the longest day of the year & the loneliest show on earth
Dear You–
Just a couple of days ago was the summer solstice here in the northern hemisphere. I sometimes get a little sad right around the solstice, because it's the official start of Summer, and the longest day of the year, but what that means is that after that, the days begin to grow shorter. As soon as summer begins, it starts to end. These are the kinds of things I get sad about, because I am a poet, and not quite right in the head. (To paraphrase Edna St. Vincent Millay.) I also get sad at this time of year because June is a notoriously heavy month for me. Magic, but not always easy. There are a lot of personal anniversaries for me, this time of year. One of those personal anniversaries–a certain night in the Great Summer of 2004–was a large part of the inspiration behind my book The Loneliest Show On Earth. Sometimes I still can't believe that book is out in the world. I'm still so proud of it; it has things in it that I'd been trying to write for fifteen+ years. I Want You To See This Before I Leave just published an excerpt from it. Go read that; and then, if you don't already have a copy (or want another one to give to your favorite circus freak), head over to Bottlecap Press to order the book. (I also have some author copies available, so if you'd rather get a signed copy, you can order from me directly. You can email me for details.)
I have been sad (and scared and angry) a lot lately, about stuff a lot more serious than solstices and personal anniversaries. But I have been gardening, doing breathing exercises, trying to counter my negative thoughts with positive ones. I have been drawing sigils and making collages. The fireflies are out, flashing their bioluminescent morse code every night in my backyard. On June 24, I begin a six-week-long online writing workshop led by Caits Meissner. I wouldn't have been able to afford it, except I had some money set aside for a tattoo, and obviously that's not happening anytime soon, so I spent it on the workshop instead.
I wrote an essay for Half Mystic about "sforzando," which is the theme of the upcoming issue. I have a poem appearing in it, and I'm really excited. My poem "Country-Fried Tofu and Collard Greens for Two" appears in the new issue of Juke Joint, and I couldn't think of a better home for that poem. I'm accepting submissions for the next Bone & Ink Press anthology, this one inspired by New Wave music. So if you have as many New Wave feels as I do, you should consider submitting.
Some stuff I've been listening to:
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis
Neutrals - Kebab Disco
Popper Burns - Pure Disgust
Run the Jewels - RTJ4
Secret Emchy Society - The Chaser
Single Mothers - Through A Wall
Steve Earle - Ghosts of West Virginia
This Way to the Egress - Onward! Up a Frightening Creek
I made a playlist today: holy calamafuck / anger is an energy. It includes some of the above stuff + some other stuff. It's mostly punk/postpunk with a little bit of other stuff; a good mix of my forever jams and my current jams.
Some stuff I've recently read / am currently reading (offline):
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, by Terrance Hayes
Blood On Blood, by Devin Kelly
Fantasia for the Man in Blue, by Tommye Blount
Louise in Love, by Mary Jo Bang
Teahouse of the Almighty, by Patricia Smith
This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album, by Alan Chazaro
We Had No Rules, by Corinne Manning
Weave the Liminal: Living Modern Traditional Witchcraft, by Laura Tempest Zakroff
The Wendys, by Allison Benis White
What is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life, by Mark Doty
Some other stuff I've recently read / am currently reading (online):
Mythos & Logos: Two Ways of Explaining the World, by Randy Hoyt
It Was So Dark Inside the Wolf, by Frank X. Gaspar
Rockets Redglare, a retrospective, by Tony Sokol
Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Behind the Muse, by Laura Snapes
How Racist Was Flannery O'Connor?, by Paul Elie
Mexican American Sonnet, by Iliana Rocha
the way we live now, by Evie Shockley
Crevasse, by Marsha de la O
the stanza (Molly Spencer's blog; particularly the posts about craft & revision)
That's all, for now. Stay safe, stay well. As always, write to me if you'd like. I'd love to hear from you.
xo,
Jessie