Fresh off the digital press, the Winter 2021 issue of Rat’s Ass Review is once again full of great poetry. I’m pleased to be included once again with my poem “Sea of Shadows.” This piece is sort of “mermaid horror” in a darker and more formal style than I usually work in. You can read the full piece here. The pieces are arranged alphabetically by author’s last name.
My poem “All the World’s an ATM” appeared in the online lit journal Mad Swirl yesterday. Just in time for Halloween, the piece is part of a series featuring Ouija as a character, contemplating the world through the vagaries of language. You can read it here. I also have a poetry page on the Mad Swirl site which contains all my poems they’ve published.
An “online journal of voice,” BlazeVox just published its Fall 2021 issue (being #21 in a series), featuring contemporary poetry, vispo, fiction and nonfiction. The issue includes two of my poems from the Civilization’s Lost series: “Tomb of a New Religion” and “Swimming to Shangri-La.” These are the last pieces from that series to be published. You can read them here.
“Tomb of a New Religion” is loosely based on a legend of the native people of Pohnpei, in Micronesia, which goes back to the time of the sunken city of Nan Madol. This island culture is known for megalithic constructions build from massive volcanic basalt columns.
Word For/Word is a journal of new writing in online and print on demand formats. Issue 37 was recently published, including a wide range of text and visual poetry, as well as an interesting article on “liminalism.” I’m pleased to be included with five visual poems with asemic elements, part of a series that represents a kind of diary from an extraterrestrial colony world. You can check it out here.
The Southern Winter edition of Australian based online lit mag Otoliths, Issue #62, was released today. Every issue of Otoliths functions as an index or encyclopedia of the current streams and practitioners of the literary avant garde, and this one is no exception. As editor Mark Young writes: “It’s another lively issue with a mix of short story, review, photography, poetry, painting, & collage in a variety of styles, by an outstanding list of contributors, often in collaboration, from around the globe.”
I’m pleased to be represented in the mix with ten pieces of asemic visuals created last summer using a stash of junk I found on the street over the previous couple decades. You can check them out here.
A bilingual literary journal (texts in French or English) with outsider leanings, Datura just released its 12th issue today featuring poetry, rants, a book review, and interesting collages by Claudio Parentela. In France it’s available in print, online for rest of the world. The issue also includes two of my poems: “Milking an Elephant for Toothpaste in the Jungle” and “Sucking Soap on a Rope.” You can read them here.
The June 2021 issue of online Italian literary journal Utsanga (#28) was released yesterday. As always, it presents a broad range of text and visual works from the international avant garde literary scene, encompassing asemic scripts, visual poems, video works, art installations, criticism, and extended literary modes. I’m pleased to be represented with another installment of my “Xtro diary” series, featuring tape sampled images and asemic writing. You can check it out here.
Otoliths #61, the southern autumn 2021 issue, was released today. It’s jam packed as always with great text, visuals and hybrid works from writers and artists from around the world, reflecting the broad range of literary experimentation in the current era. I’m pleased to be included with nine pieces of visual poetry with asemic elements from a series that seems like diary excerpts from an extraterrestrial colony world. You can check them out here.
Chiron Review recently released its Spring 2021 issue, #121. It’s a print-only literary journal carrying the flag of high quality outsider poetry and fiction. I’m pleased to be included with one poem, “This Naked Morning.”
Mad Swirl is an online poetry and art journal based in Dallas, TX, showcasing lots of fun and funky writing and imagery. I’m pleased to be included again with my poem “The Joys of Serf Culture,” which was just released today. You can check it out here.
I’m also a contributing poet on the Mad Swirl site; you can find my page and the other poems they’ve published here.
jeff bagato 