UNDER THIS PASSION

By Brian Morrisey

There are wicked ways
I want to forget
how the lonesome
cowboy wins his battles
even if it is a memory
stuck in the insanity
of a bullet about to backfire

calm winter nights
too chiseled to walk lightly
too desperately quiet
to roam when not
in the spirit

Under this passion
there are street lights
painted black
to find your way
down a lost road
to a beautiful mind
drunk in the corridors
of boredom
singing show tunes
reality scenic
previews into a hell burning
HDTV in surround sound

Under this passion
I sit behind a desk
look out a window of opportunity
sink my nails
into a deep scratch
against a wall
inside this box
of indiscretion
mocking a corporate America
spitting at the seams
spilling lies
and watered-down truth
the same consistency
of blood

Under this passion
I tell a joke to a silent audience
with voice so deep
it buries the sun
that shone down
all the little fears
dressed as daydream police
arresting images
of the Buddha
hand carried through the
trenches of lost time

Under this passion
I summon the poem
to a biased jury
discretely disguised
as the poet themselves
who might applaud
late one-night stands
with the word
seduced off one-way streets
expressway to madness
driving 100 miles an hour
and never looking back

We have extended our deadline to November 30, 2009 for al photography, revews and poetry.

Anyway nothing new really.

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

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

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

thanks! - brian

…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!

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

We have a dedicated warehouse space for POESY headquarters. I don’t have to sprawl poems all over my house on the kitchen table, in between the sheets, in the bathtub and under my bed. Yes people, that is what happens to your submissins when the arrive to P.O. Box 7823. Soon we will have a collaboration of art more powerful and inspirational than Andy Warhol’s Factory. It will also be considered as the next venue for the Wired Poets wekly open mic.

During y search for my intern, I have always had mixed feelings about mixing the poetry biz with my dear friends. I am so anal about POESY that it could end a relationship to have a friend as an intern, but the search is over. My friend Debbie Kirk is going to be the next intern at POESY. SHe knows how precious this baby is for me and also has followed the magazine for quite some time (Issue 13 - William Taylor, Jr. issue).

Debbie Kirk has been writing poetry, prose, and columns and being published in the small press for nearly ten years.  She also founded PinkAnarckittyPress in 2000, and has published 3 collections of poetry.  One was her first chapbook, the second was “Enemy” by John Sweet, and the third was “Dope” a small press anthology. DOPE got rave reviews and people continue to ask for a reprint!
As for her own work, she has had 5 chapbooks published. ‘Lost Words of Suicide Lovers’ (by PinkAnarckittyPress), ‘Valley of the Gallows’ (Black Hoody Nation press), ‘I hit like a girl’ (Mouseion UK Press), and ‘Bleeding from my Psalms’ (Feel Free Press UK), ‘Broken’ (Kendra Steiner Editions Press 2008)
Inclusion of Anthologies to date: ‘Stories From the Asylum’ (Underground Voices), ‘Chemical Lust, a Sex and Drugs Anthology’ (Monochrome Press), ‘Sirens 5 Femme Fatale Poets’ (Sisyphus Press)  You can read reviews of sirens at www.sirens5.com. ‘West Memphis Witch Hunt’ (lulu press,.all benefits go to the West Memphis Three legal defense fund), ‘Slipstream No.8, the year of poetry’ (Slipstream Press), ‘See Me, Hear Me’ ( The people’s poet UK…all proceeds of this book went to the Manic Depression Foundation), ‘The People’s poet 2′ (People’s Poet UK), ‘Love and Sadistic Dharma’ (Mystery Island Press, ‘Love Potion’ (Mystery Island Press) (Cherry Bleeds best of Anthology) Cherry Bleeds Press
E-books: ‘Ghosts in the Machine’ (Mystery Island Press), ‘Poetry ate my lunch money’ (Zygote in my coffee), Running Columns to date: ‘Stalking’ (The hold), ‘TNT’ (Babel Magazine, ‘The Ramblings of Ms. Randall’ (Zygote in my coffee magazine), ‘The Chronic Ill’s of a Common Dime store whore and addict’ (the hold magazine), ‘Chasing Whiskey with Shadows’ (Zygote in my Coffee magazine)
Reviews: Reviews of my work have appeared numerous places. Including ones by the following small press Legends: Justin Barrett, John Sweet, John Dorsey, John Bennett, David Barker, Paul Corman- Roberts, Dan Provost and A.D. Winans.
She is also a very prolific painter and has had two small gallery shows.  She was featured in an art documentary about Venice Beach called “The Shades of Venice” which is available to watch on you tube.  She currently paints more than she writes.
Debbie has also been published in over 100 online and print magazines such as Zen Baby, Rusty Truck, Remark, Sex and Guts Magazine, Underground Voices, and Lummox to name a few. She doesn’t like to associate herself with and particular school of poetry.  She doesn’t like the politics of the small press, and is happy just writing daily and publishing occasionally.  She is currently working on her first novel.  She’s been called a punk rock visionary with a straight razor tucked in her combat boot.  She refers to herself as “Debbie”. You can reach her here! Sinncity66613@yahoo.com .

POESY is an American poetry journal dedicated to publishing cutting edge contemporary poetry. We publish twice a year in a perfect bound 40 page book format. We are also a press and working on 3 manuscripts right now written by very influential names in the small press.

Right now the staff consists of a Publisher/editor based in Santa Cruz, an east coast editor based in Boston, and a copywriter also in Santa Cruz.

During this unpaid internship, interns:
- Work with the publisher to read submissions from poets across the country and assess if they fit into our format
- Produce a monthly newsletter— from development through post-production work.
- marketing strategies to build and grow reader distribution 10 hours per week unsupervised with weekly progress and discussion meetings in Santa Cruz.

Previous writing experience preferred. Interest or experience in small press poetry Compensation: Interns receive $68 per month and personal use of a company laptop during the duration of the internship.

Please send a cover letter and a 2-3 poem writing sample. In your cover letter, indicate why you are interested in the internship, when you would be available to start, and how long you would like to intern.

POESY
P.O. Box 7823
Santa Cruz, CA 95061

LOS ANGELES (December 26, 2008) _ The 2008 DIY Book Festival has chosen photojournalist Susan Madden Lankford’s “Maggots in My Sweet Potatoes,” a stunning examination of jail life, as the winner of its annual competition honoring the best of independent publishing.

The book and its author will be honored along with other competition winners in February as part of the activities at the 2009 DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books.

COMICS/ZINES

WINNER: Poesy – Edited by Brian Morrisey

RUNNER-UP: Homecoming – Steven Gomez

POETRY:

WINNER: Pole Dancing To Gospel Hymns – Andrea Gibson

RUNNER-UP: Roses in the Snow – Diana Norma Szokolyai

In other news….
After a 3 month stint of submerging myself into the frustrations of corporate america, we are going to be back at working on issue #38.

An internship is available. If interested, please email brian@poesy.org for details

Also, a distribution manager is needed.

More soon….