Thursday, July 31, 2008

I have written. Hear me whimper.

I've received quite a few zines, journals, and magazines this summer with some of my work included and want to take a moment to give these folks a shout out.

First, my poem "The Thrift Store Shopper" appeared in the Spring 2008 of the venerable Nerve Cowboy. This is a small press staple, an exceptional journal of accessible and enjoyable poetry. It's always a treat to read.

My poem "The Frat Boy I Was (The Idiot I Am)" was published in Issue #6 of the iconoclastic Fight These Bastards. It's a newer zine and very intelligently written and tastefully done.

As my bio reads in their premiere issue, I once had a pet hamster by the same name. Nibble (my hamster's name was Nibbles) recently published my poem "Crash". In an age becoming more and more dominated by the e-zine, this is throw-back to the old school, tangible zine (or at least "old school" for me). It has a clean design and layout and contains some enjoyable short poetry.

The shocker came when I received a package from England the other day with "Printed Matter" on the envelope. I opened it and, at first, I thought it was one of my wife's glossy fashion magazines. Wrong. It was Phoenix, the arts magazine of Imperial College London, who solicited a piece of flash-fiction from me titled "My Real Hair." This is a gorgeous, professional production with kick-ass photography and some damn fine writing. And there were no advertisements. Imagine that. In England, they must actually fund the arts. What a strange concept.

In e-zine news, I have a poem titled "The D-Word" in the new issue of The Orange Room Review. Check it out if you have a minute.

Also, my review of David Guterson's new novel The Other is in this week's Hippo Press. I saw that it has the book editor's byline, but my name is at the bottom. I assure you, I wrote it.

I've been a little out of touch lately. I'm working diligently on a couple of new projects and laying low this summer. It's never a bad thing to take the phone off the hook and disappear every now and then. I think I ripped that line off a Billy Joel song. Wow. What's worse? Ripping off someone else's words, or the fact that it is Billy Joel?

P.S. Check out my Bush Backwards clock on the bottom of the page. I was very proud of myself for figuring out how to post it. It was something I did after watching CSN&Y: Deja Vu On-Demand the other night. I thought it kicked ass. My wife wasn't as pleased. Definitely worth watching though.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Billy Joel has been ripped off all his life. I'm sure he won't mind you borrowing a line from one of his songs. And if you're going to steal, you might as well steal from the best.

Nate Graziano said...

I like Billy Joel's early stuff a ton. "Songs in the Attic" is still one of my favorite albums of all time. That's right. All time.

I ripped off the words from "Vienna", a B-track on "The Stranger."

But I'm pretty sure the reason Billy Joel keeps falling off the wagon is because people keep showing him the video for "Uptown Girl."

Anonymous said...
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christopher cunningham said...

hey now: that nibble poem was fucking awesome, son.

and people hate billy joel for what he did to them with "we didn't start the fire" I'm pretty sure.

"big shot" is an awesome tune though.

Nate Graziano said...

Many thanks, kind sir.

You're right. I forgot about that terrible, terrible video. I mean, what's up with that? Billy Joel is so flustered by fifty years of history that he needs to throw over a table? Imagine if he had G.W. Dipshit's eight years to include in it: "fixed elections, 9-11,terrorism,Bin Ladin, bomb Iraq, heart attack Cheney lives, what gives, how does someone so fucking dumb get elected anyway? Seriously. Kill the damn music. Now I'm really pissed."

Anonymous said...

nate, please contact me. i have a poetry opportunity for you but need a current email and mailing address. currently publishing justin.barrett, as well.

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