Update Time: Limp Wrist to Fundraising to Project Verse and More!

(1) I was happy with the current status of fundraising for Limp Wrist until this weekend when I received word that $750 is not the fee for the Juniper part of the scholarship. The total amount is $1,030-- $750 covers tuition and meals plus $280 to cover a dorm room for the scholarship recipient.

With this in mind, I want to remind you that tomorrow is the last day to enter in the Limp Wrist raffle. Click here for the details and for pictures of the items. I'm very happy to say the funds from the raffle are TAX DEDUCTIBLE and go to support the inaugural Limp Wrist Scholarship.

(2) Ellen Bass, Maureen Seaton, and Dorianne Laux have blurbed Stealing Fire.

Stealing Fire is, by turns, delightful, ironic, witty, stabbing, sobering, intoxicating. I didn't want it to end. ~ Ellen Bass, author of The Human Line

The ordering process for Stealing Fire is going to be a tad bit different than originally mentioned; however, it will still be easy! After covering the production costs of the chapbooks, all funds raised will go to the Limp Wrist scholarship fund.

(3) If you are on Facebook, join the cool kids in checking out:
Fans of Denise Duhamel OR A Group of Duhamalites
Fans of Dorianne Laux
Fans of Laure-Anne Bosselaar
The Joe Milford Poetry Show

(4) I am participating in Dana Guthrie Martin's FaBoStaMe 2009. I plan to use my 30 updates in 30 minutes to announce something big.

(5) I have started consulting with poetess Stacie Boschma on an Atlanta Project. I love that she is just as thrilled as I am about it. This is not the big announcement that is mentioned in #4. This will stay secret for a bit longer as it is to die for.

(6) Project Verse should be kicking off in late April. I received 39 applications, each ranging between 15 to 19 pages. I am giving each application the attention it needs; therefore, it is very time consuming.

Limp Wrist Raffle Adds Items!

Donate to Limp Wrist before 3/30/09, and you are automatically entered to win some of the items you see above. (Items will be given away in groups of three.) All donations are TAX-DEDUCTIBLE and fund the Limp Wrist scholarship.

Here's the donation breakdown:
$5 = 1 Chance
$10 = 3 Chances
$20 = 5 Chances
$45 = 10 Chances
$200 or More = You pick the three items you want. Plus, you'll receive a mention in Limp Wrist.


AND for fun:
If I raise $1,000 by 3/30/09, I will create a Youtube video of me doing Dolly drag. Silence to the peanut gallery-- even though I am crazy for Dolly, I don't spend my weekends in Dolly drag.

Get your donation on!

Update on LW Limited Edition Chapbook

Exciting and fun news regarding Limp Wrist's limited edition chapbook.

Karen Chase, Ellen Bass, and Dorianne Laux have all agreed to write a blurb for the chapbook. I'm stoked.

Limp Wrist Raffle Extended

Donate to Limp Wrist before 3/30/09, and you are automatically entered to win some of the items you see above. (Items will be given away in groups of three.) All donations are TAX-DEDUCTIBLE and fund the Limp Wrist scholarship.

Here's the donation breakdown:
$5 = 1 Chance
$10 = 3 Chances
$20 = 5 Chances
$45 = 10 Chances
$200 or More = You pick the three items you want. Plus, you'll receive a mention in Limp Wrist.


AND for fun:
If I raise $1,000 by 3/30/09, I will create a Youtube video of me doing Dolly drag. Silence to the peanut gallery-- even though I am crazy for Dolly, I don't spend my weekends in Dolly drag.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION!

Project Verse Seeks Applicants!

Can you write under pressure without breaking a sweat?
Always telling friends that writing a crown of heroic sonnets is a cinch?
Do you dream of perfect line breaks?
If you think you’ve got the write moves, I’ve got the poetry competition for you.

Project Verse


Dustin Brookshire, through I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin and Limp Wrist, is proud to announce Project Verse, the self-proclaimed “Project Runway” of the poetry world.

Project Verse is a free competition set to be a grueling but fun competition for poets. It’s a 10-week competition, and the winner will be announced week 11. Each Monday, an assignment will be posted in I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin. Poets will have to complete and submit the assignment by noon Friday of the same week. The judges will read and score the assignments over the weekend, and the judgment will be posted in I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin the following Monday.

Who are the judges? Dustin Brookshire, Beth Gylys, and Dana Guthrie Martin are your weekly judges; however, it wouldn't be fun without a little variety. Each week, except for the first week of the competition, there will be a guest judge. I would give you the list of guest judges, but that wouldn't be any fun either! We have a varied list of guest judges ranging from Pushcart Prize nominees and winners to a Lambda Literary Award recipient to National Endowment for the Arts fellowship recipients.

And a competition wouldn't be complete without a prize! The winner of Project Verse receives the following prize package:
 a contract for a limited edition chapbook published by Limp Wrist
 a weeklong residency at Marilyn Nelson's Soul Mountain Retreat* (for the poet to revise and finish his/her chapbook)
 an interview with Joe Milford of “The Joe Milford Poetry Show”
 a review of the chapbook that will be published in ouroboros review and Limp Wrist
 a year subscription to the Naugatuck River Review
 a copy of Best Gay Poetry 2008
 a copy of the 2008 Squaw Valley Review



How do you apply to compete in Project Verse?
 Write a short bio with a max of 200 words. (Make it personal yet poetic.)
 In 500 words or less, respond to the words of Ellen Bryant Voigt, "It's all a draft until you die."
 Submit a max of 10 unpublished poems, no more than 20 pages total.
 If available, provide links to no more than two sites where your work may be viewed.
 Copy and paste the Rules/Regulations/All That Jazz section on its own page
 "I, *Insert name here*, agree to follow all items listed under the Rules/Regulations/& All That Jazz for Project Verse. I understand that not following these items, at any point during the competition, will result in my being disqualified from Project Verse.
 All requested information should be sent in the order requested above, in one Microsoft Word document, to Dustin Brookshire at dustinvbrookshire@gmail.com by 3/01/09. The subject line of the email should read, "Project Verse: Insert Your Name." Your name and email address must appear on every page of your Microsoft Word document. Numbering your pages will make us smile; however, it won't sway our decision on having you as a contestant.


Rules/Regulations/All That Jazz
 Contestants will be selected from a pool of 15 semi-finalists, which in return will be narrowed down to the 11 Project Verse contestants.
 Contestants may not have published more than one full collection of poetry. (Number of chapbook publications does not matter.)
 Contestants must not have studied with any of the weekly judges in a collegiate setting or be related to any of the weekly judges (by blood, marriage, or love affair).
 Contestants must work solo on the weekly Project Verse assignments. Outside help from friends, family, professors, etc. is strictly prohibited and is cheating. Cheaters will be disqualified from Project Verse and thoroughly gossiped about throughout the blogosphere.
 Contestants must agree not to use any previously written poems for a Project Verse weekly assignment, unless the weekly assignment requests it.
 Contestants must be willing to complete pages two and three from the Soul Mountain Retreat application package. (Click here to see the forms.)
 All written information collected from the application, excluding the information from the Soul Mountain Retreat forms, may be published in I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin.
 The winner's chapbook will be published in the Limp Wrist limited edition chapbook series. The chapbook will include, but will not be limited to, the poems the winner wrote during the Project Verse competition. The chapbook must receive approval from Limp Wrist before being published.
 By participating in Project Verse, you agree to acknowledge Project Verse as first publisher in future reprints of books, anthologies, website publications, podcasts, radio, etc. Copyright reverts back to authors upon appearance in the Project Verse competition, which takes place on the I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin site.
 While the copyright reverts back to the author upon appearance in the Project Verse competition, Dustin Brookshire in combination with Project Verse and I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin, reserve the right to use any poems from the competition to create an anthology in the future.


*Please note: The winner of the competition will be required to arrange transportation to and from Soul Mountain Retreat. The fees of the residency are taken care of by Dustin Brookshire on behalf of I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin.

Don't forget about the autographed items on raffle: CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON THE LIMP WRIST SCHOLARSHIP RAFFLE

Limp Wrist Limited Edition Chapbook

I am excited to announce that Limp Wrist is producing a limited edition chapbook, and it will be available in April 2009.

All proceeds from the chapbook will fund Limp Wrist's scholarship.

The Chapbook Roster
Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Dustin Brookshire
Kurt Brown
Denise Duhamel
Christopher Hennessy
Charles Jensen
Mary Chi-Whi Kim
Dana Guthrie Martin
Courtney Queeney
David Trinidad
Robert Walker


If you would like to reserve a copy, contact me via email dustinvbrookshire@gmail.com. The cost is $10 per chapbook-- don't forget, it goes for a great cause.

I will personally pay your shipping and handling fees if you reserve your copy before 2/1/09.


***UPDATE***
Karen Chase, Ellen Bass, and Dorianne Laux have all agreed to write a blurb for the chapbook.

Birthdays Are An Excuse For Good Deeds

1/22


Another year older....
Since my 21st birthday, I have used my birthday as a way to benefit and raise awareness for an organization. I am happy to say previous organizations include Project Open Hand as well as Grass Roots Institute. This year I am proud to announce that I am trying to raise funds and awareness for Limp Wrist and our scholarship. Anyone wanting to show a little birthday love, feel free to make a tax deductible donation of $5 or more to Limp Wrist. Click here to donate.


If you donate you can win....
If you donate $5 or more between now and 2/28/09, you could win a number of autographed items. Some of the items include a limited broadside of a poem by Mark Doty, books by Sandra Beasley, Marilyn Nelson, Cecilia Woloch, and more.

Check out the items HERE. The breakdown:
1 Chance = $5
3 Chances = $10
5 Chances = $20
10 Chances = $45
A donation of $200 or more will allow you to pick three items.


Dolly "Dusty" Parton.....
If I raise $1,000 by 2/28/09, I am going to create a Youtube of me doing Dolly drag. Silence to the peanut gallery-- even though I am crazy for Dolly, I don't spend my weekends in Dolly drag. So shhhhh Chris, Sissy, and Maxton.

Birthday Time = Fundraising Time

1/22


Another year older....
Since my 21st birthday, I have used my birthday as a way to benefit and raise awareness for an organization. I am happy to say previous organizations include Project Open Hand as well as Grass Roots Institute. This year I am proud to announce that I am trying to raise funds and awareness for Limp Wrist and our scholarship. Anyone wanting to show a little birthday love, feel free to make a tax deductible donation of $5 or more to Limp Wrist. Click here to donate.


If you donate you can win....
If you donate $5 or more between now and 2/28/09, you could win a number of autographed items. Some of the items include a limited broadside of a poem by Mark Doty, books by Sandra Beasley, Marilyn Nelson, Cecilia Woloch, and more.

Check out the items HERE. The breakdown:
1 Chance = $5
3 Chances = $10
5 Chances = $20
10 Chances = $45
A donation of $200 or more will allow you to pick three items.


Dolly "Dusty" Parton.....
If I raise $1,000 by 2/28/09, I am going to create a Youtube of me doing Dolly drag. Silence to the peanut gallery-- even though I am crazy for Dolly, I don't spend my weekends in Dolly drag. So shhhhh Chris, Sissy, and Maxton.

LIMP WRIST Pushcart Nom: Jeremy Glazier

Here is another poem nominated from Limp Wrist:

Circuit Party

Beautiful boys with glistening skin,
their eyes aglaze with ecstasy,
wait for the night to come full circuit,
bare—-chested and thrusting to a rhythm.

If their eyes are aglaze with ecstasy,
their hearts and minds are ablaze with love,
bare—-chested and thrusting to a rhythm
they won't remember in the morning.

Their hearts and minds indeed blaze with love,
or what they think of as love.
But they won't remember in the morning
the things they whisper to one another.

What they think of as love
is the pulse they feel beneath the music.
The things they whisper to one another
on the dance floor shimmer just out of reach.

What is that pulse they feel beneath the music?
Something primitive, that keeps them moving.
On the dance floor, shimmering just out of reach,
they somehow understand what is to come.

Something primitive keeps us moving,
like beautiful boys with glistening skin.
Somehow we too understand what is. Come.
Wait for the night to come full circuit.

~ Jeremy Glazier

LIMP WRIST Pushcart Nom: Kurt Brown

Here is another poem nominated from Limp Wrist:

APOLOGY FOR A HAPPY CHILDHOOD

It was not my fault. I had no say in the matter. From the beginning, my parents conspired to
subvert my ambition to be a poet: "No juicy material for him," they agreed. Like Roberto
Benigni's son in "Life is Beautiful", or little Gautama Buddha safe in the enclosure of his father's
castle walls, all ugliness and pain were kept from me. Death and the ephemeral were not my
playmates. When a puppy died, or a toy lay broken on the living room floor, my eyes were
blindfolded and I was whisked away and told that all would be well. And when the blindfold
was removed: it was! There stood a new puppy, and a shining toy, resurrected and whole, as
good as the original. Even better. I thought it was the original, that all things healed themselves
instantly, and from within. It was a joyous world, Eden without sin, without a fall, and I—its
little Adam-strutting around ignorant of apples, and sexless.

There were no clocks in my childhood, and mirrors were banished. In autumn, I was kept
indoors. When I went outside, it was always summer. The sun stood in the middle of the sky, and
before it went down I was brought back inside where lights burned merrily. And when I slept,
even my dreams were monitored, so when I whimpered or cried out someone caressed my brow
and woke me, only to rock me back to sleep again, singing. What had I to dream about! Morning
was a flood of light in which I basked, and I was fed with utensils made of pure gold. This could
go on forever, without tears or blood.

And then suddenly one day-when no one was looking-I wrote my first poem.

~Kurt Brown

LIMP WRIST Pushcart Nom: Jessica Hand

Over the next few weeks, I am going to post the poems from Limp Wrist that have been nominated for the Pushcart.

Here is the first I will share:


ODE TO MY PENTECOSTAL RIGHT ARM

The live wire writhed: a Pentecostal copperhead
sinking fangs into my ulnar nerve—dendrites convulsed
in the Spirit and passed out, synapses crashed
like stalactites loosened from God's cavernous mouth,
and for the first genuine time I spoke in another tongue.
Can I get an amen? Can I get a man who doesn't mind
my arm throwing spaghetti and calling for revival?
My right arm contracts and gives birth to a new baby Jesus
once each minute, and He's got a holy set of lungs screaming.
This arm awakens and dances at night when He gathers
his loincloth for a jig. God is boogie-woogie electric,
and my arm knows it, knows there's a pulsing, painful
purgatory, has met eternity and returned tap-dancing.
O, right arm, won't you tell me what you know?
My body's on fire, my body's one big coal bed
for God's enormous iron poker, but I can't see
past all the smoke. My stubborn mouth could never swallow
the embers of God's language. My pagan feet fire-walk,
my left arm makes the sign of the cross,
and the backs of my knees refuse to believe in anything
so my body becomes a war zone. Somewhere God
discos through the carnage, and all I can do is follow
when my right arm stiffens into a divining rod
and bows down.

~ Jessica Hand

LIMP WRIST is Up!

Limp Wrist Issue 2 is live!

Update: LIMP WRIST Scholarship/Poetry Contest

Hello Blogosphere:

You might have already received information regarding the Limp Wrist scholarship/poetry contest for LGBT youth; however, there have been a few changes, so please take a moment to read the details portion of this post. I apologize if you fill pestered; however, ever bit of publicity helps make this scholarship a success, so PLEASE, take a moment to share this information via a blog, Myspace, Facebook, and/or email list.

As many of you know, in April 2008, I started Limp Wrist, and I am proud to promote Limp Wrist as an e-zine with queer sensibility. I am also proud to announce that Limp Wrist is offering a small scholarship to a LGBT High School Junior or Senior via a poetry contest. Even more exciting than the small scholarship is that the scholarship recipient wins a spot at the 2009 Juniper Summer Writing Institute. A huge thanks to the talented Dara Wier for making Juniper possible.

DETAILS ON THE POETRY CONTEST
~ NO entry fee required.
~ Student must identify as a member of the LGBT community.
~ Student must be a high school junior or senior for the 2008-2009 school year.
~ Only one poem of no more than 75 lines may be submitted in the body of an email. The poem should be submitted to dustin@limpwristmag.com, and the subject line must read "LW Sholarship" with the student's first and last name.
~ The poem submitted should not be a previously published work or have won a previous contest.
~ The email must include the following statement: "The poem submitted is my own original work and has not been previously published."
~ The submission email must also include the student's name, mailing address, and name of high school attending.
~ All submissions must be received by 1/31/09.

As mentioned above, the winner of the poetry contest will receive $150 and a spot at the 2009 Juniper Summer Writing Institute. Airfare to and from the '09 Juniper Summer Writing Institute is also covered by Limp Wrist.

Dr. Beth Gylys will serve as the inaugural judge. Dr. Gylys's work has been published in numerous magazines/journals (including Limp Wrist), anthologies, and she has received a mention in Drury's POETRY DICTIONARY as well authored two award winning poetry collections: SPOT IN THE DARK and BODIES THAT HUM.

All this isn't possible without out a price-- if anyone is interested in donating please click here for more information on how to make a tax-deductible donation.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or comments.


HUGS,
Dustin

LIMP WRIST Mentioned......

LW on Poets & Writers

LW Scholarship mentioned in Jameson Currier's Blog-- See Oct Publishing Notes

Christopher Hennessy gives LW a shout-out and so does Kate Evans and Collin Kelley

Atlanta Pride shares LW Scholarship Info

Exciting LIMP WRIST News!

Limp Wrist will offer a $150 scholarship via a poetry contest to a high school Senior who identifies as LGBT, and I am happy to announce my mentor and friend, Dr. Beth Gylys, as the has agreed to be our inaugural judge. Beth Gylys has had her work published in numerous journals, anthologies, received a mention in Drury's Poetry Dictionary as well authored two award winning poetry collections: Spot in the Dark and Bodies that Hum.

In addition to the winning poem being published in LW, I am excited to announce a twist to the first annual scholarship. The winner of the scholarship will also win a spot at the 2009 Juniper Summer Writing Institute-- all thanks and praise to the fantastic Dara Wier for believing in LW enough to make this opportunity possible for a lucky youth who happens to identify as LGBT.

Since LW is going to send a lucky senior to Juniper in 2009, we need your help in the fundraising arena. Please click here to see how you can support LW and help make the inaugural scholarship a successful reality.


Rules for Students Entering the Contest:
~ Student must identify as a member of the LGBT community.
~ Student must be a high school senior at the time the poem is submitted.
~ Student must have a teacher submit an email from a school email address verifying that the student is a senior or provide another form of evidence verifying the student's status as a senior.
~ Only one poem of no more than 75 lines may be submitted in the body of an email. The poem should be submitted to dustin@limpwristmag.com, and the subject line must read "LW Sholarship" with the student's first and last name.
~ The poem submitted should not be previously published or have won a previous contest.
~ The student must be willing to attend the 2009 Juniper Summer Writers Institute.
~ The email must include the following statement: "The poem submitted is my own original work and has not been previously published."
~ The submission email must also include the student's name, mailing address, school name, and the name of teacher submitting his/her verification email.
~ All submissions must be received by 12/15/08.

LIMP WRIST #2 ~ The Complete Info

Dustin Brookshire Interviews:
Denise Duhamel

Reviewed in the Blurb by Charles Jensen:
David Trinidad's The Late Show

Poets in Issue 2:
Ellen Bass
Kurt Brown
Nick Carbo
Karen Chase
Jeffrey Conway
Kate Evans
Jessica Hand
Larry Kaplun
Genevieve Lyons
Gillian McCain
Khadijah Queen
Robert Siek
David Trinidad
Timothy Wright

Prose Writers in Issue 2:
Paul Lisicky
Eric Sasson
Kelly Thompson

LIMP WRIST & Tax-Deductible Donations--- Now In The Same Sentence

HELLO Blogosphere:

Here's your chance to support Limp Wrist, which I am proud to advertise as an e-zine with queer sensibility. At LW we have a number of goals to accomplish, and I consider the main goal to be to offer a scholarship to an LGBT high school senior via a poetry contest. However, we can't offer a scholarship without your help!

Also, I am in the planning stages regarding a chapbook contest sponsored by LW. I am happy to say a distinguished poet has already agreed to be the judge the chapbook contest once we get to that stage. The contest will be open to homo's and hetero's. It is also a goal of mine to raise enough funds to be able to avoid an entry fee for the contest. If you're in the poetry "business" you know contests can break the bank, and I'm not out to break anyone's bank. I'm out to promote poetry and poets, and I will do everything I can to do so.

Click here to show LW a little financial love.

Please note: Limp Wrist is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Limp Wrist may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Don't forget, Limp Wrist thanks you for your support whether it is financial, reading an issue, or telling a friend or two to browse our website.

hugs,
Dustin & the rest of the LW Crew

For You Hookers, I Mean Facebook-ers

I created a Facebook Group titled Fans of Denise Duhamel OR A Group of Duhamalites. If you're on Facebook and enjoy the work of Denise Duhamel, well, you should this group ASAP. The exciting part about the group is I've started Denise's Question of the Month. Members of the group submit questions; one question will be answered each month by Denise, and I'll post the question with answer on the group page. (Cool beans, I know!)

Join the Fcebook Fan Pages I created in honor of:
Limp Wrist
Kim Addonizio
Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Dorianne Laux

LIMP WRIST #2 ~ Partial Info

Poets in Issue 2:
Ellen Bass
Kurt Brown
Nick Carbo
Karen Chase
Jeffrey Conway
Kate Evans
Jessica Hand
Larry Kaplun
Genevieve Lyons
Gillian McCain
Khadijah Queen
Robert Siek
David Trinidad
Timothy Wright

Finally!

The laptop is finally fixed, and I hope it will remain operational. Life has been a bitch since it hasn't been easy to use the internet or access documents. As long as the laptop cooperates I will be able to restart the Sunday Eye Candy series.

Limp Wrist #2 will go live toward the end of September. The second issue will feature an interview with the divine Denise Duhamel and work by Kurt Brown, Nick Carbo, Ellen Bass, Karen Chase, Khadijah Queen, and more. I'm excited about the second issue, and the third issue, which will go live Jan 09, is starting to take a nice shape.

The only stable part of my life life right now seems to be work and writing two to four poems a week. I meet with a fellow every couple of weeks; we chit-chat then move into critiquing work. Yesterday, we met and did our thing. She was able to help me put some "finishing" touches on three poems.

Well, off to do some reorganization as my new filing cabinet is calling my name.