ABOUT DARK MATTER:
The poetry, show listings, and occasional poetic musings of Tony Brown, former slammer and current performance poet from Worcester MA. Includes transferred posts from LiveJournal; new stuff starting in May of 2009.
ABOUT TONY BROWN:
A veteran of both page and stage in the poetry world, I’ve been publishing and reading in journals and on stages around the US for over forty years. My work has appeared in anthologies including A Generation Defining Itself, from MPW Press; Look, Up In the Sky! and Appleseeds, both from Sacred Fools Press; From Page To Stage, The Wordsmith Press; Knocking At The Door, Birch Bench Press (all US); 100 Poets Against the War, from Salt Publishing (UK); Best Indie Literature In New England anthology’s first volume; “Drunk In A Midnight Choir Vol. 1, The New Hallelujah; “Again I Wait For This To Fall Apart,” from FreezeRay Press; two volumes of the “Poets Speak…While We Still Can” series of political poetry anthologies, “Trumped” and “Survival;” and “Sh!T Men Say To Me,” an anthology of poems about toxic masculinity from Moon Tide Press.
My work has also appeared in many journals (among them: Riverwalk Journal, The Ballard Street Poetry Journal, nthposition, The Worcester Review, The Furnace Review, New Verse News, The November Third Club, Spindle, Breath And Shadow, Home Planet News, and World Literature Today).
I was named a “Legend of Slam” at the 2006 National Poetry Slam in Austin, TX, and was elected “The Poet Laureate Of The Blogosphere” by voters at thebloggingpoet.com for 2008.
In 2022, I was awarded the Stanley Kunitz Medal for lifetime achievements and contributions to the Worcester poetry community.
A seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee, I’m the author of seventeen chapbooks, a growing list of eBooks, and seven collections of my work with The Duende Project, which features the stellar bass and nylon string guitar work of Steven Lanning-Cafaro (aka “Faro”) and, as of 2013, the consummate drummer Chris O’Donnell and guitarist extraordinaire Christopher J. Lawton. Our website is The Duende Project. Everything from tracks to show schedule is available there.
If you’d like a copy of any recent chapbooks (or eBooks), contact me through here. In addition, the Duende Project’s albums are available on all the usual download and streaming services, though our preferred commerce outlet is through Bandcamp. Our most recent album, “Live At AS220,” came out in 2018 and is available for purchase or streaming on all the major outlets.
I welcome your comments, thoughts, offers of gigs, cash, etc…
ABOUT WHY I POST PRETTY MUCH ALL MY POETRY HERE:
I have a love/hate relationship with copyright law. I get it, understand it…but I’d rather get my whole body of work in front of people — the good, the bad, the mediocre.
Everything I do is licensed under a Creative Commons license. It allows you to redistribute the work with credit and without modifying it.
Pretty much everything I write which I feel is “finished” (as much as it ever is) will end up here on the blog. Consider it an extended effort at self-publication.
You’re welcome to comment, critique, etc. I read everything, take what seems valuable for improvement, and respect your opinions…although I am human, and that means that sometimes we’ll disagree; I try to keep disagreements here civil. I hope you’ll do the same.
This, by the way, doesn’t mean I still don’t submit to journals, anthologies, etc. I do. This is a self-publishing experiment that I’m committed to and have been for years — getting myself out there…a kind of online “Collected Works.” As of 2022, completing work on a full length manuscript of selected poems…stay tuned.
Dark Matter 
May 30th, 2016 at 7:21 pm
Thank you for your words and thoughts, We must ensure good words are expanded and read.
November 30th, 2014 at 9:22 am
Hi,
I’m Tokoni, A student and poet. Its nice to meet your I’d like to invite you to my blog, http://www.insanitybeautiful.wordpress.com if you’re interested. Thanks!
November 30th, 2014 at 9:26 am
Thank you and I shall check it out.
May 31st, 2013 at 10:10 pm
I’m glad I stumbled across this site.. man, the poetry here howls through my mind. Awesome stuff! I was thinking your work would be killer for our magazine’s inaugural edition, and just read your work is under a Creative Commons license, but I wanted to ask your permission anyway if I could publish any of your work online and sonner-rather-than-later in print, especially since you’re from Worcester. I’ll be coming here a lot. -Mike
May 31st, 2013 at 11:54 pm
Thanks
Next couple of days will be crazy. Will be in touch late tomorrow or Sunday.
February 10th, 2013 at 4:45 am
Nice poetry Tony! I love your blog 😀
February 10th, 2013 at 5:24 am
Thank you very much, Tina.
December 7th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I was wondering if you can read A poem of my page that’s called ” My Imagine” words around town its really good; i wanted to know from an amazing poet if its true. your opinion would be well appreciated. thanks in advance!
June 2nd, 2012 at 11:45 am
First blog that i have really liked on wordpress (though I am new- only about a year into this, so maybe too early to judge). But my hunch is, i have struck a treasure trove…
June 3rd, 2012 at 2:27 am
Thank you so much. Enjoyed your blog as well — the poem about the baby driving the car? Loved it.
June 3rd, 2012 at 2:46 am
Thanks Tony, will keep visiting your blog to know what poetry is all about. I have much to learn.
April 25th, 2012 at 7:06 am
I’m so glad I stumbled upon Dark Matter. I promise to keep returning.
April 25th, 2012 at 7:13 am
Thank you! I am glad you like the blog.
April 8th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Thanks for following the blog, I hope you enjoy the work.
April 8th, 2012 at 11:00 am
Back at you and first look suggests that I will.
December 15th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Hey there!
Just thought I would let you know I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award!
You can check more about it here:
http://sorealtonight.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/versatile-blogger-awards/
Congrats! 🙂
December 20th, 2011 at 7:00 am
Much appreciated. I’m working on the requirements for the position now — trouble is, a lot of the blogs I read have a closed readership because my poet friends don’t wish the work they do to be publicly available to avoid issues of previous publication.
November 19th, 2011 at 12:14 am
Wonderful stuff you have here, Tony. Looking forward to new material!
November 19th, 2011 at 1:02 am
Thank you very much, Millie. There’s ALWAYS new material around here…though I’m in a little bit of a self-imposed lull right now.
August 29th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Thank you for existing. Your most recent post (La Costra Nostra) got me here, and I look forward to reading more.
August 29th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Thank you! I really appreciate this…look through the back pages here; there’s a ton of stuff. Again, many thanks.