Koss Works

Writing | Poetry | Art

Publications

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

Bull Magazine | Micro Fiction by Koss

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Pleased to have two micros in Bull Magazine, also known as Bull, Mr. Bull Bull, and Bull Men’s Magazine. Don’t ask me why so many names but it has evolved into something more inclusive than a men’s-only magazine, and they publish some really great fiction.

fiery red sky background with excerpt from a micro by Koss in Bull Magazine
angels in sky with antiqued paper veil and brown text with excerpt from a micro by Koss in Bull Magazine

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.

Koss 2023 Year-End Publication Update

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Shed in snowy field with oak tree
Shed, Michigan

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.


Diode ’23 Poetry Contest Chapbook Winners

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I’m very honored to have my manuscript, Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect chosen for publication in Diode’s ’23 Poetry Chapbook Contest. I’m very grateful to Patty, Law, and Zoe for this publication. Diode has been a wonderful supporter of my work, publishing multiple text poems, visual poems, and including me in their anthology, Beyond the Frame. I love their mission, their commitment to inclusivity, and the writers they publish. They are, I believe, in a class by themselves. Here are two graphics showing all the winners and runner-ups. Congratulations everyone!

bedspread and curtains with flower power flowers and contest text with diode logo and '23 chapbook and book contest winners
bedspread and curtains with flower power flowers and contest text with diode logo

And here are the names and titles of the winners and runner-ups from both the book and chapbook contests (borrowed from Diode’s website). The books will be published in 2024. Stay tuned for more information, and follow Diode on Twitter and Instagram for updates.

2023 Book Winners and Finalists

Full-length Book Prize Winners

all children., Shabnam Piryaei
No Rest, Jason Koo

Chapbook Prize Winners

Difficult, Rewa Zeinati
BOOT-less →, Trace DePass
Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect, Koss

Full-length Book Prize Finalists

Ofrenda, Anaïs Deal-Márquez
PERISH / ABOLISH, Mia Kang
Book Content to Breathe Inside the Tree, Patrick Lawler 
Between the Sun and The Moon, Xiaoly Li
Slowly Our Faces Come Into View, Lea Marshall
Devil Music, Charlie Clark 

Chapbook Prize Finalists

Occurrence of a Dream Translated by Animals, M. Cynthia Cheung
Dreams of Labrador, Christopher Brean Murray
My Abandoned Poems, Owen McLeod
Frankie’s Daughter, Haro Lee
DIDA, Karan Kapoor
The Mariachi at the End of Time, Christopher Nelson
Landscape for the Lost, Aiden Heung
Beneath Salt, Anna Tomlinson
Tapestry, Kirun Kapur 

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.

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