"Here Is the Mark of the Girl" and "R-o-o-n-e-d" in Birdcoat Quarterly's Issue 4

"Rooned" was my word, was the pit of girlhood, styled with my native Southern moan. And it was a tongue pushed out of me, a voice to disinherit, in order to put on more romantic tellings. These two poems give some context to my unconventional spelling of “ruined” and offer story to a girlhood stressed with foregoing the native curiosity and wildernesses of a child in order to form her into a “Christian lady.”

Thank you to Editor-in-Chief Anna Sandy-Elrod and Poetry Editor Shannon Finck of Birdcoat Quarterly for giving these pieces some family in Issue 4. Read the whole issue here.

"Quarantine Daybook #7" in The West Review

I am wonderfully pleased to share the publication of "Quarantine Daybook #7." I would like to extend thanks to Jericho Brown for the inspiration of his invented form, the duplex (which combines ideas from the sonnet, the blues, and the ghazal). I quite enjoyed experimenting with this structure (though I cut some corners with the syllabics) in the strange domestic lab of lockdown. I am grateful to Despy Boutris, Editor-in-Chief, and Marissa Ahmadkhani, Assistant Editor, of The West Review, for giving my poem online family in Issue 3. Thank you for reading!

"Quarantine Daybook #6" in Sporklet 13 from Spork Press

April 2020 was a brief moment of fantasy and clarity for me in the unfolding hardships of the global pandemic. My home, my satellite, was at once shelter and maze, where I could lavish and languish in confrontations with a diminishing circuit. During this crystalline month, I was writing a poem a day with a dear group of bards. The Quarantine Daybook poems became my entries, my rhythm, my therapy, and I am happy now to have documented this period of looking out in wonder and horror through the lens of a domestic I’d never known.

I am pleased to share the publication of “Quarantine Daybook #6” in Sporklet 13 . Thank you to Guest Editor David Welch for including it. I hope you’ll read the full issue and discover work from Erin Adair-Hodges, Sara Afshar, Threa Almontaser, Jaswinder Bolina, Jen Frantz, Jeremy Allan Hawkins, Luther Hughes, Evan Nicholls, Aaron Sanderberg, and Katie Jean Shinkle. Also, check out the cover art erasure poem and illustration from Avni Vyas.

If you’d like to support Sporklet and Spork Press, you can purchase a PDF copy of the entire issue here for $1.

Presenting Sundog Lit's Issue 17 Poets

I am proud to celebrate Sundog Lit's Issue 17 Poets: Ayesha Asad, Taylor Byas, Marisa P. Clark, Stephanie Yue Duhem, Elizabeth Galoozis, Christopher Hewitt, Aimee Lowenstern, Kate Lucas, Matt Mitchell, Rachel Nix, Jennifer Popa, Khalisa Rae, and Ross White. Thank you ever to Assistant Poetry Editors Leela Chantrelle and Jennifer Huang for your energy, intelligence, and insight. The cover art of this edition, entitled "The Future is Queer and It's Magical," is a special GIF created by London-based visual artist Matilda Ellis. Visit our website to read these poets' poems and to see Ellis' piece in all its animated glory.

Interview with Em J Parsley of Juke Joint

I was so happy that Juke Joint asked me to sit down at my keyboard for an interview. Thank you so much to Assistant Editor Em J Parsley for the time they spent with my Tallulah poems. Having someone take a real curiosity in my work is such a gift, and I’m pleased to share our conversation with you.

Featured Poems in Juke Joint Magazine's Issue 10

Four of my Tallulah poems have been featured in Juke Joint Magazine’s Issue 10. This suite—three poems and a poem-play—is a collection that aims to speak to my quarrels with the white womanhood I was supposed to inherit. I am grateful to editors Dean Julius, Tory Rosen, Kora Schultz, and Em J Parsley for giving my work a home.

The issue is dedicated to Black Lives Matter, and a collection of anti-racist organizations and Black-owned bookstores are listed on their homepage.

"My Mother Defends Her Territory" Recorded for the Shelter in Magic Reading Series

“My Mother Defends Her Territory” is a video poem I recorded in Paris, France, for inclusion in the Shelter in Magic Reading Series, a project created by the Magic City Poetry Festival of Birmingham, Alabama. The Board invited writers with strong ties to "The Magic City" to record works so as to continue poetry despite the 2020's festival postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you to Executive Director Ashley M. Jones and Program Coordinator Alina Stefanescu for including me.

GUEST HOST FOR COLLABORATIVE AFTERNOON/EVENING EVENT BETWEEN VERSE OF APRIL & MANDERLEY COLLECTIVE

I am honored to guest host –after Thoughts: On Literary Homage & Ancestry, an afternoon/evening of conversation with artists Fork Burke, Malik Ameer Crumpler, Jennifer Huang, Ashley M. Jones, Alison Grace Koehler, and Che Yeun. This online event is a collaboration between Verse of April and Manderley Collective. All who plan to attend must RSVP here in order to receive access information.

Semi-Finalist in Tupelo Press Dorset Prize

I was honored to have my manuscript, Rooned, mentioned as a semi-finalist in the Tupelo Press Dorset Prize! Congratulations to Meredith Stricker's re-wilding, winner, which judge Maggie Smith says "push[es] us toward connection and synthesis, towards all the meanwhiles in this life."

Guest at SpokenWord Paris, September 30, 2019

Please join me on Monday, September 30th at 8:30 pm with SpokenWord Paris Au Chat Noir (76 rue Jean Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris, Métro Parmentier or Couronnes) for a night in the key of “invocation.” Many thanks to Antonia Alexandra Klimenko for inviting me to take the stage. I can’t wait to share some new work with you and to hear what others will bring to the notion of calling on spirits, by whatever suit or spell.

Best of the Net Nomination

I am so honored that my poem “the urban body is dependent.” has been nominated for Best of the Net by Revue Pøst, an outstanding bilingual (English and French) journal based out of Montreal. Congratulations, too, to my fellow nominees Josh Lipson for “Habana-Om,” DS Maolalai for “Mana,” Nate Maxson for “The Mars Rover Sings Happy Birthday to Itself,” Bruce McRae for “Visionary,” and Daniel Romo for “Molecules.” Hope you’ll continue to follow this special editorial project from Leila Alfaro + Gabriel Kunst.

English Lecturer at Université de Cergy-Pontoise

I am happy to announce that in September 2019 I will begin a two-year appointment as an English Lecturer at the Université de Cergy-Pontoise. My position is housed in the UFR Langues et études internationales department and, more specifically, in the Langues, Littératures et Civilisations Étrangères Régionales (LLCER) division. I am thrilled to accept this opportunity and to spend this summer (and many weeks to come) designing themed workshops that will gear students towards confidence (!) and structured but adventure-filled exercises in oral comprehension and expression.

Verse of April Launches Its New Season, Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary

I am thrilled to share this video, & as always this project. I love this group of Paris poets & thank them for sharing in the dream—. The above is a video-poem, of mischief & revolt, composed in an email-relay adaptation of exquisite corpse. It was filmed in Paris, France, in March 2019. We present it to you this month to celebrate the 5th Birthday of Verse of April, the digital anthology of homage to the poets. Thanks for following along in the project!

Le Printemps des poètes, hosted by Fatima Chbibane

I am very pleased to join the annual Parisian spring tradition of poetry readings for Le Printemps des poètes this Sunday, March 24th. Thank you poétesse and Présidente de l'association Rives Méditerranéennes Fatima Chbibane for sharing the occasion!

With poems from

Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

Liliane Adam

Joël Conte

Nina Zivancevic

Fati Mim

Anne-Marie Menras

Philippe Barbier

Jamika Ajalon

Elodie Poésie

Carrie Chappell

Houriya Kherbach

Dominique Lancastre.

—

ENTREE LIBRE 
HEURE : 16 h
LIEU : 110 rue Jean Bleuzen 92170 Vanves
METRO : L13 Malakoff Plaeau de Vanves
Sortie Rue Jean Bleuzen Vanves

Manifeste #2 (Lectures & Lives)—Inter-Zones

Please join us Wednesday, February 27, 2019, in the 19th arrondissement for this special session of words and sound—.

Quand ça: Mercredi 27 février 2019 à 18h00
Où ça: Café Chez Samir - Le Ventre de l’Architecte
4 rue Burnouf 75019 Paris (Métro Colonel Fabien ou Belleville)

Avec qui là:

Nina Zivancevic

Jamika Ajalon

Fork Burke

Carrie Chappell

Valérie Mitteaux

Eden Tinto Collins

Lymnadia

Fatma Çıngı Kocadost

Camille Léa

Oreste Scalzone

Giancarlo Pizzi

Juan Alarcon

Mariejo de Ballestreros

Zahra Pourazizi

& Ami·e·s

Ivy Writers Paris Reading, Tuesday, February 5th

I hope you’ll join us at Delaville Café on February 5, 2019, as Cole Swensen, Marie Borel, and myself read from our respective pages. Many thanks to Jennifer K. Dick and Deborah Heissler for organizing this event and for giving space and stage to the work of poets and translators in so many languages!

: rêve renVersé : soirée poétique à la fondation la ruche

: Rêve RenVersé : 

[dans le cadre de l’exposition Dreamtime de Michèle van de Roer] : une soirée poétique—

lieu: Fondation La Ruche-
Association Atelier Alfred Boucher

2 Passage de Dantzig
Paris 75015

avec de la poésie rêvée et renversée de

Marie de Quatrebarbes
Cole Swensen
Anna Serra
Marissa Davis
Carrie Chappell
et d'autres invités

rsvp avant le 12 décembre
verseofapril@gmail.com
nombre de places limité

_ - _ _ - + + - __- ____+____---_-_----------___ _ -_ _ _ - - +- - --_-

Marie de Quatrebarbes (1984) vit et écrit à Paris. Elle a publié dernièrement Gommage de tête (Éric Pesty Éditeur, 2017) et John Wayne est sous mon lit (cipM, 2018). Son prochain livre, Voguer, paraîtra en 2019 aux éditions P.O.L.

Cole Swensen est l'auteure de dix-sept recueils de poésie, dernièrement On Walking On (Nightboat, 2017), Gave (Omnidawn, 2017), et Landscapes on a Train (Nightboat 2015), and un volume des essais critiques. Ses recueils se concentrent sur des projets de recherche spécifiques, notamment sur les parcs publics, l'art plastique, les manuscripts illuminés, et les fantômes. Son travail a été récompensé par The National Poetry Series, the Iowa Poetry Prize, the San Francisco State Poetry Center Book Award, et the PEN USA Award in Literary Translation. Ancienne boursière Guggenheim, elle est co-rédactrice de l'anthologie Norton American Hybrid et rédactrice-fondatrice de La Presse Poetry (www.lapressepoetry.com). Elle enseigne à Brown University.

ANNA SERRA EST NÉE AU BORD DU GOLF DU LION, AU PIÉMONT DES PYRÉNÉES, À LA FRONTIÈRE DE LA CATALOGNE NORD ET SUD. AUJOURD’HUI ELLE VIT À PARIS. ELLE PUBLIE DES RECUEILS DE POÈME, DES HISTOIRES ET DES TRADUCTIONS DE POÉSIE CATALANE. PARALLÈLEMENT, ELLE EST EXPLORATRICE DES ORALITÉS DU POÈME À TRAVERS DES PERFORMANCES ET DES ACTIONS RADIOPHONIQUES PUBLIQUES. EN 2017, ELLE CRÉE RADIO O ET LA REVUE OR, UNE REVUE DE POÉSIE PULSÉE AUGMENTÉE.

Marissa Davis est poète et éducatrice venant de Paducah, Kentucky aux États-Unis. Après avoir étudié quatre ans à Nashville, Tennessee, elle a déménagé à Paris pour travailler en tant que prof d'anglais dans une école primaire; elle commence sa deuxième année à Paris. Sa poésie a paru dans Kindred Magazine, The Carolina Quarterly, Duende, et Rattle.

Carrie Chappell est originaire d'Alabama. Elle a reçu son Master de Beaux Arts en création littéraire de l'Université de la Nouvelle-Orléans en 2013. Sa poésie a paru dans Anastamos, Blue Mesa Review, CALAMITY, Cimarron Review, Cream City Review, FORTH Magazine, Harpur Palate, Juked, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, et The Volta. Ses essais ont été publiés dans The Collagist, Diagram, FANZINE, The Iowa Review, Xavier Review, et Buried Letter Press. Depuis 2014, elle vit et écrit à Paris.

(affiche faite par triski nurani)

Paris Lit Up, Featured Reader

I am pleased to announce that Paris Lit Up Editors Stephanie Papa and Emily Ruck Keene have invited me to be the featured reader on Thursday, May 3rd. If on this night you find yourself stomping along in the hills of Belleville, please stop by to cool off in verse and vindication. I'll be sharing poems from my developing manuscripts rooned and The Urban Body. An open mic will follow and swallow you whole. 

Verse of April 2018

in Verse of April's fourth annual year, we are delighted to share with you the 2018 trailer. it divines from the raw poetry of parisian musician and visual artist Baptiste de Chabaneix. please watch and share! we welcome you to add your voice to this 4th installment of the digital anthology of homage to the poets. we accept profiles, portraits of your favorite poet, visuals of your favorite poems, photos, comics, recordings (dramatic, experimental, or musical), video, collages, or other inventions. thank you for joining us.

Poets Live with Kate Noakes, April 26th

Join Kate Noakes and myself at Poets Live on Wednesday, April 26th at L'OpenBach (6-8 rue Jean Sebastien Bach, 75013 Paris) for poems and perhapses. 

—————————

Thank you to everyone who made it out, and thank you to Malik Crumpler and Anaïs Pourrouquet for recording. Here I am reading an excerpt from my poem “transcendental ethel,” first published in Those That This.