Author Archives: Richard Jeffrey Newman

Some Publication News

It’s been a very long time since I have posted here, but, in the event that there are still some readers who recall the conversations we used to have about sexual violence against men and boys, and in case there … Continue reading

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From Sa’di of Shiraz, 13th Century Iran

You, who will not feel another’s pain, no longer deserve to be called human. Oonagh Montague replied with this important question: Although how do we translate those words to a world where, in order to preserve sanity and be able … Continue reading

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Three of My Poems Are Up on BigCityLit

It’s been a while since I’ve had poems accepted by a literary magazine, so I’m really happy that BigCityLit accepted three poems from the sequence, “This Poem Is A Metaphor For Bridge.” Here’s on the of them: 11 Before you have … Continue reading

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Reading Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen”

From page 49: “Not long ago you are in a room where someone asks the philosopher Judith Butler what makes language hurtful…Our very being exposes us to the address of others, she answers. We suffer from the condition of being … Continue reading

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Claiming The Politics of My Survival: A Male Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse Tells His Story

In March of 2018, as part of Nassau Community College’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Awareness program, I was invited to give a talk about my experience as a survivor of childhood sexual violence. I received my copy of the video of the … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc, Men and masculinity, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues, sexual assault | Comments Off  

The Financial Calamity That Is The Teaching Profession

The paragraphs below are from an article in The Atlantic by Alia Wong with the same title I’ve given to this post. I’m just going to let them speak for themselves. Teachers have never been particularly well paid, but in recent decades … Continue reading

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National Poetry Month, #MeToo, Leaving Neverland, and Sexual Assault Awareness Month—All In The Same Post

On February 27th, at the invitation of 1in6, an organization that advocates for male-identified survivors of sexual violence, I attended the Oprah Winfrey screening of Leaving Neverland, the documentary in which James Safechuck and Wade Robson tell their stories of … Continue reading

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“My Companion’s Scent Seeped Into Me” – National Sa’di Day

Today is National Sa’di Day, and I’ve been thinking about one of my favorite bits of verse from his Golestan: I held in my bath a perfumed piece of clay that came to me from a beloved’s hand. I asked … Continue reading

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Just in case you were wondering…

Here’s definitive proof that poets are in it for the money—which, I hasten to add, takes away not a single iota of my gratitude to CavanKerry Press for keeping my book alive 13 years after it was published. I have … Continue reading

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On Appropriation: Anders Carlson-Wee’s “How-To”

Last summer, The Nation published a poem called “How-To,” by white poet Anders Carlson-Wee, in which the speaker, a homeless person who speaks African American Vernacular English (AAVE), which is also sometimes called Black English, gives advice on how most … Continue reading

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