Back from China...

I failed to let everyone know I was off to China for a good 2-3 weeks. I knew less than a week before I left, so it put a damper on getting the mags out to the full subscription list. There are still some orders off etsy I need to fullfill. Anyway I am back. It was an experience (as always) filled with culture building relationships in the optics industry. I still think about going over there to do a chinese contemporary poets issue. I am toying with it for next issue which means I will have to shut down submissions.

On another personal note, my writing has fallen to the wayside until I can comprehend the last few months experiences and have just been writing folkish songs for guitar, but at least the inspiration is flowing in one way or another.

The issue has gotten an interesting response. Good, but subtle. I hope to push it out there even harder these next two months. Thanks again to all of you for being such a major part of POESY!!!

New Site - POESY XXXVII

Issue XXXVII is packed and on the way back from the press right now!

INTERVIEWS with Len Fulton of Small Press Review by Brian Morrisey and Pushcart Prize Winner Afaa Michael Weaver with Doug Holder

POETRY: john dorsey, jane stuart, sam silva, normal, b.r. strahan, david c.
orsheski, william taylor, jr., ally malinenko, afaa michael weaver, guy r. beining, tim suermondt, eileen kennedy, coleen t. houlihan, brittony johnson

PHOTOGRAPHY: a.d. winans, alethia drehmer, michael berstein, eugenia hepworth petty,brian morrisey, john bower, randy thurman, christopher robin

REVIEWS: tam lin nelville reviews Louis McKee’s, “Still Life” and brian morrisey reviews the first issue of the magazine “poeisis”

If you would like to order a hardcopy of the issue, you can send us $3.00 or order online at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15937872

(I apologize for any rejection or acceptance letters not received yet. I am still catching up.)

Thank you all for your continued support!

Issue XXXVII at the press

Issue XXXVII went to press today and I won't tell you how much they took out of my bank account
(it's depressing), but the issue looks fantastic (confirmed by two innocent bystander fellow santa cruzian poets/editor).

The web site is currently being given a nice face-lift by designer Dave Hite. It's going to bring our web site into 21st century interface. I am so focused on the print that by the time I got around to working on the web site this issue, I was burned out. Dave has done wonders with Debbie Kirk's website and it is a whole different approach to design.

I will have the rejection letters, etc. finished by the end of this month. Next issue could possibly be a Wired Poets (poets from Santa Cruz's Wired Wash Cafe), so please inquire before you submit anything. I should know for sure in a week or two.

We're still having the Wired Poets readings at my house until we find a new venue. I will steal some of Dave's photos. Its become quite an interesting reading and the after party is getting more and more out of control every week so I should get a venue scouted out soon before I am exiled from Santa Cruz.

Not much new on the personal homefront I want to talk about. I'm Irish, you'll get the scoop after I am done bottling it up and explode all over the page.

POESY #37 Cover

Another t.kilgore splake photo attacked with accented edges in photoshop. The interview this issue is with Len Fulton of Small Press Review, so the design is going to be based on a small press/typer design concept. Should be fun as I go along...

Thursday and a cup o' tea

Yeah its thursday. I haven't been able to type because instead of working on the issue, this weekend, I was wakeboarding and I strained muscles in both my arms. I have been walking around doing the robot for four days now.

I sit here with my cup o' loose leaf green tea thinking about the issue and procrastinating here. The issue is moving along though. We have an article from our Boston editor Doug on Aafa Michael Weaver and his Pushcart winning poem American Income. Doug talks to him about everything from China to spaghettios.

I am interviewing Len Fulton for this issue. The force behind Dustbooks and Small Press Review. See, if you read this boring blog, you might get a glimpse of what's about to explode in POESY. Usually I don't reveal who I am interviewing until a week or two before the issue is released. Wait a second... October 1 is our deadline... hmmmm....

Good poems and amazing photos from a few gifted folks.

In other sloppy poetry news, the Wired Poets, the infamous weekly open mic in Santa Cruz, has been proceeding at my house until we find a venue. My neighbors haven't banged on my door yet at all the rucus so we will continue to tear up the grass in my yard, smear chocolate chip cookies on my walls and maybe continue to read mind-boggling poems.

Upcoming for POESY: Issue #37, a revamped website (one that actually works), our monthly newsletter back in the circulation, and a smart dog eating contest.

Need photographs - XXXVII

Working on the poetry for POESY #37, but more immediately, working on getting some good images going and getting the inpiration nailed for a cover. Send your creative, nutty, poetic photographs to submissions@poesy.org

I should have the interview subject nailed down in the next week because we have to get rolling on this. Either option I am aiming for will be a great addition to our past victims, this I am sure of!

Issue #37 - scheduled for October 1 release

POESY will be published twice a year until we get our act together and find an economic way to publish. Maybe we could do a web version only of the even issues and a print version of the odd issues... ideas ideas.... Our current printer (shall I call them out?) who quoted me $750.00 for the issue jacked its price up to almost $1k. That's almost the price of Lulu.com who has excellent quality I know I can trust and will even put a spine on the issue and not just saddle stitch it.

October 1st is the deadline I've created for the next issue. So far: mindblowing poems and trippy photos... enough to ____ (Fill in the blank)

Books are on the horizon for POESY Press besides my own self-indulging poems.

In other news: the Wired Poets may have found a home at Bad Ass Coffee on Pacific Ave in Santa Cruz. I will confirm it later. Just wanted to jumpstart the rumormill that we are back in full effect.

I've even written a few poems lately... what do you know?

FREQUENCY of PUBLISHING POESY and Issue #37

I have been mulling over this for the past year and it is only going to get worse. I have decided to make POESY a bi-annual publication. Quarterly at today's printing prices with the new format is going to put me in the poor house indefinitely.

This may only be temporary until I get used to my new schedule and things slow down, but for now plan on POESY coming out in March and September.

I have been reading submissions like crazy and wish I could only be inspired... come on.. give me something I can sink my teeth into and grapple with for a while!

I also considered running a Wired Poets (poets of the Wired Wash Cafe open mic in santa cruz) issue, but since it shut down in June due to the rent being stolen (allegedly), that has dissolved as well. I don't want to step back into the tracks of poetry, I want to carry what is groundbreaking now into the future. Something that poets of today can relate to and identify with what is happening in the poetry world as of now, this very moment, today.... I need answers!

Bloggin out and San Francisco Zinefest

Everyone seems to be doing this blogger thing. I guess that is the trend. I guess its cool. I guess I could try it. Anyway, I will try to stick to the subject. POESY #36 was a complete success. Erika King did an amazing job as guest editor with her creative mind and approach to poetry. I know she will go far in the poetry world. It was nice having a co-conspirator.

This past weekend I attended the San Francisco Zine Fest. It was quite impressive. The last time I went, it was at Cellspace in the Mission District of San Francisco. This year it was at the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park. There seemed to be much more traffic and participation. I hope they can keep up the momentum next year too. A decent stack of POESY's were sold consisting of the current #36 and of course, the Diane di Prima issue (#25) went pretty fast.

I shared a table with Christopher Robin from Zen Baby. Here's a couple pics…