Paper Ephemera - It will please you

This is a teeny little snippet from one of several offerings of paper ephemera newly available from Blood Pudding Press, presenting you with some oddly unique, fun vintage and/or artsy innards from a variety of different magazines - to use within your own unique art!

See more & find out more here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?section_id=5216837

Blood Pudding Press/Horror Couture

My Blood Pudding Press etsy shop has become part of a Team called Horror Couture!

When I was invited to join this Team I felt pretty excited but worried that I might not fit in, because I don't have much blatantly horror-esque stuff available for sale in my Blood Pudding Press shop. I have hand-designed poetry chapbooks, vintage doodads, and ephemera.

BUT I do think some of my poetry is horror-esque in it's own odd way. In much of my older poetry, I liked to bake horrific confections. I don’t like vanilla snack pack pudding poetry; I like blood pudding poetry. I like poetry that borders the unappetizing, poetry that borders the grotesque, poetry that borders the pornographic and horrific. I am attuned to a sense of revolting, bodily-based horror associated with femaleness and I have a desire to birth this horror or abort it or deconstruct, reconstruct, or vivisect it!

As far as my newest poetry is concerned, my very latest chapbook 'POST-STROKE' is based on a real-life horrific health issue I suffered (and am still suffering) from. I had a carotid artery dissection, aneurysms, a stroke - and NOW have a Stent and Aphasia.

Also, I even designed a new sexy hot pink Venus Fly Trap Card (with poetry snippets) in honor of the Horror Couture group!

Lovely? Poisonous? Horror-ific in its own odd way? You decide.



See more about the Venus Fly Trap card here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69587846/sexy-hot-pink-venus-fly-trap-handmade

See more about POST-STROKE here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68522600/post-stroke-by-juliet-cook

X.O.X. Juliet

***

P.S. Created a NEW Horror Couture-esque Treasury: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d77f528b10a6d91fe0b5dd3/horror-couture-eyeballs-other-yummy?ref=pr_treasury

Darkly Delicious Poetics (1)

A Treasurey of poetry chapbooks, poetry books, poetic art, notebooks to work on your poems and art within, yummy eating and drinking doodads, & more.

Featuring work by Juliet Cook, Christine Hamm, Kathy Burkett, Aunia Kahn, and many more.

Stay tuned for #2, coming soon.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d657e50cd846d91c7295de3/darkly-delicious-poetics-1?index=0

Making Valentine's Day a Little More DIY and a Lot More Creative

Think back if you please to those grade school days and those classroom Valentine's Day parties for which each child would design her own special Valentine's Day box into which the other children could bestow their handmade or store bought but crayon scrawled Valentine cards. Usually, these Valentine boxes were fashioned from shoeboxes or tissue boxes lovingly decorated with colored paper and hearts and foil and lace, with a little slot cut into the lid, awaiting its bright bevy of Valentine cards.

I don't know about you, but for me, designing and decorating and adorning my extra-special Valentine box was almost as much fun as receiving those Valentine's cards themselves. The process of creating my box was a delight that allowed me to express myself uniquely while joyfully anticipating the fun-filled party time soon to come and THEN that eagerly- awaited time after the party when I would get to sort through the contents of my Valentine box and check out all the goodies!

Here's a fun and unique DIY idea if you have a nostalgic significant other, a creative friend, or maybe even a special BFF who you can trace all the way back to those grade school days-why not give your special someone the chance to relive those fond memories from Valentine's Days past by making them a homemade Valentine's Day gift basket in the form of one of those old-school Valentine's day boxes?

You can literally use a shoebox or a tissue box, just like in the days of yore. Or you can make it a little more adult-like by choosing a more sophisticated keepsake style box that your friend can enjoy reusing after the holiday. Why not pay a visit to your local Container Store for box ideas galore? Make sure the box you choose will be spacious enough to accommodate all the groovy Valentine's Day goodies you intend to nestle inside.

Before you fill the box with Valentine's Day gifts, don't forget to decorate it. Be creative! You can use a decorating style that is reminiscent of your grade school days (think red and pink construction paper, notebook paper, red foil paper, crayons, Magic Marker, old photos, heart-shaped doilies or stickers; heck, maybe even break out the paste for old time's sake and that minty fresh smell). Or you can take a more sophisticated, adult-like approach with higher-quality paper and accoutrements such as pretty ribbon, vintage lace, pressed flowers, unique buttons, and more. A few other ideas to get your creative juices flowing: decoupage, calligraphy, handmade paper, pieces of real love letters (or what about notes that the two of you exchanged way back when in an old classroom?)...

The creative Valentine's Day decorating possibilities are myriad and lovely.

Of course, decorating the outside of your lucky friend's Valentine gift box is only part of the fun. You also get to decide what special Valentine gifts to nestle inside. Maybe some of these gifts will be homemade, too, such as a favored baked good. Red Velvet cupcakes are a wonderful choice for Valentine's Day and you can even bake them in a heart-shaped muffin tin. Decorate your heart-shaped Red Velvet cupcake with delicious swirls of vanilla or cream cheese frosting (perhaps with just a drop of red food coloring added to the frosting to create a pretty pink tint), adorn with silver dragee flourishes and you have a baked good that's attractive enough for even a discriminating Valentine's Day gourmand. Or get even fancier with raspberry tarts, reminiscent of The Queen of Hearts. Or what about homemade truffles, rolled in red edible sugar?

Delectable baked goods are only one idea for the yummy innards of your special friend's homemade Valentine's Day gift basket. If you're using the old-school theme, why not consider adding a mix tape with love songs or just a multifaceted music mix that includes ditties of special significance to you and your friend? Poetry is also an excellent gift notion for Valentine's Day. Whether you handwrite a classic love poem to add to the gift box or better yet, write your very own poem for your friend (if you don't feel poetic enough, a handwritten Valentine's Day note would also be nice) or acquire a unique hand-designed poetry chapbook by a contemporary poet, these especially expressive words will surely add a significant and memorable touch to your friend's Valentine's Day gift basket.

Etsy is a wondrous one-stop shopping source for all your unique handmade items needs, so it might serve you very well indeed to browse some etsy categories and shops in search of even more idiosyncratic and personalized special additions for your lucky BFF's Valentine's Day gift basket. From letterpress greeting cards to gourmet cookies to fuzzy red legwarmers to all manner of holiday-themed specialties, etsy offers it all-and all you need to do is visit esty.com online.

Etsy even features a bath & body category, but another sumptuous source for luxurious bath & body products and blissfully wonderful aromas is lush.com (or Lush in person, if you're lucky enough to live near one of their yummy little shops). Lush stocks all kinds of delicious temptations from lovely hair conditioners to sublime perfumes to a handcrafted facial cleanser known as Angels on Bare Skin.

I think that an especially apt Lush addition to a Valentine's Day gift basket would be one of their famous bath bombs, which are handcrafted in many romantic, relaxing, sexy, sassy, or just plain fun varieties such as the Kiss me Klimt (ylang ylang and rose), the Sex Bomb (jasmine), and the Tisty Tosty (a delicate heart-shaped bath bomb infused with precious rose and orris root to "weave a magic love spell for your bath). While you're browsing these bath bomb offerings for your friend, you'll probably desire to choose one for YOU, too-and why not indulge yourself? It is Valentine's Day, after all and it is oh so important to love yourself and treat yourself, too.

It is also important to show your friends and lovers that you care and what better way to do so than by adding personalized, unique, handmade, artistic flourishes to their Valentine's Day gifts? They'll love you for it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

***

Read more of my Valentine's Day (and Anti-Valentine's Day) articles by clicking the links below.

Paint a Piece of Pottery For Your Valentine:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1426072/paint_a_piece_of_pottery_for_your_valentine.html?cat=30

Valentine's Day Cards:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1381810/valentines_day_card_messages.html?cat=41

Anti-Valentine's Day Cards:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1379598/antivalentines_day_cards.html?cat=7

How To Celebrate An Anti-Valentine's Day:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1380278/how_to_celebrate_an_antivalentines.html?cat=7

Some Alternative Uses For Love Letters:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1371657/some_alternative_uses_for_love_letters.html?cat=10

***

Also Blood Pudding Press has added a new small section of Strange Valentine's - from on-sale special poetry chapbooks to ivory lace & more. Please do feel free to partake:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?section_id=7799241

Planchette Haunting by Margaret Bashaar

My darkly delicious poet-friend Margaret Bashaar has created wondrous mini-reviews of quite a few of my poetry chapbooks and today she has just posted a new one - a mini-review of my 'Planchette'. Her succulent, shimmering, haunted review is copied below:

"Planchette by Juliet Cook (Blood Pudding Press, 2008) - anyone who has read previous mini reviews by me knows that I love Juliet's poetry, and of course Planchette was no exception. Perhaps my reviews of Juliet's work should simply read "It was Juliet Cook. What do you think?". But no, I will be more descriptive than that. In this collection, I was particularly impressed with how well each poem fit together with the others. The entire collection was pale and haunted. There were hauntings of the body, hauntings of food, hauntings of dolls, hauntings of furniture, hauntings of spiders, and yes, hauntings of homes. I enjoyed how poems would reference one another, yet not be dependent upon one another in order to be understood and appreciated. I felt as though I was being lead through a tour of quiet madness by someone who, themself, was quite mad. As is always a strength in Juliet's writing, there is beauty in the grotesque of Planchette, and, I feel, a strong feminist undertone to her writing about women made pale with blood made thin and fingertips snipped off (though Juliet herself has told me she's been called everything from a radical feminist to an anti-feminist by those who have read her poetry). You can purchase a copy of Planchette at the Blood Pudding Press etsy store, as linked above, and I highly recommend it."

You may also visit Marg's Plucked From Ogygia blog to partake of more, here:

http://pluckedfromogygia.blogspot.com/

You may also visit my Blood Pudding Press etsy shop to see & read more about Planchette (and other chapbooks and artsy/crafty doodads), here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/61369901/planchette-by-juliet-cook

You may also visit Marg's NEW etsy shop, currently offering stunning snippets of hand-made jewelry, here (I love the Turquoise and Shell Necklace):

http://www.etsy.com/shop/myhyacinthgirl?ref=pr_shop_more

AND speaking of Blood Pudding Press, I am currently at work on my Blood Pudding Press for Dusie Kollektiv 5 NEW poetry chapbook of mine called "Post-Stroke", so stay tuned.

AND after that chapbook is created (hopefully in February), then Blood Pudding Press will get to work on its NEXT poetry chapbook, "LETTERS FROM ROOM 27 OF THE GRAND MIDWAY HOTEL", by Margaret Bashaar.

What could be more wonderfully haunting!?!

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.


*

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.


*

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.

Virtual Book Tour wrap up/Blood Pudding Press update

The final review of Read Write Poem's Virtual Book Tour (of Lisa Ciccarello's poetry chapbook 'At night, the dead:' published by Blood Pudding Press) was contributed by Ren Powell, editor of Babel Fruit magazine.

Some excerpts from this review:

“Lisa Ciccarello’s chapbook is an example of why poetry books are important as works of art. That is, 'poetry book' distinct from 'book of poems'.

...as with any charm, the context of the repetitive whole is mesmerising.

The vague references to superstitious practices are never fully fleshed within a cultural context…

This vagueness allows for the ambivalence that characterizes the collection. The charm to ward off the dead becomes seductive, just as children are seduced by the fear of the Ouija board, just as pleasurable touching becomes painful within the context of insistent repetition, just as pain can become almost pleasurable. The dead are feared and longed for: ‘The dead put their fingers in your mouth’.

The sestina-like repetition in the collection creates a pleasing tension with this reader, as I want to speed through the increasingly familiar phrases, but am stopped short for close reading by the poet’s attention to detail and abbreviated metaphors…

Clearly Ciccarrello’s poems grow from their communion with the dead – the kind of growth that needs the space of chapbook.”

You may read this review in its entirety at the More Babel blog:

http://morebabel.blogspot.com/2009/09/book-tour-at-night-dead.html

You may read excerpts from all seven preceding reviews on this Virtual Book Tour (and more) consolidated over at the Blood Pudding Press blog (click the bloody telekinetic female to your right OR the link below):

http://www.bloodyooze.blogspot.com/

I would like to thank Read Write Poem for orchestrating this Virtual Book Tour, everyone who contributed a review, and also those who have been reading along!

If your interest has been piqued re: 'At night, the dead:' it is not too late to acquire your very own ribbon-bound, spider-stamped copy from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop:

http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/.

Coming next (hopefully soon) from Blood Pudding Press, a new poetry chapbook by Dana Guthrie Martin, after which your intrepid Blood Pudding Press editor (that would be me) will be taking a spell to focus on her participation within the dusie kollektiv 4!

During this time, feathered and flighty submissions will still be accepted for Thirteen Myna Birds on an ongoing basis.

XO. Juliet

P.S. #1--Did you read my exciting Slash Pine Press news?--
http://slashpinepress.blogspot.com/2009/09/slash-pines-first-two-authors.html

P.S. #2--Did you read my article about CutThroat Entertainment's new horror film on the Columbus Underground blog?--http://www.columbusunderground.com/break-a-horror-film-from-cutthroat-entertainment

***

update:

Kathrin Schaeppi/ellectrique press offers up a wonderful feature on the dusie 3 kollektiv collaborative chapbook swap project:

http://www.ellectriquepress.com/home/Feature.html

Dusie 3 is ending and Dusie 4 is starting up, but Dusie 3 will still have a last hurrah when all the completed chapbooks are published as free-to-read PDFs by editrix extraordinaire, Susana Gardner. Stay tuned!