Juliet Cook's Blog, page 105
February 12, 2017
Juliet Cook reading for Menacing Hedge at AWP 2017
Me reading at the Menacing Hedge reading in DC on February 9, 2017. (AWP 2017).(photos taken by Darryl)
February 2, 2017
The NEW Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook is almost ready for AWP 2017!
Getting semi-close to the final stages of designing the initial first round of the new Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook, "Cutting Eyes from Ghosts" by Ariana D. Den Bleyker, to take to AWP in less than a week (AND to give Ariana D. Den Bleyker her author copies).
Although Blood Pudding Press will not have a table at this year's AWP, I will be there - with some copies of the new chapbook, a few copies of other Blood Pudding Press chapbooks, and a few copies of some of my own chapbooks/books (although since I won't have a table, if you see me, you might need to let me know what chapbooks you might be interested in).
I will also be reading a few poems (along with lots of other writers reading poetry and fiction) at the Menacing Hedge Reading, the evening of Thursday February 9 from 6-10 PM at Johnny Pistolas.
Although Blood Pudding Press will not have a table at this year's AWP, I will be there - with some copies of the new chapbook, a few copies of other Blood Pudding Press chapbooks, and a few copies of some of my own chapbooks/books (although since I won't have a table, if you see me, you might need to let me know what chapbooks you might be interested in).
I will also be reading a few poems (along with lots of other writers reading poetry and fiction) at the Menacing Hedge Reading, the evening of Thursday February 9 from 6-10 PM at Johnny Pistolas.A Photo of a Red Witch
The collaborative full-length poetry book, "A Red Witch, Every Which Way" by Juliet Cook and j/j hastain, published by Hysterical Books, in a recent photo taken by Jacklyn La Polita Janeksela, alongside stunning crystal by Jenny Sadre-Orafai.
A Red Witch can be acquired here - http://www.hystericalbooks.com/#!product-page/cl84u/1a2d7e83-4bef-31d5-09e1-3326ee271c09
Or here - https://www.amazon.com/Red-Witch-Every-Which-Way/dp/0940821044
Or within the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here - https://www.etsy.com/listing/494588398/pre-order-cutting-eyes-from-ghosts-by?ref=shop_home_feat_1
(I will also have a few of them with me at AWP next week, along with some Blood Pudding Press chapbooks too.)
A Red Witch can be acquired here - http://www.hystericalbooks.com/#!product-page/cl84u/1a2d7e83-4bef-31d5-09e1-3326ee271c09
Or here - https://www.amazon.com/Red-Witch-Every-Which-Way/dp/0940821044
Or within the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here - https://www.etsy.com/listing/494588398/pre-order-cutting-eyes-from-ghosts-by?ref=shop_home_feat_1
(I will also have a few of them with me at AWP next week, along with some Blood Pudding Press chapbooks too.)
February 1, 2017
NEW in Drunk in a Midnight Choir - my "Dried Flowers and Spit Out Seeds" (Happy February)
"The kind of bed I sleep on would taint the sunflower heads,
un-petal them with tiny parasites, invade other’s
happy lives. My great grandmother is now dead.
Cracked seeds thrown inside a sun-less casket."from my poem, "Dried Flowers and Spit Out Seeds", newly appearing in Drunk in a Midnight Choir.Read more HERE - https://drunkinamidnightchoir.com/2017/02/01/dried-flowers-and-spit-out-seeds/
un-petal them with tiny parasites, invade other’s
happy lives. My great grandmother is now dead.
Cracked seeds thrown inside a sun-less casket."from my poem, "Dried Flowers and Spit Out Seeds", newly appearing in Drunk in a Midnight Choir.Read more HERE - https://drunkinamidnightchoir.com/2017/02/01/dried-flowers-and-spit-out-seeds/
January 31, 2017
I'm #13 in the Singles Club of Lost, Long Gone, Forgotten Records!
"Nobody can enjoy me in these fits
and starts. Stars filled with teeth
broken from the molars. Blood in between."
Delighted to be #13 in the Singles Club of Lost, Long Gone, Forgotten Records!Listen to me read two of my poems - "We Want Out" and "Bookmarks Stuck Inside Cracked Columns".
:)Both poems have holes in them - and the three lines at the top are from "Bookmarks..."
https://lostlonggoneforgottenrecords.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/juliet-cook-we-want-out/
and starts. Stars filled with teeth
broken from the molars. Blood in between."
Delighted to be #13 in the Singles Club of Lost, Long Gone, Forgotten Records!Listen to me read two of my poems - "We Want Out" and "Bookmarks Stuck Inside Cracked Columns".
:)Both poems have holes in them - and the three lines at the top are from "Bookmarks..." https://lostlonggoneforgottenrecords.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/juliet-cook-we-want-out/
January 27, 2017
"Cutting Eyes from Ghosts" by Ariana D. Den Bleyker now available for pre-order (Blood Pudding Press 2017)
The first Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook of 2017 - "Cutting Eyes from Ghosts" by Ariana D. Den Bleyker - is now available for pre-order HERE -https://www.etsy.com/listing/494588398/pre-order-cutting-eyes-from-ghosts-by?ref=shop_home_feat_1Orders placed during this pre-order time will be shipped the third week of February (the week of Valentine's Day - February 13 through February 18).The chapbook contains 15 poems.It is hand-bound and available in different colored covers and binding materials.You can read three poems from the chapbook in this month's Thirteen Myna Birds flock HERE - http://13myna.blogspot.com/
Pepper (January 20, 2017) - A READING
I posted this Pepper poem of mine a week ago, on Inauguration day - but now a week later, here's a recording of me reading it.
Now that our new president has already made it clear that he's anti-abortion and pro-torture, this poem seems all the more fitting
(Thank you to Charles for posting it on his podomatic page).
HERE - https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2017-01-27T03_03_35-08_00
Now that our new president has already made it clear that he's anti-abortion and pro-torture, this poem seems all the more fitting
(Thank you to Charles for posting it on his podomatic page).
HERE - https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/charlespoet/episodes/2017-01-27T03_03_35-08_00
January 25, 2017
Another Bad Dream
Last night's bad dream involved insects. A small group of us were in a room together and there were small but unusual looking insects on the walls. Part of us thought they were harmless, but part of us somehow new otherwise. I was standing by the door and was able to get out in time when the insects attacked. The insects were hideous torture devices. The doors locked shut and there was no escape as the insects ripped apart the faces of those who hadn't made it out in time.
The First Myna Birds Flock of 2017 is here!
Thirteen (+ three extra) pieces...
by Ariana D. Den Bleyker (three poems from her chapbook, "Cutting Eyes from Ghosts" coming very soon from Blood Pudding Press!), Jacklyn La Polita Janeksela, Craig Firsdon, Michael Grover, Mark Benedict, Ava C. Cipri, and Jeremy Mallory!
The world is flipping over itself - i carve the words death candy in a pole - a shot in the skull - If we’re quiet & listen, we can hear the dead - the glass rack hangs from the ceiling like i think my dead cousin wanted to - there’s a green skeleton underneath my bed - Sitting high up on his pedestal - That he has built on the backs of others - See us as a part of the human race and not just another number - a fury of clocks’ pendulums across - I shut off the valve filling Mother’s lungs with vinyl - It's all stagnation anyway - Black and white with floppy ears - the bird is still hurting...
HERE - http://13myna.blogspot.com/
by Ariana D. Den Bleyker (three poems from her chapbook, "Cutting Eyes from Ghosts" coming very soon from Blood Pudding Press!), Jacklyn La Polita Janeksela, Craig Firsdon, Michael Grover, Mark Benedict, Ava C. Cipri, and Jeremy Mallory!
The world is flipping over itself - i carve the words death candy in a pole - a shot in the skull - If we’re quiet & listen, we can hear the dead - the glass rack hangs from the ceiling like i think my dead cousin wanted to - there’s a green skeleton underneath my bed - Sitting high up on his pedestal - That he has built on the backs of others - See us as a part of the human race and not just another number - a fury of clocks’ pendulums across - I shut off the valve filling Mother’s lungs with vinyl - It's all stagnation anyway - Black and white with floppy ears - the bird is still hurting...
HERE - http://13myna.blogspot.com/
A Rape Dream, Inspired by Our New president
Couldn't sleep well last night; am up way too early for me, with less than 6 hours of sleep (or I guess I should say with less than 6 hours of lying in bed). I seemed to keep having this ongoing dream that involved being stuck in a giant (multi-floor, multi-room per floor) house owned by a man who was giving me a highly untrustworthy vibe. The man wasn't someone I knew in real life; he was this large muscle man with creepy energy that resembled a younger version of Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know, the guy whose older version is now starring in the remake of The Apprentice.
At some point in the dream, my mind realized that this guy's intent was to rape me (or to try to instigate sex and if I didn't say yes, it would lead to forced sex rape), so I was trying to figure out how best to escape this house and this space I wasn't very familiar with, and I was thinking about how I wouldn't even know what to do if I did manage to get out.
Find the house next door and ask them to take me somewhere else because I didn't feel safe? What if I didn't feel safe in the house next door either? What if they asked me what had happened at the house I had left? What was I supposed to say? That nothing had happened YET, but I could tell that the man who lived there was going to rape me? What since would that make to them, even if I knew it was true? What if they didn't believe me? What if they thought I was lying? What if they asked me why I was even in that house?
When I awoke, I started wondering/thinking about where this dream was even coming from. It's not like I've felt physically intimidated by any man RECENTLY, so why am I having a bad dream about potential rape?
Then it occurred to me that even though he hasn't intimidated me on a personal level (as in personal to the point of his body right in front of my face), the recent Trump presidency and some people being fine with it is disturbing as fuck to part of my brain. I've had to zone out about it and joke about it, in between the intimidated, pissed off, and pissed on spells, the angry, sad, and worried spells, so that I don't have extreme stress overload. Along those lines, what likely led to my rape dream was our new president and the anti-abortion executive order that he signed Monday.
I'm not an anti-man sort of woman and I'm not an anti-sex sort of woman, but I wouldn't be surprised that if abortion backtracks into the land of being illegal, this will cause a lot of women to feel way less inclined to have sex for the next 4 years, if they would not be okay with an accidental pregnancy and being legally obligated to give birth even if they didn't want a child.
It seems to me that a lot of men (especially conservative political asshats and those who support them) don't care one way or the other about female opinions, female choices, female empowerment or female rights to their own bodies. Trump only seems to care about the way female bodies look; not the rights of those bodies; not the minds inside those bodies.
Furthermore, it seems to me that a lot of non-political regular men don't really care one way or the other about birth control and expect the woman to be in charge of that. Even a guy who is perfectly fine with wearing a condom sometimes has to be convinced to put it on, in the heat of the moment.
And condoms sometimes rip. And other forms of birth control sometimes fail to work, even if used regularly and correctly. I think most women have had numerous pregnancy scares and quite a few women have gotten accidentally pregnant at least once, even if they're not careless about sex.
My mind can backtrack to my college days, when I first became sexually active and also had an irregular period and was freaked out about the prospect of accidentally getting pregnant. Sometimes my period would start a week or two later than expected for no apparent reason and I'd be mentally freaking that I had somehow ended up getting impregnated. I always had the man use condoms, but when my period was late, I'd start wondering if I had accidentally gotten pregnant some other way. Like maybe before the sex actually became penetrative, some pre-cum had somehow managed to work its way into my body. Like maybe I should stay away from physical contact with anyone who has a penis that ever emits any bit of pre-cum. Because if I ever got accidentally pregnant than I'd either have to get an abortion or give birth to a child I did not want. And either way, even if I regularly used birth control, it would be all my fault, for being a sexually active female who had no desire for a baby. If abortions are illegal, I guess that means that the only valid reason for sex is procreation and that nobody should become sexually active unless they're perfectly fine with becoming a parent with whoever they get physical with.
Let's say a casual couple have sex with birth control that fails to work and accidentally get pregnant. They'd have to suddenly switch from a casual couple to a couple who has to get extremely serious and decide whether or not they want to have a child together for the rest of their lives or whether she wants to have an abortion. If abortion is illegal, then there is no choice in the matter, at least not a legal, healthy choice. Your condom ripped, you accidentally got pregnant, now you either have to have a child together for the rest of your life, even if the two of you had no particular intention of being together for the rest of your lives OR you have to illegally abort yourself. Let's say you were raped. You either have to birth the baby of a disgusting rapist pig and deal with that for the rest of your life or you have to convince a court room that you were raped and didn't somehow bring it upon yourself.
At some point in the dream, my mind realized that this guy's intent was to rape me (or to try to instigate sex and if I didn't say yes, it would lead to forced sex rape), so I was trying to figure out how best to escape this house and this space I wasn't very familiar with, and I was thinking about how I wouldn't even know what to do if I did manage to get out.
Find the house next door and ask them to take me somewhere else because I didn't feel safe? What if I didn't feel safe in the house next door either? What if they asked me what had happened at the house I had left? What was I supposed to say? That nothing had happened YET, but I could tell that the man who lived there was going to rape me? What since would that make to them, even if I knew it was true? What if they didn't believe me? What if they thought I was lying? What if they asked me why I was even in that house?
When I awoke, I started wondering/thinking about where this dream was even coming from. It's not like I've felt physically intimidated by any man RECENTLY, so why am I having a bad dream about potential rape?
Then it occurred to me that even though he hasn't intimidated me on a personal level (as in personal to the point of his body right in front of my face), the recent Trump presidency and some people being fine with it is disturbing as fuck to part of my brain. I've had to zone out about it and joke about it, in between the intimidated, pissed off, and pissed on spells, the angry, sad, and worried spells, so that I don't have extreme stress overload. Along those lines, what likely led to my rape dream was our new president and the anti-abortion executive order that he signed Monday.
I'm not an anti-man sort of woman and I'm not an anti-sex sort of woman, but I wouldn't be surprised that if abortion backtracks into the land of being illegal, this will cause a lot of women to feel way less inclined to have sex for the next 4 years, if they would not be okay with an accidental pregnancy and being legally obligated to give birth even if they didn't want a child.
It seems to me that a lot of men (especially conservative political asshats and those who support them) don't care one way or the other about female opinions, female choices, female empowerment or female rights to their own bodies. Trump only seems to care about the way female bodies look; not the rights of those bodies; not the minds inside those bodies.
Furthermore, it seems to me that a lot of non-political regular men don't really care one way or the other about birth control and expect the woman to be in charge of that. Even a guy who is perfectly fine with wearing a condom sometimes has to be convinced to put it on, in the heat of the moment.
And condoms sometimes rip. And other forms of birth control sometimes fail to work, even if used regularly and correctly. I think most women have had numerous pregnancy scares and quite a few women have gotten accidentally pregnant at least once, even if they're not careless about sex.
My mind can backtrack to my college days, when I first became sexually active and also had an irregular period and was freaked out about the prospect of accidentally getting pregnant. Sometimes my period would start a week or two later than expected for no apparent reason and I'd be mentally freaking that I had somehow ended up getting impregnated. I always had the man use condoms, but when my period was late, I'd start wondering if I had accidentally gotten pregnant some other way. Like maybe before the sex actually became penetrative, some pre-cum had somehow managed to work its way into my body. Like maybe I should stay away from physical contact with anyone who has a penis that ever emits any bit of pre-cum. Because if I ever got accidentally pregnant than I'd either have to get an abortion or give birth to a child I did not want. And either way, even if I regularly used birth control, it would be all my fault, for being a sexually active female who had no desire for a baby. If abortions are illegal, I guess that means that the only valid reason for sex is procreation and that nobody should become sexually active unless they're perfectly fine with becoming a parent with whoever they get physical with.
Let's say a casual couple have sex with birth control that fails to work and accidentally get pregnant. They'd have to suddenly switch from a casual couple to a couple who has to get extremely serious and decide whether or not they want to have a child together for the rest of their lives or whether she wants to have an abortion. If abortion is illegal, then there is no choice in the matter, at least not a legal, healthy choice. Your condom ripped, you accidentally got pregnant, now you either have to have a child together for the rest of your life, even if the two of you had no particular intention of being together for the rest of your lives OR you have to illegally abort yourself. Let's say you were raped. You either have to birth the baby of a disgusting rapist pig and deal with that for the rest of your life or you have to convince a court room that you were raped and didn't somehow bring it upon yourself.
