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DirtyMartini
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Cool beans...Ken Ramsay read my 9/11 poem tonight at The 2013 Fermanagh Festival which takes place for four days in the island town of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland...here's the link which lists the days readings...you can see toward the bottom where it says 8pm Enniskillen Fire Station...

The Fermanagh Festival - (FREE) Poetry at FLive2013
http://www.flive.org.uk/Poetry

Here's their Facebook page btw...there will possibly be pictures or videos later...there is for stuff that took place earlier in the day...

Fermanagh Live
https://www.facebook.com/Fermanaghlive

Anyway...here's the whole program for the four day event...there are a bunch of workshops and stuff in addition to the readings...very artsy btw...

The 2013 Fermanagh Festival
http://www.flive.org.uk/media/uploads/Flive%202013%20booklet%20web.pdf
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by Sherzahd


There's something about having your work in print that immortalises you. I'm sure that it's the greatest feeling imaginable. Congrats!


Yeah, it's nice to see your stuff in print...and stuff like this isn't hard to get into...just found out that it is not available in hardcover, and that has been corrected at that link btw...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Alright...this whole thing actually has a happy end...the whole thing is annoying, I shouldn't really have to deal with crap like this, but it all came to a satisfactory resolution...

Here is what I wrote back to Ghezae...


Alan Jankowski < >
Oct 1 (1 day ago)

to Ghezae
Hey Ghezae...I had thought that this issue was resolved when the poem was removed from Awate. but it seems there's the matter of the 3000 calenders that have been printed...I'm not quite certain how to address that issue at the moment...in the meantime, I've taken screen shots of everything and posted them...
http://www.storiesspace.com/forum/yaf_postst1322_One-of-my-worst-nightmares-come-truemy-911-poem-being-used-for-commercial-purposes.aspx

I haven't really consulted with my attorney...I'd really prefer to have to avoid that route, and come up with an amicable solution, as I believe you would as well...it would seem to me, that there can only be two ways at this point to proceed...either all the printed calenders are destroyed, or some sort of sticker, or additional printing be added with an explanation, along with some financial compensation...

I'm trying to find out from some others who may have been in similar situations...I will get back to you though, and I think you can see that those would be the only reasonable solutions...

I do believe that Bereket is the guilty party, and it's perfectly reasonable that neither you or Awate were aware of his wrongdoing...still, a wrongdoing has been done, and a reasonable solution must be found...

Regards.
Alan W. Jankowski

And this is what he wrote me back yesterday...I can live with this...like I said, I shouldn't really have to go through this crap though, and the reason I took all these screen shots and created these forum posts is to cover my bases...essentially, I prepared for the worst...

Ghezae Hagos
11:25 AM (19 hours ago)

to sal, salgadi, Getu, semere42, me, Bereket
Dear Alan,

Thank you for your understanding. It means a lot to us.

We had decided to remove the poem entirely and put photos of prisoners instead. That will effectively solve the problem. It is very good timing as the calendars were yet to be distributed.

Please allow me to give you a bit background about this project. We are members of an advocacy group called Eritrean Youth Solidarity for Change- North America. We have chapters in many US and Canadian cities. Our members are volunteers. Our objective is to raise awareness about the gross human rights violations that exist in Eritrea. Eritrea currently has one of the most repressive regimes in the world today.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/eritrea-rampant-repression-20-years-after-independence-2013-05-09

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/eritrea-10000-political-prisoners_n_3243933.html

The calendars were part of the campaign to increase awareness of the human rights violations and to honor the prisoners of conscience. We have covered the expenses out of our pockets and there is no financial remuneration or benefits associated with the calendars. Neither Bereket Yohannes nor the project managers will get any financial benefits. If any, we will definitely incur costs, but we expect that. The reason I am mentioning this because we want to you to have a clear idea of what we are doing.

Dear Alan, we thank you for your understanding and support. We are glad we nip this incident in the bud. We apologize for any mental anguish, unnecessary distractions we may have caused you.

We wish you greater success in your artistic and personal endeavours.

All the best,
Ghezae Hagos for Eritrean Youth Solidarity for Change- North America
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Alright...this is out now, and available not only as a softcover and eBook, but in a hardcover edition as well...

Rhyme with Reason
http://www.blurb.com/b/4640017-rhyme-with-reason?pid=New

Here is a listing of those who contributed to "Rhyme with Reason" and the page number in the book where their works can be found:

Contributors & Page Numbers

Heena Ahuja - 8
Sangeeta Ajay - 11
Iram Fatima 'Ashi' - 14
Sobia Aurangzaib - 17
Frances Ayers - 18
Surabhi Bhattacharjee - 21
Sophie Boswell - 22
Christine Brady - 24
Elizabeth E. Castillo - 27
Kerstin Centervall - 28
Maria Chippendale - 31
Steve Corn - 32
Corey Cowan - 38
Suzette Cozad - 47
Indira Das - 50
Ita Dempsey - 51
Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal - 54
Chris Everly - 55
Samuel Gregory Fields - 57
Kathy Figueroa - 58
Ross Magson Fisher - 62
Ann Fox - 64
Madhumita Ghosh - 67
Tapan Ghosh - 69
Hashmina Habeeb - 72
Tony Hansen - 75
Rob Harle - 78
Sheila-Rose
Hazelwood - 80
Alozor Michael
Ikechukwu - 85
Alan Jankowski - 90
Shahid Khan - 93
A.V. (Ampat) Koshy - 96
Elvira Lobo - 97
Basu Maan - 98
Karnika Mishra - 99
Satwik Mishra - 102
Rollie Mukherjee - 105
Shubhankar
Mukherjee - 108
JB Mulligan - 109
Anupam Naskar - 112
Mutiu Olawuyi - 113
Patricia M. Osborne - 114
Meghant Parmar - 117
Aparna Pathak - 118
Uma Goparaju
Pochampalli - 120
David S. Pointer - 121
Diwakar Pokhriyal - 122
Reena Prasad - 125
Tapeshwar Prasad - 127
Narendra Rai - 129
Charlotte Rains - 132
Polly Robinson - 135
Rosemarie Rowley - 138
Santosh Bala Saxena - 141
Sunil Sharma - 144
Daron Chosen Smith - 147
Harish Srinivasan - 150
Bob Strum - 151
Sohrab Sumon - 154
Samah Parvin Tanusa - 156
Sarah Terzo - 157
Jnika Tuteja - 159
Md. Mujib Ullah - 161
Chryssa Velissariou - 162
Christena A.V.
Williams - 166
Susan K. Williams - 171
William L. Wright Jr. - 174
Brian Wrixon - 178
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by Sherzahd
The least you should get is an apology in writing, an offer for them to either pull the calenders or add an addendum stating that the poem is revised from the original work of... and you could try to claim some of the profits.


Yeah, those would be the two alternatives...and your pal Lyrical Idiot did get his book pulled eventually...someone else's doing though admittedly...

I wrote Ghezae late last night...haven't heard yet from him...just got this though...apparently it was an "oversight" but it is a written admission of fault, so that's good...

Apologies
Inbox
x


bereket yohannes <bereket_ >
7:10 AM (12 minutes ago)

to me
Hello Mr. Jankowski,

Please accept my sincere apology for plagiarising your poem. It was an oversight on my part that I take full responsibility for. I read the poem and was very impressed by its universal message. I found it be fitting to Eritrean prisoners of conscience. While engaged in the project to commemorate the prisoners of conscience, I was lured by the idea of adopting it to honor the Eritrean prisoners of conscience.

My deepest apologies for my actions.

Thank you,
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by rolandloops
Sorry to here about your plight. Is there anyway we can help?


Not that I can think of at the moment, but thanks...right now, I need to sleep on this...too much for tonight, but I believe this can be resolved reasonably and peacefully...I hope anyway...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
And the saga continues...someone in Canada just sent me these links btw...

Canada taking steps to expel Eritrean diplomat, Baird says – Incl Bereket Yohannes’s intv with CTV News
http://assenna.com/canada-taking-steps-to-expel-eritrean-diplomat-baird-says-incl-bereket-yohanness-intv-with-ctv-news/comment-page-1/

And a picture of the plagiarizer himself...

Refugee hopes to raise awareness of Eritrean plight
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/herald/Refugee-hopes-to-raise-awareness-of-Eritrean-plight-102887499.html[/size]
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
People who are not writers often wonder why I tend to be rather vigilante about people using my 9/11 poem without giving proper credit...I always make it a point to tell people the correct thing to do is give proper credit, so the world doesn't think it's some anonymous poem...not that poems, or stories ever write themselves...though the general public sometimes appears to think they do...the reason I get annoyed when people post it without crediting me, and it happens way too often...like a recent Facebook post with over 900 shares, is certainly not that I wish to deny its use to the world...hardly...but rather people thinking it is somehow in the public domain leads to situations like what I'm facing at the moment...and I realize I may be preaching to the choir here...

Anyway, yesterday I became aware of someone taking my poem, rearranging it, adding a few lines...and posting it on a site claiming they wrote it...I informed the site owners, and they were very responsive...a good thing...

Saleh Gadi < >
10:23 PM (16 hours ago)

to me
Sear Mr. Jankowski,

We really apologize for the error, and we thank you for bringing thie
to our attention. We take such unethical violations very seriously and
we would remove the moment we discover the violation even if you
didn't ask.

We have removed the the entire content that included the plagiarized
poem. And we have banned the person who did that from ever posting
anything at awate.com .

We have been put in such precarious situation and we apologize for that.

Thank you

Saleh Johar
Miriam Was Here ... so were the human traffickers
Visit: www.miriamwashere.com


All this would be fine...except when I checked the link where it was posted...read the comments, as they are still there...

Calendar Featuring Eritrean’s Political Prisoners
http://awate.com/calendar-featuring-eritreans-political-prisoners/

Yes...you read that right...there are 3000 calenders printed up with the poem credited to Bereket Yohannes...not a good thing...I got this note earlier, apparently they want to talk...

On your 9-11 poem
Inbox
x


Ghezae Hagos <ghezae_ >
9:38 AM (7 hours ago)



to me, Bereket, Bereket

Dear Mr. Jankowski,

My name is Ghezae Hagos and I can be contacted at 204-293-xxxx.

I am writing this message in respect to your 9-11 tribute poem that my friend Mr. Bereket Yohannes has used in remembrance of Eritrean victims, posted in awate.com . We really apologize for this and we would like to contact you about it.

You can send us your phone contact address, or you can call me at the aforementioned number.

All the best,
Ghezae Hagos

I don't believe the publishers were aware of any wrongdoing...Bereket was solely at fault, I believe...the question is how should I proceed from here? I need to take the high road, obviously...should I insist all the calenders be destroyed? Or, should I let them be sold with a sticker explaining the situation, and financial comp...

I just became aware of all this earlier tonight...haven't talked to an attorney or anything...just thinking about this is enough to drive a guy to drink, not that it takes much btw...this is really the type of mess I would rather avoid at all costs...

And here's screen shots of everything...had the foresight to take screen shots of the original post btw...it shows here in three parts...




And the screen shots of the comments...which are still visible at that link btw...for now, anyway...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Another cover picture released today for an anthology I'll be a part of...a few years back, I was asked to write a poem for Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2010...here's the poem, and yeah, it is on this fine site...

I Can Only Be There For You
http://www.storiesspace.com/stories/poetry/i-can-only-be-there-for-you.aspx

This was shortened from a seven stanza poem I had written btw...here's the original...I sort of felt it was too long though...

I Can Only Be There For You

You’re going through a lot right now,
This truly is an ordeal,
I can’t begin to imagine your pain,
Or how you really feel.

You have some big decisions to make,
And have a lot to lose,
I can only be there for you,
No matter what you choose.

You’ve always been there for me,
And I’ll be here for you,
And I’ll support you in my way,
Whatever you choose to do.

I know how important your body is,
And you’re as beautiful as can be,
And no matter what the future brings,
You’ll always be beautiful to me.

But I can understand your feelings,
Of wanting to restore,
Of wanting to bring your body back,
To the way it was before.

I wish I could take away your pain,
And make your body new,
But I can only be there for you,
To show my love for you.

10-07-10.

Anyway...the short version will be in the upcoming antho...here's the preface and cover...

Preface to the Word-Xpress Breast Cancer Anthology
September 25, 2013 at 3:12pm
THE WORD-XPRESS BREAST CANCER ANTHOLOGY IS CLOSE TO HITTING THE PRESS! HERE IS THE PREFACE:
“So, are you a breast cancer survivor?” That was always the question that came next when I told someone that I would be publishing an anthology for breast cancer patients, survivors, and their families. “No,” I would reply. And then, the puzzled look. I often reflected back on this pattern of repetitious question-and-reaction. Why did I always get the puzzled look? Once I was able to answer that question, I knew that I was on the right track.
I didn’t have any experience at all with breast cancer. But what I did have were stories. It all started with Dwight Pope. A caregiver for his mother for 3-1/2 years, Dwight stepped out of community service, and began to care for his mother—alone. As I listened to the stories of a woman of great strength struggle with the ominous disease that diminished her body and eventually her spirit little by little over the years, I was so moved by these stories, I decided to put a spotlight on this topic. I did an audio recorded interview with local author and breast cancer survivor, Vanessa Jackson Austin and playwright, Danita Jones. Vanessa wrote her book, Cries In the Wind, an account of her spiritual journey in overcoming breast cancer, and Danita put on a beautifully choreographed musical about breast cancer. Listening to their interviews shed more light on the topic and touched a tender spot in me. Afterwards, women who heard the interview contacted me and shared their personal stories. I wanted to hear more stories and so I began to place myself at events and in situations so that I could saturate myself with as many stories as possible. Meanwhile, I decided I wanted to contribute through the business of Word-Xpress, which is about artists impacting their communities through their God-given talents. What better project to springboard this universal concept?
I’ve always believed in the power of art. Why wouldn’t I? It saved my life. In my mind’s eye, I envisioned a book of poetry, essays, and inspirational quotes that breast cancer patients could read over and over again to be motivated to keep fighting to live, to find kinship through the testimonies, and to feel supported. And even deeper, I believed that breast cancer patients and survivors who shared their stories could receive an emotional healing by sharing their stories; and it proved to be true.
There are many causes to stand for: homelessness, AIDS, gun violence, and domestic violence, just to name a few. When people let others know that this is what they stand for, what they fight for—we nod our heads in agreement and know that these are causes worth standing and fighting for. We do not ask “why.” I hope that this book and its encompassing campaign will shift our thinking around breast cancer—any cancer, for that matter—and encourage everyone to feel the same. Cancer destroys lives, people, and families in the same way that homelessness, AIDS, gun violence, and domestic violence do. It is no different! And that is the understanding that brought about the Word-Xpress Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign. It is more than just wearing ribbons, donating a check, or running a run; it is about CARING. We can simply CARE, whether we have experienced it or not.
There is no way I could have produced such a rich and wholesome book for breast cancer patients on my own. Word-Xpress truly believes in the power of the Artist Community, and that power can certainly be felt in this anthology. Each writer, whether a first-time writer sharing her testimony, or the veteran poet, or the dynamic healers, has woven a beautiful fabric of words of strength, faith, courage, pain, overcoming fear, facing doubt, and so much more. These are not just words; this is raw emotion—felt to the core and then through the heart. These are words that are impregnated with the powerful intention of healing, uplifting, and motivating patients and survivors to embrace life in spite of appearances. This is an example of caring—it is about giving of one’s personal Self.
One of the Word-Xpress writers, Shiree McCarver, summed up the message of this anthology so prolifically, “Cancer is not death.” It took a lot of courage and caring for these writers to overcome the programmed belief that cancer equals death. It took a lot for them to dig down deep and find words that ‘xpress’, “You can live!” This is obviously not a prevention campaign—although prevention and research are extremely important; this is a 180 degree turn from prevention to caring for those who are already suffering. Word-Xpress wants to thank all of the writers that took the time to share their stories, their talents, and poured energy into this book. And for Dwight Pope, words cannot ‘xpress’ the gratitude that I feel in my heart for your undying faith in this project and words of encouragement. I know that each of you will be blessed for your offering to God—because he who has never seen God, but can love his neighbor, truly knows Godly love.

Kisha S. Freed
Founder and Owner
Word-Xpress Publishing &
Word-Xpress.Com
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Got another cover reveal for a book I'm coming out in today...I think I'm due out in about five books, or something like that...sort of lost track...but, I have three poems coming out in this one...the poems are...

1. The Facebook Poem
2. Party Favors
3. Please Tell Me That You Can Stay

I'm not sure if anyone else from SS is in the book, and all the poems you can read here on this fine site in the meantime...this book is being published by Brian Wrixon and Poets With Voices Strong, based in Canada...he's the publisher who published Christena Williams book btw, and she's a member of this fine site known throughout the world as Stories Space...

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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Welcome to our humble site here, and it sounds like you have a great reason to be here...leaving a memoir is a wonderful thing...

I'm not familiar with Dragon Software, but I do know that there are a couple of members here that use speech recognition software because they are visually impaired...

Anyway, any questions about the site, feel free to ask...with any luck, someone might even have an answer...

Cheers,
Alan.
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
A couple of more pictures turned up from this event...here's one with me and Elaine Gaber, director of the library...and she's holding my book...what impeccable taste that gal has...



Here's another one that turned up recently...notice that they put me in a corner in the kid's room btw...note that scary looking stuffed thing lurking above my head...enough to give a guy nightmares...

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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
GIRLWORKS
http://girlworks.ca/?page_id=1287

Girlworks is an online magazine published for girls aged 11 - 15. Writers are welcome to propose an article in any category for any issue. Please provide a brief description of your idea, including a list of sources you plan to use, your intended word length, and
any unique angle or hook you think will make your piece irresistible to its intended audience. Articles range from 2 - 4 pages in length. Assume 200 words per page, with payment of approximately $50 per page
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Abyss & Apex:
http://www.abyssapexzine.com/submissions/

Speculative fiction. Particularly interested in stories under 1500 words. Pays $.05/word. Note reading periods before submitting

__________________________________________________________

Electric Spec:
http://www.electricspec.com/submissions/submitting-fiction/

Speculative fiction. Not an exclusively flash fiction market, but will accept stories as short as 250 words. Pay is $20 per story, so the shorter the better as far as your per-word rate. Note issue-specific deadlines.

___________________________________________________________


Vestal Review:
http://vestalreview.net/About.html.

Publishes only flash fiction. Pays 3-10 cents/word. All genres except children's stories and hard SF.

____________________________________________________________


Nanoism:
http://nanoism.net/submit/.

This is a Twitter market. Stories cannot exceed 140 characters, or the maximum length of one tweet. Pay is $1.50 per story--that's a bit over a penny per character or roughly $.05/word. Prefers literary fiction and also accepts serial stories. Previously published tweets will be considered, but pay at $1/story

_____________________________________________________________


For more flash fiction markets as well as additional information on the form, how to write it, and examples:

Flash Fiction Writers Market
http://www.flash-fiction-world.com/writers-market.html

or

Flash Fiction Chronicles
http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/flash-markets-2/[/size]
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Alright, we now have a cover for the upcoming Alfie Dog collection...cool beans my friends...

Oh, and looks like we have a list of the stories and authors as well...the number representing approximate word count btw...

Maggie Jones 1400 A Wish for Christmas
Jeanne E. Tepper 1500 The Christmas Tree Miracle
Margaret Pearce 1260 Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Pauline Wiles 1868 Travels with a Persian Rug
Georgie Foord 2240 Not Just For Christmas
Susan Howe 4933 The Seventh Christmas
Alan Jankowski 3300 His Christmas Wish
Pauline Lachman 1800 The Holiday Tree
Gill McKinlay 900 A Sheep for Christmas
Sarah England 1520 All that glitters
Camilla Kelly 8450 Secret Santas
Sandra Woolfendon 1000 Happy New Year
Linda Lewis 2,500 Wonderful Life
Peter Lingard 4521 Christmas Spirit
Tricia Maw 800 Santa Lives
Patsy Collins 1000 Granddad's Snowman
Linda Louisa Dell 2337 Christmas Decorations
Kate Blackadder 1100 Molly's Christmas Candle
Dorothy Davies 1000 A Christmas Story
Elizabeth Weiss Vollstadt 1150 The Blue Christmas Tree
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
"Blogger and social media expert Mike Wallagher created this site to give writers a simple step-by-step introduction to creating their web presence. Topics include choosing a blogging platform, the pros and cons of free versus paid hosting, promoting your blog on Twitter, search engine optimization and digital marketing. "...check it out my blogging friends...

How to Start a Blog – Step by Step Guide
http://startbloggingonline.com/[/size]
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Alright, looks like this story is going into print again, and this will be the third time btw...the first being the DWB book, this story is in my own book, and I found out this morning it will be in a Christmas collection on Alfie Dog...we shall see how this works out, hopefully it will do better than the DWB book, though I think it will...I have a bit more faith in Rosemary and Alfie...in any event, I can't complain...getting paid anything for a story I wrote three years ago is a good thing...

Inclusion in the Christmas Collection
Inbox
x


Rosemary Kind
8:32 AM (30 minutes ago)

to me
In the Christmas collection of stories aimed at adults, I would like to include His Christmas Wish if you are agreeable. Please can you confirm that you would be happy with this?

I am aiming for this to go on sale 18th November so the timescale is quite tight. Once I have all acceptances then I will send further details. The ebook will sell for £1.99 and the paperback should work out at £6.99 if all goes to plan. The royalties will be split, as all our books are, equally between the contributing authors.

Regards

Rosemary J. Kind

Managing Director

Alfie Dog Fiction

Tel: 00 44 (0)1347 827178

www.alfiedog.com
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by steffanie

I feared the worst with the video report - but you came across very well.



Hey Steff...yeah, I feared the worst as well...I was very nervous, and to get an idea as to just how nervous I actually was, try to count how many times I use the word "actually" in that four minute video...it's actually a nervous habit I have, I'm actually not that bad actually in normal life...actually...ahem...

Anyway...here's a list of what I actually read during the reading, though the order got changed...as noted, I read the 9/11 poem last, instead of first, for instance...but, I did have a list I made shortly before show time...I tried not to plan this whole thing too far in advance...I figured the less scripted I made this whole thing, the less chance of me getting too nervous and screwing up...so, it was mostly "off the cuff" so to speak...

1. We Shall Never Forget (9-11 Tribute)
2. The Facebook Poem
3. Happiness And Purpose
4. The Birthday Party
5. Under Darkness Of Night
6. Grandpa
7. Relatives
8. I Had A Dream
9. The Best You Ever Had
10. For Trayvon (May your death not be in vain)
11. Please Tell Me That You Can Stay
12. Steal This Poem
13. Sexual Healing
14. We Started As Friends

I started the actual reading about 6:35PM, and it ran up until about 7:35PM...so, over an hour of fairly continuous talking on my part...I prefaced everything with a bit of a story as to how each piece came about...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Here's some more photos from my first author event...this one is at the beginning, before it started...me talking to library director Elaine Gaber...



Apparently in deep thought here...either that, or I forgot what I was going to say...




Oh wait...maybe this is the deep thought picture...I made sure I wrote down anything I read btw...wouldn't want to accidentally read the same story or poem twice...


I have my hand out here...either for dramatic effect...or maybe I'm just pointing the way to the rest room or something...don't recall at the moment...



And finally...the first ever public reading of my 9/11 poem...by me anyway...is now up on YouTube...I think it's not quite as strong as I would have preferred, as there was a decision to move it to the end of the event, for the benefit of people who may have walked in late...I had originally intended to read it at the beginning, and I think my voice was giving out a bit after reading for more than an hour straight...but, how I intend it to be read, in my mind, comes across clearly...check it out my friends...

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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace


MyCentralJersey.com added my poem to the video today...I don't think it's the same link as above...btw, you can tell I'm totally nervous in that video...try to count how many times I use the word "actually" in that interview...even I'm not usually that bad...

We Shall Never Forget (9-11 Tribute)
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20130911/NJNEWS/130911002

On another related note...I'm guest blogger today on Lucy Pireel's blog, where I talk about everything you always wanted to know about my 9/11 poem, but were afraid to ask...you can see close ups of those documents I'm holding in the video...

How to Honour the Heroes or 9/11 by Alan Jankowski
http://lucypireel.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/how-to-honour-the-heroes-or-911-by-alan-jankowski/

Yeah, I'll be posting more pictures and video of the actual author event later...I did the same explanation to the audience I did in the video...well, sort of...note the unabashed enthusiasm on my face in this picture btw...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Here is a video interview done the afternoon of September 8, 2013...about 3:00PM in front of City Hall here in South Amboy, and released two days later...the interview is a bit more somber than I would have preferred...we stopped in the police station to let them know what we were doing in front of City Hall, and the officer on duty told a story about how he was alive only because of a shift change a few days before 9/11...everyone he worked with on his old shift died in the towers...well, you know...things got off to a solemn start...

Eva Abreu is Social Media Editor for The Courier News, Home News Tribune, and The Daily Record...she thinks other press people may try to contact me after this...that remains to be seen...

Note also mention of a famous red site...and check out the martini glass shirt...it is actually a Three Olives Vodka shirt...

We Shall Never Forget (9-11 Tribute Poem)
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/videos/life/2014/07/25/13185429/

I found out the library posted the video on their blog as well...

Meet local author Alan W. Jankowski
http://dowdell.org/wordpress/2013/09/10/meet-local-author-alan-w-jankowski/
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
I agree that poetry is generally less structured than prose, and in that respect allows for far more freedom with regards to punctuation and the like...

That said, I do believe that poets should not rule out punctuation altogether...most poems do not work well without it, and putting in commas and periods to indicate pauses and stops gives the reader an idea as to how the poet himself intended the work to be read...

I've rarely used anything other than commas and periods myself...I did use an elipse (...) in my poem "Neon Sign" to indicate a long pause...one of these days I'll have to do an audio of it to show how I intended it to be read...I think it would be completely lost without any punctuation...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Great video...and the title perfectly describes how I've been feeling lately...

The Rolling Stones - Live 1966 - 19Th NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Alright, made the little local papers in the area...the paper I had an article in last year...

Suburban
http://sub.gmnews.com/news/2013-08-29/Bulletin_Board/Poet_to_read_tribute_to_911_attacks.html

And the sister paper serving East Brunswick and surrounding areas...

Sentinel
http://eb.gmnews.com/news/2013-08-29/Bulletin_Board/Poet_to_read_tribute_to_911_attacks_Sept_10.html

And the prestigious South Amboy Times...actually, I don't think I even knew there was a South Amboy Times until my name came up in a Google search...but yeah, there is...I'm on page 12 btw...

South Amboy Times
http://www.thesatimes.com/SATaug13FINALsmall.pdf

And now New Jersey Monthly...

New Jersey Monthly
http://njmonthly.com/events/28341.html

And the Amboy Guardian got my middle initial wrong...but, the rest looks decent...

Amboy Guardian - Summer Winners at Dowdell Library
http://www.amboyguardian.com/2013/09/06/summer-winners-at-dowdell-library/
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
I have absolutely no clue who Martha Snow is, and a Google search is not much help, but I sort of stumbled across this one earlier, and thought it worth sharing...here's the link btw...

Spell Chequer - Martha Snow
http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/martha-snow.html

And here's the poem...

Spell Chequer

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
It's rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
It's letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
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