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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

Asemic Writing, Erasure Poetry | Up the Staircase Quarterly

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Grateful to be in Up the Staircase Quarterly #57. This issue is full of great poetry and art. Poetry by these people included:

  • Quinn Forlini | “Attenuation”
  • Sanvitti Sahdev | “I fill up”
  • Fiona Lu | “hunting”
  • Oluwafisayo Akinfolami | “Semantics”
  • Satya Dash | 2 poems: “Elasticity” and “Two Deaths”
  • Jill Khoury | “Subjective Units of Distress Scale 1-10”
  • Ran Zhao | “floodpath”
  • Olivia J. Kiers | “Shower: Arc de Triomphe”
  • Anaïs Deal-Márquez | “Gringa.”
  • Jace Raymond Smellie | “for my grandma doris almost four years after”
  • Chase Dimock | “Contaminants”
  • Kolbe Riney | 2 poems: “sexy villain” and “voyager”

and artwork by:

  • Sara Louise Wilson | Haunt Me + more
  • Elizabeth Wing | Blüd Rites
  • jw summerisle | Strangers
  • Shelbey Leco | Blue.
  • Koss | Wuthering Heights 1, Magpie +more
  • Tomislav Silipetar | WHAT IS LEFT

Emanuela Iorga is the issue illustrator with multiple bullet-riddled images in a starkly graphic (not literal) style.

Also, reviews by:

  • Tyler Friend | Him or Her or Whatever
  • Jasmine Elizabeth Smith | South Flight
  • ​L.E. Bowman | What I Learned from the Trees

I have four pieces from a magpie/hare series slated for my book, plus one visual poem that utilizes text from a poem, “Shoulder Story,” originally published in Rogue Agent. The other pieces reference or erase passages of Wuthering Heights. Find my page here, and read the whole issue here.

I’ve been taking a break from writing poetry and doing visual word art, including asemic writing/recycling from journals, crossword poems, and uncategorizable stuff, but I have lots of work coming out in the next few months, including some difficult abuse writing and some more visual poetry in Diode. It feels good to get back to painting and drawing.

Magpie asemic art piece with writing and Wuthering Heights erasure poetry text in and surrounding black magpie.
Up the Staircase Visual Poetry, Asemic Writing, and Erasure Poetry by Koss

Punk – A Kissing Dynamite Anthology

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Thrilled to be included in this Punk poetry anthology from Kissing Dynamite, a poetry journal (edited by Christine Taylor). There are lots of great writers in here including Michael Chan. Kissing Dynamite is one of my favorite, inclusive online journals. They publish poetry and art once a month and only consider one poem at a time (once per month). I’ve been fortunate to have been published twice in the journal (was a featured poet) and was nominated for Best of the Net for my queer Taco Bell poem. Read more about my other Kissing Dynamite publication, “Ensnared/Discarded,” in my blog. Purchase the anthology on their website and be sure to check out their brand new issue.

Kissing Dynamite’s Punk, an Anthology of Poetry with poem by Koss, “Fucked Up History”

scissors & spackle poetry

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Very happy to have two experimental pieces in scissors & spackle, a sort of experimental/punk literary journal. “Love Song for a Friend” is a grief list poem and “gratitudes” is also lists that became something readworthy (hopefully). The friend in “Love Song” is Kim who left the world too soon. I also wrote about her in the piece, “Kim,” published in Cincinnati Review, which eventually made it to The Best Small Fictions 2020 anthology. I’m glad to have immortalized her a bit on this plane. The circumstances of her death were never made clear. It may have been suicide. No funeral. No ritual. But writing.

motorcycle boots on pink with poem title for "love song for a friend"
“Love Song for a Friend,” a poem by Koss in scissors & spackle
gold and gray photo of peonies with an aunt and text for poem, "gratitudes"
“Gratitudes,” a poem by Koss in scissors & spackle

San Pedro River Review | Poetry Publication

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So fortunate to be in another issue of San Pedro River Review. This issue has a theme of Place. Jeff and Tobi, the editors, are kind and efficient. They have two brief submission windows each year, then superfast notices for submitters. Generally, a month or so after an acceptance, the issue is out. I wish all journals were this professional. Here is a bad photo of the poem, which I’ll update at a later date. This has been a busy publication year, and I’m having trouble keeping up. This poem is one of many about grief (for my grandmother) and mortality. Buy the whole issue on Amazon. See my other San Pedro River Review publication, “Opt-Out Mother,” here.

poem text from Repository, a grief poem by Koss in San Pedro River Review
“Repository,” a poem by Koss in San Pedro River Review

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