Lambda Literary Foundation's Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices

Folks,

I was just accepted to LLF's Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices in LA this summer.  I was also given a partial scholarship to attend.  This leaves me to raise another $800 for the cost of attendance.  Please stop by my fundraising page and do what you can or just spread the word to your own network of friends and writers.

I am offering several kickbacks for those who donate, including handwritten thank you notes, broadsides of my poems, and signed copies of my chapbook SLOW DEPTH.

Thank you in advance!  Help me make this dream come true.

VISIT MY PAGE HERE!

Best,
Jory Mickelson

New Work featuring New Wave music and Noir

Folks,

I forgot that you can see three new poems of mine over at Ishaan Literary Review.

"Double Track" features one of my favorite New Wave bands YAZ.
"Connexion" is a tribute to Raymond Chandler's final novel PLAYBACK.

Check them out HERE



(Incidentally, this is the cover of the paperback I read that inspired Connexion.)

March Reading List

As many of you know, I keep an annual reading tally.  I thought I would post what I read in March so you could all see where my head has been.  This year's reading has been off to a slow start compared to last year's 120 books.

March             (total page count 1,106 )

1.     Maiden Voyage by Denton Welch (fiction) 303 pages.

2.     Robert Duncan in San Francisco by by Michael Rumaker (nonfiction) 146 pages.

3.     Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith (poetry) 75 pages.

4.     The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone by Charles W. Cook (nonfiction) 79 pages.

5.     Self-Portrait in Crayon by Allison Benis White (poetry) 64 pages.

6.     Meadowlands by Louise Gluck (poetry) 62 pages.

7.     The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell (fiction) 271 pages.

8.      Lent with Evelyn Underhill ed. G.P. Mellick Belshaw (nonfiction) 106 pages.

Blogging Thaw

What a terrible sounding headline!  Blogging Thaw.  It sounds like medical condition or a figure from Scottish myth.  "Stay away from the moors, the BloggnTha 'ill get ye."

But it is spring and this year it means that the ground is either dusted with snow or an ugly viscous mud.  Welcome to the long thaw of Northern Idaho.  Or wherever you may be reading from.

This is the start of the long unfreezing of my blog Literary Magpie.  If you have been  a reader in the past, I say let's continue!  If you are new to this blog, well welcome!  I will do my best to talk about writing, poetry, inspiration, and what is happening in the writing world every week from here on out.  Keep me accountable.  Let me know what you would like to hear about next.

To get you moving, HERE is a great interview with the poet D.A. Powell over at Lambda Literary this week!

Catching Up With Depech, er Me

I looked at the last entry for this blog and was a shamed by how long I have neglected Literary Magpie.  What is the saying about good intentions?

Very quickly, two of my poems appeared in print this Fall/Winter and I wanted to let you know about them.  The first is the poem "Lullaby" which appeared in Boxcar Poetry Review.  It won the "Poem of the Issue" award, which was thrilling.

You can read "Lullaby" online HERE.

The second poem that appeared in print was "Night Shifts" and the great folks over at The Cossack Literary Review.  I am excited to say that they nominated it for  Pushcart Prize.  I am still waiting to hear back on that.

You can read "Night Shifts" online HERE.

If you take the time to read my poems, prowl around the websites of these two great literary journals.  And if you like what you see, send them an email saying so.  Send a donation to support the work or even subscribe.

I promise to post some real content on this blog within the next week.

Keeping Up with Poems

It seems all my poems have come into print at the same time for the year.  If you would like to see my work, online and for free, please check out the following links.

The Adirondack Review Winter 2012 Issue for my poem "The nights are long, here.  Nowhere a torch."

Boxcar Poetry Review Fall 2012 Issue 31 for my poem "Lullaby"

Scareship (Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine) Issue 8 for three of my poems:
"Extinction Existentialism"
"At the Center of the Controversy" 
"Taxonomy Without Autonomy"

PANK Magazine October 2012 The Queer Issue for my poem "Float" 
(It includes and audio file of me reading the poem)

And finally, this Fall Niche Magazine featured the University of Idaho and me in their MFA Spotlight

I am so grateful to these journals, their editors and readers, who put my poems into print.  Thank you all!

Onward, Onward! Twitter, Surveys and More!

First off, I broke down and got a twitter account.  If you would like to check out my learning curve, I would appreciate it.  You can follow me @poetryphone

This year I was asked by Band of Thebes blog to take part in their annual author survey of the best LGBTQ books of 2012.  I was honored to be a part of this survey.  I have used it to guide my reading for the past three years!

Check out what I and 86 authors had to say about the books of 2012  HERE!