Alex Grant's Blog
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Jun.30.2012
"If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love-affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down." -- Ray Bradbury
For several years, I'...
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May.30.2012
After 26 years of(sometime) stupidity, venality and bureaucracy, I finally decided last week that I could no longer work for corporate America. I resigned, they paid me my notice without my working it out, and I am now a free agent.
I'm now going to make my living doing something I love, something...
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May.15.2012
You know - the ones that grind slow, but exceeding small? These days, they don't grind quite so slow...
In two weeks, I'll be 58. (I'm going to have to start giving my age in Celsius.) I still vividly remember turning 40, and feeling really, really old - now, of course, it seems ridiculously young...
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May.14.2012
After Friday's interview/reading on "The State of Things" on NC NPR, I got an email(via my publisher) from someone who had listened in to the show - she wanted to know my summer reading schedule.
I replied to her and told her where and when I was reading and she replied back, saying "I don't...
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May.13.2012
As anyone who has ever given public readings will probably tell you, it's a very inexact science, and it's often fraught with pitfalls, pratfalls and flat-out screw-ups. I've had no mic, no audience, no publicity, no reading space, no money, no book sales, no interest and no idea why the hell I put...
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2 comments
May.13.2012
I had a great time on "The State of Things" with Frank Stasio on Friday - it's broadcast on NC NPR. When I was waiting to go into the studio, the writer who was on before me said "What's that smell? It smells like a pipe." Frank said "Oh, that's Alex - he always smells of brandy and cigars." Busted...
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Nov.01.2010
I haven't blogged in over a month, I've just realized. I've been caught up in doing readings for my new collection, "The Circus Poems", which Lorimer Press released a month ago.
Things have been very hectic, but exciting - one of the poems("The Tightrope Walker") has been...
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Sep.29.2010
In honor of Tomas Transtromer's long-overdue Nobel nomination, I'm re-posting this blog entry from last year - and keeping my fingers crossed!
Cover poetry - a poem by the brilliant Swedish poet - translated by Robert Bly. Better than what you've been getting lately!
I plan on posting these on...
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Sep.24.2010
Tomorrow is the launch for my new book, "The Circus Poems." I'm reading with Dorianne Laux and Joe Millar at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. I'm excited, and having dreams of going bald. A preview of the book:
http://redroom.com/publishedwork/the-circus-poems-0
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Sep.22.2010
The writing spider outside my window says I'm gay.
I sprayed "I know you are - but what am I" on her web with silly string.
That'll teach her.
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Sep.21.2010
A video reading of "The Lighthouse" - a poem from "And Everything is Filled With Nothing."
The collection is loosely based on Rod Serling's brilliant series, "The Twilight Zone."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_1WBROnX0Y
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Sep.20.2010
This coming Saturday, I'm thrilled to be reading again with Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar in Chapel Hill, NC(my home town now) - this now also turns out to be the launch date for my new book, "The Circus Poems."
In advance of the book release and reading, I'm posting a video reading of...
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Sep.06.2010
With all the current hullabaloo about e-publishing vs. print, I present, without comment, a recent poem that struck me as being particularly apropos.
The poem is from my recently-completed full-length collection, "The Poems of Wing Lei" - in the voice of an unknown 9th-century Chinese...
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Aug.20.2010
"You climb the staircase of years/
the steps crumbling quiety behind you."
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Jul.13.2010
I was surprised to see someone post the intro to one of my poems as her status update on Facebook last night(she had just read my book.) One of the commenters asked if the poem was on the web - it isn't - so I'm posting it here so that she can link to it.
Palimpsest
...
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About Alex
Alex Grant's Chains & Mirrors won the 2007 Oscar Arnold Young Award(Best North Carolina poetry collection) and the 2006 Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize. Fear of Moving Water, his 2009 collection, was runner-up for both the Oscar Arnold Young and the...
Connections
Causes Alex Grant Supports
Southern Poverty Law Center
Amnesty International
Moveon.org
Alex’s Favorite Books
Catcher in the Rye, Journey to Ixtlan, Voyage to Arcturus, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The White Hotel, The Four Quartets, The World Doesn't End...