I NEW review of an OLD poetry chapbook of mine (Tongue Like a Stinger)

I few nights ago, I checked out my Goodreads page and encountered this new-ish review by Casey Kiser of an old-ish poetry chapbook of mine. I love Casey's review(s) and will share part of it below.

The old chapbook is called Tongue Like a Stinger and was published by Wheelhouse Press back in 2009. You can still read it all for free online (I'll link to it at the bottom of this post). My writing style has changed quite a bit over time and when I just re-read a few of my poems from this chapbook, I barely even remembered them at first, because they're stylistically different than how I'm writing now and because I'm almost always working on new poems, so some of the older ones end up disappearing from my head. But it's interesting reading older poems of mine, because it can cause part of my brain to backtrack in time. And it's great to unexpectedly find out that some other people are still reading older stuff of mine and that what seems old to me seems new to them.

I've had some crappy stuff going on these last few weeks, but it's been a really good few weeks poetry-wise. Rejection always exists in poetry-land, but I've recently had two individual poems published by Writing In a Woman's Voice (with a third poem forthcoming from them next month, when I'm a year older than I am right now), another individual poem coming soon from another magazine, and seven different collaborative poems by me and Darryl coming soon from two different magazines. Plus Darryl and I finished writing two new poems on Thursday and then Friday we talked about turning our series of poems into a chapbook semi-soon.

 
In addition to the new, here's part of Casey Kiser's review of my old chapbook. She's reviewed other chapbooks of mine before and her reviews always cause me to feel unexpectedly fabulous and like my poetry moves a few people. That's very meaningful to me, because sometimes I feel borderline invisible and as if I'm mostly only writing for myself. Don't get me wrong, even if I was only writing for myself, I would certainly still be writing. But it's still exciting to unexpectedly find out that someone else is wowed by what I do.

"Juliet's writing shatters any ideas of what poetry should be or has ever been. It's utterly surreal. Her take on trauma is unique and complicated, and must be experienced. She dares to tease and tickle our nerve-endings. Every sentence is on the brink of sanity. Every poem forces the reader to stretch farther out than their warm-up yoga pose and their daily tunnel vision to a panoramic panic. Their matchbox world slides open as they start to wonder if someone slipped something in their drink. The hills have eyes and these poems have exploded doll parts everywhere. And this sickness is just the cure to boredom when bad poetry takes us down cliche avenue, we know we can reach for a Ms. Cook book. All hail the Tragedy Queens who suffer the most for their art. Who inspire us with absolutely no fear and no limits."

Here's the whole review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4160374547?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Here is Tongue Like a Stinger - https://dwuaw.tripod.com/chapbook/cook.pdf

Poetic Poems & Hot Reviews

These two fun photos were taken of me by the lovely poet Becca Claver during my reading at the recent Slash Pine Press poetry festival. I've not yet downloaded or uploaded my own photos, so just might post a few more soon.

As well as glancing at these darkly sweet little photos, you just might also want to read three very recent book reviews of three of my poetry collections. Scroll on down to my previous entry here to check out a review within the latest issue of Arsenic Lobster online literary magazine of my Slash Pine Press published print chapbook called FONDANT PIG ANGST.

Then look/lick/click below to read two other new reviews within the latest online issue of Galatea Resurrects--first a review of another print chapbook called MONDO CRAMPO; then a review of an online chapbook called Tongue Like a Stinger:

http://galatearesurrection14.blogspot.com/2010/04/chaps-by-juliet-cook-lucy-harvest.html

&

http://galatearesurrection14.blogspot.com/2010/04/tongue-like-stinger-by-juliet-cook.html

If any of these peeps give you the feeling a strange and creative collection of mine might be something you'd like to read yourself, you may purchase FONDANT PIG ANGST from Slash Pine Press or via my very own etsy shop at http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/ AND/OR you may read the other two online. MONDO CRAMPO was published in fun and sexy print as part of the Dusie Kollektiv, has since sold out, but may now be read online. Tongue Like a Stinger has always been online. Enjoy!


FONDANT PIG ANGST - http://www.etsy.com/listing/46272508/fondant-pig-angst-by-juliet-cook


MONDO CRAMPO - http://www.dusie.org/JulietCOOK.pdf


Tongue Like a Stinger - http://www.wheelhousemagazine.com/chapbook/cook.pdf

Tongue Like a Stinger (now with more angst!)

My latest e-chapbook, Tongue Like a Stinger, has just been published by Wheelhouse Press. Please feel free to check it out here:

http://www.wheelhousemagazine.com/chapbook/cook.pdf

It has been published concurrently with two other new e-chapbooks, which I look forward to reading soon--Xenomorphia by Matina Stamatakis & John Moore Williams and Over This Here Rainbow by Lars Palm.

You can read what Wheelhouse editor David Wolach has to say about these chapbooks, the Wheelhouse mission, and other exciting upcoming projects at his blog here:

http://davidwolach.blogspot.com/

A sort of hybrid of older work with new material, my chapbook might appeal to those who find some of my latest poetry a little too visceral or in-your-face for their liking. The 'Tongue Like a Stinger' collection is slightly more subtle; not a lot more subtle, just slightly.

It's about birds and bees and fur and tentacles and implanted debris and tainted femininity and more. It includes my Best of the Net 2007 winning and Pushcart Prize nominated poem, 'Some Explanations for Fainting Goats' and more. I designed the collage art cover with various images inlcuding a photo of a bird skeleton found in somebody's attic, which had to be disposed of after my photography session, because flesh was still clinging to the bones and it stunk.

If you're in the mood for my more in-your-face and oozing, my latest print chapbook, PINK LEOTARD & SHOCK COLLAR is newly available from Spooky Girlfriend Press in a small print run, costs less than a fast food meal, and has already been described as "outrageously pungent" (Adam Fieled, poet & critic):

http://spooky-girlfriend.blogspot.com/2009/07/now-available-pink-leotard-shock-collar.html

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In other writing/editing news: new flight formation winging its way onto the scene some time tomorrow, dog warts article in progress, revamped DIY feminist poetry publishing article in progress, I have quite a few writing assignments on my platter that I pretty much need to finish up in the next week, plus I need to get started on the next Blood Pudding Press chapbook, egads!

At least I finished a chapbook review yesterday and submitted it to The Chapbook Review.

At least I got a dreaded doctor's appointment out of the way today and a not so dreaded hair cut.



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Update: Another tidbit of poetic good news--I have received a poetry acceptance from Action, Yes! YAY!!!

Plus, I just realized I now have ten published chapbooks (not counting the one that's out of print)! Five self-published through Blood Pudding Press (inlcuding two collaborations) and five published by other small presses (including two e-chapbooks). WOW!

Plus one more chapbook manuscript in circulation and one more collaboration in progress.

Poetry Poetry Poetry, go go go!

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Thursday update: I wonder if people think I'm being too self-congratulatory or overly self-promotional when I write up peppy little spiels like the above. Well, right now I'm in the midst of a small wave of discouragement (hopefully, it will pass soon enough and then I might delete this bit, because I don't want my blog to seem too negative or self-defeating). I truly do adore and become excited about poetry projects and I've had a pretty darn grand poetry week or so, with the publication of TWO new chapbooks, an acceptance from one of my highly-coveted wish list mags and more,

BUT...

A small wave of discouragement just came over me. Maybe it was because I found out today that a nifty freelance writing gig I recently applied for did not come my way. It was a writing gig for the Onion News Network. Of course, I'd prefer to write poetry, but poetry doesn't pay the bills, unless you have some kind of academic job, which I don't. Sometimes I get tired of taking consumer surveys online and writing little freelance articles about dog warts in order to make three dollars (not an exaggeration).

'Well, I'm not going to be a writer for the Onion News Network,' I semi-dejectedly informed my husband a little while ago.

'Well, neither am I, ' he replied.

Yeah, but he didn't spend nearly three full days working on the writing application.

I probably spend more time on my writing stuff than many people spend on their full-time jobs, but where has it gotten me? Okay, that's not a fair question. It's gotten me plenty. I've had lots of poems published--I have a book--I've published ten poetry chapbooks in the last three years, which I realized last evening and which seemed sort of impressive at the time--so I guess that must mean I'm doing something right with my poetry.

Yet every month, I struggle to pay my household bills, which is very stressful to say the least.

For thirteen years, I worked for the same company--for the last decade, it was one office job or another, passionless yet tolerable and with a company I didn't dislike. It wasn't a high-paying gig, but it was enough for a non-materialistic sort such as me, plus I had good benefits. This past November, my "position was eliminated due to organizational restructuring". I could go off on a long, bitter tangent about certain suspicions of underhandedness, but I won't.

Instead I will jump to the part about how I've applied for about 80 jobs since then (no exaggeration) and haven't gotten one yet and I don't think it's because my resume is bad or anything like that; I'm not sure what it's because of. I know the economy has been bad, I know the job market is very competitive, blah blah blah. Still, I've applied for about 80 jobs--from full-time to part-time, from well-paying to crappy-paying, ranging from university jobs to medical center jobs to art galleries to libraries to government jobs to office jobs to Call Center jobs to barista jobs and more. And I guess if my unemployment benefits run out, I'll start applying at fast food eateries, convenience marts, and gas stations, too.

So just in case anyone reads my blog and I'm giddily writing about my latest publication credits or poetry chapbooks or whatever and you think to yourself, 'Golly, way to pat yourself on the back about your ten chapbooks, Mrs. Egomaniac', you might want to consider that a big part of the reason for that (in addition to the fact that I really do get genuinely super duper excited about poetry stuff) is because POETRY is one area in my life in which things are going well and I have a lot of small successes and it makes me feel good about myself and happy. Which is not so much the case in certain other areas of my life.

Such as the elusive career area. Am I doing something wrong? Should I be investing less time into my poetry and more time into writing articles about dog warts or something even less appealing to me?

It's just that there's so much to do in the realm of writing. Writing and publishing my own poetry, publishing other's poetry and book reviews (because I like to give back to the poetry community), writing freelance articles, advertising and promoting and designing and brainstorming and organizing and reading...

Indeed, I've already let blogging fall way off; my participation in the blogosphere used to be much more extensive, but something had to give to make way for the consumer surveys and the freelance articles and the time-consuming, ongoing job search activities and the seemingly perpetual following up with people who don't get back to me. By the way, in addition to my resume, I now have a whole computerized folder of different cover letters that can be adapted to fit different job openings. I have an administrative cover letter, an art job cover letter, a library job cover letter, a customer service cover letter, an editor cover letter, and a freelance writer cover letter, among others. Apparently none of them are successful. But at least my poetry is.

Well, successful in most every way except for the bill-paying kind of success, which is probably the kind of success that matters most to a lot of people. In fact, an even more common response to my poetry chapbook pep talk would probably be something like, 'Who CARES if you have ten poetry chapbooks?'

So I was just trying to convince myself that I cared (which I do), since occasionally a wave of discouragement or deflation will overcome me and I'll feel like I'm writing into a void...

It just seems like it would make more sense if I could manage to earn my livelihood via the pursuits that I am truly passionate about, driven towards, committed to, and invest LOTS of genuinely-intended time, effort, and energy into, but alack.

Okay, enough angsty ranting. I'll try to come back later with more peppy promo, related to poetry, the Luna Chicks, and feral ferocity.