Elegy for Jodie Lane

Check out What Jodie Taught Me about Tattoos by Amy Nawrocki. I never knew Jodie, but my wife did, and whenever I visit friends in the East Village, I see the sign dedicated to her. Stray electricity kills millions of animals every year, and also a few people like Jodie. As the son of an electrical engineer, I am aware of its usefulness and beauty, but it is a dangerous human tool, and some pay the price.

Groundswell Release Party

Every year I get the pleasure of advising the student literary magazine at the University of Bridgeport, and every year we hold a release party/poetry slam/reading in April. It is always exciting to read and hear the poets of the next generation feeling their way toward voices. Check out more about it here.

Justifying the Ways of Animals to God

Check out my wife's latest poem from her collection Reconnaissance here. It's called "Justifying the Ways of Animals to God" and involves an unfortunate encounter between my cat Django and a snake.

New Website

My personal website has been down for a couple months while it was redesigned (by my friend and marketing/editing expert Ryan Rasmussen). But now it is up and running and looks great. Soon this blog may be integrated into the site, but don't hide in panic (like Maple is above). You'll still be able to come here to get your news and chews about Connecticut.

Literary Lion in Connecticut

From Nutmeg Chatter:

It is fair to say there’s a true love affair between Professor Eric D. Lehman and the nutmeg state. When he arrived from Pennsylvania two decades ago, Lehman began to hike and discovered Connecticut’s little hills, rivers and forests. He soon fell in love with the museums and the wine trail and most importantly, fell in love with and married his wife, poet and professor Amy Nawrocki. His literary work celebrates our state like no other author, taking on the topics from Tom Thumb to The History of Bridgeport to A History of Connecticut Wine and so much more.  In his recent work, Lehman takes on the legacy of our nation’s most notorious traitor, Benedict Arnold, in Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London.

Professor Lehman chose Benedict Arnold as his subject because his first experience learning about the figure failed to answer the questions he felt…

Read the rest at Nutmeg Chatter.

At the Riverview

Really enjoyed my talk at the Simsbury Land Trust - a huge organization with many committed members (about 140 that night). I talked about how I fell in love with Connecticut, and how we could work together to make it a better place for walkers, and in doing so make more people fall in love with it. Listening to what they had to say, I think the future of our state is bright!

Reconnaissance Available!

My wife's beautiful collection of poetry, Reconnaissance, is available now! Pick up your copy from the Homebound Publications shop, or from your local independent book store today.

Siesta

Check out my wife's poem "Siesta" in Coastal Connecticut Magazine.