Night Garden Journal (formerly Black Poppy Review) features dark and atmospheric poems. Today, my poem “Neon Dust Falling Out of Time” was published. You can read the full piece here.
Poetry
One Gonch poem published in Ex-Ex-Lit
Just discovered that one Gonch poem appeared in Ex-Ex-Lit journal on June 11. This one is “Nag Nag Nallanach Gonhal,” and you can read the full thing here.
Flashback: Populous Pudding poetry reading, 1989
That time I did a group reading at Populous Pudding in Willimantic, CT. I don’t remember this event very well. Judging by a letter I got back then from Charlie Krich (who organized poetry events at the space), he invited me to do an earlier reading on November 4, 1988. I only recall one reading I did there when people laughed at a line in one of my poems about “frying bologna.” But I don’t know which show that was.
Populous Pudding was a short lived DIY space that hosted art shows, poetry readings, and punk concerts. The music took place in the back of the space, said to be an old fur vault. It had a serious metal door on it with a wheel crank, like something you’d see in a bank. I saw some of the best shows there: Laughing Hyenas, Crystalized Movements, Fire Party, Fidelity Jones, Woodchipper and Bimbo Shrineheads. Since I was actually in grad school at UConn in neighboring Storrs, I didn’t get over there as much as I would have liked to.
“Ass Splatter at the Beach” and “Debugging the Popular Wisdom” published at Thirteen Myna Birds
Online poetry blog Thirteen Myna Birds has an unusual format, presenting a flock of thirteen poems or visuals at a time, etherizing them from the site when the next flock lands. The June flock was published today, including two of my poems: “Ass Splatter at the Beach” and “Debugging the Popular Wisdom.” You can read them here–but do it soon, as they may be gone in a month or so.
“Watermelon Void” and “A Little Vanity in Everyone” published in Sheila-Na-Gig online
The new issue of Sheila-Na-Gig online poetry journal (Vol 2.4, Summer 2018) was released today. This one contains a special section of poets who are also editors of literary journals–which seems a pretty nice way to scope out future submissions. LOL
Anyway, this issue includes two of my poems, “Watermelon Void” and “A Little Vanity in Everyone.” The first meditates on the joys of summer that mask the pains, and the second, uh, seems to be about the queen of the squirrels. You can read them here.
Gonch poems and images in Utsanga
Utsanga is an online journal for experimental writing based in Italy. Randomly checking in on it today, I was pleased to discover that a selection of my Gonch work had been published in Issue 15 on March 27. As you can see from the contents page above, this includes three text poems, six images from the Gonchlog, and my statement about the work. The texts are “Ancollachan Nog Nallanach,” “Chocnahal Clacano,” and Gnaachnalahal gon Lagan.” You can read the text works here, view the Gonchlog images here, and read the statement here.
Here’s part of the statement I contributed to explain the Gonch project:
The text pieces are new work using a vocabulary limited to words invented from the nonsense phrase “All Gonch.” It’s an attempt to create a new language, imagining also the culture behind it through the shape and structure of the words, that might arise after the death of the current (American) culture and language.
The images are part of another phase of the Gonch project I call the Gonchlog. In this process, I search through consumer magazines and cut out the five letters of “gonch,” then glue them onto accounting paper. The source, its date of publication, and volume number are noted. The intention is to draw out that key nonsense word from these commercial propaganda vehicles in order to find a way forward.
Gnarled Oak #15 compilation published
The final issue of Gnarled Oak has been compiled as online and PDF issues, available free at the journal’s web page. Titled Walking through Clouds, this is issue number 15. The editor has been slowly publishing the contents piece by piece over the last month or so, and now the issue is complete. I’m pleased to say it includes my short video poem “Crushed Bits” alongside the textual micropoetry and microfiction. Short reads for your lazy summer dayz.
“Prayers of the Day” in Poetry Pacific
Just noticed that issue 7.1 of online poetry journal Poetry Pacific was released on May 5. This one includes my poem “Prayers of the Day.” You can check it out here.
“Joys of Doggerland and 5 other poems in Word for/Word
Online literary journal focuses on experimental visual and text works. The new issue #31 is out. I’m pleased to be part of this one with six poems: “Joys of Doggerland,” “Dimming of the Haruspex,” “Standing Stone,” “Electromagnetic Pulse,” “Efface the New Caesar,” and “Cold Fortress.” You can read them here.
All these pieces are based on various lost cities or civilizations around the world. This series was inspired by current US affairs, which really made me think about the fragility of languages, cultures and nations.
“Rabbit Lies Scheming” in Mad Swirl
I’m pleased to announce that online poetry journal Mad Swirl published my poem “Rabbit Lies Scheming” today. You can read it here.
I wrote a few poems with a trickster rabbit as a main character–not so much inspired by Bugs Bunny as the Mayan Rabbit. In this one, Rabbit plots a hold-up, “dreaming of a better life so you won’t have to.”
jeff bagato 