Featured Author: Rich Follett

Why are you so wise?

I believe that the rare moments when I perceive myself to be truly wise (enlightened and empowered) are borne of recognizing that a.) the most compelling questions are those which lead to even more compelling questions and b.) it is impossible to know everything about anything.

Why are you so clever?

I am clever because: a.) I have spent my entire life trying to rise above mere cleverness b.) I have dedicated my life to learning and c.) human beings learn only by experiencing failure.

Why do you write such good books?

I write good books because bad books accomplish nothing.

Why are you a destiny?

I am a destiny by virtue of my survival and longevity against overwhelming odds. Overcoming adversity carries a moral obligation to encourage others struggling to embrace hope.

What is your declaration of war?

I have declared war on complacency in myself and in others.

What does your hammer say?

Nihilism = complacency = Thanatos

Rich Follett is an actor, musician and teacher who has recently returned to writing poetry after a thirty-year hiatus. A founding member of the Shenandoah Valley’s premiere poetry group The Aubade Circle, his work has been published in several issues of Paraphilia and Calliope Nerve and in a ‘Featured Poet’ capacity at Counterexample Poetics. Rich has been repeatedly recognized for his artistry in spoken word, most notably at the inaugural summer poetry festival in Middletown, Virginia and on blog talk radio. The poet Duane Locke has publically recognized the excellence of his poetic artistry. His first book of poetry, Responsorials (written with Constance Stadler) is available from NeoPoiesis Press: www.neopoisispress.com

Featured Author: Duane Locke

Why are you so wise?

Because I read Nietzsche, and appropriated Transvaluation as a behavioral necessity.

I also learned to base judgments only on appearances.

Why are you so clever?

Because I believe Aristotle’s ousia was wrongly translated in Latin as constantia

By Augustine and Aquinas.

Why do you write such good books?

My cognitive unconscious (see George Lakoff) writes the books,

And my cognitive unconscious won’t tell me. The cognitive unconscious

Is not a Freudian or Jungian, or Kristivan, or Lacanian (I don’t think it is

Constructed like a language) unconscious.

Why are you a destiny?

Because I have so few readers, but a few of this few are very loquacious.

What is your declaration of war?

I am a pacifist. I even think turning the other cheek is a too aggressive act. The only heroic thing to do is run away and run fast. Cowards are the slave mentalities who stay and obey the power structure. Silence, exile, and cunning are the only patriotic way to live a Joycean life.

What does your hammer say?

My hammer says that it wished it was unshaped, freed from this man-made imposition.

It was ore again in the underground.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:

Duane Locke lives hermetically by ancient oak, an underground stream, and an osprey’s nest in rural Lakeland, Florida.

He has as of January 2010, 6,535 different poems published in print magazines, American Poetry Review, Nation ,etc. and e zines, Counter Example Poetics, Pen Himalaya (Nepal)

And 22 books of poems. His three latest books, 2009, are Yang Chu’s Poems (376 pp.)

Crossing Chaos Enigmatic Ink, Canada (order from publisher or Amazon); Voices from a Grave (40 pp.) erbacce, England (order from erbacce), and Soliloquies from a High Wall Hidden Cemetery (37 pp.) Differentia Press, California (Free download,

www.differentiapress.com).

His first book published in 2010 is 53 paged A Marble Nude Pualine Borghese with a Marble Apple in her Marble Hand, Scars press, http://scars.tv.

Has interviews in Counter Example Poetics, Eviscerator Heaven, Pen Himalaya, Ann Arbor Review, and Bitter Oleander. For more information click “Duane Locke” on Google Search, over 500,000 entries. Is in Who’s Who in America (Marquis).

He is also a painter and photographer. An account of his painting is in Gary Monroe’s Extraordinary Interpretations ( U of FL press). His sur-photos are scattered throughout the internet, and he has done many book covers. Has a Ph. D, specializing in English Metaphysical Poetry (Donne to Marvel).

His interest are philosophy (PostModern, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Heidegger),

Insects, butterflies, birds, Opera, Mahler, and Viennese music.