POESY

UPDATE:

I got the tracking number from Lulu today and the estimated delivery is January 4 for the printed version of POESY. I will be pulling an all-nighter and getting them all out by the 5th. It is important to get the inspiration circulating as soon as possible.

You can still order form our current issue main page. Just click the “Buy Now” button that will take you to the secure paypal.

POESY returns after an over two year hiatus since the summer of 2009 with POESY XXXIX. This issue is in our typical 40 page 7.5” square format and is at the press scheduled for distribution the first week of January. This issue is dedicated to Scott Wannberg, a friend and inspirational poet who passed in August. He is deeply missed, but his words live on.

Dedication poems by S.A. Griffin, John Dorsey and A.D. Winans, all close to Scott in the utmost sense. This issue features conversations with John Dorsey and Brian Morrisey discussing the role of the poet in society, living off the means of the word and the vital importance of poets being on the road. Sam Cornish and Doug Holder spent a day together in Boston for an interesting conversation discussing poetry, shifting the focus out from academia to grassroots poetry and publishing.

Poems this issue by: scott wannberg, john dorsey, s.a. griffin, phillip e. burnham, jr., brent michael canle, holly day, brian morrisey, jene erick beardsley, sam cornish, bruce mcrae, james grabill, g.a. scheinoha, liz henry, leon petty, william taylor, jr., ralph malachowski, jeanine stevens, a.d. Winans. Photography this issue by: casey rearick, stanley horowitz, t.kilgore splake, brian morrisey, clarissa olivarez, ellaraine Lockie, ann-sophie fjelloe-jensen, john bower. Brian Morrisey gives an in-depth review of t.kilgore splake’s chapbook, “Facebook.” Guest reviewer Joe Pachinko chimes in with two critical reviews short and to the point.

Visit us on the web at: http://www.poesy.org

— but if you want to support us and keep POESY strong…
please order a hard copy off etsy.com at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/88630017/poesy-xxxix-wnter-2011-2012

This year I have dealt with death, loss, grievance, re-focus, relationships (friendly and unfriendly)… business triumphs and tragedies… how could poetry not surface from these trying emotions? I have been thinking a lot about purpose… direction…. focus (which is one of the shifts that led me back to publishing POESY this year). We were all put on this earth for a purpose. Most of us spend our life on a quest for true purpose and most of us never find it. If we are lucky enough to be enlightened as to what we are here for, it snaps and comes together perfectly like gluing the seams of disheveled aspects of life. For 22 and a half years, POESY has been been the only justifiable purpose in my life. As much as I ignore her, get angry at her, say bad things about her, she always comes back expecting more out me.

I am in the final edits of issue XXXIX. For the first time in two and a half years, I feel like I can move forward with my life again and continue with my purpose. The issue is in memorium of Scott Wannberg, an amazing poet who knew his purpose and lived to until his last breath. If you can’t say you did all you could for your purpose in this short life, then what’s the point?

About the issue: Conversations with John Drosey (Toledo, OH) and Sam Cornish (Boston, MA) John gives us an in-depth look at what it takes to live only against the means of words and art. Sam Cornish brings down the poet laureate ideals a notch by searching the barkrooms of underground poetry reading outside academia for inspiration. Poems, Poems Poems (not namedropping poets for the sake of the poetry), amazing photos and an in-depth review of t.kilgore splake’s “Facebook” chap along with other reviews by Joe Pachinko.

The issue will be up on the web on Monday if I can get it together enough today to apply myself to make it happen. I hate our current web design. It doesn’t inspire me anymore. That is my mission… that is my purpose… inspiration… and POESY is my tool.

POESY is no longer at the address: PO 7823… we are now at:

PO BOX 458
SANTA CRUZ, CA 95061

Send submissions: poetry, Photography (B&W), and reviews.

Yes, after a a summer of craziness in Santa Cruz, the head-hancho of POESY is able to focus again. Hopefully the forces of nature will play out in his favor. We have some ideas for #39 floating around. One is John Dorsey will have a profile in this issue. I still love the format, so I dont think we will be making any changes there.

Anyway nothing new really.

Send your work in before September 30th. It is extended from August 1st.

The San Francisco International Poetry Festival

with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Zhai Yongming, Ignatius Mabasa, Maram al-Massri, Diane di Prima, Alexander Skidan, Nguyen Qui Duc, Roy “Chicky” Arad, Carol Muske-Dukes, Daisy Zamora, Cletus Nelson Nwadike, Anna Lombardo, Menna Elfyn, Paul Flores, Neeli Cherkovski….

learn more by visiting http://www.sfipf.org/

I don’t know how much time I wil be able to spend there. I am running the SF Marathon July 26

We are currently seeking a venue in San Francisco for an Issue 38 reading. We will keep you posted as we make progress…

If anyone has any ideas, please comment on this blog.

thanks! - brian

The issue is out…. the copies are mailed….you can order a hard copy by going to http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26501397. I will mail you one out. The mere 3 bucks is worth it and gets us closer the next issue…

…a 38th in depth look into poetry… a passion that has become the only sane outlet of my thoughts. A poem is a deep intuitive look into one’s soul. I guess that is why all of my friends are poets and writers or artists in deepest sense. It is an instant connection trustworthy of investing in. A passion worth investing in.

Debbie did a great job selecting the poems and her and I agreed it was a little too easy for us to work together since we agree on everything. We wondered where the fights were and egos butting heads, but she understands the magazine’s intent since she has been reading it since the early days of issue 15.

Her main squeeze, Dave Hite, did a great job colorizing the cover photo by Michael Bernstein too. The Berlin Wall photo is amazing and symbolizes defiance appropriately for this issue. Dave has been a tremendous help with the revamp of the website and other graphic needs to boot.

The main feature this issue was on Dave Church who passed away Thanksgiving 2008. Dave and I corresponded for years. He would always send me $5 in with his letters and tell me to take it as a donation to POESY, but I kept his subscription going for years with those random fivers. If you ever wanted a true opinion, he was your man. I saw him as a humanist (believe it or not) who was always interested in what you were doing at the time. He supported the mag enough to get us into the well-respected Brown University. Like many of us in the poetry community, I miss him.

I often talk to my friend Pablo about the magazine and how issue 50 (”L”) will be a “Best of POESY” thick brick and then I want to move on to maybe only do books for the poets I love. Or who knows, maybe even focus on my own poetic musings. Or who knows, maybe it has become such a staple of my life I won’t be able to let it go. All I know is, I love doing this. It is the one space I feel secure enough to call my calling in life.

I hope you enjoy the issue!

POESY has been involved with the small press now for 18 years. We have seen magazines come and go so often that it just gives us more thirst to stay alive during these trying times. To stay alive, we have to stay funded, to stay funded (without selling out and maintaining completer control of the artistic content that goes into the magazine), I have to work at 40-60 hour a week job.

During the hours left, when I am not working, I admit there has been more occasion than once that poems have fallen through the cracks. One poet decided to recently go on a rampage insulting the magazine, the intern and myself because he just heard back from his submission after 18 months. Sorry. We screwed up. There are a lot of people like this individual who were originally accepted, but then were cut in the final editing stage. In this particular case, the submission was still in the POESY #36 folder and never got moved back into the rejection folder. Yes, we screwed up. It won’t be the first time. It won’t be the last. I accepted the fact that we screwed up.

I thought maybe the fact that his poetry was in the final edits and got cut last minute would give him some comfort or drive to submit again or least keep his cool. He just cannot let go.

I don’t know what else to do. I have apologized.

This statement is just to let you know, that sometimes your submission will fall through the cracks of our system and I am sorry if it took 18 months to respond (which is a lie, because in issue #36, I mentioned he was still being considered for the issue).

People wonder why editors stop putting their heart into publishing everyone else’s work. This is why. If you want to keep the small press alive, give your editor some slack and realize we are not perfect, nor of the “POETRY” or “Poets & Writers,” but rather indiduals doing this out of our own free will and putting hard earned cash and time out of a love for poetry—your poetry.

Thanks,
Brian