Well things have been busy in the past 4 months so let’s play catch up.
-Continuing to do the Disney jobs to the best of my ability and am thankful for the employment.
-Same thing goes for Sleuths.
-I will be performing my own poems for the first time on April 23rd at the Orlando Public Library Southwest Branch for their National Poetry Month Celebration. Afterwards there will be a Q & A and writing/performing workshop conducted by myself. This is a big deal to me because after performing over 150 of other people’s poems for 3 years at Poetry Alive at last the time has come where I act out my own words to an audience.
-I’ll also be performing at the IRA (International Reading Association) poetry extravaganza in May which will be held in my own backyard of Orlando, FL. I can’t thank performance poets Sara Holbrook (www.saraholbrook.com) and Michael Salinger (www.michaelsalinger.com) enough for this opportunity.
-I’ve been accepted to the Highlights Foundation retreat called The Poetry Muse which is a week-long children’s poetry residency mentored by Rebecca Kai Dotlich (www.rebeccakaidotlich.com). I was able to secure a partial scholarship for this event which made it all possible. Rebecca has become a welcome addition to my life as I’ve gotten to know her personally aside from the hours I had spent reading her books and performing her poems with Poetry Alive in the past. The retreat will run from August 13-18 in the hills of Northeastern PA near the town of Honesdale.
-3 poems of mine have been accepted by Georgia Heard (www.georgiaheard.com) for her anthology called The Arrow Finds Its Mark: Found Poems. According to Wikipedia Found Poems are: a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines (and consequently meaning), or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions. The resulting poem can be defined as either treated: changed in a profound and systematic manner; or untreated: virtually unchanged from the order, syntax and meaning of the original.
I should add that in Found Poems you’re allowed to create your own title to the piece as well. I sent Georgia 36 poems, she took 3 of them and they’ll be known in the book as “School Poems.” Needless to say I’m thrilled to be in my first anthology and am looking forward to receiving the check in the mail! The book is scheduled to be released in early 2012 by Roaring Brook Press out of NYC.
-Continuing to write commissioned poems for the magazine Spotlight on Recovery (www.spotlightonrecovery.com). A magazine that deals with overcoming issues that life may bring you; it’s a worthy endeavor spearheaded by a wonderful woman out of Brooklyn, NY named Robin Graham.
-Got another poem accepted by a major children’s poetry anthologist for a big deal publishing house. However I’m not at liberty to reveal anything other than that but believe me once I receive the go ahead I’m shouting it from the rooftops!!!
-Was asked to once again to participate in 30 Poets/30 Days where a new poem by a children’s poet will be published every day during the National Poetry Month of April. This event was spearheaded by poet/social networking extraordinaire Greg Pincus (www.gottabook.blogspot.com).
-My dear friend/web designing visionary Isabel will be giving my website a good old fashioned facelift this month with new additions including my acting reel, more poems and each poem read by me.
-Got cast in a Home Depot commercial where I’m helping customers find the material they’re looking for.
-Got cast in a Pepsi commercial as a vintage baseball player, then a day later found out they didn’t want me after all. This is a good lesson for young people because sometimes you can do the best job you can and still have it not be enough for reasons COMPLETELY out of your control.
-Participated in a Navy Seal designed 3.1 mile obstacle course called The Rugged Maniac in February finishing in the top 3rd of my heat. I was pretty proud of myself, considering that I’ve never done anything like that before. There was lots of jumping in and crawling through mud as well as climbing 20 foot high walls. It was so much fun (or I’m losing my mind) that I’m doing a similar race called The Rugged Warrior on April 30th. Wish me luck … with everything!
