Three poems in Issue 3 of Ouroboros Review

"Aunt Eloe Schools the Scarecrow," "Substitutions" and "Two Men on a Bed" are all up in Issue 3 of Ouroboros Review. Check it out HERE. Here's a preview:

Open publication

"Aunt Eloe Schools the Scarecrow" and "Substitutions" are from my Skin Shift manuscript and continue my exploration of metamorphosis and transformation in all its many guises.

"Two Men on a Bed" references Francis Bacon's 1953 oil Two Figures and Eadweard Muybridge's 1887 photograph Two Men Wrestling. It's a companion poem to "Two Men in a Shower" which references David Hockney's 1963 oil on canvas. Both are part of my manuscript The Erotic Postulate.

Here are the paintings. First the Bacon:


And the Hockney:


If you're in NYC this summer, the MET has a Francis Bacon retrospective through August 15th. I caught the Tate version of it last October when I was in London.

Project Verse, Week Three Results

Between send-off parties and birthday parties, trips to the park and the Bronx Zoo this weekend, I had the pleasure of reading and commenting on week three's Project Verse entries as the guest judge.

Now that all the judges' comments are in you can see the results of the top two and bottom two, who won and who was put on "permanent caesura." And you can check out the entries and all the judges' comments here.

I had a lot of fun! Thanks for the invite Dustin, and contestants, I hope the comments were useful. Good luck with the rest of the competition!

Guest Judge for Project Verse, Week Three

I'm the guest judge this week for Project Verse!

In week three the remaining contestants have a simile vs. metaphor assignment to complete: two metaphors in a poem of 60 lines or less. Let's see how they do! Their poems are due Friday morning by 10 and I'll be reading them this weekend. Comments from the judges will be up Sunday night!

Finalist for the 2009 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize

I found out on Friday that my second manuscript, Skin Shift, was a finalist in this year's Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize. It was a finalist last year for the New Issues Press Poetry Prize. If it keeps this track record up it will soon match my first manuscript The Erotic Postulate in number of times a bridesmaid. Perhaps I'll ask my babies to race: which one of you will get published first? Ready? Take your mark...and...go!

Two Poems in Summer 2009 Issue of The Smoking Poet

I have two poems--"Dog Barking at Moon" and "Rowers"--in the Summer 2009 Issue (Issue #11) of The Smoking Poet.

"Dog Barking at Moon" references Joan Miro's 1926 oil on canvas painting of the same name and is an oldie rehabilitated in the past year and re-included in the newly structured third section of my manuscript The Erotic Postulate.

"Rowers" was inspired by Thomas Eakins's 1872 oil on canvas The Pair-Oared Shell and closes out the first section of my manuscript Skin Shift.

I sometimes forget how pervasive the ekphrastic impulse is in my work.

Featured on Verse Daily!

"This Is Not About Pears" from Pear Slip is featured on Verse Daily today!

The Joe Milford Poetry Show, 8/1/2009

Mark your calendars...I'm scheduled to be interviewed and read my work on The Joe Milford Poetry Show August 1st from 5-6:30pm. The show is broadcast on the web, so you can listen live from anywhere in the world, and if you miss it, you can find it in the archives.

More details and reminders to come...

In the meantime, check out some of Joe's past interviews in his archives.