Napa Poet Jeffrey Kingman Featured February 17 At Virtual Third Thursday Poetry, With Open-mic to Follow
By Blake More
Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry presents Jeffrey Kingman in a virtual reading at 7:00pm on Thursday, February 17, with open mic to follow.
Jeffrey Kingman lives by the Napa River in Vallejo, California. He has written several books, including the full-length poetry collection, Beyond That Hill I Gather (Finishing Line Press, 2021), which won the 2018 Eyelands Book Award (Greece) for an unpublished poetry book. Most of the poems in this book are portraits of women who are notable for their achievements. They are strong, accomplished women. While this common thread runs throughout the book, there is much variety since the women come from various walks of life—authors, musicians, artists, comedians, activists, suffragists—such as Patti Smith, Amy Schumer, Muriel Spark, Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Sophia Duleep Singh. Each poem captures a different flavor based on the unique personality of each individual. Many of the poems convey a sense of struggle. The struggle to succeed, to be recognized, to thrive in a world dominated by men.
Kingman has one other published poetry book entitled On a Road (Finishing Line Press, 2019). Each poem in this chapbook contains words and phrases borrowed from Kerouac’s On the Road. Many phrases were changed according to his creative needs. While Kerouac’s book features speedy forward momentum, this aspect is not reflected in Kingman’s poems. Rather, it’s Kerouac’s diction that he works and plays with.
Before turning his attention to poetry, Kingman wrote a young adult novel, Moto Girl (unpublished), about a 12-year-old girl learning to ride motocross. This story is an intimate family drama about a preteen and her sister, mother and stepfather. She places her trust in the stepfather who invests his time in teaching her to ride a dirt bike. But when she suffers abuse at his hands, relationships in the family begin to disintegrate, and she must navigate a way beyond the trauma.
He also wrote one other book of fiction, Two Mountains and Other Stories (unpublished). Three of the stories were published in North American Review, SOMA Literary Review, and Schuykill Valley Journal. Like his novel, this book also features intimate family dramas, including “Monster,” about a woman’s reaction to a severely disabled man who moves in next door.
Jeffrey Kingman is the winner of the 2012 Revolution House Flash Fiction Contest, and the winner of the Red Berry Editions 2015 Broadside Contest. He has been a finalist in many contests including the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk Prize poetry book competition, the 2015 Blue Light Press Chapbook Competition, the 2014 Sow’s Ear Poetry Competition, and the 2013 Frost Place Chapbook Fellowship. He has been published in PANK, Crack the Spine, The Offbeat, Sparkle & Blink, lo-ball, Off Channel, Grey Sparrow, decomP, Picaroon Poetry, Visitant and others. He has a Master’s degree in Music Composition and has played drums in rock bands most of his life.
To watch or participate as an open mic reader, please email blake@snakelyone.com.
Third Thursday Poetry Zoom continues to be supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.
