eight

june 26, 2009

hosho mccreesh has been with us since the beginning.  his poetry appeared in issues one, four and seven of nibble.  he also did the amazing cover art for The Bones of Saints Under Glass, for which our editor is eternally grateful.  hosho took the titular poem and absolutely brought it to life.

and now, eight questions with hosho mccreesh:

What is your role in the small press?

I don’t know man–I don’t really think I have a role. I’m just a guy who writes. I buy books that interest me, & I’ll talk up work that I enjoy in the few ether-spots I frequent…but that’s hardly a role. Small press enthusiast, if anything I suppose.

What is one thing people should know about you?

That I recently had a car stolen. So, if they happen to see a 19 year old white Camry with N. Mex plates–shoot me an email, so I can catch the bastards.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

Well, we’re basically finished putting the finishing touches on Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness at Noon, which was a year & a half of work…so that’s always great to stick the finished product up on the shelf! I have 2 manuscripts at Propaganda Press–& those will probably be the next things down the pipe. I’m tinkering with some longer pieces–but I see, now, how they are years in the making… I’ve got a few paintings I need to do as well–& that’s always exciting.

Name one thing you wish you had.

I wish I was somehow able to see everyone I’d like to see whenever I’d like to see them…a way to just take a weekend & go see family & friends–be it in Denver or Switzerland or Oklahoma or Oregon or Ireland or Tucson or Japan or Virginia…not worry about money or time off from the job…a way to be there almost instantly…that would be terrific.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Car thieves.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

You know–for me it’s always who I am reading now. I got hold of a glorious stack of Albert Huffstickler publications…&, man, he’s really something. If I write for another 30 years, I desperately hope my work is as refined & heartfelt as Huff’s. He’s the goods.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

BOTTLE from Bottle of Smoke–it’s a great production top to bottom.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

I don’t know if it’s good to imagine such things. It seems to be an ‘expectation as planned resentment’ sorta deal. But if I had to pick, I’d say bars. That’d mean you were really reaching folks, I think. Either that or you were somehow selling beer…say maybe writing poems for Guinness or Lagavulin…& taking all my pay in trade!

here are hosho’s poems as they appeared in nibble:

That The Dying Sun Turns The Leaves
A Blazing Yellow, A Furious Red—

That Those Same Dead Leaves Clatter,
Scuttle Across Pavement & Stone—

That We Are, Too Often,
Our Own Worst Enemies—

& That All Our Silly Struggles
Will Amount To Very Little—

all truths,
all sad,

all made for us
to simply
accept.

A Recent Conversation, Before Sleeping,
About the Long & Many Years I Spent
Lonely Yet Uninterested in Sharing
My Life with Anyone…

“You’d have no problem
adjusting to life in prison,” she said,
“All you’d need
is pen & paper.”

& while she meant it
as a compliment, meant that
she sees something
fierce & independent in me,

I hoped, desperately hoped,
that she was wrong;
that there is more
in this hard life
that I need,

as I drifted off to sleep
thinking of all those
wounded & terrible years alone,

& dreaming of
who I might
murder

just in case

Old Cedar Fenceposts,
Jutting Up

Like Gnarled Teeth
Through the
Blank, Desolate Wilds—

no tracks
in the snow.

june 19, 2009

rebecca schumejda is one of those wonderful poets we bump into in the semi-darkness of the small press  and, in doing so, smack ourselves in the head and think, “how great could nibble have been had we only known of her sooner?!?!”

but, we’ve found her now (or did she find us?).  you can find her here and here.  and you can google her (of course), I did and got about 1,750 results.

and now, eight questions with rebecca schumejda:

What is your role in the small press?

Now I just write, but I have been involved with the small press in varying degrees for over fifteen years. During my junior year of high school, I was expelled and sent to an alternative high school program for derelicts, pregnant teens and other oddballs. While I was there, I learned many valuable lessons. My English teacher, Mrs. Clancy, introduced me to the small press and inspired me to start my own zine reuben’s kincaid, which I continued until I finished graduate school. I love the fact that many of the writers that I had the honor of publishing are still out there writing and supporting the cause. Another important lesson that I learned was how to make a smoking apparatus out of a carrot, but I didn’t learn that from Mrs. Clancy. Oh, and by the way, now I am an alternative education high school teacher and I work with the most authentic students in the world! I expose my students to a diversity of authors, including those who publish in the small press.

What is one thing people should know about you?

I don’t like drama. I am a straight shooter.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

I just finished the rough draft of a new collection of poems about the pool hall subculture inspired by my short-lived experience as a co-owner of a pool hall. Conversely, I am working on poems about motherhood.

Name one thing you wish you had.

One day with my father. He passed away (oddly enough June 21st) four years ago. I wish he could hold my daughter; she is just shy of two. I wish I could touch his hands and tell him how much I appreciate everything he did for me.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Housework; It is the biggest waste of time and energy.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

Since I have never been good at following directions… Nathan Graziano, Daniel Crocker (People Everyday is my all time favorite collection of poems), Heather Bell, Patrick Carrington, William Taylor Jr., Kathleen Paul-Flanagan, Alan Catlin… I am obviously biased, but I love all the sunnyoutside press writers. I could go on forever, honestly.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

words dance. Amanda Oaks is amazing! Her press, verve bath, is fabulously grassroots. All of her productions are a visual, textural, and intellectual experience.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

I am pretty excited about all of the amazing publications that have found a home for my work, but the one nut I have been trying to crack is Rattle…

rebecca’s poetry will appear in issue eight of nibble and in the mysterious issue nine of nibble…

check back next friday for a new eight and click on our ‘eight’ page to see past interviews!

june 12, 2009

timothy gager is a boston poet heavily involved in the boston poetry scene.  an active facebooker and a writer of fiction, timothy was one of the first poets to submit to nibble.

you can learn more here.

and now, eight questions with timothy gager:

What is your role in the small press?

It’s not the size of the press it’s how you use it. Seriously I use it, support it, read it, enjoy it.

What is one thing people should know about you?

One thing? That I’m a bulldog in my writing, publishing and events I work on.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

I have a book of flash coming out from Cervena Barva Press, maybe in the fall. I’m excited about working on tonight’s dinner as well.

Name one thing you wish you had.

A bungalow in Spain would be fantastic.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Not including what I already do without? I could do without text messaging—and Twitter!

Who is your favorite small press poet?

This is like asking me what my favorite song is. It depends on my mood and what day of the week. Am I unhappy before I sit and read or do I have a plate of cherry pie in front of me?

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Again…here’s the everyone. Everyone should read small press publications but they should not all read the same one. That would be homogeneous and dull. There are a lot of new publications that feature “best of the web” along with web or small press publications featured in The Pushcart or O’Henry Awards (for fiction)….Best American Fiction or Poetry, it’s endless like the Olde Country Buffet with a five-star chef. Part of the fun is the discovery.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

I’d like to see it in people’s hands if I’m walking down the street or on a train or something. It would validate what I’m trying to do.

Here are timothy’s poems as they appeared in nibble:

Time Served

You’ve displaced the dissatisfaction with anger
found in paint peeling from the shutters,
plants now brown and crispy
stalks within the cracked soil of their home pots.

Today growing to die in this house
is no longer on your to-do list
but as you stand on the dock
kicking a pebble into the Sound—
there is a ferry pulling away.

Poem for Marya

we all wait for it
the way we wait for a bus

sitting on a painted bench
as life moves past us

wondering why, death
is never on schedule

i’m trying not to say
here: god is like the Metro

because they are corrupt
and god is only unfair

check back next friday for a new eight and click on our ‘eight’ page to see past interviews!

june 5, 2009

amber nelson is a relative new comer to nibble. we are slowly getting to know her in the usual, old-fashioned ways: email and facebook.  she likes pie and camus, but doesn’t much care for weed whackers whacking at 8am in her neighborhood.

in our opinion, she is far too young to be so talented, smart and funny. 

amber nelson’s poetry appeared in issue number seven of nibble.

and now, eight questions with amber nelson:

What is your role in the small press?

I am a little bumblebee looking for an ear to hear my buzz.

What is one thing people should know about you?

Whenever I see a sow bug in a dangerous place (on a sidewalk or in my shower), I pick it up and bring it to safety.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

In June I will be making dinner for a legendary San Francisco metal band.  I know this has nothing to do with poetry, but it has me very excited indeed.

Name one thing you wish you had.

A house in France with my future husband.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Allergies.  I’m pretty sure pollen has developed the technology to lock onto targets like myself.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

I am greatly moved by the work of Father Luke.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Nerve Cowboy is incredibly good.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

In the film Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, the writer Hipolito sees himself quoted in graffiti on a Parisian wall.  That’s what I want.  I would also like to see my poetry in the hands of Henry Rollins.

Here is Amber’s poem as it appeared in nibble:

The Octopus’ Slumber

The sleepy thing
he pulls me in
I breathe
the noiseless deep,
he is like a
doe-eyed octopus
embracing eightfold
his favorite sunken
treasure
sweet octopus
in the quiet
his favorite thing
to do is to grab
and hold,
it comes naturally
like breathing.

check back next friday for a new eight and click on our ‘eight’ page to see past interviews!

may 29, 2009

aleathia drehmer is one of those poets whom we at nibble know very little about.  we have long been impressed with her skill as a poet and are learning that she is much more than just a talented writer.

we are slowly coming to know her through email, facebook, Literary Mary and, of course, her nibble bio.  she has a couple of homes on the internet HERE and HERE.  it says HERE that she is a Registered Nurse, probabaly the hardest job on the planet.

aleathia lives in a place called painted post (a far more poetic sounding town than oakland). she has a daughter who is highly intelligent (surely a chip off the old block) and a cat named carrot.

aleathia’s poetry appeared in issues three and four of nibble, which leaves us wondering why we haven’t had the privilege of publishing her work since then.  perhaps we should have asked that question instead.

and now, here are eight questions with aleathia drehmer:

What is your role in the small press?

Oh my, just three years ago it was absolutely nothing.  I sort of hit the ground running and had a few great hands given to me along the way.  In September of  2007, I got hired on as a co-editor for the online zine Zygote in my Coffee.  My job there was really just cutting and pasting accepted submissions into templates for online issues.  It wasn’t glamorous, but it really taught me a great many things about the small press.  I was able to see how other writers conducted themselves, because their original submissions were what I would work from.  I learned about deadlines and the frustrations of technology and how little people follow directions.

A few months before the Zygote job, I worked as a staff writer at what was known as The Guild of the Outsider Writers.  This gave me some wings to try things outside my comfort zone.  I worked something we called the Virtual  Roundtable where I invited writers to chime in on specific topics.  I learned about small press drama from there and the power of ego.  I moved on from that to do Outsider of the Month which was an interview/literary feature.  These were extensive and I enjoyed doing them, but the software program was my nightmare.  It put me to tears nearly every month and I had to stop doing them.  I stayed on with The Guild as they changed into Outsider Writers Collective, but only for awhile.

I met Lynn Alexander there and admired her industry and creativity.  She is a woman that has great ideas and puts them into action.  I find this so rare anymore that people want to work for results.  She and I decided that we would strike out on our own and create a new zine where we could foster that idea of hard work and community and great writing.  We started Full of Crow.  We have been up and running since March 2009 and have had tremendous response.  I am already trying to fill the August issue in the month of May.  As for Zygote in my Coffee, he scaled back what he was doing last fall and does most of the work himself.  I have stayed on as a Special Editions Editor and make cool books for him when he needs them or the idea arises.

I do my best to support as many small press factions as I can.  I really believe the best road to success is one we share together, and I am always willing to help promote writers and other presses.  I think it is important in keeping small press alive.

What is one thing people should know about you?

I have spent my life moving around and it had nothing to do with the military or company jobs.  My family just could never make up their damn minds and set a root down.  I have lived in or been through every continental state in America except North Dakota.  I have lived in 16 different states in my life.  Wanderlust is part of my everyday makeup and now that I have been “still” for nearly 8 years, I am starting to like it.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

Every day that I get to work on Full of Crow is exciting.  I see new writers I have never heard of and it thrills me, but I am working on a new book for Zygote in my Coffee/Tainted Coffee Press.  Two great writers that I know, John Dorsey and Jacob Johanson, set out on a journey from Kansas City, MO to various parts of California.  This book will chronicle the journey through poetry.  Along the way, they met up with groups of other writers and did poetry readings in Ft. Collins, CO, Los Angeles, CA, and Hollywood, CA.  This book will have the work of some of these writers mixed in with theirs.  It is still in its infancy and my brain is swirling with ideas for it all the time.

Name one thing you wish you had.

My boyfriend about 7 hours closer. Ha.  We alternate our two state trek every two weeks.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Overly dramatic friends that try to suck the life out of me.  As Utah Phillips once said, “I’m going on a low-fat head diet.”

Who is your favorite small press poet?

Man, this is a hard question.  I know so many flipping great writers.  I do really enjoy the work of Jacob Johanson and Barton Smock.  I think I read them pretty regularly and maintain an interest in their work as they progress.  Recently, I began reading the work of a woman named Jana Russ.  This woman knocks my socks off.  I had not heard of her until she submitted to Full of Crow and her writing makes my heart beat faster and my skin tingle.  But like I said, I know so many great writers it is hard not to mention them.  I’m like that overly optimistic best friend.  I see something wonderful in most people, even if it is something small, and hope it grows into something great.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Here you go with that singling out thing again!!  Well, I will push Full of Crow, because we are really trying to bring some great writers to the public and Lynn does an amazing job with their biography page and has set them up to be promotional tools.  We want all our writers to succeed above their own expectations.

I have much respect for Kendra Steiner Editions.  Bill Shute is a hard working man that puts out down-home made small collections of great writers.  I have been published by him a few times and he is serious business.  He makes his writers stretch their boundaries and pushes them to do more and want more from their writing.  I admire that about him.  He likes to try new things and often has themes for the year which always turn out very interesting.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

This is a guilty desire, but I would like to be in The New York Quarterly.  I have also tried to get into Boxcar Poetry Review several times without luck.  I would like my work to be on that level someday and when I get accepted, then I will know I have arrived to that next level for my personal achievements.  On a whole, I am grateful to every single place that takes my work.  It is an honor that someone would like my work enough to want to publish it.  I never lose site of that and I think it helps to keep egotistical drama to a minimum.  I write because it pleases me and settles me and I think I have images to share.  Every time someone agrees with that I do a little dance around my apartment….still….after 3 years of publishing.

here are aleathia’s poems as they appeared in nibble:

After the party, standing in the rain

Today the rain has washed away that woman’s
face done in chalk on the pavement
while I spoke to you that afternoon weeks ago.

I can still see her like a ghost,
hair pulled back in a loose bun
at her neck with tendrils at her ears.

I had plans for her, plans for retouching
the wisps of hair curled round, kissing her cheek,
plumping the bottom lip and shining the eye.

But life is messy and it gets cleared
when the universe sees fit to do it.
And I am surprised by how little it took
to clean the palette of its dust, leaving
no trace on the surface of its existence.

But the sun has burned it in
to the palm of my hand, into my retina
and I can still see the curve of her forehead from here.

+++++

balancing a cup on the edge of a garbage can

agitated fingers
long and slender
twist the helix of time.
these are two roads
that never cross,
but call his mental state
a bad case of identity theft.
they incriminate his coat
as evidence against him.
he refuses to part with it,
lest we discover the truth
locked in to the fibers
of the fur trim
he strokes at his neck.

may 22, 2009

justin.barrett (co-founder of the famed Melville-Sun Poetry Collaborative) has been almost everywhere in the small press and beyond.  his poetic style, his voice, is often imitated, but such attempts do not ring true.

a tremendously talented poet, justin is a fairly inconsistant blogger.  but who cares?  don’t we have enough consistantly dull bloggers in this interweb world?

justin’s poetry appeared in the first five issues of nibble.  somehow he whiffed on the sixth, though he did manage to sneak two poems into issue four.

and now, here are eight questions with justin.barrett:

What is your role in the small press?

i am an extra in a short scene very near the end of the play. you can see me walking around aimlessly in the distance, but you’ll probably have to squint or get a pair of binoculars.

What is one thing people should know about you?

that i have acrophobia.
 

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

a time machine.

Name one thing you wish you had.

more patience for fools.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

my job (see above).

Who is your favorite small press poet?

toughest question of the bunch. right now, it’s Hosho McCreesh.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Nerve Cowboy.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

etched into the red dirt of Mars, and large enough that it would be viewable from Earth with only binoculars. aside from that, i’d say sticking out of the back pocket of a person i don’t know as i ride a bus or while in line somewhere.

here are justin’s poems as they appeared in nibble:

basalt 

her heat
on my back
like a cooling
mass of magma
as i tuck the covers
under my chin
and fall
asleep.

+++++

Coda 

There’s so much that still needs to be said
about those last few years in Kansas.  

I remember, near the end, wondering
which one of us was moving away
and which one standing still – like watching
adjacent trains in a railyard – (or was one
pushing the other?) until one day we found
ourselves hundreds of miles apart. 

Still, we must reverse-calculate
the mathematics from here to there
to figure out where and when
the departure occurred, why,
and at what velocity: 

If a man leaves Wichita one night
in 1982, driving west at a constant
velocity, who is to blame, nearly
30 years later, for his departure?

+++++

outside our front window

on the sidewalks
young girls
with antelope eyes
play hopscotch
and double-dutch
jump rope

while boys
in colored ball caps
play stickball
in the street with
an old mop handle

keeping an eye out
for cars

and

young girls 
with antelope eyes.

+++++

interstate accident

two helicopters, rotors whirring,
next to the wreckage
of three cars; ready
to airlift any survivors.

traffic east diverted
as EMTs work feverishly
to extract a young
girl from the smoldering
devastation.

heading west, we pass slowly
and silently;

not out of deference to the
horror of it all, but because
we understand the
probabilities and feel
lucky to have eluded death

one more time.

+++++

the machinery of night

the moon is hard – a
slab of cold steel riveted
to the midnight sky.

nearly invisible
clouds torch-cut from
wire mesh suspend
from the astral sphere.

countless stars – billions,
perhaps – punctuate
the blackness; pinholes
in a black scarf
draped over a
fluorescent bulb.

you and i, quarry
stones hewn into prostrate
human shapes,
pose motionless
beneath the machinery
of night

+++++

to the west

the clouds unravel
at the edges,

the sun winces
as it slips
between mountains
and sky,

and the air is
bruised
as we
disappear
into blackness

one more time.

check back every friday for a new eight and click the “eight” page to see the eight archive!

 

may 15, 2009

the mysterious internet phantom, father luke, is someone we aren’t quite sure exists in the same plane as most of us other humans.  we do, however, dig his support.

as co-owner of literary mary, he helps run the greatest poetry forum on the planet (yes, we really mean that).

father luke’s poetry appeared in issues number two and number five of nibble.   you can see more of his poetry and read his blog at fatherluke.com.

and now, here are eight questions with father luke:

What is your role in the small press?

Minimal. Minuscule even.

What is one thing people should know about you?

I keep my own counsel.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

Moving to Portland, Oregon.

Name one thing you wish you had.

A job in Portland, Oregon.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Reputation.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

My favorite small press poet is Jenifer Wills.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Not a magazine, but a blog -  christopher cunningham’s upright against the savage heavens – It’s a portal into a vast world of poetry for me.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

http://FatherLuke.com

here are father luke’s poems, as they appeared in nibble.

something other than myself

A sheriff is diverting traffic.

A mother bear is trying
to drag her dead cub off the highway.

Nothing is more important to me now
than slowing to a stop, and allowing another
their grief.

We are, all of us,
so alone.

+++++

There were three of us that night

There were three of us that night, by the river. Red couldn’t sleep,
and he kept making movements all night long.

You want to settle down, Mike said.

Wish I could, Red said. It’s my legs. They can’t stop moving.

The flow of the river made a sound that soothed me. And I laid there
in the dark, looking at the stars. Little bits of light in the
darkness.

Soon I slept.

check back next friday for a new eight or click on our ‘eight’ page to see past interviews!

 

may 8, 2009

I first met leah back in september of ‘08 when nibble wanted to review justin.barrett’s book untitled (published by leah’s propaganda press).  we contacted leah, who was super cool from the start: she immediately mailed us a copy to review.

pretty soon the emails were flying (talk about publishing, who we knew in common, and what poets we read.  plus there was a hand-drawn cartoon by leah in there somewhere, too).  and then the chatting began.

after only a few weeks, I felt like I’d known leah for years.  she is an amazing force of nature, a serious power, a tireless advocate of small press poetry, a lover and promoter of all forms of art, and a true Renaissance woman.

we are thrilled to have met her and proud to call her a friend.

and now, here are eight questions with leah angstman:

What is your role in the small press?

Pretty much to take charge and kick ass.  I am here to provide an outlet for artists of all different kinds to be able to promote their works for dirt cheap.  I run Propaganda Press, a seriously ass-kickular little press that never fails to amaze me with the amount of flowers it springs from its garden, ready to be plucked by filthy hands and eyes.  We stay away from the mainstream, away from academia; but at the same time, try to bring the small stream of fishies to the big stream of whales.  How is that?  Too pretentious?  Well…suck it.  Cuz it’s a hell of a lot of hard work, and I am as far from pretentious as they come.  Wait…was that… too pretentious?

I say second that I am a writer.  Unfortunately, my role as writer has to come second.  I wish it could come first, but I just don’t have time to write enough to keep up.  I have a lot of demanding deadlines, about which I can’t complain, since I set them myself… but those deadlines mean that finding time for myself is a difficult task.  <sniff> <I need a beer>

My third role is to scream loud enough to be heard.  I make a big noise, draw attention to myself, stick my nose in a lot of places, plaster my URL and face and poems and boobs all over the place.  That’s the only way we’re gonna get this poetry on the shelves.  See?  I said boobs.  Twice.  And you probably just reread it.

What is one thing people should know about you?

I think you should know that I used to scrape gum off the school parking lot as a child and eat it; and that one time I tried to sniff glue, resulting in a huge sneeze that blew snot into the glue bottle, thrusting the glue out in a burst all over my face and hair and clothes, while I was sitting in the back of an elementary classroom.  Everyone turned and stared, and I just sat there, covered in glue, staring back.  These events stand out in my mind as something you should know.  I’m sure they shaped me in some way and probably say quite a bit about me.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

Are you kidding?  Nothing in the small press excites me!

Ha.  My comic book.  After a long hiatus away from my comic book writing world, I have decided to break back into it, since the resurgence of geek-chic all over the blockbuster screens is giving me moist panties for my comic book lust!  I am writing a very detailed comic book story, with characters I love madly, characters I am eating, sleeping, breathing.  Once the writing is finished, I will pen every word by hand, ink every line, and paint (yes, paint!) every single panel with acrylics.  This may take years, but the end result will be my comic baby.

Name one thing you wish you had.

I suppose it’s too cliche for me to say money, even though with that, I wouldn’t have to work a day job, and I could just stay home and do my work here and become a weird, reclusive cat lady.  So I’ll skip that.  Mike would kill me if I said I wish I had more kittens, but that’s pretty true.  I wish I had time, endless amounts of time, and the ability to control it, slow it down or speed it up as I need it.  I wish I had some superpowers… just some small ones to mess with people.  The ability to move small objects closer to me, like my stamps or address labels or staples or letter opener, probably because when I am sitting, I become a lazy blob and don’t want to move.  The ability to hover over the sidewalk to my destination with very little effort, the ability to open doors without touching them (acchh! germs!), the ability to make people’s hands repeatedly slap themselves in the face.  Oh, and I also wish I could sit in one place, eat whatever I want, and have a supermodel body.  Can you make all this happen?

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

My day job.  It’s stressful and not a very supportive environment.  I’ve just been there so long that I could do it blind…so I’m too lazy to quit and go find something else and start all over at the bottom of the stack.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

Oh, uh, gee… As an editor, this doesn’t seem like a very fair question to answer.  Also, the answer changes from day to day, depending on what I’m reading, and what moods I’m going through.  I am an incredibly moody person, and a heavy PMS’er, so I like stuff that really moves me, often to tears, followed by laughter.  So since I am answering this question today…well, my favorite poet today, who achieves all of these emotions, is Rebecca Schumejda.  Her new book out from sunnyoutside, Falling Forward, is just phenomenal.  She rocks something fierce.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Are there poetry mags other than nibble?  Huh.  Interesting.

I think maybe Chiron Review, as it never disappoints and is always so packed with amazing stuff.  I find a lot of cool material between those covers, and Michael Hathaway has been plugging away at it for so many years and works so tirelessly to promote the small press, he deserves some freakin’ awards already!  Buy that man a beer!  Seriously, always makes my day when I get the latest issue.

And I suppose I should toot my own horn and mention Poiesis, no?

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

Freakin’ everywhere!  Bathroom stalls, graffiti.  I would love to see it in the hands of Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.  On the shelves of City Lights and cool indie bookstores worldwide.  I want to see it on a plaque somewhere, engraved in some stone, on some gravestone or something (but not just mine), and to have someone from Thailand or Russia or Moldova write me an email saying they loved my book.  That’s freakin’ everything, man.  Of course, just to have my mom actually read it and appreciate it would make my day, too.

here are leah’s poems as they appeared in nibble:

alice on your pillow

waking
to a lover’s gaze
for most

for me
squinted amber eyes
busied whiskers
an orange outstretched hand
in my hair

+++++

seventy something percent of women have mismatched breasts

perhaps some genes or
parts switched around at birth
and yet
there are no bras mismatched

dressed in discomfort
with the dilemma of the d
or the c

flapping like a jaw
inside d
too roomy on the left
chaffing against padding

or squished into the c with
right nipple perched
across fabric’s edge
bunched to the inside
appearing a cyclops breast
fighting for air
squirming to wink

+++++

even cats slip on the ice

walking as ginger skidding steps on slippery slopes
gliding and mirrored even in non-slip soles
into the reflection of yet other souls

grip into the ice of the frozen layers
a sudden slip and for a minute
i have blades and i catch the grace of the swan in my throat
the balance of a cat taking my centered body
to that day you didn’t jump from ledges onto all fours

instead landing on top of me with a swanless thud
my frozen hands and thighs embedded in you
our feline instincts swallowed in gravity
the ice not giving way no blink no nudge just once you say
if you go down i go down
and when we get back up we lift each other

balance driven into me like the snow
keeps these thighs now from ever going down
keeps these shoes like skates firmly dug in

for who would lift me
when you are sheathed beneath this glacial ground
the last of your nine lives handed to the ice

check back every friday for a new eight!  you can view past eights by clicking on the ‘eight’ link to the right.

may 1, 2009

jenifer wills is quickly becoming one of our favorite poets (and people) in all of the small press.  she is the co-owner of the best poetry/writing forum on these here internets: Literary Mary.

mary…er…uh…jenifer also puts out a kick ass annual journal (also called Literary Mary) filled with writing that is “beautiful, unusual and eclectic.”  a book of her own poetry Skidding Through the Mud Incognito, was published last year.  you should get it.  rich, powerful stuff.

she has been a very welcome addition to nibble, having appeared in issues four, five and (soon) seven.

and now, here are eight questions with jenifer wills:

What is your role in the small press?

My role in the small press?  Hmm.  First and foremost, I see myself as a struggling poet.  In this society, you have less chance making a living as a poet than you have becoming a rock star, an NBA basketball star, or winning the lottery.  It just doesn’t happen unless you are very very lucky.  Sadly, talent often doesn’t have a lot to do with it.  This is true even of the small press.  If you’re colorful, people are more likely to look.  If you are a woman, people are more likely to look if you have nice legs, great breasts or if you are angry.  This segueways nicely into my second role, which is that of web owner and publisher.  I bitch a lot about the work it takes to run LiteraryMary and to get the journal printed, but at the end of the day I’m happy to help as many people as I can in the process of becoming better writers and getting their voices heard.

What is one thing people should know about you?

I think that people should know that they are more than welcome to get to know me if they would like to know that one thing.  Come on, Jeff… I’m far too deep for this question.  *laying back of hand on forehead dramatically*

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

Aside from therapy?  I’ll leak a secret.  I am working on an online addition to the LiteraryMary journal.  It is the first of what, I hope, will become many online publications we use to compliment our once-yearly print journal.  This one will have a focus on women in the small press.  I’ve noticed that the small press tends to be a bit incestuous.  It also tends to be a bit slanted toward the secksy male writers.  When women are spotlighted, you also tend to get the same names over and over.  There are a handful of go-to girls, but there are a billion women writing well who aren’t necessarily getting the attention they deserve.  I wanted to do something to draw some of the attention to them.  As for follow up online ventures, I am always open to suggestions.

Name one thing you wish you had.

Money.  Money equals freedom.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Television.  I don’t really like it.  It is too noisy.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

For me, that is easy.  Father Luke.  He makes it look effortless.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

pssshhhhh.  The LiteraryMary print journal, of course. We are opening for submissions again this June.  Better get them in this year.  I’m like one of those seasoned action stars in the movies who utters the phrase ‘I’m getting to old for this shit’ as he’s driving into some impossible situation to rescue the damsel in distress.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

I wouldn’t mind having some pieces in Burnside Review.  I think this is just because it’s local and respected, and you can buy it in Powell’s.

here are jenifer’s poems, as they appeared in nibble:

My Vision Hasn’t Been Anywhere Near 20/20
for Quite Some Time

The entire reason I’m sitting here
right now at this antique desk
in a darkened room
in front of a glowing screen
in an uncomfortable chair that squeaks
each time I shift
my body to get comfortable,
is simply to say
that if I could do it all over
again, I would enjoy each and every second
of you more and worry about
losing you less.

The longer I type the more
I wonder why
I would ruin this poem
by saying anything more.

+++++

Life, Unruly

Each of us,
with a wish cupped
in our hands,
delicate.

Each life,
we attempt
to direct
dam, divert,
only to watch it flood,
overflow.

Each love,
eventually washed
away.

+++++

Wife and Mother

On the ledge
below the window
where she stands
to do the dishes,
she keeps
a bone box filled with amber,
a picture of her mother at age five,
a glass candle with Mary
another with Jesus,
and a silver pickle fork,
stuck  into the wooden pane.
The window
looks onto
the world outside
of where
she stands
to do the dishes.

check back every friday for a new eight!  you can view past eights by clicking on the ‘eight’ link to the right.

april 24, 2009

christopher cunningham is someone in the small press that we here at nibble admire greatly.  he is one of only two poets to appear in every issue of nibble.

when it was time for our editor to come out of retirement, christopher was the first person he contacted and his help in launching nibble quickly and effectively right out of the gate with issue number one is impossible to understate.

A talented poet and artist, christopher has his hand in more pots than we have can imagine.

and now, here are eight questions with christopher cunningham:

What is your role in the small press?

writing.  that’s it.  I help out with the Guerilla Poetics Project, and let others know about the work of writers I think have something to say by talking about it on my blog and in my letters and such, but my ‘role’ is to write.  it’s what I do.

What is one thing people should know about you?

I like my privacy.  a lot.  really.  don’t stop by and see us sometime, please…

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

the book of letters coming out at the end of May by OA Press called Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness at Noon:  The Cunningham/McCreesh Letters, 2002.  the hardback version sold out in about twenty hours and the whole project has some incredible folks working behind the scenes to make it really amazing all the way around.

Name one thing you wish you had.

my own 1000 acre plot of land with a tiny farmhouse right in the center and lots of mountains surrounding it with a deep well and solar panels.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

the burden of paying bills.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

I have a few and am fortunate enough to correspond with most of them.  I’d say Bill Taylor, McCreesh, dot barrett, Father Luke, Luis Berriozabal, and several others…

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Nerve Cowboy.  buy a subscription today, as it’s NOT an online “publication.”  you will not EVER be disappointed.

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

carved in a rock high on a mountain where probably nobody will see it but I’ll know it’s there, left behind for the most intrepid of explorers to find.

here are christopher’s poems as they appeared in nibble:

the right time of night

into the space
contained by four dusty walls
drifts the sound of a train horn
like
an alien ship passing in the darkness.

graffiti on a box car door
blurs thru the trees and disappears
into shadows and fog.

someone is working,
something is moving.

a progress is being made
while an echo of what once was

lingers.

+++++

for her, in absence

waking in terror
alone
I watch the skeleton of
midnight crawling
up the bedroom wall
and turn away.

I pull the covers over my head and vanish
into
the dark space.

it won’t be long, I tell myself.

it won’t be
long
now.

the room exhales,
waiting on the dawn.

+++++

sketch of girl with ball

gleaming supermarket tiles
under bleached electric light.

shapes clutching bottles
of wine,
onions, birdseed, bathroom cleaner.

aisles ordered
like sleeping kaleidoscopes.

hidden cameras recording
the mundane seconds of our lives.

then:

a flash of bright pink
and a jolt of motion chasing behind, laughing.

and a mother hurrying to keep up.

+++++

a certain blindness

it
seems,

as I watch us
move thru
this world,

that
somehow,

we are

miles
in
the
sky

without ever bothering
to learn
the meaning

of flight.

+++++

wisdom

fat belly
curling
over beltbuckle.

deep labored breaths
drawn
in the damning sunlight.

face the color
of tobacco and
hard work.

muddy spoor
leading to
his worn bootheels.

one rusted finger
pointing
out an
angle.

says,

“maybe.”

+++++

the low rumble of poetry

builds
but never seems to deliver.

a page from a child’s diary
or
the sound of a time clock.

a poignant anecdote
told to an old friend
under a shade tree
over a cold beer.

in a wasteland
the sparkle
of a ruby
should be easy to uncover.

pale white walls
dirty with the fingerprints
of ghosts.

the fertile earth of an empty grave

imagining
flowers.

+++++

perched

here
is black coffee.
maybe
music.

alas
it is foreign and strange
to your ears.

you do not
understand.

here is rain.

in the cold
it is possible
to better remember warmth.

along the
knife’s edge
the light
is bright.

here is the knife.

april 17, 2009

jason fisk appeared in issue number five of nibble with a poem called “An Unfulfilled Dream.”  he lives in chicago.  you can visit him at www.jasonfisk.com.

and now, here are eight questions with jason fisk:

What is your role in the small press?

This question kind of put me on my ass, and is making me think about my writing in broader terms than I’ve considered before. I guess I’ve never seen myself as anything more than a poet who is absolutely thrilled every time an editor decides to publish something I’ve written.

What is one thing people should know about you?

Fatherhood (x2) has enraptured and reformed me.

What are you working on right now that has you excited?

Two years ago, my brother-in-law and musician, Jeremy Michael Cashman, approached me with an idea of collaborating on a project. It didn’t really pick up steam until this February, when everything was done fermenting and just started flowing. Jeremy also seemed to experience something similar to the creative bursting of a dam. What resulted is a disc filled with about 50 minutes of awesome music that sets the stage for a pretty cool, jacked-up, narrative which flows through the seven song lyrics. This is all supplemented with poems and stories neatly packed into a nice little illustrated chapbook. We’re looking to release the project in Tucson, sometime in July or August. Live band and such…

I am also very excited about my first chapbook, The Sagging: Spirits and Skin, being released by Propaganda Press late spring / early summer of this year. It’s a collection of what I think are the best poems I’ve written over the past few years.

Name one thing you wish you had.

More free time.

Name one thing you have that you could do without.

Any sort of monthly payment.

Who is your favorite small press poet?

Ah man, this is a tough one. I honestly can’t list just one, so I’m taking artistic liberties with the question and changing it to “Who are some of your favorite small press poets?” Ahh, these would have to be, Justin Hyde, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, and I’ve recently enjoyed leah angstman’s work.

Name one small press poetry mag, other than nibble, that everyone should read?

Again, I am amazed at what leah angstman is doing over at Alternating Current with Propaganda Press and her Poiesis litzine. Packed with great stuff…

Where do you want to see your own poetry?

Anywhere beyond my computer… I just get so excited after I write something, that putting my poetry out there after I’ve written something just feels natural to me. I had a friend tell me that my poetry was good toilet reading – I’m more than happy to take what I can get…

Here is jason’s poem from nibble number five:

An Unfulfilled Dream

dark red
and under
developed black
little real feet
hands skin and face
pruned from swimming
in her water pillow home
24 weeks and three days
warm raisin in my hands
you were supposed to play
with your cousins
you were supposed to create
poetic childhood memories
filled with bumps bruises
and dirt filled scrapes
instead you left
gaping holes
in human hearts…

check back every Friday for a new eight!