Portland's art calender is filled with poetry readings. From Port Veritas to Rhythmic Cypher, Portlandites can get their poetry fix a few nights a week. But what about us prose guys? Those of us who write and read in lines that wrap around the far edge of the page? You're right, we have Word Portland. … Continue reading Literary Death Match Throws Down in Portland
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The Dangers of Being Passive Aggressive: Take Heed Husbands and Writers
I can be passive aggressive with the best of them. I can mope, make snide comments, and indirectly be an ass to someone without ever addressing the real issue. If I'm mad at you, you might not even know it, unless you're tuned into my subtle, ninja-like passive aggressive behavior. I grew up in a … Continue reading The Dangers of Being Passive Aggressive: Take Heed Husbands and Writers
Nutella’s Assault on Writers and Husbands
There's a Nutella commercial on tv right now that grinds my effing gears. Click on the link to watch this domestic drivel, and then I'll tell you why this commercial makes pure anger run through my veins. Enraged? I wasn't the first time I watched it, but then the commercial kept playing, and, instead of … Continue reading Nutella’s Assault on Writers and Husbands
Summer Reading Selections For The Beach
Summer in Maine is a cold IPA on the back deck of In'finiti. It's dreamy drives home from Crescent Beach. It's blue sky views from the top of Bradbury State Park that make you feel infinite. Most importantly for this nerd, Summer is reading beach-appropriate books. You know, it's tossing aside the dense copy of … Continue reading Summer Reading Selections For The Beach
Movie Review: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby
My literary romance with The Great Gatsby dates back a decade when I was studying literature as an undergraduate. F. Scott Fitzgerald's lyrical prose wooed me. And his control of language and syntax continues to knock my socks off with each reading. His articulation of the seductive qualities of the American Experience is unmatched. The … Continue reading Movie Review: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby
What the…Marc Maron Deserves His Moment in the Spotlight
I learned about the WTF podcast the way most people did. Word of mouth. A talented musician friend of mine told me about this comedian out in L.A. who interviews celebrities in his garage. "He has this great interview with Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad. Everyone seems to go to his garage for an interview," … Continue reading What the…Marc Maron Deserves His Moment in the Spotlight
Word Portland: Come for a Pint, Stay for the Words
Literary readings can be sad affairs. At their worst, they're either quiet and bleached, the audience members every so often making an "Mmmm" sound at appropriate times when an image or phrase brings a slight tremor to their soul. Or, they too often exist at the other end of the literary reading spectrum where audience … Continue reading Word Portland: Come for a Pint, Stay for the Words
Steve Almond and the Art of Reading Literary Smut in Public
Here's how you get away with reading sex scenes in public: make the experience really human. That's what I learned from attending Steve Almond's reading at Space Gallery in Portland last Saturday (1.26.13). Being raised in the Catholic tradition, where sex is often had but seldom talked about, I still squirm when hearing someone openly … Continue reading Steve Almond and the Art of Reading Literary Smut in Public
Every Writer Needs a Good Bass Kicking
If you've read my Stonecoast MFA graduation speech, you noticed that I took a couple of jabs at the writer and teacher, Rick Bass. If you were in attendance at the graduation ceremony, then maybe you were lucky enough to see Rick flash me the bird as he sat with other faculty members a few … Continue reading Every Writer Needs a Good Bass Kicking
What the Concept Album Can Teach Short Story Writers
In the summer of 2007 on a campus in the Bread Loaf Wilderness in Ripton, Vermont, I inadvertently incited an argument between two writers. While discussing Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker in a fiction writing workshop run by the patient and at times clairvoyant Patricia Powell she noted that Danticat’s book was a novel that … Continue reading What the Concept Album Can Teach Short Story Writers
DAVE PATTERSON 