John Popielaski


John Popielaski is a contemporary poet from Portland, Connecticut. To date, he has published three compilations, Contemporary Martyrdom, A Brief Euereka for the Alchemists of Peace, and "O, Captain”. He also teaches English at Xavier High School in Middletown, Connecticut. He has won an award, for Book, for the writing of Contemporary Martyrdom.

Biography

John Popielaski attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook and American University. His profile in the back of Contemporary Martyrdom refers to him as, "an itinerant teacher and seasonal laborer;" he in fact worked several years as a mover, a lobsterman, and assisting a tropical biologist before teaching English in Mississippi, New York City, and now at Xavier High School in Middletown Connecticut. Many of his poems have been published in literary journals, and he has been the recipient of a fellowship from the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Publications

Contemporary Martyrdom was released in May 2002, published by Birch Brook Press of Delhi, NY. It contains thirty-one poems.
A Brief Eureka for the Alchemists of Peace followed in 2005 from Antrim House Books. It contains forty-five poems, divided into four sections. The cover of A Brief Eureka for the Alchemists of Peace displays a photograph by Shaun Walker of activist Julia Butterfly Hill during her two years living in a Redwood tree to prevent it from being destroyed.