Poets Wear Prada is a poetry publishing house with excellent poets and affordable books with beautiful covers. Have you had your poetry today?--Meredith Sue Willis, Books for Readers * * * Stylistically, these beautifully designed and produced chapbooks bear their own distinctive signature.--Linda Lerner, SMALL PRESS REVIEW

Monday, December 1, 2014

2015 Pushcart Nomination: "Open Heart Surgery" by Geer Austin



OPEN HEART SURGERY
 

You drop into my life
like a dream of death.
Your lips are blue, and your teeth are cracked.
You puff a cigarette.
Your fingertips glow fiery red.
We go to a bar called The Bar.
You slip away from me and I stare
across the room at ghostlike reflections of myself.
You push past them heading for the exit.
I run after you.
On the street, homeless people
shout political slogans
and groups of the unemployed
try to sell their old clothes.
You dance past them —
your camera flashing at neon signs.
The glare of a streetlamp hits your blond head.
You pause underneath to light a cocktail joint
spreading your legs wide to support
the weight of the black plastic lighter you hold in your hands.
I sneak up behind you and nudge your shoulder.
You crack a joke. I’m the punch line.
We climb flights and cross landings
to reach your bed.
You fall facedown on the duvet.
I flip you over and peel back layers of clothing.
Your chest is a road map of scars —
red routes leading to your heart.
I place my hands on top of this cloverleaf.
You slip between my fingers.

 

From Geer Austin’s debut poetry collection, Cloverleaf  (Poets Wear Prada: January 28, 2014)

Geer Austin
Cloverleaf

Poets Wear Prada Announces Their 2015 Pushcart Nominations




Congratulations to our nominees!


Author
Poem
Book
Geer Austin
“Open Heart Surgery”
Cloverleaf
Michael T. Young
“The Risk of Listening to Brahms”
The Beautiful Moment 
of Being Lost
Hilary Sideris
“Learning the Blues”
Most Likely to Die
Hilary Sideris
“All God’s Dangers”
Most Likely to Die
Daniel Simpson
“Almost Drowning”
School for the Blind
George Held
“Rabbit Ways”
Culling: New & Selected
Nature Poems

We'll be posting one nominated poem each day this week


Roxy & Jack

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Award-Winning Poet Michael T. Young in Lambertville, NJ, Saturday, November 15


Poet Michael T. Young will read Saturday evening, November 15, from his brand-new collection, "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" (Poets Wear Prada) at Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey.
 
Nov. 13, 2014 - HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Award-Winning New Jersey poet Michael T. Young will read Saturday evening, November 15, at Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey, from his brand-new book "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost," his second full-length poetry collection, soon to be released by Hoboken-based publisher Poets Wear Prada.

Michael T. Young, "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost"
Michael T. Young has published three other books, including his prize-winning chapbook "Living in the Counterpoint" (Finishing Line Press, 2012), an earlier chapbook “Because the Wind Has Questions” (Somers Rocks Press, 1997), and a full-length collection of poems “Transcriptions of Daylight” (Rattapallax Press, 2000). Last month, Young was named co-winner of the 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for "Living in the Counterpoint" by the New England Poetry Club. Young has received both Chaffin and William Stafford awards for his poetry, two Pushcart nominations, and a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Since "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" had its unofficial launch earlier this year in May at the West Caldwell Poetry Festival, the poet as been on tour throughout his home state of New Jersey, and in New York, to promote his new book. Mr. Young, a philosopher as well as poet, who works as as administrative assistant in the corporate world, writes about self-exploration and identity in the context of his real-life observations during his daily activities. New Jersey readers will recognize many references in his poems to places traveled during his daily commute such as Pulaski Skyway and the Hudson River waterfront. In one of his poems "Announcing the Stops," Young writes: "The conductor announces over the intercom: / "This is Grove Street," 'This is Exchange Place,' / 'This is World Trade Center'; and later, / when I return home, the same conductor, / like a faithful Blakean, announces the same stops, / but in reverse, as if this made them / into another world, another darkness / outside the windows, another night / with cool air streaming shells and sand / and other relics of merciful judgment. //"

Bertha Rogers, author of "Heart Turned Back," lauds "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" and says in his new book, "Michael T. Young leads his readers into loving the world in its beautiful day-to-dayness. He does this by showing the reader, in thoughtful and graceful language, how to look and listen."

Asked about the unusual title of his book, Mr. Young replied that it is simply the title of one of the poems included in the book. The book itself is dedicated to his wife, Chandra, "with whom every moment is a beautiful moment even when we are lost."

Michael T. Young was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He moved to New York City in 1990. Young lives with his wife and children in Jersey City, New Jersey.

A limited number of signed pre-release copies of "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" will be available for sale at the Lambertville reading.

Panoply Books Reading Series
Saturday, November 15 @ 6PM
Panoply Books
46 N. Union St.
Lambertville, NJ

Free.
Contact: (609) 397-1145 or  info@panoplybooks.com

Panoply Books in Lambertville, New Jersey offers offbeat, rare and out-of-print quality used books, textiles, and artwork. The bookstore is open Monday through Thursday 11AM to 5PM and Friday through Sunday 11AM to 5:30PM.

Poets Wear Prada is a small literary press publishing beautifully designed, well-crafted poetry chapbooks from Sinatra’s hometown, the birthplace of professional baseball, Hoboken, New Jersey, since 2006.

For more details about how to purchase "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost," and for additional events please visit the poet's website http://MichaelTYoung.com or his publisher's blog at http://pwpbooks.blogspot.com.
Contact
Roxane Hoffman
201.253.0561
roxy533@yahoo.com

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Poet Daniel Simpson Launches Debut Collection at Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark New Jersey

October 25, 2014, Newark, NJ - Poet Daniel Simpson will be reading from his debut collection "School for the Blind" at 2014 Dodge Poetry Festival today from 3:00 to 4:10PM at NJPAC/Victoria Theater. Simpson's reading is part of a panel discussion titled "Present Imperfect: Poets on Poetry and Disability" with fellow poets Jennifer Bartlett, Ona Gritz, and Alex Lemon. Copies of the new book can be purchased on site all day and on Sunday from Barnes and Noble, the official bookseller for the Festival. There will be an official book signing today from 4:15PM to 4:45PM on the second floor across the hall from the onsite bookstore.

A recipient of a Fellowship in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Simpson has published poems in "Prairie Schooner," "The Cortland Review," "Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review," "Passager," "Atlanta Review," "The Louisville Review," and "Margie," among other literary journals. Cinco Puntos Press, El Paso, Texas, published his essay “Line Breaks the Way I See Them” and four of his poems in "Beauty Is A Verb: The New Poetry of Disability," a 2012 ALA Notable Poetry Book called “unusual and powerful” by "Publisher’s Weekly" in a starred review.

Daniel Simpson and his identical twin brother, David, were born blind in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1952. After attending the Overbrook School for the Blind through eighth grade (1956 - 1966), Dan became one of the first blind students in his county to go to a public school. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and music from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated Summa cum Laude and Class Salutatorian. 

Not only an accomplished poet, but musician too, Simpson has a Master of Music from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, as well as Master of Arts in English and a teaching certificate from the University of Pennsylvanina. He traveled to Paris for a year of private study with the world-renowned organist AndrĂ© Marchal.  Simpson has been singing with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, a 140-voice choir, for twenty years.

He serves as Access Technology Consultant to the Free Library of Philadelphia and works as a Technical Support Specialist for the Library of Congress. He and Ona Gritz are the Poetry Editors for "Referential Magazine."   He currently lives in Lansdown, Pennsylvania.

Simpson's collection of twenty poems addresses blindness not as disability but as another dimension of a multi-faceted, multi-talented self. For Simpson, blindness is not a loss nor a right denied, but an essential fact of his identity, a birthright embraced and shared with a partner in childhood crimes, his twin brother. Any pity is misplaced, any assessment that his blindness is  a shortcoming inaccurate.  In one poem he promises to tell his Aunt Polly his vision of  paradise in the afterlife: "It's really going to be something," I'll say. / "In Heaven, you'll finally get to be blind."  

Poet Stephen Dunn, 2001 recipient of a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, has said "Daniel Simpson's fine 'School for the Blind' could as easily have been called 'An Education for the Sighted,' because is works both ways. Simpson makes us privy -- without hype or sentimentality -- to what it feels like to be blind, to live with and fall in love with the tactile world and its language."

"School for the Blind" is published by Poets Wear Prada, a small literary press founded in 2006 and based in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Michael T Young Wins Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for "Living in the Counterpoint"

New Jersey Poet Michael T. Young Receives Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award

Michael T. Young of Jersey City, New Jersey, and Kyle Potvin of Derry, New Hamshire, were announced as co-winners of the New England Poetry Club's 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award, judged by poet David Ellis.

"Living in Counterpoint" (L), Author Michael T. Young (R)
"Living in Counterpoint" (L), Author Michael T. Young (R)
New England Poetry Club (f. 1915)
New England Poetry Club
(f. 1915)
PRLog - Oct. 8, 2014 - JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Michael T. Young of Jersey City, New Jersey, has been named co-winner of the 2014 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award for his third poetry collection, “Living in the Counterpoint.” He shares the award with Kyle Potvin of Derry, New Hamshire, who received it for her debut poetry collection, “Sound Travels on Water.” This year’s judge was poet David Ellis. Both collections were published by Finishing Line Press of Georgetown, Kentucky.

The Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award is given for the best chapbook published in the previous two years. A chapbook is small poetry collection usually under forty pages in length and typically published as a pamphlet. Started in 2008, the Pedrick Award is administered by the New England Poetry Club. Founded in 1915 by poets Amy Lowell, Robert Frost and Conrad Aiken, the New England Poetry Club is the oldest poetry reading series in America.

Michael T. Young has published two other collections, an earlier  chapbook, “Because the Wind Has Questions” (Somers Rocks Press, 1997), and a full-length collection of poems, “Transcriptions of Daylight” (Rattapallax Press, 2000). Advance copies of his latest book, “The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost,” are available from New Jersey's Hoboken-based publisher Poets Wear Prada. Young has received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Chaffin Poetry Award. He was also a recipient of a William Stafford Award.

Jean Pedrick (1922 - 2006)
Jean Pedrick (1922 - 2006)
“Living in the Counterpoint” was published by Finishing Line Press in 2012. “The book explores how we identify who we are, best, in the context of what we are not. The central theme of the collection is the necessity of taking risk in self-exploration. It’s similar to the odd way that candies are made better-tasting by adding a little spice to them," said author Michael T. Young. "Living in the Counterpoint" is a prelude to Young’s latest full-length collection, “The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost,” which continues his poetic exploration of self-identity and risk.

Both co-winners will each receive $100 and are invited to read at the New England Poetry Club.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Poet Michael T Young in New York and Jersey City this July

Thurday, July 3, 2014 - Hoboken, New Jersey -- Award-winning poet Michael T. Young will be reading in NYC and Jersey City this July to promote his new book, "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost," a full-length collection of poetry from the Hoboken-based small literary press  Poets Wear Prada.

The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost
The book, which will be officially released this fall, had it's unofficial launch earlier this year in May at the West Caldwell Poetry Festival. Festival organizer Diane Lockward, Poet Laureate of West Caldwell and the author of the best-selling poetry writer's manual "The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop," invited Young and his publisher Roxanne Hoffman to participate in this year event which for the first time included a selection of New Jersey independent book publishers as well as many of New Jersey's finest literary journals. Mrs. Lockward and Mr. Young are long-time poetry colleagues and staunch supporters or each other work. Lockward included one of Young's poems, "Advice from a Bat," among the poetry examples in "The Crafty Poet," and Mr. Young has read at several of Ms. Lockward's events to help promote her new best-selling book.

Mr. Young says he is hoping "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" will continue meet with the same enthusiasm enjoyed at the West Caldwell event where the ten pre-release copies promised to the festival quickly sold out. Fortunately, his publisher Ms. Hoffman had brought along additional copies, so Young was able to re-stock the sales table. The poet, who drove from his home in Jersey City to the festival, actually made his first sale of the day on the steps of the West Caldwell Library while waiting for the doors of the festival to open. By the end of the day, not only had he made several new friends while catching up with old ones, read from his new book to the packed auditorium, and shared experience and insight on the writing process during the afternoon's lively panel discussion moderated by Ms. Lockward, but found he had sold all but two of his available copies.
Writer's Panel at West Caldwell Poetry Festival

Mr. Young will be reading with another of the participants of the West Caldwell Poetry Festival this month at two of his three scheduled readings to promote "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost." The poet Gary J. Whitehead, whose fifth book, "A Glossary of Chickens," was recently published by Princeton University Press, will be joining Young on July 15th at Jersey City's Word Bookstore on Newark Street and on July 28th at New York City'e Cornelia Street CafĂ© in Greenwich Village.

About Young's new book, Whitehead says "For years, I've savored Michael T. Young's poems for their potent distillations of experience, their attempts to pour into crisp and clear free verse vessel 'something the words can't describe.' In 'The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost,' I am taken, poem after poem, through the musing of a keen intelligence, with 'movement / from character to character, from stop to stop, / in books on trains, in memory.' What's more, these poems, like the character of the title piece,  seem to 'come / into life, without intention,' a remarkable skill from a remarkable poet."

Asked about the unusual title of his book, Mr. Young replied that it is simply the title of one of the poems included in the book.  The book itself is dedicated to his wife, Chandra, "with whom every moment is a beautiful moment even when we are lost."

Michael T. Young was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He moved to New York City in 1990.  He has published one previous full-length collection of poetry, "Transcriptions of Daylight, " and  two chapbooks, "Because the Wind Has Questions," and "Living in the Counterpoint."  A fellowship recipient of the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, Young has also won a William Stafford Award and the Chaiffin Poetry award, and was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Young lives with his wife and children in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Here's the complete listing of Mr. Young's July Readings.  A limited number of pre-release copies of  "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" will be available for sale at each of these events.

July 13th, 2014, 4:00PM
(2 drink minimum)
Featuring with Jess Cording
The Parkside Lounge
317 E. Houston (Between Aves. B & C)

July 15th, 2014, 7:30PM
(Free)
Featuring with Cynthia Atkins and Gary J. Whitehead
Word Bookstore
123 Newark Ave.
Jersey City NJ 07302

July 28th, 2014, 6PM
($7 cover includes one house drink)
Featuring with Gary J. Whitehead
Cornelia Street Café
29 Cornelia Street
New York, NY 10014

For more details about how to purchase "The Beautiful Moment of Being Lost" and for additional events please visit Mr. Young's website at MichaelTYoung.com.