December News and 2020 Roundup

Hello, friends! Well, this is it. If you’re here, you’ve made it to the end of 2020.

This year hasn’t been wholly terrible. I published two books.

 

The first, Languages, First and Last, is a poetry collection from Cyberwit Press. It's also available on Amazon.

The second, Going Forth by Day, is the sixth and final book of The Order of the Four Sons series, a project that took me thirteen years. Even if I’d done nothing else this year, I am grateful to have given my beloved characters the send-off they deserved. (At least, I sure hope I did.) It is available in ebook and paperback on Amazon, Smashwords, and other sites. 

Also this year, 58 of my poems appeared in 26 magazines and other venues, including journals in Turkey, Northern Ireland and India. I received a Best of the Net nomination and two Pushcart Prize nominations. Not too shabby!

Here is a list of my December news and publications:

I’m absolutely thrilled to share that the inaugural issue of Gleam: A Journal of the Cadralor came out this month! It has my poems, “Alligator Tooth” and the Pushcart-nominated “Acheiropoieta.” So grateful to the creators of the wonderful new poetic form, the cadralor, and the rest of the editorial team for making this happen!

A little holiday poem, “Christmas Fudge,” is up at the Rye Whiskey Review. Thank you to editor John Patrick Robbins for continuing to give my work a home.

“Estate Sale” appeared in the latest issue of The Racket. Thank you to editor Noah Sanders for publishing me again.

“Is” appeared in The Dope Fiend Daily. This is the first of five that will appear in The Dope Fiend. My thanks to editor Scott Simmons.

I was one of the featured readers at the December Poets & Pints reading, a venue provided by the Cracked Walnut in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can catch the reading on YouTube. Thank you to Trinity Fritz Lawrence and Tony Plocido for hosting—I hope to read on your stage in person one day!

I am also pleased to share that I received a new five-star review on Requiem for a Robot Dog. Thank you, Scott!

And finally, I am thrilled to share that I have new cover art for my short story, La Tutayegua, available as an ebook through Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and other digital sites. Writers, if you’re in the market for cover art, I highly recommend Rebecca Kenney. Her rates are very affordable and she will work with you to create a custom cover you love.

Thank you to all my readers for visiting my blog and supporting my work! I wish you all the best for an excellent New Year.

 

 

 

Poetry Review: Mr. Rogers kills fruit flies by Scott Ferry

When a collection opens with a quote by Jorge Luis Borges, and a poem called “Gabriel Garcia Marquez changes a diaper,” you know you’re in for something delightfully surreal. It is divided into sections that make good on that promise: Mr. Rogers kills fruit flies, How to cross eyelid bridge and Divination by. 

In the first section, Joseph Campbell, Jane Goodall, the titular Won’t You Be My Neighbor guy, and other recognizable faces appear, carrying out tasks that are sometimes mundane (flossing), and sometimes not so mundane (riding a camel). The bemused and plaintive bizarre bazaar tone reminds me of Eliot’s “The Wasteland”: “What year is this?/Phillipe, are you here, back there on one of those swaying beasts?” (I love Eliot, so this makes me happy.) But the surrealness is not without purpose—Gabriel Garcia Marquez gives us the opportunity to consider fatherhood and mortality; Jacques Cousteau and Jane Goodall, as you would imagine, let us consider the world and our place in it; Marie Curie is a meditation on science that both elevates and diminishes, giveth and taketh away. 

How to cross eyelid bridge is subtitled Titles of children’s books that will never be written. Ferry captures images that are both childish (imaginary creatures like Sasquatches, bees, school, biting), and the attendant dread and exhilaration. The Divination by section explores the many, many means of trying to tell the future—brontomancy, clediomancy, entomancy. There is no end to the strange rituals people have concocted to try to figure out where we’re going, but the divination poems force us to look inside ourselves. One of my favorites is “Nephomancy: by clouds,” which says: 

I used to dream of walking into them

by climbing up my cement wall. 

I didn’t know what I would do there, 

I was five. I just knew there 

could be a place without yelling, 

or sirens, or people.

Heartbreaking, because it speaks to where we came from, as well as where we are now. Who doesn’t occasionally dream about a celestial realm where we can be free?  

Throughout the collection, the language is lush and gorgeous. Ferry is an RN and scientific, especially medical terms, are woven throughout, which provides a nice counterbalance to the fanciful. What I like best about these poems is the way they challenge you to step outside yourself, outside of your ordinary reality. This collection is definitely an escape worth pursuing. I heard in some English class or other that it's the poet's job to elevate the mundane and to make the fantastic accessible. On both counts, Ferry knocks it out of the park. 

Mr. Rogers kills fruit flies is available from the Main Street Rag bookstore. 

Learn more about Scott Ferry and his work here.