Saturday, December 26, 2015

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Booksellers Can Write, Too

Back cover
MY FIRST JOB in New York City was selling books for Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. It was an evening job that paid $5.50 an hour and had no benefits, but what I was rewarded in the end was the sight of a book on its shelves that carried my name. When the corporate office of Barnes and Noble Books called for submissions to an anthology of writing and art done by its employees, I turned in a piece of poetry that was accepted by its editor Stuart Miller. Thank you, sir!

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Doing Good

WE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS until last week. The school didn't tell Sara, and she didn't care much about it.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

I Will Deliver, Mr. Junker

MANY THANKS TO ZYZZYVA founding editor Howard Junker for the recognition by putting my work alongside those of America's best writers in his anthology Strange Attraction: The Best of Ten Years of ZYZZYVA.  That faith is never forgotten even after all these years, Mr. Junker, and I will deliver on it as I face the task of writing more squarely. From Ellyn Maybe of Los Angeles ViewStrange Attraction deserves a place on every reader’s shelf.” 


Thursday, November 12, 2015

You Read It Here First

IF LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, make lemonade. Enjoy it until you've had your fill, then sell the leftover.  Here is a preview of what's in Tales of the Toddy Tapper and Other Narrative Poems.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Feeding Frenzy

THIS POEM AND TWO others appeared in the Spring 1991 issue of ZYZZYVA, along with Philip Levine's "Gin" and Elizabeth Tallent's "Black Dress" which are also included in the anthology Strange Attraction: The Best of Ten Years of ZYZZYVA.



Saturday, March 14, 2015

Where To Find Pho In Morris County

WHEN I WAS NEW in Hopatcong and had a craving for pho, I used to drive forty miles to the only Vietnamese restaurant I knew this side of the Hudson: Pho Thanh Hoai in Jersey City.  But not anymore. As I became familiar with northwest Jersey and learned about its digs, I eventually discovered a bunch of Vietnamese restaurants right up my alley. Too bad the nearest one is vegetarian, but the next closest and best thing, TOPO, which stands for "the old post office," (what the building it occupies used to be) has a huge menu that is Pan Asian. And it is not even in Morris county. TOPO is in neighboring Warren county, in a little town called Hackettstown which is home to Centenary College and is the western terminus of the Montclair-Boonton and Morristown rail lines from Manhattan. This town has sure piqued my interest, and I am sure to explore it further in the days to come.

Loving Hut (Vegetarian)
538 State Route 10,
Ledgewood, NJ 07852
(862) 251-4611

TOPO (The Old Post Office)
218 Main Street
Hackettstown, NJ 07840
(908) 850-5888

Saigon Pho
744 U.S. 46
Parsippany, NJ 07054
(973) 794-4632

Pho Thanh Huong
73 New Road
Parsippany, NJ 07054
(973) 521-9900

Lemongrass
1729 Route 10 East
Morris Plains, NJ 07950
(973) 998-6303

Viet Ai
189 Ridgedale Avenue
Florham Park, NJ 07932
(973) 410-9400