Interview with Jensen Beach at The Rumpus

Jensen Beach’s home in the sleepy town of Belchertown, Massachusetts was a real destination for me and my wife in the two overlapping years he and I were in grad school together. During meals we shared with Jensen, his wife, and their children, what impressed me on these visits was how well he integrated his recent venture into fatherhood with his previously established personas of Jensen The Dude and Jensen The Writer. He was present and attentive with his kids, but never helicoptered. He was not unsettled by sudden screaming. A kindness presided. Then the kids would go to bed, and Jensen and I would shit-talk other writers over beer in the kitchen.

Dark Sky Books Poetry Contest

Poets! Dark Sky  Press has just opened up to submissions for its 2012 poetry contest. Winner’s book gets published, runners up get a selection from their manuscript published in Dark Sky Magazine.