Koss Works

Writing | Poetry | Art

Publications

Dead of Winter III Anthology | Milk and Cake Press

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The Dead of Winter III Anthology by Milk and Cake Press is out and it’s gorgeous. I’m happy to have two poems, “A Modern Highway Death” and “February” in it. “February” was originally a traditional sonnet in iambic pentameter, if I’m remembering right, but it didn’t have a volta. It later relaxed into this one. I found another version where two lines got cut, and, well, this is what has happened the couple of times I’ve tried to write sonnets. I am not a forms writer, but I enjoy some Japanese forms on occasion.

An earlier version of it was published in Entropy as part of a very long hybrid piece (they, unfortunately pulled everything, so it’s nice to see part of the longer piece get a second life). “A Modern Highway Death” was first published in Spillway.

The editors, Kim-Jacobs Beck and Miranda Scharf were wonderful to work with and very professional. The cover art of all of the collections was done by Jonathan Scharf and Dan Beck does the layout and design. Grateful also to editors, Jasmine Warner and Heather Phillips.

Purchase the anthology and the cool cover art cards and check out their future calls for anthologies, manuscript calls, and other projects here.

Update, there was a spring equinox reading on March 18, 2024. It is available on YouTube if you’d like to see it. It was a lovely reading, and is a good way to preview some poetry before purchasing the anthology.

dead of winter anthology cover art with skelton rib cage in white, red roses, and black background
Dead of Winter III Cover Art
dead of winter III promotion with postcards from all of milk and cake press's antholgies on a paperbag background with text.
Dead of Winter Anthology Art Postcards

Action, Spectacle Winter ’23 Issue

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pink and aqua green promo image on square with cartoon bust shot with eyeglasses and striped shirt and girl shopping store text from poem in action spectacle journal

Grateful to Adam Day and the guest editors of the literary journal, Action Spectacle, including Lyn Hejinian, Timothy Liu, Kevin Prufer, Caitlin Horrocks, Daniel Tiffany, Frank Bill, Graham Foust, Meera Ganapathi, Rob McLennan, Travis Chi Wing Lau, Kristin Bock, Catina Bacote, Clifford Thompson, Dorothee Elmiger, Wayne Miller for publishing my snarky dating poem in the gigantic, Winter ’23 issue, featuring lots of writer friends including Cynthia Atkins, Diana Whitely, Jennifer Martelli, Subhaga Crystal Bacon, and many others. They have lots of art and comics in this issue, and I’ll be diving deeper into it this weekend. Note that I have related poems published in Chiron and Roi Fainéant Press. Action, Spectacle is a newer journal off to an impressive start, with a mix of guest editors using curated and slush pile poems for their issues (see Anne Carson’s comic in their first issue).

Find the main, Action, Spectacle Winter ’23 issue link here.

Diode Substack Newsletter | Koss Book Update

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Pink cartoon nerdy person with glasses and striped t-shirt with book title also in pink.

I haven’t really talked online about what my forthcoming chapbook, Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect, is about, but you can read the book description on Diode Editions’ Substack which also showcases my “Therapist Sez” poem, first published in diode poetry and winner of the 2021 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry contest. Know you can also sign up for “All Things Diode,” Diode’s Substack newsletter here!

Sage Cigarettes Magazine | Sketches & Erasures

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Honored to have work included in Sage Cigarettes Magazine just before they change their format. Featured are two sketches, one of a tornado and one of a marsh, and a diptych made from two Wuthering Heights erasure/collages, previously published in Permafrost. It’s lovely to see this online as well as in print as they’re sure to find a broader audience.

The editors at Sage Cigarettes Magazine are professional, cool, and kind. This is an inclusive publication that regularly publishes BIPOC and queer writers.

eyeglasses with round excerpt images of a swamp and a tornado on a beige background with promotional text for the publication

Querencia Winter 2024 Anthology | Poems

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Today is pub day for the Querencia Press Winter 2024 Anthology. I’m honored to have three poems published. They’re important poems to me, “Dead People Don’t Dream Hamburgers,” “Conversions: I Appeared in Your Suicide Dream,” and “Max, Carrie’s Mother, [No Wonder].” These were published (in order) in Eunoia, Spillway, and Anti-Heroin Chic but I’m thrilled to see them in print and in front of new eyes.

Emily Perkovich, the editor did an amazing job of curating the pieces and putting the anthology together quickly while producing a beautiful end product.

See the book here, and buy it from the press here. There are other purchasing options, but remember, presses make considerably more money when you purchase directly from them.

querencia press text over black, green and purple galaxy with pub day text for the winter 2024 anthology.

Fifth Wheel Press | Secrets in the Garden Anthology

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Today is the release day for Secrets in the Garden, an anthology from Fifth Wheel Press. I’m really grateful to Nat Raum for including me. It’s online, but I believe it will be available in print. Fifth Wheel Press is a queer press with a unique publishing model; In addition to their collaborative projects, they offer a space for writers and artists to self publish.

Following is an excerpt from the published poem “(Untitled) Earth,” which was first published in Mom Egg Review. Grateful to you editors also!

dark blue box with an excerpt from a poem by Koss in the Secrets in the Garden anthology by Fifth Wheel Press. Text is gray and offwhite
garden image with grass and flowers in browns and greens with secrets in the garden anthology text

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