April’s Good Stuff

News & new things from/with/about poets & writers in the Porkbelly family.

 

Pray, Pray, Pray by E. Kristin Anderson (cover: Nicci Mechler)

Set the Garden on Fire by Chen Chen (cover: Nicci Mechler)

Love Me, Anyway by Minadora Macheret (cover artist: Sharmon Davidson)

How Darkness Enters a Body by Sarah Nichols

Apples or Pomegranates (cover art: Anita Olivia Koester)

Dry Spell by Patrick Kindig (cover: Nicci Mechler)

Blackbird Whitetail Redhand (cover: Nicci Mechler)

The Girl by Donna Vorreyer (cover image: Alexandra Eldridge)

A Map of the Farm Three Miles from the End of Happy Hollow Road by Amorak Huey (cover image: Alexandra Eldridge)

Found Footage by Maggie Woodward (cover: Nicci Mechler)

Dreamland for Keeps by Sarah Nichols (cover artist: Nicci Mechler)

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Dreamland for Keeps (Porkbelly Press, 2018) & How Darkness Enters a Body (Porkbelly Press, 2018) by Sarah Nichols » @onibaba37

• One of Sarah’s Elizabeth Short poems appears in Drunk Monkeys: “Elizabeth Short Visits the Black Lodge.” Interested in more poems like this? Dreamland for Keeps (Porkbelly Press, 2018) has released this month—it’s a whole chapbook of erasure poems.

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Found Footage (Porkbelly Press, 2018)
by Maggie Woodward

• 5 poems are up at inferior planets!
• Anna Sandy Elrod reviews FOUND FOOTAGE over at Real Pants!

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Set the Garden on Fire (Porkbelly Press, 2015)
by Chen Chen » chenchenwrites.com

• Congratulations to Chen Chen on accepting the 2018 – 2020 Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at Brandeis University!
• Chen’s “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party” up at poem-a-day. You can hear him read it here!
• When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions) won the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry.

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Love Me, Anyway (Porkbelly Press, 2018)
by Minadora Macheret

• Congratulations to Minadora Macheret on winning the Justin Q. Owens Convention Theme: Creative Writing award from Sigma Tau Delta’s 2018 Convention!

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Apples or Pomegranates (Porkbelly Press, 2017)
by Anita Olivia Koester » anitaoliviakoester.com

• Anita’s manuscript Cartography of Grief was a runner-up in the Dorset Prize (selected by Dana Levin via Tupelo Press).
• “Cartography of a Missing Body” & “Cartography of a Keyhole” (two father poems) in the new issue if Up North Lit.

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Blackbird Whitetail Redhand (Porkbelly Press, 2018)
by Lindsay Lusby » lindsaylusby.com

• Lindsay’s manuscript Catechesis: a postpastoral was a finalist in the Dorset Prize (selected by Dana Levin via Tupelo Press).
• Blackbird Whitetail Redhand was released this month! The chapbook is handbound (Japanese stab binding) and features letterpress covers. » order

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A Map of the Farm Three Miles from the End of Happy Hollow Road (Porkbelly Press, 2016) by Amorak Huey » amorakhuey.net

• “Captain Picard Teaches My Son to Throw a Football” is up at Beech Street Review.
• Congratulations to Amorak Huey for winning the 2018 Vern Rutsala Prize. His book Seducing the Asparagus Queen is due out in late-summer via Cloudbank Books.

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Dry Spell (Porkbelly Press, 2016)
by Patrick Kindig

• Patrick Kindig reads three poems at The Poets Weave.

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The Girl (Porkbelly Press, 2017)
by Donna Vorreyer

• a new piece, “Painting Which is in Fact Not a Sky” is up in Juxtaprose.

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Pray, Pray, Pray: Poems I wrote to Prince in the Middle of the Night (Porkbelly Press, 2015) by E. Kristin Anderson » www.ekristinanderson.com

• A new essay up at Cotton Xenomorph in their manifestos series: “Anderson’s Rules for Writing Found Poetry.”
• EKA’s essay “Everything Could Never Be This Real” is up at Memoir Mixtapes!

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Dreamland for Keeps // Sarah Nichols

Dreamland for Keeps by Sarah Nichols (cover artist: Nicci Mechler)

Dreamland for Keeps is a whisper in the dark giving voice to Elizabeth Short through poetry of erasure. Nichols’ poems return agency to the spirit of a woman so often sensationalized, examining Short’s many names, her impression forever etched on the American consciousness. For her, death is not the end of the story; in some ways the puzzle is never solved.  (Porkbelly Press, 2018) » more info

Excerpt

WHAT DARKNESS BRINGS ME

When I ask,
the dark

offers me its
gifts.

A tree of eyes. A
hand in a jar,

its owner, lost.

I swallowed a
wedding ring,

once.

It tasted like
dust and tears.

Bone and gold.

Blackbird Whitetail Redhand // Lindsay Lusby

Blackbird Whitetail Redhand (cover: Nicci Mechler)

Blackbird Whitetail Redhand (by Lindsay Lusby) is a book of chaos, transformation, and all the little possibilities tangled beneath the night clover. It is a simultaneously tumultuous and quiet narrative of bodily autonomy and the sacrifices needed to achieve it. These are poems rattled with the snapping of bear traps and the sharp, tangy bite of an ax kissing the trunk of a tree. Lusby leaves you asking: is she the sweet flesh of the fruit fruit or the sharp teeth? Listen for cloven feet over the thicket. If you catch sight of her, marvel at her mottled heart. Be careful not to make a sound, “she’ll move like scattershot” if you do. (Porkbelly Press, 2018) » more info

excerpt

March’s Good Stuff

Centralia by Sarah Gzemski (cover: Nicci Mechler)

How Darkness Enters a Body by Sarah Nichols

Noor Hindi’s DIARY OF A FILTHY WOMAN (cover artist: Tanya Gonzalez)

The Girl by Donna Vorreyer (cover image: Alexandra Eldridge)

Ghost Skin by Wren Hanks (cover: Alexandra Eldridge)

Ghost Tongue by Nicole Rollender (Cover art: Susan Yount)

Pray, Pray, Pray by E. Kristin Anderson (cover: Nicci Mechler)

Love Me, Anyway by Minadora Macheret (cover artist: Sharmon Davidson)

Feeding the Dead by M. Brett Gaffney (cover art: Mary Chiaramonte)

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Pray, Pray, Pray: Poems I wrote to Prince in the Middle of the Night (Porkbelly Press, 2015) by E. Kristin Anderson » www.ekristinanderson.com

• Three erasures appear in The Museum of Americana!
• a poem appears in the “Little Prince” issue of Nonbinary Review.
• a list of EKA’s (and other members’) recent accomplishments was blogged over at SPECPO (the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association blog).
• New work in issue 3 of bad pony: “Something sad and whimsical.”

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The Girl (Porkbelly Press, 2017)
by Donna Vorreyer » donnavorreyer.com

• Donna reviews Judy Jordan’s Hunger (Tinderbox Editions, 2018) via Connotation Press.

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Ghost Tongue (Porkbelly Press, 2016)
by Nicole Rollender » www.nicolerollender.com

• New work in issue 3 of bad pony: “Second Sight.”

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Ghost Skin (Porkbelly Press, 2016) & gar child (Porkbelly Press, 2018)
by Wren Hanks » tumblr

• New work in issue 3 of bad pony: “The Tin Boy as Lover You Don’t Have to Love,” “A Lamb Expressed Flourescence and Made it to Market or the Tin Boy’s Gone Real Emerald City.”
• His contributor interview is up at New Delta Review blog! He discusses his love of Oz and building his speakers, the pliability of language, and the value of transformation. » see also: Wren’s two poems in New Delta Review.
• We’re pleased to say we’ve acquired Wren’s manuscript gar child (Porkbelly Press, 2018).

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Love Me, Anyway (Porkbelly Press, 2018)
by Minadora Macheret

• Love Me, Anyway (Porkbelly Press, 2018) released this month!

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Diary of a Filthy Woman (Porkbelly Press, 2018)
by Noor Hindi

• Diary of a Filthy Woman (Porkbelly Press, 2018) released this month!

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Dreamland for Keeps (Porkbelly Press, 2018) & How Darkness Enters a Body (Porkbelly Press, 2018) by Sarah Nichols » @onibaba37

“The Blessings of the Guns” appears in Five:2:One.

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Centralia (Porkbelly Press, 2015)
by Sarah Gzemski » sgzemski.com

• Sarah’s collaborative chapbook released this year: Nexus (In Sight II #12) (Four Chambers Press, 2018).

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Feeding the Dead (Porkbelly Press, 2016)
by M. Brett Gaffney

• “Stations of the Cross” is up at Psaltery & Lyre. 

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Diary of a Filthy Woman // Noor Hindi

Noor Hindi’s DIARY OF A FILTHY WOMAN (cover art: Tanya Gonzalez)

DIARY OF A FILTHY WOMAN is shot through with desire, standing firm in its ground as protest, as prayer, as command. Hindi masterfully weaves vulnerability and strength, pain with sharp determination—she is tempered steel, she is flame, she is fierce in her direction: “Make a bonfire out of want. // Jump into it.” (Porkbelly Press, 2018) » more

excerpt

About the poet

Noor Hindi is currently pursuing her MFA in poetry through the NEOMFA program. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Glass Poetry, Jet Fuel Review, Diode Poetry, Whiskey Island Magazine, Flock Literary Journal, and Foundry. She reads poetry for The University of Akron Press and writes for The Devil Strip Magazine. Check out her blog at noorhindi.com. ​

2018 Chapbooks!

Our complete 2018 line of chapbooks is listed below; we’ve added three chaps to previously selected works. The first two titles are selected from our January pool of submissions, and we’ll also be publishing our first photographic chapbook (Light Experiments).

Says the Forest to the Girl by Sally Rosen Kindred (poetry)

Never Leave the Foot of an Animal Unskinned by Sara Ryan (poetry & CNF)

Light Experiments by Madeleine Barnes (photography)

Dreamland for Keeps by Sarah Nichols (erasure poetry)

Love Me, Anyway by Minadora Macheret (poetry)

Two of our 2017 books were moved to 2018:

Blackbird Whitetail Redhand by Lindsay Lusby (poetry)

Found Footage by Maggie Woodward (erasure poetry)

Congratulations to our new poets & writers & artists!
We can’t wait to work with you to bring your books into the world.

Thank you to everyone who submitted. Thank you for your patience in awaiting our reply—we took a bit longer to read this year than usual. Once again, we were given the pleasure of making some very difficult decisions. We had to say no to some books we’ll be buying when they’re released from other presses. We’re quite sure they’ll be picked up soon.

You can pre-order any combination of three, five, or all of the 2018 line, and we’ll send them as they’re finished on the binding table.

(All of our titles are individually printed, collated, trimmed & bound by hand.)

Porkbelly’s January News

(from our poets & authors—readings, happenings, reviews, books, and news)

Rooed by Thirst // Tina Mozelle Braziel (cover art: Kathleen Piercefield)

Feeding the Dead by M. Brett Gaffney (cover art: Mary Chiaramonte)

Found Footage by Maggie Woodward (cover: Nicci Mechler)

How Darkness Enters a Body by Sarah Nichols

My Heart in Aspic by Sonya Vatomsky (cover: Shannon Perry)

Poems for Ivan by Sara Adams (cover: Nicci Mechler)

Pray, Pray, Pray by E. Kristin Anderson (cover: Nicci Mechler)

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Rooted by Thirst (Porkbelly Press, 2016)
by Tina Mozelle Braziel

• Tina has won the 2017 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry! Anhinga Press will publish her debut full length collection Known by Salt.

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My Heart in Aspic (Porkbelly Press, 2015)
by Sonya Vatomsky » @coolniceghost

• Sonya writes for haute macabre : “Dr. Bloodsucker: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Pet Leech“

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Dreamland for Keeps (Porkbelly Press, 2018) & How Darkness Enters a Body (Porkbelly Press, 2018) by Sarah Nichols » @onibaba37

• Sarah’s essay is up at The RS 500: “#157: Joy Division, ‘Closer’ (1980)“
• erasure poem “Little Sister” appears in Calamus’ 15th issue.

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Feeding the Dead (Porkbelly Press, 2017)
by M. Brett Gaffney « blog

•  Feeding the Dead is nominated for an Elgin Award (2018).

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Found Footage (Porkbelly Press, 2018)
by Maggie Woodward

• Found Footage was released this month!

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Poems for Ivan (Porkbelly Press, 2016)
by Sara Adams » kartoshkaaaaa.com

• Sara’s erasure appears in Calamus’ 15th issue.

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Pray, Pray, Pray: Poems I wrote to Prince in the Middle of the Night (Porkbelly Press, 2015) by E. Kristin Anderson » www.ekristinanderson.com

• EKA’s erasure poem “No grotesque culmination of witchcraft” appears in Calamus’ 15th issue.

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Found Footage // Maggie Woodward

Found Footage is visceral little book of freckled skin, fox-bellies, and sparrow blood. There are erasures scribbled out in pen and secrets released into the night—girl stories, horror stories, love stories, a little bit of each one ominous.: “this is how the story goes: there was a girl & / there was a river.” They feel like confessions pulled from a diary stained around the edges in blood and darker things, each one “fanged  (but lovely).” (Porkbelly Press, 2018) » available from our shop »  more info

excerpt

ABOUT THE POET

maggie woodward is an mfa candidate in poetry at the university of mississippi, where she is senior editor of the yalobusha review & curates the trobar ric reading series. she is also a programmer for the oxford film festival. her work has appeared or is forthcoming from The Atlas Review, Devil’s Lake, Witch Craft Magazine, Cloud Rodeo, & New South Journal, among others.

How Darkness Enters a Body // Sarah Nichols

How Darkness Enters a Body by Sarah Nichols

“In this darkness, desire is safe,” begins the title poem for Sarah Nichols’ How Darkness Enters a Body. In this darkness, desire is safe. There are secrets here, confessions. The poet brings us to the photos of Diane Arbus, inspecting contact sheets and images, mining poems from silver embedded in emulsion. Black and white photographs transformed into ekphrastic lines, light and shadow, poet leading reader to artist to begin a conversation. The speaker’s voice is sure, whispering to us in the way Arbus’ images do, pools of darkness unexpected and edged, like shadows thrown under an eclipse. Confront her or take her hand—these and more choices are yours:  “Here is your tongue, sister. / Let me share it.”  (Porkbelly Press, 2018) » available in our shop » more info

 

about the poet

Sarah Nichols lives and writes in Connecticut. She is the author of three chapbooks, including She May Be a Saint (Hermeneutic Chaos Press, 2016) and Edie (Whispering): Poems from Gray Gardens (Dancing Girl Press, 2015). She also co-edits Thank You for Swallowing, an online journal of feminist protest poetry. Her poetry and essays have also appeared and are forthcoming in Queen of Cups, The RS 500, Rogue Agent, and Ekphrastic Review.

excerpt

SOMETHING WAS THERE AND NO LONGER IS

After Inadvertent Double Exposure of a Self Portrait and Images of Times Square, NYC, 1957, by Diane Arbus

I haunt this place now. Under the
neon, I pass between worlds. The

spirit photograph no one wants to
believe.

I catch my subjects so easily: the
woman, poised before the next cigarette,

almost recognizes herself in the
snare of my lens. Or the crowd,

thinking themselves safe in the light
of the next dime show miracle.

I don’t dare to shut my eyes.

Apples or Pomegranates (Anita Olivia Koester)

Apples or Pomegranates (cover art: Anita Olivia Koester)

Apples or Pomegranates is an intimate exploration of the spirit housed inside a body, the failings and the strength in each. Sometimes erotic and at other times full of another kind of wanting, this micro chapbook delves into the experience of living boldly, step by step along the path—”a tight-rope walking girl, a pit of lions beneath.” This is the route she takes on these pages, hand out, palm up, if you’ve courage enough to join her. (Porkbelly Press, 2017) » more info & excerpt » available in our shop

about the poet

Anita Olivia Koester is a Chicago poet and author of the chapbooks Marco Polo (Hermeneutic Chaos Press) and Arrow Songs which won Paper Nautilus’ Vella Chapbook Contest. Her poems have been nominated for Best New Poets and Pushcart Prizes, and won Midwestern Gothic’s 2016 Lake Prize in Poetry, So to Speak’s Annual Poetry Contest, and the Jo-Anne Hirshfield Memorial Poetry Award. She is currently the poetry editor for Duende. Her poetry is published or forthcoming in Vinyl, CALYX Journal, Tahoma Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Her work as been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Vermont Studio Center, and Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA). Visit her online at www.anitaoliviakoester.com.

blurbs

In this collection, Koester gives us three central lessons. One, it is not always necessary to be loud to be ferocious. Two, there are unlimited ways to be naked, most of which happen clothed. Three, even longing that begins with nostalgia can blossom into something altogether and luminously new.

—Marty McConnell

Apples and Pomegranates unravels and interrogates a universe set on its denial of the body feminine. Artistic canon, the expectations and consequences of relationships, biology itself, and even language (its translation or mistranslation) are called into light by Koester’s words. “Travelling the fallopian tubes of the Milky Way” is a tender prospect in every sense of the word. Koester’s command of passion and utterance is that kind of double-edged wonder.

—Keith S. Wilson

Anita is also the cover artist for her chapbook.