Joel Lewis & Chris Martin January 9, 2008

When not doing battle with the truants on Staten Island in his guise as a mild-mannered social worker, Joel Lewis can be found criss-crossing the Jersey landscape via bus, train, PATH and light rail -- transfers and tickets in pocket and an unlined, softback Moleskine notebook at the ready with a Waterman rollerball pen in his right hand. His latest book, Learning From New Jersey (Talisman House) is an all-NJ hejira that saves the reader tunnel and Turnpike tolls. Previous books of poetry include House Rent Boogie and Vertical's Currency. He has edited the anthology of contemporary New Jersey poets, Bluestones and Salt Hay, along with the selected poems of Walter Lowenfels and the selected talks of Ted Berrigan. Chris Martin is the author of American Music, recipient of the Hayden Carruth Award and published this year by Copper Canyon Press. His poetry has appeared in Jacket, Cannibal, Aufgabe, Lungfull!, and Swerve. His discourse on the phenomenology of rap recently appeared in Poiesis, a journal of philosophy. He is the editor of Puppy Flowers, an online magazine of the arts. After living in Colorado Springs, San Francisco, and St. Paul, he is now five years deep into Brooklyn.

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