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The Accomplices LLC

Civil Coping Mechanisms / Entropy / Writ Large Press

  • About
    • About The Accomplices
  • Books
    • New/Forthcoming
    • Bestsellers
    • All Titles
  • Resources
    • Teaching Guides
    • Where to Submit (Entropy)
    • Trumpwatch (Entropy)
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    • Current Projects
    • Past Projects
  • Opportunities
    • Partnership
    • Internships
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Tag:

copingwith

Coping with Cooper Wilhelm, Author of ‘Dumbheart/Stupidface’
Books

Coping with Cooper Wilhelm, Author of ‘Dumbheart/Stupidface’

by CCM January 8, 2018
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by editor Joanna C. Valente


Cooper Wilhelm is the author of his debut book “Dumbheart/Stupidface” which was released November 13, 2017 from CCM. Of his book, Bijan Stephen said,“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.”

Luckily, he talked to me about his favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:

Describe your favorite meal. 

Some kind of roasted or barbecued meat. I’m thinking of doing a double roast when I turn 30 where we’ll roast meats and then my friends will say mean things about me. Last year some friends slowroasted a porkshoulder in this small apartment. It was winter and the kitchen and the living room were one continuous swish blanketed richly in oven heat. We’d meant to cut the shoulder up and serve it on plates like civilized aristocrats but it never made it off the cutting board. A little shy picking and then there was frenzy. It was an iridescent goddamned joy.

What music do often you write to, if at all? 

I like music a lot so I usually can’t write with it on. The best way for me to write is by doing it as a secret when I’m supposed to be doing something else.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

Robert Hass’s Sun Under Woods.

An anthology of haikus that Stephen Addiss edited.

And Liber Null made so much sense when I picked it up. It felt like skeins saying thoughts I’d had back to me.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

It’s probably the painting Grace Linderholm (who is taking commissions by the bye) did for my book DUMBHEART/STUPIDFACE. It’s based on Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That play has felt talismanic to me for a long time and I love that moment when they discover Bottom has the head of an ass and say “Bless you, Bottom, you are translated!”

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you. 

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

The problem is that all the apocalypses are rolling in at once. Honestly it feels like what will happen is that the earth will just quit. No more food will grow, no more drinkable water will reveal itself. There will be a generation of suffering and then silence.

But that’s not how I want to go out. I’d prefer something sudden and preceded by maniacal laughter. Maybe crashing a zeppelin in a way that inconveniences people I hate.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

I suspect Evil Dead 2 will never get old. Its strangeness has lingered for years and is so essential it feels like it will keep flashing in revelation like a prism spinning on a string. The Shape of Water gave me hope and I think that means I could watch it forever. Also Exiled feels like 3 movies tied together against their will and I love it.

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

I tend to tweet a lot about poetry and socialism and witchcraft but not in a way that really makes them go together. There’s a lot of overlap in those communities, but I get the sense people come for the poetry, tolerate the occultism, and bail because of the politics. Maybe if I were more discreet about things that aren’t poetry I’d have more of a following but I don’t want to be dishonest by omission.

What’s your favorite animal and why?

Pigs, easily. They’re astoundingly human in both good and bad ways. The only animal besides us that can be naked.

What do you carry with you at all times?

Right now it’s a little red notebook I’ve been keeping to mark coincidences and synchronicities and such since I started doing saintcraft. I’m a little self-conscious about it but I wanted to be serious and scientific about trying to communicate with deities and the dead.


Cooper B. Wilhelm is a poet, researcher, and occultist living in NYC. He is from Maine. He’s published stuff with people. Into the Dark is a radio show he did about witchcraft (all the episodes are still available as podcasts). PoetryAndStrangers is a thing he does where he writes poems on postcards and then mails them to strangers he looks up in phonebooks.

 

valente

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.

January 8, 2018
bud smith
Books

Listen to Bud Smith Read an Excerpt of ‘Work’

by CCM August 30, 2017
written by CCM

#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.

 

 

August 30, 2017
music
News

Here’s Some Music You Can Write To

by CCM August 21, 2017
written by CCM

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.

August 21, 2017
bud smith
BooksNews

Coping with Bud Smith, Author of ‘Work’

by CCM August 15, 2017
written by CCM

#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.

 

 

 

valente

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.

August 15, 2017
records
News

A Music Playlist to Help You Write & Cope

by CCM July 28, 2017
written by CCM

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.

July 28, 2017
Thomas Kelley
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Books You Should Be Teaching

by CCM June 20, 2017
written by CCM

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.

June 20, 2017
“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.”
BooksNews

Coping with Scott Esposito, Author of ‘The Doubles’

by CCM June 13, 2017
written by CCM

#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.

June 13, 2017
books
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Poems You Should Be Teaching

by CCM May 22, 2017
written by CCM

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.

May 22, 2017
books
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Fiction Pieces You Need To Read

by CCM May 15, 2017
written by CCM

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.

May 15, 2017
Aaron Burden
BooksNews

#CopingWith: 13 Nonfiction Essays You Need to Read

by CCM May 8, 2017
written by CCM

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.

May 8, 2017
stack of old books in home interior
Books

#CopingWith: 13 Poets Writing About Resistance

by CCM May 1, 2017
written by CCM

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.

May 1, 2017
books
News

#CopingWith: 13 Women Poets You Need to Read

by CCM April 19, 2017
written by CCM

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.

April 19, 2017
Coping with Christine Stoddard, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Editor of Quail Bell Magazine
BooksNews

Coping with Christine Stoddard, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Editor of Quail Bell Magazine

by CCM April 13, 2017
written by CCM

#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.

Disney GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

(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 valenteJoanna 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.

April 13, 2017
abigail welhouse
BooksNews

Coping with Abigail Welhouse, Author of ‘Bad Baby’ & ‘Too Many Humans of New York’

by CCM March 21, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Abigail Welhouse is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which was released on February 22, 2017. Besides that, however, Welhouse is the author of several chapbooks, Bad Baby (dancing girl press), Too Many Humans of New York (Bottlecap Press), and Memento Mori (a poem/comic collaboration with Evan Johnston). Of Bad Baby, Alex Crowley has said: “Welhouse’s imagery is lively and she navigates nostalgia without being maudlin, confronting moments of joy and self-doubt in equal measure…cutting as well as lighthearted.”

Luckily, Welhouse talked to me about her favorite gif, meal, and apocalypse plans:

Describe your favorite meal.

Made by someone else.

What music do often you write to, if at all?

Classical or baroque. Bach especially recalibrates my brain.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Ruin by Cynthia Cruz, and all of the Saddle Club books by Bonnie Bryant.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

Madame X. It reminds me to try to be brave about making art that risks offense. I’ve particularly loved that painting since my friend Micharne Cloughney included a song about it in her play The Way We Live.

 

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I picture someone pressing a button with the power to destroy the world. But I’d rather die in my sleep after knowing in advance for exactly one week.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

The Princess Bride, Casablanca, and The Addams Family.

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

I try to be a resource for job leads, amusement, and supporting friends. When friends–especially longtime friends–write or make something beautiful, I’m so proud of them. Pride is a silly reaction, since I never have anything to do with their accomplishments. Still, I think it’s one of my better qualities. (For example–my longtime friend Rebecca Weaver published this beautiful essay about cleaning and grief recently, and I am so proud.)

What’s your favorite animal and why?

Horses, because they don’t need to listen to humans, but often do.

What do you carry with you at all times?

Altoid mints, wintergreen flavor only.


joanna valenteJoanna 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 (ELJ Publications, 2016), & 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.

 

 

abigail welhouseAbigail Welhouse is the author of Bad Baby (dancing girl press), Too Many Humans of New York (Bottlecap Press), and Memento Mori (a poem/comic collaboration with Evan Johnston). Her writing has been published in The Toast, The Billfold, Ghost Ocean Magazine, the Heavy Feather Review, and elsewhere. Subscribe to her Secret Poems at tinyletter.com/welhouse.

March 21, 2017
twitter
Books

How You Cope With Jealousy & Rejection

by CCM March 13, 2017
written by CCM

Dealing with jealousy and rejection is never easy. We all feel jealousy, we all get hurt when our work is rejected, especially when that work is personal–especially when that work is something you’ve been poring over for ages. It’s not that you can’t feel jealousy, it’s more how you deal with it. Feeling an emotion is one thing, but taking it out on others is another. Plus, if there are ways to make yourself feel better (like drinking tea and watching Netflix) and supporting others, instead of letting the green-eyed monster get the best of you, then why not go that route?

Personally, I get jealous. I get hurt. We all do. Instead of letting it control me, however, I choose to support that person instead–and celebrate their success. Because it’s well-deserved. Because we can all learn from others and others’ success. If I enjoy their work, I’ll champion them, because why should somehow else be punished for petty feelings?

For me, it’s also a way to motivate myself. Someone else got something I wanted? I just push myself harder, make myself put the effort and work in. It makes me rethink what I’m doing and how I could be doing it better. But besides that, I remind myself that everything goes in phases–sometimes we get a lot of attention for our work, and sometimes we don’t. While outside validation is awesome, and feels awesome, it’s also OK not to have it all the time. At the end of the day, I make sure I’m happy, I’m being good to my body, I’m working hard, I’m supporting and loving others, and being creative. Because that’s all we can control.

This is why I asked our Twitter family what they do to deal with rejection and jealousy. This is what you said:

“My gut response to rejection is to prove them wrong. I’ll take a moment to absorb the nature of the rejection, especially if/when there’s constructive feedback I can take to heart, and then, moments later, I snap back into focus and use the rejection as fuel. Jealousy, I react by getting to know the person; I’ll reach out and say hello. I’ll befriend them in hopes of learning from them. Being competitive is both natural and healthy but I’ve always seen jealousy, when treated out of bounds, to be toxic to a writer’s own productivity. So why not support those that you may be jealous of? Learn to see from their worldview. Learn from them. I bet a number of us are jealous of each other and yet will be the first to have each other’s backs in times of duress. There are only so many of us in this community and what matters most is maintaining motivation. I’d be the first to say it’s really damn easy to give into feelings of doubt, give into depression, and just sit around and feel worthless. Hey rejection, I’ll prove you wrong. Hey competition, let’s all go write a thousand words and then chat about it over coffee. Hey jealousy, nobody has time for that shit.”
-Michael J Seidlinger, CCM Publisher

@CCMPress I go back to my archived “good responses” and remind myself what positive things have been said to me about my writing.

— Stephanie Lucianovic (@grubreport) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress I also reach out to trusted friends who know my work for their support, which they give fulsomely and unstintingly.

— Stephanie Lucianovic (@grubreport) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress If I’m jealous of someone’s writing, I boost it on my social media. It helps me celebrate others/not dwell on my envy.

— Wren Awry (@WrenAwry) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress the rejection part is hard when I think I’ve found the ‘perfect’ home for a poem. Helps me to read and listen more, immerse in it

— Ani Keaten (@anikeaten) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress something like the mental equivalent of going from standing to sprinting. the thing has happened. leave it quick and it’ll be easy

— mnemosyne (@metanyme) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress I try to be as pleasant as possible, respond to rejections personally when appropriate (thanks for consideration, etc.)

— chancedibben (@chancedibben) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress keep the interaction positive, use the experience to reconsider or reassert the work. Rejection has been key some recent pieces.

— chancedibben (@chancedibben) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress as far as jealousy? Not much I can do, but focus on what I am doing and how am I doing it, while supporting those I am envious of

— chancedibben (@chancedibben) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress love this question. i recognize the ebbs and flows in which rejections matter & try to give the feelings space.

— Jay Besemer (@divinetailor) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress but often i send stuff out before it’s really ready as a way to gauge response, so those rejections aren’t terribly emotional.

— Jay Besemer (@divinetailor) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress also i rarely respond to rejections unless specifically asked to & as an editor i def. don’t want to receive rejection responses.

— Jay Besemer (@divinetailor) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress I star the few acceptance emails among the leagues of rejections &pretend im seeing asterisms in the daylight-makes me feel more galvanized.

— Andrew J. Byrds (@AndrewByrds) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress I find it comforting to have a system. Like “Oh, a rejection! It is now time to enter it in my submission spreadsheet.”

— Abigail Welhouse (@welhouse) March 9, 2017

I fix the story’s makeup, straighten its wig, and put its ass back out on the corner. #amwriting https://t.co/wBP8pjD3ee

— Claire Rudy Foster (@claire_rudy) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress Once in awhile if I’m having a bad day and envy something another writer has achieved, I hide that post from my scroll.

— Sandra Marchetti (@sandrapoetry) March 9, 2017

@CCMPress I allow myself to be hateful for a little while. I yell. I cry. Then I eat something sugary. Then I get back to work.

— Katrina Monroe (@AuthorKatM) March 9, 2017

Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments below.


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.

March 13, 2017
janko-ferlic-174927.jpg
Books

#CopingWith: 13 New York Poets Changing the Lit Scene

by CCM March 9, 2017
written by CCM

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) on the subway, on a walk, while taking a break on work, etc. 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 New York poets whose work I love and adore–who are challenging our views on sexuality, gender, race, identity, and more. We can always cope with more poetry, am I right?

1. David Tomas Martinez – The Only Mexican (Poetry Foundation)
2. Jason Koo – No Longer See (Prelude)
3. Lisa Marie Basile – Untitled (Spork)
4. Monica Lewis – First Kiss (The Boiler Journal)
5. Katie Longofono – The Outline (Tinderbox Poetry Journal)
6. ​Shamar Hill – My Father Tells Me (Brooklyn Poets)
7. Morgan Parker – If You Are Over Staying Woke (Poetry Foundation)
8. Omotara James –  Three Women / Two Transfers and a Token / One Reincarnation (The Poetry Project)
9. Lynn Melnick – Landscape with Happily Ever After (Poets.org)
10. Nathan McClain – Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (District Lit)
11. Saeed Jones – Kudzu (Poets.org)
12. Candace Williams – Black Sonnet (Sixth Finch)
13. Amy King – Perspective (Poetry Foundation)


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.


March 9, 2017
Watch Lynn Melnick Read Her Poems from ‘A Shadow Map’
BooksNews

Watch Lynn Melnick Read Her Poems from ‘A Shadow Map’

by CCM February 28, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Lynn Melnick is one of our contributors in “A Shadow Map,” which came out on February 22, 2017 from CCM. The essays and poems contained within this anthology are not only compelling but also harrowing stories of sexual assault. None of these pieces were easy to write–and were born out of traumatizing and terrible experiences. CCM believes in providing a safe space within the literary community where we can not only talk about painful experiences and issues but also necessary considering the current political climate.

Watch Lynn read her poems below. Don’t forget to read her full interview here.

Lynn Melnick is the author of Landscape with Sex and Violence (forthcoming, 2017) and If I Should Say I Have Hope (2012), both with YesYes Books, and the co-editor of Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation (Viking, 2015). She serves on the Executive Board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna 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 (ELJ Publications, 2016), & 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.

February 28, 2017
Coping with Lynn Melnick, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Author of ‘If I Should Say I Have Hope’
BooksNews

Coping with Lynn Melnick, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Author of ‘If I Should Say I Have Hope’

by CCM February 20, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Lynn Melnick is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which is due for release on February 22, 2017 (although it did be launch at AWP this year in DC). Lynn is also the author of the book “If I Should Say I Have Hope” published by YesYes Books in 2012. Of the book, the Matthea Harvey has said, “On the melancholy-go-round of these poems, there’s a swan-seat for sadness but also a tiger called Beauty and a horse called Hope.” Lynn’s second book is due out from YesYes Books, “Landscape with Sex and Violence” (forthcoming October 2017).

Describe your favorite meal.

My favorite meal is an Eastern European Jewish dish made with egg noodles, cottage cheese, and sour cream. (Sadly, I can’t eat dairy anymore so I can no longer eat my favorite meal!)

What music do often you write to, if at all?

I find music distracting when I write.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

Hmm. Identified with, as opposed to loved?? Ok. Dancing on the Grave of a Son of a Bitch by Diane Wakoski, It Could Always Be Worse (a Yiddish folktale) by Margot Zemach and The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?
The Storm, 1893 by Edvard Munch

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I don’t. I want to die knowing my children are safe and happy.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

All About Eve, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Mulholland Drive

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

Less shy than I am in life.

What’s your favorite animal and why?

Until I was well into adulthood, I thought seahorses were mythological and then one day I saw one.

What do you carry with you at all times?

Worry, doubt and tampons.


Lynn Melnick is the author of Landscape with Sex and Violence (forthcoming, 2017) and If I Should Say I Have Hope (2012), both with YesYes Books, and the co-editor of Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation (Viking, 2015). She serves on the Executive Board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna 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 (ELJ Publications, 2016), & 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.

February 20, 2017
wendy c ortiz
BooksNews

Watch Wendy C. Ortiz Read an Excerpt from ‘Bruja’

by CCM February 6, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Wendy C. Ortiz’s dreamoir, “Bruja,” came out on October 31, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Roxane Gay has said, “In Bruja, Wendy C. Ortiz deftly navigates the land of dreams in what she calls a dreamoir. By telling us her dreams, by revealing her most unguarded and vulnerable self, Ortiz is, truly, offering readers the most intimate parts of herself–how she loves, how she wants, how she lives, who she is. Bruja is not just a book–it is an enigma and a wonder and utterly entrancing.”

Watch Wendy read a clip below. Don’t forget to read her full interview here.


wendy c ortizWendy C. Ortiz is a Los Angeles native. She is the author of Excavation: A Memoir (Future Tense Books, 2014), Hollywood Notebook (Writ Large Press, 2015), and the forthcoming dreamoir Bruja (Civil Coping Mechanisms, Oct. 31, 2016).

Her work has been profiled or featured in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and the National Book Critics Circle Small Press Spotlight blog. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Hazlitt, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Nervous Breakdown, Fanzine, and a year-long series appeared at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

February 6, 2017
dolan morgan
BooksNews

Coping with Dolan Morgan, Author of ‘Insignificana’

by CCM January 30, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Dolan Morgan’s book, “Insignificana,” came out on March 11, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Nelly Reifler has said, “Dolan Morgan is eccentric, brilliant, radical, and a bit perverse: that we already knew. In this new collection he is also zealously obsessive. Over and over, organisms and other entities consume, absorb, impregnate, digest, gestate, house, eliminate, birth, and extrude other organisms and entities–or themselves. And the author himself seems to both consume and be consumed by his narrators. Cumulatively, these stories force their readers to submit to the truth: interior and exterior are mere conceits, and all of existence–including puny humans–is already inside out. Dolan Morgan’s writing makes my brain itch in the most pleasant way. Insignificana is an extraordinary book, a thrill ride of temporary madness and irrefutable sense.”

As such, we interviewed him about his book, although instead of asking boring lit questions, our managing editor Joanna C. Valente asked Dolan about everything else instead, like what his favorite meal and apocalypse plans are.

Here’s what he said:

Describe your favorite meal.

Once, many years ago, a friend woke me in the middle of the night to offer me a plate of warm, buttered toast in the dark. I’d been asleep for hours. It was snowing. The city was silent. Blankets were everywhere: around my body, across the apartment, out the window, and into the street. Blankets all the way down. I could barely understand what was happening, but here was a plate of sudden toast. I laughed into my hands and mumbled through impossible mouthfuls of bread, unsure of where I was or what we were doing. The room appeared larger than I remembered amid fever, delirium, and joy; under crumbs, the city, and a dim bedside lamp. I can sense now, more so than I could then, too, that those years of my life were marked by an acute loneliness and uncertainty.

Like most of us, I am often shocked to have emerged from any kind of past into the present moment. After the accident, you step from the vehicle into the street, relieved and unharmed. But when you look back at the car, mangled and unrecognizable, you absorb the fear that should have been there in the first place. I suspect I was very much afraid of something in those years. Or, at least, afraid of something other than the fear that animates me today. I have tried to enjoy the experience of becoming alien to myself. I don’t remember a moment immediately before or after that meal, and can no longer say how that night fits into the surrounding months or years, or when and how that particular loneliness and uncertainty abated (giving way to other types of solitude and confusion, among other innovations), but I do recall standing in rooms, not understanding where to look or what to do with my hands or how to speak to another person. And then: warm midnight toast in a snow-quiet darkness. Until that moment, I didn’t even like toast. Honestly, I still don’t. This is my favorite meal.  

What music do you often write to, if at all?

Lately, it’s been a lot of Mogwai. Another favorite is Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians.” Anything by Kate Bush will do, especially “Hounds of Love” and “The Dreaming.” But! It’s maybe disingenuous to say I really listen to any of these. That is, if things are going well, I won’t notice when the record ends, and then I’ll be listening to silence/nothing, which is the real goal. Like so many other things in life, I have to fool myself into what I want. Always, you have to walk backwards into nothingness.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

“Always” would be a stretch, but for 15-20 years: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Bald Soprano, and Sphere.

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

You remember that time someone tried to retouch and “fix up” an old, fading painting of Jesus? And it ended up looking like a kid’s drawing of a bear or a baboon? That all sounds like me Not the Jesus part, but the obliviousness and earnest failure. I feel like I’m making accidental baboons and bears all of the time while shooting for some big bowl of wonder. And that’s fine. Failure is good, as are bears and baboons. Always. And while we’re on the subject of failure: I also have a painting of Jesus that I drew over. I bought a cheap knockoff version of “The Last Supper” and used a can of gold spray paint to scrawl TRY HARDER across it in huge letters. I look at it every day.

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

I wrote a book about that.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

This is a tough question. Not because I can’t think of three movies that I’d love to watch again and again (of course I can), and not because I’m unable to create a list of movies I’d be happy to never see again (a list which might, by process of elimination, help me better name the films I’d love to be constrained to for the rest of my life). No, my preferences are not the hard part. Rather, the hard part here is submitting to the context. Any world in which I might be forced to watch only three movies sounds like some kind of dystopia. So imagining the answer to the question, “what would they be,” demands starting not from my own tastes but from the premise, constraints, and political climate of that dystopia and the whims of those who preside over it. What would they want us to watch? What would they not want us to watch? This line of thinking immediately leads to more complication–because, it seems easy enough to imagine that they might not want us to watch any of the movies that currently exist at all, nor any of the movies that could reasonably come into existence in the near future.

So, I’d be hard pressed to pick three or even one. Sure, it’s easy enough for me to conceive of a fantastical regime hell-bent on a hyperbolic extension of Walt Disney’s vision for the world (of course), and I can easily enough imagine that citizens in this new society might be broken into groups or classes, and that these groups/classes might each be responsible for watching, understanding, preserving and celebrating three animated films from Disney’s cannon (such that one group gets Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Fantasia, while another group gets The Aristocats, Beauty and the Beast, and Frozen, and so on), which they are forced to watch exclusively and extensively between grueling 12-hour maintenance shifts presiding over the nation’s crumbling theme park rides and concession stands, and that they understand their world entirely through the limited lens of these creations and demands (and where they ultimately intersect, the marriage between entertainment and work, forever)–yes, I can Imagine that, but my ability to conceive of this world means nothing for its likelihood (other than that: real terror is usually beyond our initial conceptions, and so any inkling or prediction of terror might be as good a sign as any that it’s unlikely to arrive, but that something much worse and unimaginable is instead barreling toward us).

Which brings me back to your question, which I’ll have to answer in somewhat general terms. If I could only watch three films for the rest of my life, I think those movies would most likely be brand new creations of the dystopian regime’s own design, intended to keep me in line and on track. Probably some kind of propaganda or re-education films, I guess, and no doubt I would be thankful for them, for any kind of wonder or awe or connection.  

What’s your favorite animal and why?

DOG. Is this a trick question? The answer is DOG.

What do you carry with you at all times?

Warm, buttered toast or nothing at all, and usually both.


Dolan Morgan lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He is the author of two story collections: INSIGNIFICANA (2016) and THAT’S WHEN THE KNIVES COME DOWN (2014).

 

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna 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 (ELJ Publications, 2016), & 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.

January 30, 2017
stephanie valente
BooksNews

Coping with Stephanie Valente, Contributor in ‘A Shadow Map’ & Author of ‘Hotel Ghost’

by CCM January 24, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Stephanie Valente is a contributor in our anthology “A Shadow Map,” which is due for release on February 22, 2017 (although it will also be launched at AWP this year in DC). Stephanie is also the authors of a chapbook “Hotel Ghost,” published by Bottlecap Press. Of the chapbook, the press states, “There is a sense of urgency in the relationship between longing and desire. The poems take turns between different ghosts: the acts of dreaming and lingering.”

As such, we interviewed her about her feature and chapbook, although instead of asking boring lit questions, our managing editor Joanna C. Valente asked her about everything else instead, like what her favorite meal and apocalypse plans are.

Describe your favorite meal.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Really good seafood, particularly clams. Grilled salmon. Cheeseburgers, of course. Pizza. Cannolis. And always chocolate

What music do often you write to, if at all?
It ranges from classics like the Clash and David Bowie to dreamy vibes like the Cocteau Twins and Aphex Twin. I also like to take long walks and listen to whatever album I’m currently obsessing over to clear my head and get new inspiration.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?
I always reread these three books and constantly recommend them because they pulled on something deeply within me:

1. Crush by Richard Siken
2. Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
3. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?
Currently, The Lovers – Rene Magritte.
Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you.


What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?
I have a feeling it wouldn’t be half as interesting as all of those novels led me to believe. As for dying, I’m not sure if I want to be around for it or not.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?
That’s a tough one.

1. Twin Peaks (a tv show counts, right?)
2. Beetlejuice
3. Romeo + Juliet

How would you describe your social media persona/role?
Funny, curious, dreamy, mysterious.

What’s your favorite animal and why?
Dogs, of course. They’re magical. But, I was always drawn to zebras as a kid. They’re sassy.

What do you carry with you at all times?
A notebook, pen, and nude lipstick.


stephanie valenteStephanie Valente lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has published Hotel Ghost (Bottlecap Press, 2015) and has work included in or forthcoming from Danse Macabre, Nano Fiction, and Black Heart. Sometimes, she feels human. http://stephanievalente.com

 

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna 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 (ELJ Publications, 2016), & 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.

January 24, 2017
tobias carroll
BooksNews

Listen to Tobias Carroll Read an Excerpt of ‘Transitory’

by CCM January 17, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Tobias Carroll’s book, “Transitory,” came out on August 15, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Laura van den Berg has said, “Ingenious and mysterious, the stories of Tobias Carroll are spun with quiet loneliness and wild surprise. Transitory is that rare kind of collection where each story stands shining alone and, in the end, forms a beautifully melancholic whole. Tobias Carroll is an original and deeply exciting talent.”

Listen to him read an excerpt below by clicking the link (and you can download it!):

You-In-Reverse_Carroll


tobias carrollTobias Carroll is the author of the short story collection Transitory (Civil Coping Mechanisms, August 15) and the novel Reel (Rare Bird, October 11). He is the managing editor of Vol.1 Brooklyn. His writing has been published by Bookforum, Tin House, Rolling Stone, Hazlitt, Men’s Journal, and more. He grew up in Tinton Falls, NJ and now calls Brooklyn, NY home.

January 17, 2017
henry hoke
BooksNews

Watch Henry Hoke Read an Excerpt from ‘The Book of Endless Sleepovers’

by CCM January 9, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Henry Hoke’s book,”The Book of Endless Sleepovers” came out on October 31, 2016 from CCM. Of the book, Maggie Nelson has said, “I love how Henry Hoke plays fast and loose with autobiography and genre. The Book of Endless Sleepovers is wry and finely-wrought, a philosophical fever dream studded with the pleasure of proper names and surprising turns of phrase, a lyric page-turner.”

Watch Henry read a clip below. Don’t forget to read his full interview here.


henry hokeHenry Hoke was a child in the South and an adult in New York and California. He authored The Book of Endless Sleepovers (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and Genevieves(winner of the Subito Press prose contest, forthcoming 2017). Some of his stories appear in The Collagist, PANK, Gigantic and Carve. He co-created and directs Enter>text, a living literary journal.

January 9, 2017
Harold Abramowitz
BooksNews

Coping with Harold Abramowitz, Author of ‘Blind Spot’

by CCM January 3, 2017
written by CCM

#CopingWith is CCM’s interview series run by managing editor Joanna C. Valente


Harold Abramowitz’s book, “Blind Spot,” which came out on August 15, 2016. Of “Blind Spot,” TC Tolbert has said, “It’s one thing to write a novel about trauma – to tell a coherent story, to create (and be comforted by, to whatever extent) a narrative arc of pain and loss. But it’s something else entirely to find oneself inside a series of imagistic and syntactical loops – a Venn diagram of partial thoughts (or dreams or memories) that become more certain and more troubling each time they refuse to relate or resolve. Harold Abramowitz’s Blind Spot is not about anything – about, from the Old English, ‘outside of.’ Instead, it’s a kind of prayer made out of attention (Simone Weil). Incantatory and somatechnic. I fucking love this book. Abramowitz writes the mind and body (in trauma, in everyday life) from the knotted and careful inside.”

As such, we interviewed him about his book, although instead of asking boring lit questions, our managing editor Joanna C. Valente asked him about everything else instead, like what his favorite meal and apocalypse plans are.

Here’s what he said:

Describe your favorite meal. 

My wheel of favorite foods is always spinning. Right now, my favorite meal would be: First course: any kind of vegan tomato soup + the Gracious salad from Cafe Gratitude in Los Angeles: butternut squash, radicchio, cashew mozzarella, garbanzo beans, sun-dried tomato pistachio pesto, brown rice and quinoa slathered with smoky hot sauce. Second course: vegan pizza topped with kimchi and Sriracha.  Third course: a really good hippie cookie.

 

What music do often you write to, if at all? 

I am almost always listening to music, except when I write.  It’s kind of either or for me.

What are three books that you’ve always identified with?

The three books I am schlepping around with me in my bag right now (which is as far back as I can go today) are:

Memory of Fire: Genesis by Eduardo Galeano, Negro League Baseball by Harmony Holiday, and Dingbat 2.0: The Iconic Los Angeles Apartment as Projection of a Metropolis, an anthology, edited by Thurman Grant and Joshua G. Stein

Choose one painting that describes who you are. What is it?

Charred Landscape by Lee Krasner

 Lee Krasner

Lee Krasner

Choose a gif that encompasses mornings for you. 

What do you imagine the apocalypse is like? How would you want to die?

The tough part is deciding what we are going to do next.

If you could only watch three films for the rest of your life, what would they be?

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy

Swordsman II by Ching Siu-tung

A Touch of Zen by King Hu

How would you describe your social media persona/role?

I know better. I am a total idiot. This is really important. I know better. I am a total idiot. Why am I doing this? Hey, look at this. I know better. I am a total idiot. Why am I doing this? This is really important. I know better. Hey, you need to see this.

What’s your favorite animal and why?

Hummingbirds are really my best friends.

What do you carry with you at all times? 

An array of pens.  I can’t read my own handwriting anymore, but I love them.  Ballpoints.  I have six of them with me right now: two green, two black, one silver, one blue and white.


Harold Abramowitz is from Los Angeles.  He is author and co-author of books of poetry and prose, including Dear Dearly Departed, Not Blessed, and UNFO Burns A Million Dollars. Harold writes and edits as part of the collaborative projects eohippus labs, SAM OR SAMANTHA YAMS and UNFO.

 

 

joanna valenteJoanna 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 (ELJ Publications, 2016), & 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.

January 3, 2017
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The Accomplices LLC is a literary arts partnership and media company dedicated to amplifying marginalized voices and identities, particularly writers of color, through traditional and new media publishing, public engagement, and community building.


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