Collin Kelley: Modern Confessional

Weekend Update

2013-05-19T14:25:00.003-04:00

The day job has been keeping me busy with little time to think about much else. I have cancelled my readings in the UK this summer and moved the trip to early 2014. I am incredibly disappointed, but I'm staying focused on promoting Render domestically for the rest of the year. I have two more readings coming in Atlanta, then I'm back to New York for the Word for Word Poetry Reading series in Bryant Park at the end of July and am working on booking some dates in Southern California for autumn. You can see my full reading schedule at this link or by clicking on the Readings & Events tab above.

Many thanks to ArtsATL.com for putting Render on its summer reading list. You read the mini-review and see all the books chosen at this link.

I got my contributor copy of the new LGBT poetry anthology Flicker and Spark. What a fantastic labor of love by editors Regie Cabico and Brittany Fonte. I am thrilled that three of my poems are in the anthology along with so many other great poets.

And thanks to those who came out last night to Bound to Be Read Books for my reading with Theresa Davis. Attentive audience and great questions!

Raise the Titanic

2013-05-13T20:59:00.002-04:00

"Raise the Titanic" from my poetry collection, Render, accompanied by the gorgeous remix of "For Loves You've Lost" by brokenkites. Once again, the remix was created especially for this project. Each piece is more beautiful than the last.

The Profumo Affair remembered

2013-05-09T21:31:00.006-04:00

Acid Flashback #1
for Billy

The first time I dropped acid,
mistaking a Johnnie Walker Black billboard
for Joanne Whalley-Kilmer straddling a chair
like in the poster for Scandal,
you couldn’t see it, even after we pulled over
on the expressway down near the airport.
How the soft gold of the striding man logo
had morphed into arms and legs akimbo
in the rising heat just before twilight.
I tried to explain Christine Keeler,
how she brought down the British government
with her showgirl appeal, accused
of being a spy, sleeping with the Muscovites,
the intricacies and absurdities of the Profumo Affair,
how sex and friendship can turn on a dime.
You told me I was too old for you, I was a show-off,
ruining your drugs with my ancient history,
the way I lorded my high school education over you.
Your words tipped us into cold war,
smoke-screened the wall you were building all year,
preparing to sacrifice me over the three years
that separated our births, making me a casualty
of your zeitgeist.
John Profumo was the last Secretary of State for War,
a position now made obsolete, struck off,
as if battle plans would never be needed again.

– Collin Kelley

A poem at Verse Daily

2013-05-05T22:37:00.001-04:00

Many, many thanks to Verse Daily for selecting my poem "To Margot Kidder, With Love" from Render to feature on their site today. You can read the poem at this link.

Sex Machines & other updates

2013-05-01T20:29:00.001-04:00

Render will get its official Atlanta launch on Tuesday, May 7, 7:15 p.m. at an event hosted by Poetry Atlanta and Georgia Center for the Book at the Decatur Library. I'll be reading with fellow Sibling Rivalry Press poet Theresa Davis, who will be launching her collection After This We Go Dark. The reading is free and open to the public. Charis Books will be selling our collections and we will, of course, happily sign copies for you. Find out more at this link.

My poem "Post" (which is in Render) is featured in the latest edition of Chelsea Station literary magazine. You can order a copy or sign up for a subscription at this link. It's a fantastic journal!

Many thanks to Jennifer Bogart for featuring two of the poems from Render on her blog. You can read them at this link.

Below is a reading of my poem "Sex Machines" featuring a special remix of the song "Twenty Thirteen" by the brilliant brokenkites especially for my SoundCloud project. It's been an honor and a treat to use this music that I love so much.

In memory of my father, William Harold Kelley

2013-04-27T19:17:00.001-04:00

July 15, 1939 - April 26, 2013

My Dad passed away on Friday after being ill for a number of years. This is the last photo of him with my Mom taken in 2010 on a weekend outing to Fresh Air BBQ in Jackson, GA. He was a wonderful father and will be missed. Go gentle, Daddy-O.

Heroes, villains, reviews, poetry call

2013-04-21T21:57:00.001-04:00

Didi Menendez has done a fantastic job with the latest issue of PoetsArtists and I am thrilled to have a new poem, "The Birth of Venus," accompanying art by French artist Jean-Noel Delettre. The issue has the theme HeroesVillains and has a great group of poets including Ivy Alvarez, Matthew Hittinger, Samuel Peralta, Pris Campbell, Julie Bloemeke, Nin Andrews, Joshua Gray and many more.

Many, many thanks to fellow poet Donna Vorreyer for her kind review of Render at her blog. You can read the review at this link.

More thanks to VerseWrights for publishing the title poem from Render as well as including the audio. You can listen and read along at this link.

I will be guest editing the Fall 2013 edition of Hobble Creek Review! I'm looking for pop culture-inspired poems, non-fiction and essays. Check this link for all the submission guidelines and feel free to spread this call far and wide. I can't wait to read your work!

Poetry: Sound and vision

2013-04-20T18:58:00.003-04:00

Reading "Knoxville: Summer, 1982" from Render and Anne Sexton's "The Ambition Bird" for The Cossack Review's National Poetry Month video project.

"Render" official publication day

2013-04-16T10:31:00.000-04:00

Although my new poetry collection, Render, has been available for a few weeks now, April 16 is the "official' publication day from Sibling Rivalry Press. The book is available through the press, Amazon, B&N and wherever books are sold. If you would like a review copy for your literary magazine or blog, please contact me or SRP and we will send one along. If you have already read Render, please consider posting a review at Goodreads or Amazon. Those reviews help get the book in front of more readers.

Here's another recording from Render, the poem "My Mother Demonstrates How To Escape From A Plane Crash" featuring music from brokenkites.

On the Road to NYC, Part II

2013-04-15T21:33:00.000-04:00

Richmond, VA Greyhound Station

I pick up my Greyhound Express adventure that I started in the previous blog post. It was 12:30 a.m. on Friday morning, and I had just gotten off the bus in Richmond, VA after a 10-hour ride from Atlanta. I was originally supposed to stay on the bus for an 18 hour ride to New York City, but I simply could not handle it.

April 12, 1:00 a.m.
I ask the cab driver outside the Richmond bus terminal to take me to the closest decent hotel. About a mile or so away, we pull up in front of the Comfort Inn Conference Center. The room is dated, but pretty standard. I check for signs of bed bugs, don't see any, and try to ignore the moldy spots in the corner of the shower. It will do for a few hours of sleep. The room was $69, so you get what you pay for. I have to be back at the Greyhound station by 10:30 a.m. to resume my trip to New York City.

9:55 a.m.
I come downstairs to check out of the hotel and the clerk working the desk barks that I'll have to wait because she's trying to enter some credit card numbers into the computer. She's also talking to someone on the phone about credit cards. After she hangs up, I ask if she can call a cab for me. She informs me that I'll have to do it myself then adds, "Good luck with that." When I ask the clerk what that means, she says that the cab companies don't like to come "all the way out to the hotel and take people to Greyhound. You'd better start dialing now. You'll probably have to call them all and maybe you can find one." The clerk didn't give a shit one way or the other about my predicament or that of another guest, who also needed to get a cab to the Amtrak station. I wound up calling three cab companies before I found one who would come to the Comfort Inn. I waited outside with the frantic woman and when my cab pulled up, I offered to share it with her. Just as we got inside, her cab pulled up so she decided to take it. I hope she made her train. For the clerk behind the front desk at the Comfort Inn Conference Center on on W. Broad Street in Richmond, get some customer service training. And perhaps Comfort Inn needs to invest in a shuttle or have an arrangement with a cab company. What kind of "conference center" doesn't have transportation for its guests?

10:30 a.m.
The Greyhound terminal is packed with people. My 11 a.m. bus to New York is obviously going to be full by the number of people already lined up at the door. Indeed, they wind up turning people away and forcing them on to a later bus. I was glad I had purchased my ticket the evening (early morning) before. Every seat on the bus is taken and I'm sitting in the aisle toward the back with a nice man originally from Senegal, who had been on the bus for two days coming up from Miami. I couldn't even imagine. There's also some other interesting characters on the bus, including a homeless man who has his meager belongings tied up in a sweatshirt and a woman who is skipping her Friday chemo treatment so she can eat a big birthday dinner that night with her family.

Over the course of the trip, the homeless man will borrow people's cellphones to make frantic phone calls to distant friends and relatives about wiring $25 to NYC so he can sleep in a shelter that night. I hear him tell his seatmate that he had been working in Florida, but the work ran out and he was hoping to get a job in Manhattan. He's 56 years old and has a haunted look in his eyes. He glances nervously around him and holds the sweatshirt with his things closer to him. The woman celebrating her birthday and skipping chemo is on her cellphone for nearly the entire trip (lucky for her Greyhound has those recharging outlets on each seat). She talks to her daughter, sister, ex-husband, current husband, a cousin, her sister again, the ex-husband again, another cousin picking her up at the bus station in Newark and countless others. She must have unlimited minutes.

12:30 p.m.
Greyhound advertises the comfort and amenities of its Express service, but there is one thing sorely lacking: tables. In most buses I've taken around Europe, there areas that have a set of seats that face into a table similar to a train carriage. Greyhound should consider taking out another row of seats or at least adding some fold down, airplane-style tables. It is impossible to do any real work on a laptop on the bus without a flat surface. And why are there no seatback pockets? That seems like a no-brainer.

Passing through rainy Baltimore

1:25 p.m.
We're passing the exits to Washington, DC and headed toward Baltimore. My seatmate is asleep and is taking some of my leg room. The comfy seats don't seem quite as comfy as they did before.

2:01 p.m.
Passing through rainy Baltimore. I thought about trying to read, but I can't get comfortable or focus with the hum of chatter and the chemo/birthday woman in front of me cackling with one of her family members on the phone. We speed past a sign that says 186 miles to New York City.

2:30 p.m.
We stop at Chesapeake House service station, which Wikipedia informs me is the fifth busiest rest stop in America. But this is no ordinary rest stop: inside the big building is a convenience store and fast food choices galore. I have a cheeseburger from Wendy's. Once we're back on the bus at 3 p.m., there is only one stop left to make in Newark before we reach Port Authority in Manhattan.

Newark Penn Station

5:45 p.m.
After sitting in traffic, we finally arrive at Penn Station Newark. The bus empties considerably. We sit at the station for about 25 minutes. It's cold and rainy outside and I suddenly realize I should have brought a heavier coat.

6:45 p.m.
I have now decided that the bus adventure was an epic failure. We should have been at Port Authority a little after 6 p.m. and we're currently inching our way toward the Lincoln Tunnel.

New York at last!

7:46 p.m.
After more than eight hours on the bus, we finally arrive in Manhattan and pull into the underground parking at Port Authority. Hallelujah! I was going to take the subway up to my friend Jackie's apartment in Harlem, but the queue to buy a Metro ticket is long because some of the machines aren't working. I join the taxi rank on 8th Avenue and after about a 15 minute wait, I'm zooming toward Harlem along the West Side Highway. Jackie has tea and sympathy awaiting me.

Summing Up
As I stated in my previous blog, everyone at Greyhound was very gracious. I have no quibble with them or the service (except adding the tables), so really what it comes down to his personal endurance. I should have known I couldn't handle 18 hours on the bus and made arrangements to stay overnight in Richmond in the first place. It would have removed the extra stress. The real take away for me is how necessary Greyhound really is to this country. From the homeless, to senior citizens, to students, Greyhound is still an inexpensive way to travel. Will I ever attempt an 18 hour bus trip again? Hell no! But... if I had to give a reading in Charlotte or somewhere else in the region, I would probably do it again.

Tomorrow, I'll have an update on the Rainbow Book Fair.

On the Road to NYC

2013-04-12T02:23:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, Greyhound was asking journalists and bloggers to try out their new Express service. Since I was already planning to go to New York for the Rainbow Book Fair to launch Render, I jokingly asked the PR person if I could get a free ticket to NYC. I couldn't believe it when she said yes. Yesterday afternoon, I departed from Atlanta for an 18 hour bus ride up the East Coast. I was going to be a brave soldier and do the whole 18 hours without stopping for a break. I was thinking of it as practice for when I finally go to Australia and have to sit on a plane for 20 hours. I'm writing this at a hotel room in Richmond – the halfway point of the trip. Let me tell you how I got here.

April 11, 2:05 p.m.
That was the scheduled departure time for the first leg of my journey. My friend Wendy dropped me off at the Greyhound station in Atlanta and wished me luck with more than a little trepidation in her voice. As a matter of fact, just about everyone I told about this trip thought I was crazy for doing it. Unlike other countries, Greyhound has a reputation for being the "poor people" mode of travel. Greyhound doesn't help that perception by having some of its terminals in the worst sections of town. The Greyhound station in Atlanta is next door to the jail on the deserted side of downtown.

Waiting in Atlanta.

I waited inside a cordoned off Express departure area, but it's nothing special. You're still in the middle of the noisy, bustling terminal with people talking too loud on cell phones, dragging in 10 suitcases and eating some of the foulest smelling food you can imagine. On the other hand, the staff was completely professional and courteous. They don't know I'm writing about them, so they have no reason to treat me any differently or give me any kind of preferential treatment.

The new Greyhound Express fleet is painted with a dark blue and silver livery and the interior is definitely a step-up from the normal bus. There are wide leather seats, more leg room, cup holders, an electrical outlet for your phone or laptop and free wifi onboard. The bus driver on the Atlanta to Charlotte leg was named Brenda and she was funny and no-nonsense. We left the city in a torrential rainstorm and hit early rush hour traffic, but Brenda got us to Charlotte on time.

Downtown Charlotte.

6:30 p.m.
We arrive in Charlotte for a 20 minute layover so the bus can be cleaned, new passengers can board and a new driver take the wheel. The Charlotte Greyhound station is also downtown. It's a tiny station with a canteen and vending machines. The restrooms are a horror show, so be warned. I'm fairly certain they hadn't been cleaned all day.

Back on the bus, there was some haggling with the driver and new passengers, who wanted to bring two giant suitcases onboard (you can only bring a small carry on or purse) and got huffy about having to check and stow the bags. We departed 10 minutes late, but the new driver got us to our next stop (which I didn't realized we had) very fast.

Comfy leather seats.

8:30 to 10:00 p.m.
We stop in Greensboro to let a few passengers off and pick up a few. Greensboro's bus depot looks really nice from my window seat. A short time later, we pull into Durham - another stop I wasn't expecting. Durham is a cozy looking little city and the bus terminal is really spiffy. I hope this is a sign that Greyhound is working to improve its stations around the country. While we're meandering through Durham, I can't help but think of Susan Sarandon reading poetry to Tim Robbins while he's tied to the bed in Bull Durham. I could use some poetry right about now.

When we leave Durham, I start to wonder if I am going to be able to handle another nearly 10 hours on the bus. Although I have a row to myself, the bus is now full. The lights have been turned off and I can hear a kid screaming in the back, lots of snoring and, while I don't mean to be crass, the bus smelled like a can of farts. The bus driver, apparently used to this phenomenon, shot a few mists of air-freshener in our general direction as we rolled into the night.

12:30 a.m.
We arrive in Richmond ahead of schedule and I have now decided that the idea of continuing on to NYC and arriving at 8:45 a.m. is just not going to happen. The staff helps me switch my ticket to an 11 a.m. Friday departure and shows me where to grab a cab. Yes, I'm going to lose a whole day in Manhattan, but I would have been sleeping anyway. I'll have a report on the rest of the trip later in the weekend.

Callanwolde and Barney Rubble

2013-04-08T21:09:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday night, April 10, I'll be joining a group of fantastic poets to launch The Southern Poetry Anthology Vol. 5: Georgia at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. Anthology editor William Wright will host the reading, which includes Diana Anhalt, Margaret Blake, Jo Brachman, Jesse Breite, Michael Diebert, Ethan Fogus, Alice Friman, Karen Holmes, Mike James, Christopher Jelley, Kathleen Lewis, Christopher Martin, Patricia Percival, Rosemary Royston, Leon Stokesbury, Alice Teeter, Memye Curtis Tucker, Dan Veach, William Walsh and yours truly. Copies of the Georgia volume will be on sale at the reading. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Posted below is another recording of one of the poems from Render. This is "Barney Rubble Saves Our Lives," which originally appeared in the Atlanta Review and is one my favorites. Enjoy!

Reading "Render"

2013-04-04T18:59:00.002-04:00

The audio version of the title poem of my collection, Render. The poem is also on the The Poetry Foundation's Read-A-Poem SoundCloud page. You can read and upload one, too.

National Poetry Month begins... with great things

2013-04-01T19:34:00.003-04:00

I was thrilled to learn today that Render is a nominee for the American Library Association's annual Over the Rainbow list. It's an incredible honor, and the announcement should come at the end of the year. You can see the full list of nominees at this link.

I'm also posting the first in a series of audio recordings of the poems from Render leading up to the official publication date on April 16. The first one is below – "A Broken Frame" featuring the song "Revised Youth" by the brilliant brokenkites.

Mini-reviews of "Render"

2013-03-30T13:09:00.000-04:00

Thanks to fellow poets (and Sibling Rivalry Press authors) Jessie Carty and Stephen Mills for their kind words about Render on their blogs. You can read the mini-reviews at these links:

Bits & Bobs

2013-03-28T19:50:00.000-04:00

Lambda Literary Review picked up on the AJC profile and featured it online this week. Thanks, Lambda folk. You can see what else they had to add at this link.

Malcolm Campbell was also kind enough to mention the article on his blog, The Sun Singer's Travels, in his Book Bits round-up.

The full schedule is up for the Rainbow Book Fair in New York City on April 13. I'll be reading with fellow Sibling Rivalry Press authors starting at 1:30 p.m. and also in the Poetry Salon starting at 12:50 p.m. I have news about other travel and upcoming readings that is not quite ready for primetime, but keep watching the blog. Exciting stuff. You can check out the full list of upcoming readings and events at this link.

Starting April 1, I will begin uploading audio versions of some of the poems from Render to SoundCloud. You'll be able to listen to them online or download them for free. Many will be accompanied by the music of brokenkites, which has kindly given me permission to use tracks and even remixed one just for me.

Red for marriage equality

2013-03-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

Today, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments against California's discriminatory Proposition 8, which bans same-sex unions. Tomorrow, SCOTUS will hear arguments against the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Go red to support marriage equality on your blog, Facebook and Twitter.

AJC profile in print

2013-03-25T00:24:00.002-04:00

Cover of the Sunday, March 24 Living & Arts section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Check out the profile of me online at this link.

AJC profile and "Render" at Amazon

2013-03-18T19:34:00.001-04:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a huge profile on me today to mark the release of Render and the upcoming National Poetry Month. Read the profile at this link. It will be in print in the March 24 arts section, too! Thanks to the AJC and writer Gina Webb for the support.

Render is also available at Amazon and is sitting at Number 1 (!!!) on the hot new releases bestseller list for GLBT poetry. Of course, since this is Amazon they are selling the book for just $8.69, so quite a bargain. You can order the book at this link.

Social Media Consulting

2013-03-16T13:01:00.000-04:00

One of the many hats I wear is social media consultant. As a blogger for 10 years and an early adopter of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr, I am a firm believer in the opportunities provided by these platforms. I have worked with universities, nonprofits, small businesses and artists to create and maintain their social media network.

Individuals and organizations often don't know where to begin with social media, so part of my job is to help them with the basics: set up, design (images, logos, etc.) and practical advice on how to effectively use social media so that it doesn't distract from their work or business. Some clients want a few sessions on getting started, while others want longterm assistance in maintaining and updating their Twitter feed, Facebook pages and websites on a daily basis. I am flexible and can provide both short-term and long-term solutions to a client's social media needs with an emphasis on marketing, interaction and brand-building.

Current and past clients include Georgia Institute of Technology’s Office of International Education; Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces; Happy Belly Food Truck; Decatur Book Festival; Saints & Sinners Literary Festival-New Orleans; Decatur Market & Art Gallery; Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (ADAC); and dozens of individuals artists, musicians and writers.

I am currently looking for new clients. Please contact me at collinkelley@gmail.com for rates and services.

New poems at VerseWrights

2013-03-13T19:30:00.000-04:00

I have four brand new poems at the new poetry website, VerseWrights. You'll see poets both new and familiar (like Kelli Russell Agodon and Jared Smith) and from all over the world. It's a very cool site, so I'm happy to be involved. One of the poems, "Xenomorphs," was originally going to be in the Render collection, but I cut it in favor of the other Aliens-themed poem ("After Adultery"). I hope you enjoy reading these and will also take some time to check out the other poets featured at VerseWrights.

I'm also looking forward to reading at Clayton State University tomorrow night as part of the Visiting Writers Series. This will really be the first reading from Render, so I'm nervous and excited.

Three Mile Island

2013-03-09T17:42:00.000-05:00

I still dream of those snowy white smokestacks,

permanent mushroom clouds.

The way the news cameras caught them in the flaming

sunrise over the Susquehanna. It was late March,

but when I remember the meltdown, it seems like summer.

Maybe it was that fear of being cooked or the earth

opening up and sinking us all to China.

I wanted to be there, wearing plaid pants, wide collar

jacket and Dad’s Vitalis slicking back my hair.

Wanted that microphone, puffed like cotton candy

against my lips in near hysteria at the scoop of 1979.

I couldn’t sleep for five days, waiting for the hydrogen

bubble to burst and kill us all. Pennsylvania seemed

really close when I was 10 and the doomsday mass

held by the Harrisburg priest didn’t help. He offered

general absolution and I, not even a Catholic,

not having yet set foot in a church, quietly prayed

to be a witness, an Armageddon altar boy.

In school, they used to make you crawl under a desk

with your hands locked over your head, as if this could

save you from the bomb. Fuck that.

If I’m going to be incinerated, I don’t want the slow

leaching death of cancer. I want to be standing

at the window as the flash comes, like those soldiers

at Trinity 1945, sunglasses reflecting a fire that should

have never been conjured, the wind in my hair.

– Collin Kelley

from Render

"Render" trailer, another review, AWP

2013-03-05T18:36:00.001-05:00

Here's the book trailer for Render! How many of the pop culture icons and moments can you name? If anyone correctly guesses them all, I'll send you a signed copy of the book. Many thanks to brokenkites for use of the song, "Revised Youth," and Elizabeth Holmes for help with the graphics.

Justin Evans has written a lovely review of Render at his blog, Name This Place. Here's a teaser:

Collin Kelley is a genius when it comes to confession. He teases you with brilliant titles and amazing opening lines. Once he has you hooked, he delivers sucker punches and body blows like a prize fighter. What is amazing is even after you are dumbstruck by a series of poems, your first instinct will be to read another poem, and another.

Don't forget to stop by the Sibling Rivalry Press table (it's K9) at AWP in Boston to pick up a copy of Render, one of the signed/numbered broadsides of "My Mother Demonstrates How To Escape From A Plane Crash" and check out all the other wonderful titles by SRP authors.

First "Render" review and new anthology

2013-03-04T12:13:00.003-05:00

The first review of Render is up at Out in Print. Many, many thanks to Jerry Wheeler for his generous review of the collection. Here's a snip:

My expectations were high, and Render did not disappoint in the least. In fact, it added a whole new dimension to Kelley for me.

You can read the full review at this link. And the book is still available for pre-order at Sibling Rivalry Press (and you'll probably receive it super early).

I'm also thrilled to have poetry in the brand new anthology, Flicker and Spark: A Contemporary Queer Anthology of Spoken Word and Poetry edited by Regie Cabico and Brittany Fonte. You can order your copy at this link.

Mid-Week Music: Bowie & Bat for Lashes

2013-02-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

Absolutely thrilling music from David Bowie and Natasha Khan (aka Bat for Lashes)