Paolo Javier is the current Queens Borough Poet Laureate. The recipient of grants from the Queens Council on the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts, he is the author of four chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections, including The Feeling Is Actual (Marsh Hawk Press). He edits 2nd Ave Poetry (www.2ndavepoetry.com), and curates Queens Poet Lore (http://queenspoetlore.tumblr.com/), a roving literary series that takes place across the borough.

David Meltzer is a poet associated with both the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance. One of the pioneers of jazz poetry readings, Meltzer formed a psychedelic folk-rock group called Serpent Power with his late wife Tina and poet Clark Coolidge, recording for Vanguard Records in the late ‘60s.  In addition to his many books of poetry, Meltzer also published 10 erotic novels in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, including the critically-acclaimed Agency Trilogy, revisiting the genre in 1995 with Under.  He has edited many anthologies, including the book of interviews, San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets (City Lights, 2001). In 2005, Penguin Books published David’s Copy: The Selected Poems of David Meltzer.
(Reading hosted by both Macgregor Card & Stacy Szymaszek).

Paolo Javier will be teaching a ten-week long Saturday afternoon workshop, beginning October 10, 2009. The class will meet in the Parish Hall from 12-2 pm.

Since the advent of the modern cartoon strip, poets, artists, and poet-artists alike have turned to its language as a vital source for innovation in their own practice. We will explore such a tradition. The presence of the poetic in the modern comic book will be a focus of our writing and discussion, and we will experiment with its potential through a diverse practice. Collaboration between participants will be required for selected exercises, and encouraged throughout the workshop. 

Paolo Javier is the author of LMFAO (OMG!), Goldfish Kisses (Sona Books), 60 lv bo(e)mbs (O Books), and the time at the end of this writing (Ahadada Books). He is currently working on OBB, a multimedia poetry comic, with artist Ernest Concepcion, and publishes 2nd Ave Poetry.