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Anvil Tongue | Emily Dickinson Poems | Wuthering Heights Erasures

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Happy to be included in this release of Anvil Tongue, a website and book publisher run by Daniel Ryan. An Emily Dickinson erasure on hope, a written poem, and some visual word art based on Wuthering Heights are included. The work is in my manuscript about the suicide of a person dear to me. Some of it is erasure, some of it Art Brut. It defies categorization. See the page here and be sure to check out the whole issues. Also see more images/erasures from this series in Up the Staircase Quarterly (also published this year).

Hope, an Emily Dickinson Erasure Poem by Koss on coarse burlap background in black and white.
Hope, an Emily Dickinson Erasure Poem by Koss

Sinister Wisdom Poems

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I am happy to get two poems in Sinister Wisdom, a lesbian poetry journal that has existed for decades. This issue was mostly dedicated to disabled writers and curated, but two of my poems were picked up by the editor. One is about my great-great-grandmother who died in Eloise, an asylum in Wayne County. Her life was a mystery, and I didn’t have a lot to piece together. I have a photo of her with a four-digit number which I believe is the number on her gravestone. Around 7000 residents were buried there with simple markers (only numbers). Some of the poem is historical, and some of it’s conjecture. I will post the text soon.

The other poem was written in a Statue of Liberty writing workshop held by The Jewish Historical Society in NY and taught by Lynn Melnick. Lynn read a poem Emma Lazarus’s (writer of inscription on the Statue of LIberty), which was clearly a love poem to a woman. I imagined an “outing” with Emma which appears below.

Many more publications coming this summer, so stay tuned.

square graphic with poem text: Emma Lazarus's Outing, a poem by Koss in Sinister Wisdom
Emma Lazarus’s Outing, a poem by Koss in Sinister Wisdom

Bending Genres | Brady Bunch Poem

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I’m so honored to have another poem published on Bending Genres. This one is about the Brady Bunch, and, oh, how the grass can be greener. I wrote this when I was 25. It was rejected plenty, but I recently sent it out and got lucky. Also, see my page about Toby and Lady, a Zuihitsu piece, and “Not on the Railroad Tracks.” They published another poem last year about grief and clothes. I’m so fortunate to have had my work embraced by the wonderful Bending Genres community. Writing, submitting, and getting rejected continually can be wearing and even demoralizing, so I am so very grateful for the handful of journals (including Bending Genres) who have supported my work, and, at times, me during COVID and all of the other difficult circumstances I have survived in recent years.

poetry photo with raw hamburger and orange text--poem by Koss in Bending Genres--Dinner at the Brady's

Dinner at the Brady’s, a poem by Koss in Bending Genres

South Florida Poetry Journal #25 Poem

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Honored to have a disturbing but important poem in South Florida Poetry Journal’s latest issue (#25). #CW. So grateful to the editors for publishing. Read it along with a bunch of great work and sound files here.

sepia photo of empty swing and promo text: Flint Girl Handcuffed Along Dort Highway in South Florida Poetry Journal

Drawing and Grief

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I’ve been organizing and digging through years of debris as I figure out what I want my life to look like going forward. Haven’t been able to write lately but have been making cards and paper art, which does something else creatively. It’s nice to be outside of language right now. Below, a drawing of a guy I worked with on a ground’s crew (years ago) and a horse, plus a doodle I did today, “The Grief Eater.” Sometimes all you got is a doodle. Strongly recommend watercolors as a way of de-stressing–even if you’re just pushing them around with no purpose. Oh, and scribbling is good too. That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

cartoony drawing with red, orange and blue watercolor and a woman slinging snakes while sucking the sludge from the void.
The Grief Eaters (a doodle by Koss)
horse drawing ink
Horse (ink drawing by Koss)
man sitting with arms folded and cap on--a pencil drawing with age stains on it
Man (pencil drawing by Koss

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