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Koss Poetry & Art

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Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect – Now Shipping!

cover aerial view of book dancing backwards towards pluperfect by koss with brown tones and black wire and telephone pole with birds

Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect

by Koss

Diode Contest Winner and Lambda Literary Lammy Lesbian Poetry Finalist (2025)
Published by Diode Editions
Release date: October 2025
Now shipping!

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.

PURCHASE a signed copy


Blog Posts

purple square with lavender text with excerpt from a poem, "Living with Dead Poets"

Living with Dead Poets Poem | Anti-Heroin Chic

#CW Suicide – I wrote a poem, Living with Dead Poets, for the talented New Zealand poet, Paula Harris, who died by suicide a year ago. I’m glad it has a home in Anti-Heroin Chic and am grateful to James Diaz for publishing it. Most of the poem is in conversation with Paula’s poems including […]

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asemic black and white mixed media piece on white handmade paper with best of the net 2024 finalist text

Best of the Net Finalists 2024

I’m very honored to be a finalist for the Best of the Net 2024 Anthology. This asemic, mixed-media work was published in Sage Cigarettes as a visual art feature in 2023. It’s ink, acrylic paint, and collaged dots on handmade paper. The judge for art this year was Astri Snodgrass. I’m grateful for the nominations […]

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vintage yellow volkswagon beetle bug with weathered building, brick road, and promo text for molotov mother, a poem

Molotov Mother | Poem | Koss | Diode Editions

I’m honored to have another preview of poems from my forthcoming chapbook, “Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect” in Diode’s Substack newsletter, “All Things Diode.” Also find a cover reveal (cover by Law Alsobrook), and other Diode news, including contest information. You can sign up for their newsletter here also! Also, you can preorder the book now. […]

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dog in lake purple and green

Literary and Art Publications 2nd Quarter – 2024

Happy summer and happy Pride! I hope you’re tan, active, and gay (one way or another). I thought I was finished publishing last report, but I got a second wind and took some workshops, so I will have a few things more in the coming months in addition to my chapbook publication in the fall. […]

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wigleaf top 50 graphic 2024 brown, yellow, and red oxide text

Wigleaf Top 50 Longlist 2024

It was nice to see my name on the longlist for Wigleaf Top 50. Congratulations to all of the winners and longlisted folks. I see lots of writer friends on the list, and there’s lots to celebrate today. My piece was The Short Lives of Wombats published in MoonPark Review in ’23. Bonus, it’s a […]

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black crow with asemic writing and asemic text over a wuthering heights page carrying a baby sack. cobalt background. collaged.

Asemic Art by Koss | MER Literary Feature

Pleased to first have this cobalt blue iteration of my asemic crow in the MER Lit spring print issue. It is collaged over a page from Wuthering Heights and mounted on plywood. They included it in an online selections feature along with another piece of art, plus poetry. Check it out here (you can also […]

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screenshot of lannie stabile's book, When the Forest Finds You, watercolor with green trees and mysterious figure

Lannie Stabile – When the Forest Finds You | Poems

Lannie Stabile’s awesome new book, When the Forest Finds You is available for pre-order! I was honored to design the cover for it. Published by Variant Lit, the chapbook follows several of Lannie’s other books including Good Morning to Everyone Except Men Who Name Their Dog Zeus. This book is a unique hybrid of poetry, […]

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asemic art in pink, green, and purples with striations of color and writing

Self-Publishing is Publishing Too

It has been a very busy month, so I thought I’d do a quick post with some links to things. But along with these publications, I want to share that I’ll be doing more self publishing, along with producing some prints, and further off, some broadsides. Please keep me in mind if you have a […]

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diptych erasure poem collage with art history theme, drawing, and purple and green panels

Literary Publications | 2024 First Quarter

It has been a busy year so far, but I’m not complaining at all, as I’m happy to have so many works published. Many of these are re-publications. Since I’m not a famous person, I value re-publishing as it’s a great way to find new audiences for one’s work. It’s also great for getting print […]

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black and white sprayed erasure poem with Wuthering Heights text

ANVIL TONGUE PUBLICATIONS 2024

Thrilled to have work in Anvil Tongue as a nice entry into March, and, hopefully, spring, but you never know where I live! Daniel Garraun has put together a nice issue with the following writers: I have several republished pieces in this issue (most were in print), some photos, and some of my earliest, experimental […]

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dead of winter anthology cover art with skelton rib cage in white, red roses, and black background

Dead of Winter III Anthology | Milk and Cake Press

The Dead of Winter III Anthology by Milk and Cake Press is out and it’s gorgeous. I’m happy to have two poems, “A Modern Highway Death” and “February” in it. “February” was originally a traditional sonnet in iambic pentameter, if I’m remembering right, but it didn’t have a volta. It later relaxed into this one. […]

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screenshot with cartoon face with striped shirt and glasses of a published poem in action spectacle with aqua and pink colors

Action, Spectacle Winter ’23 Issue

Grateful to Adam Day and the guest editors of the literary journal, Action Spectacle, including Lyn Hejinian, Timothy Liu, Kevin Prufer, Caitlin Horrocks, Daniel Tiffany, Frank Bill, Graham Foust, Meera Ganapathi, Rob McLennan, Travis Chi Wing Lau, Kristin Bock, Catina Bacote, Clifford Thompson, Dorothee Elmiger, Wayne Miller for publishing my snarky dating poem in the […]

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