18.10.10

Provocative Poetry

You know that other kind of poetry, right? The non-provocative kind....well, this ain't that. This is pro-vocative. Positively inclined to vocate at any given moment. OK, OK, enough riffing on the title, I get it.  I am honored to be reading this coming Friday night at B'nai Keshet in Montclair NJ with some serious poets:


Jessica de Koninck ‘s collection, Repairs, is published by Finishing Line Press. Her poems appear in anthologies such as The Breath of Parted Lips, Voices from the Frost Place, Vol. II, Mischief, Caprice and Other Poetic Devices and in journals. Poems appear in The Valparaiso Poetry Review, Bridges, The Paterson Literary Review, US 1 Worksheets, the Edison Literary Review, Lips and elsewhere.   Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.   A resident of Montclair and former Councilwoman, she is a graduate of Brandeis University and Boston University School of Law, counsel to the South Orange–Maplewood public schools and anticipates receiving her MFA from Stonecoast in January 2011.

Deborah Garrison is the poetry editor of Alfred A. Knopf and a senior editor at Pantheon Books. Prior to joining the Knopf Publishing Group in 2000, she spent fourteen years at The New Yorker magazine, where she edited both fiction and nonfiction and wrote criticism for the books section. She is the author of A Working Girl Can’t Win and Other Poems (1998) and The Second Child (2007). Her poems and pieces about poetry have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and other journals.  Garrison is also Education Vice President at Bnai Keshet.

Martin Golan’s short-story collection, Where Things Are When You Lose Them, explores the losses that come with any life lived fully and well. The book is a follow-up to his novel, My Wife’s Last Lover. He works as an editor at Reuters, and is also a private writing coach. He’s published poetry, fiction, and essays in many magazines, among them Poet Lore, Fiction Warehouse, and Bitterroot, where he served as associate editor for several years working closely with legendary poet and mystic Menke Katz. His latest published work, a poem soon to appear in the magazine Lips, addresses the similarities between a singles’ bar and reading poetry in public, such as a Friday night service at a Montclair synagogue.  Golan is a Verona resident.

Madeline Tiger’s tenth collection of poems, The Atheist’s Prayer, appeared from Dos Madres Press, (Spring, 2010); her other recent collections are The Earth Which Is All (2008) and Birds of Sorrow and Joy: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2000(2003). Her work appears regularly in journals and anthologies. She has been teaching in state programs and private workshops since 1973 and has been a “Dodge Poet” since 1986. She lives in Bloomfield, NJ, under a weeping cherry tree.

6.10.10

Dream Come True




Growing up in North Carolina, basketball was a huge part of my childhood. I played driveway ball everyday after school with my neighbors and played for the Temple Israel team in the Church League. During the 70s and 80s, before we had pro teams in Charlotte, ACC college basketball players were our heroes. We went crazy in '83 when NC State won the NCAA and Jimmy V raced around the court in celebration. When Jordan went from Carolina to the pros, we felt as if one of ours had shown that we truly were the best at the sport.

Last night, thanks to Jeff Rosen, owner of the Maccabi Haifa team, I finally had my chance to show off the skills learned on the Glankler's driveway against the pros. After they took on the New Jersey Nets on Sunday, the Haifa team had an open scrimmage sponsored by a few Jewish organizations (thank you Metrowest Federation) and I got to play with Avi (pictured here) and the other guys. It was a great time -- thank you to all involved!

p.s. Sylven Landsberg (no 13 in the first photo) played in the ACC for Virginia...here's a massive dunk he threw down in his college days.