Demond Blake and Matthew Rodgers
Send us your poetry for POET OF THE WEEK consideration. Click here for submission guidelines.
Demond Blake
lucienblck@yahoo.com
Bio (auto)
Demond Blake was born in Las Vegas in 1979. He moved to Los Angeles in the 80s and spent his childhood moving from his parents in LA, his grandparents in Las Vegas and his Uncle’s in Manhattan. After graduating high school he briefly enrolled at Redlands University and wrote his first book ‘Limbo’ about a group of recent high school graduates trying to figure out what to do with themselves as the main character goes through the motions having and losing his first love. After a year of not being able to find a publisher Demond’s friends helped him self-publish it and sold copies at campuses around Southern California pricing the book in such a way to just recoup printing costs. He was unsatisfied with this process and unhappy with ‘Limbo’ and decided to take some time off from the bubble of college life and spent the next couple of years doing odd jobs, going to school here and there and sharpening jos writing skills through reading and constantly writing poetry. Settling down in Colton, CA a few years ago after living in Oregon he felt he had moved past the themes explored in ‘Limbo’ and had something to say about his generation as a whole and ‘Slackass’ is the result. It’s prequel ‘Sputnik’ is half completed while he is seeking publication for Slackass.
The following work is Copyright © 2013, and owned by Demond Blake and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.
A slow burn “we need some time apart” “agreed” We’d been “starting this wkend” “starting now” “no not now, next wkend!” “what’s wrong w/now?” “I’m not ready yet, next wkend” I Then promptly The anticipation If only |
Matthew Rodgers
mwrodgers2006@yahoo.com
Bio (auto)
Matthew Rodgers is a 25 year old poet living in San Francisco, MFA graduate from the New School University for Poetry, Emerging Poet for the Poet House in New York City and author of novels, plays and thousands of poems. Former Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, said of him: “His work shows a real talent. Watch out for him..” Studied under the current President of the Poetry Foundation, Robert Polito, who said: “Matthew offers a kind of new rustic American poetry. It was more than a joy to have him as a student, it was a privilege.”
The following work is Copyright © 2013, and owned by Matthew Rodgers and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.
To Frida I went outside and saw Frida Kahlo |