qarrtsiluni news blog

Pamela Johnson Parker interviewed at Read Write Poem

Check out Nathan Moore’s interview with Pamela Johnson Parker — winner of qarrtsiluni’s first chapbook contest for A Walk Through the Memory Palace — at Read Write Poem. It’s part of a regular Member Spotlight series that also included Ingrid Steblea and qarrtsiluni contributor Rachel Barenblatt. We thought Pamela’s response to the last question, “Can poetry save the world,” was especially intriguing. Go visit. (And while you’re there, join the Read Write Poem social network, if you haven’t already. You could be the next spotlit member!)

Submissions open for qarrtsiluni's Health issue

We decided to have our next submissions period now, in November, to avoid the busy holiday season. The theme is Health, broadly defined, and the editors are Susan Elbe and Kelly Madigan Erlandson. Be sure to read the complete theme description and the slightly modified general guidelines before submitting.

(And what might those slight modifications be, you’re wondering? We’re slightly pushier now about authors being willing to make audio recordings. And we’ve caved on accepting submissions in MS Word, now that our operating systems know how to deal with those in .docx format. Plus we welcome submissions in Google documents — why not? Whatever works.)

K. Alma Peterson's first chapbook garners glowing review

K. Alma Peterson’s new chapbook Befallen is the subject of a glowing review in a new online journal, Poets’ Quarterly. The 40-page, saddle-stapled chapbook is Peterson’s first collection to see print, and three poems originally published in qarrtsiluni are included. The reviewer, Kerri Buckley, praises it for its breadth and depth, comparing it to “a cup of tea — soothing, interesting, comforting.” If the poems published in qarrtsiluni are any indication — and this review strongly suggests they are — this sounds like the kind of poetry book you’ll want to read slowly again and again. Order here.

Howie Good's new e-chap is all heart

You’d think with a full-length book just out, Howie Good would be resting on his laurels, but no. Blue Hour Press has just released his 11th chapbook, an e-book called My Heart Draws a Rough Map. As PDF books go, this is a real gem, with charming, full-color illustrations and great typography. It’s a collection of prose poems of the classic type, and Good demonstrates once again his mastery of dystopian surrealism. It is literally all heart, as the publisher’s blurb acknowledges.

Not content to just beat, the heart grieves, gives in to melancholy, takes long walks, plays baseball, makes demands like Edward G. Robinson. Drawn outside of the self, the heart doesn’t just get saddled with emotion, but is an observer, a conversationalist, enigmatic.

As with Charles Simic, many of Good’s lines have an aphoristic or oracular quality. Our favorites: “It’s perfect bombing weather,” “My heart rattled like a bottle of pills,” and “I huddle around the trash barrel with a jury of my peers.” Go read.

New collaborative chapbook by Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney

We published a couple of collaboratively written poems by Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney in our Mutating the Signature issue. Now the delightfully named Spooky Girlfriend Press has brought out a chapbook of their collaborative poems called Don’t ever stay the same; keep changing. The 30-page, saddle-stapled chapbook is just $5.00 — click on the link to order.

Minor addition to the About page: editor photo

Astute readers of this blog might have noticed that our dapper-looking mascot is not equipped with the usual human sense organs necessary for most editorial tasks (eyes, ears, a good nose, etc.), and thus inferred that the illustration is unlikely to represent either of qarrtsiluni’s managing editors. That would be an accurate inference. But some might’ve wondered what the editors do look like, then? Would it kill us to post a picture of ourselves, for crying out loud? Well, no — we just didn’t have a good one. Until now.

A week ago Sunday, we were able to get together for a few hours in upstate New York, only the third time we’ve ever met in person. Included in the company was professional photographer Jonathan Sa’adah, an occasional contributor to the magazine. With his permission we’ve posted one of his shots on the About page, verifying that neither one of us has the head of a fungus.

New Allan Peterson chapbook, Omnivore

Allan Peterson’s new collection, Omnivore, won the Bateau Press Boom Chapbook Contest earlier this year, and is now available for ordering. We wish we could tell you more about it, but the folks at Bateau Press seem less interested in promoting their publications than in touting their “green” credentials, which are indeed pretty amazing (their publications are Forest Stewardship Council certified despite using only 100% post consumer waste recycled paper, and they get special, environmentally correct electrons sent to their offices).

Allan Peterson is a frequent qarrtsiluni contributor, and was one of the editors of our Transformation issue. Omnivore joins Allan’s three other chapbooks and two full-length poetry collections. See his website for a full list of his publications and awards.

Howie Good's first full-length collection, "Lovesick," now out

Qarrtsiluni contributor Howie Good, a prolific chapbook author, now finally has a full-length collection of poetry. Lovesick was published in August by Press Americana’s Poetry Press imprint, and is available at Amazon and other retailers. The title poem may be read online at right hand pointing. It begins:

It isn’t love if our embassy isn’t burning,
if the windows haven’t exploded

in a shower of diamonds from the heat

Congratulations, Howie!

Cerise Press: a new online journal edited by qarrtsiluni contributors

Greta Aart (aka Fiona Sze-Lorrain) and Sally Molini are two of the three co-editors, with Karen Rigby, for Cerise Press, a promising new online journal based in the US and France, with a special focus on French and Francophone works. Four of Greta and Sally’s collaborative poems were included in qarrtsiluni’s Mutating the Signature issue.

The first issue of Cerise Press contains poetry by Tess Gallagher, Ray Gonzalez, and Arlene Ang, among others, as well as fiction, essays, translations, reviews, and interviews — a very impressive debut. Do check it out.

Wendy Vardaman's "Obstructed View"

As mentioned in today’s post, qarrtsiluni contributor Wendy Vardaman’s first book was just published this summer by Fireweed Press. It’s temporarily out-of-stock at Amazon, but you can order copies directly from the author. See her website for details, including a selection of poems from the book.

Wendy Vardaman’s extraordinary collection of poems is a triumph of literary coalescence, gracefully combining the erudite with the everyday, the deeply meditative with the witty, the celebratory with the searingly sad. Calling upon her deep knowledge of traditional prosody and subverting it whenever necessary the poet also brings to these poems a stylistic polish rarely encountered in this age of open forms. From its thoughtful contemplations on the passage of years to its series of close-ups on the joys and aches of motherhood, Obstructed View speaks to the reader with unobstructed clarity, combining virtuosity / with lyric meditation.
—Marilyn L, Taylor, Wisconsin Poet Laureate