Honored to have cover art and flash in Gone Lawn Issue 46. The artwork is hand drawn, then enhanced digitally. The flash, “The Dictations of Cabbages,” is, I think, a COVID persona piece written in the voice of a carrot on the moon. Okay, I hope I didn’t spoil it. It’s unlike anything I’ve written. Enjoy.
Art
Eat the Storms Inaugural Issue | Artwork by Koss
Honored to have tornado artwork (a watercolor) in the first Eat the Storms literary print journal, a project of the international Eat the Storms Poetry Podcast (from Ireland). It’s a fine-quality journal with glossy pages and color work–plus lots of great writing. Eat the Storms Podcast and Eat the Storms Journal are edited/curated by Damien Donnely, and the issue was co-edited by Gaynor Kayne, a Belfast poet.
Hyacinth Review | Photographs
Hyacinth, a gorgeous new journal that publishes a range of poetry, photography, and art, published a suite of photographs, August, on August 11, the anniversary of Max’s suicide. Three of these were taken with her by my side a couple of days before she died. Two were shot shortly after. One angel piece also appeared in Harpy Hybrid, who published several poems and photos last year. It was kind and thoughtful of the editors to publish them on this day. They are also publishing a poem about healing from grief in November.
The above photo was taken with Max two days before she suicided. This one was not included in the review. A black and white version previously appeared in Harpy Hybrid Review.
Anvil Tongue | Emily Dickinson Poems | Wuthering Heights Erasures
Happy to be included in this release of Anvil Tongue, a website and book publisher run by Daniel Ryan. An Emily Dickinson erasure on hope, a written poem, and some visual word art based on Wuthering Heights are included. The work is in my manuscript about the suicide of a person dear to me. Some of it is erasure, some of it Art Brut. It defies categorization. See the page here and be sure to check out the whole issues. Also see more images/erasures from this series in Up the Staircase Quarterly (also published this year).
Drawing and Grief
I’ve been organizing and digging through years of debris as I figure out what I want my life to look like going forward. Haven’t been able to write lately but have been making cards and paper art, which does something else creatively. It’s nice to be outside of language right now. Below, a drawing of a guy I worked with on a ground’s crew (years ago) and a horse, plus a doodle I did today, “The Grief Eater.” Sometimes all you got is a doodle. Strongly recommend watercolors as a way of de-stressing–even if you’re just pushing them around with no purpose. Oh, and scribbling is good too. That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by.