Juliet Cook's Blog, page 15

My NEW poetry chapbook, "red flames burning out" is now newly available from Grey Book Press!

"Some people might not like being called
unmistakably unstable, but I don't mind.
Because that's the way I roll
cracked eyeballs out of broken doll head holes and hell,
the broken pieces still have brains to fill
with fury and onward activity no matter how
many times they're knocked down.
Because that's the way I roll,
unable to be trapped into further oblivion.
I use gum wrappers to cover ripped out teeth
and a threesome of crooked fingers."
in the poem "My Dolls Aren't For Hunting"

My NEW poetry chapbook, "red flames burning out", as of April 2023, is now HERE, thank you to Grey Book Press! It is $8.00.
Find out more HERE - http://www.greybookpress.com/2023/04/07/internal-suffocation/
And then buy one HERE! - http://www.greybookpress.com/titles/

(Ten years ago, Grey Book Press published my "Poisonous Beautyskull Lollipop" chapbook and now ten years later, "red flames burning out" has become part of the Grey Book Press family! I am very excited and Happy Poetry Month and I truly hope that some of you will buy one!)

TODAY! APRIL 6! Self-Publishing Roundtable (Special All-Poetry Edition for National Poetry Month)!

TODAY, April 06, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm, Blood Pudding Press's Juliet Cook will be participating in this Self-Publishing Roundtable (Special All-Poetry Edition for National Poetry Month) at the Cuyahoga Public Library's South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch.

The event is free to attend, but you need to register via the link below.

Juliet Cook will also have a few Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbooks with her, available for purchase, including the most recently published, "Short Poems of Violence and Chickens" by Juliet Cook and Darryl Shupe.
https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/7616134?fbclid=IwAR2ZHYuy-2We6UiO_F6mhmMDOVT8KrB1Z55nzJdAWlBHZn4Ie7k4pgUB6zs#branch

What is Success?

Something that's been bothering me the last few weeks (before the last few weeks too, but for some reason, I feel like I'm encountering it more than usual the last few weeks) is hearing people sort of brag about how much money they make or how much money they're going to spend on something or how much attention they're getting or how much of a crowd they generate or how many "followers" they have online or how many books they're selling or how many page views they're receiving or how popular they are. As though money and numbers and popularity somehow go hand in hand with success. Maybe this is just a fluke, maybe it's partly a younger generation sort of thing, but the main reason it's bothering me is because I'm seeing it associated with art, music, and creative writing (even poetry) more than it used to be and I don't equate money or popularity with success in the realms of art, music, and writing (especially poetry). Obviously there are many different styles of art, music, and writing and some styles are going to get more attention than others and some people are going to get more attention than others and some of that is based on quality and some of that is based on presentation and/or personality and/or promotion and/or other factors and of course different people have different goals and there certainly isn't any one right or wrong way to do things.But for me personally, my main focus is on the creating (in my case, mostly writing poetry; occasionally visual art) and then getting it out there. I don't expect it to make much money or generate a lot of popularity or a big following, because my content and style are not particularly popular or mainstream and that's fine with me, because my style is me and I was never aiming towards mainstream popularity or having thousands of followers. But my art not being particularly popular doesn't mean I don't work hard on my art.Yes, I get very excited when my poetry is accepted for publication and yes, it makes me feel good when some of my poetry publications do seem to generate a little attention or a positive review (and yes, admittedly, I sometimes get a little bummed out when it seems like my published work is hardly getting any attention at all - but then I think, "Did I write it to get other people's attention or please others? No, I wrote it because I was compelled to write it for whatever my own reasons were").When I see creative people making a big deal about numbers and popularity, it causes me to wonder if that's their main goal (getting attention and being popular) and if so, why? When I hear people equating money to hard work, I feel like they are only thinking about THEMSELVES (because there are lots of people who work hard for years and never make much money, not because of lack of work, but because of their line of work and various other factors). If someone's hard work has paid off for them and given them the success they were aiming for at this juncture in their life, then good for them. But that doesn't make them some professional expert with a lifelong skill set that applies to everyone else too. Nor does it necessarily make them more successful than others. We all have different goals, different visions, different passions, different ideas, different definitions about what does or does not equate to success.For me, success is not linked to money, popularity, acting like some sort of professional expert on anything, or bragging. Don't get me wrong, I will excitedly share my poetry publications (and maybe I do that too much, in some people's opinions, but I'm sharing what I'm genuinely excited about). For me, success is based on trying one's best to be one's own true and genuine self, regardless of how much attention that does or doesn't generate. For me, success is based on genuine expression and unique poetry and art.For me, when someone seems to brag about themselves on a monetary level or be really focused on how many "followers" they have, I kind of feel like maybe I should un-follow that person, because I don't think I relate to them and I don't think they relate to me or even necessarily care about me, because to me it seems like they don't particularly care about who their followers are on an individual level. They care about the numbers.

NEXT WEEK! Self-Publishing Roundtable (Special All-Poetry Edition for National Poetry Month)!

NEXT THURSDAY, April 06, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm, Blood Pudding Press's Juliet Cook will be participating in this Self-Publishing Roundtable (Special All-Poetry Edition for National Poetry Month) at the Cuyahoga Public Library's South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch.

The event is free to attend, but you need to register and as of right now, it looks like there are only 3 Seats remaining.  

Juliet Cook will also have a few Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbooks with her, available for purchase, including the most recently published, "Short Poems of Violence and Chickens" by Juliet Cook and Darryl Shupe.
https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/7616134?fbclid=IwAR2ZHYuy-2We6UiO_F6mhmMDOVT8KrB1Z55nzJdAWlBHZn4Ie7k4pgUB6zs#branch

NEW! My poem From Hormone Imbalance to Death is newly appearing in Scapegoat Review, Spring 2023

"Sometimes we learn the hard way
that some mice will eat their own babies
like sadistic cannibals, leaving nothing but half a body
attached to a head that will always live inside mine."
in my poem From Hormone Imbalance to Death, newly appearing within the new SCAPEGOAT REVIEW SPRING 2023
read more HERE - https://www.scapegoatreview.org/spring-2023/juliet-cook

NEW! A Review of my poetry chapbook, "Another Set of Ripped-Out Bloody Pigtails"!

This is part of an interesting review I recently received from someone who recently purchased a few poetry chapbooks from my Blood Pudding Press shop. The chapbook they are commenting on here is actually a chapbook of my poetry that was published by The Poet's Haven in 2019, but I still have some available, as linked to below.***"Many thanks for the shipment of books. I opened your ‘Another Set of Ripped-Out…’ and knew from your poetic demands re: ‘fake pig legs’ on page one that I would like your aesthetic!Vicious. Aggressive. Relentless. Aggravated. Enpustulated. Furious.It is a hell of a book. I want to read more of your stuff."(by Jade Schapiro)***A link to Another Set of Ripped-Out Bloody Pigtails - https://www.etsy.com/listing/701084408/another-set-of-ripped-out-bloody

NEW! Delighted to have SIX NEW POEMS appearing within A Thin Slice of Anxiety!

I have six new poems making an appearance in A Thin Slice of Anxiety!

"This room is the shape and sound
of an old music box. Am I a broken doll?
My head keeps swerving around in circles,
the same song playing again and again

until it starts to hiss into impending oblivion

after being thrown against wall after wall,

in repeated attempts to get rid of my real voice.
Again and again, I say no."

from the poem "Broken Brain Capsules"
read more here - http://www.athinsliceofanxiety.com/2023/03/poetry-selections-from-juliet-cook.html

Sideways Me, March 2023

Sideways Me, March 2023

NEW! Two creepy collaborative poems by me and Darryl Shupe in DIAGRAM 23.1!

"Spiraling down doom ribbons
hide inside this cart's cotton candy,
aiming to invade your cavities."


Delighted to share that me and Darryl Shupe have two collaborative poems making a freakish little appearance in DIAGRAM 23.1!

"EVERYBODY IS A LOSER HERE!" and "SUGAR WATER AND GREASE FIRE"!

read more HERE - http://thediagram.com/23_1/cookshupe.html

***

Furthermore, you can read fifteen more of these creepy fair(y) tail poems inside our collaborative poetry chapbook entitled Short Poems of Violence and Chickens, published by Blood Pudding Press, available HERE - https://www.etsy.com/listing/1321276974/new-short-poems-of-violence-and-chickens

NEW! "Writing the Self-Elegy, The Past Is Not Disappearing Ink" will be coming to life in APRIL

Update: Now this poetry anthologies release date is the end of April (poetry month ) - it is currently available for preorder - AND when preordering, you can use the discount code SIUP20 and get 20% off!

I'm in the process of and really enjoying reading this book. The book doesn't technically exist in print until May, but since I have a couple poems in it, I received an online proof a while back, to double check my poems and I've been reading the other poems in there too and really loving a lot of them.

It's called "Writing the Self-Elegy, The Past Is Not Disappearing Ink", edited by Kara Dorris, includes work by 28 poets, and the poets offer poetry, an "essay" (interpreted various different ways), and a writing prompt.

I'm very excited to be included in this book, even more excited about reading all the other contributions, and will be even more excited when the book comes to life in print in May.

You can find out more about it here and even buy one if you want. 

http://siupress.siu.edu/books/978-0-8093-3906-8