Downs, Buck

Buck Downs (1964-) is a poet, publisher, and editor who has been a long-time resident of Washington, D.C. Buck Jordan Downs was born in Jones County, Mississippi on 07/28/1964. His parents are Jordon Downs and Fronia Gail Ulmer Downs. He resides and works in Washington, D.C. Some of his poems have appeared in journals including Puppyflowers, Brooklyn Rail, and Columbia Poetry Review. His books include Ladies Love Outlaws, In Memory of D. Thompson, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, twist riffs & stiff hits, Recreational Vehicle, and Marijuana Softdrink. He is renowned for his high energy reading style. His CD Pontiac Fever was released by Narrow House Recordings in 2006. He is editor of Open 24 Hours and was formerly editor of other publications. Part of this collection reflects his postcard project: ⁰́₋The postcard project began to find its current shape in 1993. I had been hand-typing individual poem-postcards, mailing them to poetry/art friends like Brett Evans, while concurrently doing the small-poet thing of compiling, mailing, and tracking responses to manuscripts from mostly presses and zines. The latter enterprise was depressing and unproductive, even when successful, while the poem-postcards turned out to be a positive hoot. So in the summer of 1993 I gave up the habit of sending work to magazine editors, and raided my address book to build a list of people whose opinions mattered to me. Since sometime in late 1993, I have kept a mailing list and sent out a monthly poem on a post card. The list has grown from a handful of friends to a couple hundred people.⁰́₊ (Buck Downs, Dec. 2007).