Fringe Magazine has just today published my interview with the fascinating Adam Deutsch, Publisher and Editor of Cooper Dillon Books, a poetry press in San Diego, California. Adam Deutsch has a novel approach to small-press publishing: he avidly collaborates with poets and responds to manuscripts within five weeks of submission. But perhaps to me the most radical idea he has is to find and publish — and even in some cases, create — manuscripts of…
I’m so pleased to have my poem “The River” in the current issue of Tiferet Journal. You’d love the issue, so buy a copy if you can. Here’s the poem, which is also in my forthcoming book, Gods of Water and Air: The River Cookies crumble in the pockets of my jeans. I save them in case I need extra fortune.The one today told me to relax.Mom always said, What are you waiting for? Why…
I’m very happy to have a poem in Sam Rasnake’s online journal Blue Fifth Review! I’m pleased to have work alongside other wonderful pieces. Visit https://racheldacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.
As a rocket kid and the author of books, I was intrigued by this thoughtful piece in the Guardian about the possible future of the book in the post-Kindle era. The most interesting thing in it was my introduction to the term “wilfing.” The “What was I looking for?” aspect of being online seems on the surface antitethical to the concentration required to read cogently, say, a piece of literature, even a short one. I…
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve just signed a contract with Kitsune Books to publish my new poetry collection, Gods of Water and Air, in 2012! It’s been a long time putting this one together, and finding the right publisher. I feel very lucky! Kitsune Books describes its mission this way:Kitsune Books was founded in 2006 to make available to the reading public an eclectic variety of artistic, well-written books that are slightly off the…
Reading Annie Dillard’s inspiring and reassuring book of that name, and found this nugget, which made me feel so much better about how slowly I’m editing my novel: Thomas Mann was a prodigy of production. working full time, he wrote a page a day. that is 365 pages a year, for he did write every day — a good-sized book a year. At a page a day, he was one of the most prolific writers…
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing for Fringe Magazine a fellow rocket kid and poet, Jeannine Hall Gailey. Her myth-based poetry collection She Returns to the Floating World was just published by Kitsune Books. In the interview, Gailey discusses her process and sources, including how she came to use fantasy, mythology, and comic book characters in poetry, and why she thinks poetry continues to dwell on the outskirts of our culture. She’s a fascinating…
Happy Father’s Day! The subject of the relationship to a father has been a rich source in poetry. Today I’m missing my complicated, troublesome, creative, and vibrant father, who died a year and a half ago. My faovrite last memories of him: At the Easel with Alzheimer’s My father is painting in the basement: blue, green, yellow. The cinderblock wall’s white-wash is tanned with dust and the ocean viewobscured by a flapping sheet of vinyl.…
Found a new zine that publishes audio versions of fiction and nonfiction — The Drum. A nice companion to Whale Sound, which does audio publication of poetry. Words on breath, what literature was meant to be, at least short literature like poems, essays, and stories. With authors like Gina Ochsner, Susan Orlean, and Paul Harding, this looks like excellent listening. Whale Sound currently has Wendy Babiak’s wonderful “Ekphrasis on a Screensaver.” Take a listen. Visit…
Sparked by the Poets and Writers article on contests, and Anis Shivani’s article in the Huffington Post, the debate about whether contests are good for poetry flares up high again. We seem to be locked into the contest paradigm, and yet the natives are restless, at least some of them are. Marginalization, as always, creates resistance, rebellion, and ultimately revolution. I am speaking metaphorically, of course, but I do think the anti-contest sentiment is building,…