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Salamander virtual event next week (Spotlight: Danny Lang-Perez)

José Angel Araguz 2 Comments

Hello!

I am happy to share that the next Salamander virtual event happens next Sunday, April 13th @3pm EST via Zoom (see below for more info; register here). In the days leading up to the virtual reading, I am going to do some quick spotlights on our readers. Danny Lang-Perez is first up in the series:

Spotlight: Danny Lang-Perez

We’re thrilled to feature Danny Lang-Perez at our upcoming virtual event. He is a writer whose fiction buzzes with velocity, heart, and hard-earned humor. Their short story “Professionals” (which placed second in our 2024 Fiction Contest) is a love letter to the art of skateboarding, skate rat culture, the gravity of friendship, and the unlikely sanctity of a crumbling skatepark called The Gristle. Here’s a short excerpt:

They call it The Gristle. A fraying, warped-up, wood-ramp-on-asphalt cheapo with shitty drainage because the Homeowner’s Association lobbied against costly concrete and what HOA says goes. The Gristle joneses for kid flesh. The Gristle impales its patrons. The Gristle is big cannibal brother to skate rats of all ages, is pugilistic as fuck, is the only game in town as HOA does not tolerate said rats in the wild.

And next Saturday, The Gristle dies by municipal edict.

Come hear Danny Lang-Perez read at our event—you won’t want to miss the ride!

Join Salamander for a special virtual reading celebrating our latest issue! This event features readings from three exceptional contributors: Marcy Rae Henry, Danny Lang-Perez, & Gabrielle Grace Hogan. Each writer will share selections from their work, offering a glimpse into the powerful poetry and prose featured in our new issue. ASL interpretation will be provided to ensure accessibility for all attendees. We’d love for you to join us in celebrating these incredible voices! This virtual event is free and open to the public.

WHAT: Salamander issue #59 Virtual Reading
WHEN: Sunday, April 13th: 3-4PM EST
WHO: Marcy Rae Henry, Danny Lang-Perez, & Gabrielle Grace Hogan
WHERE: Via Zoom! Register for this event here.
[Note: ASL interpretation will be provided at this event.]

Thank you for reading!

= José =

new poem up at Split This Rock!

José Angel Araguz Leave a comment

I’m excited to share that I have a new poem published! Check out “Every S In This Poem is Telling On Me” which is currently featured as part of Split This Rock‘s Poem of the Week series. It’s always meaningful to see my work find a home, and I’m grateful to everyone at Split This Rock for featuring this poem. This poem will also be included in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database, which, for those unfamiliar, is an amazing resource for general readers and educators alike.

“Every S In This Poem is Telling On Me” is a poem that comes out of my history with speech therapy as a child. The first draft came from a writing exercise I did alongside my students in the poetry workshop I taught last year. The exercise in question is Rita Dove’s “Ten-Minute Spill” from The Practice of Poetry.

Here’s the prompt for those interested in such things 🙂

Guidelines: Write a ten-line poem. The poem must include a proverb, adage, or familiar phrase (examples: she’s a brick house, between the devil and the deep blue sea, one foot in the grave, a stitch in time saves nine, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, once in a blue moon, the whole nine yards, a needle in a haystack) that you have changed in some way, as well as 2-3 words from the ones listed here: cliff, blackberry, needle, cloud, voice, mother, whir, lick, tank, terms, note, blade, tap, inquiry, reconcile, reproduce.

Writing this poem had me looking up the elementary school where it happened and only then realizing that it was named with my father’s initials. Go figure.

Thank you for reading and for your support!

= José =