Koss Works

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Art

Anvil Tongue | Emily Dickinson Poems | Wuthering Heights Erasures

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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).

Hope, an Emily Dickinson Erasure Poem by Koss on coarse burlap background in black and white.
Hope, an Emily Dickinson Erasure Poem by Koss

Drawing and Grief

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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.

cartoony drawing with red, orange and blue watercolor and a woman slinging snakes while sucking the sludge from the void.
The Grief Eaters (a doodle by Koss)
horse drawing ink
Horse (ink drawing by Koss)
man sitting with arms folded and cap on--a pencil drawing with age stains on it
Man (pencil drawing by Koss

Asemic Writing, Erasure Poetry | Up the Staircase Quarterly

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Grateful to be in Up the Staircase Quarterly #57. This issue is full of great poetry and art. Poetry by these people included:

  • Quinn Forlini | “Attenuation”
  • Sanvitti Sahdev | “I fill up”
  • Fiona Lu | “hunting”
  • Oluwafisayo Akinfolami | “Semantics”
  • Satya Dash | 2 poems: “Elasticity” and “Two Deaths”
  • Jill Khoury | “Subjective Units of Distress Scale 1-10”
  • Ran Zhao | “floodpath”
  • Olivia J. Kiers | “Shower: Arc de Triomphe”
  • Anaïs Deal-Márquez | “Gringa.”
  • Jace Raymond Smellie | “for my grandma doris almost four years after”
  • Chase Dimock | “Contaminants”
  • Kolbe Riney | 2 poems: “sexy villain” and “voyager”

and artwork by:

  • Sara Louise Wilson | Haunt Me + more
  • Elizabeth Wing | Blüd Rites
  • jw summerisle | Strangers
  • Shelbey Leco | Blue.
  • Koss | Wuthering Heights 1, Magpie +more
  • Tomislav Silipetar | WHAT IS LEFT

Emanuela Iorga is the issue illustrator with multiple bullet-riddled images in a starkly graphic (not literal) style.

Also, reviews by:

  • Tyler Friend | Him or Her or Whatever
  • Jasmine Elizabeth Smith | South Flight
  • ​L.E. Bowman | What I Learned from the Trees

I have four pieces from a magpie/hare series slated for my book, plus one visual poem that utilizes text from a poem, “Shoulder Story,” originally published in Rogue Agent. The other pieces reference or erase passages of Wuthering Heights. Find my page here, and read the whole issue here.

I’ve been taking a break from writing poetry and doing visual word art, including asemic writing/recycling from journals, crossword poems, and uncategorizable stuff, but I have lots of work coming out in the next few months, including some difficult abuse writing and some more visual poetry in Diode. It feels good to get back to painting and drawing.

Magpie asemic art piece with writing and Wuthering Heights erasure poetry text in and surrounding black magpie.
Up the Staircase Visual Poetry, Asemic Writing, and Erasure Poetry by Koss

Done 2021 | Water-Soluble Crayon on Crossword Poem

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Done, 2021, a visual poem on newsprint crossword—created by moi at the end of the year. I’ve been depriving myself of color for a long time. Here’s a new start to occasional color. Happy New Year!

Done, 2021, Visual Poem by Koss

Indecision | Koss | Crossword Art

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Crossword Poem/Art by Koss, graphite over text
Crossword Poem/Art by Koss

Sometimes less is more. Sometimes I can’t believe in language. But all that really matters is the pencil, the brush, and this moment. Check out some of my other crossword poems and art in my blog. You can also navigate by the categories. Thanks for visiting.

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