
What’s New in Poetry, 4-23-15

Apologies! I had to skip our 4/9/15 episode because of AWP. But I hope an extra video today will make up for it! Today’s readers are Shelly Taylor, Steven Karl, Paula Mendoza, Vanessa Jimenez Gabb, & Jane Lewty, from, well, all over the world–AZ, FL, TX, NY, & Amsterdam! I’m proud to have published books by Shelly (Braddock Prize) & Steven (Cargill Prize) with Coconut. Jane’s first book won the 1913 First Book Prize from 1913 Press. & Paula and Vanessa are bound (pun intended) to have full-length collections soon!
Watching these videos again for like the 12th time, I’m still blown away–these are five amazing readers!
A few of my favorite lines:
Shelly Taylor: “I made him the local bus route. I keep myself as that red horse.”
Steven Karl: “The rip in memory sprouts. The sprouting sprouts are harvested. The harvested sprouting sprouts are rinsed clean of thought and the ants begin again.”
Paula Mendoza: “O, plight of Philomels clawing out of my disgusting mouth, each one pulped to a high shine ooze I paint my nails with. So crone and cyclic the depictions of his thin-fingered hold on what’s left of my love.”
Vanessa Jimenez Gabb: “All year I am a thing. All year I am salt.”
Jane Lewty: “Feel like you’re dissolving? Do you have a place by the airport now? Do you sit in great quiet bargaining, sad, cleansed?”
Please enjoy. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
Bruce
Born in rural southern Georgia, Shelly Taylor is a resident of Arizona by way of New Orleans and Tucson. She is the author of Lions, Remonstrance (Coconut Books, 2014), Black-Eyed Heifer (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2010), & three chapbooks: Peaches the yes-girl (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2008), Land Wide to Get a Hold Lost In (Dancing Girl Press, 2009), & Dirt City Lions (Horse Less Press, 2012). Taylor is the editor of, along with poet Abraham Smith, the anthology Hick Poetics, which was released from Lost Roads Press in 2015.
Steven Karl is the author of Dork Swagger (Coconut Books) and Sister (Noemi Press, 2016). He has published several chapbooks including (Ir)Rational Animals (Flying Guillotine Press), emissions of, (H_NGM_N), Sate(s) of Flux with Joseph Lappie (Peptic Robot Press) and Don’t Try This On Your Piano, or am i still standing here with my hair down with Angela Veronica Wong (Lame House Press). Selected publications include Jubilat, Sprung Formal, Eleven Eleven, Forklift, Ohio, and The First Time I Heard My Bloody Valentine. He is an editor for Sink Review and Coldfront Magazine and lives in Miami, Florida where he is currently a Visiting Instructor at Florida International University.
Paula Mendoza’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Bat City Review, Washington Square, DIAGRAM, PANK, and elsewhere. She’s assistant poetry editor at Coconut and Newfound, and lives in Austin, Texas. She likes making pictures, some of which can be found at paulajanemendoza.tumblr.com.
Vanessa Jimenez Gabb is the author of Weekend Poems (dancing girl press, 2014) and midnight blue (Porkbelly Press, 2015). She holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and is the co-founder of Five Quarterly. More stuff at missgabb.tumblr.com.
Jane Lewty’s first collection of poetry, Bravura Cool (1913 Press: 2013), was selected by Fanny Howe as the winner of the 1913 First Book Prize in 2011. She has co-edited two collections of essays, Broadcasting Modernism (University of Florida Press) and Pornotopias: Image, Apocalypse, Desire (Litteraria Pragensia), and her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including The Volta, jubilat, The Literary Review, Bone Bouquet, Eleven Eleven, and Posit. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently a visiting assistant professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Amsterdam.
- What’s New in Poetry, 5-7-15 - May 7, 2015
- What’s New in Poetry, 4-23-15 - April 23, 2015
- What’s New in Poetry, 3-26-15 - March 26, 2015