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Art

The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025

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It’s very pleased to have art in The Pinch Journal, a journal I really admire. Very grateful to Editor-in-Chief, Courtney Miller Santo, Managing Editor, Joshua Carlucci, Art Editor, Isaiah Kennedy and the rest of the staff for putting together such a lovely issue (and for including me). There is lots of great art, poetry, and writing in here–it’s really a stellar lineup, so be sure to check it out (I’ve included screenshots of the TOC so you can see the contributor list). It isn’t yet on their website as of 3/27, but I’m sure they’ll have it listed soon! Here is a link to The Pinch print page.

Photo of print journal drawing reproduction of androgynous women in black dancing in a field with a tornado in the background.
Koss drawing of woman and tornado in The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025
The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025 magazine cover with abstract, painterly hand, whale head, and wave and ship motifs.
Cover art The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025
table of contents photo from The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025
Table of contents page 1 The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025
Table of contests page two of The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025
Table of contents page 2 The Pinch Journal | Issue 44.3 Spring 2025

2024 Koss Publications – End-of-Year Report

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red leaves, maple tree, fire rings with mulch and leaves

(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 including art publications, interviews, readings, and and other stuff just to be a completest, and you can see the visual pieces on my visual Instagram account.

It has been a mixed-bag year which is ending on a very troublesome note with the election results and its accompanying existential shit. There have also been blessings in the form of people, literary wins, etc. with a big gift being the publication of my debut book (from Diode Editions), a very good thing for which I’m grateful to Patty Paine, Law Alsobrook, and Zoe Shankle Donald for. And there were also many other publications, the joy of seeing some of my friends published, some poetry readings, new writer friends, and a good start to next year’s garden, which is worthy of it’s own blog post. ’24 has included, I’ll admit, some heartbreak and a lot of hard work, but with rewards to accompany it.

It’s also been the year I stopped trying a lot of things, and well, I let go of a lot of STUFF, including some dreams. Some lit journals. I stopped counting publications, stopped tallying rejections, and quit Duotrope, which saved my attention for other things. I muted annoying people also, and I stopped wanting to be published by some journals. I made a big effort to be more intentional and not give my energy to people who don’t value it also. Fortunately there are some who do…

I’m hoping to usher in something good and new in ’25, despite the anticipated political and social upheavals. I’m putting most of my hope for America’s future in millennials and Gen Z as I think they embody the Age of Aquarius spirit… and are not afraid of change… Or at least that’s how my Aquarius brain sees it. The fear of change, I’m afraid, is a very self-sabotaging energy, which I feel certain parties have shown over and over. And there’s my big political statement for the year. That’s all.

I cried my guts out over the 2016 election, but this year, I started planning and preparing the earth for a garden, a glorious, scalable vegetable garden, a resistance garden, a fuck-you inflation, fuck-Trump-humping, white supremacist-hater-crotch-rocket-gun-happy-neighbor-vegetable-haven. I’ll let you know how it goes next year.

My book release nearly coincided with the election (October 30th), but it was a joyful thing despite the election dread as some people in my writing community made it matter, and I’m so very grateful. Seeing people share photos of the book online and share kind words such as, “I couldn’t put it down” and “I laughed and I cried,” really warmed my heart. I don’t think I could ask for a better reaction. Also, some very kind folks volunteered to interview me and review the book. Please see links, my Instagram account (I have two), and for this year, my Unlinktree page for quick links to recent publications.

I published a lot of reprints this year, submitted way less, had a couple of finalist awards, and it’s all great. I’m grateful for the journals/editors who published me−and grateful for the nominations for Best of the Net for art. I received a bursary for a Granta memoir workshop which was an interesting experience (it isn’t quite finished). I didn’t finish the book but will have something significant to pitch.

This year has gone by really quickly, and I’m feeling super-run down as I embark on this last leg of it. Thank you, friends for being in my world this year. I think a lot about support and what it means to “show up,” what a mysterious and sometimes elusive thing it has been throughout my life. My grandparents who mostly raised me were clearly supportive, but many others in my family and circle, not at all, so when I found support accidentally in the lit community, well, y’all showed up at a good time in my life. I appreciate you, your work, your camaraderie. I’m sad to see people dumping Twitter, but they may be back, as this has happened before. And Instagram seems to be changing shape and people communicate more there… We’ll see. Enjoy your holidays, if you holiday, be kind to yourselves, and hang in there. We go on… We keep trying… We persevere.

Thanks for checking out this page. I hope you find/read/hear something that resonates with you here.

2024 Art Publications

Publications Poetry

Publications Fiction

  • Prose poem or micro about my ass in Ran Off with the Star Bassoon
  • Hybrid, micro-fiction, prose poem, “The Expatriates” in Harpy Hybrid Review
  • Seven or eight flash and micro pieces, Reprints, in Mythic Picnic
  • Flash fiction, “No One Knew,” in Midway Journal (Nominated for Best Small Fictions ’25)
  • Micro fiction or prose poem, “Wings of (Alternate Version),” in Bull.
  • Micro fiction or prose poem, “About the Author,” in Bull.

CNF

Interviews, Reviews, Etc.

Award Nominations

Awards Received

  • Best of the Net Finalist for artwork published in Sage Cigarettes
  • Wigleaf Top 50 Longlist

Book

  • Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect, released October 30, ’24 from Diode Editions

Podcasts

Readings

  • Midway at the Fine Arts Building, Chicago, October ’24
  • European Writers Salon, October ’24

*Note if you are here considering eligibility, my ’23 year-end publication list is here!

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 2025 | Koss Nominations

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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 they have different category judges each year. I’m happy to have received art nominations from two journals this month (it’s August at the time of this writing). Gone Lawn nominated my “Swamp” drawing, cover art for issue 52 and Memezine nominated my mixed media piece, “Love Letter, Some Version?” from their wonderful May ’24 “Slop” issue. Thank you, Owen Wyke, Amy Barnes, Chel Campbell (plus the Memezine Dream Team), and will be updating this page with more links and photos soon. Lastly, I received a BoTN nomination from Diode for an erasure poem/drawing/collage made from an art history survey book (published last year). Very grateful. Diode has been good to me.

gone lawn 2025 best of the net nomination text with black background
Gone Lawn 2025 Best of the Net Nominees
gone lawn screenshot from issue with koss cover art of swamp drawing
Koss 2025 BoTN Nomination for Cover Art
memezine 2025 best of the net announcements
Memezine Best of the Net Nominations
Memezine Best of the Net Nominations
abstract art with memezine text and bar code in yellow, black, red, and white
Koss Cover Art Best of the Net Nomination
blue promotion for diode with best of the net 2025 nominations
Diode 2025 Best of the Net Nominations

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

Asemic Art by Koss | MER Literary Feature

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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 Crow Artwork from MER Literary

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 buy the issue). They are lovely editors to work with. I’ve been published with them a couple of times. One of the poems they published was about abandonment and will be in my forthcoming book from Diode Editions. There have been several different versions of this previously published in Up the Staircase Quarterly and Anvil Tongue.

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