Another crossword poem (or the crossword list). Graphite and liquid graphite on mounted crossword poem.
Calves, a Crossword Poem
Art
Schuylkill Valley Journal | Dispatches | Publication
Very happy to have this experimental writing, Because You Are Gone: I Dream You Laughing in Schuylkill Valley Journal Dispatches. When Schuylkill editor Rob Kaniuk wrote me and said it was “kick ass,” it confirmed my suspicion it was finished and gives me the confidence to stay strange (and experimental). Schuylkill’s Dispatches is an online feature where they publish genre-defying writing. They also have online issues, plus they publish a bi-annual print journal. They’ve been publishing for about 30 years.
I wrote this piece in a really great Bending Genre’s workshop with one of my favorite fiction writers, Meg Tuite. I highly recommend their workshops. They usually span two to three days and you post your work (and share feedback) in their proprietary system (it’s not Zoom, so we don’t have to worry about someone stealing our details).
Akashic bits is, I believe, a catchall genre for stories–the dreams, the past, the future, the everywhen–all floating out there in the ether.
Asemic Art
Finished a couple pieces and am playing around with another asemic art or writing piece. The big-nosed magpie on board is finished. I posted it earlier. I’m still playing around with drawing/writing on crossword puzzles. Used a fixative, but am struggling with (albeit intrigued by) how media behaves on the cheap newsprint/manila paper. Conjures memory of hauling around huge sketchpads as an undergrad. So consider it an in-progress shot. The hare poem is now finished (an earlier state posted in another blog post. The original poem was called “Shoulder Story” and published in Rogue Agent. I shortened it, cut it up, and used it in the piece. I like that there’s a weird positive/negative play and the large black shape could be a womb, a black flower, or a fist. The stem might be entrails . . .
Wergle Flomp Humor Award 2021 | My Therapist Sez by Koss
Utterly thrilled to win first place in the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry contest this year. The poem, My Therapist Sez, was published in Diode Poetry last year and is the only poem with papaya salad, kundalini awakenings, multiple therapy sessions, and trick or treating in it. Adam Cohen and Jendi Reiter have been absolutely wonderful to work with, and they even engaged me to illustrate the poem. Check it out along with the other amazing winning poems on their site.
Here’s the main contest page with a list and links to the other winners (some great writing) and runner-ups (plus commentary by the judge, Jendi Reiter). And find the press release here.
Asemic Writing Poetry
Screwing around tonight with some paint and pens, which I then digitized. These are possible inclusions in the book–Magpies of sorts with asemic writing, Wuthering Heights page, and a mysterious black package . . . I like digitizing the work and replicating, changing, introducing new variables . . . Yes, I’m still a bit of a punk. Update: It’s 2024 and I created a new Insta account just for visual poetry, collage, asemic art, and similar. Follow me here. Note this is different from my main Insta account. I will be adding an asemic art gallery some time this summer, but another place to find my work is at Diode Poetry. They published several suites of asemic and erasure poetry. The crow on the right below appeared in different forms on Up the Staircase Quarterly and in a recent issue of Mom Egg Review (print), spring 2024.
