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Publishing Day – Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect

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graphic of aerial view and birds on wire with book cover replicated and publication day for Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect

Today (October 30th) is the birth of my official Scorpio poetry book (I didn’t plan this), Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect, published by Diode Editions. It’s now shipping, and if you pre-ordered, you probably already received yours. Note I am a bit late in posting this as I have been giving myself a post-election breather.

I’m really touched by all the support this book has received. Lots of wonderful photos shared on social. A couple of people said they “couldn’t put it down,” that they “read it right away,” that it “made them laugh and cry.” Not sure what more I could ask for.

The book is about queerness, abandonment, loss, and grief, all the kinds. I have intended to sell it here in bundles with prints, but I am behind in everything, and still finishing up a Granta workshop. In the new year, I’ll hopefully get it together. But I do have copies if you’d like a signed one (DM me on social), and for unsigned copies, find them on Diode’s site. It’s 12 dollars, plus reasonable shipping for U.S. If you are interested in using the book for say, a queer poetics course, you can write Diode for discount information–same for international shipping. I know they have one other option. I hope to release this in digital form, but we’ll see… Thanks for all your support. And hang in there. I think community is one of the things essential to navigating these times. Thanks to those of you who have been part of my community.

Koss 2024 Publications Third Quarter Update

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white gull on brown leaves with rocks
Gull, Cheshire, England, Ⓒ Koss 2018

September is here, and I thought I’d share a few thoughts as eclipse season approaches.

artwork watercolor digital red maple leaf

Along with some publications the past few months, I received some finalist news, a couple personal and professional blows, and some Best of the Net nominations for art! As is always the case, success comes in small packets and with plenty of rejection. I feel very grateful for all of it, even the non-wins as they give me perspective, and also for the small and wonderful community I’ve been invited into online−folks who help sustain me and make writing worthwhile. Having a community, plus lit and art things to look forward to has kept me going through losses, through COVID, and through some of the most difficult times of my life. I’m so very grateful for this.

Feeling bad for those impacted by the hurricane. I hope you and yours are safe.

I have been in a Granta memoir workshop which lasts ’til mid-November, so I haven’t been very active on social. With the election coming, this is a good time to not be on it, to be honest. I’ve lived through too much as a queer at election time to be open to any ‘splaining by ANYONE. I don’t have the emotional energy for it this time around. For me, this feels like the most existential of elections in my lifetime. That’s all I have to say.

‘Nuff of my discursions, I promised some updates, so here they are in a digestible list with links where appropriate. Happy fall to you and sending you love and wishes for joy, peace, painless and purposeful eclipses, safety, and good health. Thank you, as always, for stopping by.

2024 3rd Quarter Koss Stuff

  • Kristine Esser Selentz’s important Exhibit book release (I was fortunate to contribute a blurb).
  • Diode’s Substack publishing of my poem “Molotov Mother.”
  • Anti-Heroin Chic published my poem, “Living With Dead Poets,” a tribute to Paula Harris.
  • Hyacinth Review published my poem, “Interrupta: Two.”
  • Two poems published in Fallen, edited by Jimmy Broccoli, then changed to Lilith.
  • Received Best of the Net nomination for cover art from Gone Lawn.
  • Prose poem about my ass in Ran Off With the Star Bassoon.
  • List poem appeared in Red Ogre Review anthology.
  • Cover art nominated for Best of the Net by The Memezine.
  • Best of the Net 2024 finalist for art published in Sage Cigarettes.
  • Best of the Net nomination for erasure/collage/drawing in Diode last year.
  • Upcoming reading with Midway Journal in Chicago at the Art Center (Oct. 24).
  • Upcoming reading with The European Salon (Oct. 7).
  • Thin Places and Sacred Spaces anthology released (I have work in it).
  • A bunch of rejections (on sub hiatus now−am satiated).
  • My book, Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect is in. I will be selling signed copies here (very soon), but it is also available to purchase on Diode’s site. Note I will also be selling some prints of my visual poetry and other works in bundles (soon).
  • I will be on an upcoming Eat the Storms podcast (out of Ireland). More details soon! Check out my previous one from a couple years ago here.
  • I did an interview with Katie Jean Shinkle for Write or Die that will be published in October. If you haven’t checked out Write or Die, they are happening!

Ⓒ Koss, 2024. All rights reserved.

Best of the Net 2025 | Koss Nominations

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It’s a tremendous honor to receive some Best of the Net nominations for the 2025 issue (out next year). Best of the Net is an annual digital anthology of literature and accompanying art published in a one-year period (usually July to June, I believe). Best of the Net is an imprint of Sundress Publications and they have different category judges each year. I’m happy to have received art nominations from two journals this month (it’s August at the time of this writing). Gone Lawn nominated my “Swamp” drawing, cover art for issue 52 and Memezine nominated my mixed media piece, “Love Letter, Some Version?” from their wonderful May ’24 “Slop” issue. Thank you, Owen Wyke, Amy Barnes, Chel Campbell (plus the Memezine Dream Team), and will be updating this page with more links and photos soon. Lastly, I received a BoTN nomination from Diode for an erasure poem/drawing/collage made from an art history survey book (published last year). Very grateful. Diode has been good to me.

gone lawn 2025 best of the net nomination text with black background
Gone Lawn 2025 Best of the Net Nominees
gone lawn screenshot from issue with koss cover art of swamp drawing
Koss 2025 BoTN Nomination for Cover Art
memezine 2025 best of the net announcements
Memezine Best of the Net Nominations
Memezine Best of the Net Nominations
abstract art with memezine text and bar code in yellow, black, red, and white
Koss Cover Art Best of the Net Nomination
blue promotion for diode with best of the net 2025 nominations
Diode 2025 Best of the Net Nominations

Poem in Hyacinth Review | 2024

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Purple promotion for queer poem with large quotation marks in purple and lavender for Hyacinth Review.
Interrupta: Two, a Queer, Romantic Poem by Koss in Hyacinth Review

Very pleased to have this queer, romantic poem in Hyacinth Review. I rarely write romantic or racy poems, so it shouldn’t surprise me that I spent over five years picking at this. I felt sort of like Sylvia Plath, who was known to pick at poems forever. While I do a lot of editing, I’m more apt to file it than labor as I did this one. It is a strange little thing. I hope you enjoy it. Hyacinth Review is a gorgeously designed journal, is queer friendly, and it’s an honor to have work published with them a second time. They published some photos and other work in it a couple years ago. Read about it here.

Living with Dead Poets Poem | Anti-Heroin Chic

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#CW Suicide – I wrote a poem, Living with Dead Poets, for the talented New Zealand poet, Paula Harris, who died by suicide a year ago. I’m glad it has a home in Anti-Heroin Chic and am grateful to James Diaz for publishing it. Most of the poem is in conversation with Paula’s poems including the title. Leading up to her death, she had become discouraged about publishing and was posting on Instagram about her disappointments. One of her unpublished manuscripts was called If Prince Can’t Fuck in Heaven, There is No God. She published a great poem about Prince. She wrote without filters, and I think she’d appreciate the raunchiness of this. I miss her and miss her writing. I hope whoever got it finds a way to get it published.

Paula had severe depression, and meds didn’t work on her. Americans, especially, like to think Western medicine can cure everything. The sad reality is, for some people, they just aren’t effective. I wish there had been help for her. I wish a lot of things, including that she was here, but I’m glad we have some of her work to remember her by.

Find links to Paula’s work on her website including some collaborative projects she did with a filmmaker.  

purple square with lavender text with excerpt from a poem, "Living with Dead Poets"
Excerpt from poem, “Living with Dead Poets”

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