Undressing in Public…
Don’t We Look Grand!
Here we are after our Watershed Literary Series reading at the Baird Community Center where we brought some Atlantic City attitude to South Orange. From left to right are Karen Z. Duffy who read from her memoir in progress, Giving in to the Smoke, Moneeba Khan who read poems showing the underside of the underbelly of glitzy Atlantic City, Haiku master, Joel Dias-Porter, who also read longer poems from Ideas of Improvisation, and myself. Before reading a bit from A Tipsy Fairy Tale, I continued the Atlantic City theme by reading this faux-sonnet forthcoming in You Too Were Once on Fire from Terrapin Books.
Closing Time
The 24-hour bars in Atlantic City have three happy hours
a day, so I can pursue happiness whenever my shift lets out.
I know the end is near when the cleaners appear to scrape gum
from the gaudy carpets and drizzle disinfectant over urine
dripped from the dicers who don’t want to lose their place
at the table. Gullible men who believe they can game the ivories
they toss across the green felt when they can’t control their bladders.
I used to think life was a chain of dominoes, and if I tipped
one over, all my problems would come a-tumblin down.
I also believed being happy was the key to happiness,
and that just made me sadder. Everyone suffers, my friends,
and most of us suffer more than others as we lumber
down the Boardwalk from Pampers to Depends,
mewling and puking and leaking at both ends.
Thank you Anne Wessel and Theresa Burns for hosting us.
Undressing in Public, An Interview
I write, not just to express myself, but to explore, discover, reveal and understand what I didn’t know or what I didn’t know I knew. These moments of revelation, that’s what keeps me writing.
I recently had a conversation with a young friend, Peter Able, where we talked about this and several other things including the difference between writing poetry and prose. You can read our conversation, "Undressing in Public” at The Bookends Review.
A modest request
It’s been seven months since A Tipsy Fairy Tale became public, and while it doesn’t seem like long, in the publishing world, it is a lifetime. In fact, after four months, Tipsy has finally slipped off McFarland’s monthly list of top ten best sellers. Sniff!
If you have read and enjoyed A Tipsy Fairy Tale and know someone else who you think would enjoy and perhaps benefit from my story, please consider gifting them with a copy. If you would like to do this but don’t have the means, reply to this email and I’ll see what I can do.
You can also request your public or school library to order a copy. Here’s what the Atlantic County Library System form looks like. I’m sure your library has a similar one. The ISBN and other publishing information are on McFarland’s website under “Bibliographic Details.”
One more action you can take is to rate A Tipsy Fairy Tale on Amazon and GoodReads. And if you’re not up to writing a few words, the more stars you give it, the more likely it won’t fade away.
Here’s a tiny Tipsy trailer created by the talented Michael DiGiorgio.
Some upcoming events you might be interested in.
August 10-15 – Memoir Workshop Facilitator – Live Free & Write, A New Hampshire Getaway for Writers, Sunapee, NH
August 28 – Memoir Workshop Facilitator – “Writing About Wales…And Yourself,” North American Festival of Wales, Ottawa, CN
October 4 – Reading and Interview at the Collingswood Book Festival, Collingswood, NJ. Details TBA
October 23 – Art Chat and reading, Cardiff, Wales. Details TBA
October 24 - 27 – Coracle Europe Fringe Festival, Carmarthen, Wales. Details TBA
