
Koss Poetry & Art
I am here.
Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect – Now Shipping!

Dancing backwards towards pluperfect
by Koss
Published by Diode Editions
Shipping in October 2024
Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect is a poetic assemblage of a life sown outside the predictability of middle-class, straight America, one where the aftermath of repeated trauma and loss is allayed by unexpected moments of connection, empathy, and love.
Koss pens inventive textual routes through life transits, forging head-on through the debris with unflinching vision and grit in a timbre that shifts from existential dread to dark comedy. Part dirge and part survival story, Dancing Backwards transmutes the rubble of trauma, abandonment, grief, and suicide loss into a queer, hybrid elixir, their lived story worthy of telling.
Blog Posts
Book Review | Barton Smock | Kings of Train
Pleased and surprised to find this lyrical book review by Barton Smock, a brilliant language-kind-of-poet with a heart. Barton published one of the poems (the last long list poem) in Isacoustic, his journal, a few years ago. Find the review here.
Book Review: Heterodox Haiku by Jerome Berglund
Very surprised and grateful for this spicy book review by Jerome Berglund in Heterodox Haiku. It makes me feel good when someone gets pleasure out of reading my work. Here is a little excerpt, but please, if you have a few minutes, check it out here. And check out the ‘zine while you’re there!
Review | Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect in New Pages by Jami Macarty
Jami Macarty wrote a fabulous review of Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect which was published on New Pages today! She expertly wove quotes from the review into an insightful, seamless, and clever. Makes you kind of want to buy it. Find it here on Diode’s site, or purchase a signed copy from me (include a note […]
Welcome to 2025 – Is Social Media Dead?
Welcome to 2025 and the lotta things hanging over us… And David Lynch just died. I hope he went out gently. It’s interesting, sort of, to see what he meant to different people. Blue Velvet was one of the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen. I felt disturbed for days by the scissors scene… And […]
Best Small Fictions 2025 | Midway Journal
I’m honored and grateful to receive a Best Small Fictions nomination from Midway Journal for a flash piece, “No One Knew,” one of my most-read pieces, published in 2024. Find the other nominees in this promo…
Interview | Anti-Heroin Chic | James Diaz
James Diaz was kind to interview me about my book. We discuss grief, grandmas, metaphors, and humor. Find it here!
Interview – Write or Die Magazine – Katie Jean Shinkle – Koss
Honored to have an interview with Katie Jean Shinkle in Write or Die Magazine. We talk about queerness, Michigan, and grief. Read it here and find out more about Katie Jean and her new book, Tannery Bay, co-authored with Stephen Dunn on her website.
2024 Koss Publications – End-of-Year Report
(6 minute read) Thank you for visiting. I’ve decided to post this early because I’m not expecting to have any more publications this year. Some folks do an “eligibility post” because of nominations. To skip to the link list, click here. Republished pieces are clearly marked with a bold “reprint” and many are new. I’m […]
Publishing Day – Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect
Today (October 30th) is the birth of my official Scorpio poetry book (I didn’t plan this), Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect, published by Diode Editions. It’s now shipping, and if you pre-ordered, you probably already received yours. Note I am a bit late in posting this as I have been giving myself a post-election breather. I’m […]
Review – Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect – MicroLit – Elaine Fletcher Chapman
I’m very pleased to receive this beautiful review of my book, Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect by Elaine Fletcher Chapman in MicroLit. Huge gratitude to Catherine Parnell for publishing it and to Elaine for the deep read. Find it here.
Koss 2024 Publications Third Quarter Update
September is here, and I thought I’d share a few thoughts as eclipse season approaches. Along with some publications the past few months, I received some finalist news, a couple personal and professional blows, and some Best of the Net nominations for art! As is always the case, success comes in small packets and with […]
Best of the Net 2025 | Koss Nominations
It’s a tremendous honor to receive some Best of the Net nominations for the 2025 issue (out next year). Best of the Net is an annual digital anthology of literature and accompanying art published in a one-year period (usually July to June, I believe). Best of the Net is an imprint of Sundress Publications and […]
Leave a Reply