August 6, 2010 Poetry Lab

it's summer, it's hot - meltingly so. This Poetry Lab will feature "the Dans" (Dan Vera of Washington DC & Dan Maguire of Baltimore, MD)

here's bios of each poet :


Dan Vera lives in Washington, DC. He's the author of The Space Between Our Danger and Delight (Beothuk Books, 2008), editor of the Gay culture journal White Crane, publisher of VRZHU Press and Souvenir Spoon Books. He is the founder of Brookland Area Writers & Artists, and a member of DC Poets Against War, and the Triangle Artists Group. His poetry has appeared in Delaware Poetry Review, DC Poets Against The War, Konch, Gargoyle, Full Moon on K Street: Poems of Washington, D.C., and Pacifica Radio's nationally broadcast Peace Watch program.

"The poetry of Dan Vera is clear, strong, honest and funny. He’s the sharp-eyed observer in the corner who doesn’t say much, but makes every word count. He handles the political and the personal with equal grace, even as the lines blur. Whether he's ruminating on the perils of bilingualism, giving voice to the bewilderment of his Cuban immigrant family, cursing the censors who tried to repress gay writers over the years, waiting for the late great poet Sterling Brown to turn the next corner in Washington, D.C., or taking delight in all things delightful, Dan Vera is damn good company. You’ll see." — Martín Espada

"To read Dan Vera is to believe the world is actually a good place after all – a place where the reputation of poetry is redeemed with humor and kindness. I read this book first to know it; then I read it again for all the reasons poetry brings us closer. This is what we first understood poetry to be, miraculous and humble. In the deepest part of the heart where we truly reside, there is always a wish that poetry will rinse off artifice. This is it. When reading Dan Vera, we are married to the 3 hearts of poetry: intelligence, style, and honor. This is the most satisfying book of poems we can read if we want to witness language with a real poet as its servant."— Grace Cavalieri

"Ranging through landscape and history, family legacy and gay life, Dan Vera’s poems are melodic, lucid, and concise examinations of “the limits of earthly loving.” They remind us of what blessings the world possesses and what flesh-hating forces endanger those delights." Jeff Mann

"Dan Vera's debut collection...is just like the cover image -- full of sparks. And also like the sparkler, the poems crackle and burn...reminded me of Ted Kooser, but also the whimsy often found in the work of our poetry grandfather, Walt Whitman."
— Collin Kelley

"Dan's work 'delights' with its humor and irony. And his love poems are understated in the best way." — Francisco Aragon

Dan Vera
Author of The Space Between Our Danger & Delight
beothukbooks


Bio: Dan Maguire

Dan Maguire is a native Philadelphian who now lives in Baltimore. His work has won several prizes and awards and has appeared in The Mad Poets Review, The Schuylkill Valley Journal, The Comstock Review, The Paterson Literary Review, Big City Lit, the Philadelphia Inquirer and others.

In May of 2000, the editors of The American Poetry Review selected him for a special workshop with the poet Robert Bly. He was awarded first prize for poetry at the Philadelphia Writer's Conference in 2000, and again in 2001. He has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes.

In February of 2004, he was invited to read at the Library of Congress of the United States. He has led poetry workshops through the Gloucester City (NJ) Adult Education Program, and the 2 Rivers Writers group. In 2005, he led one of the sessions at the first joint-workshop for disabled and non-disabled poets, held at Inglis House in Philadelphia.

Also in 2005, he was selected by poet Gerald Stern as a prize-winner in The Mad Poets Society’s national contest. He led one of the workshops at the National Convention of State Poetry Societies, and in 2006 presided over one of the two poetry groups at the Philadelphia Writers Conference.

In 2009, he won the Almeda Boulton Memorial Award from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, and in 2010, coming full circle, he judged the poetry competition at the Philadelphia Writers Conference.

His most recent publication, Finding the Words, was published by Plan B Press in the fall of 2008. It's now on its 5th printing

July 2, 2010 Poetry Lab

(reb livingston, stevenallenmay, natalie lyalin)