Gina Abelkop's Blog, page 26

journals

the lovely + brilliant angela simione recently posted some photos of her journals on her blog, which i loved. i love to see what people write in. inspired by that, here are scans of some of my recent journals:

birds of lace call for submissions

Birds of Lace Press seeks spooky, gorgeous, tainted and taloned texts for chapbook publication. 12-25 pages (give or take a few) in any genre or hybrid creation thereof, including pen and ink drawings. We love that which hurts so good, tips the scales of our guts, makes the sky spit glass and the ground leak fluids. For examples and general aesthetic of work we've published, please visit: http://birdsoflace.wordpress.com/chap...

But don't be deterred if your work isn't reflected there- we also love surprises. Please email as an RTF attachment to birdsoflace@gmail.com by March 31st, 2012. No bio. required; do take note that Birds of Lace exclusively publishes those who are women and/or queer-identified.

For more information about Birds of Lace visit birdsoflace.wordpress.com

re-post/blog/facebook etc!

xox

no more (what it feels like for a girl, refrain)

what it feels like for a girl

nearly two years ago- is that true?- kate zambreno emailed me her book green girl. i read it while visiting my parents, stretched out under the southern california sun while recuperating from a really heavy depressive period wherein i tried to kick anti-depressents (didn't work).

maybe you grew up, like me, reading a million different narratives about what it felt like to be angry and young and male (and usually white.) maybe, like me, you also read nancy drew and sweet valley high and anne of green gables, young women with nerve and pluck but also mostly young women whose problems were solved at the end of each book. and then as i got older, it was sylvia plath and carson mccullers and jean rhys and maya angelou, and and. i've never stopped being hungry for narratives where there is no neat package at the end. i want to imagine, at the end of these lives, that things keep being complicated and you keep working on them and you get smarter, and stronger, but probably there is always going to be a heaviness to contend with. sometimes that heaviness is tied inextricably to gender, sometimes not. but green girl entered the world as a novel who offers those things. is funny and strange and about the shopgirl trap (i, let it be known, have been a shopgirl for far too many years.) it's about empty fucking and crippling depression and fighting your way out of those things, or not, because all you can do is stare at your blank bedroom wall for three weeks. this is not exactly a review (please read kari larsen's review of green girl here) but it is me imploring you to read this book. and also vote for it over here, which will also count as a vote in the universe for all of us who are trying, and sometimes failing, but sometimes managing just fine.

DARLING BEASTLETTES

'Darling Beastlettes' by Gina Abelkop: a book trailer/short film in two distinct universes from Birds of Lace on Vimeo.

a short film/book trailer i made for darling beastlettes, featuring a calla lily massacre, doomcave piano ballads and a poem called "the glass tree." please re-post etc. xox

she's coming

my debut book of poems, darling beastlettes, is now available for pre-order from apostrophe books. if you pre-order, you not only save $2 but also get a silk-screened poster!

early next week i will unveil the book trailer/short film i made to accompany the release of the book.

xo