Joseph Shields, Poet-Publisher-Musician

Joseph Shields was born outside Milwaukee, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later from Loyola University of Chicago. He spent two and a half years in the Peace Corps in Jamaica from 1990-1992 before relocating to Austin, Texas with his wife (also a former PC volunteer). His poems have appeared in a number of different poetry magazines, including Slipstream, Sheila-Na-Gig, Pearl, Chiron Review, among others, and he has a few of chapbooks in print (Wisconsin Daze, No Escape and Other Poems, and W9GRF and the Dance that Never Ends). In spring 1996, Joseph founded Nerve Cowboy Magazine, with a kindred spirit, Jerry Hagins, and 22 years later we are getting ready to release Issue 44. He plays in a band called The Counterfactual, along with three other social scientists (as this is what we do for day jobs). Being involved in art, poetry, and music makes the day job a bit easier to manage. Counterfactual audio can be heard on Soundcloud or Bandcamp here: Full set of audio on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/counterfactualatx A subset of songs are on Bandcamp: http://counterfactual.bandcamp.com Nerve Cowboy info at: https://www.facebook.com/Nerve-Cowboy-240567569317649/