Happy Holidays!

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Just in case you're in the mood for yet another Best of 2009 list, here's a little article about some of my favorite poetry chapbooks and books of the year (sorry, I'm not motivated enough to attempt a whole decade list):

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2532369/top_five_poetry_books_and_poetry_chapbooks.html?cat=38

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Blood Pudding Press in the etsy Gift Guides Showcase today. Ring in the New Year with poetry!

http://www.etsy.com/showcase.php?showcase_id=7

The Kitten

I'm back home from the holidays and have a laughing, purring, hissing little kitty posted at Six Sentences today:

http://sixsentences.blogspot.com/2009/12/kitten.html

APOCALYPTIC HOLIDAY SPAWN

Thirteen Myna Birds-APOCALYPTIC HOLIDAY SPAWN ISSUE

(a re-post from the Blood Pudding Press Latest Ooze blog at http://bloodyooze.blogspot.com/, because I think this issue is so damned fun, I just had to post it here, too--and by damned fun, I might mean eternal damnation with buttercreme.)



Thirteen Myna Birds is wrapping up 2009 with a bloody, frosting-y razzle dazzle bang, with the APOCALYPTIC HOLIDAY SPAWN ISSUE. This hideously delicious mutant entity features poetry by David Wolach as the sodden bread for an oozilcious Apocalypse Cakes sandwich!

Poetry, blood, fallen angels, tainted feathers, and perversely festive fruitcake are among the bounty of grotesque offerings at this holiday banquet. Oh, my stomach!

If you like the Apcocalypse Cakes you ravenous slut, you can actually buy the recipe cards and bake them yourselves; just click the link below to visit the Apocalypse Cakes etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Apocalypsecakes



As for Wolach's poetry, if you'd like to consume some more of that, word on the street is he has three books coming out in 2010. 'The Cutting Room' , from which two of the poems here are taken, will be published by Differentia Press.

Thirteen Myna Birds will return with fresh baked content in 2010, too; submissions are welcome.

Until then, enjoy the apocalyptic holiday feast at http://13myna.blogspot.com/



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A tidbit of other news, for anyone interested--I will have a six sentence poem-like-thingee debuting at Six Sentences on December 27.

Poetry Readings & Writings

Dana Guthrie Martin, author of the poetry chapbook, 'The Spare Room', which was recently published by my Blood Pudding Press, was live on the Joe Milford Poetry Show this evening. During this show, she read quite a few pieces from 'The Spare Room' (as well as some sections from a quirkily delightful in-progress collaborative poem between her and Nathan Moore). She's really an excellent reader, plus listening to these poems read aloud (and the related conversation between Dana and Joe Milford) will give you a real feel for the content of this collection.

Listen to Dana read, here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/joe-milford-show/2009/12/17/joe-milford-hosts-dana-guthrie-martin


Peruse the visuals and other details of her book in the Blood Puding Press etsy shop, here:
http://www.BloodPuddingPress.etsy.com

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If you're in the mood for even more poetry reading, you may listen to me read a piece from my own new poetry chapbook, FONDANT PIG ANGST by scrolling down a few entries on this very blogorama.

FONDANT PIG ANGST is also available in the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop, as well as directly from the stupendous publisher, Slash Pine Press.

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I've been feeling rather unfocused and out of it today, but I did manage to send submissions to four different poetry magazines, one of them something extra-fun sounding called TITS: A 24 Hour Journal of Poetry & Poetics. I submitted one animal, three designer vaginas, and a dessert product to the TITS project, so we shall see what happens.

Also wrote three book blurbs within the last few days, but have so much more writing to do. Another blurb, another couple reviews, a personal feminist treatise of sorts, a little article on gifts for travelers, maybe a holiday letter. Poetry. Pitter patter.

Oh and I received my new fingerless mittens inspired by the Log Lady from Twin Peaks! Huzzah!

"My log has something to tell you..."

New Millenium Interview

Didi Menendez, poet, artist, & editor/publisher extraordinaire of such publications as MiPOesias and Oranges & Sardines is posting interviews with various poets she has published this decade on a blog called 'Poetry: The First Ten Years of the New Millenium'. The ones I've read so far are pretty interesting and she put up a whole small slew of new ones today, including an interview with me:

http://goss183.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/juliet-cook/

In the time between me responding to her q's and her posting my response, my new poetry chapbook FONDANT PIG ANGST became available; for more details, see the entry below.

Here's a mini excerpt from my interview:

"Imprinted somewhere in my head is a cookie cutter that I am both trying to fit into and trying to creep out of. Much of my poetry is situated in the realm of that conflicted resistance. If I could grow some new appendages like a misshapen tail or tentacles, then I wouldn’t fit the mold. I think of my poems as appendages on a larger body that is trying to evolve into a new breed of misfit."

(Like I mentioned on FB, I'm not sure why I chose to submit a photo in which I look like some kind of bony owl/witch hybrid engaging in a random staredown, but you'll have that sometimes, I guess.)

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P.S. I also have a little Best of 2009 list over at BIG OTHER:
http://bigother.com/2009/12/14/juliet-cooks-best-of-2009

Midwestern Gothic

Here's a little video of me reading 'Midwestern Gothic' at a poetry reading at Macs Backs Books a couple months back. This poem is the first piece from my new FONDANT PIG ANGST chapbook, which can now be acquired directly from the publisher, Slash Pine Press, at http://slashpinepress.blogspot.com AND/OR from my etsy shop at http://www.BloodPuddingPress.etsy.com. For more details on the book, please see my previous entry.

Who Wants Fondant (and other goodies)?

And not only fondant, but $5.00 FONDANT PIG ANGST?

UPDATE: I have received my fabulous author copies, so this porky publication is now also available (signed copies) in my etsy shop at http://www.BloodPuddingPress.etsy.com.



Slash Pine Press finished hand stitching my new poetry chapbook, FONDANT PIG ANGST, this weekend and it is now available for only $5.00 online or by mail. For more details on how to acquire, please see the Slash Pine Press website at http://slashpinepress.blogspot.com/.

From the site: "Slash Pine Press is pleased to announce the release of our first chapbook of poems, Juliet Cook's dynamically gut-wrenching, Fondant Pig Angst. I feel confident in saying Juliet's voice is an American original, fusing pastry with grotesquerie, icing with amputation. These poems are not plainly 'dark'. No, they are alive and electric and full of verve and spunk, playfulness even, and it's these competing impulses that make for such an amazing collection of poems. "

When I receive my own copies of the book, I will also offer a few signed copies for sale in the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop at http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/.

I will also be reading at the Slash Pine Press Poetry Festival this April, but more on that later.

The Birthday Pig image upon the cover of FONDANT PIG ANGST is by the marvelous Marnie Weber.


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In other poetry goodness news, the latest Blood Pudding Press chapbook, Dana Guthrie Martin's The Spare Room, which was launched on Black Friday, is already eliciting excitement and positive buzz. Acquire your very own hand-designed copy from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop, either by its lonesome or in a money-saving Combination Pack with one other Blood Pudding Press chapbook of your choice.

See the previous entry here for more information about the latest chapbook--and visit the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop at http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/ to select and partake of your own poetic morsels.


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I haven't been the most diligent blogger lately, so here are a few other tasty little vittles I shall mention in passing:

~Poet/critic Adam Fieled thinks I'm a total bad-ass in a recent entry over at Stoning the Devil:

http://adamfieled.blogspot.com/2009/12/two-threads.html

~Columbus indie film company CutThroat Entertainment premiered their short horror film, BREAK last week and I emerged from my hermetically sealed mason jar (did you know that's where I lived & wrote?) to attend the premiere party, which was pretty fun, but I probably should have skipped that Christmas Ale. It'll be interesting to see what CTE does next. Also, I liked my dress; it was like an off-fuschia shag rug.

~I emerged from my hermetically sealed mason jar again this past weekend to attend a holiday party of sorts, which I should have skipped. Why is it that more often than not when I go out in public, I end up feeling mortified the next day? Maybe it's because I'm usually out of my element, my element being a mason jar full of tainted gummi pigs or somesuch. At least I liked my dress that night, too; it was like a space age waitress dress or like some weird Judy Jetson on Polyvinylchloride. Like a hairless kitty, you can't wash this dress, you have to wipe it clean with a damp sponge.

~But enough about my dresses, submit some poetry to me for Thirteen Myna Birds, especially if you're of the female and/or queer persuasion. I get too much crusty straight male poetry. I'm looking for juicy moreso than crusty, especially fake crusty. You know what I mean by fake crusty? I'll tell you. It's like you're some college student guy in your early twenties and you're writing this Bukowski impersonation about your hard knock life when you should actually be putting on a belly shirt and doing a little dance. I mean I want YOUR voice; not some crusty old man's voice (unless you actually ARE a crusty old curmudgeon, in which case, that's a little different, but I would like the poetry to be different, too, pretty please). So check out the guidelines at http://13myna.blogspot.com/ and if you think you have something that might interest me, feel free to submit.

Blood Pudding Press for the holidays

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade BloodPuddingPress.etsy.com

Indie poetry makes great alternative stocking stuffers! Yum!

~The latest Blood Pudding Press chapbook, Dana Guthrie Martin's 'The Spare Room' was just mentioned as a favorite book of 2009 by poet Matthew Hittinger!

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~Several Blood Pudding Press chapbooks as well as my own full-length poetry collection 'Horrific Confection' were mentioend by poet Maragaret Bashaar in a new blog entry about reading for pleasure!

Find out for yourself what the buzz is about; visit the Blood Pudding Press shop!

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In my pipeline (and hopefully coming soon): blurbs for upcoming books by Mairead Byrne, Charles Freeland, Mark Lamoureux, and Susan Slaviero--reviews of already published books by Karyna McGlynn and Matt Jasper--some sort of treatise for January's feminist poet forum on Delirious Hem--etc... No wonder I haven't had much time for my own poetry lately, but I'm pleased to report that I did begin work on a new poem today. Hurrah!