Alina Pleskova is a poet, editor, Russian immigrant turned proud Philadelphian, & consummate Aquarius. Her first chapbook, What Urge Will Save Us, was published in April 2017 by Spooky Girlfriend Press. She co-edits bedfellows – a biannual print & online magazine that catalogs discussion of sex, desire, & intimacy – with Jackee Sadicario. Poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Elderly, Cosmonauts Avenue, & elsewhere. You can find her on the internet at alinapleskova.com & @nahhhlina.
1 - How did your first chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Okay so I know poems as a (/in a) physical object are no more or less real than poems in any other format, but the chapbook was validating in a way. Maybe because I've never had big ambitions for my poetry. Getting my shit together at least a little, & a small press I liked a lot want ing to publish a selection of my poems, & strangers out there picking them up & reading the m made me believe in my own work more. It made me want to do more & write more, too. I totally believe people when they say that they write for themselves first, but having readers beyond yr friends & people you know is a something-else feeling.
One thing that has shifted in my work now vs. before is how I used to write more explicitly , & I guess diaristically about sex & desire (or its lack). I was cataloging various experience s, letting them cascade, trying to write my way into a voice. And now the voice is a speaker who feels, to me anyway, more warm-blooded than before. I'm letting more of the world in. The poems are less insular than before.
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
My answer to this changes all the time (depending on planetary positions & my internal weather & interlocutor, hunger level, etc. in that moment), but it always has something to do w/ the following: early & immediate attractions to compression, musicality, wandering, Frank O'Hara.
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
I write s - o -o-o slowly . I'm not big on rigor or routine, but also, the poems come when they come. Most of the time, I'm like a weird little animal scuttling around collecting bits & bobs of poem-stuff. I try to notice things, but I think things just make themselves known to me, again, in their own time.
Then I have to go back into my gmail drafts, gchat (it's google hangouts now, whatever, still gchat to me) transcript histories, phone notes, purse notebook, who knows where else, & compile it all, & connect the parts, & shape the actual poem(s). I weave other people's words (things my friends & partners & family members say, song lyrics, lines from other poems, etc.) into my poems all the time, but sometimes those things sit around for a while before I figure out where to put them.
My poems are pretty conversational, & they have a pretty apparent logic/flow, so maybe it doesn't seem like they take as much time to complete as they do, but maybe I could stand to be a little more disciplined & then it wouldn't be that way. Or I'm doing the self-abnegation thing here , which was on my list of shit to quit doing in 2018. But it's still early in the year- -
Anyway, occasionally, an entire poem arrives in my head almost fully-formed. It feels like being momentarily possessed, or like summoning an incantation from the back of yr skull. Those moments are awesome, but rare.
4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?
Poems usually start w/ a line looping in my head, or something someone else says or does or writes. I don't know, it's all sort of mystical. Like, writing a poem requires me to see a certain way, but that sort of seeing is not my default mode.
Some days, I feel more tuned in than others. If poets are radios, as Jack Spicer claimed, then my antenna must be kinda busted. It isn't always picking up the poem frequencies, or they're coming in staticky.
I'm really not prolific enough to speak to the larger project questions, but I'm grateful for whatever I can get done. Sometimes it's a little less passive than that - sometimes I actively feel around for what else to add, how to expand a piece. I like what Eileen Myles wrote about the feeling of "going out to get a poem, like hunting."
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
Philly & New York both have awesome literary communities, & I attend/host/perform at readings often. I hate the word 'networking', but readings do connect editors to writers (I coedit a mostly solicitation-based magazine, bedfellows, so I can't emphasize that enough) & writers to each other & to other readers, a & to hosts of other events, etc. etc.
As an attendee, readings (I mean, of course there are ones that don't do anything for me, but the ones that do) are generative & inspiring & so often expose me to great work I didn't know about before. As a reader, it helps w/ my drafting process . I get a sense of what works well , what doesn't. Sometimes a line sounds fine in my head, even when I read it out loud to myself, but that changes when it enters a room.
I've gotten used to getting up in front of a crowd, but I don't love it. I'm very shy by nature, but I believe in my work more than I used to & that helps. A poet friend who I respect & admire recently said that the way I read/perform my poems has changed for the better over the last few years. I'm still beaming over that.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
I' d like to offer three (out of context, but effective) excerpts here.
Alice Notley (as quoted by Chris Kraus): "Because we rejected a certain kind of theoretical language, people just assumed that we were dumb."
Eve Sedgwick: " Obsessions are the most durable form of intellectual capital "
Chris Kraus: " Because emotion’s just so terrifying the world refuses to believe that it can be pursued as a discipline, as form. "
Meghan Daum (on Joni Mitchell): "... if there's anything I've learned from listening to her over the years, it's that if you don't write from a place of excruciating candor, you've written nothing. "
Those are my concerns, or maybe all that is something like an ethos. Most of my poems have something to do w/ the speaker (well, it's me) feeling their way around the world, & reporting bac k, or trying to make sense of things . I write about power dynamics & what I call 'fraught intimacies' often. T he question of how any of us figure out what we want from each other is the thing I return to over & over & over.
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
Hope this doesn't come off glib or flippant, but I don't know if "the writer" should have a particular role. Every writer has different capacities, energies, resources, etc. It would be strange, possibly boring, maybe even dangerous if we all endeavored to occupy the same role in larger culture, which (again) means different things to different people anyway. Whose culture & which writer, I guess is what I mean.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
An editor who gets what yr trying to do & nudges further towards it is a total gift. I've worked w/ great ones in various contexts, but in terms of messing around w/ my poems before they end up anywhere, I've had the same editor for years. My friend Andrew Clark is so wonderful & has great instincts . He's invaluable & has , so far, let me get away w/ making use of his time & effort for free. (What a pal.)
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Frank O'Hara: "You just go on your nerve."
10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to reviews)? What do you see as the appeal?
Everything I try to write eventually ends up as, or in, a poem. Even my TinyLetter.
11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
In part because I have an office job (at an academic publishing company) & have very regular hours, & in part because I'm an air sign, I don't want more routines in my life. It would be deeply upsetting for me to have something I love & enjoy linked to a routine, which is different from a ritual.
My daily rituals include lighting a stick of palo santo or sage or lavender or incense or cedar or mugwort & usually crying to "Silver Springs" & taking a scalding shower (sometimes the crying continues there.) This can take place in the morning or evening time.
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
Can I mention Alice Notley again? She never fails to remind me of what poetry can do, does to me, etc.
Relatedly, it helps to just put myself in the path of other people's brilliance-- whether it's through soliciting/reading work for bedfellows, or my new project, Sitting Room Series, a video reading series. Or going through the bookstore, or seeing what people are reading/sharing on my Twitter feed, etc. etc.
It also helps to get away from words entirely & listen to music, or look at visual art, or go for a long ass walk. Being a stoned flaneuse occasionally results in me spacing out & like, buying 4 different types of hummus at Aldi, but other times it leads to something, even if I'm not writing in that moment.
13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Childhood: boiled cabbage, must, cedar.
Now/my current apartment: palo santo, lavender, weed, garlic (I put it i n everything I cook.)
14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
Hell yes. Currently, these include: Louise Burgeois' art, tunneling very deep into a Joni Mitchell hole (especially Court and Spark ), the poet Gala Mukomolova's super sharp & lovely horoscopes at NYLON, the 34 trolley.
15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
Alice Notley, Diane di Prima, Ariana Reines, June Jordan, Adrienne Rich, Anne Boyer, Clarice Lispector, Roberto Bolaño, CAConrad, Hoa Nguyen. Each of them is a master class on like, a craft level, but that's not even what I mean. I'd follow their words anywhere.
16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Go to Portugal, try ayahuasca, embarrass myself for love. It's possible all three could happen at the same time??
17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I love the thought of, but wholly can't relate to, writing poetry as a full-time job. Is that a thing for people w/o inherited $$$?
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Ballet & figure skating gave me tendinitis & fucked up my ankles, but poetry has proven less physically onerous.
19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Alli Warren's I Love It Though. I won't shut up about how good it is. The last great film I saw was Get Out.
I wanted to like Lady Bird more, but will refrain from getting started on that here.
20 - What are you currently working on?
Writing my way back into writing, which right now actually mostly means reading a bunch & working on other projects until I feel like writing again. I want to expand my chapbook, What Urge Will Save Us, into a full-length (& while I'm at it maybe come up w/ a title of my own instead of stealing from Jenny Holzer--)
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
Showing posts with label Alina Pleskova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alina Pleskova. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Friday, September 01, 2017
12 or 20 (small press) questions with Nate Logan on Spooky Girlfriend Press
Spooky Girlfriend Press has published mostly poetry with solid Midwestern values since 2008. Visit them online: www.spookygirlfriendpress.tumblr.com
Nate Logan was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of four chapbooks, including Post-Reel (Locofo Chaps, 2017). His work has appeared in a variety of journals including BOAAT, Forklift, Ohio, and Ninth Letter.
1 – When did Spooky Girlfriend Press first start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted since you started, if at all? And what have you learned through the process?
Spooky Girlfriend Press started in the winter of 2008 in my basement apartment in Moorhead, Minnesota. My initial goal was to publish work by female-identified poets from the Midwest (minus our first title), but in short order that expanded to include female-identifying poets from across the United States. I've learned it takes sheer will to persist--the world at large is antithetical to small press publishing and probably poetry more than the other creative writing genres. It certainly is a labor of love.
2 – What first brought you to publishing?
The excuse to start the press stemmed from a long poem (50+ pages) I had written that I knew would never be published in a magazine. Even then I knew this was shady, but really I only did it to get the press off the ground because I did not have any chapbooks lined up out of the gate. In my defense, I only think I ever sold one copy of my chapbook and quickly was able to really start on the goal I had set out for the press.
3 – What do you consider the role and responsibilities, if any, of small publishing?
I think small presses have the responsibility of being advocates for the marginalized voices in society. Small presses are where the weirdos hangout (and I mean weirdos in the best way). Since last year's election results, small presses, maybe now more than ever, help serve as the artistic resistance against the administration. While we haven't done any explicit political chapbook, we did start a journal, Killjoy, as a means to resist.
4 – What do you see your press doing that no one else is?
This is a hard question to answer. I think there are a lot of presses who certainly do more than we do. We're a pretty small fry. I guess I would have to say making a pizza poem anthology was something no one else has done? And there's a new series we've started that publishes two poem chapbooks? We're also hoping our next single author chapbook has some kind of audio element to it.
5 – What do you see as the most effective way to get new chapbooks out into the world?
While we have a fondness for the physical book in hand, e-publication is definitely more effective and immediate. We only have limited experience with this, but our new series is going to be exclusively published online, so we'll get more practice.
6 – How involved an editor are you? Do you dig deep into line edits, or do you prefer more of a light touch?
I have been very fortunate in that the poets who've trusted their work with the press have all been easy to work with and wonderful writers. I engage the light touch while editing, usually only commenting on things to make a manuscript more uniform (the Virgo in me). I only usually go in for deeper edits if the poet has a particular concern.
7 – How do your books get distributed? What are your usual print runs?
Besides Getting Lucky and Stone Boats, all of our titles have been print-on-demand. Usually a pre-order will go up and once the book is ready, I'll have a bulk number shipped to Spooky Girlfriend HQ, package them up, then mail them.
8 – How many other people are involved with editing or production? Do you work with other editors, and if so, how effective do you find it? What are the benefits, drawbacks?
For most of the press's existence, it's just been me. The amazing poet Laura Theobald was kind enough to be an assistant editor for a few years and it was so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and someone who was talented at doing book design. She is so great.
9– How has being an editor/publisher changed the way you think about your own writing?
This is an interesting question. I'm not sure it has changed how I think about my own writing. If anything, it has just given me a richer awareness of the breadth of poetry as it exists now.
10– How do you approach the idea of publishing your own writing? Some, such as Gary Geddes when he still ran Cormorant, refused such, yet various Coach House Press’ editors had titles during their tenures as editors for the press, including Victor Coleman and bpNichol. What do you think of the arguments for or against, or do you see the whole question as irrelevant?
Like I alluded to in the first question, I did use my own work as the spark to start the press, just so I'd have something to start with. In general though, I find this practice to be on the shady side. I mean, to give oneself editorial power is already an unbelievable act of ego and having writers trust you with their work, to believe in what you're doing, that's enough for me. I think Reb Livingston said something about if you don't believe in your own work, how can you expect anyone else to, and I understand that argument, too. And I think this argument is stronger if you are LGBTQ, a woman, from a traditionally marginalized population. For me though, a white, cis male, there have always been venues for me, so I would not do this now.
11– How do you see Spooky Girlfriend Press evolving?
Though poetry chapbooks remain at our core, I feel like we've been evolving steadily. We published an anthology chapbook, a chapbook of non-fiction, we've started a new two-poem chapbook series, etc. Being able to publish more would be a nice evolution to go through.
12– What, as a publisher, are you most proud of accomplishing? What do you think people have overlooked about your publications? What is your biggest frustration?
I'm extremely proud to have published Nicole Steinberg's first full-length collection. As for overlooked things, I think some of our titles have gone under the radar for whatever reason (see: IS TO : AS : IS TO by Cecily Iddings / READ IT) which can be a bit disheartening. My biggest frustration is not being able to properly compensate our authors and the lack of funds to attend book fairs where we can get more exposure.
13– Who were your early publishing models when starting out?
Bloof Books was and continues to be a huge inspiration for us. dancing girl press was also an inspiration for us as we basically borrowed our mission statement from them.
14– How does Spooky Girlfriend Press work to engage with your immediate literary community, and community at large? What journals or presses do you see Spooky Girlfriend Press in dialogue with? How important do you see those dialogues, those conversations?
We mostly do this engagement through our Internet presence, most often through our Facebook and Twitter pages. We try to promote our authors the best we can, sharing their readings or work that's recently been published. Unfortunately, we're located in a pretty quiet place, literarily (?) speaking, so there aren't too many opportunities to promote ourselves locally, but we try. As far as dialogue goes, I think we are in conversation with presses who pride themselves on being feminist in nature. They are important insofar as that their, and our existence, highlights just how underrepresented women continue to be in the small publishing world.
15– Do you hold regular or occasional readings or launches? How important do you see public readings and other events?
Oh, no. But I wish we did. Naptown is not a hotspot destination for such things. Most of our authors live on the east coast, anyway. We've been fortunate to participate in some readings at AWP; those are probably the largest profile readings we've done so far. We'd love to go to some smaller book fairs and run a table / host a reading. I think they are really important and are usually a fun time.
16– How do you utilize the internet, if at all, to further your goals?
The Internet is everything for the press. If it wasn't for the Internet, there'd be no way the press would be where it is today. There are so many presses, big and small, vying for attention on the Internet, we're just glad we have the corner of a corner of a corner of a room to promote our authors and titles.
17– Do you take submissions? If so, what aren’t you looking for?
Nope! We solicit all our titles (minus our 7" Single Series, which has its own particular rules).
18– Tell me about three of your most recent titles, and why they’re special.
“ghazal with the city sparking” by Emily Corwin b/w “The Seven of Cups is a Dialogue Between Yourself and Images” by Jennifer MacBain-Stephens /// Our most recent title, the first in our 7" Single Series (an online, two-poem chapbook, highlighting the work of two poets). This is special because it's the first one in this series and I've been a fan of Emily's and Jenny's work for a long time and was so happy when I saw they submitted something for the open call. I think these are just two really great poems that compliment each other well.
What Urge Will Save Us by Alina Pleskova /// I like to think that SG is open to all kinds of work, that the press isn't narrowed down to one kind or type of poetry. Alina's chapbook is one that I had never read before--I mean that in the way that the vividness of the language and the story that these poems tell had me engaged from page one. Yes, there have been poems written before about intimacy and finding oneself in the midst of it, but Alina's work made those ideas new for me. Emily Dickinson's line about reading something and feeling as if "the top of your head were taken off," this chapbook is what that means.
Libido by Cathy de la Cruz /// Cathy is a triple-threat talent wise and I'm so glad she trusted us with her work for her first chapbook and our first e-chapbook. This is another chapbook that discusses intimacy, but in a very different way from Alina's. Cathy's work is just as effective though and hard-hitting in the feelings it evokes. "Something, Anything" will stop you in your tracks.
12 or 20 (small press) questions;
Nate Logan was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of four chapbooks, including Post-Reel (Locofo Chaps, 2017). His work has appeared in a variety of journals including BOAAT, Forklift, Ohio, and Ninth Letter.
1 – When did Spooky Girlfriend Press first start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted since you started, if at all? And what have you learned through the process?
Spooky Girlfriend Press started in the winter of 2008 in my basement apartment in Moorhead, Minnesota. My initial goal was to publish work by female-identified poets from the Midwest (minus our first title), but in short order that expanded to include female-identifying poets from across the United States. I've learned it takes sheer will to persist--the world at large is antithetical to small press publishing and probably poetry more than the other creative writing genres. It certainly is a labor of love.
2 – What first brought you to publishing?
The excuse to start the press stemmed from a long poem (50+ pages) I had written that I knew would never be published in a magazine. Even then I knew this was shady, but really I only did it to get the press off the ground because I did not have any chapbooks lined up out of the gate. In my defense, I only think I ever sold one copy of my chapbook and quickly was able to really start on the goal I had set out for the press.
3 – What do you consider the role and responsibilities, if any, of small publishing?
I think small presses have the responsibility of being advocates for the marginalized voices in society. Small presses are where the weirdos hangout (and I mean weirdos in the best way). Since last year's election results, small presses, maybe now more than ever, help serve as the artistic resistance against the administration. While we haven't done any explicit political chapbook, we did start a journal, Killjoy, as a means to resist.
4 – What do you see your press doing that no one else is?
This is a hard question to answer. I think there are a lot of presses who certainly do more than we do. We're a pretty small fry. I guess I would have to say making a pizza poem anthology was something no one else has done? And there's a new series we've started that publishes two poem chapbooks? We're also hoping our next single author chapbook has some kind of audio element to it.
5 – What do you see as the most effective way to get new chapbooks out into the world?
While we have a fondness for the physical book in hand, e-publication is definitely more effective and immediate. We only have limited experience with this, but our new series is going to be exclusively published online, so we'll get more practice.
6 – How involved an editor are you? Do you dig deep into line edits, or do you prefer more of a light touch?
I have been very fortunate in that the poets who've trusted their work with the press have all been easy to work with and wonderful writers. I engage the light touch while editing, usually only commenting on things to make a manuscript more uniform (the Virgo in me). I only usually go in for deeper edits if the poet has a particular concern.
7 – How do your books get distributed? What are your usual print runs?
Besides Getting Lucky and Stone Boats, all of our titles have been print-on-demand. Usually a pre-order will go up and once the book is ready, I'll have a bulk number shipped to Spooky Girlfriend HQ, package them up, then mail them.
8 – How many other people are involved with editing or production? Do you work with other editors, and if so, how effective do you find it? What are the benefits, drawbacks?
For most of the press's existence, it's just been me. The amazing poet Laura Theobald was kind enough to be an assistant editor for a few years and it was so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and someone who was talented at doing book design. She is so great.
9– How has being an editor/publisher changed the way you think about your own writing?
This is an interesting question. I'm not sure it has changed how I think about my own writing. If anything, it has just given me a richer awareness of the breadth of poetry as it exists now.
10– How do you approach the idea of publishing your own writing? Some, such as Gary Geddes when he still ran Cormorant, refused such, yet various Coach House Press’ editors had titles during their tenures as editors for the press, including Victor Coleman and bpNichol. What do you think of the arguments for or against, or do you see the whole question as irrelevant?
Like I alluded to in the first question, I did use my own work as the spark to start the press, just so I'd have something to start with. In general though, I find this practice to be on the shady side. I mean, to give oneself editorial power is already an unbelievable act of ego and having writers trust you with their work, to believe in what you're doing, that's enough for me. I think Reb Livingston said something about if you don't believe in your own work, how can you expect anyone else to, and I understand that argument, too. And I think this argument is stronger if you are LGBTQ, a woman, from a traditionally marginalized population. For me though, a white, cis male, there have always been venues for me, so I would not do this now.
11– How do you see Spooky Girlfriend Press evolving?
Though poetry chapbooks remain at our core, I feel like we've been evolving steadily. We published an anthology chapbook, a chapbook of non-fiction, we've started a new two-poem chapbook series, etc. Being able to publish more would be a nice evolution to go through.
12– What, as a publisher, are you most proud of accomplishing? What do you think people have overlooked about your publications? What is your biggest frustration?
I'm extremely proud to have published Nicole Steinberg's first full-length collection. As for overlooked things, I think some of our titles have gone under the radar for whatever reason (see: IS TO : AS : IS TO by Cecily Iddings / READ IT) which can be a bit disheartening. My biggest frustration is not being able to properly compensate our authors and the lack of funds to attend book fairs where we can get more exposure.
13– Who were your early publishing models when starting out?
Bloof Books was and continues to be a huge inspiration for us. dancing girl press was also an inspiration for us as we basically borrowed our mission statement from them.
14– How does Spooky Girlfriend Press work to engage with your immediate literary community, and community at large? What journals or presses do you see Spooky Girlfriend Press in dialogue with? How important do you see those dialogues, those conversations?
We mostly do this engagement through our Internet presence, most often through our Facebook and Twitter pages. We try to promote our authors the best we can, sharing their readings or work that's recently been published. Unfortunately, we're located in a pretty quiet place, literarily (?) speaking, so there aren't too many opportunities to promote ourselves locally, but we try. As far as dialogue goes, I think we are in conversation with presses who pride themselves on being feminist in nature. They are important insofar as that their, and our existence, highlights just how underrepresented women continue to be in the small publishing world.
15– Do you hold regular or occasional readings or launches? How important do you see public readings and other events?
Oh, no. But I wish we did. Naptown is not a hotspot destination for such things. Most of our authors live on the east coast, anyway. We've been fortunate to participate in some readings at AWP; those are probably the largest profile readings we've done so far. We'd love to go to some smaller book fairs and run a table / host a reading. I think they are really important and are usually a fun time.
16– How do you utilize the internet, if at all, to further your goals?
The Internet is everything for the press. If it wasn't for the Internet, there'd be no way the press would be where it is today. There are so many presses, big and small, vying for attention on the Internet, we're just glad we have the corner of a corner of a corner of a room to promote our authors and titles.
17– Do you take submissions? If so, what aren’t you looking for?
Nope! We solicit all our titles (minus our 7" Single Series, which has its own particular rules).
18– Tell me about three of your most recent titles, and why they’re special.
“ghazal with the city sparking” by Emily Corwin b/w “The Seven of Cups is a Dialogue Between Yourself and Images” by Jennifer MacBain-Stephens /// Our most recent title, the first in our 7" Single Series (an online, two-poem chapbook, highlighting the work of two poets). This is special because it's the first one in this series and I've been a fan of Emily's and Jenny's work for a long time and was so happy when I saw they submitted something for the open call. I think these are just two really great poems that compliment each other well.
What Urge Will Save Us by Alina Pleskova /// I like to think that SG is open to all kinds of work, that the press isn't narrowed down to one kind or type of poetry. Alina's chapbook is one that I had never read before--I mean that in the way that the vividness of the language and the story that these poems tell had me engaged from page one. Yes, there have been poems written before about intimacy and finding oneself in the midst of it, but Alina's work made those ideas new for me. Emily Dickinson's line about reading something and feeling as if "the top of your head were taken off," this chapbook is what that means.
Libido by Cathy de la Cruz /// Cathy is a triple-threat talent wise and I'm so glad she trusted us with her work for her first chapbook and our first e-chapbook. This is another chapbook that discusses intimacy, but in a very different way from Alina's. Cathy's work is just as effective though and hard-hitting in the feelings it evokes. "Something, Anything" will stop you in your tracks.
12 or 20 (small press) questions;
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