User:Copyat5

Maurice Oliver (Pseudonym Copyat5) is an American poet, author, literary editor, and educator. His poetry is heavily influenced by other free verse poets like Charles Bukowski, Phillip Walen, and Charles Simic. After nine submission rejections his first poem was published by Tryst Magazine in 2004. To date, he has had more than 700 poems published both in literary sites online and in hard-copy print, both nationally, internationally, including in Australia, China (Hong Kong), Germany, Canada, Algeria, India, and the UK. In 2013, he began work on a six-volume autobiography which is due for online publication in 2015. Three of his poetry collections have been published in chapbooks.

Biography

Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1950. He received his first camera as a Christmas present at the age of six. At the age of ten he was diagnosed with a rare form of tuberculosis and confined to a sanitarium for eight months. The illness caused him to miss a year of school, but it also helped to determine his future. He spent his recuperation reading books on the nations of the world, especially those in Europe. He memorized the imports and exports, the names of the different currencies, the capitals and national flags, with the intent of seeing that part of the world one day.

His family moved North to Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the height of the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s and he attended Ottawa Hills High School where he was a member of the debut team, newspaper and yearbook staff. After graduating he attended Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, but his interest in photography and travel would lead him to work as a freelance photographer based in Germany for almost a decade, traveling all over Western Europe, including the Iron Curtain.

After a modestly successful career as a freelancer, which included a gallery exhibition in Breda, Netherlands, a photo spread in the political magazine of the CDU party in Bonn, Germany, and a major photo exhibition at Mosegard Museum in Arhus, Denmark, in 1985. He returned to America in 1990, settling in Los Angeles where he worked for The Los Angeles Times. It was during this time that, as a favor to a Russian-American tennis partner, he began to tutor Russian-American university students, something which would become a full-time career several years later.

In 1995 Maurice Oliver made a life-long dream reality when he traveled around the world for eight months. Instead of taking photographs though, he recorded the trip in the pages of a diary, which would eventually become dozens of poems. And so began what he describes as his “true calling”. He was also the creator and editor of both the Concelebratory Shoehorn Review and "Eye Socket Review", monthly literary and arts e-zines that were published from 2006 through 2012. He currently devotes his time to completing a four-part autobiography due to be published in 2015.

Personal Life

Oliver, who is part African, French, and Native American, dropped out of college in his sophomore year. He has never had any formal photography training and never married. After years of wanderlust, he now resides in Portland, Oregon, where for the past decade he worked as a private tutor, teaching American English and American History. Now retired, he spends his days reading, writing, blogging, listening to music, watching movies, and bicycle riding.

Chapbooks

• Unstill Life (Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry, 2004)

• An Empty Sleeve Waving (Tamafyhr Mountain, 2005)

• But Mostly, Simple Precautions (Lily Press, 2006)

Published Poetry List

''The Potomac Journal • Pebble Lake Review • Taj Mahal Review • BluePrint Review • Dandelion Magazine • The MAG • Stride Magazine • Monkey Kettle • Fortress Of Words • Thieves Jargon • Mouseion • TMP Poetry • Megara • Foame • "remark" • Kritya • Red Booth Review<br • Lilylit Review • Poetry Pamphlet • Interpoetry • Blackmail Press • NÖÖ Journal • Eyeshot • Stirring • Jack Magazine • Venereal Kittens • Laika Poetry Review • Hamilton Stone Review • Other Voices • Unlikely Stories • Underground Voices • East Village Review • Alba • Tryst3 Journal • Poetic Diversity • My Favorite Bullet • Subtle Tea • The Salt River Review • The Beat • The Adroitly Placed Word • Red China Magazine • Other Side: the ragged edge • Zafusy • Listen Light • ken*again • Mastodondentist • Sentinel Poetry • Cerebration • Outsider Ink • One Forty Two • Arbutus • Side Reality • Word Riot • Buzz Words • Poetry Bay • Becoming: The Underground Journal • HiNgE • Bullfight Review • Frigg Magazine • Snakeskin: The Poetry Webzine • Girls With Insurance • The-Hold • Poetry Magazine-UK • Wire Sandwich • Zacatecas • Zygote In My Coffee • PW Review • Words On Walls • Mad Swirl • Reading Divas • The Orange Room Review • Mannequin Envy • Wicked Alice • Defenestation • Aught • Free Verse • Whistling Shade • Tom Kelly • Facets Magazine • Stylus Poetry • X Magazine • Cosmoetica • Somewhat Magazine • Paper Tiger Media • Softblow • Spreadhead • King Log • Nupenz • Erotica • Diagram • The Blue House • Slow Trains • Niederngasse ''

External Links

Maurice Oliver - Writer’s Homepage http://mauriceoliverhomepage.blogspot.com/