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Koss 2024 Publications Third Quarter Update

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white gull on brown leaves with rocks
Gull, Cheshire, England, Ⓒ Koss 2018

September is here, and I thought I’d share a few thoughts as eclipse season approaches.

artwork watercolor digital red maple leaf

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 plenty of rejection. I feel very grateful for all of it, even the non-wins as they give me perspective, and also for the small and wonderful community I’ve been invited into online−folks who help sustain me and make writing worthwhile. Having a community, plus lit and art things to look forward to has kept me going through losses, through COVID, and through some of the most difficult times of my life. I’m so very grateful for this.

Feeling bad for those impacted by the hurricane. I hope you and yours are safe.

I have been in a Granta memoir workshop which lasts ’til mid-November, so I haven’t been very active on social. With the election coming, this is a good time to not be on it, to be honest. I’ve lived through too much as a queer at election time to be open to any ‘splaining by ANYONE. I don’t have the emotional energy for it this time around. For me, this feels like the most existential of elections in my lifetime. That’s all I have to say.

‘Nuff of my discursions, I promised some updates, so here they are in a digestible list with links where appropriate. Happy fall to you and sending you love and wishes for joy, peace, painless and purposeful eclipses, safety, and good health. Thank you, as always, for stopping by.

2024 3rd Quarter Koss Stuff

  • Kristine Esser Selentz’s important Exhibit book release (I was fortunate to contribute a blurb).
  • Diode’s Substack publishing of my poem “Molotov Mother.”
  • Anti-Heroin Chic published my poem, “Living With Dead Poets,” a tribute to Paula Harris.
  • Hyacinth Review published my poem, “Interrupta: Two.”
  • Two poems published in Fallen, edited by Jimmy Broccoli, then changed to Lilith.
  • Received Best of the Net nomination for cover art from Gone Lawn.
  • Prose poem about my ass in Ran Off With the Star Bassoon.
  • List poem appeared in Red Ogre Review anthology.
  • Cover art nominated for Best of the Net by The Memezine.
  • Best of the Net 2024 finalist for art published in Sage Cigarettes.
  • Best of the Net nomination for erasure/collage/drawing in Diode last year.
  • Upcoming reading with Midway Journal in Chicago at the Art Center (Oct. 24).
  • Upcoming reading with The European Salon (Oct. 7).
  • Thin Places and Sacred Spaces anthology released (I have work in it).
  • A bunch of rejections (on sub hiatus now−am satiated).
  • My book, Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect is in. I will be selling signed copies here (very soon), but it is also available to purchase on Diode’s site. Note I will also be selling some prints of my visual poetry and other works in bundles (soon).
  • I will be on an upcoming Eat the Storms podcast (out of Ireland). More details soon! Check out my previous one from a couple years ago here.
  • I did an interview with Katie Jean Shinkle for Write or Die that will be published in October. If you haven’t checked out Write or Die, they are happening!

Ⓒ Koss, 2024. All rights reserved.

Best of the Net Finalists 2024

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asemic black and white mixed media piece on white handmade paper with best of the net 2024 finalist text
Love Letter to Queers Who Suicided, Published in Sage Cigarettes

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 this year, and very grateful to managing Editor, Tennison Black and Editor-in-Chief, Darren C. Demaree.

There’s always an element of luck to this. There was a lot of art published in journals, great art, that wasn’t nominated. A lot of journals don’t nominate for art, so I’m hoping you’ll spread the word that they can.

Here is a list of the finalists in each category. Find the ’24 Best of the Net Anthology here.

Art

Karyna Aslanova’s “Economy” from The Ilanot Review
Harry Bauld’s “The Rain It Raineth Every Day” from Split Rock Review
Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier’s “Bird Calls” from Hayden’s Ferry Review
Parag Borse’s “Combs & Senility Pastels 28″x30” from The Wise Owl (Jade Edition)
Brendan Bray’s “Dive” from Beaver Magazine
Kathy Bruce’s “Untitled” from Haus-a-rest
Michael Campbell’s “Mothers of Mercy” from Cream Scene Carnival
Camryn Casey’s “Edible Sun” from 128 LIT
Camryn Casey’s “Melatonin” from 128 LIT
Nathan Cho’s “Mirrored Glare” from Tint Journal
Minhee Chung’s “An Ocean Wide” from Santa Clara Review
Tyler Cohen’s “Semantic Shift” from MUTHA Magazine
Rachel Coyne’s “Untitled” from Kitchen Table Quarterly
jessi eoin’s “unexpected joy” from just femme & dandy
Catherine-Esther Cowi’s “Heirloom” from Aquifer: The Florida Review Online
Johnny Damm’s Excerpt from”I’m a Cop” from ANMLY
Martins Deep’s “Untitled” from Radon Journal
James Diaz’s “I HAVE A MOTHER LIKE THAT TOO” from The Dawn Review
Darren Donate’s “CODEX” from COMP: an interdisciplinary journal
Arnold Fokam’s “Essence of Life” from West Trade Review
Daniel Kent Foley’s “Preservatoin vs. Retention” from Split Lip Magazine
Peyton Fultz’s “Liminal” from Phoebe
Helen Gwyn Jones’s “The Poisoner” from Acropolis Journal
Megan Joubert’s “Leggy Lady of Leisure” from fifth wheel press
Amy Lynne Hill’s Cover Art (Issue 13) from Screen Door Review
Anastasia Hiorns’ “Untitled 2” from ANMLY
Jacqueline Huskisson’s “Playroom” from long con magazine
Caylin Jayde’s “Self Portrait in Spring” from Sixth Finch
Jezzelle Kellam’s “Reverence For My Cell” from Jet Fuel Review
Koss’ “Love Letter to Queers Who Suicided.” from Sage Cigarettes Magazine
Janis Ledwell-Hunt’s “UNTITLED – BUG” from Flapper Press
Nora de Mariaffi’s “Eden” from orangepeel literary magazine
Laura Marker’s “Witness” from Metachrosis Literary
Aiyana Masla’s “July Pelvis” from West Trestle Review
Tajla Medeiros’s “The Last Bird” from Raw Lit Mag
Judy Moore’s “Everything Is Somewhat Repaired: Images That Reflect Yourself” from The Offing
Dimeji Onafuwa’s “Introspection (Ironu)” from North Carolina Literary Review
Taban Peter Pal’s “Untitled” from The Wise Owl (Pine Edition)
Bethann Parker’s “Ship Out to Sea” from Terrain.org
Erin Bryant Petty’s “Knowledge” from The Icarus Writing Collective
Theresa Pisani’s “A Summer Night at the Palace” from Split Lip Magazine
Jan Price’s “Forgiving” from Eastern Iowa Review
Kathleen Radigan’s “The Cloud” from Shenandoah
John Robinson’s “Self-Portrait Machine 1” from Sixth Finch
Nichola Rodgers’ “‘Wish Thee wurr err’” from Haus-a-rest
Carolyn Supinka’s “The Ocean Floor” from Ecotone
Luke Sutherland’s “Untitled” from ANMLY
Irina Tall’s “Untitled 4” from The Selkie Publications
Regina Valmadrid and Em Violet’s “In Reverie” from the borderline
Chris Vaughan’s “Prospero’s Nephew’s Notebook (Page 1)” from Big Other
Richard Vyse’s “Mindscape #6” from Mud Season Review
Caitlin Walton’s “Rest” from Crab Apple Literary

Poetry

Ally Ang’s “Autoerotic Abecedarian” from Bellingham Review
Kay Bell’s “Girl” from BigCityLit
Mary Elizabeth Birnbaum’s “Quarry” from Empty House Press
Tina Cane’s “Towards a Father / Land Acknowledgment Statement” from Under a Warm Green Linden
Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach’s “Week 33: Pineapple” from The Account
Heather L. Davis’ “The Pale Pink Ceramic Mug for Instance” from Quartet
Farnaz Fatemi’s “Ground” from Tab Journal
Anne-Marie Glasheen’s “Leakage” from TOWER
Aimee Herman’s “procedure in three parts” from Rough Cut Press
Heidi Kasa’s “Love Poems Are Changelings” from The Quilled Ink Review, Ode to Love
Maurya Kerr’s “My black” from Inverted Syntax
Karen An-hwei Lee’s “THE QUIET COUNSEL OF PEARS” from Poetry Northwest
Hillary Leftwich’s “Scarecrow” from Harbor Review
Megan Merchant’s “To prick a song from a dead bird” from Rise Up Review
Cecil Morris’ “after our daughter passes, we go camping” from Neologism Poetry Journal
Ehi-kowoicho Ogwiji’s “packrat” from Waccamaw
Gaia Rajan’s “Intuition” from Ran Off With the Star Bassoon
Michael Riedell’s “Porters” from Right Hand Pointing
Georgio Russell’s “Relic” from Surging Tide Magazine
Eli Shaw’s “Top Surgery” from Screen Door Review
Saranya Subramanian’s “Navratri on the Muni” from The Bombay Literary Magazine
Yuko Taniguchi’s “Two Views (After Tsunami)” from Ecotone
Myles Taylor’s “Unskilled Labor” from Posit Journal
Mimi Tempestt’s “basquiat’s revenge” from The Ex-Puritan
Christian Ward’s “On Nature” from The Winged Moon
Mimi Yang’s “Dinner Sonnet” from Chestnut Review
Eric Yip’s “雪 / Snow” from Diode Poetry Journal

Fiction

Skye Anicca’s “Games for Heartland Girls, 1984” from Anti-Heroin Chic
Lindy Biller’s “In the First Draft, The Baby Dies” from SmokeLong Quarterly
Amber Blaeser-Wardzala’s “Costumes” from CRAFT
Nadia Born’s “Mother Tongue” from Hayden’s Ferry Review
Avery Briar’s “Beautiful Meanings in Beautiful Things” from beestung
Bethany Browning’s “How I Cured My Depression” from Reckon Review
Jayson Carcione’s “I Love You, Mrs. Tresca” from The Forge Literary Magazine
Christian Emmanuel Castaing’s “Pilgrim Pleasure Principles” from the museum of americana
Brennig Davies’ “Arm Wrestle” from The Cardiff Review
Eun Jung Decker’s “A Repetition of Longing” from ANMLY
Aisling Ní Choibheanaigh Nic Eoin’s “Weathering” from TOWER
RK Fauth’s “A Fever Dream In Which I Am Eve, Exiting” from NonBinary Review
Lisa Ferranti’s “Many Moons” from RUBY
Tracy Miller Geary’s “Addled” from Revolute
Erin Gravley’s “All This Will Be Underwater” from The Rumpus
Sam Khaikin’s “Welcome to Venus” from Pithead Chapel
Phoebe Kranefuss’s “Don’t Touch Me I’m Prickly” from The Rejoinder
Alec Evan March’s “casualties” from Chaotic Merge
Anna-Claire McGrath’s “Rats: A Love Story” from New Delta Review
Samir Sirk Morató’s “Girlish Duties” from Carmen et Error
Richie Narvaez’s “Moll (After Kincaid)” from The Disappointed Housewife
Gillian Perry’s “Somatics” from Cleaver Magazine
Nicholas Petty’s “MR TANAKA NEEDS SOME REST” from The Forge Literary Magazine
Reema Rao-Patel’s “We Americans” from Flash Frog
Dave V. Riser’s “Tirage” from The Arkansas International
J.C. Rodriguez’s “Six Notes on Red & a Red Note on Six” from Barrelhouse Magazine
Andreas Trolf’s “75 Simple Steps to Positive, Growing Change” from The Florida Review
Sonya Vatomsky’s “Here Are the Ones That Went” from ANMLY
Jacqueline Xiong’s “10 Years Later, Breaking Up While Listening to Leslie Cheung” from Surging Tide Magazine
Hanwen Zhang’s “The Neighbors” from Halfway Down the Stairs

Non-Fiction

Sarah Aziza’s “I Make Myself a Channel” from The Margins
A. Brown’s “Cleo and the Queen” from Honey Literary
Annia Ciezadlo’s “Because of the Droughts” from Adi Magazine
Kimberly Elkins “The Game for Winners” from The Cincinnati Review
Amelia Akiko Frank’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once (dir. Daniels, 2022)” from wig-wag
Vive Griffith’s “My Students’ Future Lives” from The Missouri Review
K Ho’s “Lines” from So to Speak
Jasmyn Huff’s “An Open Wound” from X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine
Rochelle Hurt’s “Quipo Womb (The Story of the Red Thread in Athens)” from The Adroit Journal
noam keim’s “Thinking about na3na3” from ALOCASIA
Manasi Nene’s “Pedalling Uphill” from Liminal Transit Review
Jeannine Ouellette’s “The Cost” from The Ilanot Review
Laura Rubenstein’s “Here Lies the Body” from Southeast Review
Julie Marie Wade’s “The Plague of Flies” from Phoebe

Literary Publications | 2024 First Quarter

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Like to a Dream, published in diode poetry

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 pubs online or vice versa. I love both.

Note, you will find some of these on my Unlinktree at the time of this writing (what’s new page), but here I provide more details (and the Unlinktree gets updated with deleted entries).

I just added some photos to my photo gallery here on this site. New photos are appended to the bottom and in no particular order. I’m trying to not impose rules because if it’s a drag, I won’t update it. Enjoy!

duets cover piano collage with multi-colored rainbow keys, duets anthology edited by Amy Marquez

In January, Duets, edited by Amy Marquez, was released, an interesting anthology of mostly flash and micro fiction by writers she has worked with. Each piece was paired with her artwork, and she also invited an accompanying story and thoughts about the intersection of her work with the art. Download a free copy or buy the print version here.

Other anthologies out include Milkweed Press’s Dead of Winter III, Fifth Wheel Press’s Secrets in the Garden, and Querencia Press’s Winter ’24 Anthology. I have work, much of it about suicide and grief, in these. All of the editors were lovely to work with.

I was happy to publish visual erasure poetry in Permafrost and in Sage Cigarettes (along with a landscape swamp sketch).

brown vignetted angel parchment image with quote text from a micro poem by koss in BULL

Bull published two micro fictions. Also see my previous publications with them. In February, Prelude published what I call a transformer poem, which was an embellished erasure from a section of The Waste land. Also see my previous publication with Prelude Magazine.

Action Spectacle, a new ‘zine by Adam Day published one of my “bad dating” poems in February. It was a huge issue full of really great writers. They are a very promising journal you should check out (as of this writing, they’re open for submissions).

San Pedro River Review published a poem I wrote about narcissism in their Shapes and Secrets Issue. It’s a wonderful issue and includes several poetry pals and writers I really admire.

Diode published an update on my forthcoming book in their Substack newsletter. Check it out here (you can also sign up for news about their other publications and happenings.

Winning Writers also included my recent and forthcoming publications in their newsletter, which was lovely. Note their Wergle Flomp Contest deadline is approaching at the end of March. Read about my 2021 win here.

black sprayed erasure poem with abstract skull over Wuthering Heights page

I had five poems re-published on Anvil Tongue, plus two early Wuthering Heights erasures and two photos (previously unpublished). Check them out along with some other experimental pieces on the site.

Two poems (re-published) are forthcoming from Chiron Review in the winter issue, which hopefully will be out in the fall as they are both sort of Thanksgiving pieces (from an anti-colonialist/indigenous perspective). One was previously published in Spoon River Poetry Review and one in Lumiere, so they may be new to you. Also due in March is a poem about loss in Ovation, an anthology edited by Jimmy Broccoli, and three poems in diode poetry’s 17th anniversary issue due out any day.

SugarSugarSalt Lit is publishing, or re-publishing a work called Affection on March 22. This work was first published by Variant Lit and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. I didn’t win, but the nomination was really an honor.

In April, I’ll have a personal craft piece published in Reckon Review. Other than a blog piece I wrote about list poems, this is the first of its kind. Bulb Culture Collective accepted a poem about one of my ancestors in their arbor issue, also out in April. Also, I have artwork in Mom Egg Review’s next print issue, due out in late April.

Also out in April, five new photographs in Anti-Heroin Chic. Find the photos here and the main issue here. This is a wonderful issue. I really admire Anti-Heroin Chic’s “heartful” mission and that they publish working-class writers (and writers of all persuasions).

cover of dead of winter III anthology with rib cage bones and red roses

I’ll be doing a reading with Milkweed Press to celebrate the release of Dead of Winter III on March 18. Sign up for the Zoom reading here. I’m looking for reading venues for fall/winter when my book is released. Please contact me on social if you think I might work for your venue.

Lastly, I have work forthcoming in Amethyst Review’s Thin Spaces & Sacred Places anthology in July, a flash in Midway Journal (in April), and work in Hyacinth Review in May and August, and a large suite of micros in Mythic Picnic in April. It’s a busy year, and my book will be released in the fall, but I don’t see any other publications in the winter (as I think I’m finished for now).

Thank you for stopping by. Keep writing, submitting, creating art, making it in whatever ways it takes, and reserve plenty of time for living. And happy spring (it will arrive any time).

*Update: There was a reading for the Dead of Winter anthology on March 18. It was recorded, so you can see it on YouTube.

Dead of Winter III Anthology | Milk and Cake Press

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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. I found another version where two lines got cut, and, well, this is what has happened the couple of times I’ve tried to write sonnets. I am not a forms writer, but I enjoy some Japanese forms on occasion.

An earlier version of it was published in Entropy as part of a very long hybrid piece (they, unfortunately pulled everything, so it’s nice to see part of the longer piece get a second life). “A Modern Highway Death” was first published in Spillway.

The editors, Kim-Jacobs Beck and Miranda Scharf were wonderful to work with and very professional. The cover art of all of the collections was done by Jonathan Scharf and Dan Beck does the layout and design. Grateful also to editors, Jasmine Warner and Heather Phillips.

Purchase the anthology and the cool cover art cards and check out their future calls for anthologies, manuscript calls, and other projects here.

Update, there was a spring equinox reading on March 18, 2024. It is available on YouTube if you’d like to see it. It was a lovely reading, and is a good way to preview some poetry before purchasing the anthology.

dead of winter anthology cover art with skelton rib cage in white, red roses, and black background
Dead of Winter III Cover Art
dead of winter III promotion with postcards from all of milk and cake press's antholgies on a paperbag background with text.
Dead of Winter Anthology Art Postcards

Querencia Winter 2024 Anthology | Poems

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Today is pub day for the Querencia Press Winter 2024 Anthology. I’m honored to have three poems published. They’re important poems to me, “Dead People Don’t Dream Hamburgers,” “Conversions: I Appeared in Your Suicide Dream,” and “Max, Carrie’s Mother, [No Wonder].” These were published (in order) in Eunoia, Spillway, and Anti-Heroin Chic but I’m thrilled to see them in print and in front of new eyes.

Emily Perkovich, the editor did an amazing job of curating the pieces and putting the anthology together quickly while producing a beautiful end product.

See the book here, and buy it from the press here. There are other purchasing options, but remember, presses make considerably more money when you purchase directly from them.

querencia press text over black, green and purple galaxy with pub day text for the winter 2024 anthology.

Fifth Wheel Press | Secrets in the Garden Anthology

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Today is the release day for Secrets in the Garden, an anthology from Fifth Wheel Press. I’m really grateful to Nat Raum for including me. It’s online, but I believe it will be available in print. Fifth Wheel Press is a queer press with a unique publishing model; In addition to their collaborative projects, they offer a space for writers and artists to self publish.

Following is an excerpt from the published poem “(Untitled) Earth,” which was first published in Mom Egg Review. Grateful to you editors also!

dark blue box with an excerpt from a poem by Koss in the Secrets in the Garden anthology by Fifth Wheel Press. Text is gray and offwhite
garden image with grass and flowers in browns and greens with secrets in the garden anthology text

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