Acceptance: Literary Orphans (ISSUE14: BB King)

CLICK HERE FOR THE BB KING ISSUE


Editor-in-Chief Mike Joyce has marshalled the force of over 20 volunteers to produce this incredible issue of the very exciting and accelerating zine, Literary Orphans.  I say "accelerating" because LO broke attendance records on its 2nd anniversary issue and was featured in none other than Poets & Writers for its cool project, The Rookery.  The idea behind The Rookery is to preserve and protect the contents of zines that were great, even legendary, but now for whatever reason defunct.  Two recent recipients of this preservationist push are The Fiddleback and The Newport Review.

(Off the top of my head, I would like to see Bolts of Silk and Barnwood Review protected.)

Editor Joyce is full of jouissance!  In my brief interactions with him, I felt an electric charisma, a sparkling and infectious brilliance.  He is expert at mobilizing a large team of editors and organizers, and Literary Orphans has over 90 likes in Duotrope (the online Poets Market), and surely a great following on Facebook (alas, I have yet to take the plunge into that mega-social arena).

Three of my poems appear in ISSUE 14.  One of them is pure sex, and includes a ball-gag.  The other two are some of the most unusual twists on personal identity I have ever attempted.

Here's a direct link:

My Poems In Literary Orphans

Stop by and see why people are crowing and cantering about LO!

Best To All,

Owl

In A Nutshell #1

In a Nutshell

(a new column, brought to you by Owl Who Laughs)

Title of the New York Times article on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (buried down the front page):

Israel Shoots Down Hamas Drone Sent From Gaza

(www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-conflict.html)

Title of the Al Jazeera article on the same conflict (top of page, large font):

Israeli offensive enters 7th day amid protest, death and flight of Gazans

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/14/israel-gaza-protests.html

Nutshell:  The difference in the two titles, alone, tells you a lot.


Owl

Release: IthacaLit Summer 2014

Teleport To IthacaLit

Ithaca Lit goes live! And it includes "Written," which, among all the poems I've penned, is among my top ten favorites. Go to the webpage, click on "twelve poets," then click on the photograph in the top right corner--and you'll be transported to this poem. I'd do it all again, the thirteen years of thousands of rejections and desolations and lonelinesses and failures--just for this one poem.

Take Care and Remember--the Golden Mean allows for unbridled ecstasy, sometimes--

Owl

Release: Almost 5Q

VISIT ALMOST 5Q (scroll down to Summer #68, if you're reading this belatedly)

My poem "Irises In a Portrait" launched solo on July 4th on Almost 5Q's website! What an honor, making it an extra-cool Independence Day for me. What is Almost 5Q? Why such an idiosyncratic name? It's a cool story, one I explain here:

Owl's Review of Almost 5Q

The short version is that there is a journal named Five Quarterly (or 5Q) that only publishes five poems a quarter, selected by five editors; and yet often the runners up get published in Almost 5Q.

Folks, I am thrilled to be a runner up! The poem, "Irises In a Portrait" is unique, too, channeled through me by a spirit I may never have contacted before. It's one of my most orginal and best poems. This is the height of my ability, "the highest point of all my greatness" as Shakespeare says (unfortunately, it continues: "and from that full meridian of my glory, I hast now to my setting").

I'd be honored if you checked it out!


A Jazzed Owl

Acceptance: IthacaLit Review

ithacalit.com

I was contacted by Michele Lesko at IthacaLit about my poem "Written," which will be appearing in a future issue. It was years ago that Ithaca Lit launched off, and I think I wrote a review about it. The journal was an exciting venture back then, and today it has only grown and thrived. The pages are absolutely beautiful, the content professional, the art and literature incessantly absorbing.

I'm extra-jazzed because "Written" is a poem I felt a special connection with from the first draft. I kept editing it, working it, changing the specifics while struggling to retain the essence. By the time I sent it to IthacaLit, maybe was perhaps worthy of publication in such an outstanding venue.

Of the thousands of poems I've written, I have only memorized two. "Written" might become the third. I really feel a bond with this poem, one solidified over many months, maybe over a year, of intimate immersion.

Thank you Editor Lesko, thank you IthacaLit! You shine!

Owl

PS: one of the poems I've memorized is this one, and here it is in audio format, read by Nic Sebastian (this is my favorite online presentation of one of my poems ever, because of Sebastian's incredible voice and talent):

http://whalesound.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/the-gods-reflect-on-creation-by-chris-crittenden/