I've been a poet for over half of my life now. It all started with Creative Writing class in my junior year of high school.  Only then did I dare to think my (until then) scriblings might actually be worth something to the reader.  I won honorable mention two years in a row at the Michigan Youth Arts Festival, and was one of four students from my high school chosen to attend an exclusive high school writing workshop.  I won a second place prize for poetry in the Detroit Free Press, which got my name in the paper, but only the 1st place poet got a space for his poem.  The guy who won went to the same high school as me.  All jealousy asside, I'd have rather people knew what I had to say than what my name was.  But it did boost my confidence, and I am thankful to have placed.  My only cash prize to date was a second place for poetry at Lawrence Tech University for $75.  I copied the check, but curiously, never framed it.

     I also was a member of the copy staff for Voices, our high school creative writing magazine.  I was involved with the production process of the magazine and also scored the maximum three submissions in every issue for two years straight.  When I moved on to Macomb Community College, I teamed-up with a student activities staff member named Jon, in the hopes of starting-up a magazine there.  This was hardly a John Lennon/Paul McCartney experience!  My original vision for an inspirational poetry magazine called "Lit" was expanded (and democratically replaced) by a campy, comedic zine called "Scrap," which was far heavier on story and prose and rather skimpy on poetry.  My own frustration ended my involvement with Scrap after two extremely forgettable years.

     Another part of my creative muse music.  My mom was never well-off enough to let me play an instrument in the school band. (would've loved to play the drums)  Reading through my profile, you may come to find that a lot of my poetry is actually written as song lyrics.  I want to record and produce CDs professionally as soon as I find some way of putting music behind my vocals. (Which to this point, are only self-recorded.)  I was involved with my school's choir program from 8th-11th grade.  In my junior year, I was honored to become a part of the Select Ensemble, which was an audition-only group selected to sing the more challenging material.  Of course, being one of just a handful of guys, I got marooned into the show choir multiple times as well... but just for specific numbers.  I would have continued into my senior year, but I could no longer handle the way my choir director spoke to people. (specifically my mom and some of the other students' mothers.)  But I'm thankful for the experience of singing in a high school choir that was good enough to travel on a yearly basis.  We sang at an international choir contest in North Carolina, in the capital building at Washington D.C., and in a couple of the finest cathedrals in London.  All that is nice, but I much prefer my Christian and heavy-metal roots!  Make no mistake, the lyrics you will find in my profile are geared for the church rec. hall and the mosh pit, not the cathedral!

 

     Enough about me.  Let's talk about my magazine!  I have been named Editor in Chief for Poet Storm magazine.  Not only have I got experience, but I also have family ties over at Reliant Publishing!  Relient Publishing has its own MySpace and does business primarily through Comixpress.com.  My cousin is the editor of two separate comic titles:  an anthology series named "Relient Presents," and a superhero comic called "Tales From Thunder City."  Currently, Relient Publishing has three issues of "Reliant Presents" and the very first issue of "Tales From Thunder City" available for sale at comixpress.com.  I own the first three titles of "Relient Presents," and I would recomend them to anyone who likes a good comic!  I recently pitched the idea of a poetry magazine to the Editor-in-chief over at Relient, and he agreed to give the idea a shot, as it would allow the company to diversify its market and skill sets.  So begins the "Poet Storm" legacy.  With the committed approval and backing of a successful small-press publishing firm, and access to a printing house and global online distributor, "Poet Storm" magazine is boldly venturing into territory seldom traveled since the twilight of the Rennaissance Era!  Poets ARE highly skilled people, and poetry CAN be a profitable profession in today's consumer market!

     The first issue of "Poet Storm" is scheduled to release in the Fall of 2009.  Poet Storm is a quarterly Magazine, meaning four issues a year, one per season.  The final deadline for all submissions to the Fall issue will be sometime in July.  We will set a specific date as the time draws near.  What I will tell you in advance is that all poets interested in being published with "Poet Storm" are allowed a maximum of three submissions between now and July, from which final selections will be made as to what gets into the Fall issue.  All three submissions need not be made at once, and the earlier you send in one or two of your favorite poems, the better your chances of getting published.  (All poetry submitted to Poet Storm will be looked-over not only by our editing staff, but also an art staff, who will provide background art for each poem that gets a spot in the mag.  The earlier our art staff gets ahold of your material, the better the chances that your poetry will be selected for background art and inclusion in the Fall issue.) 

     Where to send... where to send?  For now, to make things easy for you, I invite you to send your submissions to me either via PM at Creative-Poems, or via my e-mail adress:  GoliathAssassin@yahoo.com.  Again, my inbox at Creative-Poems has been made available to you for the sake of convenience.  Submissions and any questions you may have will generally be recieved faster when sent directly to my email adress.  (especially in the month of July, as the Fall deadline gets closer.) 

 

Please have FUN (and don't stress-out) while making your choices for submission to Poet Storm!  We would rather give twenty or more poets one page each per issue than horde multiple pages for half a dozen of you who "schmooze" well.  There are even plans to have a small six-page section reserved for rookie poets and/or talented minors whose primary goal is to gain exposure, and who could care less if they saw a dime off the first issue of Poet Storm.  So whether you are confident about your chances of getting featured... or not... just realize that persistence and familiarity count for something with our editing staff, and we'd ideally love to give all poets a chance to be heard.  During this first year, we are committed to running quarterlies, but as the Poet Storm team gets more familiar with the production process, it would be nice to expand to a monthly issue, and we cannot do so with confidence until an army of poets starts flooding our inboxes with the maximum number of submissions every chance they get!

 

And you can bet that a poet with the screen name "Goliath Assassin" is plenty ready to lead an army!

 

Peace and love in Christ,

 

David