I write poetry — sometimes it’s even pretty good. Anything poetry related will be under this section :)
My poem, Lost Miners, was published on Seven by Twenty today as a way of commemorating the anniversary of the Westray mining disaster.
Heavy with clay / scuffed & beaten / with dried tongues thrust out, / 26 boots await / owners who will never return (by Rhonda Parrish)
— Seven By Twenty (@7×20) May 9, 2013
Re-reading it now I can see that I made an error. It should be 26 pairs of boots, not 26 boots but it’s too late to change it now.
My poem, The Day After, has been accepted for inclusion at Napalm and Novocain — a webzine which features poetry with a theme of romance’s aftermath. I don’t often write things which would fall into that category but in going through some of my old poems on Monday I discovered one which did.
I’m pleased to know it has found a home outside of my computer. And so quickly too. Talk about a fantastic response time LOL
I write a lot of zombie poems. In fact, I’m planning to self-publish a collection of zombie poems later this year. I was just going through some of my April Poem a Day poems from last year to see if there were any I hadn’t transcribed but should when I found this one. I’m going to share it here because I like it and thought you might too 🙂
I look at my meds and know
if walkers don’t kill me
lack of pharmaceuticals will
ETA: I found another one! I think I’ve mentioned before that for every publishable poem I write probably five which are not. They serve their purposes though, whether they are personal and cathartic or just straight-up silly and helping me to just get something on the page. I think you can guess which category this one falls into 🙂
There once was an old man named Hugh
who owned a hound dog he called Blue
Blue’s collar was perfumed and florid
to cover his breath which was horrid
because he loved eating cat poo
Whee!
I actually always imagine the bird in An Evil Bird by Anna Sykora to be a raven. Alas, I haven’t any pictures of a raven, so I’m going to use this one of a magpie instead. I didn’t do the embroidery you see there, just took the photo of it.
But yes. An Evil Bird by Anna Sykora. I adored this poem from the first moment I read it. It’s really quite fun and the last stanza always makes me smile. It says something about Ms. Sykora’s versatility that she also wrote On Its Own which is a thought-provoking, somewhat melancholy poem which remains one of my personal favourites ever. Ever. Not just of poems we’ve published at Niteblade.
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This post has been written as a part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is ‘Niteblade‘, which is the magazine I publish. I chose this theme to help draw attention to the magazine during this, it’s 2nd annual fundraiser.
My first post in this series was about choosing stories and poems to nominate for awards and I’ve gone through a similar process in deciding what to write about for these posts. Not only did I have to choose stories and poems I loved, but they also had to fit with the A-Z theme. Tricky!
A: Award Nominations
B: Brenda Stokes Barron
C: Cato, Beth – The Pacifier
D: December 2011 (Giveaway open until April 30th)
E: Evil Bird
ETA: People seem to be feeling bad for ravens because I said that’s how I imagine the bird in this poem. For the record I love ravens. Love them. I even have nine of them tattooed on my arm. Well, I call it a murder of crows, but crows, ravens… any corvidae has got my heart.
This is the original cover art Marge Simon created for our December 2011 special poetry only print issue of Niteblade Magazine. That issue was the last one I worked on as poetry editor (Alexandra Seidel and I co-edited it). After that the mantle of Poetry Editor fell to her. It’s a tough thing, giving up control of something like that, but it’s been a good thing for me and for Niteblade.
Our poetry only issue was an interesting learning experience. I learned things about writing submission guidelines, about soliciting submissions directly from specific authors, about working with another person to make editorial decisions. I learned about formatting things for printers, and finding printers, and judging printers and I remembered why I usually go with POD printers LOL I also discovered that selling a physical book of poetry is a lot different than selling an electronic book of poetry and prose.
I am very proud of our poetry issue (for it’s content, not just what it taught me) and it just so happens that I have *mumble* copies sitting in a box in my bedroom closet. I’d like to see some of those find homes with people who will read and appreciate them. If that is you please leave a comment to this blog entry. At the end of the month I will send out three copies to random commentators. It could be you 🙂
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This post has been written as a part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is ‘Niteblade‘, which is the magazine I publish. I chose this theme to help draw attention to the magazine during this, it’s 2nd annual fundraiser.
My first post in this series was about choosing stories and poems to nominate for awards and I’ve gone through a similar process in deciding what to write about for these posts. Not only did I have to choose stories and poems I loved, but they also had to fit with the A-Z theme. Tricky!
A: Award Nominations
B: Brenda Stokes Barron
C: Cato, Beth – The Pacifier
D: December 2011 (Giveaway)
My poem, Alien Skin Creme, has been accepted for future publication at Every Day Poets. Have I mentioned that I love these guys? I do. I love these guys 😉
Today my poem, Rest, was published at Every Day Poets. Rest, like so many other things, is dedicated to my mother, Sandra McKenzie and may be triggering for some (especially members of my family).
Also? Fuck cancer.
I’m going to call it a brain fart. I totally forgot that my poem, Beneath, was being published on Every Day Poets at the end of February. Totally, totally forgot. For some reason I thought it was being published at the end of this month, but no, that’s a different poem. /facepalm
So. Yes. My poem, Beneath, went live on Every Day Poets on February 25th. I know it’s a little behind the times, but please do take a look and lemme know what you think. I’m pretty fond of this one 🙂
My poem, Damage, is included in issue #10 of Bete Noire magazine which just went live today. Yay!
As an added bonus I get to share this table of contents with my good friend Beth, who also has a poem in there. Double yay!
My love affair with Every Day Poets continues. They have accepted my poem, Rest, for inclusion in a future issue. Yay! I don’t know exactly what date it will be up yet, but I’ll let you know when it happens.
I’m happy to announce that my poem, What Won’t Wait, is scheduled to be included in the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of The Stray Branch. Yes. The 2014 version LoL It is a long way off but gives me something to look forward to 😉
