#163 The Fighting Poems of Paul Long

Paul Long was born in Cleveland, OH, and had a hectic childhood. The family moved often and Paul has lived in 10 different states including OH, MI, CT, MD, TN, MA, NC, VA, NY, and RI. It was difficult to keep moving and keep losing friends. It was difficult to keep trying to make new friends. A lot of times, Paul ate lunch alone. Writing became a release for him, creating a new world inside the one he lived in (when Paul was 8, somebody told him that he couldn’t write, as if it was illegal, and that’s when he decided to keep writing). In high school, Paul was the captain of the swim team and now he misses swimming, the discipline of getting up early in the morning and jumping into the water when it was cold, the back and forth of it. In college, Paul studied English and started writing stories with/for his best friend. They would sit in the library and create crazy stories that were often inspired by Grateful Dead songs. In graduate school, Paul met his wife, Kris, at Brown University, where they both received their MFAs. Kris is a playwright. Paul loves her stories and her smile. For now, Paul and Kris are living in MD, with their two Shitz Tsus (Annabel Lee and Conrad) and their two cats (Nickolai and Puchento), so Kris can pursue her PhD at the University of Maryland. Paul is teaching at BCCC and MICA and loves it. Working with inner city students in Baltimore has changed his life. Also, he is proud of the books of poetry that he has written so far and hopes to one day publish one. In the future, he will work on less abstraction and more physicality. He hopes that his poems will eventually bruise and pummel readers. Strange things happen to Paul a daily basis, but he tries to lead a normal life.

[Note #1: This postcard life story is part of a series of postcard life stories that appear in Keyhole #6 (guest edited by William Walsh), where all the contributor bios will be postcard life stories--the idea being to make every possible aspect of the magazine literature.]

#122 Peter Conners: Growing Up Dead

Peter Conners was born September 11, 1970 in a small town called America. He grew up in the suburbs with his three siblings. His dad put on a tie and went to work while his Mom stayed home. The family house was on a cul de sac. Peter started writing on his own in high school. He started doing it one day and never stopped. After he finishes a project, he switches genres and writing becomes new again, which means he’s also experiencing the world differently. Peter met Karen in high school and they first dated when they were 15. They dated off-and-on for the next 13 years. They went to different schools and sometimes lived in different cities, but they were never truly apart. In addition to Karen, Peter fell in love with the Grateful Dead. He went from being a fan to a Deadhead and followed the Grateful Dead on tour, selling sundry, and traveling around wherever. The music still gets him off every time he listens to it. Peter and Karen got married 10 years ago. She is a clinical psychologist specializing in children and now they have three children of their own: Whitman (after Walt), Max (just because), and Kane (after Karen’s mother’s maiden name). Peter lives in Rochester, NY, where he works as an editor and is in charge of marketing for BOA Editions. Next spring, he will publish his third book, a memoir—Growing Up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of a Teenage Deadhead.

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[Note: This postcard life story is part of a series of postcard life stories that will appear in Keyhole #6 (guest edited by William Walsh), where all the contributor bios will be postcard life stories--the idea being to make every possible aspect of the magazine literature.]