Remembering Joe

 José Gouveia passed away two years ago today. I urge you to look at his poem, arguable the last poem he ever wrote, published in Oddball Magazine. 

An Amazing Gift

As the host and organizer for Stone Soup Poetry, I've been hosting events related to K. Peddlar Bridges since 2006. He has been a part of my Stone Soup summertime every year since. In 2008, he returned with a group that was then dubbed the Highway Poets to promote the Rubber Side Down anthology, which was edited by Susan Buck and our recently departed friend Joe Gouveia. On Monday, Peddlar presented me with a present before the feature started.

Peddlar said he picked up a copy in the library. The real surprise, however, was on the title page.

Susan Buck and Joe Gouveia's signatures! This was quite possibly a copy from the night they were at the Out of The Blue Gallery's old location. Maybe it was another night nearby. Still, what an amazing find. Thank you for sharing this with us, Peddlar. The book is near me now as I type this.

Let me throw in a little something extra since I'm posting this at the start of what my Facebook friends call Throwback Thursday. Below are two segments from that Rubber Side Down night seven years ago. I was just starting to record poets on the Stone Soup mic and edit videos on an obsolete version of Movie Maker when I recorded these spots. My equipment has slightly upgraded since then, but these videos of Susan and Joe remain favorites of mine.

BILiNE Volume 2 Features Three Poets from Oddball Magazine

I am thrilled that I can start making announcements regarding Volume 2 of Best Indie Lit New England (BILiNE), which will hopefully be coming out by April.  I'mm proud to say that I played a small part in this upcoming collection.

Jason Wright and I were selected for the volume's editorial board late last year, serving alongside several other editors of both online and print journals around New England.  Not only did we lend support to some strong work that will be appearing in the book, but three poets that were first published in Oddball Magazine were selected by Jason and me and accepted by the rest of the group for inclusion in the book. 

You can click here for links to the selected poems by Toni Bee, José Gouveia and Chris Warner.  I especially want to thank the late José Gouveia's wife, Josy for permitting us to reprint what was likely the last poem to be published by her husband in a literary journal before he passed away.

Thanks again to Thomas Dodson and Victor D. Infante for the opportunity.  This was an exciting new step for both Jason and myself.   It's also encouraging me to finally Oddball involved with the Pushcart Prize people. 

Joe Gouveia, 1964-2014

R.I.P. Joe

I was hoping Joe's poem "Last Rites" was going to be the furthest from a swan song for him and that I would be watching Joe read this May from his new book Saudades.  He fought cancer for so long and deserved every victory he ever received.  Thank you for everything you did for poetry, sir.

I will be posting information on how to order Joe's book so the money can go to help Joe's widow.  My thoughts go out to her and their families.  I will likely make another donation to Joe's recovery fund as well.  I encourage you to do the same.

Go JoeGO Go! Poems for José Gouviea at Oddball Magazine

Oddball Magazine is proud to present a series a poems to be published over the next week dedicated to José Gouveia, poet, editor and WOMR radio host, who is undergoing another treatment for cancer next week. We hope you will not only appreciate the love and support from an array of contributing poets but also consider donating to the Joe Gouveia Recovery Fund, an online effort to help offset the cost of this costly and vital surgery. The fund is already halfway toward it's goal, and with your help we could exceed expectations. The first poem, "You Get What Everyone Gets" by Marc D. Goldfinger, is up now.