What Does Paul Koniecki Do "After Working Hours"?

Happy Independence Day!
NightBallet Press is very excited to announce the publication of
After Working Hours (a salute to poets i admire)
by Paul Koniecki!

We first met Paul Koniecki of Dallas, Texas, in Kansas City at the 2016 Throwdown.  His dynamic performances left us hungry for more, and After Working Hours delivers with a punch!

 

This collection of poems is individually dedicated to poets Koniecki admires, including William Taylor Jr., Reverie Evolving, John Dorsey, Chloe Honum, Josh Weir, Jeanette Powers, Ezhno Martin, Jason Ryberg, Anne Hollander, Stevie Edwards, Courtney Marie, Jack Micheline, Saskia Stehouwer, John W. Sexton, Mishka Hoosen-Lewis, Frankie Metro, Lindsey Thomas, Nate Maxon, Rafael Andrade Garza, Michael Clay, Matthew Haines, Tom Ferris, Tomaž Šalamun, Johnny Olson, and Joe Milazzo.  In his foreward, Koniecki writes:

"After Working Hours is a tribute to artists who must find ways to navigate the adult working world, much like Bukowski and his post-office.  Many artists must ingest the poison of soul-raping day jobs, yet still find ways to funnel inspiration from the slavery of keeping-the-lights-on into the ability to be sensitive again, to be moved again to be creative again.  Art needs pain for relevance. You don't get to bear the scar of art if you haven't suffered the pain of the cut."

After Working Hours contains 44 pages of 21 poems, printed on brilliant white paper. The cover is a thick textured white, with a deep blue backing.  The cardstock insert is a textured periwinkle/soft denim blue.  The cover photo was taken at Mahall's Bowling in Lakewood, Ohio.  This, my friends, is a poetry book with balls!

 

Paul Koniecki hosts the Pandora's Box Poetry Showcase at Deep Vellum Books in Dallas, Texas.  His chapbook, Reject Convention, was published by Kleft Jaw Press and his poems have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies since 1985.  Richard Bailey's film, One of the Rough, contains several of Koniecki's poems, and was shown at the Berlin Experimental Film Festival in December of 2016.  He has featured at the Fermoy International Poetry Festival in Ireland, and at the Kansas City Poetry Throwdown in Kansas City, Missouri. He was chosen for the Ashbery Home School Residency in Hudson, New York.  He and Reverie Evolving currently facilitate Stone Soup Poetry workshops for the Writer's Garret of Dallas. Find him at paulkoniecki.wordpress.com.

Koniecki will be performing his poetry in Portland, Oregon, at Contronym (A Fugue in E Minor), presented by Kleft Jaw and TRUST Art Collective, July 14, 15, and 16, 2017.  And YES, he will have After Working Hours with him! Don't miss this remarkable poet! (Bonus: John Burroughs, another NBP poet, will be reading there, as well!)

I can't think of a more fitting book release to celebrate the Fourth of July than Koniecki's After Working Hours!  It ignites, explodes, and thunders with words that soar, sizzle, and glitter! 

You can obtain a copy of After Working Hours for only $10 plus $4 shipping, right here on this website!  Just click the button "Buy Now," and have a debit or credit card handy.  You don't have to have a PayPal account to purchase!  (U.S. customers only; out-of-country buyers, please contact the publisher at nightballetpress@gmail.com for shipping costs.) Please note: due to the holiday, shipping on orders will not be before July 11, 2017.