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Blogs by Brian M Morrisey
An Update for the Summer of 2004 9/28/2004 3:47:25 PM
Interesting new addition to the Author’s Den… I guess this is the first entry of “My Blog” I will try to put some quality updates in here as to what is happening with POESY Magazine as well as my own work. I have designated this area to focus in on my own work, but I can’t help that if someone sees me, they should see my magazine, a reflection of me.
I guess this will be good for me since I don’t keep a journal (I know funny being a writer and all) nor intend to ever. I found that my journals were about me and my relationships. This space here I feel has the potential to be a little more productive.
Okay so here we go…. The progress of poesy for Brian Morrisey….
June was a big month for me, actually the whole summer was, writing prolific poetry. Mainly, because of a lot of drama entered my life which inspired me to get these feelings out. In June, I began hosting an open mic at a café/Laundromat in Santa Cruz called the Wired Wash Café. This summer we featured 3 readers on an average of about 1 per month. The series has been going quite well. If any readers are in the area or coming through, please contact me and we can set up a reading for you. They are on Friday nights at 7:00 p.m. We have featured Nicole Henares (Poet and Publisher of Magenta Press in San Francisco), Wendy-O Matik – who gave one of the most energetic poetic performances I’ve ever seen come out of the Bay Area, klipschutz read this month and all I can say is, the man knows how to hold his own in the poetry world. Anyway, this little café/Laundromat has become a home for my creative vice I tend to implode onto an audience and test the waters to see if there’s any reaction to the poems I’ve been writing lately.
The biggest hurdle I have overcome is publishing my first chapbook. On September 4th, my publisher dumped 2 boxes of books into my trunk of over 200 copies of my new book, “A Slow Drink.” I will post the information on here. A lot of the poems I have on this site are in the book. I have been able to get local distribution so far. The books are selling for $5.95 + $2.00 postage if you’re interested in checking one out… I’ll even sign it if you’re lucky!
POESY Magazine XXVI should be back from the press this Friday. I still haven’t even finished my acceptance/rejection letters. The issue features an interview I did with Boston’s own B.Z. Niditch whose poetry has always struck me in awe with its descriptive and memorable phrases. We had an interesting conversation. My co-editor, Doug Holder, interviewed Hugh Fox. If you don’t know Hugh Fox, well you should. He is a forerunner of small press poetry. You can check out the magazine online at: http://www.poesy.org for free (or you can buy a subscription).
People always ask me why I call Doug Holder my “co-editor” if I am doing all the editing. Well, Doug keeps me informed of what’s going on in Boston through personal messages and his Ibbetson Update Newsletter (Daily). He wrote to me a lot when I first moved out here and told me to hang in there. I guess I have respect for his dedication to poetry and feel he is a big inspiration to the future of Poesy.
This summer also took me up to San Francisco quite often. In June, I read at the North Beach Festival alongside Jack Hirschman, Alan Kaufman, Gerald Nicosia and many other San Francisco poetic icons of contemporary poetry. It is a memory that is still golden to me now. In September, I found myself at the Zinefest. I layed out the issues of POESY for all to glance over. I got some good feedback, met some interesting people who led me to a new press I will be running POESY on beginning with the winter issue. I also took a workshop on distribution. The workshop was not too structured, but gave me some good ideas of where to take POESY.
Who knows what’s in store for October? I am having a POESY Reading at the Wired Wash in celebration of Issue XXVI. All past and present contributors are welcome to read. I’ll let you know how that turns out. More marketing of my chap and the beginning of a perfect bound collection I will be releasing in 2005 with a catchy title too cool to post on here… you’ll see!
Anyway, drop me a line - I never get messages here!
