David Epstein : part one

David Epstein holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature.  He is on the Board of the Greater Hartford Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens, and has taught creative writing at the University of Hartford.  He has three children, and lives in West Hartford, Connecticut. He has reviewed for Harvard Review and Shofar, as well as recent reviews for Tupelo Press appearing in Heavy Feather and elsewhere; his poems have appeared in such venues as The Bellingham Review (where he was a Featured Poet), Authora Australis, Marsh Hawk Review, Arc Magazine, CV2, New Square, and Coastal Shelf. He won three poetry prizes in 2021.

What are you working on?

I’m doing a number of things at the same time: I’m a first-time Grinder, the invitation-only groupings where, along with about eight or nine others, you commit to sharing a new draft, every 24 hours, for a month.  No critiquing, just production.  I happened to have lucked into a terrific and talented group.  It’s very inspiring. Overall, I tend of write in the middle of the night anyway, so the Grind was almost tailor-made for me, although having the in-place group to share with, and who send you theirs, that’s new.   Next, I have an ongoing collaboration with the writer and editor Lee Parpart.  We agree on an opening line or phrase, then go off and write our own poems from it.  We get back together over them and edit and polish them.  The idea is to produce a volume of paired poems from the same starting point.  This too is tremendously energizing. You want to make something good for your writing partner, to give and receive the same kind of quality drafts and feedback.  I am also on the Board of the Hartford Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens, so we’re often designing events and other things related to poetry, Stevens, and the City of Hartford, Connecticut. I have a backlog of books to review for Tupelo Press, which I was doing better on earlier in the pandemic, but not so well of late, having gotten back to business lately.