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The Fortunes of Formalism
Poet and critic David Yezzi makes the case for mastery of verse forms and prosody as essential to the education of a poet, and gives a historical perspective on formalism's loss of status.
The Fox Woman
She lives in the urban park, the fox,
The little vixen, with no shelter for her head
Under the sooty trees, in the scraggy grass,
The daily roar of a great city in her ears,
And the shouting of boys flinging cans in the dark.
She feeds from the boxes discarded around, finds
Scraps of food, laps pink-tongued from puddles,
And sleeps curled up, thick tail over her nose,
Her coat ruffled by wind and wet in the dark,
At the side of a bench with her old name carved.
Think fox, and you think thick red fur, bright eyes,
But she is dull and matted, and somewhere she knows
That once she was loved, but it comes and goes.
At times she feels that her hair was long and groomed,
That her eyes, once blue, shone from out a smooth white face,
That her teeth, now stale-breathed fangs, were even,
And smiled at crowds as she swanned serene.
But her foxy brain blurs and the memories fade,
Glimmers come seldom as she sinks with age.
What was it that passed, in a cast-off life,
That caused her to sink and die, fighting for breath
In the bright waters of a far-off land?
She remembers being pushed and thrown through stars
From across the world on the racing jet stream,
Impelled tumbling and breathless, to find her home,
Falling into this forlorn beast with the russet fur,
Hair the same shade as hers. They set this bench
As memorial for a dead girl, her friends,
And here she will live until one morning,
One of too many mornings of winter chill
Will leave her stiff and gone, again.
Davies says of the origin of this poem: "I read a short article in The Sunday Times about a young woman, a minor celebrity, who died in a boating accident in South America on holiday. Her friends erected a bench in the park opposite her home as a memorial, and suddenly a little vixen has taken up residence next to the bench. Could it be?"
Copyright 2008 by Liz Davies
Critique by Jendi Reiter
The human being who is also an animal figures prominently in fairy tales and ghost stories worldwide. Male shape-shifters are often princes in disguise, needing a woman's civilizing love to scrub off their beast nature. Animal-women tend to appear more seductive or sinister, as in the legend of the Selkie, or Korean folktales of fox-demons disguised as beautiful girls. Mystery both allures and frightens us. One way to express our anxieties about the elusive, emotional feminine is to depict a woman who is literally a fox, a cat or a bird—a stealthy predator yet also a fragile, delicate creature compared to man.
Like a small animal, a woman is vulnerable to falling through the cracks of urban life, as Liz Davies' poem "The Fox Woman" illustrates. Whereas the image of a man going feral suggests aggression and inspires fear, a woman in the same plight can inspire the reader's sympathy, even admiration for her ruined beauty.
Davies' successful strategy in this poem is to first build our rapport with the main character as a fox, letting us feel what she feels, through direct sensory description without commentary. We barely register the shift from a naturalistic depiction to an anthropomorphized one ("somewhere she knows/That once she was loved, but it comes and goes") because we have already made the imaginative leap of seeing the world through a fox's eyes.
This in turn generates empathy for the woman for whom the fox is a metaphor, the one with matted hair and gaps in her memory, who sleeps on park benches. She is not one of us humans, so we walk past her, or worse ("the shouting of boys flinging cans in the dark"). But an animal consciousness is easier to fall into than we'd like to admit; we've done it just by reading this poem.
Davies suggests that the hardscrabble little fox may be the spirit of a young woman who suffered a premature accidental death. Here, the kinship of human and animal speaks to our common vulnerability to forces we cannot comprehend. The fox is making her way through a harsh city environment that is not designed for her, from which she snatches crumbs of sustenance, and whose larger patterns her brain is not equipped to perceive. Is that really so different from how human beings feel, in the face of the mysteries of life and death?
Superimposed on the image of the fox is the alternate future of this unnamed "minor celebrity". One can picture her as an old woman, losing her grasp on the glittering memories that make up her identity: "At times she feels that her hair was long and groomed,/That her eyes, once blue, shone from out a smooth white face".
Her fate, whichever way it plays out, seems unfair. She was a beautiful girl, loved by her friends: why has she been reborn as a vagrant animal? Is there a message that she has been sent back to communicate—perhaps the message of compassion for derelict creatures as well as glamorous ones? This beautiful, thought-provoking poem leaves the answer shrouded in mystery, perhaps to be worked out in the fox-woman's next reincarnation.
Readers interested in comparing tales of animal shape-shifters from many cultures will enjoy the complete searchable text of Andrew Lang's classic Fairy Books anthologies, available here.
Where could a poem like "The Fox Woman" be submitted? The following contests may be of interest:
TallGrass Writers' Guild Poetry & Prose Contest
Postmark Deadline: February 28
$500 apiece for poetry and prose (stories and essays compete together) plus Outrider Press anthology publication; 2008 theme is "Wild Things"; maximum 28 lines per poem
Writecorner Press Annual Poetry Award
Postmark Deadline: February 28
Writers' resource site offers top prize of $500 and online publication for poems up to 40 lines
Poetry International Prize
Online Submissions Deadline: April 30
Literary journal of San Diego State University offers $1,000 for unpublished poems
Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize for Poetry
Postmark Deadline: March 17
Prestigious $1,000 award for unpublished poems; read past winners online
This poem and critique appeared in the February 2008 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
The Free Dictionary
Comprehensive general-interest and specialized dictionaries (e.g. medical, legal) plus a thesaurus and encyclopedia. Convenient cross-links help you bone up on a subject quickly. Culture and Fine Arts section includes introductions to poetry, literature, theater and the classics.
The Fries Test: On Disability Representation in Our Culture
Kenny Fries is a poet, memoir writer, and editor of the anthology Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out. In this essay on Medium, he proposes guidelines for adequate and respectful disability representation in literature, similar to the well-known Bechdel Test for women characters. "Does a work have more than one disabled character? Do the disabled characters have their own narrative purpose other than the education and profit of a nondisabled character? Is the character's disability not eradicated either by curing or killing?" Novelist Nicola Griffiths is compiling a list on her website based on readers' suggestions. As she notes in a 2018 New York Times editorial, since a quarter of the US population has some sort of disability, we should be able to name over a million non-ableist narratives—but instead, there are fewer than a hundred qualifying books on her list.
The Frugal Editor
Book-promotion expert Carolyn Howard-Johnson offers tips for perfecting your business letters, query letters, book manuscripts, and book proposals. Readers of this award-winning blog are encouraged to submit questions that may be answered on the site.
The Gallaghers of Derry
By C.L. Nehmer
May 21, 1932
Mr. Gallagher's cattle feel it first—
a red buzzing that cracks open the sky,
a great shadow gliding across their hides
like a ghost. It brings the children
running. The farmhands, too, are curious,
first to greet the curly-haired woman
all streaked with gasoline and go get it
come from America,
come from America, alone,
inquiring of the nearest line
to telephone her husband.
Mrs. Gallagher prepares a stew,
lays out clothing, fresh sheets,
demands nothing of this sensible
stranger, only wonders at how she came,
through the banshee storm of lightning, the ceiling
of low-hanging fog, to be vested
in Ireland's rolling green.
The Garden
Blooms the sunrise as the foliage
The will of dawn. Salmon mist
Ochreous with affliction, its colors
Coalesce into infinity.
The whole day is without serenade or sorrow
The black bird
Beats its wings against the fence
Then off like a spear
The flowers are without fragrance
There are only these poppies, blood red
and rose
Swarmed by baby's breath.
The sun blooms, beats high above me
The distance of night is done for
Caught between these two realms, I turn away
Into the startling darkness of the day.
Copyright 2007 by Joleen Leo
Critique by Jendi Reiter
This month's critique poem, Joleen Leo's "The Garden", shows one way to make a familiar poetic subject fresh and interesting again. Gardens feature prominently in the Western artistic vocabulary, starting with the Bible. Like art itself, the garden represents the harmonious coexistence of the given and the manufactured, deriving its vitality and surprise from the independent workings of nature, but paradoxically finding its truest essence by being set apart from nature, forced into a human-made form.
In medieval art, the garden was a symbol of purity and tranquility; in the Bible, it represented a safe homeland as opposed to the physical and spiritual alienation of the wilderness. Now that the greatest encroachment on our peace typically comes not from nature but from human activity, the wildness of gardens, rather than their controlled aspect, attracts us as a source of renewal in our sterile post-industrial environment.
Leo's garden scene is unsettling, juxtaposing moments of expectant stillness with flashes of energy, even violence. Her fractured syntax jolts the reader into a mode of consciousness where one must process intense sensations without the comforting distance of a narrative framework. Imagine the more commonplace ways that this scene could have been described: the sun rises on some rather common varieties of flowers, and a blackbird flies away. Safe, predictable, ignored on our front lawns every day.
Leo employs several techniques to infuse these small incidents with dramatic tension, thereby telling us that they are worth studying. Like the atom that contains the potential for a bomb, every bird or flower, if seen correctly, pulses with an unbelievable force of pure being.
Consider the opening lines "Blooms the sunrise as the foliage/The will of dawn." Beginning with a verb creates a mood of action, and also suspense because the normal word order is reversed. We look for a subject with which to identify. "The will of dawn" personifies the sunrise—it has a will, a consciousness. Humanity is not the primary or only actor here. Sun and foliage both bloom; does the latter, too, have a will? The possibility is thrilling and disturbing.
The phrases "Salmon mist/Ochreous with affliction" and "The day is without serenade or sorrow" suggest that great emotions are at stake, but in a way that is a mystery to us. "The black bird//Beats its wings against the fence/Then off like a spear". The joyful violence of this image reminded me of D.H. Lawrence's poems in Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1922), such as "Almond Blossom", where he describes the buds emerging on the tree as "Strange storming up from the dense under-earth/Along the iron, to the living steel/In rose-hot tips, and flakes of rose-pale snow".
Some of Sylvia Plath's Ariel poems (e.g. "Tulips", "Poppies in July") perform a similar reversal of our expectations of the pastoral. I thought of Plath when reading Leo's lines "The flowers are without fragrance/There are only these poppies, blood red/and rose//Swarmed by baby's breath." They share the same fascination with uncontrolled fertility (as in Plath's bee poems), the innocent turned suddenly threatening, a too-vibrant life coexisting with a chill waxwork beauty (flowers without fragrance).
I was conflicted about the introduction of a first-person voice in the final four lines. A personal element can draw the reader further into the scene, helping to explain its importance. I've read a lot of beginning writers' poems that present a well-realized description of a landscape, but nothing else, no characters or connection to human themes, and these often leave me feeling flat. It would be wrong to object to non sequiturs in a poem whose style is defined by paradox and surprise, but I did wonder whether the self-identified narrator's storyline or concerns were really the same as those explored in the preceding lines. What are "these two realms"? This reference seems to assume a clarity of argument that the poem has so far avoided, indeed gained its unique power from avoiding. I did love the last line, with its echoes of Henry Vaughan's "deep and dazzling darkness". I could feel the temporary blindness of walking into a shaded room after being out in the garden under the blooming, beating sun.
Where could a poem like "The Garden" be submitted? The following contests may be of interest:
JBWB Poetry Competition
Entries must be received by June 30
British writer Jacqui Bennett's website offers quarterly prizes of 100 pounds for poems up to 30 lines; online entry/payment accepted
Erskine J. Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: January 1
$200 prize for unpublished poems from the journal Smartish Pace; online entries accepted
This poem and critique appeared in the June 2007 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
The Girls Club
Winner of the Bywater Prize for lesbian fiction, this enjoyable and honest first novel follows three young working-class Catholic sisters as they navigate women's changing social roles in the 1970s. Cora Rose, the protagonist, comes to embrace the aspects of herself that she once struggled to hide: her chronic illness and her desire for other women. In prose that is electric with wit and longing, Bellerose shows how the ones who drive us crazy are the ones we can't live without.
The Glass Violin
This Australian poet truly does see the universe in a grain of sand—as well as in a tram ticket, a Caesarian scar, the names of Australian military operations, a shabby bear in the Soviet zoo, a wren visiting a dead friend's garden, and myriad other small details of modern life that she turns into windows on the human condition, in verses both whimsical and profound.
The Godawful Sonnet Generator
Award-winning poet F.J. Bergmann created this random sonnet generator by writing a dozen cliche-ridden sonnets with the same end-rhymes, which the computer program reshuffles to produce over 15 billion unique, dreadful poems. Submit one to your favorite vanity contest today!
The Great American Poetry Show
Hardcover poetry anthology is open year-round to submissions of poems in English on any subject and in any style, length and number. Submit by mail or email. Each anthology contains about 100 poems; publication schedule is about 2 years between volumes. Simultaneous submissions and previously published poems are welcome. Response time is usually 1-3 months. Each contributor receives one free copy of the volume in which his/her work appears. See website for table of contents and contributors' list from Volume 1. Site also has an extensive directory of poetry links.
The Great First Impression Book Proposal
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of five how-to books for writers, including 'The Frugal Book Promoter', has condensed her expertise into 'The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your Book in 20 Minutes'. Check out other useful resources on her website.
The Greensboro Review
The literary journal of the University of North Carolina Greensboro. They accept submissions of unpublished fiction (maximum 25 double-spaced pages) and poetry (maximum 10 single-spaced pages per submission). Online entries are accepted through Submishmash. Deadlines are February 15 and September 15 annually; late entries will be held for the next issue. They also offer the annual Robert Watson Literary Prizes in fiction and poetry.
The Haiku Society of America
Large collection of award-winning haiku. Calendar of haiku-related contests. Quarterly newsletter reports on national and international events.
The Handy, Uncapped Pen
Founded by Jennifer Ruth Jackson, The Handy, Uncapped Pen is a blog and online community for neurodivergent and disabled writers. The site includes interviews, resources, mentorship opportunities, and articles on current issues in the literary community. They pay $3 for guest posts.
The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong
Engaging history of cultural and philosophical prescriptions for a happy life, which have differed widely from one era to the next. Hecht suggests that historical perspective itself brings happiness by giving us self-awareness and the ability to try new options outside our culture's standards of value. The wit and geniality she displayed in her prizewinning poetry collection The Next Ancient World lend credibility to her advice on the good life (or rather, lives).
The Hard Season
By Kathleen Lynch
Rain-glutted, the stream
splays to the base
of the retaining wall.
Good. Now you have reason
to pray. Of all the birds
watching from winter-stripped
trees, vultures
are kindest, killing nothing.
This is a true
measure of things.
Don't hold back now, have
chocolate, throw extra
kindling on, even though
skies urge cover & hoarding.
When mice pitter in
for crumbs, compliment
their small feet and fitting
ways. When your mouth
houses a curse, swallow,
think how you once
had no words at all
yet managed
your hungers. Everything
that comes, passes.
Everything that passes
rakes its fingers through
and passes.
The Hat City after Men Stopped Wearing Hats
Rich with local detail, these elegiac poems capture a working-class Polish-American boyhood in the 1960s, and pay tribute to neighborhood characters who are lovingly individuated yet acquire universal resonance from the way the poet brings their ordinary lives to light. The mood of aging and decline is leavened by a sense that love is as real as pain. This book won the 2006 Word Works Washington Prize.
The Healing Muse
Explores themes of medicine, illness, disability, healing, and more. This annual literary journal is published by the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Upstate Medical University, a branch of the SUNY system. They accept unpublished fiction, poetry, narratives, essays, memoirs and visual art.
The Help
In 1962, the civil rights movement has barely touched the ladies of Jackson, Mississippi, who continue to treat their African-American maids like dirt—that is, until one misfit heiress with journalistic ambitions convinces the longsuffering housekeepers and nannies to share their anonymous testimonies in a book that will scandalize the community. Though the novel's neat happy ending could be considered too "Hollywood", this tale of interracial friendship is inspiring and enjoyable.
The hitchhiking robot has been found dead
By Vernita Hall
beheaded and dismembered in Philadelphia, where the lifeless life form was discovered
in Olde City. The robot's followers were shocked and deeply saddened by the news.
A group calling itself "Nobots" has claimed responsibility. Their spokesperson, Dell E.
Terious, issued this statement:
It's about jobs. It's about humanity.
We call on all Americans to oppose
the raw evil of automation.
We've struck a blow for human independence.
No bots! No bots! No bots!
They've released a video of the execution, where hooded members, holding raised
machetes, chant:
Raw
evil demands
war
demands evil
Human rights activists have decried the killing. They've called the fringe crusaders
savages, expressing outrage that the grinning guest—benign, child-sized, and
helpless—was martyred in the cradle of liberty.
Still, the bot's creators have committed to continue their novel social experiment.
But Ms. Terious has cautioned more to come. Up next, a warning on the perils of
hitchhiking.
This is Mark Jeering, Ferret News. And that's the way it is.
The Hive Index
The Hive Index is a directory of 900+ online communities, searchable by keyword. Use it to find writing and publishing discussion boards on social media, or to join groups on a topic that you're writing about.
The Home for Wayward Clocks
In this beautiful and innovative novel, an abused boy becomes a recluse who lavishes all his human warmth on the clocks he rescues and repairs for his museum. But a disabling accident, and the arrival of an abused teenage girl who needs his help, compel him to reach out to his neighbors and learn to trust again. His storyline is interspersed with the stories of the clock-owners.
The Hospital Poems
A powerful contribution to the literature of disability, this autobiography in verse exposes a childhood spent at the mercy of medical "experts", who performed invasive and ultimately futile surgeries to correct his uneven legs. With dark humor and an insistence on facts over rhetoric, Ferris restores dignity to the bodies of those whom the establishment treats as problems to be fixed. This book won the 2004 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award.
The Houses Along the Wall: A Pembrokeshire Poetry Cycle
By Karen Hayes. With stately cadence and tender attention to detail, this poetry chapbook imagines personal histories for a row of old houses in a Welsh seaside village, where a dwindling community depends on tourism to replace the fishing economy. The style and setting have the flavor of T.S. Eliot's "The Dry Salvages", without the philosophical pomposity.
The Hub
The Hub is a project of Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. They review YA literature, including audio books and graphic novels.
The HyperTexts
Showcases the work of classic and contemporary poets, with an emphasis on traditional forms.
The Imaginary Poets
The brilliant idea behind this Tupelo Press anthology: ask 22 leading poets to invent an alter ego, "translate" one of his or her poems, and write a short bio and critical essay about the "author". From David Kirby inventing a lost Scandinavian language for his fisherman-poet "Kevnor", to Victoria Redel discussing the feminist implications of the poems "Tzadie Rackel" sewed into her dishrags, these deadpan critical essays play with the conventions of academic poetry and criticism, in the same way that Cindy Sherman's imaginary film stills trick us into "recognizing" characters and poses that are so archetypical that we think we've really seen the movie. If you've ever found the museum placards more interesting than the modern art they describe, this book will make you laugh and think.
The Independent Publishing Magazine
The Independent Publishing Magazine is an online magazine that highlights trends, resources, and best practices in self-publishing and small presses. It is edited by Mick Rooney, an author, journalist, and consultant, who has written two books of advice on self-publishing.
The Innocent Loss of First Rights
In this 2023 article for the writing resource site AuthorsPublish, Craig Westmore explains what "unpublished" means in contest and magazine submission guidelines, and how to avoid inadvertently making your work ineligible. Complicating the issue is the fact that journals' rules differ. Sharing your work for feedback in online forums, for example, can disqualify it for some submission opportunities but not others.
The Inquisitive Eater: New School Food
The Inquisitive Eater: New School Food is a project of the interdisciplinary university The New School, in New York City. The journal provides a forum for artists and academics to explore the intersections between food and family, the environment, politics, economics, social justice, and media. Submissions may be short stories, personal essays, poems, reviews of books, movies and TV, visual art, multi-media projects, or academic work. Enter via online form.
The Internet Writing Journal’s Best Author Blogs
The editors of The Internet Writing Journal list their favorite individual and group blogs by accomplished writers. Represented genres include humor, romance, science fiction, horror, mystery, economics and technology. You will recognize many names on this list.
The Job of Being Everybody
The craftsmanship of these poems sneaks up on you, colloquial free verse initially disguising the deep intelligence of their observations about human nature. "You can know your building if you're interested/ in sadness," he writes of New York apartment life. How grateful we should be that he takes an interest.
The Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences
A project of the University of Massachusetts-Boston, the Joiner Institute promotes research, curriculum development, public events, and educational, cultural, and humanitarian exchanges which foster greater understanding and innovative means of addressing the consequences of war. Their annual writers' workshop is taught by Iraq and Vietnam veterans and others whose works address issues of social justice, cultural, political, and community concern.
The Kraken Collective
The Kraken Collective is an alliance of indie authors who have pooled resources to publish high-quality fiction while retaining complete creative control over our stories. Editors say, "We aim to provide a wide variety of science fiction and fantasy stories, all starring LGBTQIAP+ characters. Although it begins as a simple cooperative between authors, we aim to grow into an unique publishing model capable of supporting queer indie voices everywhere in SFF. We are committed to building a publishing space that is inclusive, positive, and brings fascinating stories to readers." At the moment, submissions are by invitation only, but they encourage reviewers to sign up to receive free ARCs. Customers can browse their books by genre and queer identity (e.g. polyamorous, asexual, transgender).
the lake has no saint
Repeated images of old houses, vines, and being underwater give this poetry chapbook the blurry, yearning atmosphere of a recurring dream, where one searches for the lost or never-known phrase that would make sense of a cloud of memories. Even as Waite offers compelling glimpses of discovering a masculine self within a body born female, womanhood exerts its tidal pull through domestic scenes with a female lover who seems perpetually on the verge of vanishing. This collection won the Snowbound Series Chapbook Award from Tupelo Press.
The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell
This hard-hitting memoir by a young veteran of the 2003 Iraq war portrays a failed system of military leadership that exposed infantrymen to pointless risks as their mission became increasingly unclear. Crawford joined the Florida National Guard before 9/11 for the tuition benefits, then found himself unexpectedly shipped to Kuwait. Scarcity of men and materials meant that his unit's tour of duty was continually being extended, yet they were not given the tools to do the job. Crawford's writing captures the brusque camaraderie and profanity-laced talk of soldiers, while his literary prose brings these harsh scenes to life.
The Latino Author
Founded by Corina Chaudhry, The Latino Author is a networking site that brings Hispanic/Latino authors and readers together. They welcome indie and self-published authors. The site includes annual best books lists, author profiles and interviews, and craft essays.
The Lit Pub
Founded in 2011, The Lit Pub website features recommendations of new literary fiction and nonfiction books, with brief reviews. The Lit Pub also publishes three full-length prose books per year through their open submissions period in June. Manuscripts may be novels, novellas, memoirs, lyric essays, story collections, prose poems and/or flash fictions.
The Literary Handyman
Fantasy novelist Danielle Ackley-McPhail's blog shares practical advice about structuring a story, marketing your work, and polishing your prose.
The Little Mermaid
By Jerry Pinkney. Hans Christian Andersen's tragic fairy tale is reconceived by acclaimed author-illustrator Pinkney as an empowering fable about friendship, exploration, and the power of a girl's voice. Lush paintings in gold and blue tones, featuring Black characters, make this one of the most delightful retellings of a famous story. Definitely superior to the Disney version, or at least an essential text to have on hand when your child watches the movie.
The Long Winter of 2014
By Janet Ruth Heller
Winter attacked us like a mugger,
battering us with frigid winds, hail,
whiteouts that closed roads
and shattered the power grid.
Snow piled fifteen feet high
obliterated mailboxes and froze solid,
blocking letters from friends,
jailing us in our homes.
The cold and storms
held us hostage for three months.
Even deer hunkered down,
unable to walk through high drifts.
Then we had a brief thaw
followed by rain
that turned into a blizzard
and axed tree limbs.
Now in late March, winter slowly frees us
from bondage. Snow begins to melt,
but the compressed crystals
resemble harpoons.
Today, the crocus blooms,
displays lavender petals
that dare winter to strike again.
The Louisville Review: The Children’s Corner
This literary journal based at Spalding University in Louisville, KY publishes work by both children and adults. The Children's Corner feature accepts poetry submissions year-round from students in grades K-12. Editors say, "We seek writing that looks for fresh ways to recreate scenes and feelings."
The Lovecraft Reread at Tor.com
H.P. Lovecraft was an influential early 20th century writer of horror and weird fiction, best known for his Cthulhu Mythos tales. In this online column at speculative fiction publisher Tor.com, modern Mythos writers Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth revisit classic Lovecraft tales and discuss other stories being written in the Mythos tradition.
The Luminous In-Between
By Cynthia Leslie-Bole
the portal
is the moment
where mind opens
and what's real rushes in
the nubbly sidewalk
the tarry parking lot
the cars blithely
maneuvering into slots
then suddenly
the bird
the crow
the huddled bundle of feathers
parked in a too-huge space
delineated by very straight
white lines
the stalled crow
blue-black sheen
dulled with dust
toes curling around asphalt
instead of branch
life flickering on and off
in a body remembering flight
in a voice echoing
lost morning warbles
the homeless man
the busy woman
gather to witness
the body heaving
the beak opening
the tongue darting
the lids drawing
opaque curtains across
obsidian eyes
as cars cruise by
with AC on high
time collapses
to one still point
the black hole of crow
in holy retreat
of spirit from flesh
I am the woman
watching
with impotent compassion
I am the vagrant
shrugging
with philosophical detachment
I am the bird
feeling life wane
choosing not to struggle
letting what's next begin
I am the white lines
containing it all
I am
breath
no breath
and the luminous
in-between
The Lutheran Writers Project
The Lutheran Writers Project seeks to make connections among writers and readers who are influencing and influenced by Lutheran traditions. They offer resources for book clubs, pastors, and educators, and also sponsor a literary festival at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
The Lynx Watch
Founded by bestselling novelist and bookstore owner Lauren Groff, The Lynx Watch is a nonprofit that fights censorship by distributing banned books to schools, libraries, prisons, Pride centers, and other community organizations in Florida, where conservative lawmakers have restricted people's access to books about racial justice, LGBTQ life, and environmental issues. Read a profile of the organization in the Nov/Dec 2024 Poets & Writers.
The Maine Review
Launched in 2014, The Maine Review is an online quarterly literary journal publishing poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and artwork. The first issue featured work by Maine authors, including celebrated poet Annie Finch, Authors Guild President Roxana Robinson, Maine Senior Poet Laureate Roger Finch, and Ellie O'Leary, host of WERU-FM's Writers Forum. Currently they are open to English-language submissions from around the world. There is also a writing contest with modest prizes.
The Malevolent Volume
By Justin Phillip Reed. This award-winning Black queer poet's sophomore collection gives a furious and brilliant voice to the shadow side of literary classics from Homer to Plath. The syntax of this poetry collection is thorny and twisted, and the word choice demands slow re-reading to discern the full meaning and appreciate the muscular rhythm. Reed is fond of using words that could be either nouns or verbs, placing them in such a way that you would mistake one for the other until the context becomes clear. One could see this style as a political choice in keeping with the book's passionate reclaiming of Blackness as an aesthetic. Reed is asserting that he deserves the reader's close attention. He is as important, and as intellectually accomplished, as the writers in the white literary canon that these poems deconstruct with wicked cleverness.
The Maven Game
David Moldawer was an acquisitions editor for major NYC publishing houses, and now runs Bookitect, an editing and ghostwriting service. His weekly email newsletter, The Maven Game, features his entertaining and informative reflections on the craft and business of writing.
