This Just In from the Barn

A note from Barn Owl Review:

Barn Owl Review #2 will feature:

POETRY: Seth Abramson, Deborah Ager, Nin Andrews, Aimée Baker, Erica Bernheim, Jason Bredle, Robert Lee Brewer, Edward Byrne, Paula Cisewski, Elizabeth J. Colen, Rachel Dacus, J.P. Dancing Bear, Emari DiGiorgio, Steve Fellner, Brent Fisk, John Gallaher, Leslie Harrison, Anna Journey, Stephanie Kartalopoulos, Lori Lamothe, David Dodd Lee, Gary Leising, Adrian C. Louis, Greg McBride, Erika Meitner, Keith Montesano, Alison Pelegrin, Greg Rappleye, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Brent Royster, Sean Singer, Sarah Sloat, Amy Bracken Sparks, Jennifer Sullivan, Mathias Svalina, Laura Madeline Wiseman, Karen J. Weyant, Brian R. Young

CRITICAL PROSE: Kazim Ali, Megan Savage

FICTION: Christina Kapp, Sheba Karim, Edward Mullany, Tom Noyes

This year we received almost 1,500 submissions--far beyond what we'd ever imagined--and had an incredibly tough time making our decisions. Many thanks to everyone who sent us work. We only wish that we had the funds to make the issue twice its size.

Look for us at AWP: Table 724, Hilton Chicago, Southwest Hall, Lower Level

The cover is available to gaze at over at the BOR Blog.

If you're attending AWP, please swoop in and say hello.  Not to me, as I won't be there, but to the rest of the good folks.  

Call it a year.

Lillian B. updated her online photo gallery.  Some beauty to close out your year is over here.  

Newness from Kim Chinquee.

Should be a restful transition into the new year.  I hope it is for you.  If you're in NYC, maybe you'll find my brother in Time Square.  I'm a fan of going to sleep one year, waking up the next. 

How does it go for you?

A short one from Paul Muldoon:

The Braggart

He sucked, he'll have you know, 

the telltale sixth toe

of a woman who looked like a young Marilyn Monroe,

her hubby getting a little sloppy

when he found them there in the back of that old jalopy.

Other papers please copy.

A Whole Lotta Cheddar

Dig:

New York, NY-- Poets & Writers has received the largest donation in its 38-year history. The Liana Foundation (established by the John and Susan Jackson Family) will donate $2 million to endow The Jackson Poetry Prize. The annual $50,000 prize, which was initiated in 2007, honors an American poet of exceptional talent who has published at least one book of recognized literary merit but has not yet received major national acclaim. The award is designed to provide what all poets need– time and the encouragement to write. 

Quickidy quick

Sharing some wild company over at Anti-.  

A few other surprises coming soon.  

For all you Art Lovers out there

Ms. Sunday, the only person I let near my skin with a machine full of ink, has recently updated her portfolio over at SkinFlower.com.

If you're on Long Island and need to cover that old faded out kanji (the one someone told you meant "passion" but really translates to "penguin") or if you're looking to get done for the first time, please consider booking an appointment with her at Lark Tattoo in Westbury.  

*An Update in response to a comment from "poetryguy":

A couple of points, once again treating your anonymous aggressions as constructive commentary: 

I would have written "gun," but was recently schooled by Mr. DJ Robinson of Wyld Chyld Tattoo in Merrick, NY about the point that guns harm people, where machines perform necessary tasks. So, yes, Tattoo Machine full of ink. In addition, if one chooses to get a tattoo, it's important to have an artist they can trust; one who is both interested and excited about the art you intend to permanently display for the remainder of your days. I have 4 tattoos of significant sizes, and am proud that I can count on Sunday at Lark to take my appointments. Because I believe in her integrity and skill as an artist, as well as enjoy her general presence, I hope others can turn to her for their body art.

It's good to have a tattoo artist you can turn to if you want to expand on a previous piece, or need a touch up. Some fly-by-night needle wielder won't be there to maintain the piece, and a healthy cross-section of artists aren't comfortable sticking around other people's art. Understandably so. A musician doesn't do a remix and claim it as original work; conservators don't restore a painting and put it up at their own gallery show; poets don't embrace the work they've attentively workshopped for their peers in their own manuscripts.  

My condolences if you've been butchered by some flash-artless hack. If that's the case, consider hopping the LIRR to Westbury and talk to Sunday. She does wonders with the cover-up.

Always a pleasure, fanboy.

Much To Do

First:

Some poems up at Slurve Mag.  The baseball card bios make me smile, and I'm a fan of Previous and Next buttons so there's the sense of page turning.  A fun journal I'd love for you to check out.

No Tell is having a special. Dig.

Ted Sanders is in the new issue of the Cincinnati Review.  It's amazing, and I hope you read it.

Please PLEASE get over to the RainTaxi Benefit Auction on ebay.  They have an impressive amount of impressive signed things. And a scarf I've been eyeing.  There's gonna be a battle for the Chris Abani works.

Moving on:

I'm in San Diego...again.  This time, I'm staying.  

I did 3 day of driving from West Palm to get here, two of them being around 15 hour days.  Lots of meditation gets done.  I was thinking of how I lived here when I'd just started writing, and again when I was finished with undergrad.  I left to go to grad school, but promised myself I'd come back after the MFA. 

I'd been putting it off for various reasons until now.  I don't regret the last 6 months, and they're not worth dwelling over.  Just didn't go down how I'd have liked.  What hit me--somewhere in the 880 miles of Texas on the 10--is how often people say they'll do things and don't.  They don't keep their word to others, which is often explainable, understandable and forgiven; they don't keep the word to themselves, and forgiving one's self self seems to be much more difficult.  

My thinking was that I'd be happy anyplace, so long as I was working and had a little room to work on various small vehicles.  That may or may not be true.  I know, and I think the wonderful people I've met and have grown to love over the last 5 years know, that I've never been happier than when I lived out here.  Please be in touch, and know you'll have a couch once I get get a couch...or a whole room if I'm lucky.

It's chilly and raining here today.  If you're somewhere cold, please keep warm.  

This morning I love you all, just like I love this frog, who slapped down on this car right in front of me the other night:

Good morning.

Going Home

Scratch Florida.

...see you there!

Passengers/Navigators

Just So You Know

Max Xiantu's blog has migrated to MaxXiantu.com.  Please adjust your plans accordingly.  

And just in over the email is a message from Amy Sayre Roberts.  With the intention of helping spread joy, and as a lover of radio, here you go:

Thought this message from Thousand Kites might be of interest to you all.
Join the ninth annual CALLS FROM HOME radio broadcast for prisoners.

The United States has 2.4 million people behind bars. Thousand Kites
wants you to lend your voice to a powerful grassroots radio broadcast
that reaches into our nation's prison and lets those inside know they
are not forgotten.



We are asking you to call our toll-free line 877-518-0606 and speak
directly to those behind bars this holiday season. (An answering
machine will record your message) Read a poem, sing a song, or just
speak directly from you heart. Speak to someone you know or to
everyone---make it uplifting.

So call right now at 877-518-0606. We will post each call on our
website as it comes in! Check our website www.thousandkites.org to
listen to your call and others!



CALLS FROM HOME will broadcast on over 200 radio stations across the
country and be available for download from our website on December 13.

Call anytime (now through December 9) at 877-518-0606 and record your message.

Learn how you can help blog, distribute, broadcast, or support this event.

CALLS FROM HOME is a project of Thousand Kites/WMMT-FM/Appalshop and a
national network of grassroots organizations working for criminal
justice reform.

www.thousandkites.org
thousandkitesproject@gmail.com

In Peace,
Thousand Kites Team (Nick, Julia, Dudley, Donna, and Amelia)

Thousand Kites
91 Madison Ave
Whitesburg, KY 41858

What Doesn't She Do?

Regarding the hardest working writer I know, this just in:

Amazing writer, gracious host, go-to blogger, and festival finder, Amy Guth is now also Managing Editor of So New.  I really liked this press before, and I'm super stoked she's driving that ship.  Send her your love, and enjoy the books from these fine folks.

The press release from the Publisher-at-large James Stegall is below.

Hey everybody,

I wanted to send out a quick announcement to let you know that Amy Guth is going to be taking on much of the effort at So New as Managing Editor. She is literally saving the press, as I've had to scale back much of my involvement due to work and personal demands. 

Amy has a ton of great ideas about the future of the press, lots of enthusiasm for the existing catalog, and just the right mix of professionalism, social-savvy and creativity. If I could have hugged her through the phone, it would have happened.

I'll still be on board as the publisher, and there is room for other volunteers if you've got some time. We're broke, just like everybody else, but still devoted to figuring out how to publish books and hold readings during these challenging times.

You can reach Amy at amy@sonewpublishing.com if you'd like to send a word of support, which would be awesome.

Thanks again for all your support in keeping the dream alive.

James

-- 
James Stegall
Publisher @ So New http://sonewpublishing.com
541.554.8808