Time for the Annual Big Poetry Giveaway (first year with my own book)

It's time for the annual Big Poetry Giveaway that Kelli Russell Agodon started six years ago, in order to introduce and share poetry and call attention to some of the poet blogs that are still active in the face of twitter and facebook soundbytes.

All you have to do is leave a comment and email on this post to be entered
(or make sure I can get in touch if you win or check back after the drawing).

It's a good way for people to hear about some shareworthy poetry books (and maybe even win a few) and also to learn about some of the interesting writer blogs that might be worth following.


Here are the two books I will be giving away this year:



The Existentialist Cookbook is my first book-length collection and it was published by NYQBooks .

This collection "sifts through the absurdity of modern living for scraps of philosophy, religion, and mathematics to blend into recipes for elegies and celebrations through the prism of chronology and humor."

These poems took a decade of road-testing in front of audiences at coffeehouses, bars, haiku death match slams, university theaters, and laundromats, before finally coalescing into this manuscript.
Here is a review by Donna Vorreyer in a recent issue of Stirring:
http://www.sundresspublications.com/stirring/archives/v16/e12/orion.htm


The other book I'll be giving away this year is 
Patricia Lockwood's Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals .
People had a great time with this one when I introduced it at my annual Christmas poetry exchange, so I'll give away one more copy in case you've never read poems like
"Is Your Country a He or a She in Your Mouth?"
“Last of the Late Great Gorilla-Suit Actors”
"The Fake Tears of Shirley Temple"
“The Father and Mother of American Tit-Pics” (Walt Whitman nude, in the forest, staring deep into a still pool — the only means of taking tit-pics available at that time)
or if you just love this badass book cover:




Miscellaneous things about me:

Some of my favorite poets are Charles Simic, Denise Duhamel, Beth Ann Fennelly,
Jeffrey McDaniel, Brendan Constantine...

Yesterday I did a workshop called "Objectifying Your Poems: So Much Depends Upon Things"



As insinuated in that flyer, I explored the power of imagery through the neorealist cinematic synecdoche of Michaelangelo Antonioni & Harry Potter's muggle-proof modes of transportation.

That's probably a pretty accurate depiction of my influences and style. I always love the opportunity to bridge the divide between highbrow and lowbrow into a movement I would call Uni-brow Poetics.


I was included in the Phoenix New Times' list of 100 Phoenix Creatives:
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/2014/08/shawnte_orion_phoenix.php

I host a monthly reading series at Glendale Community College.
I also co-host the Caffeine Corridor Poetry Series (with Jack Evans and Bill Campana) every 2nd Friday at {9} The Gallery in downtown Phoenix.

I have enjoyed reading at a wild assortment of places and events, including street parades, art museums, hair salons, light rail trains, and between punk bands in bars.
I have ventured out of Arizona with my new book, to read at the Long Beach Poetry Festival in California and the Innisfree Bookstore in Boulder Colorado. Next week, I will be reading in Las Vegas at the First Friday Pop-Up Poetry event.
Hopefully, I will get to visit your city someday.




There will be many other blogs participating this year and each of them has chosen different books to raffle off. You can enter as many different drawings as you'd like.

You can see what books are being given away on other blogs, by checking the list at Kelli's page
http://ofkells.blogspot.com/2015/03/big-poetry-giveaway-2015-celebrating.html

You may discover some helpful/useful blogs to follow throughout the rest of the year.
Some of the blogs I bookmark and check frequently:

Diane Lockward- http://www.dianelockward.blogspot.com/
Kelli Russell Agodon - http://ofkells.blogspot.com/
Sandy Longhorn - http://sandylonghorn.blogspot.com/
Drew Myron - http://www.drewmyron.com/off-the-page
Scott Woods - http://scottwoodsmakeslists.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/list-1-test/
The Storialist - http://thestorialist.blogspot.com/

Let me know if there are any poetry blogs you recommend.

So feel free to leave a comment and enter this drawing (which will be held in the first week of May).