S. Scott Whitaker's Blog, page 3

Grateful to have "Young" & "From Here You Can See New Atlantis" up at @ManzanoMtn, new work in Dreamstreets,and two poems up at @PoetryShore

The folks over at Manzano Mountain Review have graciously selected "Young" and "From Here You Can See New Atlantis" (about floods and eco disasters) for their Winter Issue. You can read them here.

Dreamstreets, one of the oldest literary journals in Delaware, showcased some new poems in their Winter Issue, which you can view here.

If you didn't see my new work up at The Shore, a gorgeous new literary journal out of Salisbury, MD., check out "From End of America Fanasmagoria" here, and a poem about my cat, or catwife (that's her, above)  here.

Some new short fiction is forthcoming in 2020, and my novel of weird fiction is still forthcoming; it takes a while to edit an 800 plus page horror-thriller novel.

Marsh Punks included in Helios Quarterly's Best of Anthology, Mulch update, Summer reading

The dystopian eco-disaster "Mad Max with Boats & Sharks" story "How the Dun-in Man Got His Name" will be included in Helios Quarterly's Best of Vol. 1. You can pre-order the best of here.
Helios Quarterly, which is semi-pro & counts towards Sci-Fi Writer's Guild eligibility picked up another marsh punk tale. It will run next year or possibly, 2021. 
Mulch is in the editing queue over at Montag Press. Still on track for a late-year release.
New poetry is forthcoming later this summer.
Summer Reading:
Currently reading new poetry books by Adam Tavel, James Arthur, Ned Balbo--Tavel and Arthur both have great (but very different) Darth Vader poems, I might add. Balbo's music poems delight these old post-punk ears.  Currently reading A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin.
Still thinking about: If They Come For Us by Fatimah Asghar (poetry), Tradition by Jericho Brown (so good!) ASOFAI --I re-read all those Game of Thrones books from May-July, 5,000 pages of awesome, plus Fire & Blood.
Have a great end of the summer.

Poetry screenshots, writer's notebook, forthcoming work, broadsides, poetry, novel

2018 was kind to me, publishing-wise. A few MFA related journals accepted work, and was featured in a few independent journals, and on the local NPR affiliate. The above is from the Norfolk-Hampton Rhoads centric magazine Penultimate Peanut, and the below pic is from Winnow , a new independent journal.  I'm terrible at updating this blog and have weaned myself from too much twitter and instagram, etc. Reading is far better for my mental health than social media.
There's been plenty of rejection--but this year I upped my submissions to close to 100 (there are 25 plus pieces under consideration & I am shortlisted for two international journals). In other words, I still don't know what I am doing!

In the new year, look for a new broadside from broadsidedpress (yep, broadsided), a new poem in Toe Good, and UFO abduction poem in Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal, and (hopefully) a new novel, entitled Mulch, from Montag Press (books worth burning!). I'll put those links out when they happen; they are simply good news on the wind.

Several successful grant applications for work, and two grant rejections (but with overwhelmingly positive feedback--and invitations to resubmit).

Still learning how to be an editor. Haven't figured out how to get to the Dogfish Head Poetry Release party. Working on that.

Have seen amazing writers read this year, must continue to seek out regional readings.

Plenty of gratitude from where I'm sitting, and plenty of work for me to do to be a better person.

Favorite poetry reads from this year: Terrance Hayes' American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assasins,  Nancy Mitchell's The Out of Body Shop, Beth Bachmann's Cease, Charlie Bondhus's Divining Bones, Layli Long Soldier's Whereas, and others.

New work in Image/Out & up at @8Poems, revisiting Past #poetry recording collaborations with @CodyGrimm1 and @illumn8d #AllMyRowdyFriends @TupeloPress3030

I have new work in Image/Out 

And 8Poems

It's been a packed school year so far, so I have not been promoting any of the work the way I should.

Read Beth Bachmann's new book, Cease. Read my review here.

And Charlie Bondhus's Divining Bones.

Alpine Strangers recorded some of my poems two years ago from All My Rowdy Friends.

Still waiting for a newer recording/collaboration with Nate McFadden to drop at Five2One.

Check out Alpine Stranger's work here:

Links to reviews w/ update, personal thoughts on managing @BroadkillR

Well, it's been a full year since I took over managing duties at the Broadkill Review. We are a volunteer editorial staff/board/collective, and share the responsibilities of putting out a bi-monthly literary magazine with a focus on writing from the Mid-Atlantic.

Largely, my job has been to put the journal out on the web. I did my best, maintaining the traditional feel of the BKR. If we were a print magazine, we'd look a lot like the American Poetry Journal; for nearly a decade the BKR published a pdf emailed journal, structured and modeled on a tabloid publication.

It is possible that I may begin to tweak the website to make it more visually stunning. It takes work, though, and I have novels to edit, poetry manuscripts to arrange, new poems to write, and books to read and review.

Anyhoo: here's links to some reviews:

Grace Cavalieri 
Joan Colby
Grant Clauser
HA Maxson
Ramsey Scott
Michael Tims

FYI--The majority of the books we are asked/sent to review at The Broadkilll Review  are written by white men. Please help me change that. Send us your books.

If you have an editorial question regarding the Broadkill Review: email us at broadkillreview@gmail.com

Grateful for @NewPlainsReview hosting these #poetry recordings by @AlpineStrangers

It feels like ages since I submitted these poems, recorded by Alpine Strangers, to New Plains Review. Not every lit magazine takes spoken versions of poems. I was lucky they were looking for new poetry audio.

You can listen to them here.

Grateful to have "Rural Theory of Mind. In Three Voices" in the new issue of @BarzakhMagazine

This poem is an odd one, for sure. I have been using theatrical conventions in many poems as of late, and this one is one of the more ambitious ones.

Notes on reading:  If you view on your computer---you're good.  Mobile: Horizontal  mode would be best, because if you view it vertically, the poem will re-arrange itself, which is pretty cool if you ask me. I like both versions.  You can read it here:

Thanks for the support!

Honored that the fine folks @sleetmagazine nominated my poem, "Face Paint," for a Pushcart Prize

Honored that the fine folks over at Sleet have nominated "Face Paint" for a Pushcart Prize in poetry.

This character, Adam, is one of the protagonist in the spec-fic novel, Fear of Glass, that I am finishing up.  Like most of my work, it is a mish-mash of the personal, and stories I've heard around the table, so to speak.

New mini poetry chapbook up at @DeadMule

This is the second time the Dead Mule School of Literature has featured a mini chapbook of my poetry. The time before was for the war themed cycle "News From the Front." If I were hard pressed to nail down a theme for these: rural poor, addiction, mental health. Maybe not in that order.

"Dem Peckerwoods,"  "Lemonade Stand," "Lemonade Stand is Not," and "Kevron Tells Deon About the Fight" use a fair amount of found language.

Most of the poems are not new, per se, but have not been published. "How to Find...Ocean" was featured in All My Rowdy Friends, and made into a podcast by Alpine Strangers, which you can listen to here. 

Erasing #TwinPeaks discussions: "Gotta Light?" #poetry

From Joseph Ryan’ s discussion in the Facebook group: Twin Peaks: the Dweller on the Threshold


Today's erasure poem comes from a short discussion on the meaning of the Woodsman's chant/koan/spell "Gotta Light?"--repeated throughout episode eight.

GOTTA LIGHT
Repeat connections.
Sex ritual at the motel.How does that affect the events in 1956? Some song, the picture behind the bed, the possible era of time.

Gotta lighten up. Learn, look.
I grab your energy. I think people. Translation mix up,this plane, a verbal conscious.
See... Him grab heads.
His sex, a total devourment of the head,set free from prison,
this particular Woodsman.