Jack Powers is the author of two poetry collections: Everybody’s Vaguely Familiar and Still Love. Here’s a link to the video of the book launch for Still Love held at Byrd’s Books on February 26, 2023. He will be reading at Byrd’s again on April 5, 2024.

Jack has been published widely in print and online. (See his Publications page for links to dozens of the poems.)

Read The Midwest Poetry Review review of Still Love, including this critique: Original, deftly crafted, compelling, “Still Love” is one of those collections of verse that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book has been finished and set back upon the shelf. The poetry by Jack Powers and comprising “Still Love” will be of special appeal to readers with an interest in poems about marriage, family, and aging. Simply stated, “Still Love” is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Contemporary American Poetry collections.

Read Jessie Wright’s review of Still Love in the Redding Sentinel. Wright concludes “Still Love is a reminder that all life stages hold beauty, the the oldest among us were all once children, and that love is anything but still.”

Read Bob Knox’s review of Everybody’s Vaguely Familiar: “The Subjects of Jack Powers’ Poems are Universal.” “These poems are all about holding that note of continuity and connection,” Bob writes. “The more poems you dig into in “Everybody’s Vaguely Familiar,” the more they dig into you.”

Surrender and Holding On were featured in Red Eft Review on November 18 & 19. Jack has six poems in the October issue of Bloom: “Unearthed,” “Flirts,” “A Nod to the Master,” “Every Snowflake,” “How to Hold a Heart” and “Mgothger and Dgaughtger.” On November 3, he hosted a poetry panel at the Pequot Library with Jessie McEntee, Barb Fulton Jennes and Nicole Caruso Garcia.

Jack read at the FUMFA Poets and Writers Live on September 11 with Sandy Carlson. Here’s a link to the YouTube recording. He starts at the ten-minute mark.

Tough Love is in Salamander, Lover/Loved? is in New Croton Review, Unflinching is in Eunoia Review, State of the Union and On Turning 61 are in Clementine Unbound, Winter Birds is in Red Eft Review, Old Couples is in The Westchester Review and Unruly Sonnet is in Nixes Mate. His poem Still Love was nominated by Coastal Shelf editor, Zebulon Huset, for Best of the Net.

Jack read Sunday, May 15 at 2:00 at Byrd’s Books, a great local bookstore in Bethel, CT. at 2:00. He taught a two-hour generative writing poetry class on Zoom through Fairfield’s Bigelow Senior Center on Tuesday, March 8 at 1:00. Poem by Poem: Writing Your Memoir in Verse 

He read on July 28 at John Mac’s Poetry Workshop. He led a poetry workshop for teachers as part of the Connecticut Writing Project Summer Institute on July 13 and read at the Norwalk Arts Festival on Sunday, June 27. He interviewed poet and mystery writer, Laurel Peterson on June 10 as part of Pequot Library’s Meet the Author series.

Jack’s poems Losing Things and On the Drive to Uncle Pete’s were published in One Art. Still Love appeared in the inaugural issue of Coastal Shelf. He was interviewed for The Poetry Page from Norwalk Library and interviewed via Zoom on November 12 at 6:00 as part of the Pequot Library’s Meet the Author series. His poem Opening Day 2020 was featured on Red Eft Review on October 4 and The Choker-in-Chief was featured on NewVerseNews on September 12. “A Little Red” and “Rejoice in the Cat” appeared on July 30 on Nine Muses Poetry.

Jack was a featured reader at Great Weather for Media Spoken Word Sundays at 4:00 on August 30 also via Zoom. He read via Zoom at the Hudson Valley Writers Center at 4:00 on August 2 and at The Norwalk Arts Festival, a virtual event this year, on Saturday, June 27.

Jack’s poem Last Act was featured June 23 in Clementine Unbound. He read on June 27 at The Norwalk Arts Festival, a virtual event this year. Jack read a poem and was interviewed by Jennifer Keller as part of the Westport Library.’s #ShelteringinPoetry initiative.  His poems Bert and Kay and Not Her are in Eunoia Review on May 14
and When I Tell the Neighbors I’ve Retired is in this month’s Verse-Virtual. Family Station Wagon was featured April 3 on the Red Eft Review and Don’t Spread Any Rumors was featured on April 4.

Jack’s reading at Pop’TArt in Westport scheduled for March 27 has been postponed. His reading at Byrd’s Books in Bethel has been rescheduled to August 8. His six-week poetry course, “Poem by Poem: Writing Your Memoir in Verse,” at Bigelow Senior Center has been postponed to 2021!

He was recently interviewed on One on One with Vin Dacquino about teaching and writing. He even reads a few poems at the 14 minute mark. His poem “What, Me Worry? was recently published in The Good Men Project. “On Turning 61” and “How to Hold a Heart” are forthcoming in Painted Bride Quarterly.

Aura Martin’s interview/feature article about the book is available on the Golden Antelope Press website. Check out Humberto J Rocha’s recent article “Fairfield Author Publishes First Poetry Collection” in the Fairfield Citizen and Bryan Crandall’s blog about the Fairfield Bookstore reading.

Powers won the 2015 and 2012 Connecticut River Review Poetry Contests and he was a finalist for the 2013 and 2014 Rattle Poetry Prizes. His poems have appeared in Poet Lore, The Southern Review, Barrow Street, Cortland Review and elsewhere. He recently retired after teaching special education and English for 38 years.

Jack’s April 11 one-hour interview on National Writing Project Radio broadcast is now available as a podcast.  The interview covers his teaching career, his work with the Connecticut Writing Project, and the writing programs at Barlow. He will also read a few poems.

Recent readings include August 7 at the Hudson Valley Writing Center with Ellen Devlin and Vincent Bell, June 29 at the Norwalk Arts Festival, May 18 with Rachel M. Simon, Tony Horwarth and others as part of the Sleepy Hollow Lit Fest and May 5 at the Fairfield Library  with Jeff Schwartz, Alison McBain and Ed Ahern as one of Four Fairfield Poets and . He read at Byrd’s Books in Bethel on March 15 as part of their Spring Poetry Series, at Greenwich Academy on March 30 at the Writers Festival and April 10 with Nicole Caruso Garcia at Barlow’s Poetry Day.

Jack read at the Fairfield University Bookstore on January 27 at 3:00. His poem “Lover/Loved” was selected as the Coffee Lab poem of the month in December. He was interviewed on Sunday, December 3, on The johnmac Radio Show.(www.blogtalkradio.com/johmac13/2018/12/03/johnmac-radio-show). He was featured as one of the two “Poets in Conversation” at the Norwalk Library on December 6, reading with Michele Herman and he was the featured reader at the Hudson Valley Writers Center on Friday, November 15. He was also on the poetry panel and gave a poetry workshop at the Fairfield Library on November 3. He will be reading at the Mark Twain Library on March 3 and at the Fairfield Library in May.

“Chicopee Falls, 1926,” Bishop Pike’s Undershorts” and “Bless Me Father” are in the October issue of Verse-Virtual. “Put down this poem and call your mother” is in Eunoia Review and “Donny One-Note” is currently online at Verse-Virtual.com. “Everybody’s Vaguely Familiar” and “Chest Wounds” were featured at Red Eft Review on July 28 and July 29..  “Family Vacation 1965” was featured at Red Eft Review on May 21.

“Philtrum Guards” is in the Winter 2018 issue of The Southern Review and “Provincetown 2010”  appeared in the Winter 2018 issue of Passager. His poem Cemetery Ride is online at Verse Virtual. The poem originally appeared in Poet Lore. “Eleven” and “A Mother’s Tale” are in The Tipton Review.  (Links to all online poems.)

He was the guest poet at Pope Francis High School on April 4, hosted Barlow’s Annual Poetry Day on April 19 with guest poet Diana Goetsch and was the featured reader at “Behind the Red Pen” a reading by Redding teachers at Mark Twain Library on May 6.

His poem “Roadside Diner: Fairfield, Maine ” was published in the Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks (University of Arkansas Press).  He couldn’t remember, Carry/Miscarry, “The God of Stupidity” and The Poetry Teacher are online at Verse-Virtual. They first appeared in The Looking Glass, Startle Us Anew, The Southern Review and The Clackamas Review respectively. 

His poem “The Body” won the 2015 Connecticut River Review Poetry Contest and “Counting” won the 2012 Connecticut River Review Poetry Contest. His poem “Holy Shitballs!” was a finalist for the 2014 Rattle Poetry Contest and “Man on the Floor,” was a finalist for the 2013 Rattle Poetry Contest. He was the 2005 CCTE Connecticut Poet of the Year and 2008 NEATE Poet of the Year.

He has published or has work forthcoming in 2River View, Barrow Street, Terminus, The Southern Review, The Southern Poetry Review, Rattle Winter 2014,  Rattle Winter 2011 & Winter 2013, Poet Lore, The Cortland Review #42, #49 & #60, Inkwell, The Fiddleback, The New York Times, 14 Magazine, The Ledge, Stirring: A Literary Collection The Dos Passos Review, Theodate, SNReview Autumn 2008 & Winter/Spring 2011, Long River Run, Primal Parenting, The Naugatuck Review, San Pedro River Review, Startle Us Anew, Atlanta Review, Westchester Review, San Diego Poetry Annual, Chronogram and Connecticut River Review. (Click on each magazine in blue to link to the poem(s).

Jack Powers earned a BFA in Painting from Syracuse University and MFAs in Fiction and in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College.

He teaches writing, English, special education and math at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, CT. He is also co-director of Barlow’s Writing Center. Feel free to contact him at  Jackpowers13 [at] gmail [dot] com