This is happening for a limited time only! From now until December 31, 2017, you can get 3 CCM Books for only $25 or $30. That includes shipping. Following the link below to see the selected titles and to get your CCM holiday bundle now.
SHOP HOLIDAY SALEFor questions on the holiday sale only, direct questions to janice@entropymag.org.
No, it isn’t a coincidence: The winner of the #IAMCOPING Mainline contest, Russell Jaffe’s beautiful new collection was born by the adopting our publishing namesake, “Civil Coping Mechanisms,” and turning it into a writing prompt. What does it mean to cope? Jaffe took it to heart and has crafted poetry as unique and heartwarming as much as it is devastating. This one’s for the community. Jaffe makes it clear: We’re coping.
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“In In This Quiet Church of Night, I Say Amen, Kelly’s poems are crafting the next new reality, because what-ever duende would have had to offer, in terms of wisdom, has passed. Each poem is a breakup with nostalgia. Each poem is an invitation to the reader to accompany him in his search, to be conflicted with him and to come to terms with the burden of creating new normals and new moral codes. It’s about the transfiguration of ideas because the change that these poems seek in flesh conclude that no flesh is left available. These poems in their want and in their searching and in their fear will capture you because each one is a piece of you, too.”
—Keegan Lester, author of this shouldn’t be beautiful but it was & it was all i had so i drew it
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“Good love stories aren’t interesting to read about. Thankfully, Dumbheart / Stupidface provides a wonderful reprieve; Wilhelm writes the brutal truths of what it means to love someone with a detached ferocity generally observed in nature, as when a tiger devours a deer. And it is as exciting to watch.”
—Bijan Stephen
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“Bud Smith is one of the only writers I don’t mind hanging out with in real life. I’ve seen Bud Smith sober and I’ve seen Bud Smith drunk. He’s great either way.”
—Scott McClanahan, author of The Sarah Book
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“Scott Esposito is a true American cosmopolitan—full of ideas and void of pretensions. His way of seeing—inquisitive and gentle—his way of writing—honest and charismatic—are a life-line out of our self congratulatory provincialism.”
—Álvaro Enrigue, author of Sudden Death
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“I’ve never read a book like this in my life and I love that so much I could scream. Ella Longpre’s How to Keep You Alive is a genre bomb love letter to identity dissolution and reformation. I think I held my breath a few times when I felt lyric language kissing the fact of a body, meanings coming apart but then reassembling kind of like the dance that creation and destruction make. Or, more precisely, when we go to tell the story of our lives and our bodies we find that what can be storied can be destoried and restoried. That’s the beauty and terror of memory meeting body meeting language. This storymaking will undo you in the best way, and restory you toward a difference you didn’t know lived in you. We could use that right now. It could save our lives.”
—Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Book of Joan
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“Jared Joseph’s profoundly ambitious Drowsy. Drowsy Baby is simultaneously a mystical text, an autofiction driven by Nabokovian madness, the result of a termite artist eating his way through history, a no-holds-barred conceptual hoax, a personal genealogy. It is a book of fear and a book of defenses: from the violent and treasonous acts depicted in the pages, to the writing techniques of montage and erasure, the book is involved in a constant tugging between violence and protection, attack and defense.”
—Johannes Goransson, author of The Sugar Book
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#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente
Bud Smith is the author of his new book and memoir “Work,” which will be released September 18, 2017 from CCM. Besides that, however, Smith is the author of numerous books, including “Dust Bunny City,” a collaboration with Rae Buleri, and the publisher of Unknown Press. Check out this interview we did with him here.
Below, you can listen to Bud read an excerpt from his book, Work:
BUD SMITH is the author of Dust Bunny City (Disorder Press) and F-250 (Piscataway House). He works heavy construction and lives in New Jersey.
A few weeks ago, we made a playlist for you to write to. Because we love music so much, here’s another:
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente
Bud Smith is the author of his new book and memoir “Work,” which will be released September 18, 2017 from CCM. Besides that, however, Smith is the author of numerous books, including “Dust Bunny City,” a collaboration with Rae Buleri, and the publisher of Unknown Press.
Of his book, Scott McClanahan said, “Bud Smith is one of the only writers I don’t mind hanging out with in real life. I’ve seen Bud Smith sober and I’ve seen Bud Smith drunk. He’s great either way.”
Luckily, he talked to me about his favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:
Describe your favorite meal.
I get the falafel platter usually, it’s a couple bucks. Ibby’s Falafel on Grove Street in Jersey City. They didn’t have mediterranean food where I grew up, down in the suburbs. We used to just eat fish sticks. My dad used to burn them all the time in the oven. I don’t think city kids had to grow up eating burnt fish sticks. They got to eat falafel platters. Stuff off a halal cart. Sushi. Bodega snacks. Pizza from a window hanging over the street.
What music do often you write to, if at all?
Nothing really. My apartment is really loud. There’s a lot of noise from the cars thundering down Kennedy Blvd. But I like that. I can hear their radios when they get stuck at the light. We live on the corner. So sometimes there’s multiple radios playing multiple songs. I also like when someone gets a phone call and the song stops and the ringing telephone plays through their stereo because of bluetooth. If I’m writing at work, I don’t listen to music there either. It’s so loud there, too. Split your head right open for ya.
What are three books that you’ve always identified with?
Three novels I’ve reread a bunch of times are Canary Row by John Steinbeck, In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. I identify as a weird old white dead guy.
Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?
I bought an abstract painting from Illeen Kaplan Maxwell because it makes no sense to me but its endlessly pretty, just like I want my life to be. It’s hanging on my living room wall and I look at it all the time. It’s over my left shoulder right now and it makes me irrationally happy.
Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.
I usually work out with my red panda on the rings, so this one:
What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?
The apocalypse would be if you couldn’t block anybody on social media. Or even worse, if you could pretend to still be friends but you couldn’t mute them, or unfollow them. I’d want to die choking to death on the falafel platter from Ibby’s Falafel on Grove Street in Jersey City, while unfollowing/muting every single person I still follow on social media.
If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Overboard with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel. My Cousin Vinny with Marissa Tomei and Joe Pesci. Game of Thrones – it’ll basically be a 75+ hour movie when it’s all done. It’s got everything: naked ladies, naked guys, naked dragons, naked dire wolves, naked crows, even some naked horses.
How would you describe your social media persona/role?
Unfollowing/muting everybody I’m still friends with while choking to death. Also, blocking some people.
What’s your favorite animal and why?
My red panda that I work out with every morning on our gymnastic rings. He’s a lot of fun and I don’t have to feed him because he just eats the cockroaches that are wandering around our apartment.
What do you carry with you at all times?
Kohl’s cash. 24/7/365
BUD SMITH is the author of Dust Bunny City (Disorder Press) and F-250 (Piscataway House). He works heavy construction and lives in New Jersey.
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016) and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of their writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.
Persona is one of my favorite techniques and crafts to work with in writing. Here are 13 poems that are written through persona:
1. Patricia Smith – “Skinhead”
2. Leah Umansky – “Khaleesi Says”
3. Linda Bierds – “The Ghost Trio”
4. John Berryman – “Dream Song 29”
5. James Tate – “The Motorcyclists”
6. Kevin Young – “Reward”
7. Margaret Atwood – “Pig Song”
8. Hannah Kucharzak – “Anxious Diva”
9. Richard Brautigan – “Trout Fishing in America”
10. Cornelius Eady – “Nina’s Blues”
11. A. Van Jordan – “From”
12. C.D. Wright – “One Big Self (excerpt)”
13. Louise Gluck – “Vespers”
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
Here’s a playlist you can work and write to. Awhile ago, in a previous newsletter that we sent out and on our Twitter, we asked you guys for song recommendations. I compiled some of them (hi, Elliott Smith!)–and of course, some of my own weird suggestions (hi, Les Rallizes Dénudés)– on a CCM playlist for you via Spotify. Because music is therapeutic and wonderful.
Sometimes we need to get out of own heads (and our characters’ heads!)–and sometimes, we need to set a tone and just write or walk or think, even if we don’t have a specific plan. I’d definitely also suggest using this playlist as a prompt for when you feel stuck and let yourself write without editing–and see what happens.
More suggestions are always welcome.
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
Poetry and music are so intertwined, it’s almost as if we don’t know which starts where, or what came first. And do we even have to?
1. Jack Spicer – “A Book of Music”
2. Jenny Johnson – “Aria”
3. Campbell McGrath – “Charlie Parker”
4. Victor Hernández Cruz – “Latin & Soul”
5. Michael Morse – “Void & Compensation”
6. Bob Hicok – “Go Greyhound”
7. Airea D. Matthews – “Temptation of the Composer”
8. Anaïs Duplan – “from Mount Carmel and the Blood of Parnassus”
9. Rita Dove – “Transit”
10. Robert Graves – “Ghost Music”
11. Troy Onyango – “The Ghost Of Nina Simone; Or The Remains Of An Existence Spiraling Towards The Nadir.”
12. Scott Chalupa – “Gnossienne No. 4”
13. Allyson Horton – “Indiana Avenue: Jazz-Ku for Wes”
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
Reading what people say about their work can be so helpful when it comes to thinking about craft. Here’s a few recent interviews:
1. Victoria Redel talks to The Rumpus about her new book:
“I believe we all have lists of shame. Long lists. We live with our constellation of shames quite privately. But they weigh us down. I wish I could abracadabra away shame. This is such a waste of our small time on earth. Our bodies are often the focus of shame. The shame of the body changing. Of the sexual body. Of the aging body. Not being able to do what you once could do. Even just looking at your skin as you age, the texture, the wrinkle, the sag, and somehow feeling ashamed and responsible for its changes. Illness enters, too. If you were a better person you wouldn’t be ill. Every failure of the body can become a personal indictment. Abracadabra, Gone, I shout again.”
2. Juan Martinez talking about his debut collection BEST WORST AMERICAN at The Rumpus:
“If there’s one thing I learned, one lifesaving element of fiction I’ve learned to be attuned to, is that I can get characters moving if they’re uncomfortable, and particularly if they’re uncomfortable in ways both physical and existential. So like eighty-five percent of my stories have this tendency toward the essayistic, which can be fun but only if the mind of the narrator has an itch, if there’s this uneasiness troubling the prose. I mean, I’m saying all this but the honest answer is that I’m someone is always a little uncomfortable—like, never quite at home in my own skin—and I find the stories therapeutic because it’s where I get to let that uneasiness breathe and be productive. It’s a way of finding comfort in the discomfort.”
3. Samantha Irby spoke to Hazlitt:
“I always hate everything I write as soon as it’s finished, especially once it’s published and there’s no chance to go back and fix it, make it better. I am also very uncomfortable looking back at older versions of myself. Everything embarrasses me, all the time. And there’s never a moment that I can look at something I’ve written without thinking, ‘That could be funnier. You could have used this word instead of that one. How could anyone have ever published this.'”
4. Elizabeth Crane talked to LARB:
““What if” is at the front of some significantly greater percent of the questions in my head on a daily basis. What would it be like to live in that house? What would it be like to be that person? You know, what would it be like for someone a lot like me (who has maybe spent some good time contemplating what seems like a real possibility of life without the energy resources we’re used to) if the apocalypse hit? (Alternate title: “Life Without Coffee Would Probably Suck.”) And both my novels began with what-ifs — my original idea for We Only Know So Much, when I thought it was going to be a short story, was: What would it be like if there were a family whose members existed so much in their own heads that they almost never had a conversation with anyone else in their family? Which could have worked in a short story but in a novel left me without a lot in the way of, you know, scenes. And with History, the initial question was: What if I could sit down with my (dead) mom and try to work a few things out? But you’re right, there is probably a bit more called for in the way of answers or insight for some of the characters in the novels than there is in the stories. Too many possibilities, to bring it back to that. Even in a novel that has an ending that can be seen more than one way, I hope the reader has the feeling of a satisfying resolution, even if it’s not tied in a bow, which will definitely never happen in anything I’ll write.”
5. Scott McClanahan talked to Fanzine:
” I could say I’ve exploited my family and the people I know for their stories. I’ve been like a vampire or a farmer that way. But at the same who else would write about these magnificent people except me. Most writers think they are singular people, but not me. I want to find the singular people and then chew them up for my fiction and be their witness. I don’t know if I’ve succeeded.”
6. Noah Cicero spoke with Electric Literature:
“Give it to the Grand Canyon took me nine months to write, 40,000 words. I go to Starbucks and put headphones on and listen to music — the same song over and over again. Go to Work I wrote mostly to “Rhyme” by Metallica. In Bipolar Cowboy, the songs in the book are the songs I was listening to — “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver, Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” Fleetwood Mac songs. I didn’t do that when I was young but now I do because I’m never going to be famous famous. (If someone gave me $80,000 and said ‘here’s a concept and a nice house to sit in,’ I could write on a Mac computer every day peacefully with a research assistant — the full-fledged Dave Eggers experience — and not listen to music.) When I wrote the Grand Canyon book, it was three-four times a week. I would go to Starbucks and sit for an hour and a half until I finished the coffee, about 1,100 words at a time. I don’t count the words, really, I count the sittings.”
7. Beth Ditto said some stuff to BUST:
“I am still uncomfortable with my voice. But when I was really young, when The Gossip first started out — I was 18,19 — all I wanted was to sound like Kathleen Hanna. But that wasn’t happening! I also had throat surgery to remove polyps from my vocal chords. That made my voice smoother, LIKE A LAAAYDAY.”
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016) and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of their writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.
#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente
Jacklyn Janeksela is the author of her book “fitting a witch//hexing the stitch,” was released in June 2017 (The Operating System). Besides that, however, Janeksela was also a contributor in CCM’s anthology “A Shadow Map.”
Of her book, Juliet Escoria said, “Like all good poetry, Jacklyn Janeksela’s poetry is a straddler – occupying the future and the past, the earthly world of pigtails and red dresses as well as the other world of the devil and astral plane. If you read this book, you will become a straddler too, a person who is both enchanted and possessed.”
Luckily, she talked to me about her favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:
Describe your favorite meal.
My own heart on a plate.
What music do often you write to, if at all?
I require silence or whatever sound nature gives me for the day.
In between, you can catch me floating on Bosnian Rainbows or diving into Swans. Anything that’s not fucking around with sound or art, voice & vulnerability —experimental mayhem. I melt over Motorama and Marilyn Manson; Small Depo, Soft Kill, SQÜRL. Plus stuff like LA Witch, Dead Rabbits, Tropic of Cancer, Chelsea Wolfe, The Ghost Ease, Froth, Blood Orange, Savages, Mi Pequeña Muerte, & Mary Bell. Of course, Tori Amos & The Cure are always present –like always & forever in a seriously obsessed can’t-get-you-outta-my-mind-or-heart kinda way. I have a band –The Velblouds, so I listen to myself + one, often.
What are three books that you’ve always identified with?
The Fear of Flying, Confessions of an Opium Eater, Steppenwolfe/Damien/Siddhartha (tied for 3rd).
Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?
One? Jesus, I see one per day that expresses who I am or what I feel. I refuse to pick just one, but I will say that Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, Aleksandra Waliszewska, Seigfried Zademack, & Frances Bacon are of the same soul energy & vibration.
Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.
& if you were curious, here are my nights:
What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?
The apocalypse is an invention to frighten us; and it serves its purpose. It looks like whatever I want it to look like and is equal to how I envision self & life. I don’t want to die so I won’t. And death is but a word, a concept; and I’m friends with death, we’re cool like that. But should I have to choose a way to go, for example because of an interview, I’d say during orgasm due the proximity of death.
If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Last Lovers Left Alive, Jules et Jim, and Django/Santa Sangre/Edward Scissorhands (tied for 3rd).
How would you describe your social media persona/role?
Mission: support art, humans, and awakening. But I try to be more focused on my terrestrial persona/role because the internet will die one day; I don’t want to lose touch with myself too much and forget how to be a human.
What’s your favorite animal and why?
Cats because they are mediums; so are rabbits. But one day I will have a goat on a farm somewhere far away. All animals are gods, that’s why I don’t eat them.
What do you carry with you at all times?
Pen, paper, magic, water, stones.
jacklyn janeksela is a wolf and a raven, a cluster of stars, & a direct descent of the divine feminine. jacklyn janeksela can be found @ Thought Catalog, Luna Magazine, Talking Book, Three Point Press, DumDum Magazine, Visceral Brooklyn, Anti-Heroin Chic, Public Pool, Reality Hands, Mannequin Haus, Velvet-Tail, Requited Journal, The Feminist Wire, Word For/Word, Literary Orphans, Lavender Review, & Pank. she is in a post-punk band called the velblouds. her baby @ femalefilet. more art @ artmugre & a clip. her first book, fitting a witch//hexing the stitch, will be born in 2017 (The Operating System). she is an energy. find her @ hermetic hare for herbal astrological readings.
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.
These pieces need no introduction, except that they’ll rip your organs out.
1. Lauren Milici – “Two Poems” (Yes Poetry)
2. Alexis Groulx- “My Body Dysmorphia” (Luna Luna Magazine)
3. Sarah Jordan – “Our Father Dave” (Cosmonauts Avenue)
4. Nathan McClain – “Against Melancholy” (Tinderbox Poetry)
5. Nadia Alexis – “How to Be Friends With a Sex Worker” (Tinderbox Poetry)
6. Isabel Sobral Campos – “Three Poems” (Typo Magazine)
7. Maggie Queeney – “Love Wildered/Re-Wilding” (Typo Magazine)
8. Sean H. Doyle – “Hallucinatorium” (Storychord)
9. Juliet Escoria – “Five Poems” (Fanzine)
10. Isobel O’Hare – “Rhiannon” (Entropy)
11. Hannah Cohen – “Self-Portrait as Grendel” (Calamus Journal)
12. Sonya Vatomsky – “It’s Time for Goth Culture to Embrace the Gender Identities of All Its Members” (Slate)
13. Meredith Talusan – “Why Can’t My Famous Gender Nonconforming Friends Get Laid?” (VICE)
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016) and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of their writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.
Here are some books you should be teaching in your workshops and classes.
1. Jayy Dodd – “Mannish Tongues” (Platypus Press, 2016)
2. Gabrielle Civil – “Swallow the Fish” (CCM, 2016)
3. Wendy C. Ortiz – “Bruja” (CCM, 2016)
4. Chiwan Choi – “The Yellow House” (CCM, 2016)
5. Michael Schmeltzer – “Blood Song” (Two Sylvias Press, 2016)
6. Kim Hyesoon – “All of the Garbage of the World, Unite!” (Action Books, 2011)
7. Cathy Park Hong – “Engine Empire” (Norton, 2013)
8. Jamaal May – “Hum” (Alice James Books, 2013)
9. Cortney Lamar Charleston – “Telepathologies” (Saturnalia Books, 2017)
10. Lynn Melnick – “If I Should Say I Have Hope” (Yes Yes Book, 2013)
11. Claudia Cortese “Wasp Queen” (Black Lawrence Press, 2016)
12. Srikanth Reddy – “Voyager” (New California Poetry, 2011)
13. Marie NDiaye (translated by Jordan Stump) – “My Heart Hemmed In” (Two Lines Press, 2017)
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016) and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of their writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.
Three independent publishing entities with common goals of publishing vital and exciting literature, building and participating in community, and contributing and promoting good literary citizenship, are joining forces.
THE ACCOMPLICES is made up of Civil Coping Mechanisms: publisher & promoter of kick-ass independent literature, Entropy: a magazine and community of contributors that publishes diverse literary and non-literary content, and Writ Large Press: an indie press that uses literary arts and events to resist, disrupt, and transgress.
Writ Large Press will continue to experiment and push limits with events that engage and bring together the public. On the WLP publishing side: WLP books will publish as an imprint within the CCM catalog with editorial autonomy, WLP’s ‘small print’ chapbook series will remain exactly as it is currently structured, and local publishing projects will continue to be created and presented.
As we go forward, we will join our ideas, talents, and resources to push even harder in the work that each of us have done in the past, without losing our individual identities and without betraying the work we have each done. We vow to not lose the characteristics that have made each of us unique and important.
#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente
Scott Esposito is the author of his forthcoming book “The Doubles,” which will be released this fall. Besides that, however, Esposito is the editor and founder of Conversational Reader and The Quarterly Conversation, as well as the Publicity Director and Senior Editor for Two Lines Press.
Of his book, Mathew Specktor said, “Readers of Scott Esposito’s Conversational Reading blog already know him to be one of the most perspicacious literary critics in America. But to read The Doubles is to discover something else: that he is as thrillingly insightful about film, and about human experience, as he is about literature. With a bounding intelligence, a tremendous—and seemingly effortless—erudition, with enormous soulfulness, energy and wit, Esposito strains his life through the prism of cinema (or is it the other way around?) and arrives at something magnificent: a work of sustained criticism that is itself a work of high art, and a profound meditation on how the art we see becomes who we are.”
Luckily, he talked to me about his favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:
Describe your favorite meal.
What a fantastic question to start with. (I think having good meals, especially with pleasant company, is one of life’s most important things.) I once dined on a rooftop in Athens during the summer, with excellent views of the Parthenon. They kept bringing us various foods—salads, roast peppers, cheeses, moussaka . . . and we had a bottle of red wine. It was about 70 degrees, the ambiance was intimate but also felt very urban, we talked for hours. I think that’s just about perfect.
What music do often you write to, if at all?
It’s almost always either hip-hop or classical, maybe a little jazz sometimes. Something like Future is great to write to: it’s very easy to ignore the lyrics and just let the rhythms inhabit you, the sounds inspire you. The minimalists are also great in that way. But really almost any good hip-hop will do . . . once I get immersed in the focus of what I’m writing, it’s amazing how much ambient sights and sounds my mind will block out.
What are three books that you’ve always identified with?
1984 was probably one of the first “adult” books that I read and understood and found utterly compelling. I wasn’t terribly literate at that age, so something in me must just resonate very much with that book.
I could also say that same thing about 2001, which I discovered at about the same time—first I saw the movie, and then I read the book (which was written concurrently with the making of the movie). The whole idea that that book and movie sets out to embody still utterly fascinates me.
And Água Viva by Clarice Lispector was a book that I discovered very early on, and was compelled by even though it also completely mystified me. Nowadays it mystifies me much less, also still more than virtually any other book, and I mean that in a good way.
Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?
Caravaggio’s portrait of Saint Jerome is just about perfect. As a visual aesthetic, an attitude, Caravaggio’s work in general feels very true to me. And in Jerome it reaches something like it’s ideal form. The intricate folds of that red robe he’s wearing, the stark black background, the way he clutches his pencil (I always have a pencil when I read), his focus, that skull to his side to remind him of mortality, that wicked, wispy halo. It’s all just perfect.
Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.
I like to start off the day feeling peaceful and inspired. I try to read a few lines of good poetry if I can, otherwise I just sit there and contemplate the day ahead.
Oftentimes things go seriously down from there, but it’s nice to have a good start at least.
What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?
I think, contrary to popular belief, humanity will find a way to keep propagating itself no matter if we manage to unleash nuclear weapons, or contagions, or evil robots upon ourselves, as seems uncomfortably possible. I think if we end ourselves, it will just be from boredom with the possibilities of being human. Either that or the sun will engulf the Earth, or a catastrophic collision with an extraterrestrial body, and that’ll be it.
I think it would be fascinating to die by drifting into a supermassive black hole. According to what I’ve read, the physics is such that you’d be able to briefly witness the end of the universe, and your own death would be very peaceful.
If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?
I think Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, to always remember how it is to be young and feel that life is full of possibilities. And Kieslowski’s Double Life of Véronique, because it’s just so mysterious and lovely. And Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, because there are so many layers to it, and it’s a perfect love story.
How would you describe your social media persona/role?
My persona is me, albeit a version of me that’s preternaturally fascinated with books and cats. My role (which I don’t always live up to, but which I do aspire to) is to share information about art and literature, to get people to read books I find amazing, to not let those books be lost in the churn and flow of culture, to inspire people, to be empathetic and encouraging, and of course to also self-promote.
What’s your favorite animal and why?
A lot of animals are very fascinating, or are able to do things that I find quite astonishing, but probably the cat is the only animal that I could manage to co-habitate with, so I think I would have to say that one.
What do you carry with you at all times?
For years I’ve made it a practice to always have a book and a pencil with me whenever I’m out of the house. I fear that’s the boring truth of it.
Scott Esposito has worked in the field of translated literature for over a decade. He specializes in Latin American and Mitteleuropan literature.
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.
Just because it’s nearly summer doesn’t mean it’s time for your mind to go on vacation, especially now. Here’s some essays and interviews that you should check out:
1. Julia Fierro – “The Secret to My Success? Antidepressants” (NY Times)
2. Brandon Taylor – “Being Gay vs Being Southern: A False Choice” (Lit Hub)
3. Catherine La Sota – “Late to the Party: Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar” (Electric Literature)
4. Alexis P. Williams – “Interview with Aziza Barnes: A Queer Black Poet’s Quest for Liberation” (Vice)
5. Toni Morrison – “The Work You Do, The Person You Are” (The New Yorker)
6. Kaveh Akbar & Kazim Ali – “Silence and Breath: Kaveh Akbar and Kazim Ali” (Asian Americans Writers Workshop)
7. Brandon Shimoda – “The Night Cafe” (Entropy)
8. Lucie Bonvalet – “The Future of Traumatic Memories” (Catapult)
9. Porochista Khakpour – “How to Write Iranian-America, or The Last Essay” (Catapult)
10. Kate Schapira – “On Political Change, Climate Change, and the Choice to Not Have Children” (Catapult)
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
These are poems that I have either taught or plan to teach in my poetry workshops. If you are an educator, add them to your curriculum. If you aren’t, read them and send them to your friends.
1. Mathias Svalina – “One Night” (Poets.org)
2. Lisa Ciccarello – “At Night, By Marriage” (Poets.org)
3. Tarfia Faizullah – “Aubade Ending with the Death of a Mosquito” (Poetry Foundation)
4. Sherwin Bitsui – “River” (Poetry Foundation)
5. Omar Sakr – “Ghosting the Ghetto” (Cosmonauts Avenue)
6. Sam Sax – “Doctrine” (Poets.org)
7. Nils Michals – “The Key, the Lock” (PANK)
8. Srikanth Reddy – “Four Poems” (Jacket Magazine)
9. Kim Hyesoon – “Three Poems” (Asymptote)
10. Natalie Eilbert – “Imprecation“ (Poetry Society of America)
11. Solmaz Sharif – “Social Skills Training” (Buzzfeed)
12. Charif Shanahan – “Wanting to be White” (Lit Hub)
13. Richard Siken – “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out” (Poetry Foundation)
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
This week, I rounded up some fiction you should read.
1. Ilana Masad – “Hamlet, Claudia, Zanzibar” (Volume 1 Brooklyn)
2. Michelle Lyn King – “Ghosts You Loved More” (Joyland)
3. Rion Amilcar Scott – “The Party” (Joyland)
4. Kamil Ahsan – “The Bare-Bones Facts” (Entropy)
5. Han Yujoo – “The Impossible Fairytale, excerpt” (Cosmonauts Avenue)
6. Henry Hoke – “Genevieve Exists” (Entropy)
7. Bud Smith – “Temporarily Here” (Digging Through the Fat)
8. Celeste Mohammed – “When a White Man Paints Black People” (The Rumpus)
9. Becky Mandelbaum – “Straw House” (The Rumpus)
10. Chavisa Woods – “A New Mohawk” (Lit Hub)
11. Nick Cave – “The Sick Bad Song” (Lit Hub)
12. Kerry Cullen – “Tell Me What to Do” (Luna Luna Magazine)
13. Justin Lawrence Daugherty – “This Is Conquest” (Joyland)
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
If you’re going to read anything, read these.
1. T Kira Madden – “The Feels of Love” (Guernica)
2. Sarah Gerard – “An Incomplete List of My Failures” (Hazlitt)
3. Libby Leonard – “How to Be with Others” (Volume 1 Brooklyn)
4. Morgan Parker – “How to Stay Sane While Black” (NY Times)
5. Mira Ptacin – “What Happens When You’re Pregnant in Prison” (Elle)
6. Esme Wang – “I’m Chronically Ill and Afraid of Being Lazy” (Elle)
7. Porochista Khakpour – “My Life in the New Age” (VQR)
8. Jayy Dodd – “Why I’m Scared of White Women” (The Establishment)
9. Aila Boyd – “My Life as a Trans Woman Teaching High School in a ‘Bathroom Bill’ State” (Broadly)
10. Jenny Zhang – “They Pretend to Be Us While Pretending We Don’t Exist” (Buzzfeed)
11. Kate Moore – “The Forgotten Story of the Radium Girls” (Buzzfeed)
12. Nicole Dennis-Benn – “Growing Up with Miss Jamaica” (Elle)
13. Margaret E. Jacobsen – “I’m Non-Binary, And Here’s How I Talk to My Kids About It” (Romper)
Joanna C. Valente is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Marys of the Sea, Xenos, and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
We all could stand to read more poetry. I say this as a poet who is immersed in poetry daily. You can never have too much of it–and personally, I don’t understand why more people don’t read poetry more. It’s short, which means you can digest a poem (the first time) anywhere. It’s all very momentary. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t go back to the poem later, and reread it with new eyes.
This is why I’m rounding up 13 poets writing about resistance whose work I admire. We can always cope with more poetry, am I right?
1. Danez Smith – “You’re Dead America” (Buzzfeed)
2. Robert Balun – “No-Titled” (Yes Poetry)
3. Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib – “The Day After the Election I Did Not Go Outside” (The New Inquiry)
4. Catherine Valdez – “Three Poems” (Heavy Feather Review)
5. Jen DeGregorio – “Three Poems” (Heavy Feather Review)
6. Guillermo Filice Castro – “Poems & Photographs” (Tarpaulin Sky)
7. Jennifer S. Cheng – “Inside Our Killing” (Tarpaulin Sky)
8. Jericho Brown – “Bullet Points” (Buzzfeed)
9. Yehuda Amichai – “The Place Where We Are Right” (On Being)
10. Maya Angelou – “On the Pulse of Morning” (University of Wisconsin)
11. W.H. Auden – “As I Walked Out One Evening” (Poets.org)
12. Octavio Paz – “Proem” (Poets.org)
13. Anne Waldman – “Endtime” (Poets.org)
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (2016, ELJ Publications), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions) and the editor of “A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault” (CCM, 2017). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of their writing has appeared in Prelude, Apogee, Spork The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, The James Franco Review, and elsewhere. They also teach workshops at Brooklyn Poets.
“Siren Songs is a place where raw, honest explorations of the self are published. I am most interested in publishing work by those who are exploring trauma, pain, identity, gender, and sexuality – especially by those who identify as queer/trans/non-binary, women, and POC. My own poetry focuses on isolating bizarre and absurd moments in the mundane—and explores the unexplainable supernatural world while remaining colloquial. You could say a surreal yet blunt aesthetic is my jam.” –Joanna C. Valente, CCM Managing Editor and editor of CCM Siren Songs
Debuting as part of CCM’s Fall 2017 Catalogue, the first two titles forthcoming from CCM Siren Songs: In this Quiet Church of the Night, I Say Amen by Devin Kelly and DUMBHEART/STUPIDFACE by Cooper Wilhelm.
Available now from CCM Siren Songs, A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault.
ABOUT SIREN SONGS EDITOR
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016) and the editor of A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). Joanna received a MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, a managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM, as well as an instructor at Brooklyn Poets. Some of Joanna’s writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, Apogee, Spork, The Feminist Wire, BUST, and elsewhere.
We all could stand to read more poetry. I say this as a poet who is immersed in poetry daily. You can never have too much of it–and personally, I don’t understand why more people don’t read poetry more. It’s short, which means you can digest a poem (the first time) anywhere. It’s all very momentary. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t go back to the poem later, and reread it with new eyes.
This is why I’m rounding up 13 women-identifying poets whose work I admire. We can always cope with more poetry, am I right?
1. Abigail Welhouse – “Dawson Gets a Haircut” (Brooklyn Poets)
2. Camille Rankine – “History” (Poetry Foundation)
3. Patricia Spears Jones – “What Beauty Does” (Poetry Foundation)
4. Monica Ferrell – “Emma Bovary” (Poets.org)
5. Marisa Crawford – “Manic Panic” (Poets.org)
6. Rachel Eliza Griffiths – “Dear America” (Four Way Review)
7. Nikki Wallschlaeger – “Blue Tuesdays” (The Feminist Wire)
8. Emily Skillings – “Fort Not” (Hyperallergic)
9. Wendy Xu – “The Window Rehearses” (PEN America)
10. Samgen Chin – “After Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?” (Yes Poetry)
11. Claire Donato – “Dead Meat” (Poor Claudia)
12. Elisabet Velasquez – “New Brooklyn” (Brooklyn Poets)
13. Hannah Lee Jones – “Insomniac Fugue” (Superstition Review)
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (2016, ELJ Publications), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions) and the editor of “A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault” (CCM, 2017). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of their writing has appeared in Prelude, Apogee, Spork The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, The James Franco Review, and elsewhere. They also teach workshops at Brooklyn Poets.
#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente
Christine Stoddard is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which was released on February 22, 2017. Besides that, however, Stoddard is the editor and founder of Quail Bell Magazine.
Luckily, Stoddard talked to me about her favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:
Describe your favorite meal. Really anything that combines spinach, cheese, and tomatoes, whether it’s spinach enchiladas or spinach lasagna. Call me Popeye.
What music do often you write to, if at all? Everything from No Doubt to Debussy.
What are three books that you’ve always identified with? The Velveteen Rabbit, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Anna Karenina.
Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it? “The Chick” by Frida Kahlo. Some days, I am the chick. Other days, I am the spider.
Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.
(I am such a night owl.)
What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die? There is no art and there is no cheese. I hope I die in my husband’s arms, apocalypse or no apocalypse.
If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be? This would be tough for me because I have a voracious film appetite, but I guess I would pick “Amélie,” “The Virgin Suicides,” and “Moonstruck.” My answer might change tomorrow!
How would you describe your social media persona/role? It’s decisively fairy punk.
What’s your favorite animal and why? The quail because I run Quail Bell Magazine. It’s my darling and I can’t thrilled to see how it grows.
What do you carry with you at all times? Literally, a book. Figuratively, my imagination.
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (The Operating System, 2017), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, Pouch, and elsewhere. She also teaches workshops at Brooklyn Poets.
Christine Stoddard is a Brooklyn-based writer and visual storyteller who has created or contributed to books, films, museum exhibits, gallery shows, digital campaigns, and more. In 2014, Folio Magazine named her one of the media industry’s top 20 visionaries in their 20s for founding Quail Bell Magazine and Quail Bell Press & Productions.
We all could stand to read more poetry. I say this as a poet who is immersed in poetry daily. You can never have too much of it–and personally, I don’t understand why more people don’t read poetry more. It’s short, which means you can digest a poem (the first time) anywhere. It’s all very momentary. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t go back to the poem later, and reread it with new eyes.
This is why I’m rounding up 13 LGBTQ-identifying poets whose work I admire. We can always cope with more poetry, am I right?
1. Jamie Mortara – “Any Animal” (Queen Mob’s Teahouse)
2. Natalie Diaz – “Grief Work” (Poets.org)
3. Amber Atiya – “How To Land A Job” (Powder Keg)
4. Nikky Finney – “The Aureole” (Poetry Foundation)
5. Precious Okoyomon – “Daydream in Ultralight Beams” (Metatron)
6. Jayy Dodd – “Black Philosophy #3” (The Shade Journal)
7. Frank Bidart – “Queer” (Poets.org)
8. CAConrad – “Bee Alliance: A (Soma)tic Poetry Ritual & Resulting Poem” (PEN America)
9. Eileen Myles – “The Letter Q” (Poets.org)
10. Joshua Jennifer Espinoza – “The Moon Is Queer” (The Feminist Wire)
11. Ricardo Maldonado – “The Project of Hands” (InDigest Magazine)
12. Tommy Pico – “Junk (an excerpt)” (Poetry Foundation)
13. Nathaniel Rosenthalis – “A Map Poem” (Yes Poetry)
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (2016, ELJ Publications), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions) and the editor of “A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault” (CCM, 2017). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of their writing has appeared in Prelude, Apogee, Spork The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, The James Franco Review, and elsewhere. They also teach workshops at Brooklyn Poets.