Men& Beasts has arrived!!!

Tags

#NationalPoetryMonth, #NDN, #readwomen, chapbook, Dancing Girl Press, Men&Beasts, mixtape bundle, Poetry chapbook, small press poetry, women poets

Smack-dab in the middle of National Poetry Month and I haven’t posted a thing. Can you believe it? Ah, life. Well, poetry peeps, the good news is that my chapbook Men& Beasts is now ready for your hot little hands. Just click the title for the purchasing link, and pick up some of the other awesome wopo (women’s poetry) offerings at Dancing Girl Press while you’re at it.

The dpg mixtape bundle (5 for $25) is an awesome deal and perfect for rounding out your #nationalpoetrymonth TBR pile, or getting in a few more #readwomen, and in my case, #NDN titles.

Big thanks to the fantabulous Kristy Bowen for all that she does to bring good poetry into the world. Don’t you all just love the cover?  I do.

Anyone interested in doing a review, shoot an email to bonesparkblog@yahoo.com

 

Favorite Poetry Covers of 2016

Tags

Aja Couchois Duncan, Allan Peterson, Ashland Poetry Press, Bear Star Press, Burt Kimmelman, CavanKerry Press, Dana Green, Dancing Girl Press, Daneen Wardrop, David Rivard, David Weville, Donika Kelly, Dos Madres Press, Ehtlel Rackin, Eileen Tabios, Floating Bridge Press, Glenis Redmond, Graywolf Press, Greg Alan Brownderville, Kevin Carey, Knives Forks Spoons Press, Lee Sharkey, Litmus Press, LSU Press, Lydia Popovich, Lydia Swartz, Lyn Hejinian, Marsh Hawk Press, Max Ritvo, Megan Snyder-Camp, Michael Rothenberg, Milkweed Editions, Mouthfeel Press, Natalie Safir, Noah Warren, Omnidawn Press, Paper Swans Press, Parlor Press, poetry covers, Press53, Shinjini Bhattacharjee, small press poetry, Tarpaulin Sky, Tavern Books, Tupelo Press, Yale Press

Dos Madres Press

Dos Madres Press

Litmus Press

Floating Bridge Press

Graywolf Press

Graywolf Press

Tarpaulin Sky

Paper Swans Press

Ashland Poetry Press

Milkweed Editions

Parlor Press

LSU Press

Press 53

Yale Press

Tavern Books

Dancing Girl Press

Knives Forks Spoons Press

CavanKerry Press

Omnidawn

Tupelo Press

Tupelo Press

Mouthfeel Press

Bear Star Press

Marsh Hawk Press

Buying Links:

Dos Madres Press
Litmus Press
Floating Bridge Press
Graywolf Press
Tarpaulin Sky
Paper Swans
Ashland Poetry Press
Milkweed Editions
Parlor Press
LSU Press
Press53
Yale Press
Tavern Books
Dancing Girl Press
Knives Forks Spoons Press
CavanKerry Press
Omnidawn Press
Tupelo Press
Mouthfeel Press
Bear Star Press
Marsh Hawk Press

#ReadWomen 3×3: Poetry Collections to Grab

Tags

Ahsahta Press, Anglo-Saxon, Claudia Emerson, collage cut-up poems, Dancing Girl Press, Garden Effigies, Hedy Habra, Helen Ivory, Ilyse Kunetz, Knives Forks and Spoons Press, LSU Press, Maria Miranda Maloney, Pandora Lobo Estepario, Small Hours, Sweeter Water, The Lost Letters of Mileva, The Opposite House, Under Brush Strokes, Words on a Wire

GET ‘EM NOW:

From Maria Miranda Maloney:

The Lost Letters of Mileva ( Pandora Lobo Estepario, 2014)

prose poems in the voice of Albert Einstein’s first wife

==>Great interview about the collection on WORDS ON A WIRE podcast

 

 

 

From Ilyse Kusnetz:

Small Hours (Truman State, 2014)

a T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize winner, interweaving history and science into a tapestry of her own blood

==> Sample Poems here

 

 

From Pulitzer winner, Claudia Emerson:

The Opposite House (LSU Press, 2014)

the first of several posthumous collections from LSU Press, based around a line from Dickinson and full of mossy elegies and Virginia creeps

==>Title poem at Blackbird

 

 

RELEASING SOON:

No publication date yet, but some engrossing”teasers” for Helen Ivory‘s collection of collage/cut-up poems at Knives Forks and Spoons Press.  Find the goods at  AND OTHER POEMS and Helen’s Blog.

Coming this summer: Sara Henning’s Garden Effigies at dancing girl press. So far only this tweet to go on, but given the feast that was Sweeter Water and the quality of DGP pubs, it should be great.

Another release from a favorite press:

Hedy Habra’s Under Brush Strokes (Press 53) which is all about ART. yes! Already in love with the cover.

 

Got your own finds (including your own publications)? Share in the comments.

Favorite (Mostly Poetry) Book Covers of the Year

Tags

Alice James Books, Black Lawrence, BOA Editions, Carcanet Press, Curbside Splendor, Dancing Girl Press, Dialogos, Donut Press, Floating Bridge Press, Great Indian Poetry Collective, Lost Horse Press, LSU Press, Milkweed, NYQBooks, Omnidawn, Penned in the Margins, Persea Books, Red Hen Press, Sabotage Reviews, Santa Fe Writers Project, The Emma Press, What Books Press, Yellow Flag Press

recently asked this question on twitter and posted a short list that included picks from Penned in the Margins, The Emma Press,  Floating Bridge and Donut Press.

 

Here are my top picks.  Enjoy!!!  [Hover over cover for name of the press].

Lost Horse Press

Milkweed

NYQBooks

Omnidawn

Persea Books

Red Hen Press

What Books Press

Yellow Flag Press

Santa Fe Writers Project

Great Indian Poetry Collective

Dialogos

Dancing Girl Press

Curbside Splendor

Carcanet

BOA

Black Lawrence

Alice James

LSU Press

 

Tweet your favorites or share in the comments.

Look Like You Know Your $hit 2014 Poetry as Gifts Guide

Tags

2014 Poetry Collections, a note passed to superman, A Whole New World, Ahsahta Press, Aladdin, Alaska, Alice James Books, Anne Ferry, Apiology with Stigma, Bad NDN, Black Ocean, Carrie Olivia Adams, Claudia Emerson, Clay Matthews, Commonplace Invasions, contraband of hoopoe, Copper Canyon, Dan Vera, Dancing Girl Press, Debt to the Bone-Eating Snotflower, Ewa Chrusciel, Figure Studies, Forty One Jane Doe's, Graywolf Press, Hanging Loose Press, Happenstance, Helena Nelson, holiday gift giving guide, HOT TOPIC, How a Poem Happens, Jo Pitkin, Julie Funderburk, Kelly Andrews, Lavender Ink/Dialogos, Letras Latinas, Look Like You know Your Shit, Louisiana small press, LSU Press, Mad Honey Symposium, Marguerite Guzman Bouvard, Mule-Skinner, NOLA poetry, Omnidawn, Plot and CounterPlot, Poem for Plutocrats, poetheads, Rachel Piercey, Red Hen, Rivers Wanted, Sabotage Reviews, Sally Wen Mao, Salmon Poetry, Sarah Lindsay, Scandlous, sexy christmas elf, Sherman Alexie, southern lit, Southern Messenger Poets, Speaking Wiri Wiri, Split This Rock, Starlight on Water, Steven Scafidi, supernatural, The Cabinetmaker's Window, The Emma Press, The Leviathan of Parsonstown, The Light That Shines Inside Us, The Overhaul, The Title of the Poem, Thoughts to Fold Into Birds, To Whoever Set My Truck on Fire, Unicorn Press, What I've Stolen What I've Earned, women poets

Yes, it is that time of year again, friends….the time of ‘best of’ lists and holiday buying hives. Ok, maybe that’s not you, but you really, really want to impress that super hot poet that lives down the hall or maybe deigns to talk to you in the Starbucks line you happen to keep timing just right so as to consistently run into him/her.

Or maybe, you are married to one of these poethead monsters.  Or gasp! You are one of those word-flingers.

 

Sexy-Christmas-Elf-me can practically guarantee to get you a good snog under the mistletoe, if you will wrap up  a few of these (mostly) 2014 collections.

From AHSAHTA PRESS

Forty-One Jane Doe’s

This is actually a Spring 2013 release that made it into my basket early this year, but boy am I glad that it did.  Combining a print book with a DVD of short films, this combo from  Carrie Olivia Adams (better known as poetry editor for Black Ocean) is definitely a keeper.

Love this tagline:  “A woman knows her body . . . until it is exploded into a multitude of Janes.”

 

from ALICE JAMES

Mad Honey Symposium

Sally Wen Mao‘s May-released debut stunner. Feast your eyes on lines from “Apiology, with Stigma” HERE

I Know! Your eyes are totally blown out of your head.

 

Moving on to 2 Titles from COPPER CANYON  

Debt to the Bone-Eating Snotflower

Sarah Lindsay delves into skeleton-eating worms, sweet potato and squid with brief jaunts to Iraq

Read “The Leviathan of Parsonstown” here

 

 

Sun-Bear  also from Copper Canyon

Matthew Zapruder‘s 4th collection, another zinger from one of Cali’s hottest poets

Check out “Poem for Plutocrats”

 

 

and don’t forget my go-to press DANCING GIRL bringing us…

 

Mule-Skinner by

Kelly Andrews, coeditor of Pretty Owl Poetry/economic journalist, delivering a kick-ass first chapbook plus she loves cats. What’s not to like?

Read a sample poem at the purchase link above.

 

And from (The) EMMA PRESS, one of the cooolest small presses in the UK…

Rivers Wanted

Rachel Piercey’s 2nd pub with EP, but her first full-length pamphlet, bringing every bit of her gobsmacking wit and charm to a head.

Check out the great write-up from Sabotage Reviews here.

from GRAYWOLF PRESS

The Overhaul

Ok, a bit of a cheat.  This is forthcoming Feb. 2015, but I just love the Scottish hell out of Kathleen Jamie and couldn’t help but put this up even without a pre-order button. Why is there no pre-order button?

Oh well, buy this as soon as it’s out.

 

then there is this ball-buster from HANGING LOOSE PRESS

What I’ve Stolen, What I’ve Earned

Sherman Alexie is hands-down the baddest NDN around with multi-genre superpowers, and I basically want to be him when I grow up, only better-looking in a dress, which should be red with imitation feathers.

 

from HAPPENSTANCE  (another small press from across the pond)

Starlight on Water and Plot and Counter-Plot

These pamphlets are actually from 2003 and 2010, but I’ve only just discovered Helena Nelson through performance circles, so bear with me.

Both of these babies rock the cover art and feature marvellous poems.

from LAVENDER INK/DIALOGOS 

The Light That Shines Inside Us

Marguerite Guzman Bouvard‘s poems so good they should have their own shrine. And I am I totally not just saying that because this is like my favorite NOLA based press. Who Dat, Y’all!!

 

from LSU PRESS  (Purple and Gold, Baby)

The Cabinetmaker’s Window from the sexy poet-carpenter who is all over the Southern lit magazines. Love me some Steven Scafidi.

Read “To Whoever Set My Truck on Fire” at How a Poem Happens and see.  See!

Now buy the book and

also snap up

Figure Studies by

Claudia Emerson

which pairs really well with Forty-One Jane Doe’s  from above [top of the list]

 

then again, you can’t really go wrong with most of the Southern Messenger Poets series 

 

 same goes for Ewa Chrusciel, whose latest from OMNIDAWN 

 

contraband of hoopoe has just the right mix of art and ritual to make you want to do research and never stop traveling even if it’s all just in your mind

 

well, that doesn’t really do her justice.  just pick up the book and work your way into her genius.

 

RED HEN also has a stunner with its 2013 Winner of the inaugural Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize

Speaking Wiri Wiri by Dan Vera

is good, good, good stuff

Hear him read here. Funny, charming. Brave experimenter with language.

[Dude, I know it was on Split This Rock’s recommended list from last year, but I just got it…so now I’m telling you it’s good. LOL]

 

from SALMON POETRY

Commonplace Invasions by

Jo Pitkin, is a must-have.  She has been accused of “bewitching” her readers, but in the best possible way. 🙂

Everything out of Salmon Poetry is top-notch.

 

and from UNICORN PRESS

Thoughts to Fold Into Birds by

Julie Funderburk

“grounded in the coastal carolina’s wind, sun, and sea”

ahhhhhhhhhhhh. small press goodness from NC.

 

Also, you’ll look really, really smart if you buy and then read….

 

The Title of the Poem by

Anne Ferry

Seriously, though, this will open up a whole new world. Trust me!!!!

2sDay Poems: Hot Out of Chicago with Highlights from Dancing Girl

Tags

2sDay Poems, Call for work, Chicago poetry, Christine Rau, Dancing Girl Press, feminist poets, For the Girls I, In the Yellowed House, Kristy Bowen, Naming the WIfe of Sisyphus, poetry chapbooks, Release, small presses, submissions, The Poetry Storehouse, wicked alice, women poets, women-centric press

Ok peeps, today you get a double shot from one my all-time favorite small poetry presses, the women-centric Dancing Girl Press & studio.

This artsy shop is run out of downtown Chciago by poet/artist Kristy Bowen, a talented gal with impeccable taste.

In addition to overseeing the publication of its annual chapbook series, Bowen also has on offer a quirky collection of paper goods/vintage ephemera and produces the feminist online mag wicked alice.

Two of Dancing Girl’s newest chaps are featured below with selections.  Click italicized title to order.

 

from In the Yellowed House

by Janeen Pergrin Rastall

RELEASE

The surf lays out featherless wings
and sanded birch limbs,
pieces once bound by ice.
Does a wave batter debris into something better?
A woman goes to the lake.
shorts and t-shirt taunt early May,
faded welts dapple wintered flesh.
She carves the sand with a stick,
draws two names inside a heart.
In an hour the beach will be blank.
She has predicted this end,
tasted it on his menthol tongue,
felt it in each whorl and callus,
every knuckles’ edge.
When waves encroach, she snaps
a photo with her phone.
She will not stay
to see her name sucked back with the sand.

The audio for this poem is at The Poetry Storehouse.

 

 

from For the Girls, I

by Christina M. Rau

NAMING THE WIFE OF SISYPHUS

Cathy—it’s a sweet name,
one who loves her husband
but since she’s got a bit
of resistance in her, maybe
it’s Kathy, with a K,
or Kat since she’s got some
sass, too, or Katerina,
a strong, sexy name,
but that would make her too skinny.
No one has ever seen a fat Katerina;
Fat Katerinas simply do not exist.
She needs to have some weight
so she can throw it around
when she stands her ground.
Georgina—slender with a slight belly,
a woman who can bellow at the Gods,
but that’s not old enough;
it needs to be antiquated,
like Antigone, but not as depressed,
like Aphrodite, but not as beautiful,
like Angelika, but less cinematic.
Frannie, Francine, that must
be her name—no, Francesca,
a woman with looks, older but not
too old a soul, one strong enough
to love a man whose heart attacks him
and then kills him
though he refuses to die.
Perhaps that’s too pretty still;
even a slightly average woman
would move on.
Laura, Maria, Betsy, Daphne,
Portia, Sally, Vesta, Wanda,
Yolanda, Zelda, Helen—
nothing quite fits.
They are all slightly off.
Nothing safely and soundly
encompasses all that is the woman
who stands by her man
in the face of his false immortality
and the consequences of his
undeadly denial.

 

DGP: Chapbook manuscripts currently being accepted from women poets through August 31. Guidelines.