Official site of poet James Schwartz, author of The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America
Hawaiian Healing 🌺
Photo: Kapoho 2017
Happy birthday to Harry Jim!
During my time in Puna I was honored to meet HARRY UHANE JIM, author, teacher and healer. A mutual friend introduced me to Harry and his wife one morning at the park in Kapoho. I will always treasure that memory!
A PODCAST INTRODUCTION:
Home ❤
I finally found my way home after 5 years! It was good to see the Amish farm where I grew up.
"Arrival & Departure" EXCERPT #NationalPoetryMonth
BY JAMES SCHWARTZ
"Morning in Michigan"
His stubbed jaw in the dawn.
His sleepy, knowing smirk.
Empty bottles, echoes of laughter.
Pinnacle and piercing positions.
The sounds of humming vending machines and maids.
Drift down dim hallways.
Outside semis lumber onto I80/90.
Factory workers and farmers breakfast.
Alone, driving home.
Drive-through coffee, and miles to go.
"Christ in Ukraine"
Out of the closet, into the street.
Vladimir Putin is coming for you.
Tonight Christ walks in Ukraine.
Tonight revolution after the rain.
My lover’s ass shifts under his jeans.
Resolution in his gaze.
He is so fine in the candle-light.
My savior with his whiskey breath.
Behind his balaclava.
"Of Bergholz Bondage"
Sam Mullet and the Bergholz clan,
Of the Gaddafi sort you understand,
Snipping the symbols of the church rejected,
As the Old Order status quo disrespected.
The breaking of the Bergholz branch,
The Federal raiding of the renegade ranch,
Dictators unrepentant too proud in fact,
To inquire of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
"ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE" (WRITING KNIGHTS PRESS) 2014
“On the road and on the prowl, James Schwartz delivers an explosive manifesto of personal liberation and revolution, from the Amish communities of Michigan to Putin’s bloody regime in Russia.”
– CHER GUEVARA, poet / freelance journalist
The Plain People's Podcast: Spring Revival
Good news! THE PLAIN PEOPLE'S PODCAST has returned for a new season! Available via Apple, Spotify, iTunes and all platforms where you get your podcasts.
The first episode embedded below:
"The Road Not Taken" #NationalPoetryMonth
April is my 5 year anniversary of attending Centers for Spiritual Living! Grateful for all of my friends made along the way! A lovely reading of Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" (15:12 mark) at today's East Hawaii Center for Spiritual Living service:
Highlights (2010-2021) 📚
Happy poetry month!
* Below are highlights from my poetry collections / writings to date:
ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE (2014)
"AMISH ROAD TRIP" (2014)
CHALLENGING SUBMISSIONS (2017)
PUNATIC (2019)
Happy #NationalPoetryMonth!
April is National Poetry Month! Join the celebration here!
Here are several recent works of mine:
MARCH 2020 / JUNE 2020 available as free e-books!
Silver Birch Press blog: My Front Door Series CITY OF REFUGE + SHORT FILM
IceFloe Press: MOTHER / SERVICE / VOICE Series THE NINTH GARDEN with a painting by Moira J. Saucer
#MARTYRMIRRORS: A VISUAL POETRY SERIES
A Spiritual Journey 🌱
Every day I ask myself How am I feeling
*physically*
*intellectually*
*emotionally*
and
*spiritually*
?
This life hack is a way to find my balance and stay grounded. Spring is here again, I am currently planting intentions and investing in myself as an artist. Traveling for the last few years has left me wanting to "settle down" for a period of time, write and surround myself with art and creativity.
There is no place in the world like Detroit, one of the most inspiring creative hot spots on the planet. There are so many brilliant artists, writers, musicians in this city. (Thank you to everyone at U.I.O. for your investment in me!)
I have been attending the DETROIT CSL (Zoom) service since arriving here, thank you everyone at Detroit CSL for your welcome! I am hoping to guest on a spiritual themed podcast next month, details TBA.
Attending CSL for 5 years now, I never imagined I would be a part of any church after leaving the Amish in my teens! Yet... so it is!
I have always considered myself to be a spiritual seeker, one of the most beautiful and profound books I have ever read was The Bowl of Light, which changed my life as did studying at Pu'uhonua o Pu'uhuluhulu. I have studied Buddhism and Taizé faith as well as connecting with my ancestors' Anabaptist heritage. No matter where you are on your spiritual path you are welcome at CSL.
There seems to be a trend among ex-Amish (non-practising Amish that have left the church) to join other right-wing conservative churches but that does not represent all Amish including me.
I don't advocate for any one church or teacher, rather I prefer to share my own journey and what works for me personally.
As an artist I feel like I am in a place where I can step away from publishing and work on a new project, my last poetry collection being "PUNATIC" (2019, 2020 re-release). FYI: If you purchase a paperback through Writing Knights Press you will get a free PDF ebook copy! Thank you to Az and Writing Knights Press for giving me a voice for nearly a decade now.
Thank you to my Readers out there, some of you have been with me from the early days! You are all appreciated!
Also, a shout out to The Forbidden Apple Podcast! Get your free spiritual tool kit here!
ICYMI:
2021 Updates
Thank you to everyone that purchased copies of Sweeter Voices Still, I am so happy to see the acclaim this book has recieved!
ICYMI: I did a recent virtual reading from the anthology (below) via COFFEE WITH ELAM AND MARY (YouTube):
I am currently visiting my home state of Michigan and spending time at the Universe Building in Detroit which is fantastic. I am feeling the creative vibes and hope to work on another book in 2021!
For book, poetry news see the Author News page.
My forthcoming AMISH HERITAGE FOUNDATION talk will be available on YouTube, I am so happy to be able to share with you soon.
My recent poem, "Illumination", was published via The New Verse News in Feb, click here.
Amish Homophobia On the Rise
There is a lot of ignorance and racism within the Old Order Amish and a lot of homophobia as well. Add Trumpism and right wing religious fanaticism to the mix and this is what you get:
To any Amish out there wanting a better understanding, please read Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality by John Boswell. I do not have any patience for ignorance but I, once upon a time, was an ignorant Amish kid myself and I know how important it is to educate yourself. When you grow up Amish you do not have any LGBTQ+ role models to look up to. You probably don't even know any out, gay people!
Please support LGBT Amish.com, The Trevor Project both life saving support groups, with resources & outreach to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Amish. The last few years have not been easy for gay Amish, numerous right wing churches are pushing their own agendas on the Amish. Our voices are being heard, regardless of hatemongers with YouTube channels. Don't miss two literary letters by gay Amish men published in Serpent in the Garden and Sweeter Voices Still! Love is stronger than hate!
Candid Conversation on Diversity
Candid conversion on diversity (via SEATTLE CSL). For the rest of the series click here.
Dispatch from Detroit
Happy to be here!
"The Universe Building - U.I.O. is a project space that dates back all the way to post-Katrina disaster relief efforts with emergency communities in the Lower Ninth Ward/French Quarter in New Orleans near Dr. Bob's folk art since about 2006 and more recently near the former Fireweed Universe City artist village and is now registered as a non-profit 501 c-3 that stands for the Universal Intentional Organization. We have been establishing this intentional community project space here in Detroit, Michigan for nearly 7 years now after we first obtained permission for the project after July of 2013 following the closing of our beloved Bike Co-op a.k.a. Red Planet Collective or Smokes Bike Shop in 2012. Our permaculture efforts here are to create recycling & performing arts center and to develop cooperative behavior and activist solidarity near Dr. Bob's Psychedelic Healing Shack. Open to intentional community involvement through volunteer grassroots organizing & consensus building to encourage local independence & opportunity for our one human family. Our main focus as of now is restoration work the building of 1. East Montana Street and the Intentional House near what was known as the Goldengate Restoration Project and Occupy Detroit headquarters into a cooperative space for artists, travelers, musicians, writers, and volunteers. We are opening a cooperatively owned bakery coffee shop, U.I.O. radio station, d.i.y. print shop and art commons, rebuild Detroit center upcyclery & thrift/restore, a performing arts venue, our Jupiter IV school bus, a fire spinning and film theater & much more ! We hold community space by suggested donation only for events, workshops & meetings also. Activities held at this building are supported by this community organizational efforts to restore the building & revitalization here in Detroit city."
#🍎: January Book Recs!
Writers for Democratic Action
Writers For Democratic Action (formerly Writers Against Trump): "committed to bringing together the literary community to demand racial and economic justice, champion suffrage for all people, oppose impediments to democratic government, and resist white supremacist, nationalist, and fascist movements. We stand vigilant in the service of the republic to promote the common good."
Join here!
AHF Merch!
Chill weekend in my Amish Heritage Foundation hoodie! Get yours & look for my talk w AHF soon!
"Sweeter Voices Still: An LGBTQ Anthology from Middle America" Reviews
Happy publication day to SWEETER VOICES STILL! I am so happy for all the buzz and great reviews it has been receiving, updates to come:
LEFT BANK BOOKS DISCUSSION (FB LIVE)
I am also happy to share space with another gay Amish writer, a first for me! Don't miss Letter to the Prodigal Son by Anonymous!
Writers from "Sweeter Voices Still" LGBTQ Anthology on Left Bank's Facebook Live - https://t.co/EvFLJpMZqB pic.twitter.com/12pYiQvzDl
— Left Bank Books (@LeftBankBooks) January 19, 2021
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"Sweeter Voices Still: An LGBTQ Anthology from Middle America" Reviews
Happy publication day to SWEETER VOICES STILL ! I am so happy for all the buzz and great reviews it has been receiving, updates to come: ...
