Author Archives: Richard Jeffrey Newman

From Sa’di of Shiraz, 13th Century Iran

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

A day or so ago, in response to the escalating tensions between Iran and the United States, I posted to Twitter my version of what are perhaps the most famous lines written in 13th Iran by Sa’di of Shiraz: From … Continue reading →

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Three of My Poems Are Up on BigCityLit

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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”

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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

Posted on September 14, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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…

Posted on April 2, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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”

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

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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The First Full Working Draft Is Complete!

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman
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