I like these poems. Apparently, someone else did too, so they published them here. 

http://marshhawkpress.org/Review%20Frame.html

This October my big brother and I will be doing a string of dates out east!

Check “readings” for towns and venues, and here for updates on times and FB event pages.

Here’s a bunch of videos that are of me doing poems. I didn’t know most of these existed. Kinda weird.

Soon I’ll have the paypal button operational, and you’ll be able to buy all books (including short run chapbooks!) directly from this site. As always there will be links to the publishers sites for purchase as well. A total of 5 different chapbooks, maybe 6 if I get ambitious, plus am working on getting an out of print book circulating again!

I’m also proud to announce that the release of my new collection “Quitting smoking, falling in and out of love, and other thought about death.” published by Swimming With Elephants, will be at Da Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles, California on May 24th. Hope to see a bunch of new faces because I’ve never done a show in LA before.

 

Also!!!!!!! Gofundme donators!!!! please email your shipping address, or

let me know if I’ll see you on this tour for your perks package delivery!!!

I will continue on the tour celebrating the release of “Harvest the Dirt” with great weather for MEDIA, and begin preparations for the release of “Quitting Smoking, Falling In and Out of Love, and Other Thoughts About Death” with Swimming With Elephants Press. These are both wonderful publishers, and the entire catalogue from both are amazing. I am beyond honored to be a part of both. I can’t wait to see as many of you as possible! There are several stops on this tour that I’ve never been to, and some I think of as a 2nd home; this promises to be an eventful few months!!!!

 

Here’s a link to a self interview I did for The Nervous Breakdown. I prove once again that I am not very funny.

Button Poetry posted a poem of mine!

You can see the Contributor Spotlight on Midwestern Gothic now

and get a copy of issue 18 here!

Drunk in a Midnight Choir page

Follow the above link for new poems of mine that are up on drunkinamidnightchoir.com (aka-one of the best lit mags ever) and some other things I wrote for the page.

http://midwestgothic.com/2011/01/issue-18-summer-2015/

REVIEW: An Electric Sheep Jumps to Greener Pasture – Tyler Atwood (University of Hell Press).

For those who don’t know, I have started writing reviews for thepoetryquestion.com (with some appearing with drunkinamidnightchoir.com), and those fine folks also published an essay of mine.

POWER OF POETRY #1: I’m Uncomfortable Too. – by Wil Gibson

A poem of mine was published by Radius Lit Mag.

I am very honored, to say the least.

(doubly honored, since they nominated this poem for a “best of the net“)

Big Brother Billy Tuggle and I-O-E crew gettin some publicity,

and I’m always close by Billy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-heartland-open-mic-in-one-ear-chicago-open-mic-20150304-story.html#page=1

8 year old me is freaking out. In the Trib?! WHAT!? THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE!?

GUYSLIKEYOU
“HELL HATH NO RAZORS”
2015 TOUR

MARCH
Sun 8th
Say What?!
Coffee Underground 1 E Coffee St
Greenville, SC

Tue 10th
Austin Poetry Slam
Spiderhouse Ballroom 2908 Froth St
Austin, TX

Wed 11th
Red Dirt Poetry Slam
Sauced On Paseo 2912 N Paseo St
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Thu 12th
Slamarillo
The 806 2812 SW 6th Ave
Amarillo, TX

Sat 14th
Second Saturday Slam
Cafe Bella 2115 Golf Course Rd
Rio Rancho, NM

Sun 15th
Denver Mercury Poetry Slam
Mercury Cafe 2199 California St
Denver, CO

Mon 16th
Slam of Enchantment
Winning Coffee 111 Harvard SE
Albuquerque, NM

Tue 17th
Kamiposi 510 S Big Spring St
Midland, TX

Wed 18th
Write About Now
Avant Garden 411 Westheimer Rd
Houston, TX

Thu 19th
MoPoetry Slam
Downtown Arts Center 308 South Ave
Springfield, MO

http://drunkinamidnightchoir.com/2014/12/04/two-poems-wil-gibson/

With heavy panic attacks, moments drag like feet.

Being in public when they strike is endless embarrassment.

Tears streak down your cheeks, a salty acid you burn yourself with.

Strangers laugh, mock your thought process, and stare holes in see through skin.

The uncriticized citizens of your city are not be trusted when they are so ready to judge you.

You will not accept help from those who will remember the look on your face while looking down their nose.

Accept the open scabs of your heroes and the mad gifts we share as epiphany and know your titanium soul can not be broken or bent; keep your spine as straight as your sight.

Go home, like all poets.

It was bad…

I have always been poor. For generations back the Simpson and Gibson clans (along with an assortment of Goatchers, McMasters, and others) have been accurately considered white trash.
We were not always sure where meals would come from, moved almost as often as rent came due, went years without a traditional Christmas, and were all on some form of welfare.
For some, this may be a point of embarrassment after conditioned to believe that savings account balances are accurate assessments of character, or that the rich were favored by God or worked extensively to achieve and became great because they were the most superior specimen the human species had to offer. That the family which achieved was the better family.

…but it could’ve been worse

I never, not for a second, felt alone as a child. There was family everywhere it seemed. Holidays were family reunions with booze and food and the loudest conversations in the history of the world. Most times there was a fight or at least one hell of an argument that was forgotten by dinner or right before anyone left. Grudges were not held as long goodbye hugs. We were white trash, and blood family meant allies, and you needed allies when rich whites didn’t claim you and black people couldn’t.

it was bad…

When I speak at high schools or middle schools there are always a few kids who are labeled as such and are ostracized for it, much as I was at their age, and have never seen an adult openly admitting they have been or are white trash. They feel doomed and assume that anyone labeled like them will fail, which is true more often than not across the country.

However many don’t see the bright side.

…but it could’ve been worse

I have failed multiple times and have been given multiple chances to try again. Mostly because, even though the trash part follows it, the front part of that label is still white. This is America after all, and White Trash are the most American people in America. Some feel they are owed something because they are white and they seem to think that because the rich are mostly white they should be rich too, or that other poor people should wait to get jobs til all the white have one first.

Most of us don’t feel that way, not my people.

My people and I are a part of a bigger picture that so few see. The middle row in a huge family photo, we are lost in the shuffle among those on the edges and can barely see over those down front. We hold little true hope for the future, only dreams. But today is good, and might just last forever, if we can only get enough of anything to last us for today.

it was bad, but it could’ve been worse

These are the confirmed dates for the 1st button on the “Pearl Snaps and Poetry Readings” book and cd release tour :

Dec 1st Java Monkey
Decatur, GA
Dec 4th Smokin Grooves
Raleigh, NC
Dec 5th Da Cypher
Jacksonville, FL
Dec 9th Revolutionary Lounge, Tom’s River, NJ
Dec 10th Busboys and Poets Washington DC
Dec 11th Busboys and Poets Washington DC
Dec 12th Jersey City Slam
Jersey City, NJ

When you meet your heroes, be prepared for disappointment…usually. 

I can say that from experience that Richard Gere is an asshole, and so is Cindy Crawford, and I say that because they were assholes to me. The fact that they seem perfectly nice on t.v. or in movies means nothing to me because they were assholes to me and several hundred other fans one night in Dekalb, Illinois to our faces. Cindy had a shitty movie premier there because she was born and raised in Dekalb. There is nothing but corn in Dekalb, so this was a huge deal for all of us who lived there. She had “made it” and was therefore a hero to many in a small town famous only for being the birthplace of barbwire.

 

 During the “red carpet” portion of the evening, a fan approached the “famous couple” asking for an autograph. They both made the same noise you’d make if your best friend claimed he had married Beyonce in Vegas over the weekend with Jay-Z’s blessing. A kind of a “ppppffffttt” sound. Richard then turned to Cindy and said, “if I knew there were going to be so many of these assholes, I would’ve stayed home,” to which Cindy howled with laughter. The result is me using the same term to descibe them that they used to describe all of those people, no matter what, for the rest of my life.

That will never change.

None of that has anything at all to do with Regie Gibson.

When I first heard Regie perform he became a hero of mine. Instantly.
The first time I met Regie, he became an inspiration to me.
Instantly.

For someone who has done so much in his career, Regie is incredibly centered and level headed. We’ve worked together twice and I would work with him at every show ever if he’d only sink to my level, and by that I mean I would have rise to his. The things I have seen him accomplish on a stage are second to none. Anywhere.

I have several times witnessed him completely pause all thought in a room full of thinking adults by speaking, making the rush of creative thought crashing back thru your body after seem like a tidal wave. There are few on his level, and not a single person does it better.

None of this changes him as a human being. He is the same caring teacher, philosopher, and person on stage and off. Like a good hero should be.

it should…

always rain on Halloween

never rain on the 4th of July

be a long day when the sun is shining

always be an easy choice

always snow on Christmas

be a good day

Welcome to the internet equivalent of the white trash cafe.

This was a great night. We recorded a live cd, sold some books, and had one hell of a time doing it. So much love for Jimmy Dority and Abriel Ferreira for the music and support, and to Ryan McLellan for opening the night. Hopefully the CD will be done soon for release.