an independent, not for profit, publishing agent focusing on supporting the working author and non-profit organizations
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gërvalla, Jusuf
Hirshman, Jack and Justin Desmangles
Hotlry, Mercedez & Eva Crespin
Kluckman, Zachary (Editor)
Lambersy, Werner
Lopez, Jessica Helen & Katrina K Guarascio (Editors)
Oishi, Mary and Aja Oishi
Rottschafer, S.L., Ph.D.
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, LLC is excited to announce the release of Shorn: apologies & vows, a chapbook of poetry by Benjamin Bormann.Join Benjamin Bormann for the release of the publication on April 27, 2019 from 11-12pm at the Title Wave Book Revised (2318 Wisconsin St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110).
This is a free event.
Copies of the publication will be available for purchase and signing.
Order your copy of Shorn: apologies & vows today from Amazon or other major book distributors.
Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC has concluded our Open Call for Chapbook Submissions. We had literally over three times as many submissions as last year and many, many quality works to choose from. This was no easy task.
We are excited to be welcoming four new poets to our Parade.
Many thanks guest judges Maxine Peseke and Gina Marselle who did a wonderful job selecting the manuscripts. Not only did they read, discuss, and select the manuscripts, but they did an AMAZING job writing the reply letters. Like many writers, I receive lots of regret letters and many are generic and curt. Sometimes it doesn’t even seem like the publisher read the submission. But these two ladies did an amazing job reaching out and giving personalized feedback to every submitter. I am grateful to have them on the team and representing Swimming with Elephants Publications.
We would like to thank everyone who submitted and all of our amazing supporters who have kept us afloat over these past five years. We are grateful and very appreciative.
Keep your eyes on the site and the Facebook page for updates on the progress of our new publications.
And now…
…without further ado, the selected manuscripts are…..
….in no particular order….
drum roll
…actually they are in alphabetical order….
drum roll
Belly-up Rosehip: a Tongue Blue with Mud Songs
by Tyler Dettloff
I’ve Been Cancelling Appointments with My Psychiatrist for Two Years Now
by Sean Dever
Shorn: apologies & vows
by Benjamin Bormann
Thalassophile
by Abigayle Goldstein
Save the Date: December 15, 2018
This December recognizes five years of publishing and we have a lot to celebrate: We have a new anthology, Parade, a new logo, SwEP Swag, a new commercial and a photo slideshow.
Join us for the festivities on December 15th at Tortuga Gallery from 6-9. We will incorporate music and poetry throughout the night beginning at 6pm and going until 9pm, with a toast at 7:30pm.
Any SwEP authors who would like to perform, please contact me. We really just want to have you there. You will be able to pick up your SwEP Swag and contributor copies of our anthology.
Keep your eyes on the website and facebook page for more information on our upcoming festivities.
Open Call for Chapbooks
Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC (SwEP) is hosting a chapbook open call to find some fresh work and new voices from October 15-December 15, 2018. Click here for more information.
From our submissions, our guest judges will choose three for publication. All three chosen publications will receive the same award of 25 author copies. All our publications include an ISBN, Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC contract, and creative control over cover and production. For more information on what SwEP provides its authors or to see a general contract, please email us.
New Releases
Current Projects
Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC currently has its hands full with various projects:
Support and Donations
There are many ways to support our authors: Purchase books from our poets, review books on websites and in print journals, see our poets perform when they come to a town near you, interact with our website and Facebook page, or send them compliments and applause.
Supporting our writers and events also helps support our press, but as a not for profit, growth can be difficult. Consider supporting our press by purchasing anthologies, donating through our website (via PayPal), or placing orders for multiple copies directly through us rather than a major book distributor. All our contact information is available on our website.
As always we encourage interaction with our website and Facebook page, as well as welcoming reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and other book review places. Please contact us with any questions or queries.
Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC would like to reintroduce to you to Danielle Smith.
Danielle Smith’s chapbook, Gnarly, was published by Swimming with Elephants Publications in July in 2015 as part of the student poetry series.
“Gnarly” is not what you expect: a collection of love poems, this is not an assemblage of sappy sonnets or couplets. Smith catches the reader off-guard with her close attention to sound, metaphor, and form as she explores the chambers of a bruised heart. Pumping out vivid imagery, there is music in these poems that should make you read each word carefully and out loud, relishing in Smith’s clever twists of language. A compendium of catharsis, ‘Gnarly’ will make you realize just how far you can fall in love with heartache.
Pick up Danielle Smith’s chapbook, Gnarly, from Bookworks ABQ during the month of April or order from Amazon or Barnes and Noble today!
Already own a copy? Please write a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Goodreads, or submit a review to swimwithelephants@gmail.com for publications on this site.
Danielle Smith
“Gnarly” is not what you expect: a collection of love poems, this is not an assemblage of sappy sonnets or couplets. Smith catches the reader off-guard with her close attention to sound, metaphor, and form as she explores the chambers of a bruised heart. Pumping out vivid imagery, there is music in these poems that should make you read each word carefully and out loud, relishing in Smith’s clever twists of language. A compendium of catharsis, ‘Gnarly’ will make you realize just how far you can fall in love with heartache.
Now Available from Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC
bliss in die/unbinging the underglow
Poetry by
Bassam
“Bassam writes poems that feel like slow motion car crashes where, at every turn, you’re also reassured that it’s ok to feel like this, like even if nothing is going to be ok, there is strength to hold like a parking brake, like the axis of a planet. Bassam’s words are a gut punch, a pull to beating heart chest, a hand that holds yours in the bleak. One senses that the act of poetry for Bassam is truly one of survival. What a strength it takes to show our deepest insecurities, to not ask for forgiveness. To not be the hero of your own story. Bassam is a bright non binary voice. One that asks not for acceptance, but simply is, and tells the stories of body and mind that is so intimate and accessible to those of us who endlessly battle with our shapes, our selves. What a gift to give.”
—Charlie Petch, Spoken Word Artist, Playwright, Musician
About the Author
Bassam (they/them or xe/xim) is a spoken word poet, proud auntie, and settler residing on the traditional territory of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant (Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendatt, and Mississaugas of the New Credit). they are a member of the League of Canadian Poets, an executive board member with Spoken Word Canada, and has toured Turtle Island performing spoken word. Bassam earned title of national poetry slam champion at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (CFSW) in 2016 with the Guelph Poetry Slam team, and Canadian Individual Poetry Slam (CIPS) finalist in 2017. they were editor-in-chief for ‘these pills don’t come in my skin tone’, a poetry collection exclusively by Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) on the topic of mental health and illness, released in fall 2017. a (gender)queer, Jewish person of Middle-Eastern descent and a long-time sufferer of body dysmorphia, bipolar and eating disorders, bassam believes in radical kindness as resistance to colonization, that there is no peace without justice, and that intersectionality is vital in the struggle against kyriarchy.
Order today from Amazon or Barnes and Noble
Storm
Poetry by Kristian Macaron
Available at Amazon for $10.95
Cover Art by Gwendolyn Prior
Kristian Macaron’s first chapbook of poetry features her various experiences in New England during the midst of some of the most powerful storms to pass through in the last several years. Her poetry is raw, honest, and revealing. This is a wonderful for collection for anyone who has experience the confusing effects of natural disaster as well as those who may have never had such an experience.
A quick note to our follows to inform you that a few of our titles will be retired at the end of March. The reason for the retirement is either due to author choice, out dated anthology, or poor sales.
The following titles will be no longer available as of April 1, 2015:
A review of Albuquerque Poet Laureate Jessica Helen Lopez’s chapbook with Swimming with Elephants Publications.
Now available on Amazon.com and Createspace, Emily Bjustrom’s Loved Always Tomorrow.
About the collection:
Matthew Brown’s Poetry Book, “Verbrennen” is Angry
a review by Mikel K
The poems in Matthew Brown’s book, “Verbrennen,” which is published by Swimming With Elephant Publications, are direct and have a lot of purpose. They are also angry poems, which given the subject matter of the poems is understandable if you have a heart and a soul. The bio on the back cover of his book states that Matthew’s poems “expose social, racial, and economic inequalities,” and that is exactly what they do, except for the first poem in the book, “Jose,” which starts off being about his grizzly grandfather and then twists into being about the narrator himself and his bad temper, which seems to have been passed down to him from his grandfather. “Jose,” is an intense poem; the twist in its direction adds to the energy of the poem.
The second poem, “Choice,” is about abortion, or more aptly about the two sides taken on the issue of abortion. The poem is addressed to a woman named Tara who we learn in the poem’s introduction is “a campaigner against reproductive rights.”
“It doesn’t matter who won
over the ban on abortion
because you and I won’t stop fighting for what we believe in,”
is how the poem starts.
It ends with,
“The difference is that my mother knows mercy, loss,
and acceptance
Something that you and your church
know nothing about.”
In this poem, as in all the poems in his book, Matthew has a clear voice. You know where he stands on things. He doesn’t mince words, or beat around the bush.
The third poem in the book, “Feast,” is a searing indictment of the white man’s treatment of the Indians in this great nation of ours. Key lines from the poem are,
“Our relatives will flee from their minivans
like the pilgrims fled from the Mayflower,”
and
“And in the true American tradition
They will take advantage of
other people’s hospitality,”
and
“Use the water from the Trail of tearsto fill our crockpots.”
By now, we all know that the Indians got screwed by the white man, but Matthew is more eloquent than most of us could be in his description of the cruelty and self-justification that the white man exhibited in “founding” the “new” land.
“Enola,” is a poem that deals with the Americans bombing of Hiroshima. It would seem that the death and suffering of such a large, large number of people is ignored by most of us, but Matthew is on target in his observations of the occurrence in this poem.
“It’s interesting that when minorities are poor
we call it a statistic
But when whites can’t afford to pay their mortgage,
we call it a recession,”
are key lines from the poem, “Recession,” which speaks of the discrepancies and unfairness that exist between rich folks and poor people using the recent recession to highlight these differences.
“Cake,” “Valor,” and “Blood Diamond,” are angry outbursts at Paula Dean, American usage of drones, and the diamond industry. Each is a fine poem, thought provoking, and original.
This book would not be enjoyed by a conservative Republican is my guess. It does not portray the Amerika that was taught to us in school. It tells the truth.
Verbrennen is currently available through Amazon and CreateSpace for $10.95. Check it out today.
Also, check out Verbrennen and other fine poetry books at:
https://swimmingwithelephants.wordpress.com/
Mikel K
Poet Nika Ann has an Amazing Book Out
a review by Mikel K
I think that I discovered the poet Nika Ann on Facebook, though I’m not sure how. Her poetry immediately grabbed me and I followed her to her website nikarasco.wordpress.com. There I found a treasure chest of amazing poetry.
Nika Ann has just come out with a book on Swimming With Elephants Publications called, “To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer,” and like Nika Ann’s poems on Facebook and her website,
the poems in this book are amazing.
The book starts with a bit of flash fiction wherein the author explains the title of the book:
“It can be lonely to love a writer, especially when the lover does not have a time consuming interest or practice that requires their focus while the writer is lost in their private universe. Even at the high point of a relationship, there is always something calling the writer away, a need, a craving for some necessary solitude to write. Solitude many people cannot understand.”
The brutal honesty that this paragraph conveys is evident in every poem in the book. Alienation, loss, suicide are prevalent themes in the book.
The poem, “What you need to know about depression, “starts off with the lines, “you need to know that the sun does not guarantee a good day and the promise of a friend and cold beer will not always be enough to lure me from my self-made cave,” and goes on to eloquently explain what I am to assume are the authors experience with and feelings about depression. It is both confessional and explanatory at the same time and, as are most all the poems in this book, refreshingly honest and insightful.
“Come Back,” is an amazingly moving poem. It speaks of a girl who ruined her hair and gave the narrator of the poem her grandmother’s watch two days before she killed herself.
“Earthquake,” is another one of my favorites from the book. It is the narrator quirky response to someone who asked her to marry them.
“Remembers,” “Bird,” “Shed,” “Fly,” “Prayer,” and “Confession,” are other poems that I found outstanding and that I think you should check out.
I read this book in one sitting and then re-read it in another sitting which is a good thing. In other words, it was a book that I didn’t want to put down until I had finished it. Nika Ann has a bright future as a poet. You should head over to Swimming With Elephants Publications and buy a copy of this fine book.
To learn more about poet and review Mikel K, please visit his Open Salon: http://open.salon.com/blog/mikelkpoet
To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer is currently available through Amazon and CreateSpace for $10.95. Check it out today.
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.
Swimming with Elephants Publications is excited to release the announcement of a new chapbook by Albuquerque Poet, Emily Bjustrom. Entitled Loved Always Tomorrow after the drunken scrawlings on the bottom of a living room stool, this is Emily’s first chapbook publication and SwEP could be more excited to represent this young author on her poetic endeavors.
Loved Always Tomorrow will be released during the month of April and made available via Amazon and CreateSpace.
About Emily:
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.
Spontaneous Shameless Self Promotion Tuesday
Once a month Swimming with Elephants Publications will offer special pricing on select titles for 24 hours.
The titles will change every month, so check back regularly to get a good deal when you purchase on-line.
The following titles will only be available at this on-line discount from noon March 18 to noon on March 19, so stock up now.
Today only we have special prices on:
Matthew Brown’s Verbrennen,
Nika Ann’s To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer,
& the top selling Rio Rancho Youth Poetry Community’s first anthology Catching Calliope Winter 2014.
These titles, usually priced from $10.05 – 12.95, will be available for $7.95. Today only!
Regular pricing will return tomorrow, so place your orders today!
Sharing a review of Jessica Helen Lopez’s Chapbook. I thought this one was especially well written.
Cunt.Bomb.
A Chapbook by Jessica Helen Lopez
Create Space Indep. Publishing
38 pages, $10.95
You were stunned — perhaps even shocked and appalled — by the title, weren’t you? That is the intention of poet provocateur Jessica Helen Lopez. She seeks to reclaim the word “cunt” from its current position as a palabra non grata, the equivalent of Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series (“he-who-must-not-be-named”). Instead, feminist-activist-slam poet Lopez wants to use the word to wield female power in all its guises.
In the ten poems contained in this chapbook, Lopez explores the many roles that make up a woman, as well as the thoughts and feelings that correspond with each. She explores the dualities in a woman’s life; her persona alternates between tender and tough, sentimental and sassy, spiritual and sexual. She is a woman, a wife, a mother, a sister, a lover, a poet, a…
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Swimming with Elephants Publications is an independent, not for profit, publishing agent focusing on supporting the working poet and local non-profit organizations, especially those which encourage the youth. We represent a variety of poetry and anthologies.
Although not currently open to unsolicited manuscripts, we are seeking submissions for two progressing anthologies (see Call for Submissions) and are always open to queries.
We also sponsor a quarterly anthology which benifits the RIo Rancho Youth Poetry Community. This not for profit publication is open to submissions year around and is publishd in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. All proceeds from the publications will benifit the Rio Rancho Youth Poetry Community and be used as on ongoing fundraiser for group activities, further publications, and other adventures.
Please explore the website, order a few of our publications, and contact us at swimwithelephants(at)gmail(dot)com for more information about the fledgling agency.
Cunt.Bomb.
by Jessica Helen Lopez
Review by Mark Fischer
Cunt. Bomb., the second collection of poems by nationally recognized southwest feminist poet Jessica Helen Lopez, is a small chapbook – coming in at a thin 33 pages. The content however, is anything but. As the title may tell you, this collection of words is explosive. The nine poems are well organized and read front-to-back as a manifesto, a recipe book, a howl across mountains in the night calling all to congregate in the sacred space.
Nine facets of womanhood, from the feisty young grade school feminist to the embodiment of the Goddess Diana, this is the jewel at the center through which Lopez explores identity. Understanding the worship, celebration and exaltation of the feminine in every form appears to be the intent. The poet is embracing her sense of self and exploring her duty to teach self-love to women around the globe.
In this endeavor Lopez is quite successful. The images she conjures are strong and timely. In “Diana the Huntress,” she explores the horrifying murders of women in Mexico and the lone vigilante who fights back on long lonely bus rides as she writes, ”I fear no moon, Lady of Wild Creatures, La Cazadora worshiped by the womanly workers of Juarez.” There are no apologies here, no concessions, and that is what speaks most to the fidelity of this collection.
Jessica Helen Lopez is a member of the Macondo Foundation created by Sandra Cisneros, as well as a Chicana/o Poetics instructor at the University of New Mexico, a two-time Women of the World Poetry Slam Albuquerque City Champion and member of several city teams representing her home town at the National Poetry Slam. Her voice is singular, both sharp and sweet. Like every good storyteller you walk away from her performances both nurtured and haunted. This dichotomy comes through in this collection. One of the “30 Poets in their 30’s to Watch” according to MUZZLE magazine, Jessica Helen Lopez is well on her way to assuming her place along the front lines with the likes of fellow Chicana poets Cisneros, Ana Castillo, and Demetria Martinez. As far as “little black books” go – this is the one to choose.
Pick up a copy of Cunt.Bomb. on Amazon.com or CreateSpace.
A new chapbook of poetry and prose by Nika Ann, entitled To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer has been released from Swimming with Elephants Publications.
Find this new collection on Amazon or Create Space
Read the Preface:
To truly love a writer a certain level of understanding is required.
This short anthology expresses, through poetry and prose, the innermost working of the writer’s mind, or at least this one particular writer’s mind.
This is not a collection of apologies or excuses, but explanations and glimpses into a psyche often kept private and secluded.
Hopefully exploring this work will give perspective and understanding to those with writers in their lives, as well as the writers who may feel they need an ally to their madness.
Sponsored by the Rio Rancho Youth Poetry Community, you are cordially invited to the Second Saturday Slam at Cafe Bella Coffee!
The Second Saturday Slam will feature the poetic talents of ABQ youth poet Matthew Brown, who will be debuting his newest publications: Verbrennen. Bring a little extra cash to take a piece of Matt home with you.
Come by around 6:30 to sign up for the open mic and the slam, and listen to stylings of The Second Saturday Band. (Keep… in mind Cafe Bella doesn’t open till 6:15ish o…n these nights). …
The slam list is limited to six and will be run head to head style, per our norm, so if you want to Slam you best get on the list early. This will be a qualifying slam for ABQSlams.
This is a free event, but we do request you purchase a beverage or snack from Cafe Bella and tip your baristas. We also will be accepting donations for the Rio Rancho Youth Poetry Community.
This is an all ages family friendly venue (that’s right kids, try not to cuss so much and I’ll work at it too :0) which will hopefully create a comfy, regular home for poetry in Rio Rancho.
If you can’t make the show, pick up Matt’s book on Amazon: Verbrennen.
Swimming with Elephants Publications is proud to announce its newest publication: Verbrennen by Matthew Brown.
To order from creatspace: Verbrennen
To order from Amazon.com:Verbrennen
Description:
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 a Hispanic, gay, and African American perspective.
A new chapbook by Albuquerque Poet, Matthew Brown, will be released at the beginning of February.
Verbrennen: 1) (transitive) to burn (to cause to be consumed by fire or flames), to incinerate, to combust.
Coming February 2014 from Swimming with Elephants Publications.
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 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.
Swimming with Elephants Publications is proud to announce its newest publication: Cunt.Bomb. by Jessica Helen Lopez. Currently the book is available through Createspace and Amazon.com
To order from amazon: Cunt.Bomb.
Or to order from creatspace: Cunt.Bomb.
A little from the foreword:
These precious jewels of epiphany continue to guide me as I uncover for myself women, gender-identified women and allies who advocate for equality, who fight against the oppression and pillage against women and of course who dive whole-heartedly into the vastness and mysterious complexity of unbridled sexuality. Yes, I love the cunt. Yes, I have one. And yes, I will continue to use the word because it is not disparaging but rather has been wrangled into submission for hundreds of years; only to be used against women and girls as a tool for abuse and means of brutal capitulation. For those who recoil at the thought of the title of this humble chapbook, I invite you to sit and listen/read for a bit. The poems included are but a small journey stitched together to create my life as a mother, daughter, sister, poet, and woman of color. Woman. Cunt.
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.
Swimming with Elephants Publications 