This is a book of avant-garde poetry that is the genre "vispo": visual poetry. This is where poetry and visual art become one. It's a fascinating genre.
A Muted Blue Star Muses
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Book Review of Sacha Archer's "Cellsea"
This is a book of avant-garde poetry that is the genre "vispo": visual poetry. This is where poetry and visual art become one. It's a fascinating genre.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
2023 Wadza International Festival (Morocco) Digitally
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Review of john compton's "blacked out borderline from an exponential crisis"
john compton, blacked out borderline from an exponential crisis (Ethel Press, 2023) 54 pages, poetry, limited run of 60 copies, $10.00. Order here.
Monday, June 12, 2023
Is(sue) 13 is live!
Dear Kinfolk,
It’s a beautiful day! Why? Because Is(sue) 13 is live with all of your amazing work.
The guidelines for Short Stories have changed, so be sure to check those out. And pop on over to the Arch(ive) to see which pieces from Is(sue) 12 were chosen for posterity.
I would like to remind everybody that there have always been restrictions on impolite language, gratuitious sex, political pieces, and anything holiday-themed. This absolutely applies to underage characters. I have let some impolite language slide in the past (though I have edited it), but you are encouraged to think seriously about whether certain words or actions are necessary for the story (like in “To Kill A Mockingbird”) or whether you’re merely scratching a personal itch to get more readers. Because if you’re scratching an itch, scratch it somewhere else. Thank you.
Also, remember that our focus is on avant-garde, experimental pieces. We are not meant for your run-of-the-mill, workshop-approved pages. Push the boundaries of what language can do, of what constitutes literature. Have fun. Surprise us.
The submission period for Is(sue) 14 is open! Deadline is November 30, 2023. Happy writing!
https://www.avantappalachia.
Sincerely,
Sabne Raznik
Poetry/Art Ed(itor)
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Introducing "Fingers/Dedos" Bilingual Selected Poems (English/Spanish) - Out Now!
Released yesterday and available via Amazon! "Fingers/Dedos" Selected Poems, bilingual (English/Spanish), $10.00 USD.
Sabne Raznik’s latest collection of poetry Fingers, Selected Poems / Dedos, Poemas Seleccionados contains four powerfully emotive poems (“The Bearded Prophet,” “Poetry,” “Through Our Skin,” and “Fingers”). The English original of each poem is followed by an illustration and then by a Spanish translation by María Del Castillo Sucerquia. It concludes with a photo of the author followed by a one-paragraph biography in English and then its Spanish translation. The four poems are extremely different thematically and make use of different poetic languages. The common denominator between them is an underlying existential anxiety resulting from the inability of human beings collectively to understand each other and set aside greed and self-interest, and individually, in the case of the poet, to find consummation in love, and to discover the language in words and images to capture and communicate the essence of her experience. The poet notes in “Bearded Prophet,” she finds herself in “the era of pain -stampeding pain,” one which paradoxically leads her to identify with the “dumb hillbilly,” the bearded prophet who wears a sign that says “The End of the World Is Near.” Impending doom is suggested by images of the destruction of the environment, the open gashes of Appalachian strip mines, trees stripped bear of life to a height of eight feet by herbicide, and the violent midwestern storms intensified by climate change. “Poetry,” the most abstract of the four poems, prescribes in the form of a series of commands (“arm yourself, “leave the figure,” “Virgin love grow bold” which do not lead to consummation; they prove impotent. “Through the Skin” evokes the locus of creativity, where books, and papers, paint and turpentine are present on a table along with cup and saucer, the place where the written word and the painted image are crafted. The poem leaves the reader with a sense of a purpose shared by the “us” of the poem: “to sketch an idea to live by.” The last poem “Fingers” evokes images of a painful, repeated sexual encounter described as a violation, “like cactus thorns raking down my shapeless lines,” but the violation seems not to result from the violent impulse of the other, rather from the inability of the speaking subject to make good on the promise to the self with the words “Never again, never again.” The four poems are satisfying both as individual compositions and as panels of a multi-media whole. – Yndiana Montes Fogelquist and Jim Fogelquist, Appalachian Latinidad
Fingers/Dedos is a powerful chapbook with 4 elaborate poems in English, with the same poems being translated into Spanish. The poetry captures strong images and emotions: "You sat cross-legged in the grass/And the earth framed your face." I was pulled into these poems and transformed into a cocoon waiting to be released into something with such fingers that would "Feel the bone crack,/Grind against my teeth/As I scream [...]" and become new in the aftermath. – John Compton, the castration of a minor god and how we liberated what secrets we modified
Also, feel free to leave a review and/or stars on Amazon and Goodreads! Thank you! And enjoy!
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Is(sue) 12 of AvantAppal(achia) is Live
Kinfolk,
Edi(tors) Sabne Raznik and David Sykes are pleased to unveil the latest is(sue) of AvantAppal(achia).
We are spotlighting submissions from The U.S., Greece, India, Ireland, Australia, France, Siberia, and Belarus; seven countries in all.
We sincerely hope you enjoy this collection of the weird and wonderful in the fields of art and writing and we hope to publish another collection, Is(sue) 13 on June 15, 2023.
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Is(sue) 12 Deadline for AvantAppal(achia) Ezine
Friday, November 11, 2022
Review of Scott Ferry's "The Long Blade of Days Ahead"
Scott Ferry, The Long Blade of Days Ahead (Impspired, 2022) 122 pages, poetry, $9.99.
This collection comes from those emotions or states of being we tend to struggle with integrating into our experience as humans.
It starts with anxiety. Poems like "4/26":
"so I better just be ok
be ok be ok I better just be"
set the tone. But it soon becomes apparent that the anxiety likely stems from grief. Many are the poems exploring Ferry's journey with learning to accept and move forward with the death of his father as a father himself.
"4/1"
i miss my father most
when my son screams
daddy and runs to me
with so many years
in his hands
The natural human tendency to confusion in the face of these overwhelming emotions is seen here too. Ferry mocks and belittles faith. At the same time, he often speaks of ghosts and hauntings, believing that his father is visiting him in his afterlife state. Yet he seems not to be aware of the contradiction inherent in holding both these viewpoints at the same time. All of this holds true to the illogical emotional noise that accompanies grief and anxiety.
And it all makes for some intriguing poetic moments. Overall, this is a collection worth buying and reading.
Monday, October 10, 2022
Book Review: "Why We Argue and How to Stop" by Jerry Manney
Jerry Manney, Why We Argue and How to Stop: A Therapist’s Guide to Navigating Disagreements, Managing Emotions, and Creating Healthier Relationships (TCK Publishing, 2022) 175 pages, self-help, $19.99. At Amazon. https://jerrymanney.com/
I'm not thrilled with self-help books, to be honest. Generally, they are too quickly read and forgotten. The real benefit comes from application - and that rarely happens without the buddy system, someone to gently hold you to account and enthusiastically encourage you along the way. This is why working with a professional therapist has a much better success ratio than reading some random book.
This particular book, however, is different. This one is interactive. It is set up like a workbook. Get your pens and pencils out and write in it, please. Get interactive. Get involved. Journal. Take notes. Be specific. This one encourages you to actually apply the suggestions it makes to real scenarios in your life. In real time. In a realistic way.
Would you still do better with the buddy system? Absolutely. But this is a solid place to start. This is a self-help book that is actually designed to help. If you do get your pens and pencils out and do the exercises, you'll be less likely to just trash this book in a week. You might even remember a few of the suggestions when emotions are peaked. And that's about as high a bar as a self-help book can reach. Bravo.
Monday, June 20, 2022
North/South Appalachia Anthology Vol. 2 Submission Call
Call for Poetry Submissions