DESCRIPTION
#7 in the Jazz Police Speculative Poetry Series.
Overheard at a Dan Raphael reading:
She: "Do you think he's ever taken acid?"
He: "Taken it!? I think he wears a patch."
"To some extent, I see myself as a medium for the energy and knowledge inherent in language; but to a similar extent I see my limitations as a medium, my own convoluted psyche , as well as a strong concern and deep consternation for the current status of the world we live in that language itself may not share." -- Dan Raphael
Overheard at a Dan Raphael reading:
She: "Do you think he's ever taken acid?"
He: "Taken it!? I think he wears a patch."
"To some extent, I see myself as a medium for the energy and knowledge inherent in language; but to a similar extent I see my limitations as a medium, my own convoluted psyche , as well as a strong concern and deep consternation for the current status of the world we live in that language itself may not share." -- Dan Raphael
PRAISE FOR SHOWING LIGHT A GOOD TIME
These are extraordinary poems of daily life, intensely felt and spoken. The poet speaking here is 'the balancing fire...centered so close to home/rising without yeast, accelerating without an engine.' All this in a river of charged language and amazing imagery. Dan Raphael is one of our most enduring, unique, and authentic poets, a poet with a truly universal and protean conception of things...In this collection he's at the top of his form.
-- John M. Bennett, Editor of Lost and Found Times
-- John M. Bennett, Editor of Lost and Found Times
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dan Raphael's poems have appeared in around 300 publications including Caliban, Central Park, Heaven Bone, Lost and Found Times, Nebula Awards 31, Pacific Northwestern Spiritual Poetry, Tinfish, Otoliths, Portland Review, Unlikely Stories, Short Fuse, Raven Chronicles and x-stream. Among his books of the 21st Century are Showing Light a Good Time (Wordcraft of Oregon/Jazz Police, 2001), Among My Eyes (x-stream, 2002) and Breath Test (nine muses books, 2007). An energetic and intense performer, Dan has given over 200 readings, including places like Bumershoot, Portland Poetry Festival, Powell's Books, Cornell University, Red Sky Poetry Theatre, Reed College, Artquake, Southern Oregon University, Moe's Books, Portland Jazz Festival, and the Astrochimp Impact Crater. He edited NRG Magazinefor 18 years, then published 26 Books (26 chapbooks of 26 pages by 26 authors). Starting at college, he had organized readings and poetry events for over 30 years, including one monthly series that lasted 13 years, and Poetland, where 80 poets read in 8 venues over an 8 hour span. Despite degrees from Cornell, Bowling Green State and Western Washington, Dan has stayed out of teaching, working first for the post office and later for the Oregon DMV. He lives in Portland, OR, with his wife Melba and son Orion. ALSO SEE WORDCRAFT OF OREGON TITLE: IMPULSE & WARP