I’m honored and grateful to receive a Best Small Fictions nomination from Midway Journal for a flash piece, “No One Knew,” one of my most-read pieces, published in 2024. Find the other nominees in this promo…
Flash
2024 Koss Publications – End-of-Year Report
(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
- Cover art, Gone Lawn (BotN nomination)
- Cover art, Memezine (BotN nomination)
- Cover art, Book, Lannie Stabile When the Forest Finds You
- Cover art and asemic art, Harpy Hybrid Review
- Photograph suite of five in Anti-Heroin Chic
- Two photos, two Wuthering Heights erasures, Anvil Tongue
- Erasure Poems and Sketches in Sage Cigarettes
- Two Visual Erasures (Wuthering Heights) in Permafrost Issue 44.2
- Asemic bird art in Mom Egg Review print issue plus online feature
- I published a number of pieces on social media, and this was kind of cool and empowering, so it deserves to be on this list (see my visual Instagram account)
Publications Poetry
- Poem, Reprint, Thin Spaces and Sacred Spaces anthology
- Poem, “Living with Dead Poets (for Paula Harris),” Anti-Heroin Chic
- Three poems, Reprints in Querencia’s Winter ’24 Anthology
- Poem, “Molotov Mother,” Reprint in Diode’s Substack newsletter
- Poem, “Untitled (Earth),” Reprint in Secrets in the Gardens anthology
- Poem, “The Girl-Shopping Store,” in Action Spectacle
- Five poems published in Speakeasy Journal and unpublished (the whole journal) same year (will update with editor names in the near future, but it is elsewhere on this site). This is the “flipsnack” file.
- Poem, “Three for,” San Pedro River Review
- Five Poems, Reprints, Anvil Tongue
- Poem, “Airport Meeting,” Reprint, Duets Anthology
- Poem, “Interrupta: Two” in Hyacinth Review
- Three poems, Reprints in Diode Poetry
- Poem, “The Sounds of Night, Instead,” Reprint in Hyacinth Review
- Two poems, Reprints in Lillith anthology (the publisher is already “unpublishing” this, so I don’t consider it a publication as much as it was just a really weird, disappointing experience).
- Poem, featured poet, Reprint in Ovation anthology (the publisher is already “unpublishing” this, so I don’t consider it a publication as much as it was just a really weird, disappointing experience).
- Poem, “Economies,” Reprint in Bulb Culture Collective
- Poem, “February Pond,” Dead of Winter III Anthology
- Embellished erasure poem, “A Passing on the Waste Land,” in Prelude
- Poem, Red Ogre Review Anthology, Reprint from ’23 December Issue
- Poem, Untitled, (Earth), Fifth Wheel Press ’24 Anthology
- Poem, An Alternative Thanksgiving, Chiron, Winter ’24
- Poem, Giving Thanks, Chiron, Winter ’24
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
- “Affection,” Reprint, in SugarSugarSalt Magazine
- “The Craft of Listening” in Reckon Review
Interviews, Reviews, Etc.
- Thoughts about a zuihitsu piece in Bulb Culture Collective
- Interview with Katie Jean Shinkle about my book in Write or Die Magazine
- Interview with James Diaz about book in Anti-Heroin Chic
- Review of my book in MicroLit by Elaine Fletcher Chapman
- Wrote blurb for Kristine Esser Slentz’s feminist experimental book, Exhibit
- Mini-review of Dancing Backwards by Barton Smock
Award Nominations
- Best of the Net, Cover art, Gone Lawn
- Best of the Net, Cover art, Slop Issue, Memezine
- Best of the Net, Erasure collage/poem “Like to a Dream,” Diode Poetry
- Pushcart Nomination for “The Theft,” Ran Off With the Star Bassoon
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!
Self-Publishing is Publishing Too
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!
- Mythic Picnic (a bunch of flash/micros/short work
- Reckon Review (a sort-of craft essay)
- Bulb Culture Collective (a poem about labor and environment, download or view HTML)
- Midway Journal (a new flash piece)
- Anti-Heroin Chic (five photographs)
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.
Koss 2023 Year-End Publication Update
2023 has been a year of uncertainty, change, and loss, but it ends on a welcome high note as Diode Editions has picked up my long chapbook, Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect, for publication. See more about this in my contest announcement post. The book will be published in 2024, and I’ll post updates as things progress (here and on social).
Rather than make this a 1/4-year post, I’m switching the format and including the entire year’s publications and events on this page. My publication page has grown unwieldy, as has my unlinktree page, which I’m shortening. So here they all are in one convenient place, minus the publications that didn’t appear as scheduled in November. If they miraculously appear online this year, I’ll be updating this and posting on social. It’s Tuesday and I’m glowing inside and grateful to the editors who have published my work, the folks who read and shared my work all year, and especially grateful to Diode who has supported my work over the last few years. I respect their mission to publish diverse voices and am honored to be one of their authors.
Visual Poetry/Asemic Art
Erasure Poem | (Re) Ideas
Erasure Art and Asemic Work x4 | Sage Cigarettes
Photograph | Bonemilk II Anthology
Crossword Poem/Collage | Beaver Magazine
Visual Poetry x 6 | Anti-Heroin Chic
Crossword Poems x 2 | Petrichor, Pebbles Vol. 3
Asemic Pieces & Erasure Collage x 4 | diode poetry Vol. 16., No. 3
Asemic Cover Art and Inside Publication | Cutbow Quarterly
Visual Poem | Beaver Magazine, October ’23
Asemic Pieces x 3 | Up the Staircase Quarterly Nov. ’23
Cover Art | Gone Lawn 52, Nov. ’23
Poems
Three Poems | Anti-Heroin Chic
Five Poems | Speakeasy
Storm | San Pedro River Review Vol. 15, No. 2
Color Therapy for Beginners (hybrid, prose, zuihitsu?) | diode poetry
Ms. Liberty | Beyond the Frame Anthology
Two Poems | Bone Milk II Anthology
To the Girl | San Pedro River Review Vol. 15, No. 1
And So On in a Week (hybrid, zuihitsu, prose?) | Bulb Culture Collective
47/August 11/Black Synchronicity (hybrid list poem) | Red Ogre Review
Eight poems | Roi Fainéant
Fiction/Flash/Micro/Hybrid
The Short Lives of Wombats | MoonPark Review
Four Micros | Flash Boulevard
Fall of Toby and Lady (hybrid zuihitsu/published in the journal too) | Get Bent Anthology
Friday, Saturday | Anti-Heroin Chic
Backyard Passages (double haibun) | Soflopojo
Award Nominations
Photograph BoTN | Anti-Heroin Chic
Artwork BoTN | Sage Cigarettes
Cover Art BoTN | Gone Lawn
Prose Poem BoTN | MoonPark Review
Poem BoTN | Petrichor
Readings
Second Sunday Readings | YouTube
Make the Yuletide Gay, Queer Reading & Open Mic (Dec. 24) | Sign up
In 2024, if all goes as intended, I have publications forthcoming in Reckon Review, Action, Spectacle, Sugar Sugar Salt Lit, Bull, Fifth Wheel Press’s garden anthology, Milk and Cake’s Dead of Winter III anthology, and Amy Marques’ Duets Anthology, so lots to look forward to in publishing.
Happy end of the year to you and may the new year bring you love, health, and everything you need.
Fiction 2023 by Koss
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.
- Near-Death Experience at Hero’s BBQ | Flash Boulevard
- Work But(t) | Flash Boulevard
- The Short Lives of Wombats | Moonpark Review
- Backyard Passages (Haibun) | Soflopojo
- The Soup | Flash Boulevard
- Hair | Flash Boulevard
- Friday, Saturday | Anti-Heroin Chic