks as if I have bad acne. It’s not worse than it was before, but it’s hard to tell if it’s getting better. The areas that were in extreme pain three weeks ago now get near-painfully itchy at times.

The worst part is that I’ve had to bow out of several IRL events with friends to which I’d been looking forward – just as life is slowly returning back to normal in Ontario.
I’m giving the shingles another two weeks to clear up, because I have three performance events scheduled by the end of September… and one of them is a live one:

1) Spoken Word in the Park
My first IRL gig in more than a year and a half, on the 21st. Apparently it’s in a park, way way out in the west end of Toronto. And there’s an open mic. Really, that’s all I know. Assuming it doesn’t rain, I’ll read and/or perform a set of all-new material, most of which has barely been heard by Canadian audiences, if at all.

2) Ad Lib’s Got Talent
Damon Lum’s informal monthly series is back on Zoom on the 24th.

3) Bill’s Back at the Globe
An international group of poets, including some I know via Zoom, will be reading from Act I of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus on the 25th. You can watch it on Facebook Live.

But wait, there’s more!

October is going to be another big month, because I have no less than three (3) international Zoom poetry gigs lined up. (Four, if you count another Ad Lib night.) When features come, they come not single spies, but in trios.

Details for all of the above on the right sidebar, with relevant links to be updated when available.

Here’s a song I hadn’t heard in well over thirty years and have become inexplicably obsessed with lately:

Happy Labour Day, Charlie Brown.

Anthology 2. Or, two anthologies

Posted by Jeff on Aug 22nd, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Hi. Remember a few months ago, when I said that I was being published in a handful of literary anthologies this year?
Well, I wasn’t lying. I wouldn’t lie to you, you know. (Assuming anybody reads this and there’s a “you” there.)

And now, two more of these anthologies are out and available for sale.

This Tuesday night is the online launch party for Sinew: 10 Years of Poetry in the Brew. It even has a poster and everything.
(The theme of the anthology is “bodies”. Hence all the… bodies in the poster.)

This new book includes my silly prose poem “Kirschner’s Groovy Style”, along with works from many writers from around the world… including some whom I’ve met and gotten to know, virtually, through Zoom poetry events.

Click here to order a copy of Sinew.
You can also get it at Barnes & Noble and other sources. Yes, something I wrote is going to be sold in Barnes & Noble. Isn’t that sweet?

Details about the online launch, including a link, on the right sidebar.
I’ll be reading my piece… but with the camera off, unfortunately, due to illness. (Shingles.)

If you happen to be in the Nashville area, there’s also a live launch party on Saturday, at Portland Brew East. I won’t be there, not just because of the shingles, but because the commute looks a bit tough.
(Though I do have a feature in Nashville next February – and I’m really hoping it’ll be a live gig and everything. If travel is back to relative normal by then.)

Also out this month: Paper Teller Diorama – the annual anthology by Great Weather for Media in New York, which features my experimental poem “How to Make Money in Poetry”.
The press is planning a series of online readings from the anthology over the next several months, and I assume I’m going to be performing in one of them… but have no idea when yet.

Click here to order a copy of Paper Teller Diorama.

Have a good one. Don’t take any wooden igloos.

I’m all right, Jackanory

Posted by Jeff on Jun 20th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Hi there.

Up for some poetry on a Saturday morning?
Think of it like the Saturday morning cartoons from your childhood.

This Saturday the 26th at 9:00 a.m. EST, I’m featuring on Zoom in Jackanory (based in Wakefield, England) along with my Nashville friend Christine Hall (host of Poetry in the Brew) and British poet Pauline Seawards. Hosted by Halima Mayat. There’s also an open mic, so bring something of your own. Link on the right sidebar.

That’s about it for now.

Now watch this.

Bye there.

Lucky we didn’t say anything about the Runcible Knife

Posted by Jeff on May 2nd, 2021 in News | 0 comments

It’s May. Two events coming up… and a bit more publication news.

First up: next Sunday, I’m doing another Zoom feature in Runcible Spoon, based in Leeds, England. This is my second Runcible gig in less than five months – they must like me or something.

The other feature will be my Australian Zoom buddy Skylar J. Wynter, who has been very busy over the last year. Her recent book Pieces of Humanity was included in gift bags for Academy Award nominees, which makes her, if not famous, at least famous-adjacent.
The night (afternoon here) will be hosted by American expat Kathleen Strafford, and there will be an open mic, so tune in and bring something of yours to read or perform. Another truly international poetry event.

Also, another Ad Lib night happening later in the month. I promote this monthly event as a gig, even though it’s really more of a glorified open-mic night these days… anyway, bring something to share for a supportive group.

More info and stuff on the side. If there’s no Zoom link yet, be patient.

*****

Also: the Italian arts website The Dreaming Machine recently published my poem “If It Happened Now”. Here’s the linky link.

I initially worried that this poem was going to offend and anger people. I was expecting reactions like, “How dare you suggest cancel culture might exist!” or “How dare you take a swipe at the #MeToo movement!” or “How dare you make fun of Saint Ronan Farrow! And his brave sister, God bless her!”
Instead, people seem to like the poem. And the few who don’t are more like, “Oh come on, you’re just trying too hard again, stupid. More of your dumb hacky stand-up clichés,” followed by bored yawns and snorts.

But that’s the weird thing about offence, isn’t it?
I have a long history of offending and angering people, with my spoken word and social-media posts, and ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s not on purpose. It’s when I think I’m going to offend people that nothing happens, or I get bored reactions like the one above. But then, people – sometimes even the same people – will completely freak out and tell me I’m single-handedly destroying society because of one throwaway line that I didn’t think about, that it never even occurred to me would be offensive. That’s what happened with “A Love Letter”, of course, and with a few other pieces. It’s a constant learning experience. You can never predict what will trigger people, or what won’t.

Anyway. Who cares? It’s just art.
Like this:

Good day.

April, come I will

Posted by Jeff on Mar 28th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

April isn’t shaping up to be quite the Month of Jeff that March tried to be. But with the silly lockdown still going on everywhere, I’m still racking up the online performance gigs. Here’s what I got coming up:

1) Life of Brian
This Saturday night, I’m going to play Brian Cohen (the Graham Chapman role) in a live Zoom script reading of the classic Monty Python movie – just in time for Easter. Put together by Mark Kalzer, who also organized the It’s a Wonderful Life reading a few months ago in which I played Mr. Potter. Mark, my friend Damon Lum, and other local actors will play multiple smaller roles. The reading will be livestreamed on Facebook.

2) The Word Is Write
Instead of taking that left turn at Albuquerque, or missing it, why not just stay there? This weekly New Mexico-based poetry open mic is hosted by Marissa Prada, and I’m featuring alongside Maine poet Generalissimo Bryan Franco.

3) Voices of Poetry
A showcase of different, unique poetic styles, hosted by James “Mr. Speaker” Sears. Featuring poets from New York, Virginia and Baltimore. I get to be the token Canadian.

More info/links on the right sidebar.

* * * * *

Performance of spoken word is fun and cool, but it’s publication where the real literary credibility lies. This year – thanks to the contacts I’ve been making or reconnecting with via Zoom – I’m being published in no fewer than five (5) anthologies, in three different countries:

1) Things Fall Apart: Mischievous Machines (Leeds, U.K.)
Hannah Stone, who co-hosted my feature at WordSpace in 2018, edited this anthology of comedic poems and prose about historical technology failures. It includes my flash-fiction piece “The Flying Car”. Copies are limited; to get one, e-mail Hannah at hannahstone14@hotmail.com. It’s £2.50 including shipping.

2) Globalisation: The Sphere Keeps Spinning (Sydney, Australia)
My poem “ZoomMobile” appears in this Zoom-inspired anthology edited by Kelly Van Nelson, who recently interviewed me in the podcast Wordsmith. The book includes dozens of globalization-themed works by poets from around the world. You can buy a copy at this link.

3) Brownstone Poets 2021 Anthology (New York)
This annual anthology, edited by Patricia Carragon, will be published around June and include my poem “This Is Not Real Poetry” (written in late 2015).

4) Great Weather for Media (New York)
I’ve got a bit of a history with this NYC press, having featured in their Sunday series at the Parkside Lounge in 2014. This year, they’ve accepted my experimental poem “How to Make Money in Poetry” for their annual anthology, which is due out in August.

5) Bodies (Nashville)
Poetry in the Brew is one of the blessings of the Zoom poetry world, a weekly series in which poets from around the world feel safe to try out new material before a supportive community. In 2021, the series is celebrating its tenth anniversary with an anthology called “Bodies”, on the theme of… bodies. Included will be my comical prose poem, “Kirschner’s Groovy Style”. This will also be published in August.

See? I do stuff. I write, I perform, I even pretend to act.
Now have a swell spring. Here’s a puppy.

March comes in like Dev Patel and goes out like Rael

Posted by Jeff on Feb 28th, 2021 in News | 0 comments

Remember the Summer of George?
Looks like March may be the Month of Jeff. Hopefully it’ll go better for me than that summer went for George Costanza. But it’s not just egotism that’s motivating this proclamation. It’s because I’ve got a bunch of events going on this month… in four different countries, thanks to Zoom.

1) March 2: Interview on ThatChannel.com
This Tuesday, fellow Toronto poet Ivy Reiss is interviewing me live on http://www.ThatChannel.com. The likely topic will be the international Zoom poetry community, although I’m still waiting for confirmation on that.

This will be the second time Ivy interviews me live on Internet TV. Here’s the first time, two years ago. I expected more anger and controversy from this topic, but it didn’t surface. Maybe I should have been angrier or something:

2) March 12: They Call Me Mitch
I’ll be the feature at this weekly San Francisco spoken-word series, which has picked up a wide international following over the last several months on Zoom. There’s an open mic too.

3) March 14: Run Your Tongue
For months, host Rob Reeves has made me the unofficial headliner at this Kettering, England semimonthly poetry series, slotting me at the end of the first set with extra time. Now, I’m getting a full feature set. There’s an open mic too.

4) March 19: Nowt But Verse
British poet Hannah Stone interviews me and lets me perform a few pieces in this event hosted by the Leeds Library in Leeds, England. A free event, but donations to the Library are encouraged.

5) March 25: Globalisation anthology launch
My poem “ZoomMobile” is included in the upcoming anthology Globalisation: The Sphere Keeps Spinning, based in Sydney (but with contributions from all over the world). The editor, Kelly Van Nelson, hosts the Making Magic Happen Press monthly open-mic night as a launch for the book.

There’s also supposed to be a launch event for another anthology I’m being published in, but I’m still waiting for confirmation on the date. I may update this post when I know. In case anybody’s actually reading this.

For links and other information, check the right sidebar. I can’t do everything, you know.

Also, remember that Valentine’s Day show I did a couple of weeks ago? If you missed it, you can watch it here. Lots of interesting performers from all over the world:

Be kind and stuff.