DANIEL J. O’CONNELL (aka Dan O.)
POETRY BIO
SUMMARY:
Dan O’Connell is a four-time award winning poet, and multiple finalist and honorable mention, whose work has appeared regularly in small and large publications since he was in his twenties. Dan O. is a former Philosophy and Rhetoric professor. He currently lives in San Francisco, where he has his own law practice with a focus on protecting tenants and workers. His poems have appeared over eighty times.
BOOKS:
State of the Union, 16-poem chapbook, with photographs, 2020. Purchase.
Different
Coasts, a full-length collection of
poems, Parthenon West, 2003. Purchase.
Theory of Salvation, a full-length collection of poems, 2009. Purchase.
A Third Set of Teeth, a full-length collection of poems.
The Eviction Papers, chapbook arising out of eviction defense work.
Sheltered in Place Poems & Art - A Collaboration, 2020.
CONTESTS and CURATED SHOWS:
“I Have Seen a Father," featured poem, Clarendon, Fall 1986 issue.
“Late Night Interstate Driving,” winner Best Poem, Bay Area Poets Coalition, 1996 Contest.
“Comparing Myself to the Buddha,” finalist in The Mississippi Review 2002 Poetry Contest and published in its Spring 2003 issue.
“Ode to the Grape,” finalist in Judd’s Hill 2003 Poetry Contest and published in Fall 2003.
"Two Strangers," Third Prize in Bay Area Poets Coalition, 2014 Contest.
"The Broken Dock," Honorable Mention in Bay Area Poets Coalition, 2014 Contest.
"After This," Second Place, America Magazine's Foley Poetry Prize, 2015 Contest.
"These Green Hills" was chosen for inclusion in the anthology Extraordinary Pleasure to commemorate the poet Don Brennan, ed. Clara Hsu and Dan Brady (2015).
"Approaching Deception Pass, Thinking of the Future," and "Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Victoria Clipper During a Storm" included in Water and the Sounding Sirens multi-media curated group art show at Sherwood Gallery created by Tea Roots.org. October 7, 2016, and published in Tearoots Anthology (2016).
"Approaching Deception Pass, Thinking of the Future" Third Prize, Ina Coolbrith Circle 2017 Poetry Contest, 98th Annual, judged by Paul Hoover.
"Mygration: Leaving Ireland," "Mygration: San Francisco," "The First Reports," and "Different Coasts" included in Mygration multi-media curated group art show at Joyce Jordan Gallery created by Tea Roots.org. November 4, 2017.
"Martial Artist As Cancer Patient," Third Prize, Ina Coolbrith Circle 2018 Poetry Contest, 99th Annual, judged by Laura Boss.
"Staring Into Space," Semi-Finalist, The Poet's Billow, 2018 Bermuda Triangle Prize: https://thepoetsbillow.org/literary-art-gallary/2018-bermuda-triangle-prize/
"Defender Adhachi" is exhibited at Hoi Polloi Taproom& Beat Lounge /Gallery 2019.
"After Another Shooting, I Contemplate the Nature of Man" was finalist in Prometheus Dreaming’s 2020 Poetry Contest.
JOURNALS:
“The
Kiss” appears in The Homestead Review (and appears
on-line at the journal’s website, The Kiss (Fall/Winter 2003).
"Sixth Glass” and “Cloud Shadows” appears in San Francisco Bay Guardian.
“Ode to Bananas,” “At A Diner,” and “Apostate” appears in Parthenon West Review, Issue No. 1, and “Anniversary, roughly” appears in Issue No. 7.
“Red-spotted Brown Shell,” “Today I Fell In Love,” appears in The San Francisco Reader.
“These Green Hills” appears in The San Francisco Reader and (Re)Po and Extraordinary Pleasures, A Don Brennan Memorial Collection.
“Calling” appears in Snow Monkey (and appears on-line at www.ravennapress.com/snowmonkey/volume.php?volume=6&issue=1 ).
“On the Window Ledge,” “Clear Cut,” “Truckee River Valley,” “The Confessional,” “Above Rick’s Auto Body Shop,” “Morning Moon,” “Purple Trees,” “Rooming House: From Certain People,” “Rooming House: Summation,” “Explosion,” “Although I Am a Man,” and “Passengers” appears in Haight Ashbury Literary Journal.
“Closure,” and “Strange Remains” appears in Nepotism: Dispatch One.
“Court Appearance” appears in Bum’s Rush.
“After the Apocalypse” appears in Over the Transom.
“Half-Empty Moon,” and “The Staircase” appeared in OnezineSF.
“Happiness Study #4” appears in North Coast Literary Review.
“The Grand Scheme of Things,” appears in What’s Nature Got to Do With Me, Native West Press. (October, 2011)
“Horse Koan” and "At Ocean Beach Projecting My Metaphysical Despair Onto a Surfer," appear in Big Bell Magazine, ed. Russell Dillon (Summer 2016).
"It was So Easy to Be a Bird," "Just for Today," "Crossing the Straight of Juan de Fuca on the Victoria Clipper During a Storm," "Deception Pass," and "This Place" appear in In Between Hangovers. (January, February, March and April 2017) https://inbetweenhangovers.wordpress.com/2017/01/page/5/ .
“Staring Into Space” and "After the Job Interview," appear in Better ThanStarbucks click here to read (May 2018).
"Theory of the Bald-Face Lie" and "So On Villanelle" appear in Issue #10 of Ghost Town Literary Magazine, CSU San Bernardino, ed. Chad Sweeney http://ghosttownlitmag.com/dano (Fall 2018).
"Divisadero Thoughts, Part I" and "In the Garden" appear RavensPerch https://www.theravensperch.com/in-the-garden-by-dan-oconnell/ ; https://www.theravensperch.com/divisadero-thoughts-by-dan-oconnell/(October 25, 2018);
"Some Ways to Become a Birdwatcher" appears in Poetry Expressed Magazine.
https://www.poetryexpressed.com/2019/03/welcome-to-poetry-expressed-magazine.html#more (2019).
"A Theory of White Wine" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review https://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-theory-of-white-wine-by-dan-oconnell.html?m=1 (April 2019).
"Confrontation (or Jean Valjean in a Grocery Store)" appears in Prometheus Dreaming https://www.prometheusdreaming.com/confrontation-or-jean-valjean-at-th(May 2019)
"Divisadero Thoughts, Part II" appears in Light Journal (June 2019).
"Departed" appears in Prometheus Dreaming https://www.prometheusdreaming.com/departed(2019)
"Shooters Lounge, New Rochelle NS, Half Past Noon" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review https://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2020/01/shooters-lounge-new-rochelle-ny-half.html?m=1(January 2020).
"Martinez, California" appears in The Esthetic Apostle https://www.estheticapostle.com/copy-of-he-s-still-here-by-jeremy-b (February 2020).
"Social Services Koan" appears in Dash Literary Journal based out of the California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics (Spring 2020)
"Kneeling Villanelle" appears in Assisi: A Journal of Arts & Letters, Saint Joseph's College of Maine literary journal http://www.assisijournal.org/kneeling-villanelle/ (Spring 2020).
"Visiting Hell's Kitchen Where My Father Worked on the Tugs" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review https://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2020/07/visiting-hells-kitchen-where-my-father.html (June 2020)
"Inscribed on a Wall at Prince Street Apartments While Sheltered in Place"; "Inscribed on my Kitchen Wall While Sheltered in Place"; "Thinking of Tu Fu While Sheltered in Place Pursuant to Government Orders"; "The New Normal" appear in The Ravens Perch, September 26, 2020 https://theravensperch.com/11797-2/
"The Drinking (or Reading Roethke While Sheltered in Place)" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review click here to read. (Dec. 2020)
"View From a Manhattan Hotel Room, March 11, 2021"; The New Normal"; and "Reflection After Disobeying Shelter in Place Orders to Protest Trump" appears in Quaranzine 2020.
"Visions of Hell" appears in The Ravens Perch, August 7, 2021 - L’enfer, c’est les autres – on Zoom https://theravensperch.com/visions-of-hell-dan-oconnell/
"People Watching Near Penn Station (or, Against Basho)" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review click here to read. (Dec. 24, 2021)
"3305 Folsom Street" appears in Coneflower Cafe (by Choeofpleirn Press), Spring 2022. Available at Coneflower Cafe.
"At Art's Bar" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review. Click here to read. (Dec 23, 2022)
"Pittsburgh Poem" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review. Click here to read. (July 24, 2022)
"In My Family" appears in Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Summer 2022.
ON-LINE JOURNALS:
“Disbursement,” “The Boredom of Christ,” “Two Strangers,” “The Ant Hill,” “Enemies” and “Ant Sonnet” appeared for a duration at www.thetranslationproject.org.
“These Green Hills,” “Oscillation,” “Writing Tips To Myself,” “Departed” “Who Can Say,” “Hidden Camera,” “Preparedness,” and “Troubled Sleep” appeared at www.muse-apprentice-guild.com.
“The Staircase” and other poems appear at www.sfsalvo.com (click on "Back Burner").
"It was So Easy to Be a Bird," "Just for Today," "Crossing the Straight of Juan de Fuca on the Victoria Clipper During a Storm," "Deception Pass," and "This Place" appear in In Between Hangovers. (January, February, March and April 2017) https://inbetweenhangovers.wordpress.com/2017/01/page/5/ .
“Staring Into Space” and "After the Job Interview," appear in Better Than Starbucks
http://www.betterthanstarbucks.org (May 2018).
"Divisadero Thoughts" and "In the Garden" appear RavensPerch https://www.theravensperch.com/in-the-garden-by-dan-oconnell/ (October 25, 2018)
"A Theory of White Wine" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review "A Theory of White Wine" appears in The Rye Whiskey Review https://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-theory-of-white-wine-by-dan-oconnell.html?m=1 (April 2019)
FEATURED READINGS:
Dan O. has been featured at San Francisco poetry venues such as City Lights Bookstore (2003), Keane’s 3300 Club (2002 and 2003), Poetry Mission at Dalva (2001 and 2003), Poetry Above Paradise (2000), Café International (2001 and 2004), Kim Addonizio’s Salon (2002 and 2003), Our Corner Cafe Reading Series (2012), 1428 Haight Reading Series (2020) and many others, and has been broadcast on KPFA. Dan O.'s first featured reading was in Binghamton, New York in 1985.
Dan O. has also been featured at many special events and benefits, including Laborfest 2003, Café International’s Winter Solstice Reading (2001), The Humbug Show (2002 and 2004) and The Love Show (2003) produced by Folk This!, AKA Productions Strong Medicine Show (2004, at Faithful Fools), Poetry&Pizza Reading Series (2003, to benefit Morisianna West, Inc.), The Anarchist Bookstore benefit reading (2004), and Marc Wilson's Amusia CD release party at Viracocha 998 Valencia, San Francisco (August 2011).
Dan O. was a featured poet during Red Poppy Art House’s FESTIVALNERDUA (2004), and was a featured reader during San Francisco’s LitQuake Festival (2005).
In 2007, Dan O. created, hosted, and featured in the National Lawyers Guild’s literary fundraiser at Frey Norris Art Gallery to raise money for NLG’s post-9/11 Know Your Rights campaign.
Radical Acoustic Cabaret, June 2017, featured poet.
Radical Acoustic Cabaret, February 2018, featured poet.
Radical Acoustic Cabaret, October, 2019, featured poet.
Madrone Art Bar, July 21, 2019, featured poet with Ty of Heart of Orion on piano.
Dan O. has also read for college writing and literature classes at San Francisco State University and Skyline Community College. His poems have also been assigned in high school and college classes, including University of San Francisco Law School’s “Race, Law, and Policy” course.
1428 Haight Poetry Series (via Zoom) with Alice Rogoff, December 2020.
Beast Crawl Literary Festival, Oakland, CA 2022: The Throwback Special.
Beast Crawl Literary Festival, Oakland, CA 2023: The Throwback Special.
POETRY AND MUSIC:
Dan O. has collaborated with musicians many times. Click here to watch some videos of Dan O.'s collaborations. His performances with musicians include:
Madrone Art Bar, July 21, 2019, featured poet with Ty of Heart of Orion on piano.
November 27, 2019, Milk Bar, "My Michelle / Two Strangers" collaboration: Heart Of Orion & Dan O.; My Michelle Performed by Heart Of Orion; Two Strangers Written & Performed by Dan O’Connell; Lyrics by Danielle Kerley; Music by Ty Oz & Danielle Kerley; Arranged by Ty Oz.
July 21, 2019, Madrone Art Bar, featured poet with Ty of Heart of Orion on electric and acoustic piano.
June 2017: Collaboration with Tayfun Ozisik of Heart of Orion on upright piano, at Madrone's music open mic.
November 2014: Collaboration with Erland at Madrone’s music open mic; Erland on the piano, playing Chopin to my poetry.
July 2014: Collaboration with Erland at Madrone’s music open mic; Erland on the piano, playing Chopin to my poetry.
December 2013: Collaboration with Erland at Madrone’s music open mic; Erland on the piano, playing Chopin to my poetry.
May 2013: Collaboration with Alabaster and Don Altena backing me up at Madrone’s music open mic; Alabaster on guitar, Don Altena on ukulele.
March 2013: Collaboration with LMC on bass guitar at Madrone’s music open mic.
October 2012: Collaboration with Anthony on harmonica at Madrone’s music open mic.
July 8, 2012: Collaboration with Eric Robertson accompanying me with his drums at Madrone’s music open mic.
August 2009: Collaboration with the Mario Grill Jazz Trio at The Inner Sunset Underground Verses venue.
POETRY WORK:
Dan O. was acknowledged by Niloufar Talebi, author of Self-Portrait in Bloom (l'Aleph, 2019), for helping her see some of her translations of Ahmad Shalmou with new eyes.
Dan O. was the Translation Advisor for Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World, a translation anthology of contemporary Iranian poets in exile/émigré, ed. Niloufar Talebi, North Atlantic Books, 2008 (www.thetranslationproject.org).
He is the founder and editor of The Throwback, a low-tech, print, sporadic literary journal. 5 issues. The Throwback Special published in May 2022, and July 2023.
Dan O. has entertained audiences at various San Francisco Neighborhood Centers, including The Inner Sunset Underground Verses venue (2009), and has read at Larkin Street Youth Services for at-risk youth (2002).