snippet from Eulachon reading at the Sanctuary, Arcata CA

Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange reading & discussion at San Francisco State University

https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/poetrycenter/bundles/231137

 

field guide to autobiography is now available from H_NGM_N Books

I’m thrilled to announce that my first full-length poetry collection, field guide to autobiography, is now available for pre-order from H_NGM_N Books! This book has been a labor of love, & has changed and evolved in many ways since I first began writing poems toward it 5 years ago. In many ways, field guide truly began as part of my MFA thesis back in 2006. How does a person begin to enumerate the many fragments & fractals that comprise a life? field guide is an attempt at memoir through the lens of various animals & minerals including katydids, wrens, abalone shells, and apple trees.     

 

Here are a few things others have said about field guide to autobiography:

 

“This isn’t conventional nature poetry; it’s a poetry that helps us understand the future and the world that embeds us.” – Juliana Spahr

 

“Here are whorls, and bursts of light, where to fly is to sing is to fly, where “soft noises” compose a listening to instruct your ontological imagination. Following Eleftherion’s exertion towards classification, we are led to its (im)possibility. Read this book! You never know what form you may be compelled to assume.” – Elise Ficarra

 

 

If you’re interested in reviewing a copy of field guide to autobiography, please let me know! I will have copies in hand shortly.

 

Thanks so much for reading.

Melissa

every once in a while it goes the other way too

Feeling rich with poetry gems right now (which is great cos we’re broke & the world at large is feeling more friable than ever). You write these poems & wonder where they came from & then sometimes they are published in great journals like Vector & Flag+Void who are great to work with, & have consistently been producing interesting work for years. This past week saw the release of my poems in both of those journals simultaneously. Amazing.  (Copies are available at the links provided.)

In other poetry news – after much planning, I’ve gone ahead & started a new reading series for teens and adults at the Library. We will meet every other month & feature a visiting poet, followed by an open mic. While funds are limited, I have a modest budget for paying performers, & am currently seeking grants as well. I’ll be releasing an open call for submissions soon – so please write me if you know a poet that would like to be considered. Here’s a write-up the local paper did of our first reading in the series featuring MK Chavez!

The Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange is also still open for chapbook submissions through August 1st so send some work our way!:

Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange
Open Reading Submission Period: June 1st – August 1st

The Poetry Center invites emerging and established poets to submit work to the Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange. The PCCE is a community-curated chapbook archive created in 2010, by poets recommending other poets using an each one-invite one model. See http://poetrychapbooks.omeka.net
We aim to provide and maintain open access to small-press and out-of-print chapbooks to promote readership of contemporary poetry as well as encourage its value and availability for use as free, educational, teaching resources.
Send us your work that plays, sings, risks, interrogates, provokes, and moves beyond.

Guidelines:
Length: 10-40 pages
Currency: New work (written within the last 5 years); published work that’s fallen out of print.
Aesthetics: seeking a range of forms, approaches, hybrids.
There is no reading fee.
Please email submissions to chapbookexchange@gmail.com.

 

Hope you’re all well & finding some strength in poetry.

 

field guide to autobiography

I am so incredibly excited to announce that my first full-length book, field guide to autobiography, will be published by H_NGM_N Books next year!!

This book has been a labor of love, & has changed and evolved in many ways since I first began writing poems toward it 3-4 years ago. In many ways, the book truly began as part of my MFA thesis back in 2006. I’ve been submitting this manuscript for the greater part of a year in its current iteration, & it had been rejected 15 times. I was beginning to feel very discouraged.

As a nearly-42 year old human who has been submitting & publishing poems for the past twenty (20) years, it’s been a long time coming. This is all to say – dear reader, please don’t ever give up on your creative self. If I can do it, you can too. 

Thanks for reading.

A bit about the book:

The book explores the inter-relatedness of various species through accreted fragments toward autobiography. How does a person begin to enumerate the many fragments & fractals that comprise a life? field guide to autobiography is an attempt at memoir through the lens of various animals & minerals including katydids, wrens, abalone shells, and apple trees.