Tag Archives: love poems

Feb 11 2013
Leave a comment
performances, poetry, publication news, self assessment, videos

PechaKucha, I Choose You!

This past Thursday, I did my first ever Spreecast show, reading Bodies Made of Smoke and then doing Q & A about the book and other projects. The really cool thing about Spreecast is that it archives the show so people can take a look at it at their own convenience, which you can actually do here. I’ll probably use this for future shows or smaller projects that I don’t want to do a tour for.

Also, Bodies Made of Smoke is now carried by Powell’s. It’s nice to have a small piece of me in Portland.

Bodies Made of Smoke now among other books at Powell’s.

Friday, I had the honor and privilege to be a part of Orlando’s PechaKucha Night v 9.

I’ve spent the last month rehearsing, revising, getting the timing down of my talk. At first, being proverbially whipped by an auto-timed PowerPoint is a frightening prospect but like any format, the structure shouldn’t limit you, only challenge what you can do within that time frame.

First off, I want you to all marvel at how cool Orlando is because 300 people came on a Friday night to see us all talk on our various topics.

Second, all of the presenters were absolutely on point and amazing and I’m glad to have had the chance to meet them and perform with them. This was the best performance experience I have had to date.

If you have a PechaKucha night in your city, go. If you are a performer and you have a PechaKucha night and have never done it before, do it. If you don’t have a PechaKucha night in your city, start one. It’s an amazing, entertaining event, and you learn quite a bit about your city based on who is presenting.

My talk (Celebrating Our Failures) was on failure and becoming a better writer, talking about some of my lessons learned and processes as a writer. I’ll get to deliver it again in March at a Rotary Club meeting during my creative vacation.

***

Escape Into Life was kind enough to feature four of my poems recently. You can check them out here.

Also, I know I’ve posted this before, but I love the Bodies Made of Smoke book trailer. It says a lot without saying anything. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, get it from Powell’s or Amazon or even me.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
Dec 23 2012
Leave a comment
performances, poetry, videos

This Is Just The Beginning

I’m trying the workshop thing again, teaching one. I wasn’t able to pull it off in my own city so, borrowing from Rachel McKibbens, I’ve decided to take it online. Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 2:00 pm EST, I’ll be facilitating my love poem workshop, Our Hearts Are Power Ballads. I’m taking twelve people and all I ask is that you buy a copy of one of my books as the fee. If you are interested, e-mail me and we will do this. Here’s the info about the workshop

Come try your hand at love poetry! J. Bradley facilitates a workshop on how to tap your inner power ballad just in time for Valentine’s Day. All you need is to bring your favorite love poem or the lyrics to your favorite love song, paper, something to write with, and an open heart.

Ampersand Review was nice enough to review Bodies Made of Smoke, which you can check out here. I also have author copies now. If you’d like an autographed copy, you can e-mail me here for more info.

InDigest Magazine did a really killer reading for the (alleged) end of the world on 12.21. I contributed a poem to it, which you can watch below.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Feb 14 2012
Leave a comment
poetry, publication news

Happy Valentine’s Day

On this day of love, I give you so many gifts. The first and biggest is this.

This is a project I worked on in 2010 and 2011 and these are some of the stories that came from that project. It’s a semi linked collection of stories where relationships are destroyed in a fucked up version of pay it forward. To get an idea of what you’re in for, check out “Quality Control“. Please buy a copy and listen to The National’s High Violet album while reading it.

PANK was named as a literary heir by the New York Times. I’m floored and honored to be their Interviews Editor every issue. Also, shout out to Annalemma for making this list, as Annalemma was born in Orlando.

I have a poem in the debut issue of FeatherLit, which you can check out here.

I make a return to Safety Pin Review here.

Janey Smith gave a nice review to the first issue of Heavy Feather Review here.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Feb 12 2012
1 Comment
self assessment

Location, Location, Location

Yesterday, I was supposed to teach a workshop on writing love poems. I got to the venue an hour early, set up, and my girlfriend and I waited for people to come. I left at 11:25 am after no one showed up.

There are several factors to consider, starting with the parking situation. There was some sort of event that caused parking to be a nightmare. However, any one, including us, could have made it there early enough without problems. Another factor to consider is the level of promotion of the workshop by the venue. They only started promoting it a few weeks out and did not get it listed in any of the papers for people to take notice. That should have been something I did as well, and I didn’t, even though I had a gut feeling the venue was not going to promote. Finally, the venue itself is a factor. Based on the show I went to last time involving poetry, there seemed more emphasis on music and doing things around the community instead of literature and while this is not a bad thing at all, it does create a barrier for any literary events or workshops that want to give that area of town and venue a crack. I would like to teach writing, as that is something I never have done before, but I will be looking for a venue that has demonstrated consistency and receptiveness toward literary events and workshops instead of an untested venue.

I’m not mad people didn’t show up, more disappointed. With these lessons learned, I hope I get a better turnout the next time I want to facilitate a workshop.

I did a flash essay for Heavy Feather Review‘s podcast, which you can listen to and read here.

There Will Be Words is this Tuesday. Hope to see you there. This is in a couple of weeks. If you’re at AWP, hope to see you there.

 

Tagged , , , , , ,
Feb 10 2012
Leave a comment
performances

Watching Every Breath You Take Is Boring

I just got back from participating in a fantastic edition of Culture & Cocktails. My fellow readers, Whitney Hamrick, Jocelyn Bartkevicius, and Nick Brown, killed it in various ways (I booked Nick for There Will Be Words in the future). I opened the night up with a set of all poems. Here they are.

  1. Hunt & Gather
  2. These Are Vows
  3. Quadriplegic
  4. Enrolling In the Human League
  5. Every Girl Is The End Of The World For You And Me

Ashley Inguanta did a tremendous job with the booking and it was a great, great event. If you’re in Orlando or will be in Orlando, go. The next one is on March 9.

Tomorrow, February 11, is my love poem workshop Our Hearts Are Power Ballads. Starts at 11 am. Bring your favorite love poem or lyrics to your favorite love song, paper, something to write with, and an open mind. It’s free. Hope to see you there, Orlando.

Tagged , , , ,
Feb 09 2012
Leave a comment
fun with audio, performances, poetry, videos

Some Last Minute Shameless Promotion

Tomorrow, February 10, I’ll be performing here at 6pm $5 gets you in the venue and a glass of wine or beer. Pretty sweet deal.

Saturday, February 11, I am teaching here. Make sure to bring your favorite love poem or lyrics to your favorite love song, something to write with and something to write on.

Tuesday, February 14, There Will Be Words #10, which the Orlando Weekly picked as one of its Selections of the Week.

Here is where you can relive or finally experience the first of many 15 Views of Orlando release parties.

This is me reading “Enrolling In The Human League”, which is in the first issue of the Heavy Feather Review, which if you haven’t bought yet, you should. It’s a damn fine issue.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Feb 06 2012
Leave a comment
performances, poetry, publication news

You’re No Bruce Vilanch

It took me a week, but I’m finally, finally used to my new glasses.

Upgrade complete.

My eyes were a little worse this time and I found out from the optometrist that I have astigmatism in my left eyes. I would like to thank my parents for the faulty genetics (and a tank like immune system) . It’s been awhile since I’ve returned to the heavy framed nerd look but I fell in love with these frames when I saw them. Once it got the girlfriend seal of approval, these were meant for me.

This week is a busy one for me. Here’s the rundown where you can find me and listen to me read, talk, drink.

This Friday I’m part of Maitland Poets & Writers Culture & Cocktails reading series over at Germaine Marvel building: Maitland Art Center 231 W. Packwood Ave., Maitland. $5 gets you admission and a glass of wine or a beer (which is a sweet deal). Doors at 6. Readings are at 7pm. I’m reading with Kirsten Holt, Jocelyn Bartkevicius, and Nicholas Brown.

This Saturday from 11 am to 1 pm, there’s this

This will be a lot of fun. Just to let you know, I’m not the lecture type. This will be a discussion that requires active participation. You’ll be expected to take a little risk, which is required to write any love poem.

Also, we’ve got There Will Be Words on Valentine’s Day, a great place for a first or last date.

A big thank you goes out to the incredibly talented editor/writer Simon Jacobs for being the first to take advantage of my special, which I will now shamelessly plug on my own.

For $20, you get an autographed copy of Dodging Traffic, The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You is a Robot, and How Esmeralda Estrus Got Her Revenge and an original poem e-mailed to you. For $15, you get Esmeralda, Rapist, a mystery gift and an original poem e-mailed to you. Either way, you can wire the money over to senryujournalist at gmail dot com. All proceeds go to keeping me well stocked in Vitamin Jameson in Chicago, or to cure my terminal illness of sobriety, depending how you want to take it.

Finally, the fine folk at The Rusty Nail published five of my poems, which you can check out here.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Jan 26 2012
Leave a comment
performance calendar, performances, poetry, publication news

This Is For Fighting, This Is For Fun

Ronald Stowers was nice enough to record my poem during the slam I was in this past Tuesday. You can watch “The Genealogy of Irvine Welsh” below.

I’ve been working on my longest project yet and I don’t really have a deadline for it, taking it 500 or so words at a time. The current word count for it is about 15,540. Unlike some of the fiction I’ve written, I’m not mining anything from my life and surrounding it with out there concepts. I’ll be glad when I get the first draft done and start combing through it.

The project I’m currently working on spun out of a flash piece called From Jesus Christ, Boy Detective: Everything Must Be Slashed and WordPlaySound was nice enough to pick up the audio version (while red lightblubs picked up the text version). You can listen to it here and then I recommend listening to the rest of this podcast.

My boss over at PANK, Roxane Gay, wrote this incredible article about running her micropress Tiny Hardcore. Read it. You’ll learn a thing or fifteen.

I won’t even talk about the bullshit shut out of Drive. I enjoyed the book tremendously and am actually not mad how the movie revised the story to a degree. The movie is gorgeous and one of the few movies I have bought on the day it comes out on DVD. (There Will Be Blood is the other).

Next week starts a deluge of shows. Here they are, linked for your pleasure.

January 31 - 15 Views of Orlando Release Party

February 10 – Culture & Cocktails

February 11 – Our Hearts Are Power Ballads (Workshop on writing love poems)

February 14 – There Will Be Words #10

(All but the February 10th show is free)

Finally, you’ve got until January 30 to vote for the best of the first year of There Will Be Words. You can vote here.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Jan 19 2012
Leave a comment
performances, poetry, publication news, videos, Writing

I’m Gonna Get a Kiss, Then I’m Gonna Get Away From Here

Heavy Feather Review‘s first issue debuted last Saturday. When I got my contributor’s copy and read the poems in them, I realized that I can’t let superstition deny the want to craft a good love poem for the person I’m with. I won’t expand on this here, because I’m going to also do something special for Heavy Feather Review regarding the matter. This will also give me better insight when I teach my workshop on February 11.

Short, Fast and Deadly reviewed Our Hearts Are Power Ballads. This is what they had to say:

“There’s necrosis in all of us,” writes J. Bradley in OUR HEARTS ARE POWER BALLADS, channeling the morose yet resigned monogamist in all of us. But as the hero of these sleekly compact poem explosions can attest, domesticity’s death dirge might not be incompatible with the seductive guitar riffs of an unburdened spirit: “I will not think of myself / in your arms as an autopsy / waiting to happen.” Can’t argue with that.

(You can watch the chapbook in its entirety here.)

The first huge literary event of 2012 in Orlando is coming on January 31. If you are in town, you should be here, seriously. I’ll be reading my story from the collection, “It’s A Hollywood Summer”.

I wish I had more to say.

Tagged , , , , ,
Jan 12 2012
Leave a comment
poetry, publication news

Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone

I’m teaching my first workshop on Saturday, February 11 over here from 11 am to 1 pm and it is free. Here’s the copy I wrote for it:

Our Hearts Are Power Ballads

J. Bradley facilitates a workshop on how to tap your inner power ballad just in time for Valentine’s Day. All you need to bring is your favorite love poem or the lyrics to your favorite love song, paper, something to write with, and an open heart.
I teach adults for a living, but with processes and operating systems, never the process of writing. I’ve decided this year is the year I start really get out of patterns and comfort areas and this is a good start. I’m looking forward to helping people write heartfelt, honest, quirky love poems just in time for Valentine’s Day. I might UStream it for those would like to check it out but aren’t in Orlando to do so. If you’re in Orlando and you’ve got two free hours, come out.
Voting is still happening for the best of show for There Will Be Words. You’ve got until January 30 to make your voice heard. Go to the website and then vote   here for your three favorite writers.
I’ve got two poems over at fwriction : review, which you can check out here.
Tagged , , , ,
← Older posts
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 4,082 other followers

%d bloggers like this: