Joshua Mehigan
 
E-mail: jmehigan@earthlink.net
Education
• MFA, Creative Writing (Poetry), Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, Sept. 1992–May 1994.
• BA, Philosophy, Purchase College, Purchase, NY, Sept. 1987–May 1991.
Honors
  For The Optimist
• Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry. The Los Angeles Times, Apr. 2005.
• Big Ten University Press Pick. ForeWord, Jan. 2005.
• Winner, Hollis Summers Prize. Ohio UP, Feb. 2004.
 
  General
• The Editor’s Prize. For “I Thought You Were a Poet,” a feature article on poetry and madness, published in the July/Aug. issue of the magazine. Poetry, 2011.
• Literature Fellow in Creative Writing (Poetry). National Endowment for the Arts, 2011.
• Enhanced Chancellor’s Fellow. Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2010–2014.
• Humanities Fellow. Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2009–2010.
• Winner, Pushcart Prize. Pushcart Press, July 2005.
• Walter E. Dakin Fellow. Sewanee Writers’ Conference, July 2005.
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Winner, Dogwood Poetry Prize. Dogwood, Feb. 2004.
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Tennessee Williams Scholar. Sewanee Writers’ Conference, July 2000.

Publications
  Books
• Accepting the Disaster. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, forthcoming.
• The Optimist. Athens: Ohio UP, 2004. Second printing, 2005.
  Poems in Periodicals and Digests
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Poems in The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Poetry Daily, The Writer’s Almanac, and elsewhere. Poems in Akzente, Krachkultur, L.—Der Literaturbote, and Zeichen & Wunder, German translation by Christophe Fricker. Verse translations in Poetry, Cortland Review, and Failbetter.
  Poems in Anthologies (Selected)
• Bright Wings. New York: Columbia UP, 2009.
• The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets. Athens: Swallow Press/Ohio UP, 2009.
• Poetry: A Pocket Anthology. New York: Longman (Penguin Academics Series), 2007.
• Poetry Calendar. Bertem, Belgium: Alhambra, 2006–13.
• Writing Metrical Poems. Cincinnati: Writers Digest, 2006.
• Pushcart Prize XXX: Best of the Small Presses. Wainscott: Pushcart Press, 2006.
  Broadsides
  “The Optimist” and “The Dream Job,” with wood-cut prints by Rebekah Wilkins-Pepiton. Artist Broadside Series, Schechem Press, Dec. 2012.
  Essays and Articles (Selected)
• “Apollo, God of Poetry.” A remembrance of James Dickey. Poetry, Nov. 2012.
• “Make Make It New New.” An essay commemorating the centenary of Ezra Pound’s “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste.” Poetry, March 2013.
• “I Thought You Were a Poet.” A Notebook essay on poetry and madness. Poetry, July/Aug. 2011.
• “The Grand Hotel.” A review of two new books. Poetry, January 2010.
• “Manifesto.” Poetry, Feb. 2009.
• “Curious Specimens: An Exchange,” with Cate Marvin. A review of Daniel Anderson’s Drunk in Sunlight and Alice Oswald’s Spacecraft Voyager I: New and Selected Poems. Poetry, May 2008.
• “Briefe von Edgar Bowers” (tr. Christophe Fricker). Adapted from “Introduction to Poetry,” paper presented at the Edgar Bowers Conference and Exhibition, UCLA, Apr. 2003. Castrum Peregrini, 2007.
• “On Poem 50 from Tennyson’s In Memoriam.” National Poetry Month “Poet’s Pick,” a subscriber e-mailing. Poetry Daily, 21 Apr. 2005.
• “The Interior of a Heron’s Egg: Michael Donaghy, 1954–2004.” The New Criterion, Apr. 2005.
• Numerous Reviews. The Burning Deck. WRVG-FM, Georgetown, KY, 2000–2001.
Teaching Experience
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Teaching Fellow, English (Composition, American Realism and Naturalism, Literature and Film). Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 2010–present.

• Poetry Consultant. West Chester University Poetry Conference, West Chester, PA, June 2011 and June 2012.
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 Visiting Writer. Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, Oct. 2011.
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 Visiting Writer. Queens College, Queens, NY, May 2011.
• Visiting Writer. Centre College, Danville, KY, Apr. 2007.
• Seminar Instructor, The Anarchist’s Guide to Poetic Technique. Stonecoast Winter Writers’ Conference, Univ. of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, Jan. 2007.
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Adjunct Lecturer, English. Bronx Community College, Bronx, NY, Sept.–Dec. 2003.

• Teacher, English. Bais Medrash and Yeshiva Gedola of Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 2002–June 2003.
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Graduate Teaching Assistant, Poetry. Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, Sept. 1993–May 1994.

  Volunteer
• Teacher and Tutor, ESL and English. Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, New York, NY, Sept. 2002–Nov. 2004.
• Teacher, GED English. Morningside Heights Alliance, New York, NY, May–Sept. 1995.
 
Additional
Activity
•
 Presenter, “The Virus Mutant in His Vein.” A podcast on the poem “For Louis Pasteur,” by Edgar Bowers. Poetry Off the Shelf. Produced for the Poetry Foundation by Curtis Fox, Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 2011.
• Presenter, “Careful Chance.” A paper on Sir Thomas Wyatt’s ambiguous “long line.” Comparative Poetics Colloquium, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, May 2011.
• Reader, Modern Poets: Futurism and the New Manifesto. Museum of Modern Art. Reading of a prose piece, “Manifesto,” for an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of “The Futurist Manifesto.” MoMA and the Poetry Foundation, New York, NY, Feb. 2009.
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Op-ed Contributor, “The Measure of Democracy.” Publication of “The Polling Place,” a poem, as part of an election feature. The New York Times, New York, NY, Nov. 5, 2008.
• Presenter, “On the Construction of Philip Larkin’s ‘Church Going.’ ” The Poetry of Philip Larkin, West Chester Univ. Poetry Conference, West Chester Univ., West Chester, PA, June 2008.
• Interview Subject, Poets’ Café, Radio Pacifica KPFK 90.7 FM, Los Angeles, CA, Aug. 2005 and Jan. 2006.
• Panelist, Poetry: The Magic of Words, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles, CA, Apr. 2005.
  Panelist, The Poetry of Michael Donaghy. West Chester Univ. Poetry Conference, West Chester Univ., West Chester, PA, June 2004.
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Presenter, “Introduction to Poetry.” The Life and Poetry of Edgar Bowers, How Shall a Generation Know Its Story: The Edgar Bowers Conference and Exhibition, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, Apr. 2003.
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Editor, Poets & Writers Online, Poets & Writers, Inc., New York, NY, Aug. 1998–Dec. 2001.
• Content Consultant, Longman’s English Literature Pages. Web site on authors ranging from Shakespeare to August Wilson. Pearson Education, New York, NY, March 1998–Sept. 1999.
• Featured Reader, American Museum of Natural History, New York Public Library, MoMA, Los Angeles Festival of Books, National Arts Club, KPFK Los Angeles, Barnes and Noble stores, Ohio State Univ., NYU Writers’ House, Sarah Lawrence College, C.W. Post, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, CCNY, Bowery Poetry Club, and many other venues.
 
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