The first, "Male Nude," was inspired by the photography of Kansas City-based artist Sara Dell. She's on Instagram as thoughts_are_thingsandstfu, or you can see her Flickr stream here. "Male Nude" appears in the latest edition of The MacGuffin, published out of Schoolcraft College in Livonia, MI. You can purchase a copy through the New Pages store.
The other five poems all appear in Cargo, a Canadian lit mag. This is my second international publication, which feels great. I find it especially pleasing because I consider one of the poems they selected, "Memorial Day," to be one of my most quintessentially American pieces. They also published, "Koan," "The Dog Star," "Prison Mofongo," and "Life Support."
Having any magazine publish so many pieces at a time is also thrilling, but especially these five. I had begun to consider these poems my problem children. I'd been submitting them for nearly two years and they kept getting rejected. Obviously, I believed in them, but no one else seemed to. I decided to bundle them all together and send them to this one last magazine. If they'd been rejected, I would have retired them. But they all got selected. Every single one.
The moral of the story? You never know when/where your work will find a home, so don't give up.
One more bit of news to share: keep an eye on Snowflakes in a Blizzard this week. My poetry collection, West Side Girl & Other Poems, is going to be featured. Last February, Under Julia was featured, of which Snowflakes editor Darrell Laurent, said, "All I can say is 'wow'! I am in awe of how beautifully you inserted yourself into the psyches of your characters and spoke for them and through them."
While you're there, be sure to check out all the other indie gems Laurent shares with the world.
Thanks, as always, for reading! Always feel free to comment or drop me a line.
