James R. Whitley's Poetry Spot

James R. Whitley is the author of 3 poetry books and 2 poetry chapbooks. His most recent collections, This Is the Red Door and The Goddess of Goodbye, dedicated to the memory of his mother, were both published in 2009.

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His poetry has been published in over a hundred print and online literary journals, including African American Review, First City Review, Barrelhouse, Mississippi Review, River City, Umbrella, Poetry Midwest and The Houston Literary Review.

In addition to being nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net, Whitley is the recipient of the 2001 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award, the Ironweed Press Poetry Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, the 42opus Editors' Select Prize and other honors for which he is truly grateful.

Over the years, Whitley has presented his poetry at many readings. Some of the more recent events where he has had the privilege to read his work as a featured poet include the New England Poetry Club's Reading Series, the Boston Public Library's Annual National Poetry Month Reading, the Annual Eudora Welty Writers' Symposium at the Mississippi University for Women, and the Warwick Museum of the Arts' Mad Poets' Cafe in Rhode Island. If you know of a poetry reading event that you want Whitley to know about, please contact him with information.

 A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

POETS:

Robert Hayden, Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda, Robert Frost, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Rita Dove, Louise Glück, Sandra Cisneros, Carl Phillips, Sharon Olds, Melvin Dixon, Ai, e.e. cummings, Jorie Graham...

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OTHER WRITERS:

Camille Paglia, Frantz Fanon, Sam Harris, Toni Morrison, William Shakespeare, Jorge Luis Borges, Nicholson Baker, SIgmund Freud, Roald Dahl, Edward Gorey...

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POETRY BOOKS (contemporary):

Crush by Richard Siken, Krypton Nights by Bryan Dietrich, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A by A. Van Jordan, The Venus Hottentot by Elizabeth Alexander, Blood Dazzler by Patricia Smith, Here, Bullet by Brian Turner...

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MUSICIANS/SINGERS:

Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Prince, Cocteau Twins/Liz Fraser, Mazzy Star/Hope Sandoval, Rufus Wainwright, Kathleen Battle, Nina Simone, John Dowland, Antony & The Johnsons, The Smiths, Coldplay, The The/Matt Johnson... 

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FORMER PETS:

Titan: my first snake, Rocky & Bullwinkle: the 2 rowdy male ferrets I adopted in Boston, Erika Kane: the potty-trained dwarf rabbit that I shared a dorm room with at Cornell, Rafiki & Snowflake: surely, the sweetest female albino corn snakes that ever lived... 

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DRINKS:

Watermelon/Pomegranate Martini, Savory James Cream Sherry, Asti Spumante, Amaretto, Pellegrino, green/chai/Earl Grey tea, vanilla shakes...