Coming soon!
Category: News
Redwood Poetry Festival
Happy New Year from Swimming with Elephants
After much contemplation and reflection, Swimming with Elephants Publications has made the decision to close its doors for the year of 2021.
We will be taking a hiatus to reflect on our goals and presence in the community and decide, over the next year, if there is still a place for SwEP in our ever changing world. We hope this time off will provide the opportunity for us to decide whether are best course of action is to recuperate, or if it is time for us to go gentle into that goodnight.
We at SwEP have been incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement of our community over the past several years. The opportunity to work with such a vast selection of poets and artists across the United States and beyond has been more than any small press could aspire to achieve. We are grateful to have been able to represent new and emerging voices, as well as provide awareness to various social issues and public concerns through topical anthologies.
All our publications are still available at this time through Independent Bookstores, like Bookworks Albuquerque, as well as the major distribution centers. If it becomes clear that it is not possible resume our business, these publications will go out of print at the end of 2021.
If you are published with Swimming with Elephants Publications, you can expect your annual statement within the next two weeks which will include more information regarding the break and options concerning your publication.
Much love, respect, and gratitude to everyone who has helped us become and maintain the small presence we have. Please remain safe and compassionate to each other during these trying times.
News: Wrapping Up 2020
In is no secret that this has been a difficult year for our small press. We have struggled over the last several months to complete the contracts from the beginning of the year, and are happy to say with the publication of Unlocked Poetry, we have fulfilled our obligations.
Now that we are caught up with all of our outstanding projects, we will be suspending our publications for the undeterminable future. We have already canceled our Weekly Write and this year’s Open Call for Poetry Chapbooks. I would very much like to say we will be back next year, but I am hesitant to make any promises at the time being.
If you are one of our authors, we want to remind you that according to your contract you retain all the rights to your work and if you choose to take work previously published by Swimming with Elephants Publications and publish it elsewhere, we will wish you the very best of luck in your endeavor. If you are interested in retiring your publication from SwEP to seek publication elsewhere, please send us an email and we can conclude the production of your work. I assure you, there will be no hard feelings on our end.
As I have previously stated, the publication of chapbooks is a luxury and not a priority in the world we are currently trying to navigate. I would much rather put the press to rest than attempt to conjure new publications that of a lower quality and/or are not meeting the needs of our authors and community.
We will know early in 2021 if our doors will be shut for good and what the outlook will be.
Currently, all our publications are still for sale through the major book distributors, but as always, we encourage readers to seek their purchases from independent bookstores or from the authors themselves.
We continue our affiliation with Bookworks Albuquerque and encourage our readers to purchase our latest releases through Bookworks or other independent Bookstores.
Find our complete catalog here: https://swimmingwithelephants.com/catalog-by-author/
Be safe and be well!
Oct. 28th UNM-Valencia Literary Reading Review
Wednesday night met us with a brief but powerful literary reading hosted by Patricia Gillikin and Justin Bendell. We heard poetry and literature from a passionate group which included the likes of Kristian Macaron, Julia Brennen, Tyra Belle Lechner, Maxine Peseke, and Matthew Brown. Hosted on Zoom Webinar, this reading felt true to the speaker-audience dynamic that we are used to with literary readings. This reading lacked the exchange of community energy that would otherwise be present, however as Patricia Gillikin pointed out, there is beauty in the audience interacting with the readers via writing in chat. In that respect, the hosts were still able to foster an atmosphere for open dialog between audience members and readers alike.
The night earnestly contemplated feelings of uncertainty we all face as the rollercoaster year of 2020 heads towards its winter season. Themes of trauma, desire for escapism, black beauty, racial tensions, god, and everyday harsh realities stood out heavily during Wednesday night’s reading. To say that I was blown away by the passion and visceral imagery of the literature would be an understatement; at times I felt my mouth plop open and eyebrows raise at the starkness of each piercing piece of work. As the night progressed, each poem/piece of literature brought a powerful perspective to that of the previous. Imagery of bright gas station signs, pre-apocalypse life, looking hate in the face, and working with populations experiencing homelessness painted a vivid and all too real picture of my own community. In many ways, my own hopelessness and uncertainty was reflected back to me through the night’s literature, as I found myself experiencing a much-needed emotional release. Matthew Brown wrapped up the night well, touching on the underlying sense of urgency we all relate to as election day nears, “There isn’t room to discriminate when there’s no room at all”. At times, it does feel like there is no room at all. With all the pain and precariousness we find ourselves wrapped up in, I am glad that Patricia Gillikin and Justin Bendell provided a space for our emotions to collapse into literature.
If you are interested in learning more about Patricia and Justin’s work, head over to their Facebook pages and be sure to check out the amazing featured writers along the way!
Aaron Ambrose
Aaron Ambrose is a white, disabled, trans femme poet, herbalist and artist. A step-parent, a pretty good cook and tends to know a little bit about a lot of things. They’ve produced numerous chapbooks, performed at all kinds of events, moved a million times, started a million gardens and raised sheep, goats, llamas and chickens. Their cultural and political work is most always something to do with keeping poor and disabled lives at the front and center. As a survivor and former sex worker their low class, home-sick, scorpio heart is forever with the ones that are never in the room.
Order from Bookworks
Swimming with Elephants Publications always encourages our audience to purchase books from independent books stores and author sales.
Our official independent bookstore affiliate is Bookworks Albuquerque, and we encourage purchases through their website to people all over the United States of America.
You can now order our most recent release, Worn Out Gorgeous by Aaron Ambrose, from Bookworks Albuquerque. Click here to order today!
Now Available: Worn Out Gorgeous by Aaron Ambrose
We would like to announce the release of Worn Out Gorgeous by Aaron Ambrose.
Coming Soon: Worn Out Gorgeous
Coming Soon:
Worn Out Gorgeous
by Aaron Ambrose
We would like to announce the upcoming release of Worn Out Gorgeous by Aaron Ambrose, the second of three chapbooks which were chosen for publication from our 2020 Chapbook Open Call. Originally scheduled for release in June, the pandemic has pushed our release date to October, 2020.
Follow our website and Facebook page for upcoming release and performance information.
An additional note to our followers:
The ability to publish is a luxury which should not be the top priority of our society at the moment, and it has not been the top priority for our staff. However, we have every intention of fulfilling the contracts we made before the pandemic.
Due to the pandemic we have postponed this year’s Open Call for chapbooks and the Weekly Write. After the new year, in 2021, we will reevaluate our business model and decide on our next steps.
Although we have no idea what the future holds for our small press, we have our fingers crossed that we will survive this difficult time and come out on the other side but it is far too soon to know what we will look like in the next year.
We still have one more chapbook from last year’s Open Call which we hope to release before the end of 2020 and are hoping to still be able put together our 2020 anthology. We have extended our timeline for these publications and we appreciate the patience of our followers and poets.
You can continue to support us by supporting our poets and supporting independent bookstores.
Review of Mindwell Poetry Featuring Kat Heatherington
Mindwell Poetry’s The Poet Speaks series featuring Kat Heatherington was all but your average poetry reading. Though it’s been a while since I’ve indulged in a live in-person poetry reading, the zoom format invites a different kind of intimacy, whether comfortable or a little too personal. But in the words of host Zach Kluckman, Mindwell Poetry is a space for creatives to celebrate recovery, resilience and to destroy stigma in a community setting; and that is exactly what Friday nights reading delivered on. We began with a discussion about how everyone has been coping with the “Mad Max movie come true” that is our reality, and about the importance of vulnerability and storytelling in times like these. This discussion led us into the open mic portion of the night, where two main themes formed rather naturally through the voices of our open mic poets: rage and motherhood. Our poets helped us imagine how rage and the celebration of motherhood shape our perception of our current reality, and how in some cases the two are inseparable. We explored the silent thoughts and fears of mothers, the desire to feel, self-destruction, machismo, and I.C.E detainment centers among other themes. Between each poem, we were invited to share our feelings and thoughts, which ended up feeling more like a chat with old friends than anything.
After discussing rage and motherhood, Kat Heatherington introduced a more somber tone to the night with readings from her recent book The Heart is a Muscle. Throughout Heatherington’s divulgence into topics of loneliness, community living, reflection on family, friendship, and love, and class struggle, I noticed one theme in particular that stuck out: connectivity to nature. Heatherington defines her poetry as ‘stunning transitional moments’, and rightfully so. Not only does she take us through scenes of serene flowers, the harvesting of herbs and crops, and the toils of her childhood home in the rugged desert, but she also entices us to envision what it means to explore ourselves in relation to the physical world around us. Kat brought tears to our eyes as she closed with The Bones of this Land, a poem about her relationship to her father and returning to her childhood home in the wake of his passing. Holding the full attention of the virtual room, she left us to ponder a phenomenon I believe to be quite universal to us all, “nothing had changed except us, everything had changed except us”.
If you are interested in watching Friday nights Mindwell Poetry reading, head over to https://www.facebook.com/mindwellpoetry/videos/820621608689335/
And if you’re interested in checking out The Heart is a Muscle and Kat Heatherington’s other publications, you can find them on Amazon or at https://harvestmoonbooks.com/?category=Poetry
Review contributed by Amanda Rose Garcia.
Amanda Rose García is a third year student at the University of New Mexico studying Spanish and Chicana/o Studies. She enjoys challenging her perspective on the world and exploring what it means to live, learn, and love through her passions of reading, writing, poetry, and music.
COVID Updates and Hard Choices
New Releases
Due to COVID in the United States, our production has slowed tremendously. Whereas last year we had almost 17 publications by this time, we are now only presenting our fourth completed collection.
“A Duet of Dying is a poignant and honest approach to surviving terminal sickness, living disabled, and the constant navigation of the healthcare system of the United States. From honest confessions like remaining with somebody caught cheating “Because I was on his health insurance,” in Why Did You Stay? part 3, to the foreign and familiar feeling of not knowing yourself apart from the “alien” in Pathogen, this collection is a special one for its approach through — and more aptly: with — sickness. Then there is the raw cruelty that is given a voice so aptly in Ringtones into Dirges; here, at last, are words for the battle with collections calls for MRIs and diagnostic tests; those which are necessary to life, but the collected debt of which could easily drive somebody to death. And I think, finally, finally, here is an honest testament — of love, of life (while actively dying), of death (and still living). And wonderfully, a narrative from two powerful queer voices, who offer this bittersweet collection, so purely.”
~Reviewed by Maxine Peseke
As always, we encourage ordering the collection from the authors personally or through an independent bookstore, but the collection is also available through Amazon and other distributors.
About the Authors
Shanna Alden (they/them) is a queer poet, photographer, barista, and bartender living in Seattle, WA with their chosen family and a couple very soft cats. They sit on the board of Rain City Poetry Slam and consistently host weekly poetry shows.
Erin Schick (they/them) is a queer, trans, and multiply disabled social worker living in upstate New York and focused on disability justice and queer liberation. Their interests include the Pacific Northwest, women’s soccer, and sled dogs.
Coming Soon
Before the end of the year we have two more books scheduled for release: Worn out Gorgeous by Aaron Ambrose and Double-Knotted Shoelace by Trixi Rosa. We are also working on putting together an anthology called Unlocked Poetry from the Lyrical Vagabonds in Denver. Hopefully, we will still be able to create our annual anthology, but we won’t know the details until December.
Effects of COVID 19
Since the beginning of the COVID situation in the United States our office has been closed which means all work for the press is being done via my home computer. My outdated, slow, simple home computer. This has already lead to many unforeseen troubles with formatting of the books we are currently producing.
Not only has the production time has slowed tremendously and we have had to switch back to a print on demand service after the closing of the local printer we only recently acquired. We are still committed to putting out quality publications but our ability to produce publications the way we want has changed greatly.
Because of this, we are postponing our annual Open Call for Chapbooks this year, and possibly our Weekly Write series. This is not a decision I have come to easily, but I do believe it is the right decision at this time. I would much rather slow down and survive, than push through and burn out.
What’s to Come
The ability to publish is a luxury which should not be the top priority of our society at the moment, but we do believe we will return to a place where a small press like ours has a purpose and a future.
Although we have no idea what the future holds for our small press, we have our fingers crossed that we will survive this difficult time and come out on the other side better than before.
You can continue to support us by supporting our poets and supporting independent bookstores.
Kat Heatherington to Feature at Mindwell Poetry September 18
Kat Heatherington is the featured guest at an upcoming poetry reading, and we would like to invite you to attend!
Please read the following invitation from Kat to learn how to attend and get a copy of The Heart is a Muscle:
Mindwell Poetry’s The Poet Speaks series will be held over Zoom on Friday, September 18th, at 7pm – so you can attend from anywhere in the world. There’s an open mic, and then the host will briefly interview me , and then I’ll read from my new book, The Heart is a Muscle, which came out in March – and for which this is the first feature-length reading I’ve done, given how this year has turned out. 🙂
I’m really looking forward to sharing this work with you, and I’d love to see you there!
Event details are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/315470969761143/
<https://www.facebook.com/events/315470969761143/> and the Zoom link
will be available from there as well, a little closer to the date. Even if you are not on facebook, this page should be accessible.
If you haven’t picked up your copy of the book yet, they’re available directly from me, as well as at Harvest Moon Books, https://harvestmoonbooks.com/category=Poetry<https://harvestmoonbooks.com/?category=Poetry>, and Amazon, along with my first book, The Bones of This Land.
And if you enjoy my work and would be interested in receiving poetry in your inbox a couple times a month, check out my Patreon page! Patreon has been a source of deep delight in this difficult year. For as little as $1/month you will receive brand-new and unpublished poems in your
inbox, or for $5/month, you can have a handwritten postcard poem mailed
to you. Both the postcard photo and the poem are my original work.
https://patreon.com/yarrowkat <https://patreon.com/yarrowkat>
I hope to see you on the 18th!
Wednesday Night Poetry Review – 9/2
Yesterday’s Virtual Wednesday Night Poetry, hosted by poet/author Kai Coggin, introduced us to the theme of Heroes. This theme invites us to break down our walls and open ourselves up to vulnerability during times that plague us with pain, fear, sickness, loneliness, civil and racial unrest, and growing political tension. Volume 25 of WNP welcomed us with the likes of Bay Area poet/author Kelly Grace Thomas, award-winning Tennessee poet BornToWrite the Poet – otherwise known as Lydia Cook, Alabama poet/author Charlotte Pence, and Austin poet/author Allyson Whipple.
Kai Coggin opened the night with a call of praise to the black woman – with the mention of Breonna Taylor – taking us out of poetic trance to remind us of the raw reality of this country’s racial dynamic. Passing the mic off to BornToWrite the Poet, we are invited on the journey of discovering what it means to be a hero in Love and Revolution, as the world casts a harsh and judgmental eye on the lived experiences of black women. Charlotte Pence offers us the perspective of what it looks like to be a hero whilst coping with illness and facing mortality. Kelly Grace Thomas then beckons us to question how we can be heroes to our own bodies and the desire to be heroes for those in our lives on the receiving end of racism and xenophobia. Closing with Allyson Whipple, we reminisce on the having, losing, and hiding of love, as well as finding strength and wisdom in the mundane.
With the virtual format, what would normally feel like the poet speaking to the audience now feels much more personal. We are brought into the sacred space of each poet as we explore not just poetry, but the release of what weighs heavy on the mind as we collectively experience the traumas of this country and world through our screens. A connection like this is necessary for communal healing, however awkward and difficult it may be to navigate a virtual set up. I appreciate getting to curate my own sacred space with the help of the amazing featured poets. Regardless, I can’t help but feel disappointed that I must partake whilst locked inside my apartment; but am grateful that Kai Coggin has done the work to make WNP as accessible as reality permits.
If you’re interested in checking out WNP, head on over to https://www.facebook.com/WednesdayNightPoetry, and don’t hesitate to check out all the amazing featured artists while you’re there.
Now Available: A Duet of Dying
The latest release from
Swimming with Elephants Publications
is now available!
“A Duet of Dying is a poignant and honest approach to surviving terminal sickness, living disabled, and the constant navigation of the healthcare system of the United States. From honest confessions like remaining with somebody caught cheating “Because I was on his health insurance,” in Why Did You Stay? part 3, to the foreign and familiar feeling of not knowing yourself apart from the “alien” in Pathogen, this collection is a special one for its approach through — and more aptly: with — sickness. Then there is the raw cruelty that is given a voice so aptly in Ringtones into Dirges; here, at last, are words for the battle with collections calls for MRIs and diagnostic tests; those which are necessary to life, but the collected debt of which could easily drive somebody to death. And I think, finally, finally, here is an honest testament — of love, of life (while actively dying), of death (and still living). And wonderfully, a narrative from two powerful queer voices, who offer this bittersweet collection, so purely.”
~Reviewed by Maxine Peseke
As always, we encourage ordering the collection from the authors personally or through an independent bookstore, but the collection is also available through Amazon and other distributors.
About the Authors
Shanna Alden (they/them) is a queer poet, photographer, barista, and bartender living in Seattle, WA with their chosen family and a couple very soft cats. They sit on the board of Rain City Poetry Slam and consistently host weekly poetry shows.
Erin Schick (they/them) is a queer, trans, and multiply disabled social worker living in upstate New York and focused on disability justice and queer liberation. Their interests include the Pacific Northwest, women’s soccer, and sled dogs.
Pre-orders are Available for A Duet of Dying
“What is it to face something defined as inevitable and find some still breathing beauty within, however imperfect that beauty may be? If you are Shanna Alden or Erin Schick, then the answer is: sing your heartsong as vibrantly, fiercely and unapologetically as possible. With this collection, they do all of that and more. These are poems that do not attempt to define or even simply describe the experience of living with disability, or surviving terminal illness within a broken system of care. No, these are poems that translate every breath into a minor miracle, speaking to the blossoming of pain as eloquently as the slow simmer of determination beneath the surface. A Duet of Dying is, almost, improperly titled – because with every poem, you can almost hear the swelling voices of the choir, of all of those out there in the wide world who have experiences that will make this work invaluable. This collection is so utterly, inevitably human, it will leave you shaken.”
Zachary Kluckman, CPSW
Author of Some of It is Muscle and The Animals in Our Flesh
Pre-order A Duet of Dying today: https://py.pl/AMg6UcckG7C !
Coming Soon: A Duet of Dying
Down, but not Out
It is no secret that the pandemic has affected Swimming with Elephants Publications in several ways. Since the office has been closed, and will likely remain closed for the rest of the year, creating publications have become difficult and time consuming. However, we are still kicking.
We would like to announce the upcoming release of A Duet of Dying by Shanna Alden and Erin Schick, the first of three chapbooks which were chosen for publication from our 2020 Chapbook Open Call. Originally scheduled for release in May, the pandemic has pushed our release date to August 15, 2020.
Follow our website and Facebook page for upcoming release and performance information.
An additional note to our followers:
The ability to publish is a luxury which should not be the top priority of our society at the moment, and it has not been the top priority for our staff. However, we have every intention of fulfilling the contracts we made before the pandemic.
Although we have no idea what the future holds for our small press, we have our fingers crossed that we will survive this difficult time and come out on the other side but it is far too soon to know what we will look like in the next year.
We still have two more chapbooks from last year’s Open Call which we hope to release before the end of 2020 and are hoping to still be able put together our 2020 anthology. We have extended our timeline for these publications and we appreciate the patience of our followers and poets.
You can continue to support us by supporting our poets and supporting independent bookstores.
SwEP Mid-Month Review: the heart is a muscle
Review by Lizzie Waltner
Kat Heatherington’s poetry collection, the heart is a muscle, brings to light ideas of love that address all aspects of life in a powerful manner and has a deep connection to nature throughout. Her use of, or lack thereof, of capital letters throughout her collection gives the pieces a softness. There are no sharp edges in this collection, which makes it very comforting. These pieces are bright and playful but not downplay the serious issues that wring our hearts.
In her first section, a house by the river, Heatherington’s poem ‘planting poem’ we not only get a taste of spring, but also the touch of the past and endings. For example,
i need to plant more food this year, and less flowers,
but that thin pale green leaf lifts my heart,
and i pray for rain enough to give them all blossoms.
the cat’s grave, her small lilac,
is undisturbed and thriving.
In this small section we see her powerful use of the past contrasting with the present. It not only reflects on the past, the previous dirt being flower filled and a resting space for her cat, but also what it can become which is more sustainable and hearty for the soul, growing more food and the ability of there still being beauty in her memories of her cat that can be represented by the thriving lilac.
This idea of needing more food, could also be applied to more than just nutritional value, and how sometimes all we can do is hope to get through the next months. We all need a little rain sometimes.
The central section is aptly named, stunning transitional moments, as it is not only done stunningly, but addresses some of the toughest realities everyone learns as an adult. In ‘breathing room’ Heatherington tackles the idea of distance and leaving, and the complexity we all feel when walking away from something we love.
now we both have room to breath
and are using it to cry with.
now I can see your stormcloud eyes
filled with pain, and watching me walk away
and not feel all the wind in my sails
fly towards the storm in your heart.
The piece ends with ‘we are both standing’ and I think that hits home hard, because despite sometimes leaving being a difficult idea to grapple with it can have a positive ending, such as being able to stand on ones own.
The last section of this collection, the flammable heart, is admittedly my favorite. This entire section made my heart ache, but in the best way possible. My favorite piece in this section is, maybe. It’s simplicity about wishful thinking with the simple phrase ‘or maybe not’ got me every single time it’s used throughout this piece. This repetitive technique in this poem is repetition at its highest.
and you will visit now and then,
or maybe you won’t,
and i’ll love you anyway,
and send you postcards and text messages
about the rain and the corn and the sweet desert stars,
The way the poems presents this idea of unconditional love, despite being aware of things not working out makes it that much more heart-breaking. At the end of the day, there is always wishful thinking for love and always a realization, that maybe it won’t work out.
Overall, this collection really gets under your skin and claws itself in, sometimes making you feel warm and fuzzy, other times letting those emotions sting throughout. It makes you feel alongside the narrator and presents itself in a relatable manner and uses wonderful metaphors and similes to give visual representation to emotions. Kat Heatherington does a fantastic job in this collection, and anyone with a heart will adore it.
Click the image to order the heart is a muscle from Bookworks ABQ.
the heart is a muscle
by kat heatherington
Kat Heatherington is a queer ecofeminist poet, sometime artist, pagan, and organic gardener. She lives south of Albuquerque New Mexico, in Sunflower River intentional community with a varying number of other humans and cats. Kat’s work primarily addresses the interstices of human relationships and the natural world. She has one previous book, The Bones of This Land, published in 2017 by Swimming with Elephants Publications and available at Bookworks and Harvest Moon Books in Albuquerque, as well as on amazon.com. She can be found online at https://patreon.com/yarrowkat and on instagram at @sometimesaparticle. You can contact the author at yarrow@sunflowerriver.org.
SwEP April 2020 Newsletter
New Releases
Due to the outbreak of COVID 19 and the closures it caused, our new releases of 2020 have yet to be celebrated and recognized. However, Swimming with Elephants Publications has created and released four titles since the beginning of the year. These four publications are available at all major book distributors but we encourage our audience to please consider picking up these new releases from the poet directly or an independent bookstore.
Awe
by Bill Nevins
This is a slender volume of poems of great depth. Nevins braids themes of loss, grief and rage about the senseless loss of beautiful young people (including his beloved son) in wars that never end; historical conquest and current betrayal of indigenous peoples in the Americas; and cruel policies that cause the death of children today in immigrant detention camps. Sweat lodge incantations tell ancient stories of immigration, land theft, and the greed that drives wars for natural resources, and the legacy of curses that follow in the form of natural disasters.
Irish history with its own long sorrows also threads through Nevins’ work with allusions to Yeats and poems printed in Irish. Like all poetry, these poems should be read aloud to reveal their internal rhymes and the cadence of old oration as the poet writes of universal themes. Quiet declarations of truth are woven through these poems that urge us to live safe in “shared loving energy,” as Nevins puts it, not afraid of anything at all.
“Awe” is essential reading for this time of great unknowing and uncertainty, when truly we can live only in the present. In the title poem, Nevins reminds us that all the past is in the here, in this now.
Review submitted by Mary Dudley
The heart is a muscle
by kat heatherington
Kat Heatherington is a queer ecofeminist poet, sometime artist, pagan, and organic gardener. She lives south of Albuquerque New Mexico, in Sunflower River intentional community with a varying number of other humans and cats. Kat’s work primarily addresses the interstices of human relationships and the natural world. She has one previous book, The Bones of This Land, published in 2017 by Swimming with Elephants Publications and available at Bookworks and Harvest Moon Books in Albuquerque, as well as on amazon.com. She can be found online at https://patreon.com/yarrowkat and on instagram at @sometimesaparticle. You can contact the author at yarrow@sunflowerriver.org.
The Emigrant and other poemsThough he lived only 38 years, Jan Slauerhoff (born in 1898 in Leeuwarden, the capitol of Friesland in The Netherlands, and died in 1936) is considered the only poete maudit of Holland in the 20th Century, a late Romantic poet influenced by Rimbaud, Verlaine, and Corbiere.
His first poem was published as a teenager in the communist magazine the Neeiuw Tijd. After university study of medicine in Amsterdam, he worked for the rest of his life as a ship’s doctor on different ships and therefore visited many different continents, including Asia, Africa and the Caribbean of the Americas.
His longing for the passionate love for a woman and his restlessness in being a wanderer at sea, with especial sympathy for the poor and the downtrodden, figure importantly in his poetry.
There’s a story doubtlessly true that toward the end of his life, he was on a boat in the China Sea where Chinese would row out to receive shots against typhoid and diphtheria from him. Two years before his death, his final book of poems, Soleares, was awarded the Van der Hoogt Prize in The Netherlands.
He was also the author of the romantic semi-documentary novel of the 16th century Portuguese poet Luis de Camoes with whom Slauerhoff deeply identified in The Forbidden Kingdom (1932), and Life on Earth (1934).
But it’s as a poet that Slauerhoff is most deeply remembered by the people of The Netherlands, for his embodiment of the themes of modern anxiety, and the home-away-from-home that his poems evoke. Indeed he was among the first European, African or American poets in the last century to write not simply of but within the Orient, and many poems among the 31 here reflect that domain.
Nuestros antepasados y la nueva generación en SW Michigan: Querencia in the Latinx Midwest: Photography and Ethno-poeticsQuerencia is a connection with land, and with water, which sustains life. It is a remembrance of one’s history; where one began. It calls upon a place of origin. Yet, it also transcends a want and desire for where our future will take us. Querencia is not grounded by the traditional concept of Aztlán, that of the U.S. Southwest. Rather, it follows the Latinx diaspora; wherever it lands, wherever it develops roots.This project builds upon the querencia developed from the historical knowledge and social factors regarding ethnic enclaves such as the immigrant neighborhood of Roosevelt Park along the Grandville Avenue “César E. Chávez Boulevard” Corridor in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Chicanos/as, exiled Cuban-Americans, Dominicans, and refugee Central Americans have reestablished their querencia in the Latinx diaspora within this barrio. Thus, Nuestros antepasados y la nueva generación en SW Michigan observes through photography and bilingual poetry how this West Michigan community represents its ‘latinidad’.
Current Events & Projects
Currently, all in person events are on hold until the stay at home order is lifted and events can be rescheduled, but there is still a lot going on in the poetry world.
Several of our poets have begun virtual Open Mics or virtual Poetry Slams, where work can still be shared. SaraEve Fermin has begun a group called: I need you so much closer: a virtual bi-monthly artist talkspace. Kai Coggin has taken her Wednesday Night Poetry to the web and is hosting her show on April 1st (WNP Virtual Open Mic, Poetry Through the Pandemic). Zachary Kluckman and his Mindwell Poetry Team are also hosting a weekly Open Mic with a featured poet: The Poet Speaks: Open Mic & Featured Poet.
These are just a few of the many, many virtual shows which have popped up. A quick search of Facebook or Instagram should reveal several more events all over the world which you can participate in. (If you have a show, leave a link to it in the comments on this page to be shared).
Please support these poets and organizers by virtually attending or participating in their shows, purchasing their wares directly from them, and/or sharing the information with interested parties . Also, be willing to tip or donate a little extra to their cause.
Effects of COVID 19
As far as the current situation has affected Swimming with Elephants Publications, it should be noted that all of our upcoming publications and much of our advertising is currently on hold while we are out of the office.
We apologize for these delays and encourage our authors to continue to share their work and promote their publications in anyway that suits them at the moment, and, as always, let us know how we can help.
We have faith that once our offices reopen we will be able to tackle the already scheduled projects with little delay.
What’s to Come
The ability to publish is a luxury which should not be the top priority of our society at the moment, but we do believe we will return to a place where a small press like ours has a purpose and a future.
Although we have no idea what the future holds for our small press, we have our fingers crossed that we will survive this difficult time and come out on the other side better than before.
We still have five upcoming publications scheduled, including the selected manuscripts from our 2019 Open Call and our Annual Anthology. We have extended our timeline for these publications and we appreciate the patience of our followers and poets.
You can continue to support us by supporting our poets and supporting independent bookstores.
Would you like to contribute to May’s Newsletter?
Send a message via the Contact Us option regarding upcoming events, projects, or any other poetry related information we might include in our monthly update.
SwEP Mid-Month Review
Into the Sunset
A Review of Courtney A. Butler’s Wild Horses
By Beau Williams
Like the name suggests, Wild Horses is the struggle of an unbridled soul ready to escape from the reins. Courtney A. Butler dissects the intricacies of a fierce heart under stress and scatters them through this collection in twenty-two poems.
This collection is a frustrated soul screaming from behind a crumbling barrier. In the book’s introductory poem, “Words, Like Meat,” the first line reads:
“I scrape words
like meat
from the inside of my ribs
They have hung there
clinging desperately to what
oxygen they could”
This line summarizes why this book exists. Butler portrays a person that has had this “meat”, these weighing parts of her that needed to be released, and Wild Horses is that release. Butler tackles the delicate topics of loss of a loved one, being the “other” girl, carrying secrets, searching for love, and (like true wild horses) learning to break free. This collection has the longing and reflection of Plath, the fierceness of Ke$ha, the nature influences of Wordsworth, with a hint of zany like Lewis Carroll.
This book has hidden its structure quite well. There are no full-stops, though there are commas, hyphens, italics, and capitalized letters to subliminally guide the reader’s eye through the pages. The lack of full-stops gives the book a sense of uncertainty that Butler carries with grace; a slight unease that really sets the tone ahead of time and prepares the reader for the topics soon to follow. There are no sections, no interludes, and no quotes, Butler just gets straight to it and gives you exactly what you came there for.
As previously mentioned, the introductory poem seems to be Butler giving herself permission to write the rest of the work; “Words, like Meat” is Butler strapping the bomb to the dam, once the switch is flipped, whatever has been pushing itself against the walls will finally be released, and it was.
After that, the book really dives into relationships between the subject and the people closest to them. The second poem: “DNR,” lays out the concept of the book. It is about a person who is trying to come to terms with a situation in a relationship that neither of the participants have any control over. This is a recurring theme throughout the book. In “DNR,” the topic is death. In later poems the topics are love, lust, miscommunication, and distance.
It can be argued that one of the most intimate, relatable, and touching poems in the collection is “The Importance of Being Broken (Or Sitting in a Bathtub with Your Clothes On and the Lights Off).” Here, Butler describes the deafening moment of collapse; the moment where all the stress and all the worry has finally become too much.
“because all the shit has been hitting all the fans”
This poem gets into the mind of a person who has reached a breaking point and literally crumples into a ball, fully clothed, in their bathtub with the lights off; contemplating turning the water on, the light on, removing their clothes, finding strength but ultimately doing none of these. The content of this poem is relatable to nearly everyone. Everyone has hit rock bottom. Everyone has given up hope. Everyone has crawled into an unlikely place in an awkward fashion in search of any sort of comfort. Butler doesn’t sugarcoat anything about this mental state.
“Maybe you were pushed off that cliff
Maybe it was your fault
or maybe you got caught in the landslide
The reality is
everything you were was on that cliff
and now everything you are is
broken in a bathtub?”
Though raw and heavy, Butler ends the poem on a strong note; describing how, at the end of this, you will start to mold your new shape together like a carved bar of soap — highlighting the brand new you that will finally be able to stand up and turn on the light.
Butler also has a fun, cutesy side which is apparent in her poem “The Long Slow Huzzah! (or Tea Time Going Over a Cliff).” This one has a very surreal feel, like Salvador Dali meets Alice in Wonderland. In this poem, the author describes falling in love as a metaphor for having a tea party… while tumbling off a cliff.
“Pale yellow tablecloth rippling in the breeze
taking all the fine china with it (…)
Well then, I’ve gone and fallen in love with you ”
This might be the most animated piece in the collection. Short and sweet, “The Long Huzzah!” is quaint and joyful, with underlying tones of terror. There is no mention of fear, no imminent crash to end the plummet, just weightlessness. The mention of a cliff face insinuates it is connected to a ground and with no mention of the ground throughout the poem or plans to get out of this situation, one can only assume the postscript is bloody and riddled with shattered porcelain.
Wild Horses is a solid collection that would find home on the bookshelves of the strong-of-heart. “Closer to One” is one of the last poems in the book and sums up the target audience very well. Here, the subject considers themself as two people: the untamed animal in a cage, and the caregiver.
“Yes! I say, finally
Yes to your thirst
Yes a thousand times
to the nectar you crave (…)
You are right to thirst
and I will answer you”
This book is for any static heart who has ever felt tied down or unheard. This book is for the wild of spirit; for anyone who has needed to scream and doesn’t have the haven. Wild Horses lets you know that you are never alone in these places, and that others have been where you’ve been and (like you) survived to ride free.
Review by Beau Williams:
Beau Williams is a fairly optimistic poet based out of Portland Maine. He co-runs a weekly poetry class at Sweetser Academy and facilitates workshops at high schools and colleges around the New England area. His work has been published in numerous poetry websites and journals.
Beau has performed internationally and nationally both as a solo artist and with the performance poetry collectives Uncomfortable Laughter and GUYSLIKEYOU. He was the Grand Slam Champion at Port Veritas in 2014 and was the Artist in Residence at Burren College in Ballyvaughan, Ireland in January of 2017. Beau’s book, Rumham, is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
News from Swimming with Elephants Publications
Hello!
I am sure I do not need to say that today has found us in very strange times.
Because of social distancing, shut downs, and quarantine, small businesses and performers are being hit in a big way. We at SwEP want to take a moment to encourage everyone to keep poetry circulating by purchasing books directly from Independent Bookstores and Individual Poets.
Several of our poets have begun virtual Open Mics or virtual Poetry Slams, where work can still be shared. SaraEve Fermin has begun a group called: I need you so much closer: a virtual bi-monthly artist talkspace. Kai Coggin has taken her Wednesday Night Poetry to the web and is hosting her show on April 1st (WNP Virtual Open Mic, Poetry Through the Pandemic). Zachary Kluckman and his Mindwell Poetry Team are also hosting a weekly Open Mic with a featured poet: The Poet Speaks: Open Mic & Featured Poet.
These are just a few of the many, many virtual shows which have popped up. A quick search of Facebook or Instagram should reveal several more events all over the world which you can participate in. (If you have a show, leave a link to it in the comments on this page to be shared).
Please support these poets and organizers by virtually attending or participating in their shows, purchasing their wares directly from them, and/or sharing the information with interested parties . Also, be willing to tip or donate a little extra to their cause.
Bookworks, our official affiliate out of Albuquerque, may have it’s doors closed, but it is still open for online orders and still has many SwEP titles on their shelves. You may also consider supporting them by purchasing a gift certificate or purchasing a book for as a gift. There are plenty of people in their homes who would love a surprise book delivered to their door.
As far as the current situation has affected Swimming with Elephants Publications, it should be noted that all of our upcoming publications and much of our advertising is currently on hold while we are out of the office. We do have five publications scheduled for release this year (an anthology out of Denver, our three chapbook winners, and our yearly anthology). We also have several new releases which we have yet to be announce due to the cancellation of their release events. We apologize for these delays and encourage our authors to continue to share their work and promote their publications in anyway that suits them at the moment, and, as always, let us know how we can help.
We have faith that once our offices reopen we will be able to tackle these projects with little delay.
Although we have no idea what the future holds for our small press, we have our fingers crossed that we will survive this difficult time and come out on the other side better than before. You can continue to support us by supporting our poets and supporting independent bookstores.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Katrina Crespin & Maxine Peseke
Results of the 2020 Chapbook Open Call
Swimming with Elephants Publications would like to send a big thank you to everyone who submitted and participated with the 2020 Chapbook Open Call.
Everyone who submitted their chapbook has been sent a response at this time through submittable. If you have yet to receive a response, please check your submittable account or email us at swimwithelephants@gmail.com.
Our three judges have done an excellent job going through the submissions and have chosen 4 wonderful manuscripts for publication in 2020. The only catch is, we are waiting on two of our selected authors to reply before making a public announcement of the chosen manuscripts. Accepted manuscripts have until February 15, 2020 to respond with interest or regret.
If you submitted your manuscript, please be sure to check the submission status soon and if your manuscript was accepted please message us by February 15th.
Happy New Year from Swimming with Elephants Publications
We want to start by thanking everyone for all their support over the years. As we enter year seven of Swimming with Elephants Publications, it is amazing to see how what started as a small chapbook publication agent has bloomed to be the publisher of close to 100 publications supporting authors from all over the world.
As you know, this is a not for profit venture, which means that the resources and time spent making each publication is undertaken without charge. We sustain our business model through the sales of our anthologies and the reimbursement of the first 25 internet sales, along with the occasional submission fee. We are a fragile beast, but at this point we are persisting and that wouldn’t be happening without the hard work of our authors and supporters.
Thank you to our authors for having faith in our little sideshow and allowing us to spread your words in print. Thank you to our supporters and readers, who continue to pick up new SwEP titles and get to know our new authors.
What’s New?
We have become an official affiliate of Bookworks Albuquerque, a local, independent bookstore. Bookworks has always been a great supporter of Swimming with Elephants Publications. Not only do they carry our books on their shelves and website, they have hosted several events and releases for Swimming with Elephants Publications authors over the years. We encourage everyone who wishes to purchase a title online, to do so through Bookworks Albuquerque. By doing so, you are supporting not only Swimming with Elephants Publications but our local independent bookstore. Shop small. Support Local.
Another collaboration which has occurred over the past year, has been with NMTESOL and Central New Mexico Community College (CNM). Over the past year we have been working with the ESL Program (English as Second Language) at CNM to produce two publications created by ESL students and the ESL Club, Open Language. We are excited to share the voices of these students who might otherwise have been unable to express themselves. We look forward to more collaborations with the ESL community in 2020.
Time to Get to Work
January of 2020 is already a busy time. We are currently working on creating author statements which will be sent out by the end of the month. If you are an active SwEP Author and do not receive a statement by the end of January, please email us. You must reply to your author statement to remain an active SwEP author and to receive any available royalties for 2019.
This month also has us busy with selecting manuscripts from the Open Call for publication in 2020. Although our Open Call judges will select three manuscripts for publication, all submissions are still considered as our 2020 publication calendar is created. Please stay tuned to our website and Facebook page to get a look at this year’s publications as soon as they are announced.
Speaking of publications and submissions, Swimming with Elephants Publications has made an important change. Beginning in October 2019, submissions for chapbooks and poetry collections will only be accepted through the fall submission Open Call. We no longer have the ability to put together last minute collections or begin midyear projects. If you or someone you know would like to submit a manuscript, the next Open Call for submissions will be in October 2020.
Many of our authors have projects in the works and are continuing to promote their publications and their work. Keep your eye on the website and the Facebook page for the announcements of tours and shows in 2020!
New Releases from 2019
(in no significant order)
Sad Bastard Soundtrack
By Paulie Lipman
Cement
By Sarah Menefee
Immigrant Memories & Poetic Ambitions
By Laura Jijon
Intersex, Truth and Spirituality
By Maria Sanchez
Trumpet Call: A Swimming with Elephants Anthology
By Maxine Peseke
OM Boy
By Manuel González
Among God & Other Drugs
By Matthew Brown
Belly Up Rosehip
By Tyler Dettloff
Sell Me Insanity
By Marcial Delgado
I’ve Been Cancelling Appointments with my Psychiatrist for Two Years Now
By Sean William Dever
disaster in die / an overdose sunrise
By bassam
Small World: Central New Mexico Community College
By Yueh Ni Lin
Shorn: apologies & vows
By Benjamin Bormann
Provocateur
By Jessica Helen Lopez
Trauma Carnival
By SaraEve Fermin
Light as a Feather: An Anthology of Resilience
By Courtney Butler
Thalassophile: a chapbook of poetry
By Abigayle Goldstein
Click here to see the full Swimming with Elephants Publications Catalog.
Thank you for reading and for being a part of our Parade! Have a wonderful 2020!
Sincerely,
Kat Crespin & Maxine Peseke
Submissions for our 2020 Calendar are Closed
Thank you to everyone who submitted to our Open Call for Chapbooks and the Weekly Write this year. Our wonderful judges are busy going through the submissions and we hope to have our publishing line up established by the New Year.
If you were not able to submit this time around. Keep your eye open for our next submission period, beginning in October 2020 (unless the world ends).
In the meantime, check out our latest anthology, Trumpet Call, catalog and pick up some of our publications through Bookworks Albuquerque.
Now Available from Swimming with Elephants Publications
The latest release from
Swimming with Elephants Publications
is now available
Click the link below to order from Bookworks Albuquerque.
Cement
Sarah Menefee has helped found a Union of the Homeless in the ’80’s and currently is a co-founder of the homeless-led ‘First they came for the homeless.’ She has written articles and published poems on the homeless and their struggles in the People’s Tribune, the newspaper of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA).
In this volume she reveals the underlying depth and compassion in her poetic pen for the most vulnerable people in this society. Her method or “style” is to epiphanize the bare fragments of perception seen or felt along the streets, and of the voices she hears there.
The reader will recognize himself and herself immediately in relation to their own fears about the possibility of becoming homeless in the richest of all the thieving governments on earth, and that’s the key to the r e v o l u t I o n a r y intent behind Sarah Menefee’s words.
—Jack Hirschman
from the Introduction to Cement
Emeritus Poet Laureate of San Francisco
June 2019
Now Accepting Submissions!
Swimming with Elephants Publications is now accepting submissions!
Whether you have a chapbook, short collection, or just a couple of amazing pieces seeking a home, Swimming with Elephants Publications might have a spot for you.
Visit our website and under the submit tab you will find our current Open Calls. The specific guidelines for each call can be viewed on our Submittable page or contact us with any questions.
We do charge a submission fee. To find out why: Click Here.
To learn more about this year’s guidelines for our Chapbook Open Call and meet our guest judges, click here. To be considered for publication during 2020 you must submit before December 15, 2019.
To learn more about the Weekly Write series for the 2020 publication year, and find out how to be our Weekly feature, click here.
We can’t wait to read your work!
Weekly Write: “I’m holding our memories alone, and suddenly they are so heavy” by Frankie Kubena
I’m holding our memories alone, and suddenly they are so heavy
We stopped talking in the same way I quit smoking; eventually you must outgrow the toxic thing. I don’t think of cigarettes much since quitting, but sometimes when walking by someone who is smoking, I breathe deeply. In other words, I still love you, but at times when you weren’t around, I forgot you ever were. If I have to be a type of lonely, this is as good as any. And, if someone had to die, lord knows you tried hard enough. When I found out, the first thing I did was smoke, and I haven’t stopped since. What is mean is; my head is still spinning, and I am tired of breathing you in. Grief is less how I imagined it would be, more hysterical laughter. Sometimes it is smiling at apologies and saying “we weren’t that close,” and sometimes it collapsing. It is no explanation. It is picturing what your body must look like now, and wondering if it is any different than the ghost I used to know.
Frankie Kubena is an emerging performance poet based in New York City, currently a college student at Pace University. Their style of poetry could be described as nonconventional and I write in freestyle. Kubena grew up in several European cities and their work is created through a multicultural, feminist lens. View Frankie’s blog at frankiespoetry.com.
“Like”, “Share”, and comment on this poem to nominate it for the Annual Swimming with Elephants Publications 2019 Anthology.
Click here check out Parade: Swimming with Elephants Publications Anthology 2018 available for only $10.95.
Weekly Write: “neither are the sunflowers” by Kat Heatherington
neither are the sunflowers
under the bluegreen door
a girl is dancing
barefoot on the sidewalk,
her long white legs
in the sunlight,
surefooted,
ignoring the passersby
while her friend
plays accordion.
her brown hair & dress cry out,
it is autumn,
and i can’t believe
it’s already autumn
the maximillians
have only begun to bloom but
it’s autumn
even in the green grass
i’m not ready yet
and neither are the sunflowers
or the barefoot girl i wish i could be,
dancing
between the sycamores.
Kat Heatherington is a queer ecofeminist poet, sometime artist, pagan, and organic gardener. She lives south of Albuquerque, NM in Sunflower River intentional community, sunflowerriver.org. Kat’s work primarily addresses the interstices of human relationships and the natural world. Her work can be read at https://sometimesaparticle.org.
“Like”, “Share”, and comment on this poem to nominate it for the Annual Swimming with Elephants Publications 2019 Anthology.
Click here check out Parade: Swimming with Elephants Publications Anthology 2018 available for only $10.95.
Now Available: Belly-Up Rosehip: A Tongue Blue with Mud Songs
Swimming with Elephants Publications is proud to announce the release of Belly-Up Rosehip: A Tongue Blue with Mud Songs by Tyler Dettloff (with illustrations by Claire Moore). Belly-Up Rosehip is the final publication chosen from our 2019 Open Call for Submissions, leaving with it much promise and enchantment before we open our virtual door again for this upcoming open call. 
Deep-rooted in radiant pride for his Native culture, with a jazzy bluesy-feel woven with lyrical quality, this collection is more superb to finally behold in its fully-fleshed form; and though reading it alone was an awakening, to see it in print with illustrations to partner the poetry has made it all the more wondrous and indeed a publication that we, at SWEP, are happy to home.
Here’s what’s being said about Tyler Dettloff’s work:
This evocative collection invites a gathering of the lost and the found beneath a sheltering shingwak. Peopled with trout and tamarack, Tyler Detloff’s words taste of iron, of spruce gum and honey.
— Robin Wall Kimmerer
“I want my mouth to bloom,” writes Tyler Dettloff. How this mature first collection fulfills that wish! Influenced by jazz and blues, agriculture and fly-fishing, animals and birds, and his Anishinaabe Metis roots, family and culture, Detloff’s poems speak and sing at the same time. His words are mouth-pleasing, like his lines about spruce sap kneading gums, and teeth brushed with maple blossoms and hawk feathers. Tragic political injustices are confronted, but the poems triumph in their celebratory vigour. Even the titles—“Honey High and Nectar Prone,” “Surefooted Spring-fed Salt Lick,” “Thousands of Frogs Croaking Purple”—suggest the sensuous glories and vibrant voices of this book.
— Brian Bartlett
Has there ever been a lovelier word for medicine—indeed, a lovelier medicine—than rosehip? That’s what I thought as I read and was riveted by Tyler Dettloff’s Belly-up Rosehip, a book that loves thorns as much as bloom and sings of stink as beautifully as sweetgrass. When he writes of licking a fishing lure’s hook, or asking the pine needles “to have mercy on my tongue,” Dettloff describes caring for a place so much that you want your mouth where its mouths are, your tongue against its sharpest leaves. No wonder the wilderness in these poems is delirious. Sensual and serious and sometimes necessarily sad, this book charts an intimacy with a Northern Michigan landscape peopled by namegos (lake trout), migizi (bald eagle), and “whips of red willow buds” as well as human mothers, fathers, and lovers. “This is the place I was telling you,” the poet says, inviting us to listen to what the place tells him as he becomes the man the place makes him.
— Dr. Cecily Parks
Assistant Professor
Department of English & MFA Program in Creative Writing
Welcome to the parade, Tyler!
* You can support Tyler by buying Belly-Up Rosehip: A Tongue Blue with Mud Songs on Amazon. And as with all of SWEP’s titles, please review on Amazon and/or Goodreads!
Weekly Write: “My Body Hasn’t Been Mine” by Michelle Dodd
My Body Hasn’t Been Mine
My body hasn’t been mine
since the pregnancy test.
I can’t stop apologizing for it.
I didn’t learn what warmth feels like,
the sun doesn’t shine underneath my skin.
My body wants to apologize
for not shining from the inside out
Yet, my body is not sorry for resembling yours,
destructive and breathing,
keeping this life line alive.
Michelle Dodd is a spoken word artist based out of Richmond, Virginia. She has performed for TedxWomenRVA in 2016. She is a fellow of The Watering Hole Writing Retreat. She was a member of The Writer’s Den Slam Team in 2016 and 2017; a team placing among the top teams in the USA. Dodd has been published in Whurk Magazine, K’in Literary Journal, The Scene and Heard Journal, SWWIM, and Wusgood online magazine. She has self published two chapbooks of poetry in 2017. She is one of the coaches, for the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) CUPSI slam team for 2018, that placed 3rd internationally.
“Like”, “Share”, and comment on this poem to nominate it for the Annual Swimming with Elephants Publications 2019 Anthology.
Click here check out Parade: Swimming with Elephants Publications Anthology 2018 available for only $10.95.
Coming in October 2019: The 2020 Open Call for Chapbooks
THE OPEN CALL
Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC (SwEP) is hosting a chapbook open call to find some fresh work and new voices. With over 70 publications under our belt, SwEP works hard to represent our authors and create publications of which our authors are proud. Please visit our website and check out some of our publications to see if we are a good fit for your writing, then polish up your best pieces to submit.
From our submissions, our guest judges will choose three chapbooks for publication. All our publications include an ISBN, Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC contract, and creative control over cover and production (including release date, cover artwork). For more information on what SwEP provides its authors or to see a general contract, please contact us.
There will not be a ranking system for chosen submissions (1st place, 2nd place, etc), instead, our judges will choose three (3) to publish. All three chosen publications will receive the same award of 25 author copies.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
SwEP is seeking previously unpublished manuscripts of poems 25-75 pages in length. We are looking for well-crafted, visceral and daring material. We are looking for diverse voices and are particularly interested in poetry that promotes an innate intersectionality of social issues and a deep respect for humanity. We like our poetry achingly raw and true to who YOU are as a writer. We have a goal of promoting marginalized voices and those who are most often overlooked. If you feel your work doesn’t have a place to ‘fit,’ it may be perfect for us.
Open to writers worldwide, the open call is facilitated as a blind submission process via SwEP Submissions Manger. Additionally, only submitted will be considered for further SwEP publications and features. Even if our judges don’t choose your manuscript, you must submit to be considered by SwEP.
HINTS
Get to know our press to make sure we are a good fit for you and your publication goals. Explore our website, stalk our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, order some of our publications, review our works on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads.- Send your best work. Make sure your collection is complete, edited, and polished before hitting the submit button. The more polished it is, the more likely it will chosen for publication.
- Follow the submission guidelines.
- We insist on blind submissions. If you submit a manuscript with your name on it, it will not be sent to the judges and automatically disqualified.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Swimming with Elephants Publications accepts submissions and payment of the entry fee ($25) exclusively through our online submission manager, Submittable. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail. The submission fee is strictly to cover the price of production and pay our guest judges for their time and hard work. To learn more about why we charge a submission fee, click here.
All entries are read blind. All manuscripts should include a title page (listing only the title of the collection). Manuscripts should be paginated and formatted in an easy-to-read font such as Times New Roman. (More creative fonts may be incorporated during production.)
Identifying information for the author should not be included anywhere on the manuscript itself, including in the name of your file or in the “title” field in Submittable. Please include a brief bio and your publication goals in the cover letter on Submittable, which will be made accessible to the editorial panel only after the Finalist manuscripts have been chosen. It is important to include your publication goals. We are a small press and have limited abilities. If your goals are outside of our abilities, we will let you know.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable and encouraged, but please notify us by withdrawing your manuscript from Submittable immediately if it is accepted for publication elsewhere.
Multiple submissions (the submission of more than one manuscript to the open call) are permitted. A separate submission fee is required for each submission.
OUR 2020 GUEST JUDGES
SaraEve Fermin (she/her) is a performance poet and epilepsy/mental health advocate from northeast New Jersey. A 2015 Best of the Net nominee, she has performed for both local and national events, including the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles 2015 Care and Cure Benefit to End Epilepsy in Children, as a reader for Great Weather for MEDIA at the 2016 NYC Poetry Festival on Governors Island, and in 2019 was a part of the viral #FreeChurroProject. A poetry editor, contributing blogger, and book reviewer, her work can be found or is forthcoming in GERM Magazine, Words Dance, Rising Phoenix Press, Great Weather for MEDIA’s Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea, and Homology Lit, among others. Her first full length poetry anthology, You Must Be This Tall to Ride, was published by Swimming with Elephants Publishing in 2016 and her follow up, View from the Top of the Ferris Wheel, was publish by Clare Songbird Publishing House in 2017. Her third book of poetry, Trauma Carnival, was released in March 2019 (Swimming with Elephants Publications). She believes in the power of foxes, hair dye and living #furiouslyhappy. She loves Instagram and follows back: @SaraEve41
Kat Heatherington was delighted to join the SwEP Parade in Fall 2017 with the publication of The Bones of This Land (available from amazon.com), which was the first-place winner in the chapbook open call that year. As a guest judge for 2019, she is looking forward to reading a wonderful variety of poetry, ideas and styles. She has been writing her whole life, and performing and publishing poetry for longer than she wants to think about. She lives in Sunflower River intentional community south of Albuquerque. Kat can be found online at sunflowerriver.org, and on instagram at @yarrowkat (photography) and @sometimesaparticle (poetry).
Zachary Kluckman, the National Poetry Awards 2014 Slam Artist of the Year and 2015-2016 Slam Organizer of the Year is a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Gold Medal Poetry Teacher, Red Mountain Press National Poetry Prize recipient and a founding organizer of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change program, now recognized as the largest poetry reading in history. Kluckman has appeared multiple times at the National and Individual World Poetry slams and tours the nation as a spoken word artist. Recently he was one of 3 poets invited to represent the United States at the Kistrech International Poetry Festival in Kenya. He previously served as Spoken Word Editor for Pedestal magazine and has authored two poetry collections; The Animals in Our Flesh, Red Mountain Press 2012 and Some of It is Muscle, Swimming With Elephants Publications 2014.
SwEP + BKWKS = BFF
Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC is excited to announce our official affiliation with Bookworks Albuquerque.
Bookworks ABQ has been a long time supporter of Swimming with Elephants Publication, LLC hosting various events and supporting our local authors throughout our six years in business. But now we are taking it one step further.
We are happy to say, that Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC is now an official affiliate of Bookworks ABQ. What does this mean? It means Bookworks is our go-to for all online book orders. Although all of our books will still be available via Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, and other major distributors, we encourage our audience both local and national to purchase directly from Bookworks ABQ. Doing so will support small businesses, both Swimming with Elephants Publications and Bookworks Albuquerque.
Click on the pictures below to order some of our latest publications directly from Bookworks and keep your eyes open for our next Bookworks event on Small Business Saturday, November 30, 2019.
Observable Acts
bliss in die/unbinging the underglow
22
Prayer Flag Poems
Loved Always Tomorrow: A Chapbook
Shorn: Apologies & Vows
Verbrennen
Light as a Feather: An Anthology of Resilience: Second Edition
Wild Horses
They Are All Me
Periscope Heart
Morena
Trauma Carnival
You Must Be This Tall to Ride
Gërvalla, Jusuf
Bekimi I Nënës / A Mother’s Blessing
Quitting Smoking, Falling in and Out of Love, and Other Thoughts about Death.
Unease at Rest
Thalassophile: A Chapbook of Poetry
…But My Friends Call Me Burque
Burquenita
Elegy for a Star Girl
The Fall of a Sparrow
My Verse,
September
The Bones of This Land
Of Small Children / And Other Poor Swimmers
Hirshman, Jack and Justin Desmangles
Passion, Provocation and Prophecy
My Blood Is Beautiful
Hotlry, Mercedez & Eva Crespin
Xicana Revolt
Girls Who Fell in Love with War
Some of It Is Muscle
Kluckman, Zachary (Editor)
Trigger Warning
Lambersy, Werner
Pina Bausch
From Below/Denied the Light
Cunt.Bomb.: A Chapbook
The Language of Bleeding
Lopez, Jessica Helen & Katrina K Guarascio (Editors)
Mothers and Daughters
Storm
A Fire of Prayer: A Collection of Poetry and Photography
The Promethean Clock or Love Poems of a Wooden Boy
For Those Who Outlast Their Pain
Heartbreak Ridge
Oishi, Mary and Aja Oishi
Rock Paper Scissors
Rottschafer, S.L., Ph.D.
La Diáspora de Un Aztlán Norteño: : Michicanidad Creativity as Witnessed in Bilingual Ethno-Poetry and Photography
Gnarly
Litanies Not Adopted
Nail Gun and a Love Letter
Language of Crossing
Anthologies
Parade: Swimming with Elephants Publications Anthology 2018
Weekly Write: “The Fig Tree” by Romana Iorga
The Fig Tree
We walk down the path with our children.
Dust rises behind us like smoke.
The ground is littered with figs:
small purple bodies
burst open to show their red seeds.
Foreignness blooms quietly inside their wounds.
All these years I wished to be whole,
my fragmented self constantly rearranging
its pieces to suit new surroundings.
Now I find the puzzle all wrong, some pieces
not only missing but clearly irretrievable.
The picture I have in front of my eyes
tells lies. It fractures faces, contorts
limbs, splits bodies in two.
Everything’s backwards: the sky
holds a bodiless earth on its plate; the giant fig trees
point downward like ingrown toenails.
I look at the pattern of leaves above our heads.
Solid branches crisscross this way and that, each
with its purpose – a self-contained universe
to which we cannot belong.
Here are my leaves –
they form passageways of dense shadows,
where the light
travels unencumbered, precise
before hitting the ground and dying
on impact.
Here are my limbs –
they mold the air, they push it
downward,
toward the scattered figs on the ground,
toward these lonely people
scattered among the figs.
Originally from Chisinau, Moldova, Romana Iorga is a Romanian-American poet living in Switzerland. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ruminate, saltfront, Borderlands, as well as on her poetry blog at clayandbranches.com.
“Like”, “Share”, and comment on this poem to nominate it for the Annual Swimming with Elephants Publications 2019 Anthology.
Click here check out Parade: Swimming with Elephants Publications Anthology 2018 available for only $10.95.
Weekly Write: “rest here” by Zoe Canner
rest here
i always approach
the person in the
room who holds
the least power
and turn my
hands into a cup
and listen to them
& try to hear
and turn my head
at an angle and
turn my shoulders
down and my
sternum inward &
try to bow
and turn my nose
into a swamp & try
a silence
and turn my cheeks
into a great plain &
try to lift
and turn my
forehead into a
contemplative
landing pad for
hands & fingers
rest here
and turn my eyes
into still waters
and turn my mouth
into a brace
a carriage
i care
i care
Zoe Canner’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in SUSAN / The Journal, Naugatuck River Review, The Laurel Review, Arcturus of the Chicago Review of Books, Storm Cellar, Maudlin House, Occulum, Pouch, Indolent Books’ What Rough Beast, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles.
“Like”, “Share”, and comment on this poem to nominate it for the Annual Swimming with Elephants Publications 2019 Anthology.
Click here check out Parade: Swimming with Elephants Publications Anthology 2018 available for only $10.95.
Now Available: “Sell Me Insanity” by Marcial Delgado
Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC is excited to announce the release of “Sell Me Insanity,’ a chapbook of poetry by Marcial Delgado.
“The brujo knows that magic is not a series of complex alchemical spells or mathematical formulas, but comes from the soil, from the people around him, from the roots and connections to the earth he can draw on. This is what Marcial Delgado does with this collection of poetry. He drinks deep from the wellspring of his own history, and the ties that bind him to his community, and his people. These poems breathe with a rare magic that is at once soft spoken and fierce. This is a wonderful collection of poems from one of New Mexico’s most authentic voices.”
-Zachary Kluckman
Join Marcial this Saturday, June 22 at El Chante Casa de Cultura for the “Voices Of The Barrio: Sell Me Insanity Book Release.” This will be an open mic event so please bring a poem to share or just come and listen. There will also be a potluck. This is a free event and all are welcome.
Marcial will have copies for sale at the release, but his book is also currently available through most major distributors. Find it on Amazon.com by clicking here and it can be Primed to you by Saturday for the event.
Available on Kindle Unlimited: The Language of Crossing
Now available on Kindle Unlimited: Language of Crossing by Liza Wolff-Francis.
Click here to view Kindle Unlimited as well as find buying options for the paperback.
Liza Wolff-Francis’s Language of Crossing is a collection of poetry that mirrors the true heart-stories along the US/Mexico border. Giving face, voice and humanity to all those who make their way across fronteras, her work is that of a necessary endeavor. She writes of a reality that must be ignored no longer. It is the struggle, strife, and violence that is endured by those who flee their country in hopes of a better life. Her poems, brutally honest and minute, rouse compassion as all good poetry must and begs the question of accountability. Language of Crossing is a political outcry, a finely tuned collection of endurance of a people, and a passionate advocacy for all to take notice. Wolff-Francis is a real activist planting poetic prayer flags across the vastness of a desert.
Swimming with Elephants Publications 