Holly Walrath's Blog, page 11

New Poetry Series: #SerialKillerSummer

[image error] [image error] Starting in May I’ll be doing a new poetry project on my Instagram.

#SerialKillerSummer is a series of erasure poems using found source text from famous murderers. I’ll be posting blackout poems (hopefully every day) that use the words of the creepiest, darkest, most rotten dirtbags and twist them. Erasure is the art of creating a poem from a found text by removing and cutting away words or blacking them out. What remains is an entirely new and original poem.

Why serial killers? Well, I’m a true crime junkie and I realized there are so many fascinating sources like interviews, court transcripts, manifestos, and other true crime found sources to work with. I got obsessed with how we can cut these killers down and get back at them for the lives they’ve taken. Manipulating their words is the best way I’ve found as an artist. My work is always interrogating the world we live in, shining a light in the darkest crevice.

Follow along on Instagram!

New Poem up at Mithila Review

I have a new poem up today at Mithila Review! "We're Refugees Who Found Love Searching for Atlantis" is a pantoum poem that first appeared in Italian in my chapbook Numinose Lapidi from Kipple Press. I am very honored that Mithila Review agreed to publish the English and Italian version, translated by the late Marco Raimondo. 

Marco was an Italian translator of poetry who died due to complications surrounding his disability. Before he died, we discussed my sending out poems from the book so that they could be read together, and it was a dream of his to be published in magazines. I am honored to fulfill that dream today. 

Also, you can listen to me read the English version aloud in this publication :) 

Read it here . . . 

New Poetry Workshop: A Feminist Poetry Reading Primer

​Dates: March 1-28
Format: Group Workshop (more info)

From Plath to Sexton to Lorde to Walker, women are the backbone of experimental poetics. In this class, we’ll read the work of popular feminist poets and write our own poems inspired by their work. Audre Lorde said, “The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.” By celebrating the work of the women who came before us, this workshop will explore how to dismantle the patriarchal conventions of poetry by diving into the canon of women poets.

Register at the early-bird price of $275 (regular price: $295) before February 15.

What I Published in 2020

 It's that time of the year again! I'm here to update you with all the things I published last year. It's been a fruitful year despite all the chaos, and I am supremely grateful as always for the editors who read and enjoy my work. Thank you to all the publications on this list! 

This year I have several Rhysling-eligible poems for SFPA members to consider for nomination. "Yes, Antimatter is Real" is eligible for the Dwarf Stars Award. My short story "The Red Shoes" in the Coppice and Brake Anthology from Crone Girls Press is eligible for the HWA Bram Stoker Awards in the anthology category. (If you'd like a copy of the anthology to review, send me an email at hlwalrath at gmail dot com.) Poetry
Download a PDF of all my 2020 poems here

​Short PoemsNow the Patient Recounts the Houses in Her Mind (Eye to the Telescope Issue 36, April 2020, House & Home, edited by Emma J. Gibbon)Acacia (Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry Issue #24 - Summer 2020)Dear Future (Star*Line Issue 43.3, Summer 2020) We Hold Up Eternity​ (Twisted Moon Mag, Issue 5, August 2020)Divergent and Rotten to the Core​​ (Liminality Issue #25, Autumn 2020)Yes, Antimatter Is Real (Analog Science Fiction and Fact Sep/Oct 2020)So Many Blank Moons (Analog Science Fiction and Fact Nov/Dec 2020)It's Never Going to Stop (Pork Belly Press Love Me, Love My Belly Zine No.5, 2020)  Long Poems Daughters Saving Mothers (Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Issue #23 – Spring 2020) Short FictionThe Red Shoes (Coppice & Brake: A Dark Fiction Anthology by Crone Girls Press) 

Submitting Your Work: For Poets

These days, it might seem superfluous to submit poetry to journals and magazines when you can make a living as an Instapoet instead. But in the world of poetry, having many publications under your belt can be a way to build towards publishing a chapbook or full-length book of poems.
What follows is a step-by-step guide for poets on submitting your work. This is part of a series of articles for new writers who’ve never sent their work out before. While everyone’s process is different, I hope these tips and tricks can be a starting point for you to figure out your submissions process and start getting your work into the world.

Read the full article here . . . 

Recordings from World Fantasy Convention 2020

I had a blast chatting with folks this year at the virtual World Fantasy Convention! It was such an honor to get to answer questions about indie publishing and author marketing, and to get to be on a panel with some of my favorite poets. Here are the recordings for your watching pleasure: 
Poetic Fantasy: 

Simple Steps for Promoting Short Fiction and Poetry

If you’re a writer of short fiction or poetry, it can sometimes feel like you’re shouting into the void to get your work read. But as an editor, I am here to tell you: I am the void! I keep an ear to the ground for new writers to read and I can’t hear you if you’re not loud enough.

Read the full article on Medium . . .

Fall 2020 Workshops

​ Poetry Barn Self-Paced Course: Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry
DATE: Ongoing
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced
PRICE: $99
Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page. 

In this four-module independent study workshop, you’ll study the forms of poetry that draw from outside sources and texts, learning how artists are reshaping the narrative of resistance and how to draw from news, media, canonical works, and other found texts to create our own work in conversation with the current world.

Shortly after you register, you’ll receive an email containing an invitation to create an account and begin learning. (Please note: This class does not include feedback or interaction with the instructor or other learners.) Writespace: Poetry Critique (Synchronous  1-Day Workshop)
DATE: Saturday, October 10th 1-4pm CST
TIME: Online, Synchronous 
​In this workshop, we'll focus on four fundamentals that editors look for in poetry. It's one thing to write poems, it's another to start sending out your work to publishers. How do you know if the poem "works"? How can you revise a poem so it stands out in a slush pile? We'll focus on reading poetry like an editor, with an eye towards structure, word choice, content, and first and last lines. This is a critique workshop, so participants will be asked to submit up to two poems (max 4 pages) in advance. ​ Writespace: Introduction to Found Poetry (Online 4-Week Workshop)
DATE: Sunday, October 4th - Sunday, November 1st
TIME: Online, Asynchronous
​Found poetry is an umbrella term encompassing any poem that uses an outside source text to create a new original poem. Found texts may include but are not limited to: Newspapers, books, periodicals, graffiti, other poems, street signs, advertisements, propaganda, online media, Twitter posts, or anything with words that can be rearranged, erased, cut-out, or reformulated to create a new and wholly original piece of poetry. In this workshop, we'll learn the history of erasure and create our own found poems using methods of erasure or blackout, headline poetry, collage, remixing, cutting, cento poems, acrostic or golden shovel poems, and/or found title poems. 

This is a four-week workshop that takes place completely online. Participants will get the chance to write one poem a week and will be required to critique at least 2 other student's work each week. You may want to have a camera or phone with a camera (a scanner works great too) to upload photos of your poems, but this is not a requirement. ​ Writespace: Journaling Your Way to a Better Writing Life (Online 4-Week Workshop)
DATE: Sunday, November 8th - December 6th
TIME: Online, Asynchronous
​Writers are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for writers. Not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer. We'll cover tracking your writing, how to manage large ideas or projects, tracking submissions, creating goals, revising in a journal, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you!

This is a four-week workshop that takes place completely online. You may want to purchase a simple notebook to try out the techniques on your own. You'll be asked to share one journaling exercise a week and give feedback on each other's work.

New Poem at Twisted Moon Mag

I have a new poem up at Twisted Moon Mag, Issue 5: We Hold Up Eternity 

You make me into all of your favorite things. Wax-winged, you model my body to your likeness. Everything must be similar, the remains. You step upon my altar, run a finger along my lips, lick the dust from your skin. It tastes like skin cells and sweat and stardust...

Read the whole poem here . . . 

A Queer Poem a Day

Hey y’all! I’m doing another Instagram poetry challenge this month. My goal is to write a queer poem a day in celebration of Pride Month. You can follow along on my Instagram account @Holly__Lyn. I started this for fun, as a way to process my feelings about Pride Month and what it means to me, so I hope you enjoy reading along.

Here's a link to the post with all the poems in one place.