#PressRelease: Tampa Poet Published in Literary Magazine Neptune

Posted on April 29, 2024May 2, 2024 by The Smart Cookie

For Immediate Release

April 24, 2024

Chelsea DeVries

Publicist

Tampa Poet Published in Literary Magazine Neptune

James W.A. is no stranger to epiphanies but recently he received his first credit in a literary magazine in Tampa based bi-annual journal Neptune. His poem, Words Amongst Ashes, talks about his life as a writer, and all that it encompasses. You can check out his and other poets work in the newest issue of Neptune which you can find at the following link: https://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/10229810/dde501e6de9c36500760aeb56a92d696b0fbc39a Congratulations James at such an epiphanic achievement.

About the book:

In his sophomore title and first pure poetry collection, James W. A. explores the duality

found in the journey of one’s soul. Drawing from his own history, observations, and

imagination, he conjures the misery of younger days, the peace of more mature ones,

and the meanings of life and love in both. Found within these pages are stories,

musings, dreams, hopes, and emotions that show a progression from sorrow into joy,

and the shades of each in the other. Pour a glass, open your heart, and prepare to

venture forth with the titular concepts to experience for yourself the darkness of

Desolation and the triumphant elation of Epiphany.

About the Author:

James W. A. was born, raised, and lives in the Tampa Bay area. After graduating from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg’s Honors College, he

published his first book, In the Library, in 2015. Since then, he has honed his ever-

evolving, contemporary style, both creatively and as a professional content writer. While

moving away from the dark subjects of younger days, James W. A. seeks to use his

experiences, joys, sorrows, and wonders he sees in the world around him to lead others

to truth and beauty and share meaningful stories to last the ages.

The author is available for interviews, readings, appearances, and features. For bookings and information, contact his publicist at chelseadevries@thesmartcookiephiles.com

#PressRelease: Tampa Poet Celebrates Recent Epiphany

Posted on April 29, 2024 by The Smart Cookie

For Immediate Release

April 24, 2024

Chelsea DeVries

Publicist

chelseadevries@thesmartcookiephiles.com

Tampa Poet Celebrates Recent ‘Epiphany’

James W.A. recently won two Bookfest Awards for his second collection Desolation and Epiphany. He won both for Outstanding Cover Art, Second Place and Contemporary Poetry-Modern, Third Place. Both awards were awarded during the Spring Bookfest Ceremony ending on April 7, 2024. You can see a list of past and previous winners on Bookfest’s website here: https://www.thebookfest.com/book-awards-spring-2023-first-place/ Congratulations to James and artist Ashton Lay for their subsequent award wins.

About the book:

In his sophomore title and first pure poetry collection, James W. A. explores the duality

found in the journey of one’s soul. Drawing from his own history, observations, and

imagination, he conjures the misery of younger days, the peace of more mature ones,

and the meanings of life and love in both. Found within these pages are stories,

musings, dreams, hopes, and emotions that show a progression from sorrow into joy,

and the shades of each in the other. Pour a glass, open your heart, and prepare to

venture forth with the titular concepts to experience for yourself the darkness of

Desolation and the triumphant elation of Epiphany.

About the Author:

James W. A. was born, raised, and lives in the Tampa Bay area. After graduating from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg’s Honors College, he

published his first book, In the Library, in 2015. Since then, he has honed his ever-

evolving, contemporary style, both creatively and as a professional content writer. While

moving away from the dark subjects of younger days, James W. A. seeks to use his

experiences, joys, sorrows, and wonders he sees in the world around him to lead others

to truth and beauty and share meaningful stories to last the ages.

The author is available for interviews, readings, appearances, and features. For bookings and information, contact his publicist at chelseadevries@thesmartcookiephiles.com

#PoeticPerspective With Matthew Gutierrez

Posted on April 23, 2024 by The Smart Cookie

Why Poetry?

Technically I don’t write poetry, I am certain that it writes me, or forces me to write it. Words are constantly circling my mind, as if they are creating a story and it’s my responsibility to then write them down. It was never my desire to write poetry. Somewhere in my teenage years it just became clear that I was given a skill set in this life, and I decided to take the time to nurture and attempt to improve this ability that was given to me by the universe. Over the years I have studied and educated myself on different forms of writing, which is why I like to call myself a creative writer. I am currently finishing up my MFA in creative writing, poetry and fiction, and have taken courses in film and television writing in the past. But poetry is my first choice and what comes naturally to my mind. Writing poetry helps me deal with my emotions and to better process this life through the act of writing poetry.

2. Tell us about your most recent collection.

My only published collection to date is entitled: Notes I Wrote Along the Way, which was published back in October 2020. The collection holds 50 poems written in English and Spanish, and focuses on themes such as life, death, purpose, love and letting go. I will say, if I were to do the collection today, I would rework them and restructure the poems to match my current writing style. I think that is a process most writers must deal with, looking back at older work and realizing how you would change some things and edit them to match the growth of your writing style. Currently, I am working on a collection of 75 poems that I started to write while working on my MFA. I am hoping to have them published in the near future.

3. Give the backstory behind one of your poems

Often, I like to write about painters, poets or writers that I am fond of and in one ekphrastic poem entitled: My Artistic Loneliness, which is based on the painting of Edward Hopper. The poem focuses on the loneliness of the characters painted into each poem, and then connected to my own feelings of loneliness and I am connected to those characters in each painting.

4.Who are 3 poets you always recommend?

Pablo Neruda, Charles Bukowski, and Joanne Kyger are three I would recommend at the moment. Neruda is a poet that I recommend often, especially if you are looking for love poems. Bukowski is a poet that I am new to, but I love the realness and authenticity of his words and statements he makes in his poetry. Kyger is a poet that I read in a poetry course recently, and I found the structure of her poems to be interesting and unique, and so I have tried to mimic that in some of my poems as of late. I think it’s important to read a wide variety of poetry from different authors, as it will help you with your own writing and to gain inspiration that can be implemented into your poetry.

5. I am currently reading….

Currently, I am reading Another Country by James Baldwin. I tend to read more for guidance or wisdom, rather than reading for fun. I am currently working on my MFA thesis which is a fiction novel, so I prefer to read the genre that I am writing in order to gain some insight to writing and expand my knowledge of writing through great books from great writers.

This is an exclusive interview with Matthew Gutierrez to commemorate National Poetry Month. The Smart Cookie Philes is a small business and PR firm dedicated to helping indie authors and musicians espresso themselves.

For marketing services and to request my PR deck, email chelseadevries@thesmartcookiephiles.com

#PoeticPerspective With Nicholas Trandahl

Posted on April 18, 2024 by The Smart Cookie

Why Poetry?

I write poetry because I have to! It is what’s most natural for me, and it’s been that way for most of my life. When I write fiction, there is a lot of planning, plotting, and forethought, whereas my poetry is written in flourishes of inspiration and spontaneity. I began writing poetry seriously when I was deployed to the Middle East as a soldier, as a means of self-preservation and self-medication, and I suppose all these years later, I still write poetry for the same reasons.

Additionally, as my writing has matured, an added focus has evolved in which I wish to show the sacredness of our shared world and our existence on it. And I endeavor to bring my readers with me to the places I travel to and explore.

Tell us about your most recent collection.

My most recent release is my poetry collection Purgatory, released in January 2024. My sixth published full-length poetry collection, Purgatory is perhaps most heavily influenced by the poetic works of Dante Alighieri and the holiness I find interwoven in the mountainscapes of the American West, where I live and explore. Dante’s The Divine Comedy has been the most influential work of literature I’ve read. I read it once a year and every time I take away something new. My last three poetry collections have all been influenced by The Divine Comedy, but Purgatory really doubles down on the journey from despair and suffering toward healing and acceptance. It has already been my most successful book, spending quite some time as the #1 New Release in American Poetry on Amazon, and the reviews for it have so far been a pleasure to read.

Give the backstory behind one of your poems

My poem “Tomato” from my collection Purgatory seems to already be a favorite among my readers. It’s one of several long poems contained in Purgatory. There’s a lot to unpack in this poem, which was written primarily in the spontaneous composition style championed by Jack Kerouac’s poetry. It’s a poem about rejuvenation, healing, and regrowth after destruction, comparing a relationship healing to the new verdant growth that rises from a landscape after wildfires. During the time I wrote the rough draft of “Tomato” my wife and I were growing tomatoes in our garden at my home, so that imagery got interwoven into the context of the poem as well. Like the collection Purgatory as a whole, “Tomato” shows that overarching journey in a microcosm, recovery and growth after suffering.

Who are 3 poets you always recommend?

I would say Dante Alighieri because his The Divine Comedy changed my life. I’d also say my other favorite epic poets, John Milton, Virgil, Walt Whitman, and Homer. But any of those can be a tall order to dig into, and epic poetry isn’t for everyone.

So, I suppose I would recommend to modern poets and poetry lovers: Jack Kerouac (who’s wild and spontaneous poetry has heavily-influenced my own), Gary Snyder (who so perfectly blends the themes of nature, sacredness, and adventure in his poems), and Swedish indigenous poet Linnea Axelsson (who has written what I consider to be the finest poem of the 21st Century, the epic poem Ædnan).

I am currently reading….

I am currently reading Cockeyed Happy by Darla Worden. I picked up this hardcover nonfiction book at a bookstore in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in late March. It’s about Ernest Hemingway’s Wyoming adventures in my state of Wyoming with his second wife. I’m already familiar with Hemingway’s excursions and adventures in Wyoming’s Yellowstone region and in the Bighorn Mountains of north-central Wyoming, where I frequently hike and go backpacking. But the additional details and research undertaken in this book have been fascinating, even for a longtime Hemingway aficionado like myself who thought I’ve learned all there is to know about the greatest fiction writer of the 20th Century.

This is an exclusive interview with Nicholas Trandahl to commemorate National Poetry Month. The Smart Cookie Philes is a small business and PR firm dedicated to helping indie authors and musicians espresso themselves.

For marketing services and to request my PR deck, email chelseadevries@thesmartcookiephiles.com

#PoeticPerspective With Carl Butler

Posted on April 18, 2024 by The Smart Cookie

1.Why Poetry?

Well I started writing poetry during lockdown 2020. By taking the time to understand nature better the words just came, almost as photographs. So I wrote, I found it a way to get emotions from my head. I joined and later became an admin of a Facebook Poetry Group called Dark Poetry Society,where i soon learned to write many different genres and interact with poets on a daily basis.

In short :

Poetry massages my mind and is a spring cleaning of my soul.

2. Tell us about your most recent collection.

The second book I released is called The Saga of Sir Bumble and Tales From the Butterleaf Realm. Part of what will be my inner child series it is meant to appeal to a wider audience.. from 8 to 80 and maybe more. It puts animals and insects centre stage and whilst it reads like a poetic novel

It has many messages and lessons to teach.

3. Give the backstory behind one of your poems

The Saga of Sir Bumble. A Bumble bee who has no sting. As a drone he would normally idle is time away waiting for a chance to mate. Not this guy, he became a poet Knight, grabbed a Holly leaf for a shield and a hawthorn for a lance and off he went.The quest for the sacred honey tree.

The idea came from sitting in the garden in lockdown when a hive of bees set up In the eaves of my house and I became intrigued at their behaviour. Hopefully while giving many characters human like traits, the Saga reads something like a chivalrous pursuit of adventure.

4. Who are 3 poets you always recommend?

Always I have to mention the masters first

Frost, Longfellow and of course Edgar Allan Poe. They have helped to guide my journey

But I now read a hundred or so poems a day from modern poets.

4. Who are 3 poets you always recommend?

Always I have to mention the masters first

Frost, Longfellow and of course Edgar Allan Poe. They have helped to guide my journey

But I now read a hundred or so poems a day from modern poets.

5. I am currently reading….Not Poetry but I am in the middle of The Wheel Of Time series by Robert Jordan, a 14 book series that creates a world of fantasy rivalling Tolkein’s Middle Earth. Those keep me sane after my daily dose of poetry, my admin duties and of course writing my own poetry and ‘ Sinister Short Stories.’

My first collection ‘ My Black Swan Calling’

Shows a little of my darkside as well as my affinity for nature.My books, as have my poems, are evolving and I have a number to be proof read and published when time allows.

This is an exclusive interview with Carl Butler to commemorate National Poetry Month. The Smart Cookie Philes is a small business and PR firm dedicated to helping indie authors and musicians espresso themselves.

For marketing services and to request my PR deck, email chelseadevries@thesmartcookiephiles.com

Poetic Perspective with Antonio Eramo

Posted on April 24, 2023April 20, 2023 by The Smart Cookie

Today we have the privilege and honor of sitting down for virtual coffee with best-selling poet Antonio Eramo.

His book is in the Top 100 in all 3 Kindle Categories, and even in the Top 20 in 2 categories with more than 168 reviews.

My review of his book is available on Instagram here.

What was your purpose behind writing Cicadas Serenade

Cicadas Serenade was written to be my own version of “song of myself” (Thoreau). My song, like the song of the Cicada, is loud and can be perceived as annoying…but it is nonetheless natural and beautiful in its own right. As far as purpose goes…well, it serves the same purpose as any song within nature, it means everything and nothing at the same time.

2. What’s your favorite thing about nature?

My favorite thing about nature is that it almost mocks man in its perfection. Every lesson I have ever learned I can see expressed in nature…and there is a great irony that we can only see the wisdom of nature after our own failures.

3. What do you hope people gain from Cicadas Serenade?

I hope to gain several things from this book. The number 1 thing would be understanding. Although the manner I express myself isn’t straightforward, I hope that those close to me can read between the lines and understand the overarching meanings. The number 2 thing I hope to gain is a bit of traction within the poetry community. The poetry community is oversaturated and it is very difficult to stand out or be heard. I am hoping that this book can help usher in a return to form for poetry. Most modern poetry is full of bromides and bad line breaks, and I think the reader deserves a bit more than surface level thoughts masquerading as a poem (insta-poetry).

4. As a poet and a writer, where do you see your career going next?

As a poet, I see myself slowly climbing the ranks on amazon and establishing my work as an indie publisher. I am adamantly against big name publishers, so I do not see myself submitting to any of them anytime soon. I do not foresee myself ever being able to live off my work as a poet, which is definitely a blessing in disguise…I feel that if you treat art like a job/career then the work suffers

5. Any new books currently in the works?

I have a new book out called “The Day Prior” which features AI artwork. Most people have been using AI to create art…but I was more curious as to how ai interprets art. I plugged each poem in as the input and had an ai generator interpret the poetry and create a corresponding image. The point of the collection is to analyze the process of interpreting art. In general we have a major issue with something I like to call the “coerced consensus”…in school we interpret things as we are told to interpret them…likewise, ai can only interpret things based on its algorithm (how it is told to interpret). I am curious to see if the images impact the readers ability to interpret the poetry and if it influences their perceptions before they even read.

6. Who are some of your favorite poets?

T.S. Eliot and Robert Frost

7. Who inspired you to become a poet or was there a pivotal moment that made you become a poet?

I don’t really remember what kicked off my fascination with words, but I do recall that it was a sudden snap. One day I just started writing poems.

8. Anything else you want to share with my readers about poetry or your writing career?

A bit of advice for anyone new to poetry…learn the forms and learn poetic devices before embarking on the journey. After you learn the rules you can break them…but for the love of god, learn them first.

Poetic Perspective with Matthew Gutierrez

Posted on April 20, 2023 by The Smart Cookie

Today, we have the honor and privilege of sitting down for virtual coffee with Matthew Gutierrez, author of Notes I Wrote Along The Way. A review of it can be found here.

What was the exact moment you decided to begin writing Notes I Wrote Along The Way?
I had been writing for years before 2019, so I had quite the collection, but in 2019 it dawned upon me that
I should release them into the world so others may enjoy them and not keep them locked in my computer.

One of my favorites from the collection is Universal Control? Can you tell us more about the backstory
behind the piece?

This poem speaks about the complete control that the universe has over all living things; the universe
maintains complete control, and we are subject to the twist and turns that are thrown our way. I believe
that our existence is part of the universe’s plan and we must all play a part and complete a purpose to that
plan.

Besides poetry, what else have you written?
I have written screenplays, short stories and currently I am working on more poetry and a longer fiction
piece that will become a novel.

Do you plan to write another poetry collection? If so, do you know what the themes may be?
I am currently working on writing more poetry and editing and rewriting pieces that I already have picked
out for my next collection. I want the next book to be more personal, more direct about pieces of my life
and things that have happened in my life. The themes will remain the same as the first collection, I like to
focus on the universe, a higher power, love, life and death.

Who inspires you most in your life?
I inspire myself… my life inspires me and the people that come In and out of my life inspire me in some
manner. Life is full or inspiration and sparks ideas to write.

Who are some of your favorite poets?
I would say that I am a fan of Pablo Neruda, John Keats, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Phillip B.
Williams, Roger Reeves.

7.What’s your favorite thing about poetry?
I love poetry because you can find the right words for a poem that you cannot seem to discover when
speaking to another human being. I started writing poetry due to the lack of courage I had to say a few
things on my mind. I found it easier to write them as poems instead.

What is most misunderstood about poetry in your opinion?

The state of being abstract. I hear often, in my MFA program, that I can be a bit too abstract, and I need to
be more grounded and concrete when writing a poem. While I am working on being more focused on
describing a scene, I do believe that I am that poet and have to stay true to what I do.

#NationalPoetryMonth: Notes I Wrote Along The Way by Matthew Gutierrez Review

Posted on April 3, 2023March 22, 2023 by The Smart Cookie

Have you ever been completely swept off your feet by a book of poetry? I have many many times. The first time it ever happened I was in college and found a poet on Tumblr and I covered my dorm walls with their words.

Yet, recently sitting down to delve into Notes I Wrote Along The Way by Matthew Guttierrez I found myself in that same place, absolutely glued between the covers of his poetry collection, slowly digesting each and every poem as it spoke to my soul as nothing else has.

As a poet myself, I find that to be an inspiring moment and a revelation of the true talents that poet has as if I feel inspired to write a piece after reading one of theirs then I truly know I was taken on a journey with the poet, and got to metaphorically walk in their shoes.

And sometimes those shoes are quite big, stuck in quicksand, lost and alone, feeling like a failure, heartbroken, grieving or just pondering a unique perspective of the human experience.

Matthew Gutierrez writes of memory, environment, love, sexual desire, dreams, madness, and death but they all speak to something profound and poignant.

Gutierrez’s word choice and imagery are what struck such a chord with me while reading this collection, and it makes me hungry for more work from this poet as I am certain this poet has many more notes that will need be written along the way.

Coming this Wednesday…stay tuned for an interview with Matthew himself.

For more from Matthew Gutierrez, follow him on Instagram @notes2poetry and @matthewjames_g

Follow The Smart Cookie Philes on Instagram to hear Chelsea DeVries read these poems, and to hear Matthew read one as well.

This FREE BOOK REVIEW was done in support of poetry and the arts. The Smart Cookie Philes is a independently owned and woman run company to help all people feel free to espresso themselves. It is a book and music publicity firm offering various marketing services and packages including the new Indie Book Tour Package as seen below.

Consider tipping Chelsea for her work on this piece at the following link: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CDeVries26

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