Saturday, July 31, 2010

Willows Wept Review Summer 2010 out!


Issue 8 (Summer 2010) of Willows Wept Review is out now! Two of the poems they published are part of my upcoming chapbook, A Pure River, which is a collection based on experiences during a cross-country drive. So to get a sneak peak of the book, check out Willows Wept!


Baptismal involves a southern Baptism upon a riverbank, where vultures are calling the dead one way, religion the other. South Texas Shadow is a strange blend of person and landscape, as often one defines the other...

Friday, July 30, 2010

Euphony Spring 2010 out!




Euphony's Spring 2010 issue is out now! This issue contains my poem "It is not you".

Euphony is a non-profit literary journal produced biannually at the University of Chigago.

Praise for A Pure River




Praise for A Pure River is rolling in. I'm excited that so many poets and editors have shown such interest in my chapbook and have provided such glowing reviews!

Here's what people have said:

"John Sibley Williams is undoubtedly one of the most significant new voices emerging in the 21st century. He represents poetry as it is supposed to be, with all the lessons of the past’s masters and a fresh flavor of a modern mind. Williams is intensely at home with half-objects, things almost said, entities that exist between reality and interpretation, fact and perception, memory and metaphor. The skillful ambiguity of his work is a dreamfiled for a sophisticated contemporary reader accustomed to inhabiting text and finding their own place within it, where interpretation contributes to a unique dialog between the poem and the reader. It is the poets like John Sibley Williams who remind us that there are mental and semantic fields yet to ponder, despite the millions that have already self-exploded from overexposure. In his capability to combine the minute exploration of the texture of being with a general compassion for the humankind it its many manifestations, Williams reminds us of such voices as Paul Celan, Paul Eluard and William Stafford. With this wonderful chapbook, he instantly becomes a literary phenomenon to reckon with."

-A. Molotkov, 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee and author of the novel everything
----------------------------

"John Sibley Williams is a poet of rare skill. Precise, spare, vivid; his images sneak from the page into the memory. Even when he’s describing abandoned towns, deserted roads, Williams sketches the rust belt, the desert, the Midwest, with aching beauty. An outsider with the eye of a poet, he catalogues his surroundings with accurate and playful detail. “People…define bad water/ as all rivers never crossed,” Williams says, but he isn’t afraid to cross the river and see what lies on the other side. His poems are one part travelogue, one part love-letters to America. He asks, “Would I too prefer to live slowly/ like how a child learns to speak/ than rush through a novel’s breadth before noon/ without recalling a single character’s eyes?” The answer is a resounding No! Williams takes his time, all the while searching for that “pure river.” Buy this book; beat the rush before Williams is the name on the tip of everyone’s tongue."

-CL Bledsoe is the author of _____(Want/Need) and Anthem and the editor for Ghoti Magazine.
----------------------------------------
"John Sibley Williams is truly gifted and well deserving of the awards and recognition his poems have garnered. He genuinely touches and inspires the heart of the reader through vivid images of the places he has been and chronicled so effectively. It has been my privilege to read, contemplate, and thoroughly enjoy A Pure River."

-Anita Lanning, Vice President of Central Oregon Writers Guild
-----------------------------------------
"A Pure River is a travelogue through the archaisms and illusions of American society. John Sibley Williams's beautifully-cast rhythms refresh dry landscapes and display a discerning -- and buoyant -- intelligence that turns scenes of isolation into small planets with their own gravitational pull."

-Jerry Bradley, poetry editor of Concho River Review and author of Simple Versions of Disaster & The Importance of Elsewhere
---------------------------------------------
A Pure River is a walk inside perceptions, a view into forever, with poetic scenery, emotion, and heart. This collection is a sojourn into the past and a trip cross-country; an experience of the soul.

-Deborah Stinson, editor of Unfettered Verse

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Paypal option for Pre-order of my chapbook!

I've created a paypal account to make pre-orders of my chapbook easier. The paypal email is jswilliams1307@gmail.com! Order now and often!

If you would like to order a copy, please send payment of $12, which includes shipping, to via paypal or to address below. Also, feel free to contact me via email or phone. I would be more than happy to sign any copies you order, if you let me know. In a few months, once it hits shelves, you'll be able to order it directly through the press (www.thelastautomat.com).

Thank you so very much for your consideration and support. If it weren't for the friendship and support from you all over the years, I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today.

John Sibley Williams
5160 Sw Slavin Rd, Apt 61
Portland, Or 97239

Review of my forthcoming chapbook, A Pure River

"John Sibley Williams is undoubtedly one of the most significant new voices emerging in the 21st century. He represents poetry as it is supposed to be, with all the lessons of the past’s masters and a fresh flavor of a modern mind. Williams is intensely at home with half-objects, things almost said, entities that exist between reality and interpretation, fact and perception, memory and metaphor. The skillful ambiguity of his work is a dreamfiled for a sophisticated contemporary reader accustomed to inhabiting text and finding their own place within it, where interpretation contributes to a unique dialog between the poem and the reader. It is the poets like John Sibley Williams who remind us that there are mental and semantic fields yet to ponder, despite the millions that have already self-exploded from overexposure. In his capability to combine the minute exploration of the texture of being with a general compassion for the humankind it its many manifestations, Williams reminds us of such voices as Paul Celan, Paul Eluard and William Stafford. With this wonderful chapbook, he instantly becomes a literary phenomenon to reckon with."

-A. Molotkov, 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee and author of the novel everything

Monday, July 26, 2010

I'll be presenting to Central Oregon Writers Guild!


Wow, what an opportunity!

I've been invited by Central Oregon Writers Guild to read my work and give a presentation on the art of poetry and its composition on July 28, 2011! This is quite an honor and the most significant event I have yet led or participated in. Of course I am a bit intimidated, but I have a year to figure out what little ol' me can 'teach' a large, respected group of local authors.

This Week's Poem

Left Hand

It reaches out to shake
but retreats, shyly,
good for little more
than keeping writing paper still
when someone throws open a window
or balancing a ladder
or pivoting a gravedigger’s shovel,
acts of supporting inertia,
fending off wind and gravity.

Since birth, a series of retreats,
little hopes ground to pulp,
until like a marionette only half-stringed
you finally meet a beautiful woman
who extends her left hand
and you smirk disdainfully
and offer your right.


-previously published by Barnwood International

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Pre-Order of A Pure River!


Dear Friends,
I am very excited to be able to share some wonderful news with you. My new book, A Pure River, is being published by The Last Automat Press this fall. The book is a collection of poems based on experiences during my cross-country trip a few years back. I believe it has much to say even to those who don’t traditionally enjoy poetry, as it spans the emotional and physical landscapes of over a dozen states.

At this time I am able to accept pre-orders for copies of A Pure River and would be honored if you would like me to reserve one (or more) for you. I am confident that you will enjoy it and would be very grateful for your support.

If you would like to order a copy, please send payment of $12, which includes shipping, to my physical address below. Also, feel free to contact me via email or phone. I would be more than happy to sign any copies you order, if you let me know. In a few months, once it hits shelves, you'll be able to order it directly through the press.
Thank you so very much for your consideration and support. If it weren't for the friendship and support from you all over the years, I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today.

Sincerely,
John Sibley Williams
5160 SW Slavin Rd, Apt 61
Portland, OR 97239
http://jswilliamspoetry.blogspot.com
www.TheArtOfRaining.com
603-475-8803
kafkaesque1307@yahoo.com

Debut Chapbook!!


I am excited to announce my debut chapbook, A Pure River, is forthcoming later this year from The Last Automat Press. It's based on experiences during my cross country trip three years ago. The contract is signed, proofs proofed, and blurb requests sent out. However, if you're interested in an advanced screening of A Pure River, please let me know. I'd love for it to reach the hands of all interested readers.

I am also seeking blurbs and reviews, so let me know if you'd like a first glimpse!

Monday, July 19, 2010

This Week's Poem

Timepiece

Iron sky, grinding clouds,
piecemeal memories broad and porous
worked over again upon the loom.

Clockwork of sunset-
still my feet and still
edgeless night.
I am tomorrow’s rearview promise-
more canvass
more canvass more dreams
more time to listen to my song
misinterpreting each note.

-previously published by Counterexample Poetics

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Sleet Magazine out now!

The Summer issue of Sleet Magazine is out now, including my poem "Cross, how comfortable you are". Check it out: http://www.sleetmagazine.com/pages/supplement.html

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Willows Wept Review




Willows Wept Review just accepted four of my previously published poems for their online poetry journal!

Willows Wept Review is an online literary journal that publishes seasonally themed writing that explores, celebrates, and/or problematizes the relationship between human beings and the natural world.

Being seasonally-themed, Willows Wept will publish my poems "South Texas Shadow" and "Baptismal", which both come from experiences during my cross country drive 4 years ago, in their Summer 2010 edition (scheduled for July), "Rebuilding Over and Again", based in Iceland, for Fall 2010 (released in October), and "Winter", could have been written anywhere but is quite New England-based to me, for Winter 2011 (released next January).

Monday, July 12, 2010

Love Outlives Us

Below is a link to a wonderful multi-media performance by my friends from Moonlit Poetry Caravan and The Guttery (local Portland writing groups). Unfortunately schoolwork barred me from participating, but it's a very unique performance including poetry and music...

www.AMolotkov.com/LoveOutlivesUs

Monday, July 5, 2010

Tuesday: An Art Project

Just returned from a wonderful 4th weekend with my love's hometown of Boise with fantastic news!

My socially-aware poem "Cutting Along the Edges" will be published in the Fall 2010 print issue of Tuesday: An Art Project. Their Spring issue contains work from such names as Franz Wright, so I am excited to find my work in it's fine pages!

"Cutting Along the Edges" is a statement about the distance between real and televised feelings about the suffering of others, about how I (and nearly everyone) speak of atrocities and far-away pain as if it were out own, as if we were all connected, yet we are at heart unmoved...perhaps the act of talking about feelings replaces the feelings themselves...