Jim Reese
Jim Reese is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Great Plains Writers’ Tour at Mount Marty University in Yankton, South Dakota. Reese’s poetry and prose have been widely published, and he has performed readings at venues throughout the country, including the Library of Congress and San Quentin Prison. Reese’s awards include a First Place Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, a Distinguished Achievement Award from Mount Marty University, and a Distinguished Public Service Award in recognition of his exemplary dedication and contributions to the Education Department at Federal Prison Camp Yankton. His books include These Trespasses (The Backwaters Press, 2005), ghost on 3rd (New York Quarterly Books, 2010), and Really Happy! (New York Quarterly Books, 2014). A fourth collection, Dancing Room Only, is forthcoming by New York Quarterly Books in 2021. His first book of nonfiction, Bone Chalk, was published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press in December of 2019.
Twitter: @ReallyHappyJim
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I started dancing in the aisle and then in front of the screen at Q Cinema in Omaha at the end of Footloose—I haven’t stopped since. This was circa 1984—so I have a lot of experience. I gave breakdancing lessons in my garage for 50 cents an hour until that folded. Then I became Wayne State College’s mascot for all the wrong reasons. You can read about in my new book BONE CHALK. Artist + Athlete = Dancer!
What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
“Is that really true?”
Is there another profession you would like to try?
I have sold Canadian lottery tickets, dismemberment insurance and Omaha Steaks over the phone. I’ve worked as a fry cook, dishwasher, bowling alley assistant, a mail sorter/OCR operator, bartender, editor and lawn crew jockey. I’ve been a medical assistant for a mental health facility. I was a hired hand on a farm— 2nd week on the job I drove a JD 3020 into a garage and lifted the frame of the roof off with the loader bucket. The owner/farmer let me keep my job. He wasn’t paying me much, but all the same, I probably still owe him a few bucks.
So, what I’d like to do is go back and work at all of those jobs knowing what I know now and tell all my bosses (except the farmer) how I really feel. And I want to work at the dump or salvage yard sometime. I want to operate the crane and magnet. I’m sure nothing would go wrong.
Do you collect anything? If so, what, why, and for how long?
Since I was a kid I’ve collected stickers. I used to put them on things until I was grounded for doing so. My uncle and I used to share a room when we were young and I had a whole door frame full of stickers I received for the good work I did in pre-school. On his side of the room were KISS and other rock and roll stickers. I never was much of an athlete but I did get stickers for doing a good job! It’s a SUPER! collection now. I really like a good bumper sticker.
Favorite non-reading activity?
Mountain Biking Team Lengua “We ride for tacos”!
