Biography

Jeff Walt was born and raised in rural Pennsylvania among a community of railroad workers, brick layers, and stripminers. He's been employed as a "cowboy" at Walt Disney World, a houseboy in the artistic enclave of  Provincetown; a customer service trainer; a cook; masseur; barista; and as an adjunct English composition instructor.  He graduated from Goddard College in Vermont with his MFA in Writing and Literature in 1993.  Jeff is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and was selected as one of fifty semi-finalists in the 2006 "Discovery"/The Nation contest.  A passionate Aquarian and cinephile, he pops for decoupage, collage, salvaging, macrobiotic food, mixology, home exchange, and Mid-Century modern architecture.  Currently, he divides his time between Tacoma, WA and Honolulu where he facilitates poetry workshops through the University of Hawaii Outreach Program. 

Publications

Jeff’s poems are forthcoming or have appeared in the following print and online journals: Alligator Juniper, Runes, Mangrove Review, Arlington Literary Journal, Poetry International, Americas Review, Wild Plum, Connecticut Review, Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry & Prose, Clackamas Literary Review, Whiskey Island, Silk Road, Alehouse Review, National League of American PEN Women Portland Branch Newsletter, Bamboo Ridge, PULSE, Samsara, Radiant Turnstile, Oberon, The Cream City Review, The Comstock Review, Lifeboat: A Journal of Memoir, The Ledge, Inkwell Magazine, Hawaii Pacific Review, Hawaii Review, Harpur Palate, Explorations (last issue), New Millenium Writings, Seven Days, The Sun, Sahara, Christopher Street, Bay Windows, New York Native, Chaminade Literary Review, RFD, Soulworks, Out in the Mountains, The Onion River Review, The Coastal Forest Review, Prose Ax, Quill & Ink, and The Gay and Lesbian Review.

Poems have also appeared in various anthologies:

Gents, Bad Boys and Barbarians: New Gay Male Poetry (Alyson Publications, 1995); Writing our Way Out of the Dark: An Anthology by Child Abuse Survivors (Queen of Swords, 1995); Hard Love: Writings on Violence and Intimacy (Queen of Swords, 1996); Mourning Our Mothers: Poems About Loss (Andrew Mountain Press, 1998); Intimate Kisses: The Poetry of Sexual Pleasure (New World Library, 2001); Touched by Eros (The Live Poets Society, 2002); The Poets' Grimm: Twentieth Century Poems from Grimm Fairy Tales (Story Line Press, 2003);  Proposing on the Brooklyn Bridge: Poems About Marriage (Grayson Books, 2003); Hello, Goodbye (July Literary Press, 2004); Poetic Voices Without Borders (Gival Press, 2005); For Better or Worse (PoetWorks Press, 2005); The Mysterious Life of the Heart: Stories from The Sun about Passion, Longing, and Love (The Sun Magazine, 2009);  Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (Gival Press, 2009); The Light in Ordinary Things (Fearless Books, 2009); One for the Road (Split Oak Press, 2010); Gay City (Vol. Three): RePulped (Gay City Anthologies, 2010); Touching: Poems of Love, Longing, and Desire (Fearless Books, 2010).  His chapbook, What I Didn't Know, appeared in the chapbook anthology, Passionate Lives (Queen of Swords, 1998).   A second Chapbook, "Soot" won the 2009 Keystone Chapbook Prize and is available for purchase through Seven Kitchens Press.

Honors/Awards

Jeff has been awarded residential writing fellowships from The Djerassi Foundation, The MacDowell Colony, Centrum and Kalani on The Big Island.  In addition:    

2/1/10:  Finalist in the 2009 Paumanok Poetry Contest. 

12/18/09  Poem, "Three Drunk Angels," selected as a Finalist in Alligtor Juniper's 2009 National Poetry Competition and appears in the 2010 issue.

09/26/09 Chapbook, "Soot," annonuced as co-winner of the 2009 Keystone Chapbook Prize by judge Karen J. Weyant.  Published in January, 2010. 

9/23/09 Gary Young selected "All Day I Have Been Afraid" as one of three Honorable Mentions in the 2009 Littoral Press Broadside Contest.

9/15/09 Finalist in the 2009 River Styx International Poetry Contest. 

8/30/09 Poem, "My Carpenter," received one of four Honorable Mentions in the 8th Annual Oscar Wilde Award competition sponsored by Gival Press. 

6/9/09 Chapbook, "Soot," selected as a semi-finalist in the Robin becker Chapbook contest sponsored by Seven Kitchens Press. 

2/02/09:  Awarded "Artist-in-Residence" stipend fellowship for the month of October, 2009 at Kalani on the Big Island of Hawaii. 

Before 2009:

11/26/08:   Invited to judge Odyssey (Honolulu) Magazine's April 2009 Poetry Competition for National Poetry Month.

3/24/06:  Selected as one of fifty semi-finalists in the "Discovery"/The Nation contest.

2/22/06:   Poem "Lying in Bed" was selected as a semi-finalist in the Oneiros Press 5th annual Poetry Broadside Contest.

5/26/05:  Awarded a full tuition, room & board scholarship to attend  Centrum's 2005 Port Townsend Writers' Conference .

12/16/04:  Finalist in the 2004 Paumanok Poetry Contest . 

12/1/04:  Nominated for a 2005 Pushcart Prize  by the editors of Wild Plum .

8/1/04:  Poem "Lying in Bed" was awarded First Place in the Gival Press Oscar Wilde Poetry Competition  judged by Ron Mohring.

7/8/04:  "Hex" was selected as a Finalist in the Clackamas Literary Review's Willamette Poetry Award competition and published in the 2005 issue.

6/25/04:   Poem "Fair" won First Place in Whiskey Island’s  2004 Poetry Competition.

6/22/04: Poem " Storm " was awarded Honorable Mention in Friend’s of Acadia’s 2004 Poetry Competition.

3/27/04:   Poem "Size" was selected as one of two Finalists in Wild Plum’s  2004 International Poetry Competition and was published in the premiere June 2004 issue.

3/18/04:   Judges Marilyn Nelson  and Robert Cording  chose a suite of poems as one of five Finalist in the Hill-Stead Museum’s Sunken Garden Chapbook Competition ; invited to submit a chapbook to continue in the contest; 4/15/04 awarded Second Place.  Selected poems appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of  Connecticut Review .

3/8/04:   Poem "Becoming A Regular" was selected as one of two Finalists from 1,500 by  A. E. Stallings  in Dogwood:  A Journal of Poetry & Prose’s 2004 Poetry Competition. 

2/29/04:   " All Day I Have Been Afraid " was awarded First Place in the National League of American PEN Women Honolulu Branch Lorin Tarr Gill Poetry Competition.

1/1/04:  Nominated for a 2004 Pushcart Prize by the editors of Prose Ax .

1/1/04:   " Jimmy Cocker " received an Honorable Mention in the 1st Annual PULSE Poetry Competition and appears on their web site.

9/21/03: A suite of poems selected by judge Steven Huff as one of seven finalists in the 2003 Two Rivers Review Poetry Prize.

9/9/03: Poem "Bus Ride" was selected as a Finalist in The Comstock Review 2003 Poetry Contest and published in the Fall/Winter 2003 edition, Volume 17, #2. >

9/1/03: Suite of poems chosen for an International Merit Award in the Atlanta Review 2003 International Poetry Competition.

8/11/03: Poem "Becoming A Regular" was a finalist in the sixth annual Marlboro Prize for Poetry sponsored by The Marlboro Review.

6/23/03: Poem " Wall " was awarded Honorable Mention in Oberon ’s 2003 Poetry Competition and published with "For My Yoga Teacher" in the Summer 2003 issue.

5/10/03: Poem "The Blob" received First Place in Balticon (Baltimore Science Fiction Society) 37 Poetry Competition.

1/13/03 : Poem " After a Fight " received First Place in the Prose Ax Poetry Competition (local Honolulu ‘zine).

1/7/03: Poem "My Brother on the Graveyard Shift" selected by Richard Howard  to receive Third Place in the Portland Pen Poetry Competition sponsored by the National League of American Pen Women.

1/1/03:  Nominated for a   2003 Pushcart Prize by poet Kim Addonizio.

12/18/02 : Poem "After a Fight" was chosen as a Finalist in the Manhattenville College 6th Annual Inkwell Magazine Poetry Competition judged by Elizabeth Alexander .

12/16/02: Poem " Cupid’s " was chosen from 330 submissions to receive an Honorable Mention in the Reuben Rose Poetry Competition sponsored by Voices’ Israel to English Poetry Association.

8/18/02: Poem " All Day I Have Been Afraid " was selected by Poet Laureate Billy Collins  and Carol Ann Duffy for the $1,000 Third Place award in the Davoren Hanna International Poetry Competition .

8/1/02: Poem "To My Ex-lover Making a Commitment" received First Place in the annual Oscar Wilde Poetry Competition sponsored by Gival Press and appeared on their web site; invited by Robert Giron , Managing Editor, to judge the 2003 competition.

6/14/02: Poem "Why I Work" won the First Place $1,000 New Millenium Writings Poetry Prize XIII and was published in the 2002 issue.

4/20/02: Poem "The Woman Saying Good-bye" won the $500 Second Place award in Explorations ’ (University of Alaska Southeast) 2002 Poetry Competition (final issue); two other poems, "I Listen to My Sister Making Love" and " All Day I Have Been Afraid " were chosen as Finalists.

2/15/02: Poem "Kitchen Music" was chosen by Marie Howe  to receive the Honorable Mention in Inkwell Magazine's 5th Annual Poetry Competition and was published in the Spring 2002 issue.

10/20/01: Poem "Like Gretel" was awarded Second Place in the 2001 Tri-Lang Poetry Competition sponsored by Gival Press .

7/21/00: Poem "Postcards My Brother Used to Send" was awarded First Place in the Out in The Mountains 2000 Poetry Competition.

1996:  Manuscript Finalist in the Alicejames New York/New England competition.