Koss Works

Writing | Poetry | Art

Experimental Writing

Self-Publishing is Publishing Too

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pink and green square asemic piece with wavy striations and asemic writing in purplish and green tones

It has been a very busy month, so I thought I’d do a quick post with some links to things. But along with these publications, I want to share that I’ll be doing more self publishing, along with producing some prints, and further off, some broadsides. Please keep me in mind if you have a broadside project. I’d love to work together.

I have self published in some form since I was very young from the third-grade comic books, to punk art xerox books made in college and after. But in recent years, I got on the hamster wheel of publishing in journals, and as you probably know, it can be EXHAUSTING!

I’m not knocking it. I appreciate all the labor that goes into publishing, and am super-grateful for my publications. It is nice to see your work in print, online, and to get the recognition and approval that comes with it–and, of course, benefit from the readership a journal has built. I will still publish in zines. I’m not quitting. Just considering other ways to get work seen.

Mythic Picnic, a Twitter Zine (see my publication link below) also got me to thinking about alternative ways to publish work. I think publishing on social is really fabulous and empowering. You should check their account and see what they’re up to (and maybe even send them something. They consider previously published too.

A couple of writers reminded me of what is great about DIY print publishing. Those writers are Jimmy Broccoli and Angel Rosen. Both publish their own poetry books, and Jimmy also publishes anthologies of writers he likes.

Services like Lulu have made it really easy to self publish–and no I’m not endorsing them as a service. But some of these services even allow publishing from Word. No InDesign skills necessary.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself. I do not have a book I’m publishing yet (I do have a book Diode is publishing in the fall), but I will most likely be publishing an asemic art book–plus I have some prints in the works, which will be listed here on my website once the details are ironed out. Plus, I’ll be offering packages with my Diode book coming out this fall.

So my less ambitious self publishing project is just that I’m going to be publishing more visual work online, both here and on social. I created an additional Insta account. This one, for now, is public. Please follow it here if you need some visual pleasure in your mornings (perusing art on Insta is one of my favorite activities). Koss Visual Poetry should be interpreted in the broadest sense. Consider I’m a hybrid writer with blurry boundaries, although I like to think my real-life ones are fairly intact. All of the works will have a visual element, even if they are concrete poems… Think erasure poems, collage, my crossword puzzle poems, and asemic art.

The coolest thing about online publishing for art is that artists get to show their work without it having to be legitimized by dealers. And there is potential to reach much bigger audiences, and not share fifty-percent with dealers.

Also, did you know that you can self nominate for Best of the Net when you publish on a blog (writing and art)? Most journals don’t nominate for art, so there’s that. And Winning Writers hosts an annual contest, The North Street Book Prize, for self published books with multiple genre categories (I’m sure there are other contests out there also). I believe you can submit to some Lambda prizes too… Also, there is the Eric Hoffer Award, which is open to small presses and self-publishing authors. So maybe you don’t have to wait and hope for a nomination. It’s okay to be a bit proactive about your work.

Self publishing is personally empowering. No Submittable or fees. No waiting. No lost submissions. It’s immediate gratification with no anxiety, no rejection.

And now, the promised links to April pubs. Thank you lovely editors for the publications. And see you, readers, on social. Thanks for stopping by!

And don’t forget to follow my new Insta account. And if you have any thoughts about self publishing, feel free to share in the comments.

ANVIL TONGUE PUBLICATIONS 2024

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Thrilled to have work in Anvil Tongue as a nice entry into March, and, hopefully, spring, but you never know where I live! Daniel Garraun has put together a nice issue with the following writers:

  • Will Davis
  • Estajoka
  • Barton Smock
  • Adam Stutz
  • Will Alexander & Justin Robinson
  • Joseph Delgado
  • Elisabeth Bletsoe
  • Lo Kwa Mei-en
  • Koss
  • Sherese Francis

I have several republished pieces in this issue (most were in print), some photos, and some of my earliest, experimental Wuthering Heights pieces (see one of them below, but use the link to read the entire issue):

  • Aldi, Simple Things (originally published in North Dakota Quarterly)
  • Skins (originally published in Chiron)
  • Five for (originally published in Feral)
  • Seven for (originally published in Eunoia Review)
  • What Max Did Before Climbing into her Spaceship (originally published in Feral)

The photos and erasure poems were not published, although some may have appeared on my social accounts or in an online gallery. For more Wuthering Heights erasures, check out the search bar because there are graphics and/or links to other publications.

black and white abstract sprayed Wuthering Heights erasure poem, experimental art
Wuthering Heights Erasure Art, Handmade and Digital

Permafrost | Winter ’24 Issue

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After a very long delay, Permafrost Magazine’s Winter ’24 Issue Has Arrived. Note that this was supposed to be a March ’23 Issue, and I’m not sure how it will be listed on their website. From what I can tell, you need a Submittable account to purchase it from their site.

I have two Wuthering Heights erasure poem collages in it. They are both traditional and digital media and part of a series of Wuthering Heights erasure poems I’ve been working on over the last five years. Use the search bar to the right or see “categories” to see other blackout poems (including some from this series).

Wuthering Heights erasure poetry page with collage and ink and pencil with woman sitting on stairs and claw-like configurations in tanned paper color and pale green.
Wuthering Heights erasure poem with handrawing and digital colorizing and coat hangers.
Permafrost Magazine Winter '23-'24 issue with multiple orange, yellow, and dark colored images in a sequence.

Fiction 2023 by Koss

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asemic art with yellow, red, pinks, and blacks and grays with wavy lines, shapes and scrawl

I see people doing eligibility posts for the fiction award nominations on Twitter. I’m not sure about the etiquette here, but here are my fiction, flash, and microfiction pieces published in ’23. And they could benefit from some more reach. Grateful for the publications, y’all. Thank you for checking these out.

2023 Koss Publications | April Update

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abstract kali image in blue and purple colors
Thank you Sonika Agarwal for the use of your Unsplash photo as a point of departure.

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While I’ve been super-blessed with numerous publications recently (thank you, kindly, editors), the strangeness of this year has given me pause on all fronts including curbing my submissions and creative production. Of course, I’ve had worse years with more calamity—even recent ones, but this is like a cosmic tornado, kundalini-crisis-scale stuff where all you want to do is take a spring walk and the sky hurls shitting cows, canceled things, broken furnaces, and, of course, rejections from overhead, and mostly not the nice smudgy-ink handwritten ones that don’t really feel like rejections. That was in another incarnation, actually.

You know you should take cover, but there are only vast roundup-laden fields in shades of faded VanDyke brown surrounding you—and no socialist-sexy-dyke-farmers-with-tractors sowing those fields. There’s nowhere to hide from the insistent sky, its angry, driven gods and their secrets, and relentless unmet needs and bullshit. (Note I’m more at peace than I seem, but I like how this sounds. I’m sort of a writer, after all).

Whether this life shit is due to karmic debt, a cosmic bad hand, or just my own bungling is unknown, but we are living in the age of Kali Yuga, and things have not been easy. *If things are easy for you, and you have a success secret, feel free to leave it in a comment. Feel free to also indicate if Kali (the goddess) has chopped off your ego or the ego of someone you know. What might this even look like? Did you make awkward small talk after she did the deed?

From what I understand, Kali shows up for writers all the time. I saw a somewhat funny video by a healer (Tanishka) that implanted some of this imagery in my head, so I can’t take full credit here, but Hindu goddesses have always resonated with me. So back to comments, please do leave them: Your comments remind me I’m not alone in the cyber void and WordPress is not really my personal diary after all.

My Submittable queue is sparer than my vegetable/fruit bins in my broken fridge, but it’s okay. As I trudge through life sludge and sundry disappointments while worrying excessively about the predetermined and determined things, I know it’s cool to take a break and reassess (what I tell other writers) where I’ve been and where I’m headed, and don’t worry about me. I’m fine because I take ashwagandha. ;-).

*If you’re here to find links to my recently published work, feel free to zoom down the page using my magic link and skip the details. Or check the summary above or click to scroll down to see some cool video poems from recent publications, losing winners, etc. When I feel stuck in life, I provide dizzying options for bouncing on a page, which is actually a lot easier in terms of movement—plus you can just sit there. *Hint, if you follow me on Instagram, I usually get around to posting there. I know it’s the show-and-tell platform (do they do that anymore in school?), but rest assured, there won’t be a zillion selfies in my car there. It’s mostly art, poems, and other people’s work I share.

If all this damn text scares you, I don’t blame you—it fucking scares me too! Someone throw us a life jacket! This blog post was modeled after my grandmother’s Canadian cousin Vera’s family update letters that no one wanted to read, but that she sent out religiously after each annual camping adventure with that Texan dude she abducted after they both became suddenly single in their late 60s. Like the gods with their cows, she was determined in all the ways, which included driving her big RV across the continent, changing tires, starting multiple health food stores, practicing homeopathy (along with pendulum reading—plus other kinds of divination), and bagging conservative Texan widows she mistook for exotic, all while proselytizing religion (Reorganized Latter Day Saint). She was amazing really—in all the juggling, comical, and spectacular ways. He was, however, unremarkable and a know-it-all—which spared the rest of us from having to know or contribute anything to the get togethers other than food.

I realize something Vera didn’t: Nobody likes to read, and the Book of Mormon is no exception to this fact (I say this as one who was raised Reorganized Latter Day Saint—the book is frightening—the decapitations especially—none of it stuck—I had my own “non-denom” thing going on, and yes, I realize Kali is not cuddly, but I just can’t resist a sword-swinging goddess, as she showed me this year). Without friction, I accept the failure of our culture to appreciate words including RLS ones (also because I take ashwagandha). But I write anyway because I have compulsions and other things wrong with me. But why do you read?

What are you doing here, really? Do you know? Thank you for coming, regardless. I love you (really).

Gut Slut Bone Milk II Anthology with photo and poem by koss on black background

Despite my complaints this year, which I’ve really only dramatically hinted at, I’m blessed, like I said, to have some work coming out, so this post is, among other things, a gratitude post to those who had the kindness, discernment, and, in some instances, guts to publish my work. Again, the links are in a convenient clickable list below, not because I want you to go away, but because I love you enough to convenience you. I have work included in several anthologies this year, including Gut Slut Press’s Bone Milk II, Bending Genre’s Get Bent, and diode poetry’s Beyond the Frame (an ekphrastic anthology based on Patty Paine’s photos). All of these are fabulous! I’m so grateful to the editors and volunteers! The gut sluts at Gut Slut Press publish some really experimental and difficult work, and they can because they’re gut sluts. One of my pieces is a sprawling, hallucinogenic, trauma piece, plus a photo and a reprinted piece called, “You Drawing,” also published in Bending Genres.

pastel handrawn spots and colored scribbles with text - color therapy for beginners - diode poetry

In journals, I have a range of micro, flash, poetry, photographs, and erasure art published or forthcoming. I had a sort of fun, yet strange, “zuihitsuish,” poetic manual called “Color Therapy for Beginners” published in diode’s 16th anniversary issue. Couldn’t have written this piece without working a marketing job for years which included writing about organizing and decor and feigning interest in plastic yard rocks and chrome shelving. I’m hoping to write more pieces that riff off this past experience. I generally don’t aim to write likable things, but this one should be a pleaser with straightish women, trans women, queers, toy collectors, and well, everyone.

I also had a piece published in San Pedro River Review (I’m so glad neither the Alfiers nor Patty Paine have grown tired of me). I made short videos for these. I know some might think it’s grandiose to make videos and album covers for individual poems, but if you don’t celebrate your own stuff, who will?

Friday, Saturday flash promo with offwhite door and wall and text anti-heroin chic

Anti-Heroin Chic published photos and one of my most important pieces, a flash, about suicide, “Friday, Saturday.” This piece has garnered some mixed attention from good to really bizarre. As with previous suicide pubs, I immediately lost about 10 Twitter followers (talk about people not liking to read). The surprising twist though, Twitter friends were generous to share, and this piece is becoming one of my most-read pieces along with another piece published by Anti-Heroin Chic. So along with the usual unfollowing, I was really touched by the support. This was the last “must-publish” piece from this body of work. I’m sure I’ll still need to write about grief and suicide loss, but it felt good to put the lid on this particular container. I’m so grateful to Dylan and James for this publication—and to Roy for the photo selections.

pink micro fiction promo for flash boulevard with ventroliquist dummy face and grunge text

Flash Boulevard accepted four micro-ish fiction pieces. So grateful to Francine Witte for this publication, which includes grief, rats who are culinary experts, naked bosses, and ventriloquist dummies. These pieces span many years, so it’s nice to see them share a page.

Also, I have work coming out any minute in Permafrost (the print issue) and (Re)An Ideas Journal (a Wuthering Heights erasure). Not sure about the dates. I thought March and April on these.

Harbor Editions 2023 microchapbook promo with pink background and winner and runnerup text

On other good notes, my micro-chap, tiny corpus was a runner-up/finalist in Harbor Editions contest. Congrats to Donna Spruijt-Metz, the winner, and all the finalists and semi-finalists. Ya’all should be proud. I decided to publish the poems in no particular order on Instagram (follow me to read them)—I post lots of graphics there, including most of my over-the-top “album covers” for my poems. I may illustrate them and publish a book at a later date, but right now, at least they are out there. All but one appeared previously in journals. The cranio poems in video below include a soundtrack that might induce a trance—or just put you to sleep.

Get Bent Bending Genres Anthology cover front and back with excerpt of koss zuihitsu

If you made it to this point, the rewards are below. Or maybe the rewards are scattered throughout. I’m not likely to write anything this long in the future, and eventually, I’ll be posting short pieces about sundry things, including other people’s work, which I have done a bit already. Also, I’m working on a gallery of artwork, just something basic. If you need cover art, illustration, or web design services, feel free to contact me using my web form. Thank you so much for stopping by. Without you, there’d be little reason to do this! Of course, I’m open to you proving me wrong about “no one likes to read.”

Linkables

Video Poems

Publication in San Pedro River Review

San Pedro River Review Summertime 2023 Issue

Through the Body’s Bramble (from tiny corpus)

Through the Body’s Bramble from tiny corpus

Two Poems About Cranial Sacral Therapy from tiny corpus

Two Poems about Cranial Sacral Therapy and Grief from tiny corpus

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