Book Review: GNARLY

On November 27, 2015 By Maxine L PesekeIn Authors, News, Reviews

There is beauty in breathing razorblades and exhaling a painted sunset as delicate as it is too much to behold; that’s what Danielle Smith accomplishes in her first publication, GNARLY. And “gnarly” is the perfect description of Smith’s words as she takes you for a rollercoaster through first loves and heartbreaks, all playing out like a soundtrack under the visual madness of a New Mexico skyline. Smith has lit a match that burns just as bright as one of those remarkable sunsets.

And she manages to set the reader on fire, too, turning your heart into the campfire that might light the night as she whispers in your ear bittersweet-everythings; because this is the human experience. It is raw, gritty, soiled, messy, gnarly. From the truth showcased in teenage romance, in poems such as Minerals and Freckles, to the raw and heartfelt honesty of (His) Tie Dye and Making Nothing Out Of Something, Smith manages to take the reader down a new route where so many have tread before. She’s just wearing new shoes and holding a machete, fierce as a bleeding heart, to bushwhack her way through the bramble of her own thinking.

Her book reads like an indie record, but you want everybody to hear this one. Other poems, like Super 8, showcase true artistry, peppering the reader with hidden messages like whisper-kisses, finally ending on the “title track”, Gnarly which is everything and nothing you’d expect upon reaching the end: all madness, all frantic, all knees knocking, lip biting, nail scratching grit.

Overall, both deeply touching as it is a shock that such a young voice could carry so much wisdom and experience.

Her book, as with all Swimming With Elephants Publications, can be found online on Amazon and goodreads, where you can leave a review for this up-and-coming brilliant poeta.

Welcome Dominique Christina and her Latest Publication “They Are All Me”

On August 22, 2015 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Dominique Christina

Dominique Christina is a mother, an educator and an agitator born and raised in Denver, Colorado 40 years ago. She holds two Masters degrees in English Literature and Education respectively. A licensed educator, Dominique taught in the Denver and Aurora Public school systems in Colorado for ten years, directed college prep programs and taught in an adjunct capacity at Community College of Aurora and Metropolitan State University of Denver. She believes that words make worlds. In the slam world (competitive poetry) Dominique began in 2011. That same year she won the National Poetry Slam Championship. In 2012 she won the Women of the World Slam Championship. She won it again in 2014. She’s the only person to win that honor twice.

She is a Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute fellow. Her work has appeared on TV One’s season 3 Verses and Flow show. She has performed with Cornel West and was an invited guest to Washington DC to read her poem “Emmett Till” for the Till family and the parents of Trayvon Martin, a young man who was killed in Sanford, Florida. Her first book of poetry, The Bones, The Breaking, The Balm, was published by Penmanship Books 2014. Her second book, a collection of poetry, essays, and writing prompts, is set for publication in October 2015 by Sounds True Publishing. Her work also appears in numerous literary journals, anthologies, and magazines and has been featured in Huffington Post and Upworthy several times.

Dominique’s family was critical in the civil rights movement. Her aunt Carlotta Walls-Lanier was one of nine students to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. Her grandfather was a shortstop, Hall of Fame baseball player for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues before baseball was integrated. When he left, Jackie Robinson, who would later go on to integrate baseball, took his place. Dominique’s mother, Professor Jackie Benton, is named for Jackie Robinson. She is mother to four wildly expressive children who never use inside voices…ever. But they are the raw material of possible and give her plenty of reasons to praise.

Welcome New Author

On June 26, 2015June 26, 2015 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors, News

Kristian Ashley Macaron writes about pirates, whales, wolves, folktales, deserts, volcanoes, hurricanes, planets, and her life, of course, in which adventure is constant. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she received her MFA from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts and thus melded her love for the colorful Southwest with the stunning New England coast.

Her fiction has appeared in The Winter Tangerine Review volume 3 and Lightning Cake Journal. She is a staff writer for online journal The Bellows American Review. Her poetry has been published online in Philadelphia Stories and was performed on stage at the University of New Mexico in the 2008 production of “Full Frontal Poetry.”

She has taught scriptwriting at the Emerson College Pre-College Creative Writers’ Workshop, and is currently part-time English faculty at the University of New Mexico, Valencia Campus.

Macaron’s chapbook, Storm, is now available via our on line distributors. Upcoming releases and events will be posted.

Welcome Kevin Barger to the SwEP Parade

On April 28, 2015 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors, News

Welcome Kevin!

Swimming with Elephants Publications is proud to introduce you an amazing new poet name, Kevin Barger.

After being a finalist in last June’s chapbook competition, Kevin’s book, Observable Acts, was chosen for publication and was released in late April of 2015 and is available through Amazon.com and other on line book distributors as well as local book stores in the ABQ area.

Kevin Barger is a performance poet, writer, and retired slam organizer based in Asheville, NC. He was instrumental in bringing slam poetry back to popularity in Asheville after its rise, fall, and subsequent misfirings in the area by helping to lay the groundwork for Poetry Slam Asheville from 2008 through 2011. He has also appeared on many other stages in and around the Carolinas including the Lake Eden Arts Festival, Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival, the Individual World Poetry Slam, and Southern Fried in which he was on the first team from Asheville sent to Southern Fried in nearly a decade. Now, semi-retired from the slam scene but itching to get back on stage again, he has compiled old favorites and new material in Observable Acts; his first endeavor onto the published page.

Get a copy of Observable Acts today and stay updated on the Swimming with Elephants Publications web page for further news.

Available Soon: A Fire of Prayer by Gina Marselle

On January 11, 2015January 11, 2015 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Gina Marselle, M.A.Ed, resides in New Mexico with her husband and children. She is a high school English teacher, and finds enjoyment in being creative through poetry, painting, and photography. She has been awarded three grants for various philanthropy poetic projects.

In addition, she has published poetic work with The Sunday Poem Online Series, in the Alibi, the Rag, SIC3, Adobe Walls: An anthology of New Mexico poetry, Catching Calliope, Fix and Free Poetry Anthology I and II, and La Palabra Anthology I and II.

Gina reads her poetry at local coffee shops, art galleries, and has been a featured poet at the Church of Beethoven (now known as Sunday Chatter). She has one chapbook (self published) titled ‘Round Midnight (2012). Furthermore, she has coordinated the poetry event for the Summer Open Space Series sponsored by The City of Albuquerque since 2009. Currently, she is honored to be part of the collective La Palabra: The Word is a Woman, which is a writer’s collective founded by poet Jessica Helen Lopez.

Beyond poetry, she is an accomplished photographer. Her photos of New Mexico poets have been featured in the Santa Fe magazine Trend (March of 2011).She also photographed the cover of Jessica Helen Lopez’ poetry book, Always Messing With Them Boys (West End Press, 2011), and has her photography featured in September: traces of letting go a poetry book by Katrina K Guarascio (Swimming With Elephants Publications, 2014).

Her first collection of work, A Fire of Prayer: A Collection of Poetry and Photography has been published by Swimming With Elephants Publications (2015).

Manuel González

On October 21, 2014October 21, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors, News1 Comment

Manuel González

Manuel González is a performance poet who began his career in the poetry slam. He has represented Albuquerque many times on a national level as a member of the Albuquerque poetry slam team. Manuel has appeared on the PBS show, Colores, in “My Word is My Power.” He was one of the founding members of the poetry troupe The Angry Brown Poets.

Manuel teaches workshops on self-expression and poetry in high schools and youth detention centers. He also works with an art therapist to help incarcerated young men express them-selves. He was also one of the coaches and mentors for the Santa Fe High Poetry Slam team from 2006-2010. Manuel is from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

His mother’s family is from Barelas. His father’s family is from a small town in Northern New Mexico called Anton Chico, and his father was the lead singer of the band Manny and the Casanovas. He identifies himself as being Chicano. The history, culture, and spirituality of his people are among his inspirations.

His connection to his culture helps him connect to his students. Manuel teaches poetry as a means for self-expression. Looking within oneself and examining ones roots is the essence of the type of poetry he works with emotions, feelings, experiences, and prose in an historical and cultural context is the goal of his workshops. Self esteem, finding something to say, figuring out how to say it eloquently, and letting your voice be heard are just some of the benchmarks in Manuel’s workshop. Manuel resides in Albuquerque, NM with his wife and children.

For information on booking a workshop and/or performance, please send inquiries to: xicanopoet@yahoo.com.

Manuel’s publication: …but my friends call me Burque, is now available from Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC.

“I’m proud to be from New Mexico, and to me it’s more than just green chile and desert. It’s seeing the value of famila and respect. It’s the Rio Grande valley and Santuario de Chi-mayo. It is feasts, dance, poetry and prayer.”

Kai Coggin

On September 7, 2014September 11, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Kai Coggin is a full-time poet and freelance writer born in Bangkok, Thailand, raised in Southwest Houston, and currently a blip in the 3-million acre Ouachita National Forest in Hot Springs, AR.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Poetry and Creative Writing from Texas A&M University. She writes poems of feminism, love, spirituality, injustice, metaphysics, and beauty. Kai has been published in Elephant Journal, Cliterature, The Manila Envelope, [empath], Catching Calliope and an anthology to be released summer 2014 called Journey of the Heart. She released her first chapbook, In Other Words, in August 2013. PERISCOPE HEART is her first full-length collection of poetry.

Kai knows that words hold the potential to create monumental and global change, and she uses her words like a sword of Beauty. She can be found most Wednesdays at a local venue, reading her poems into an open mic, hoping the wind carries her words out to the world.

If you would like to contact Kai to arrange a poetry reading or book signing, please e-mail her at periscopeheart@gmail.com.

Brian Hendrickson

On August 31, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors, News

Brian Hendrickson’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in a range of publications, including Indiana Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and New York Quarterly.

For his poetry Brian has been nominated for a 2011 Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net award, recognized as a 2013 finalist for Smartish Pace’s Erskine J. Poetry Prize, and awarded a 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for appearing in Beatlick Press’ La Llarona anthology.

Since earning an MFA in Creative Writing and Literary Arts from the University of Alaska Anchorage, Brian has taught and tutored writing at colleges and correctional facilities in Alaska, Florida, North Carolina, and now New Mexico, where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Rhetoric and Writing. Brian’s scholarship focuses on the role of writing in social movements and student activism.

Brian Henrickson’s collection of poetry, entitled Of Children / And Other Poor Swimmers, will be available from Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC in September 2014 and will be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other on line distributors, as well as local bookstores.

Bill Nevins

On August 17, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors, News1 Comment

Bill Nevins grew up Irish Catholic near and in New York City in the 1950’s and 60’s. He moved to northern New England and raised his three children, one of whom, Special Forces SFC Liam Nevins, died in combat in Afghanistan in 2013. Bill has lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico since 1996.

His poetry has been published in Malpaís Review, Green Left Weekly, The Rag, Central Avenue, Sage Trail, Adobe Walls, Más Tequila Review, Special Forces Charitable Trust online, Maple Leaf Rag II, The Cornelian, KUMISS, and other publications. His journalism is found in The Guardian, Forward Motion, Z Magazine, RootsWorld, Hyper Active, Trend of Santa Fe, EcoSource, LOGOS, Thirsty Ear, ABQ ARTS, Local iQ, TM Transmission, The Celtic Connection, Irish American News, An Scathan/Celtic Mirror and other journals.

Bill Nevins hosts second-Wednesday monthly poetry readings at The Range Cafe in Bernalillo, New Mexico. He can be contacted at bill_nevins@yahoo.com and at Bill Nevins on Facebook.

Bill Nevins’ collection of poetry, Heartbreak Ridge, is now available from Swimming with Elephants Publications.

author photo credit: Mark Fischer

Emily Bjustrom

On March 29, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Emily Bjustrom is a sad lonely French girl who enjoys green tea, wearing black T-shirts and reading philosophy to her cat, Mr. Kitty Whiskers.

She still lives with her parents, but hopes to rectify that situation soon. She’s working towards a very practical and useful degree at the University of New Mexico.

Pick up Emily’s first chapbook Loved Always Tomorrow upon it’s release this April.

Matthew Brown

On January 9, 2014June 17, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Matthew Brown is a young poet born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Though relatively new to slam poetry, he has preformed alongside some of Albuquerque’s most seasoned poets, and represented New Mexico two years in a row as a member Unidos Poetry Collective at Brave New Voices. Matthew Brown’s poems expose social, racial, and economic inequalities from both a Hispanic and African American perspective.

Matthew Brown’s latest chapbook Verbrennen is now available on Amazon, Createspace, and Bookworks Albuquerque via Swimming with Elephants Publications.

Nika Ann

On January 7, 2014March 9, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Nika Ann is a writer. She enjoys reading poetry out loud to her cat, playing tag with the snooze button on her alarm clock, and drinking beers while watching Austin City Limits. She is not known for taking author bios very seriously.

Nika Ann keeps a blogsite by the name of Chasing Rabbits which she invites visitors to shift though until they find something they like: nikarasco.wordpress.com.

She posts a poem every day, regardless of occasion, mood, or relevance. She mostly enjoys writing that only makes sense to her which is an incredibly selfish act and leaves her mostly shunned from the publishing world.

But she doesn’t really care about that, after all we all but walking shadows; poor players that strut and fret upon the stage, and then are heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Or something profound that some dead guy said once…

Nika Ann also enjoys using ellipses in random places and lifting quotes from great writers to use as inside jokes within her biographies and daily conversations. She is confident the right people will get the reference.

Oh, and she loves you madly.

Jessica Helen Lopez

On December 12, 2013 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Recently named one of 30 Poets in their 30’s to watch by MUZZLE magazine, Jessica Helen Lopez is a nationally recognized award-winning slam poet, and holds the title of 2012 and 2014 Women of the World (WOW) City of ABQ Champion.

She’s also a member of the Macondo Foundation. Founded by Sandra Cisneros, it is an association of socially engaged writers united to advance creativity, foster generosity, and honor community.

Her first collection of poetry, Always Messing With Them Boys (West End Press, 2011) made the Southwest Book of the Year reading list and was also awarded the Zia Book Award presented by NM Women Press.

She is the founder of La Palabra – The Word is a Woman collective created for and by women and gender-identified women. Lopez is a Ted Talk speaker alum.

You may find some of Lopez’s work at these sites –LaPalabra.abqnorthwest.com, thebakerypoetry.com, and asusjournal.org.

Her work has been anthologized in A Bigger Boat: The Unlikely Success of the Albuquerque Slam Scene (UNM Press), Earth Ships: A New Mecca Poetry Collection (NM Book Award Finalist), Tandem Lit Slam (San Francisco), Adobe Walls, Malpais Review, SLAB Literary Magazine and the upcoming Courage Anthology: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls (Write Bloody Press).

Her forthcoming release, Cunt. Bomb. a chapbook of poetry, will be released in January of 2014 from Swimming with Elephants publications.

Zachary Kluckman

On December 11, 2013January 9, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

A performance poet since 2006, Zachary Kluckman has been writing poetry for 25 years. He is a member of two consecutive Albuquerque National Poetry Slam Teams and has represented the city at the Individual World Poetry Slam.

A Pushcart Prize nominee, and recipient of the Red Mountain Press Poetry Prize, his work appears in print globally in such publications as the New York Quarterly and Cutthroat, as well as numerous anthologies. Featured on over 500 radio stations, with appearances on many of the nation’s most notorious stages, he is an accomplished spoken word artist. He serves as the Spoken Word Editor of the Pedestal. Twice recognized for making world history, he is the creator of the Slam Poet Laureate Program and an organizer for the 100 Thousand Poets for Change program, the largest poetry reading in history.

His first collection of poems, Animals In Our Flesh, was published in 2012 by Red Mountain Press. He has a collection titled, The Curious Circus, from Uncola Press. An activist and youth advocate, he lives in New Mexico with his four children.

Zachary Kluckman’s collection of poetry entitled, Some of it is Muscle, is the first publication offered from Swimming with Elephants Publications. It can be found at the following sites.

Amazon

CreateSpace

Katrina K Guarascio

On December 11, 2013January 15, 2014 By awhitetrashpoetIn Authors

Katrina K Guarascio is a writer and teacher living in Albuquerque, NM.

As an active member of the poetry community, she has worked as an editor for various literary magazines and small presses, along with hosting poetry workshops and producing various poetry performances, including The Second Saturday Slam, Rio Rancho’s only monthly Poetry Slam and Open Mic.

As an educator, her focus resides in bringing poetry into the classroom and making it accessible to students. Guarascio sponsors the Rio Rancho Youth Poetry Community, coaches a youth Slam Team, and produces a yearly literary magazine of student poetry.

Guarascio also co facilitates the Speak Easy Tangents Workshop series with fellow poet, performer, organizer, Zachary Kluckman and manages the website of La Palabra: The Word is a Woman, a feminist collective created by poet and performer Jessica Helen Lopez.

Forthcoming books published by Swimming with Elephants include: September: traces of letting go, available in early January 2014 through create space and amazon.com.