The VCL team is thrilled to announce our nominations for the 2020 Pushcart Prizes! Creative Nonfiction: – Girls and Other People by L Scully– Homegrown by Iris Yu Poetry: – Reverend K.F. Lord Reveals The Spectre Of Newby Church, 1963 by Cassandra de Alba– Unremembering by Kavi Kshiraj– Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104 by Esther Sun– nightmares […]
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Etel Adnan dispenses down-to-earth wisdom in her poetic work Shifting the Silence, bringing readers along as she recounts her global travels and lessons learned. We are lucky to glimpse her 95 years of life condensed into these pages, and thumb through her thoughts on the passage of life. Hailed as a meditation or rumination on […]
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Your body is a temple; so sayeth the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians. In Boston-poet Levi Cain’s first chapbook Dogteeth, now on its second printing via Ursus Americanus Press, the body is more prismatic: it’s “a house / with newly washed floors,” “a pool to drink from,” or “an apartment / condemned by god.” This […]
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Abolition: A Journal of Insurgent Politics: Call for Art Submissions for a special issue of on Abolitionist Feminisms. “Works accepted for the pages of the journal will be printed in grayscale. Images will be in full color in our online, open-access form. The Abolition Collective is offering artists a modest honorarium of $100 for use […]
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Aditi Machado’s collection Emporium is very timely in its mix of isolation and worldly discovery. As we turn these pages, we follow a merchant who seems at once lost and found on her journey, selling, buying, and trading, and in the end we may be unsure how much has been given up, gained, and what […]
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Aly Pierce’s poetry collection, The Visible Planets, is a work of universal appeal (bad pun absolutely intended). Most people can probably relate to speculation about our place in the world and the cryptic bigger picture outside of our Earth. While many poets focus on the grounding images of humanity in relation to nature, full of […]
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To our readers, The Vagabond City Lit staff stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and all those protesting against police brutaality and anti-Black violence. We condemn the police murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade as well as the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the many more Black lives ended […]
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George Abraham spoke with VCL’s Michelle Betters in early May about their first full-length collection of poems, BIRTHRIGHT. In the words of Naomi Shihab Nye, this is a “sizzling, flaring” book that merits multiple readings. But it’s also, as George explains below, a hot mess of prose, traditional poetry forms, erasure, and ekphrasis. In other […]
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Toxicon and Arachne, the recent poetry collection by Joyelle McSweeney, depicts the short human lifespan with an unconventional consistent darkness. Uniquely refreshing in its morbidity, this work is scattered with the bitterness of losing a child, and McSweeney portrays her grief “the way a crane / dances for its mate / the awkward body / […]
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Meena Alexander has a conversation with literary ghosts in her posthumous poetry collection, In Praise of Fragments. The writings and drawings in this book depict nonlinear, speculative bits about what it means to be alive, present, and home. She invites us on her exploration of the soul in her last few years of life. Many […]
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Emily as Sometimes the Forest Wants the Fire by Darren C. Demaree is exactly the bright, crackling ode that its title suggests. Emily is a dynamic shapeshifter, assuming nature’s many forms, from human to flower to debris. The poems in this collection are certainly heavy with the stumbling navigation of love and vulnerability, but they […]
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Awe-inspiring, thoughtful and honest, Gillian Conoley’s selection of poems in A Little More Red Sun on the Human engages us in observation and conversation about the wild state of the world. Her work encourages analysis of the meaning of our lives as humans, our place in constructed society and forced imposition on nature. The weight […]
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Speech, a reflective and well-timed new work by Jill Magi, is quite possibly the delicate walkthrough of life that so many of us secretly wish we had. The speaker serves as a flawlessly observant guide on a linguistic journey, giving us both foresight and hindsight as we wander along a path that is at once […]
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We’re thrilled to announce our nominees for the 2019 Best of the Net anthology. Nonfiction: “Fabric Wound and Unwound” by Tasneem Maher “Fear: A Collage” by Ronny Ford Poetry: “Gaslight” by Christian J. Collier “Yolk” by Cris Iacoponi “On Being Read My Miranda Rights in My Own Hallway”by Linette Reeman “At Beiteddine, Summer 2018” by […]
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Slingshot by Cyrée Jarelle Johnson is a turbulent debut collection that should be on every fall reading list. His poems demonstrate skillful navigation of what it is like to see the world through queer black eyes, opening all other eyes to the alternate visibility and invisibility of this existence, the dangers of being seen by […]
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How would you describe your artistic style? Versace + Arby’s. Tammy Faye Messner + Honey Boo Boo + the Virgin Mary. Key West + Manhattan + the Research Triangle + Hell. Who / what inspires you to create? In terms of who, definitely my partner and my family/friends and other writers/artists I admire. But in […]
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When a home loses its ability to comfort, a person can be left not just searching for a place of safety but also asking what safety really means. Stephen Furlong’s debut chapbook, What Loss Taught Me, approaches such seemingly intractable topics with courage and grace. Taking on experiences of abuse and loss, Furlong shifts adeptly between […]
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Hannah Cohen’s poetry collection Bad Anatomy shows us how our world looks when we hold it in vine-wrapped hands, at once a fragile ball and a strong snare. Read this book to be inspired to look at the world through new eyes, with a fresh stop-to-smell-the-roses vision. Cohen’s very first poem is about everything she […]
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Katie: I’ve read What Runs Over a few different ways now– straight through, with pauses, and at random, and it works every which way. The way you work with pace and temper creates this tension that holds a reader and is deeply unsettling throughout. The conversation between pieces, the movement through themes, the return to place and […]
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Marlena Chertock stunned us once before with her poems in “On that one-way trip to Mars,” and now she returns with another astronomical collection, “crumb-sized.” Familiar topics return with new flair and detail, teaching us more about blackbodies and exoplanets, and imparting more awareness on personal issues like dysplasia and queer life. One of her […]
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Katie: One of my favorite things about your work is how experimental and intentional you are with different forms. The visual aspect of your poems is always a striking element of the individual pieces, and the way they build on each other is so strong in your suites. How do you approach a piece? How does form happen […]
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What are the constructs we’re born into, and how do we conform to or evade them? How does being a woman today dictate the way we move through the world, as we’re taught from an early age how to be: to always be smiling, to have thigh gap, to be apologetic, to comply with conventional […]
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Jessie Knoles: i think the first thing i read of yours was when you submitted some poems to hobart and i got to read them and accept (!!!) them to the site. i really loved those poems [http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/mall-of-america]. how long have you been writing for? Francesca Kritikos: First of all, thanks so much for accepting […]
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You may stumble upon Alain Ginsberg if you’re trying to find Allen Ginsberg, but there’s no need to be disappointed by this poet mix-up. Alain’s writing is a melancholy autobiography of what it means to not only survive, but also to live, and how hard it can be for queer individuals to do the bare […]
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Olivia Gatwood has been calling bullshit and educating through poetry for years now. She is a touring poet and educator, offering workshops on Title IX compliance, community building, and creative writing. Her first collection, New American Best Friend, was released in March. The work explores girlhood and memory, class and sexuality, place-making within and […]
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Where are you from? How did you begin your painting practice? I’m from Northfield Minnesota, a lovely small town less than an hour south of the Twin Cities. I had the great fortune of being born into a family of artists. My parents are potters and my dad is also a high school art teacher […]
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I first encountered Ollie Schminkey’s work about two months into my first serious relationship when a friend sent me the link to Schminkey’s “Two Twin Beds.” In that poem I found an articulation of so much of what I had felt completely incapable of communicating. It became a sort of first step for me towards […]
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There’s nothing like finding a book that is so open and honest, you feel as if you’ve found a window into the author’s psyche. That’s how it feels to read Marianne Apostolide’s latest, Deep Salt Water (BookThug), a powerful memoir about abortion and the experience of loss as it evolves over time. It’s a beautifully […]
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JR Mahung’s literary creation, “Like Waters,” is both a tidal force and a gentle flow. It is teaching someone how to dance and not caring if they step on your feet, just wanting to twirl in some comfortable space with them. It is a lesson that if you keep searching for perfection, you’ll miss all […]
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So I first read your work on Maudlin House and I’m curious: what is your relationship with the poems in that set (wonderfully titled “SOME *DRAKE VOICE* TINGS I WROTE AFTER I THOUGHT FOR A SECOND“)? i tend to write a lot about my anxiety, which, as i’m sure countless others can attest to, is […]
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I remember being mesmerized the first time I saw Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged session, as I’m sure countless other teens have. From the first notes of “About A Girl,” I was hooked, feet up on the couch, listening and wondering about the mystical blue-eyed man growling into the microphone in that famous oatmeal cardigan. It’s a […]
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So you have two chapbooks, rude girl is lonely girl! and Plastic Pajaros (both through pizza pi press) and I hear you have another one forthcoming with Button. What calls to you about chapbooks? And of course I have to ask: can you talk a little about the new collection? I like how small and concentrated […]
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Taylor Steele is a rare triple-Taurus. She’s a triple threat too—poet, screenwriter, and essayist—and it seems there’s very little that isn’t in her wheelhouse. You’ll find this is true almost instantly upon cracking Dirty. Mouth. Kiss. open. This is a collection of poems that roots for protection of the self, that’s wrought with newfound […]
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Inspired by a consuming crush, Shy Watson follows her first book (“Away Status,” previously reviewed!) with the equally stunning “My Parents Were Going to Give Me Your Name If I Was Born a Boy.” This short collection of poems, written in a single season, depict what it is like to want and not be wanted, […]
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How long have you been writing for? Do you have a specific writing process? I’ve been writing for a while, but writing seriously for less than a while—I’m not sure what initially drew me to poetry. I think I was just kind of struck by this idea that nearly everything that exists is poetry. I’m […]
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From her balcony on the 21st floor of a Miami high-rise apartment, a woman, identified as “J,” muses over the comings and goings of neighbors and strangers, all the while contemplating her own solitude. It feels a little voyeuristic, reading the intimate thoughts of a woman being a voyeur herself, and at times even like […]
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How would you describe your style? It’s kind of hard to describe. I almost think I don’t have a style. I’m not very good at stylizing or idealizing during my drawing, so I end up just drawing the subject very simply and precisely. I think I referred to my style as “instruction manual drawings” before, […]
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The End, By Anna is Adam Zachary’s stunning fiction debut. Vibrant and experimental, it is a true success in fiction writing by a self-proclaimed poet, whose work addresses the fundamental question: What does it mean to make good art? The End, By Anna, published in November 2016 by Montreal’s Metatron press, is a pocket-sized booklet, […]
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There’s nothing like poetry that makes you stop and reread. Poetry you can savour – that clings to the back of your throat, insists on being taken in not just in one sitting. This is the poetry you fall back on, and that, perhaps, you have resting beside you on your bedside table, waiting. It’s […]
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Aziza Barnes’ first full-length poetry collection feels like a study of interiors. The insides of insects, human mouths, burroughs, apartments, the center of a sweaty dance floor, the depths of intestinal lining, and of course, the self. These poems reveal what we do when the exteriors have gotten the best of us. Or what we […]
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Can you tell us a little bit about your background? When did you begin your creative practice? Art and creative thinking have always been a part of my life. From a young age, I was interested in making things and taking things apart to see how they worked. I vaguely remember a keyboard that my […]
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You should be longing to read Erin Taylor’s book “oooo,” because these poems are the human definition of longing. They are confessions of actually wanting people to touch you on the metro, feeling cold and distant and needing comfort. Taylor admits, “I mainly bite my nails and sometimes have a person I admire paint them […]
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I remember my first encounter with the term “feminist killjoy.” It was in my gender and media studies class, and we were assigned feminist scholar and writer Sara Ahmed’s Killing Joy: Feminism and the History of Happiness as one of our readings. The term, I’ll admit, had me worried at first – I’d had enough […]
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ARCHIVED G-CHAT, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 4:37 PM Jessie Knoles hey chelsea! Chelsea Martin hi jessie how are ya Jessie Knoles i’m pretty swell just looking at wool socks (page 21 now). how are you Chelsea Martin wool socks? like to buy? Jessie Knoles yeah. i have paypal money which is kind of like not […]
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Well, Vagabonds. To say it’s been quite the year would be an understatement, but here we are. We re-launched. We’ve been blogging/reviewing/interviewing. We started a newsletter. We keep receiving incredible poetry/nonfiction/art from lovely writers and artists to publish. In the middle of all that, we’re reading, and then reading some more. Below, you’ll find some […]
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What’s your background? Where are you from and when did you begin making work? I was born in San Francisco and we moved to San Diego when I was about 3 years old. My Mom is a public artist and my Dad works in biotech, and I grew up close to the beach with a […]
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Let me begin by saying I checked my mailbox three times a day while I was waiting for a package from Nostrovia! Press to arrive. In said package were the press’ three new chapbooks: “Make a Fist & Tongue the Knuckles,” “i can remember the meaning of every tarot card but i can’t remember what […]
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Good things come in pairs. I know that’s not the actual saying, but it certainly holds true of the beautiful bundle that is the Grimoire Series 1 from Sad Spell Press, Witch Craft Magazine’s publishing arm. The series includes grimoires, or chapbook-length poetry and prose from Jon-Michael Frank with Nostalgia Flower, and from Sarah Lyn […]
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Joseph Parker Okay and Elijah Pearson are phenomena. Not only are they talented and inventive writers (they are the authors of “my phone is about to die and i hope it takes me with it” and “a nt” respectively), they are champions of independent and alternative artists. They are the parents of not only Spy […]
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A History of Flamboyance is the sheer destruction of creation myths in violent shades shades of red. It considers the Church and Greek Mythology, but ultimately uses them as stepping stools to a greater, more honest truth. Justin Phillip Reed offers a collection of poems that feel like one long, satisfying and revelatory confessional marked […]
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