The Journey of 104 DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC - Coming Sept 6th
As I've noted previously, I consider myself to be an artist and not a publisher - but necessity sometimes guides our hand. That said, despite the arduousness of the past year and a half, I am quite proud to say that fandango 4 Art House, my wife and I's Brooklyn-based Theatre/Arts company, managed to publish not only my debut novel in the Spring of this year, THE WOMAN IN THE SUN HAT, but, as of September 6th, 2021, my collection of poetry - 104 DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC. The latter consists of poems composed daily between March 19th through June 30th, 2020.
This collection was one of several self-imposed assignments I gave myself in a year that will largely live in infamy, but I feel this one, in particular, was an interesting catharsis. About a week into our city's shutdown, I somehow felt that it would be interesting to write a poem a day based on either what was happening in the city, the world or a personal trigger from my own life, be it present or past. The result is a poetic diary of sorts that, while touching upon much of what was going on in the world and in me at the time, is more of a historical time capsule from the perspective of a Brooklyn resident watching his environment change, as well as the impact a virus could have - not only physically but socially and politically.
Obviously, these are things still very much in the air, while a considerable majority of this country remains unvaccinated - many of who, regardless of age or health status, sadly seem to resist for reasons of political alignment.
My goal was to leave these poems intact from how I wrote them on the day. So, aside from an excised line or two, what you will see in this collection is pretty much what came out on the noted day (all poems are dated too). This was also a challenge in that I had to resist revisions, which are normally a natural course of the writing process, especially when it goes into publication.
But that self-imposed restriction aside, I feel the collection is a potent, sometimes amusing and often emotional journey of 104 days from the perspective of a New York-based artist...and now publisher.
I look forward to sharing this with you.
This collection was one of several self-imposed assignments I gave myself in a year that will largely live in infamy, but I feel this one, in particular, was an interesting catharsis. About a week into our city's shutdown, I somehow felt that it would be interesting to write a poem a day based on either what was happening in the city, the world or a personal trigger from my own life, be it present or past. The result is a poetic diary of sorts that, while touching upon much of what was going on in the world and in me at the time, is more of a historical time capsule from the perspective of a Brooklyn resident watching his environment change, as well as the impact a virus could have - not only physically but socially and politically.
Obviously, these are things still very much in the air, while a considerable majority of this country remains unvaccinated - many of who, regardless of age or health status, sadly seem to resist for reasons of political alignment.
My goal was to leave these poems intact from how I wrote them on the day. So, aside from an excised line or two, what you will see in this collection is pretty much what came out on the noted day (all poems are dated too). This was also a challenge in that I had to resist revisions, which are normally a natural course of the writing process, especially when it goes into publication.
But that self-imposed restriction aside, I feel the collection is a potent, sometimes amusing and often emotional journey of 104 days from the perspective of a New York-based artist...and now publisher.
I look forward to sharing this with you.
No comments have been added yet.
