Burgess Needle

Burgess Needle was born on June 19, 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts to Sam and Miriam Needle who raised six children surrounded by walls of books. It never occurred to him he could write poetry until a high school teacher praised a short paragraph by telling him it read like poetry. From that day on he self-identified as a poet and storyteller. Jack Kerouac and the beats were his earliest influences, but by the time he entered the university Shakespeare's sonnets had already made their impression. He was fortunate enough to have several brilliant teachers at the University of Massachusetts who drew him deeper into the world of English 17th Century poets -- especially John Donne. Later: Shelley, Keats followed by the Romantics: Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge. It wasn't until after graduation that he found Whitman. The poetry crowd he hung out with drew him to Rimbaud and he spent days reading every biography of Rimbaud he could find. One of his life's regrets is that his French was never good enough to appreciate Rimbaud in the language it was written. As a young man he met Ruth Stone and she kindly guided and reinforced his poetic journey. After thirty years as a librarian, writing poetry, short stories and features for magazines and newspapers he retired from the library work world and directed his creative energies to poetry, beginning to get published in small on-line and print journals. His most recent favorites: Michael Ryan, Matthew and Michael Dickman, David Chorlton, Michael Rattee, Hayden Carruth, Steve Orlen, Matt Donovan, Mark Doty. Diminuendo Press of Texas published his first collection in December of 2009. He is in the process of getting his work out there in the world through mailings, reviews, readings and signings. His book is dedicated to his wife, Barbara, his love and best critic, and to his parents, Miriam Hoffman Needle and Sam Needle.

Burgess Needle's most recent poems appeared in: The Hiss Quarterly, Blackbox Manifold (UK), Kritya (India), Black Mountain Review (UK), Concho River Review, Red Fez, Centrifugal Eye, Raving Dove, Poetry Monthly International, Full of Crow, Origami Condom, Thirteen Myna Birds, Autumn Sky, Gutter Eloquence, Free Verse, Zafusy (UK), Iodine, Quill & parchment, Under the Radar, Brittle Star (UK), Clockwise Cat and Flutter. His short stories have appeared in: Black Market Review and Pig In a Poke. Most recent literary criticism has appeared in Future Cycle.

His web sites are:

www.everycrowinthebluesky.com

www.burgessneedle.com