Bio

I was born on New York's Long Island in Astoria, Queens County. Shortly thereafter my parents moved, with my brother, sister, and I, to Deer Park, located in Suffolk County, also on Long Island. Our family worshipped a few miles away in East Northport during the mid nineteen-fiftees and nineteen-sixties; during the same years that Jack Kerouac was living in Northport. I now live in Lowell, Massachusetts, where Jack Kerouac was born.

I mention this only as, coincidentally, I have served six years as President of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! or, LCK! as it is also known. LCK! has been organizing the annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival for the past 21 years.

The great thing about living center island on a 35 mile wide island is, that ten minutes north is the rocky tree-lined coast of the North Shore, while only ten minutes south of you lies Great South Bay, and (only another 5 minutes over the Robert Moses Bridge)the dunes of Fire Island. It's like having a choice between the Maine coast or, several miles in the opposite direction, Cape Cod . I was, perhaps - almost, if not, from the start - a New Englander 'in waiting'.

During my grade school years, I would lie in bed at night, "plugged in," with my little transistor radio, its single ear plug in my ear, listening to live broadcasts, out of Manhattan, featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, all the bop that was boppin' hot. And inside - wordless... feeling, "yeah... , this sings to me."

My father was by avocattion, a musician, poet, and photographer, who made his living as a machinest and applied mechanical engineer, Tool and Dye maker. His father had once trained to become a botanist and emmigrated to the United States with his wife in the early 1900's from the Tyrol. My maternal grandfather was a percussionist with the RCA Orchestra, accompanying the New York Metropolitan Opera. He liked to make a point of saying that he had played under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. His wife, a Pan-Celtic-American may, partly, explain my inherent fondness of Celtic music. With my familiar background in mind, therefore,it is no surprise to me that the syllabic count of Dylan Thomas, as read to me by my father, or the rolling cadence found in the opening lines of Kubla Khan, "In Xanadu Did Kubla Khan A Stately Pleasure Dome Decree," effect me so deeply as a preteen - become the central focus for me - as poetic device - as this was about sound, as is (or, at least, as it sounds to my internal ear) " 'should' be" all poetry. This, was music.

I started writing poetry, seriously, at about age 14, though I was more interested in music at the time. Along the way it occurred to me that I might have more to contribute to the written word than to music composition. I had a couple of short articles, sporadically, published in magazines though, I do not recall any poetry of mine being published until the early 1990s. Since then, I have had a number of poems appear in numerous literary magazines and on line journals. Some of my poems appear in the anthologies, Concept #3, edited by Jennifer Bois (David Rioux, publisher), and Poetry Showcase, edited by David "Doc" Cote (Barnes and Noble, Nashua, New Hampshire).

I get my music fix these days by contributing, from time to time to Jareeda, a magazine of Middle Eastern music and dance, and Middle Eastern Dance in New England, and as a regular contributor of live performance and CD reviews to Celtic Beat Magazine. I recently had an opportunity to see The Saw Doctors in an outdoor festival environment. What a kick! Speaking of kicks, in 2001 I had the good fortune to secure Lawrence Ferlinghetti's permission to record his, The Canticle of Jack Kerouac. To get to record a piece written about one of my favorite writers by one of my favorite writers, and to record it with David Michael Curry - who has been playing as the Empty House Cooperative with the members of Come (as in Johnny Depp and Come, Mad Road Driving from Rykos, Kicks, Joy, Darkness, Kerouac tribute) - was Kicks and Joy both. We did this as part of the Spirit, Kerouac tribute CD produced by Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!.

In addition to publishing my work, I have been a featured reader at many New England and several New York spoken word venues including, the Bowery Poetry Club. I have also featured at a fair number of book stores and regional literary events. Sometimes I perform on stage with my significant other, the lovely and talented Meg Smith.

While some individuals see me as something of a performance poet, the truth is, I just want to write good poetry and feel pride in seeing as much of my work published as editors see fit to publish or, more importantly, the public conveys to the publishers that they would like to see. I enjoy reading to promote my work, however, I dont write just in order to have something to read.

It was an honor to be asked by Share Our Strength, and Barnes and Noble of Framingham, Massachusetts to be the featured reader for Writers Harvest, The National Reading.

Coproducing and participating as a reader in the Lowell reading portion of the four city national reading of Big Sur organized by Suffolk County, New York, Poet Laureate, George Wallace, and having a piece included in the Dialogue Through Poetry - 2001 Anthology, Rattapallax Press, featuring poems read throughout the world (March, 2001) to celebrate the United Nations' Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry program, are also projects in which I am proud to have played a role.

My feelings with respect to being one of the poets representing Massachusetts in the "Dialogue" program while helping to provide, a forum for fellow travellers, such as Native American spokesperson and poet, Onkwe Tase is too difficult to put into words.

As a Lowellian and transplanted native Long Islander, it was the thrill of a lifetime to be invited In July of 2000, to appear at the opening of a two month museum exhibit titled "Kerouac's Northport." I had an opportunity to read passages from Jack Kerouac's "On The Road," with original Kerouac musical collaborator, David Amram.

Recently I was honored to have poems translated into Chinese and appear in the journal, Contemporary Foreign Literature, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.

My community involvement is not limited to promotion of the arts. While living not far north of Lowell, I was the selectman appointed chair of the 208 Water Quality Study Committee. We operated under the mandate of identifying non-point source pollution factors and recommending ways to minimize or eliminate the impact of these on the five lakes within our jurisdiction.

One of my hopes is that I have been relatively successful in adopting something of a holistic approach to the living of my life.

Though not an original comment (but, it is the truth) I am one of those writers who writes because I can not "not" write. I would continue to do so even if no one chose to read my work, however, I am very grateful to those who read my work for providing me with ceaseless edification by their continued interest.

The poem writes itself - eternal - a line - I simply transcribe one section at a time.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Click here, if you want to witness more of...

David "Doc" Cote's, Poet's Halloween Event

There's a lot more to tell, but space limitations prevent me from sharing it with you here. Besides, I'd like to hear from you so, I'll leave a few of your questions unanswered...
for now.