Props to My Amazing Salisbury Students

Hi all! Sorry it has been so long since I posted, but I have been crazy busy (in a good way). I am deep into working on my third full length project and have just started circulating some of those poems, so hopefully that goes well! Today I am really excited to extend congrats to my super-talented students here at Salisbury. Here is a list of their accomplishments this year:

Shelby Vane has eleven poems published or forthcoming in Polaris, The Quaker, Softblow, Summerset Review, Sun & Sandstone Review, Vermillion Literary Project and Word Dance. She also was accepted and received a scholarship for the prestigious Vermont Studio Center writing residency.

Lauren Yarnall's poem, "Spell for Reconstruction," is forthcoming in Harpur Palate and her poem, "L'appel du Vide," is forthcoming in Barely South Review.

Kristen Beck's poem, "Early-Onset Postpartum," appeared in the newest issue of Arcadia and her poem, "Strati," is forthcoming in Lullwater Review.

Emmanuel Flores' poem, "I Asked You to Paint a Portrait of Me, So You Asked Me to Write a Portrait of You," is forthcoming in Cider Press Review.

Melinda Ruth's poem, "Viewmaster: the Highlands," appeared in the newest issue of Summerset Review.

Erin Traylor's poems, "Hopping John," "Love Story," and "Sixteen," are due out in Germ Magazine soon.

Kathryn Merwin's poems, "Cohabitation," "The Lightness," and "Things You Didn't Realize," were recently published in Germ Magazine. Her poem, "Continuum," is forthcoming in Barely South Review and her poems, "Ein Sof" and "An Awakening Song" are forthcoming in Catfish Creek.

Caroline Chavatel's Poems, "Against Wind" & "Splintering," are forthcoming in Potomac Review.

Jessica Michaels' poem, "Just Let Me Break It Down," won second place in the 21st Annual Artists Embassy International's Dancing Poetry Contest.

I know more great things are to come. I am so lucky to be working with such a talented crew!!!

Upcoming Readings (with some seriously awesome folks)

I'm not gonna lie, I am really digging the snowy winter. I am also really digging reading season getting underway. Below I will detail three upcoming readings to support the release of Curio (you can get a copy here or here) and all the amazing people I am reading with. Please follow the links and check them out. Their work is breathtaking. I am truly lucky to be in their company.

On 18 February at 6pm, I will be doing my hometown book launch at Salisbury, Maryland's own Pemberton Coffeehouse! Books will be on sale for a discount off the cover price and I will be signing copies.

On 27 February in Seattle, Washington at the famous Crocodile back bar, I will be reading with six other amazing first book folks to support the charity First Book Seattle. This is an AWP off-site reading. Here is a rundown of the readers:

Katy Didden

Tarfia Faizullah

Benjamin Landry

Tomas Q. Morin

Jessica Piazza

Meghan Snyder-Camp

Also, on 16 April at 6pm, I will be reading in sunny Tampa at the University of South Florida in a National Poetry Month Event with the fabulous Alexis Orgera.

I look forward to seeing you there! Please hit the contact page and send me a message if you have any questions.

Curio Now Available!

Hi All! I am proud to announce that Curio is now available for order through Small Press Distribution. It is also available through Amazon. You can see a preview there now. It is a beautiful book. Elixir has done a fine job. I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think. Here is a preview of the cover with amazing artwork by Madeline von Foerster:

Here are the blurbs from the back of the book:

“Augury—the bones / can only reveal what is asked of them,” John A. Nieves writes in this stunning first book. Part scientist, part shaman, Nieves is unswervingly intelligent and deftly imaginative at knowing what to ask of the world. Human-scale, empathetic, and far-reaching, these poems engage the full range of the curiosity at the root of curio: the epistemological work of a mind turning/returning. From a father’s machine work to Schrodinger’s cat, archeology, bloodwork, and language, Nieves reminds us of the “magic/ in the artifact” and “in the making.”—Alexandra Teague, author of Mortal Geography

John A. Nieves’ Curio is a cabinet of strange relics. In his poems, the detritus of human life serves to prove that we matter, in both senses of that term: both that we are significant and that we leave ourselves in traces through the world. In these carefully wrought poems, rust and dust and sediment layer together to offer a historiography of artifacts, excavated against our inevitable vanishing. The machine floor is evidence that a father lived and worked, the scab confirms that a lover made some kind of mark. “I should leave / something as proof that I was here,” the poet writes in “Landing.” In Curio, the poem itself becomes that something.—Kimberly Johnson, author of Leviathan with a Hook

To enter the world of Curio, John A. Nieves’ compelling poetic debut, is to enter a world shaped by a curious and ravenous intellect, a world where “Morning/is the cold, rigid face of a coin, shining/in spite of all those dirty thumbs.” It’s a space of copious gathering—one that shares in the rich tradition of the Cabinet of Wonders where collections of memory, history, and language are pondered for their exquisite, revelatory nature, never losing their luster, but invoking, instead renewable facets of awe and inspiration.—Jane Satterfield, contest judge, author of Her Familiars

I am also happy to announce that you can hear me read three of my poems on Superstition Review's iTunes channel. I also want to take a second to thank everyone who made my first full semester at Salisbury amazing. You all rock. Have a happy new year all & thanks for your support.

My New Gig & Props to Some Past Students

Sorry for not posting for so long, but I was in transition. The good news is that Salisbury University rocks. I am really enjoying my new position. I am having my intro reading Wednesday the 16th of October in the Worcester Room of the Salisbury University Commons at 8pm. Come on by if you are in the area! I have also really loved the community here in Salisbury. I have met some really interesting local artists. Also, we have a killer Vietnamese restaurant here. And Salisbury roughly translates to Cunning Fort--how cool is that?

I am also lucky to be featured on Beloit Poetry Journal's blog this month. Please pop by and read & listen to the poem and comment on the essay. I'd love for us to have a lively conversation. I will also have the privileged of being part of Superstition Review's pod cast on the 24th of December. Check it out if you get a chance. I read three poems. Also, my book is still on track to be out in early 2014 with Elixir Press--so that is still rocking right along.

I wanted to give a shout out to a few of my former students who are rocking things right now. Jordan Durham has a poem in the forthcoming issue of OVS and is the new managing editor of Fugue! Melanie Tague has a poem in the forthcoming issue of Weave Magazine and is now on the editorial staff at River Styx! Kathleen Caplis has poems in the fothcoming issue of Louisville Review and is an intern with Burntdistrict and Spark Wheel Press! And Gerardo "Tony" Mena's first book is due out from Southeast Missouri State University Press in 2014! I am honored to have blurbed it. Pick it up when it is released--it is amazing. I am lucky to have worked with such incredible writers. I am excited to watch my students accomplish even more in the next year.

Anyhow, if you haven't been to Maryland's eastern shore, come visit. It is a strange place with a strange history that is full of interesting things to do. Until next time, have a rockin' autumn.

A Few of My Favorite Things

As spring begins its long crawl out from the snow, I find myself thinking a lot about what is under there. What are the things that pop up first? How do they shape the landscape as it grows and changes. Full disclosure: I love winter and snow. But this thought had been intriguing me as of late, so I started to think of my writing in terms of some of the things that are under there. And while I will always chalk up life and curiosity as stronger forces than direct creative influence, I wanted to give a shout out to some works I feel have inhabited my "beneath the snow" in meaningful ways.

​Books of Poetry​

Simko, Daniel. The Arrival.​

York, Jake Adam. Murder Ballads.​

Teague, Alexandra. Mortal Geography.​

Levis, Larry. Elegy.​

Anonymous Old English. The Exeter Book.​

Calvocoressi, Gabrielle. The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhardt​.​

Komunyakaa, Yusef. Neon Vernacular​.​

Wright, Franz. Ill Lit.​

Rosko, Emily. Proprockery​.​

Neurnberger, Kathryn. Rag & Bone​.​

Olds, Sharon. Satan Says​.​

McQuerry, Claire. Lacemakers​.​

Range, Melissa. Horse & Rider​.​

McKee, Marc. What Apocalypse?​

Lately, in journals, I have also been digging the work of Kimberly Grey and Gerardo Mena.​

​Books of Prose​

Vonnegut, Kurt. Bluebeard​ and Mother Night​ and Timequake​.

DeLillo, Don. Americana​.​

Krauss, Nicole. History of Love​.​

O'Brien, Tim. In the Lake of the Woods​.​

Robbins, Tom. Skinny Legs and All​.​

Diaz, Junot. Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.​

Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio.​

Gaiman, Neil. American Gods​.​

Walter, Jess. The Zero.​

Cooper, Susan. The Grey King.​

Coover, Robert. The Public Burning​.​

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles.​

Brown, Karen. Pins & Needles.​

Albums​

Crooked Fingers. Breaks​ in the Armor​.

Weakerthans. Left & Leaving​.​

Hot Water Music. ​​Forever and Counting​.

Jets to Brazil. Orange Rhyming Dictionary​.​

Guided by Voices. Under the Bushes, Under the Stars​.​

Tom Waits. Heartattack and Vine.​

Tori Amos. From the Choirgirl Hotel​.

Ugly Casanova. Sharpen Your Teeth.​

So I think these works will be, in some ways, helping to sculpt the landscape of my new collection as it grows. I never can tell which ways, but I can sense many of these things underneath.