A Muted Blue Star Muses
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Review of Douglas Cole's "The Cabin at the End of the World"
Kevin Kiely Reviews "Faller"
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Announcing New Release: "Faller" by Sabne Raznik
A collection of poems written as if in the voice of some of the "fallers" on 9/11/2001, not from a political view, but as a way to process the collective trauma of that day and as a tribute to those lives lost.
Faller is another profound collection by Sabne Raznik. intense, emotional and surreal. "The world is beautiful/At velocity." is only the first line out of all these poems that caught my eye. it makes me stumble. the beauty of this image at the emotional terror that proceeds. moving back and forth from mundane tasks and thinking of children, to the thoughts and questions of falling. it touts your mind. it pulls you in many directions. and then the beautiful love sadness of:
I was afraid to jump alone.
The jacket of my waiter’s uniform felt
Claustrophobic
So I threw it out first.
Then a woman from Table 3
Took my hand and we jumped together
Wordlessly.
so i threw it out first. that line echos in my head. the way the jacket becomes a bird. an image of acceptance, before the calm. - john compton, my husband holds my hand because i may drift away & be lost forever in the vortex of a crowded store
In Faller, a collection of poems, Sabne Raznik makes you really feel for the people who fell from the Twin Towers on 9/11. These poems, written in the voices of those who fell, are heart-wrenching. They make you think about what you would do if faced with certain death. If you were judgemental of the people who fell, you won't be after reading these evocative poems. The voices in these poems are so realistic, it's like it actually happened to the author. She puts you in these people's shoes. I've complained about things like a fax machine on the job before, so lines like: "The coworker who complains/about the copier was/standing on her desk/ because the floor burned/through her shoes" really strike a chord in me, make me realize how miniscule and petty my office complaints are in the light of a building burning so fiercely that you have to escape, even if it means certain death. When you read these poems, there is no way you can possibly think of these fallers as suicidal. These poems have eye-opening lines: "The world is beautiful at velocity. Just colour./Like an abstract painting." You really feel the tragic quality of the situation when you experience these voices: "I quit yesterday./I'm just here to get my things." You will come away with a new perspective on having to face death after reading these sad but beautiful, evocative poems. - Lori Lasseter Hamilton, limo casketAvailable for free on Sabne Raznik's official website.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Announcing "Come Hell and High Water: Helene" Special Is(sue)
Dear Kinfolk,
The deadline for Is(sue) 16 is closed so, if you sent in
submissions for that, you should hear back from us in the next couple months on
those. And Is(sue) 16 should go live on December 15, 2024.
Therefore, it is time for us to announce the “Come Hell
and High Water: Helene” Special Is(sue)! This is our tribute to the
before-and-after geological and emotional event that Helene proved to be for
our beloved Appalachia. It is your opportunity as our Kinfolk to express your
emotions around this traumatic time, and for our mountains and people, as they recover.
Unlike the regular is(sues), special is(sues) live on the website for as long
as the website exists, under the “Special Is(sues)” page tab on the menu. Special
is(sues) have the same sub(mission) guidelines as the regular is(sues), with
the exception that you must put “HELENE” in the subject line to differentiate
submissions for this special is(sue) from those meant for a regular is(sue). That
is vital. For this special is(sue), sub(missions) will open on Wednesday,
November 6, 2024, and the deadline will be January 15, 2025.
The Is(sue) will go live on February 15, 2025. We hope that this
will provide a cathartic and healing space for us all.
So, by all means, send us your poetry, art, and short
stories expressing yourselves experimentally and therapeutically about Helene.
We’re here for you.
Sincerely,
Sabne Raznik
Poetry/Art Ed(itor)
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Review of the book "Hortensia: in winter" by Megan Merchant
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Is(sue) 15 and New Schedule - AvantAppal(achia)
Is(sue) 15 is live! There are 7 countries total and 10 states within the US represented. This includes our first contributions from Egypt and Peru.
The work chosen to be arch(ived) from Is(sue) 14 is JWM Morgan's story, Volodymyr Bilyk's art, and Joshua Martin's poem. Read it on the Arch(ive) page.
Check the Sub(missions) page. We have made our longstanding policy regarding how we arch(ive) past is(sues) even clearer so that there can be no confusion that you as the author of your work bear responsibility for keeping records of publication and not us. Also, the date of deadline for each is(sue) has changed.
Deadline for Is(sue) 16 is October 31, 2024. So send us your avant-garde and experimental poetry, art, and short stories! You make this ezine the foremost home of the Avant in Appalachia. We are special and weird because of you. Thank you!
www.avantappalachia.com
Sincerely,
Sabne Raznik
Poetry/Art Ed(itor)
Monday, May 27, 2024
Review of "Word Troubadours" by PJ Swift and Ellyn Maybe
Friday, April 12, 2024
Review of "Fill Me With Birds" by Scott Ferry and Daniel McGinn
Scott
Ferry and Daniel McGinn, Fill Me With Birds (Meat for Tea
Press, 2024) 104 pages, poetry, $16.95. Order here.
Those
nights when you stay up past midnight and the conversations go silly and then
profoundly deep, that's what this is.
Two
mature men muse on everything from aging parents to children, to marriage, to
health issues, to overcoming addiction, to God, to the changing of seasons, to
resentment and forgiveness. The poems are written as if letters or emails going
back and forth. But in my head cannon, they are sitting in a late-night living
room in front of a fire passing a (legal) smoke between them.
At
times, it can feel almost too intimate and honest for the reader to eavesdrop
on politely. This is good stuff.
Most of
the lines I made note of were Scott Ferry's, I think, though I didn't track who
wrote which line. If you want to know that, you can read it. But here are some
of the lines that stood out to me:
"I
know now it is too late for/ bargaining// the best I can manage/ is
obsolescence"
"the
face of god: is the inside of longing when there is no waiting left"
"Nerves
are like brains,/ remember how we used to be? The body knows/ what is and isn't
there."
"I
lost the easy talk/ I did not want to impress anyone anymore"
"solve/
hate like a controlled burn/ near a freeway"
"I
still have a fire a fire a fire"
On
meditation, some of these poems are darker and heavier than they appear. The
request to "fill me with birds" seems to be a wish for a lightening
of the soul from the burdens voiced through these conversations.
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Review of David B. Prather's "Shouting at an Empty House"
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Watch Sabne Raznik at the Wadza International Festival (Digitally) on Facebook