Blood Pudding Press (& More)

Lady Gaga’s fake blood baths would be better if they weren’t spewing out of a clichéd mouthpiece

2012-01-26T14:25:00.001-08:00

I think that Lady Gaga’s music has bland, generic (and to me annoyingly meaningless) pop lyrics, which is the main reason I do not understand why she seems to appeal to so many poets. Personality wise, I think she comes across as an oddball/cheese ball fusion (not that there's anything wrong with that), but not in a poetically creative way. Poetry is a form of unique, artistic verbal communications, not unique, artistic personal dress styles.

I’m not anti-pop, mind you – but I’m surely not a fan of overly clichéd words – which are not poetic in any way that I can fathom or that makes interesting sense to me. Frankly, her blah bland clichéd lyrics annoy the shit out of my poetic sensibilities.

Fellow poets, please feel free to try to help me understand her appeal based on WORDS.

She LOOKS interesting, but how strongly does that relate to poetic sensibility or content? Not much at all, as far as I’m concerned, if the interestingly dressed person can’t also create words as powerfully unique as their attire.

Furthermore, how do we know that she even chose her own look or did so for creative reasons, rather than money making reasons? What if it’s not even her personal style, so much as an odd marketing scheme that ended up working? If it is her own genuine quirky flare, then what’s the explanation for video of her as a singer, in which she looks more normal, before she changed her name to Lady Gaga? If she wasn’t really “born this way”, then what made her normal style suddenly turn more oddball?

If those are indeed her own unique oddball artsy design choices, she sure looks interesting, but how the heck does that relate to her clichéd lyrics; in which most of the lines sound high school level and like lines I’ve heard thousands of times; what is the poetic appeal of that blah blah blah riff raff?

It seems like I’ve heard many comments that speak favorably about Lady Gaga for looking attractive in her own non-traditional way – and yes, she has an oddly appealing gender-fluidity about her look – but she still has a model-like body type, which I think makes her less uniquely/oddly interesting than other singers who look less traditionally attractive than Gaga.

Especially when those other singers who look less traditionally attractive than Gaga also have their own uniquely interesting design styles PLUS offer much more interestingly creative and/or in depth lyrics. Peaches and Beth Ditto of the Gossip almost immediately pop out of my mind and I’m sure there are others too. So what makes Lady Gaga stand out as seeming super-duper special?

I do think people tend to focus on appearance and unusual dress styles too much, both overly positively and overly negatively. In terms of overly negative focus in that regard, it’s nice to have someone go out of their way to stand out and be themselves, BUT tons of people do that; it’s really nothing majorly different or vastly new to exhibit a ‘be yourself and let me be myself’ vibe. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s a good vibe; but I don’t think it’s anything phenomenally new or different – and I also don’t think it equates to performance art – even if spewing fake blood is part of your looks based performance (although I will admit, that’s my favorite part of any Gaga performance I’ve ever seen; but it’s not incredibly unique; Peaches has been doing that for years).

Yes some people still seem to have too much of a tendency to be uncomfortable with/make fun of odd dress styles way too much, so it’s good to see strong/powerful/confident people feel free to express via their own chosen style, no matter what anyone else might think; even if people think they look like a bit of a freak show, so what? Be yourself. Dressing/acting the way one truly wants to is a good and powerful thing. BUT that goodness and self-empowerment (and possible empowerment of others too) does not equal extreme super powers or incredibly unique performance art, in my opinion. I think it equals a personal style-oriented confidence whether or not overly insecure people are overly flabbergasted by the matter.

Even if some people do consider Gaga to be an interesting/inspirational performance artist, I still don’t understand how that appeals to poetic sensibilities, especially if her performance art is being enacted in the midst of clichéd lyrics. Am I missing something here?

I don’t despise her music; I think she has a good voice. I’m not saying I dislike her look; it’s fun and oddly interesting. I’m just saying I don’t understand the appeal on any in-depth artistic/poetic level. I can understand how she might inspire different looking/acting teens/young adults to feel more comfortable/confident about themselves (which is a good thing); but I can’t understand how she inspires adults, especially writers. When someone’s primary form of expression is much more LOOKS based than WORDS based, how/why does that inspire word-based individuals?

Several years ago, I remember hearing a lot of positive buzz about Lady Gaga and her uniqueness. I had not heard any of her music yet, but based on the feedback I’d heard, I imagined it would be pretty interesting and different, both visually AND lyrically. Thus the first time I heard her sing her Paparazzi song live on Saturday Night Live, I was quite confused by her poetic appeal. I heard a Madonna like voice and cheesy repetitive pop lyrics. I felt like I’d heard the song countless times before, even though this was my first time hearing it. I thought Gaga looked semi-interesting and semi-sexy, but nothing so incredibly new and different that it drew me in deeply or empowered me or inspired me in any way. I’ve sense seen a few more artsy performances of hers, but not a single one has ever come anywhere close to inspiring or thrilling me.

In fact, she sometimes annoys me, seeming to come across with such a full-of herself, look-oriented vibe – because even if someone’s style looks different and interesting and oddly artsy, I find it irksome when someone’s primary interest seems to be the way they look. I am not uninterested in appearance and style, but I am far more interested in complex, intense, word-based forms of personal (and larger scale) expression.

Mind you, I am the type of woman who thinks that ultimately everyone should be able to dress however they desire to dress, even if their style seems over the top, absurd, or ridiculous by other people’s standards. One’s style should be their own and should not have to fit main stream sensibilities. Still though, that doesn’t mean I want to hear someone blabbing on & on & on about their appearance – the way I heard Gaga blabbing on & on about her fake hair during a televised Thanksgiving special of hers I started watching out of curiosity. The special seemed primarily focused on her looks, cover songs, and her goofball blabbing – until her overly lengthy hair blabbing episode struck me as so annoyingly, ridiculously full of herself that I had to change the channel. I’m the type of woman who sometimes feels like I focus too much on my own appearance, so if I have to change the channel because I think another woman is being way too appearance oriented for my liking, then she must be pretty darn full of herself.

Why/how did looks-based Lady Gaga inspire an online literary magazine called Gaga Stigmata? I like the name of that lit mag and am a big fan of quirky specific lit mags with content based on whatever the editors choose to base it upon (and I am also a fan of founding editor Kate Durbin’s style AND much of her poetry; she LOOKS interesting AND can sure write much better/more uniquely than Lady Gaga). For a while, I thought about submitting to that magazine, because it seemed like a uniquely interesting publication. However, then I got to thinking more about it – and wondering how the heck I would write a Lady Gaga inspired poem – because nothing about her inspires me in a particularly powerful positive or negative way and I’m not about to fake it. I personally don’t really agree with the lit mag’s description of Lady Gaga as a “shock pop phenomenon”. I mean her looks and fake blood might shock SOME people, because some people are easily shocked, but they sure don’t shock me (and I don’t imagine they would shock many other poets/artists) – and her lyrics bore me and irk me, so I sure don’t find her phenomenal in that regard. Maybe her popularity could be interpreted as oddly phenomenal. Perhaps the oddness of her mass-appeal is the combination of cheesy pop lyrics with weird over the top artsy style – but again, she is sure not the first to have that kind of style, so what makes her seem different enough to stand out so much, including to some unique poets?

If any of Gaga’s lyrics were submitted as a poem to my literary magazine, they would swiftly and easily be rejected. Would any of you other poets publish any of her lyrics within your online or print literary publication? What if bland, clichéd words were submitted alongside a bizarrely dressed photo of the writer? Would that make her a better writer? How can an odd, artsy appearance change bland, boring words into poetry or poetic inspiration?

Not to get way overly repetitive here in terms of my confused little ramblings on this matter, but can another poet please try to help me understand Gaga’s poetic appeal? I’m not anti-pop (although I definitely dislike lots of cliché); I think she has a good voice; I think she has a fun and interesting visual appeal; but how the heck does that relate to poetry or make her stand out as someone special to poets?

NEW Review of 'Letters From Room 27...'

2012-01-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

A new Review of the Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook, 'Letters From Room 27 of the Grand Midway Hotel' by Margaret Bashaar can now be read on the Melusine Blog, here -

http://melusineblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/review-margaret-bashaars-letters-from.html

You may purchase yourself a copy of this chapbook here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80737587/letters-from-room-27-of-the-grand-midway

A few notes related to Blood Pudding Press

2012-01-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

Poems are often smaller than fiction or full-length quantity innards, but tend to be more intense and powerful, in word style oriented ways and emotionally speaking. A smaller, artsy hand-designed size for vaster mentally linked force fields creates an intense fusion, brimming with uniquely unusual powers.

Poems can be interpreted very differently by different readers; which makes the chapbook design process quite interesting. Poetry often relates to emotions, feelings, or other sorts of oddly intrinsic details, and sometimes tends to elicit visual sensations and artistic imagery within my brain.

Since the poets I choose to publish are poets whose work fits my style and sensibilities and whose poetry I feel strongly about, the publishing process tends to work well. If I published poetry that was not my style, that would be a lot tougher and less enjoyable and less passion-inducing and what would be the point of that?

There are so many different styles of poetry and poetry publishers, but I think most poets have poet friends, if not in person, ONLINE poet friends, and since some of your poet friends probably share stylistic similarities with you in terms of the kind of art they like and the kind of content that interests them, you're likely to receive hints and linkage that way.

Print publications can be a bit trickier than online publications in that you can conduct a lot of content oriented advance research of online publications, whereas with print ones, you can probably just see cover photos until you buy a chap or two - and you probably don't want to submit to a source whose style is not yours, both visually and content-wise.

Still though, a small press that would be a good fit for your stylistics has probably published a couple other poets you like and thus you can purchase a few of their chapbooks and/or trust them - or you can just take an interesting semi-risk.

In addition to poetry chapbooks...a zombie gnome

2012-01-11T10:12:00.000-08:00

In addition to poetry chapbooks, Blood Pudding Press now has a hand-painted zombie gnome available for sale. Yes that's right, Blood Pudding Press's editor Juliet Cook is in the midst of a little zombie gnome painting spree - and thought it just might inspire another poet's writing too, so decided to offer one for sale in the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop.

Above are a few zombie gnome photos to take a peek at- and then if so inclined, you may visit the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop via the link below.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress

Margaret Bashaar & the Grand Midway Hotel at Menacing Hedge

2012-01-03T22:08:00.000-08:00

The new Winter issue of Menacing Hedge offers an interview by Dana Guthrie Martin of Margaret Bashaar, related to Bashaar's Letters From Room 27 of The Grand Midway Hotel poetry chapbook published by Blood Pudding Press.

http://menacinghedge.com/?w2012

The Letters From Room 27 chapbook is available in all its artsy glory within the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop for anyone who would like to purchase/partake before, during, or after reading the above-linked interview; here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80737587/letters-from-room-27-of-the-grand-midway

Happy Horrifically Lusty New Year from Thirteen Myna Birds!

2011-12-30T17:28:00.000-08:00

This newly updated peculiar action offers new morsels from Kelly Boyker, Emily Smith-Miller, Cheryl Anne Gardner, John Tustin, and Daniel G.Snethen – with two older morsels still remaining from PoetJoe H. Gallagher and David Greenspan.

Enjoy the creepy/sexy read if you dare.

Here's an odd little snippet fusing odd little snippets from each new poet included within.

(I sure like to snip snip pivot... )

ruffled duvets - dancing darkly on her string - dark veil over her eyes - nipples pressed hard against the plastic - waiting for your heart, creeping - shaving down the bone - glows as a pink star - small fires licking the floorboards - Will my eyes turn red?

Happy artsy yummy New Year!

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

NEW Mini-Reviews

2011-12-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Two recent mini-reviews of Juliet Cook's Thirteen Designer Vaginas (published by Hyacinth Girl Press) and one mini-review of Margaret Bashaar's 'Letters From Room 27...' (published by Blood Pudding Press).

On Reiter's Block (by Jendi Reiter), who calls the Designer V's "Punning, darkly playful, experimental poems". Read more here: http://jendireiter.com/2011/12/15/reiters-block-year-in-review-part-1-best-poetry.aspx?ref=rssm

On Little Myths (by Daniel Shapiro), as part of his post called Thoughts on "success," plus Favorite Books I've Read in 2011, who calls the Designer V's "fun and creepy, sometimes at the same time". Read more here: http://littlemyths-dms.blogspot.com/2011/12/thoughts-on-success-plus-favorite-books.html?spref=fb

Also on Little Myths (by Daniel Shapiro), who calls the Letters From Room 27..."an enduring persona in a world of decay" and you can read more about that by clicking the link above too.

Then you can buy a Letters From Room 27 and/or a Designer Vagina for yourself via the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress

NEW Review and Recommendations by Juliet Cook

2011-12-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

On the newly updated Galatea Resurrects appears Juliet Cook's new review of the poetry book 'Compendium' by Kristina Marie Darling.

http://galatearesurrection17.blogspot.com/2011/12/compendium-by-kristina-marie-darling.html

And this small delicious new note upon Karen the Small Press Librarian's blog, offers a mini-threesome of reading recommendations by Juliet Cook - PLUS some wonderful comments by Karen about Juliet's newest poetry chapbook, Thirteen Designer Vaginas/published by Hyacinth Girl Press AND the latest Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook, Letters From Room 27 of the Grand Midway Hotel by Margaret Bashaar.

http://karenslibraryblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/best-of-small-press-2011-day-72.html

Merry Creative Xmas!

NEW Letters From Room 27 Review

2011-12-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

A new review of Letters From Room 27 of the Grand Midway Hotel by Margaret Bashaar now appears within Arsenic Lobster; the review was created by Susan Yount.

Here is a snippet of the review: "These 14, unmarred, lyrical horror poems are infested with line breaks which hang you and leave you sliced off, / a closed fist. Bashaar’s ghost girls are more alive than dead."

Partake of the review in its entirety here:

http://arseniclobster.magere.com/1review.html

And then if you would like to partake of the whole collection of these Letters, it can be purchased in its entirety, within the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80737587/letters-from-room-27-of-the-grand-midway

a small infusion of zesty xmas pizazz

2011-12-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

Envy-Inducing Stocking Stuffers for the Special Lady in Your Life:

http://voices.yahoo.com/envyinducing-stocking-stuffers-4609725.html?cat=46

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Five Delightful Nontraditional Xmas Celebration Ideas:

http://voices.yahoo.com/five-delightful-nontraditional-xmas-4668423.html?cat=74

NEW Thirteen Designer Vagina news & reviews

2011-11-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Another new review of Juliet Cook's Thirteen Designer Vaginas – at fiddler crab – thanks to Kathleen Kirk.

Here is a snippet:

“rich in humor and wordplay, but also rather frightening in what they suggest about what can be done surgically to alter or repair women’s nether parts.”

Click the link below to read more:

http://fiddlercrabreview.blogspot.com/2011/11/thirteen-designer-vaginas.html

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Thirteen Designer Vaginas is also a part of No Tells: best books 2011 - thanks to Jessy Randall

http://notellpoetry.blogspot.com/search/label/best%20books%202011

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Thirteen Designer Vaginas also has another review copy available from Galatea Resurrects – and so does the latest Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook, LETTERS FROM ROOM 27 OF THE GRAND MIDWAY HOTEL by Margaret Bashaar with photographic ephemera by Kevin Ross - plus copies of several older Blood Pudding Press poetry chaps too.

Visit here for more if you would like to receive a review copy from Galatea Resurrects:

http://grarchives.blogspot.com/

Dusie Kollektiv 5 is now alive online

2011-11-22T23:03:00.000-08:00

The Dusie Kollektiv 5 poetry chapbooks are now live online, here:

http://www.dusie.org/issue12.html

Blood Pudding Press's Juliet Cook's POST-STROKE is one of them; just click on her last name to see/read it.

You can also purchase it's hand-designed print version from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69547229/post-stroke-by-juliet-cook

NEW Thirteen Myna Birds Land

2011-11-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

In Thirteen Myna Birds land, new art pieces are now up by PoetJoe H. Gallagher, David Greenspan, and Joseph Harker - along with older pieces still remaining and darkly deliciously percolating by Eleanor Leonne Bennett, Bonnie MacAllister, Tiffany Midge, & David Greenspan again.

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"Pick strawberries, slick red layers of tissue, 110% Possum, the desire to clutch!"

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Partake here - http://13myna.blogspot.com/

***

NEW Review of the Blood Pudding Press chapbook 'LETTERS FROM ROOM 27...' by Margaret Bashaar

2011-11-19T20:23:00.000-08:00

The first review of the latest Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook - LETTERS FROM ROOM 27 OF THE GRAND MIDWAY HOTEL by Margaret Bashaar - reviewed by Burning River!

Here is a snippet - "What fascinates me about this collection and why you should pick it up are two things. There is the voice and writing of Margaret riding that razor line describing the world in three parts: the way we want it, the way it really is, and then what the omniscient say it is. But then there is the concept of the book itself. It is built like a haunted room of an old hotel."

Read the review in its entirety here:http://burningriver.info/?p=1501

Partake of/purchase the book for yourself here - and prepare to be poetically haunted:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82732178/letters-from-room-27-of-the-grand-midway

NEW Review of Juliet Cook's Designer Vaginas

2011-11-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

"the images conjured are monstrous, synthetic and sinister with allusions to wrecked dolls and broken psyches"

A snippet from Rachel Kendall's new review of Juliet Cook's Thirteen Designer Vaginas published by Hyacinth Girl Press.

Read the whole review at Sein Und Werden here: http://www.kissthewitch.co.uk/seinundwerden/designer_vaginas.html

PEEP/SHOW and Juliet Cook

2011-11-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

PEEP/SHOW is "....A Taxonomic Exercise in Textual and Visual Seriality....".

Juliet Cook's new work now appears inside the PEEP/SHOW.

Her Textual-ism within consists of four poems, one song lyric/poem and two semi-creative non-poem pieces.

Here - http://peepshowpoetry.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-post.html

“Tips of the Whip Fling Gold Stars” – the Poetry of Evelyn Lau

2011-11-01T23:21:00.000-07:00

"After the latest round of sexual fetishism had snapped to a close, the reader was left wanting more and so was the speaker. She was unsatisfied, alone, desolate, devastated, and desperate. Other times, she was muted, numb, and doubtful of her own capacity to experience true emotion and she desired to do something extreme in order to feel something real"

A snippet from my mini-review of Evelyn Lau's poetry.

Read the whole piece by clicking the link below.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9081479/tips_of_the_whip_fling_gold_stars_the_pg2.html?cat=47

Scary and Fun Halloween Dinner Recipes

2011-10-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Whip up your own oozingly monstrous variations:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2107065/scary_and_fun_halloween_dinner_recipes.html?cat=22

Morsels Hung On Hooks - NEW Halloweeny Thirteen Myna Birds

2011-10-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

The new Halloweeny Thirteen Myna Birds is now live!

Featuring darkly delicious oodles by Bonnie MacAllister, Tiffany Midge, David Greenspan, Eleanor Leonne Bennett, Paul David Adkins,Kari Larsen, & John Rocco - this issue has SIXTEEN scrumptious offerings:

a puddle of thick pink - some would call this puddle a flood - ahothouse exertion - a little bit demonic - a carnival of waspstingers - thrashing on a carousel – pompoms bursting – floating ghost- packed to slats with pillaged finery - drowned in the foam – theapertures pearl with blood – plummet beyond sound - peek inside

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

Blood Pudding Press Notes/Thirteen Myna Birds Notes

2011-09-28T19:47:00.001-07:00

Blood Pudding Press is not currently accepting poetry chapbook manuscripts and will not be for the rest of 2011. Take a look on this site from time to time to find out when submissions might be accepted again.

Meanwhile, partake of Blood Pudding Press offerings within the press's etsy shop here, including the very latest chapbook, published just last month, 'Letters From Room 27 of the Grand Midway Hotel' by Margaret Bashaar.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress

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Blood Pudding Press's spooky little sister, the online blog style lit. mag. Thirteen Myna Birds took an itty-bitty-break in September (primarily due to the editor suddenly/unexpectedly losing her Bust email account, from where she received/read/accepted or rejected/& responded to submissions) - but is now accepting submissions for the Halloweeny October offering.

The new submissions email account is now Julietcoo@gmail.com.

Feel free to submit; mid to late October shall be offering a delicious Halloween feast!

Profiles in Poetics: Juliet Cook

2011-09-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

Aesthetic Diversity of Women Writers in the 21st Century

(interview questions answered by Juliet Cook and asked by Jillian Mukavetz, which originally appeared upon the Women's Quarterly Conversation online site)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8400339/profiles_in_poetics_juliet_cook.html?cat=72

blood pudding letters

2011-09-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

When ladling this blood pudding into serving containers, consider hiding a peeled grape eyeball on the bottom. Slurptastic!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80739335/new-letters-from-room-27-of-the-grand

Special Halloween Treats

2011-09-08T16:43:00.001-07:00

Margaret Bashaar's haunted pleasure treasure trove of poetry is available in the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/80739335/new-letters-from-room-27-of-the-grand

Plus a Halloween Darkly Delicious Combo Pack here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/81271959/halloween-darkly-delicious-combo-pack?ref=v1_other_1

Plus a variety of other odd Halloween-y goodies here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?section_id=10388961

13 Myna Birds invades the haunted hotel!

2011-08-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

Featuring darkly delicious offerings by Margaret Bashaar, Kevin Ross, James Valvis, Jessy Randall, Daniel Shapiro, Sean Ulman, Suzie DeGrasse, Deidre Elizabeth, & M.P. Powers in a portal of haunted infestation and delight.

Here is a fusion/infusion of snippets from some of the pieces within:

"wormwood eating itself - eating its own heart - casting spells - a small, squirming - intestines like rosaries - shot through the left scapula - then through the heart - slashed deep enough to cut - from drop to drop - no longer spending my days inside triangles - collective delirium - catch on fire - teeth gleaming"

And here is a link to the site:

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

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This particular Thirteen Myna Birds update is partially in honor of the new Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook, "LETTERS FROM ROOM 27 OF THE GRAND MIDWAY HOTEL" by Margaret Bashaar; her featured poem is a teaser from that very chapbook, as is the darkly delicious photo art by Kevin Ross.

Partake of more details about that new chapbook and consider purchasing a copy from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress

NEW Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook - LETTERS FROM ROOM 27 OF THE GRAND MIDWAY HOTEL

2011-08-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Letters From Room 27 of the Grand Midway Hotel is the NEW Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook, featuring 14 oddly haunted poems by Margaret Bashaar, inspired by an artsy haunted hotel!

Brimming with weird, creepy, messy ghostly infiltrations galore.

The first small assortment of purchased chapbooks will be mailed out on Tuesday September 6 and will most likely be hand signed by Margaret Bashaar herself!

Also, the first ten sold copies will each include a small art card, hand designed by Blood Pudding Press editor Juliet Cook!

Each chapbook will brim with it's own lovely cover, its darkly delicious poetic innards, plus a few artsy photo snippets taken from within the haunted hotel by photographer Kevin Ross.

Take a look and consider purchasing a copy of this haunted treasure for yourself via the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here, pretty please, if you dare:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?ref=pr_shop_more

Any questions or special cover/innard color options, please feel free to ask.

Interested recipients might also like to partake of Margaret's Bashaar's own blog post about her new chapbook here:

http://pluckedfromogygia.blogspot.com/2011/08/letters-from-room-27-of-grand-midway.html

The First Review of Juliet Cook's Thirteen Designer Vaginas

2011-08-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

"As in all Cook's work, there is wonderfully dynamic wordplay, an undercurrent of horror and little tolerance for the candy-coated comforts..."

A small snippet from the very first review of Juliet Cook's Thirteen Designer Vagina's poetry chapbook now appears on the Melusine blog, here:

http://melusineblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/juliet-cooks-thirteen-designer-vaginas.html

Thank you very much to Melusine editor Janelle Elyse Kihlstrom AND of course to Hyacinth Girl Press, which published the chapbook.

Here is another snippet from the review:

"In these poems Cook's signature motif of the "doll injection mold" is applied to the one aspect of anatomy the cookiecutter-variety plastic girl's doll explicitly lacks but which, for the adult woman, has nevertheless failed to escape the influence of the "injection mold" philosophy of shame for any sort of deviance from an arbitrarily prescribed ideal."

Here is where you can buy yourself a copy of the chapbook if so inclined:

http://hyacinthgirlpress.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/thirteen-designer-vaginas-now-available/

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And speaking of small press poetry chapbooks brimming with artsy darkly delicious delight, Blood Pudding Press will be offering a newly published chapbook, very very soon!

LETTERS FOM ROOM 27 OF THE GRAND MIDWAY HOTEL by Margaret Bashaar.

Stay tuned if you dare.

profiles in poetics: Juliet Cook

2011-08-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

'women's quarterly conversation' presents the first long poetry related 'interview' Juliet Cook has completed in over a year; it focuses on her stroke/her aphasia/her loss of love AND poetry (not her LOSS of poetry; she still has that, in one way or another):

https://womensquarterlyconversation.wordpress.com/

New Thirteen Myna Birds (& new Blood Pudding Press chapbook coming soon)

2011-07-25T19:31:00.001-07:00

slip under my tongue, our fingers will fuse and split, my body convulsing – so fertile and so brazen – magnificent desire, hearts bloody – the smell of ginger, sea salt, and starlight – loud music – deep hands – pink handled guillotine – whirling – eyelash-thick wires - egg-speckled swirl –eyes splitting themselves - love comes in many forms, higher then drugs or heaven

The above snippets are fused from the poems within the newly updated Thirteen Myna Birds. Here it is in its entirety: http://13myna.blogspot.com/ offering work by Margaret Bashaar, Joseph Harker, James Valvis, Julia Oxenreider, Deidre Elizabeth, Kimberly Ann Southwick and John Grochalski.

Poem #13 by Margaret Bashaar is from her chapbook called LETTERS FROM ROOM 27 OF THE GRAND MIDWAY HOTEL, soon to be published in artsy print by my Blood Pudding Press.

Next month’s Thirteen Myna Birds update will include another poem from Margaret Bashaar’s LETTERS and then the chapbook will be available for sale in all its artsy glory within the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress.

Please feel free to take a gander at the shop and/or make a purchase – and stay tuned for the new strange innards next month!

Designer V's inside Burning Grapes

2011-07-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

Read three of Juliet Cook's Designer Vaginas in The Burning Grape:

http://theburninggrape.blogspot.com/2011/05/works.html

Then scroll down and partake if you would like more.

Thirteen Designer Vaginas (Snip Pivot)

2011-07-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

NEW!

A few signed copies of Juliet Cook's new Thirteen Designer Vaginas are now available in her own etsy shop too!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?ref=pr_shop_more

Find out more about this new poetry chapbook via the post below.

Thirteen Designer Vaginas (a meatier variety of snapdragon)

2011-07-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

Another wonderous new small press called Hyacinth Girl Press has published there very first poetry chapbook - and that chapbook is Juliet Cook's Thirteen Designer Vaginas.

It was the browsing of vaginal rejuvenation sites that inspired her to start writing her designer vagina poems. She got grossed out by the photos and medical notations and wondered what the heck she was looking for and then realized that she was conducting "poetry research"!

Don't you want to delve into some scrumdilicious pussy poems?

Snip snip pivot! Vaginatical! Va Va Voom!

Read a sneak peak snippet below; partake of a cover image; and then purchase your own new vaginas via another bit of linkage underneath!

My pink scalloped lips part, a meatier variety
of snapdragon. A strange but effective treatment
is meat tenderizer. Then I’m so deliciously numb,
it’s like tying phantom limbs to four horses & performing
surgery, as an audience applauds those delicately trembling lobes.

Get one here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76985573/thirteen-designer-vaginas-by-juliet-cook

Or here:

http://hyacinthgirlpress.wordpress.com/

Dark Dreamy Dead Baby Thirteen Myna Birds Update

2011-06-27T12:02:00.001-07:00

A strange new Thirteen Myna Birds is now floating pieces of Amanda Silbernagel, Valerie Loveland, Suzanne Grazyna, Jillian Mukavetz, M.P. Powers, Misti Rainwater-Lites, and Steven Gulvezan above a dead baby bird here:

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

wobbling V, cobweb shimmers, a planetarium blasts apart inside me, a fire ring, bloodletting, a froth of red shock, more ginger for the cramps, siren anguish, bird spiders, skull bones, devil pricks, the stinger in the middle, beautiful black and green sheen

Semi-Poetic Father's Day Greeting Card Ideas

2011-06-17T20:27:00.001-07:00

Unique Father's Day Greeting Card Messages:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1662135/unique_fathers_day_greeting_card_messages.html?cat=74

Juliet Cook's POST-STROKE Aphasia articles

2011-06-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

These articles took Juliet a long time to write; she was often overtaken by mixed feelings.

But she finally did it and hopefully a few people will read and relate.

The Intro will offer you a few snippets of what to expect from the others:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7973477/intro_to_my_three_new_poststroke_aphasia.html?cat=5

*

Post-Stroke Aphasia Piece One (Challenging Words & Images)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7973591/poststroke_aphasia_piece_one.html?cat=5

*

Post-Stroke Aphasia Piece Two (Love Replaced With Doubt & Debt)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7976323/poststroke_aphasia_piece_two.html?cat=70

*

NEW! Post-Stroke Aphasia Piece Three (Another Poet With Aphasia)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8113301/poststroke_aphasia_piece_three.html?cat=5

What Kind of Sestina Poet Are You?

2011-05-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

Read this little article to help you find out:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7998525/what_kind_of_sestina_poet_are_you.html?cat=42

New Thirteen Myna Birds (bodies, blood, ghosts, love, hate)

2011-05-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

A new especially bloody, ghostly, volatile installment of Thirteen Myna Birds is now live, offering poems by Jillian Mukavetz, Chris Moran, Mather Schneider, M.P. Powers, Letitia Trent, & Wesley Dylan Gray.

These pieces will stay up for about a month (or a little shorter or a
little longer) and then the Myna Birds will fall and rise and slither
again.

The next installment has already chosen MORE poems by two of the above poets (Jillian Mukavetc and M.P. Powers) and is eagerly awaiting submissions from others too.

Here are a few snippets fused from the current poems:

vaginal flesh a dream - black eyes - the shine of the dark, rippled with
red - like low-hanging corn - ice cream cone melting - fanged rabbits
hopping - a leg aches, suddenly snaps - poisonous laughter - blood and
glasses - open my whiteness until it pools - encompassing bone and flesh
- slipping on the brink - bursting

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

New Thirteen Myna Birds ("shards of soft white flashing through the stars and darkness")

2011-04-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Myna Birds has been newly updated to include new fleshy waves and dark beauty created by Tantra Bensko, Ben Rasnic, & Jay Robinson (as well as older morsels still remaining from Michelle Detorie, Joseph Harker, Misti Rainwater-Lites, & Daniel G. Snethen).

Partake of a small snippet of lines seized from the new pieces and then give in to their whole bodies by clicking the link below.

"heaving waters and black lavas - glittering and exchanging fantasies - the trees hoot in the owl - sparrows plummet from air - plunging the depths - powering fire"

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

***

P.S. I have read and responded to all recent Thirteen Myna Birds submissions, but recently found out that I never responded to one contributer, so am now feeling worried that I might have accidentally deleted some email or had a computer issue. If you have contributed to Thirteen Myna Birds and never received an acceptance or rejection response, please do let me know.

April Poetry Month Coupon

2011-04-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hello! Since April is Poetry Month and I truly adore poetry (and have little oodles of poetry chapbooks available for sale in my Blood Pudding Press etsy shop), I am offering a BIG 50% OFF coupon code all month long for any/all Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbooks!

The shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/bloodpuddingpress

The code is APRILBLOODPOEM.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Happy Poetic April to you!

Juliet Cook

P.S. Thirteen Myna Birds is open for submissions.

New Thirteen Myna Birds Smithereens

2011-03-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Myna Birds latest update is now live!

Starring new poetry by Michelle Detorie, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Joseph Harker, Daniel G. Snethen, Trisha Low, & Franklin Murdock (plus older poems remaining by Molly Curtis & Corey Mesler).

Here is a strange smithereen of tidbits created by lines from each new piece : “a spool of gloss torn by clipped sun, staining your junctures, cunt murmurs, writhe helpless, Tangled, telescopic eyes, ravenous for my flesh, a tattoo costs the same as an abortion, a pulpy trophy, what are you wearing, strip to your terrors”

Smithereen it for yourself: http://13myna.blogspot.com/

An interview with Juliet Cook at Birds of Lace

2011-03-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Below is a link to an older, poetry-oriented interview with Blood Pudding Press editor Juliet Cook that was originially published in a unique print publication called Freshette - and is now available online at Birds of Lace (thank you Gina Abelkop!).

Here's a snippet: "every once in a while, I get in a mode in which I start thinking about the possible pointlessness of it all or maybe even the frivolousness of it all or maybe even the self-indulgence involved with investing so much time and energy into creating these little art projects that probably mostly just matter to me. However, we all have to find our sense of special meaning and significance somewhere—for some, it’s in the camaraderie surrounding sports, for some it’s through religious beliefs, for some it’s political activism, for some it’s careerism, etc.. For me, it’s poetry. I feel that this realm is where my voice truly belongs and can most authentically express itself, whether or not my expressions resonate for others."

Read more by clicking the link:

http://birdsoflace.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/an-interview-wjuliet-cook/

Paper Ephemera - Conjested Liver Coffee

2011-03-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

This is a teeny little snippet from one of several offerings of paper ephemera newly available from Blood Pudding Press, presenting you with some oddly unique, fun vintage and/or artsy innards from a variety of different magazines - to use within your own unique art!

See more & find out more here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?section_id=5216837

The Spare Room (New Review)

2011-03-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

A new Review of Blood Pudding Press Poetry Chapbook, 'The Spare Room' by Dana Guthrie Martin, appears withen the latest issue of Prick of the Spindle. The review was written by Joanna S. Lee.

Here is a snippet: "using vivid, discrete descriptions she paints a technicolor autopsy".

Read more here: http://www.prickofthespindle.com/reviews/5.1/small%20presses/martin/spare_room.htm

ZombieHolocaust

2011-03-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

Blood Pudding Press is featured on ZombieHolocaust; do partake:

http://zombieholocaustmusings.blogspot.com/2011/03/liable-to-mutate-your-tongue.html

Blood Pudding Press/Horror Couture

2011-03-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

My Blood Pudding Press etsy shop has become part of a Team called Horror Couture!

When I was invited to join this Team I felt excited but worried that I might not fit in, because I don't have much blatantly horror-esque stuff available for sale in my Blood Pudding Press shop. I have hand-designed poetry chapbooks, vintage doodads, and ephemera.

BUT I do think some of my poetry is horror-esque in it's own odd way.

In much of my older poetry, I liked to bake horrific confections. I don’t like vanilla snack pack pudding poetry; I like blood pudding poetry.

I like poetry that borders the unappetizing, poetry that borders the grotesque, poetry that borders the pornographic and horrific. I am attuned to a sense of revolting, bodily-based horror associated with femaleness and I have a desire to birth this horror or abort it or deconstruct, reconstruct, or vivisect it.

As far as my newest poetry is concerned, my very latest chapbook 'POST-STROKE' is based on a real-life horrific health issue I suffered from (and am still suffering from). I had a carotid artery dissection, aneurysms, a stroke - and now have a Stent and Aphasia.

Also, I even designed a new sexy hot pink Venus Fly Trap Card (with poetry snippets) in honor of the Horror Couture group!

Lovely? Poisonous? Horror-ific in its own odd way? You decide.

See more about the Venus Fly Trap card here:http://www.etsy.com/listing/69587846/sexy-hot-pink-venus-fly-trap-handmade

See more about POST-STROKE here:http://www.etsy.com/listing/68522600/post-stroke-by-juliet-cook

X.O.X. Juliet Cook

Blood Pudding Press Chapbook SETS

2011-03-04T22:21:00.000-08:00

Added a new Poetry Chapbook SETS section to my Blood Pudding Press etsy shop, so that if anyone is interested in purchasing two or three different chapbooks, they can be treated to a special price, $2.00 to $4.00 less than buying each chapbook separately.

Take a look see; feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?section_id=7894809

*

Also, I am accepting poetry submissions for Thirteen Myna Birds (as always).

See below.

New SEVENTEEN Myna Birds!

2011-03-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

Beware the Ides of March, the Ides of Morph, a darkly delicious concoction in which Thirteen temporarily morphs into Seventeen Myna Birds!

A hauntingly sexy assortment of scrumptious goodies and horror by the likes of Molly Curtis, Corey Mesler, John Grey, Daniel G. Snethen, Joseph Harker, Trisha Low, & Stephen Caratzas.

Partake of these creatures' works here! http://13myna.blogspot.com

Then feel free to submit to other updates in the future (the issue after this one will go back to just Thirteen new editions - two of those are MORE pieces by the above named Joseph Harker and Trisha Low - eleven of them are still open) and/or invite your friends to submit.

Below are a couple little slivers created from the current issue, pilfering and fusing tidbits from all of the new Seventeen Myna Birds creatures. Slurp.

"creatures bucked off at awful angles / music latticing the night / small, humming, lucent / golden cobwebs / spirits flanking spirits / lips stained mauve / savage orange glow / sticky sweetness / salty starvation / treacherous fashion"

"ink in my veins / open up like a ghostflower / long, slow nerve / mortifications of the flesh / the slits of her gums / have you been snorting buttercream? / the new, the dark, the glorious"

Blood Pudding Press

2011-02-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

Etsy
BloodPuddingPress

Darkly Delicious Poetics (3)

2011-02-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

Yet another etsy Treasury featuring poetry chapbooks, poetic art, notebooks to work on your poems and art within, and other yummy doodads.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d682ffffb438eef42eee4ba/darkly-delicious-poetics-3

Darkly Delicious Poetics (2)

2011-02-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

Another Treasury of Poetry chapbooks, poetry books, poetic art, notebooks to work on your poems and art within, yummy eating and drinking doodads, & more.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d65acecd56f8eef23fd9e0a/darkly-delicious-poetics-2#4d65cede48118eef053d2f58

Darkly Delicious Poetics (1)

2011-02-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

A Treasury of Poetry chapbooks, poetry books, poetic art, notebooks to work on your poems and art within, yummy eating and drinking doodads, & more. (Stay tuned for #2, coming soon).

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d657e50cd846d91c7295de3/darkly-delicious-poetics-1?index=0

(Featuring work by Juliet Cook, Christine Hamm, Kathy Burkett, Aunia Kahn, and many more.)

NEW! POST-STROKE is now available

2011-02-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

POST - STROKE is now available!

POST - STROKE is Juliet Cook's new 2011 poetry chapbook, created by Blood Pudding Press for DUSIE Kollektiv 5.

POST - STROKE is a small hand-designed snippet of ten new poems and more.

About a year ago, Juliet Cook suffered from an unexpected carotid artery dissection, bleeding out by 99%, aneurysms, and a stroke - and this strange sensation inspired the poems within this collection.

Partake of more and/or purchase your very own copy in the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress

***

If interested, you may also read some articles Juliet has written about her stroke, linked to below:

~Post - Stroke Survival and Sad Little Blues: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2807396/poststroke_survival_and_sad_little.html?cat=70

~Full Length Dissection: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5602556/full_length_dissection.html?cat=70

~A Round Thing That Starts With The Wrong Letter: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6187208/a_round_thing_that_starts_with_the.html?cat=5

Body of Words

2011-02-14T19:42:00.001-08:00

Partake of Body of Words and consider submitting your body:

http://www.bodyofwords.net/

Coming soon from Blood Pudding Press

2011-02-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

Coming very soon -Juliet Cook's POST-STROKE poetry chapbook, published by Blood Pudding Press for Dusie Kollektiv 5.

I have already started mailing copies to Dusie Kollektiv 5 members.

Soon extra copies shall be available from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop.

Below is one sneak peak cover design and one sneak peak poem.

Please stay tuned.

Marmalade Glaze

Like a terrible pterodactyl necklace it bit,
sunk in and left me
bloody. Snorted thousands
of remembered words out of my system.
Appealing turned into appalling.

Strange Valentine's

2011-02-04T20:01:00.000-08:00

Blood Pudding Press has added a new section of Strange Valentine's - from on-sale special poetry chapbooks to ivory lace & more.

Please do feel free to partake:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?section_id=7799241

Happy DIY Creative Valentine's Day

2011-02-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

Paint a Piece of Pottery For Your Valentine:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1426072/paint_a_piece_of_pottery_for_your_valentine.html?cat=30

Valentine's Day Cards:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1381810/valentines_day_card_messages.html?cat=41

Anti-Valentine's Day Cards:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1379598/antivalentines_day_cards.html?cat=7

How To Celebrate An Anti-Valentine's Day:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1380278/how_to_celebrate_an_antivalentines.html?cat=7

Some Alternative Uses For Love Letters:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1371657/some_alternative_uses_for_love_letters.html?cat=10

New Thirteen Myna Birds Wings

2011-01-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

Get underneath the new wings of Thirteen Myna Birds.

Poems by Neil Kelly, Mather Schneider, Stephanie Bryant Anderson, Stephen Caratzas, M.P. Powers, Daniel G. Snethen, & John Rocco - & an art video made by Karen Mary for the PJ Harvey song 'The Devil'.

“Crayons melt on radiators of rock - and echo under the domed porticoes - with the stick-ends of their hearts - pretend she is a mermaid – The Devil - with pterodactyls and Flash Gordon space ships whizzing by in faded black and white - I couldn't get my dick up in the air last night - Yet here is where my heartwaves flame - A chill rain, a low dark - Sandpaper lips brushing mine - The world a gyroscope - Spinning orange and black - the only place to go to survive - Her kiss left burns of fire with hypnotic gleam - A powerful rain came down after the crows left.”

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

A Year that Started with the Wrong Kind of Bang Has Ended; What Comes Next?

2011-01-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

A Round Thing that Starts with the Wrong Letter

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6187208/a_round_thing_that_starts_with_the.html?cat=5

Poet and Blood Pudding Press (and Thirteen Myna Birds ) editor Juliet Cook had a rough year. On January 6 2010, she suffered from a Stroke and now on January 6 2011, she & her husband will be getting Divorced.

She still has her passion for poetry though.

Click on the link above to read her new article, 'A Round Thing that Starts with the Wrong Letter'.

(And then if you need a yummier treat, scroll down to link to Thirteen Myna Birds recent Happy New Year update and read and submit!)

HAPPY DARKLY DELICIOUS NEW YEAR!

2010-12-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from Thirteen Myna Birds featuring a masterpiece of new innards from poets J.R. Pearson, Jason Sturner, Tanuj Solanki, and Nathan Moore – plus poisonous drinks by artists Kalli Schulz, Mary Roxette, and silentkitty using the darkly delicious body & face of fiendish male model Jason Baca. Dig into this hideously scrumptious feast and prepare to be aroused!

Please take a look (and hopefully a read).

You may also feel free to submit to the NEXT issue, which already will include unusual poetry by Mather Schneider and unique art by Karen Mary and maybe more...

Happy New Year!

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

P.S. Here is the short version of my new Post-Stroke article mentioned below:

http://doppelgangrene.blogspot.com/2011/01/round-thing-that-starts-with-wrong.html

New Post-Stroke/Thirteen Myna Birds coming soon...

2010-12-30T15:13:00.000-08:00

My Stroke happened almost a year ago now and here is the little article I wrote about it a few months thereafter. I am currently working on a new little article, to be posted soon. So read the old version and prepare for the new.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2807396/poststroke_survival_and_sad_little.html?cat=70

Also partake of the old Thirteen Myna Birds, because an all new version of that delectable offering shall be posted tomorrow, as a special dark New Year's Eve feast.

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

Merry Xmas

2010-12-23T19:48:00.001-08:00

New Thirteen Myna Birds Scrumptious Bloody Deviant

2010-11-22T19:41:00.000-08:00

A new Thirteen Myna Birds is now live and it is a palette of blood-tingling, flesh-eating, tasty candy disasters including new poems by Tom Davidson, Kathy Burkett, Douglas Burkett, Phylinda Moore, & Amy Schreibman Walter:

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

"crumpled rum drizzled red velvet adhesive, a gorgeous bowl, consumptive chests, bloated body, turquoise chlorine"

Angel Face Trailer Review & More

2010-11-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

Scrumptious poet Margaret Bashaar wrote a new little review of 'Angel Face Trailer', a small Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook by Juliet Cook & Letizia Merello (as well as little reviews of two other poetry chapbooks, too). Partake -
http://pluckedfromogygia.blogspot.com/2010/11/micro-reviews.html

And then you just might want to scroll down to the post below this one to check out an article about Juliet Cook's poetry written by Letizia Merello AND another little review of another one of Juliet Cook's poetry chapbooks by Margaret Bashaar AND more!

P.S. To kind out more about Angel Face Trailer, look at its hand-designed paper format at the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop, here - http://www.etsy.com/listing/53420815/angel-face-trailer-by-juliet-cook-and%20/

And/or check out its free online version here - http://www.scribd.com/doc/33331342/Angel-Face-Trailer

***

ALSO new via Blood Pudding Press, here is the Writer's Almanac (an etsy Treasury, including my FONDANT PIG ANGST) - http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4ce7190657cd8eef306b4a5c/writers-almanac

2010-11-10T21:21:00.000-08:00

Tales of unordinary womanhood: suctions, injections, mutations.

An introduction to Juliet Cook's poetry.

Letizia Merello

Mine was another abstract series
some might label botched results.
I might call small mutants. A different kind
of before & after. Squirmy tentacles somewhere
in the midst of dry ingredients.
A new definition of zest.

(from Adornment[1])

Tentacles into the reassuring warmth of a kitchen. What sounds like an exotic recipe is something more: the writing of Juliet Cook, poet and publisher from Ohio. Juliet's poetry is run across by a desecrating vein, it's a per-verse dough in which the author delves into, shaping anti-lyrical and powerful forms, contaminated by a diversity of languages: the obsessive rhythm of assembly lines, the sophistication of wanton pastry decorations, the cruel precision of surgical instruments, splatter gore and porn from the '70s ... The result? A clear, surreal yet hyper-realistic world and a reconfiguration of the female sex: a revolution against the broadly accepted standards of femininity none of us is (unfortunately) immune to, taking place on the body's scene.
In addition to continuously engaging in a visceral poetic research, Juliet runs her own publishing house, Blood Pudding Press, a tiny vibrant piece of the U.S. underground publishing world, through which she publishes her own poetry collections, as well as giving voice to other authors with multi-writer projects and chapbooks. Particular attention is given not only to contents (the short manifesto published on the press' website, http://bloodyooze.blogspot.com, reads: "Blood Pudding Press hearts (...) Icing bags, scars, deep sea creatures, love, lust, longing, burlesque, grotesque, flirty and at least a little bit improper…") but also to the package: each book is handmade by Juliet, who also personally takes care of the artwork or selects works by other artists. Another of her initiatives is the online magazine Thirteen Myna Birds (http://13myna.blogspot.com/), a constantly evolving "flight formation", consisting of 13 poems by different authors, which alternate from time to time in submission order.
In shaping her words with her carving knife, Juliet reveals the woman's body in its essential nature: a product not intended for mass consumption, despite the frosting and colored sprinkles (after all even vanity is a female prerogative).
Along her lines we discover the unknown - yet deeply set inside us - horror of our innards, dripping with juices and secretions, resonating on teeth and bone, but also a new flesh with new capabilities, mutant appendixes and indecent indecent orifices. The recesses of the body, despite being unattractive in terms of conventional aesthetics, can not but arouse an irresistible magnetism, due to their own truth, soaked in the extremes of horrid and grotesque: the mixture dripping from Cook's cauldron not only works, but is beautifully intoxicating and thought-provoking . The body's factory eventually becomes the forge of self-expression: flesh becomes the mouthpiece of its own shameless hunger and inevitable necessities, and the instrument exposing the myriad forms of direct and indirect violence and repression to which it is subject. Beware, though: we're not talking feminism. Juliet shuns dogmatism, focusing on the consistency of inconsistency: "I'm interested in the conflict inherent in my desire to be perceived as consumable, even though I don’t really want to be consumed."[2] A sensitive force, aware of its fragility. A recent series of Juliet's poems, the Designer Vaginas, inspired by the recent fashion of vaginoplasty, or vaginal rejuvenation, focuses on one of the bizarre manifestations of the female desire for acceptance. Here is an example, Designer Vagina 5:

Her pink scalloped lips part, a meatier variety
of snapdragon. A strange but effective treatment
is meat tenderizer. Then she’s so deliciously numb,
it’s like tying phantom limbs to four horses & performing
surgery, as an audience applauds those delicately trembling lobes.[3]

Every image, even the crudest, and every object, even the sharpest, are essential to the creative process, which becomes a sort of digestion process: "Stuff like bukkake and bestiality don’t seem so troublesome to me anymore now that I’ve had my way with them by inserting them into MY contexts."[4] Juliet's Mondo Crampo (Dana Teen Lomax for Dusie Kollektiv 3, 2008) poems are an excellent example of this: an assembly of frames in which the female "womb" plays a lot of roles: in the middle of a feast, worn as an accessory, even transformed into a donut hole, in a whirl of improbable porn-food metaphors.
Contrast and non-conformity seem to be critical aspects of Juliet Cook's poetry, which faces the dichotomy of love and death in Soft Foam (Blood Pudding Press for Dusie Kollektiv 4, 2010). As she explains in her afterword, Soft Foam may be "(…) the calmed down version of a violent frothing, but it could also be something that is purposely sprayed into rifts and crevices to contain the gaping. To put it another way, it could be ebbing & flowing expression versus repression(…)."[5] Hot Water just talks about a "pearl-making ache" to which the tongue (the words, the longing) is tethered: a painful tension for self-expression, on the verge of complete abandon.

My tongue is tethered to this pearl-making ache.
This longing to escape the bivalve open & shut.
I can’t turn off the steam. Like abalone
in hot water when he flashes his eyes at me.
Flares his nostrils (please). Already attached, but

this multicolor seizes up my partial formation.
Shiny and gritty. The messy truth is
I want them both.
(Is this such an anomaly?
So dastardly?) To be so tempted

I’ve pretended the timing was off when I knew
my impulses were non-linear. Not about the nice fit.
Whole enough to roll between his fingers’
small circles, but not perfect spheres that might be strung
around a couth neck, an orderly solar system model.

My adornment is misshaped. Desire
to spill down his naked chest.
I don’t want to be fastened.
I want to stay open. I want to be crushed
by the entire wild weight of his body.

Emotional and sexual impulses are body languages, just like illness. A few months ago Juliet suffered from a stroke that prevented her from reading and writing for a while. Her Post-Stroke Poems are just another form of experimentation, though unwanted, of a female body which can't help but express itself.

Marmalade Glaze

Like a terrible pterodactyl necklace it bit,
sunk in and left me
bloody. Snorted thousands
of remembered words out of my system.
Appealing turned into appalling.[6]

For a complete list of publications and for more details about Juliet's poetry, please feel free to visit her website at http://julietcook.weebly.com/.
Letizia Merello has been translating Juliet Cook's poetry into Italian since 2008. Angel Face Trailer (Blood Pudding Press, 2010) is the first of Juliet's chapbooks featuring her translations, available both in print, on Juliet's Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress) and online at http://www.scribd.com/doc/33347869/Angel-Face-Trailer.

[1] Juliet Cook: Horrific Confection, BlazeVOX Books, 2008.
[2] Juliet Cook: Designer Vagina Dentata, Delirious Hem (http://delirioushem.blogspot.com/2010/02/juliet-cook.html), February 2, 2010.
[3] Published on print literary magazine "Tits".
[4] Ibid.
[5] Juliet Cook: Soft Foam, Blood Pudding Press for Dusie Kollektiv 4, 2010.
[6] Published on online literary magazine "Horse Less Press".

*

"This article was first published in a slightly different Italian version on Arterotica http://www.arterotica.eu/3762-juliet-cook-poesia.htm

***

Speaking of Soft Foam, check out this wonderful little review of that chapbook, by Margaret Bashaar - on Karen the Small Press Librarian's site:
http://karenslibraryblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/guest-review-juliet-cook-reviewed-by.html

Happy Halloween Issue of Thirteen Myna Birds

2010-10-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

The Halloween issue of Thirteen Myna Birds has now gone live and includes a mouthful of hideous succulent creations by Phylinda Moore, Helen Vitoria, James Valvis, Scott Alexander Jones, Maxwell Mednick, John Tustin, Neila Mezynski, Graylin Fox, Ron Koppelberger,& Daniel G. Snethen.

Plus this issue also includes a new lighter color (but not a lighter taste of poison laced candy; hahaha)!

Have a look, have a read and feel free to let me know what you think.

Happy Halloween, you darkly delicious morsels.

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

Halloweenish Horror

2010-10-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

October can often be a darkly delicious fun and creative month and I hope it is this year, too.

To get started with the divination festivities, I added a new little temporary section to the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop - 'Halloween Yummy Horror'!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress?section_id=7409216

Amongst a few other oddly unique goodies, this new section includes too darkly delish poetry chapbooks, so check it out.

Also, I am still reading submissions for the updated Halloweeny October issue of Thirteen Myna Birds.

Newly Updated Thirteen Myna Birds

2010-09-24T12:54:00.001-07:00

Inlcuding poems by Micah Freeman, John Rocco, James Valvis, Phylinda Moore, Stephanie Wytovich, & Daniel Snethen.

zombie jewel motherfuck Nightmare. creeping slaughterhouse cockroach.
dashed between dumped words. ragged rock rubs raw. brain transmitters.
grayscale sparkles.

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

(Poems are now being read and considered for the Halloweenish issue late next month; check out the guidelines below the poems and feel free to send a darkly delicious submission my way soon. Slurp! Zombie-fied Juliet Cook.)

P.S. Aside from the content (which will be some people's style but not other people's style and I don't really care) does anyone have trouble reading Thirteen Myna Birds because of it's color or font size? Feel free to let me know; because if several people do, then I will consider redesigning the site. I chose the current color and size because they work for me, but other things could work for me too...

Goosebumps

2010-09-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

A Blood Pudding Press dark delight of Odd, Creepy, Hideously Yummy Vintage GAUZE has been chosen as part of this fun, Halloween-esque listing at etsy. Slurp!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c93783fca4b8eef9825f5df/goosebumps

Some Blood Pudding Press chapbooks can be darkly yummy too, such as Planchette by Juliet Cook.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/46003176/planchette-by-juliet-cook

You may also partake of Juliet's Scary & Fun Halloween Dinner Recipes.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2107065/scary_and_fun_halloween_dinner_recipes.html?cat=22

Soft Foam/Dusie Kollektiv 4 now online

2010-09-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

If you haven't (or even if you have) read my poetry chapbook 'Soft Foam' in print, you may now partake online (as well as partaking of other Dusie Kollektiv 4 chaps.). Just click on the last name to partake of that writer's collection. Click on Cook for me.

http://www.dusie.org/issue11.html

A Creative Writer's Phone Sex Operator Interview

2010-08-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

"Poetry is my passion and has been for a very Iong time. My college degree is in creative writing, was especially attuned to poetry, and I had a fun and enjoyable college experience. After that, I was already feeling resigned to the fact that I was going to have to secure a relatively meaningless and dinky doo day job in order to pay my bills. I seemed to have some sordid glamour in the notion of sleazy or seedy or alternative day jobs. Day jobs of which one's mother might disapprove. My friends and I would sit around and chat about questionable job options that might earn us some strange type of oddball street creds and would not require us to remove our body piercings or normalize our vibrant hair colors or otherwise compromise our sense of self. One girl was fond of talking about how if only she had bigger boobs, she'd shake 'em in a strip club (as if large breasts are a requirement in such an arena)--and one boy would wax poetic about the various delightful implements he'd have the chance to pilfer if he was employed in a hospital environment (to this day, I believe he has collections of catheters and speculums, plus he is now a nurse). As for me, the obvious choice seemed to be phone sex."

Read the whole article by clicking below.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5721912/a_creative_writers_phone_sex_operator.html?cat=31

Is that globular outrage or globular adaptation?

2010-08-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

Juliet Cook's recent blog article has been shared at yummy Big Tent Poetry.

Related to poetry, porn, stroke, sadness & more?

Is it globular or blobular? Decide for yourself by clicking below:

Sideshow: Finding the Words-
http://bigtentpoetry.org/2010/08/sideshow-finding-the-words/

Ectoplasmic Necropolis is a Twist of Lime

2010-08-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Ectoplasmic Necropolis now exists in a Twist of Lime - http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c66a341ad7a8eefa6257645/with-a-twist-of-lime

(Ectoplasmic Necropolis is a 30 page Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook starring the work of the following oozing literati: Shane Allison--Aimee DeLong--Brooklyn Copeland--Nava Fader--Adam Fieled--Jeff Roberts--Susan Slaviero--murmurists--Ken Pobo--Suzanne Grazyna--Juliet Cook--Rebecca Loudon--Andrew Lundwall--Daniela Olszewska--Candace Turlington--Misti Rainwater-Lites--Rachel Kendall--J.R. Pearson--Sharon Zetter--Brian Foley--Eddie Watkins--Jayne Pupek--Nicole Cartwright Denison--Melissa Severin--Donora Hillard--Sean Kilpatrick--AnnMarie Eldon--John Moore Williams--Rachel Lisi--John Rocco.)

Yum.

Friday the 13th/Thirteen Myna Birds

2010-08-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

It is Friday the 13th and Thirteen Myna Birds has taken a lusty fling featuring a hideously yummy treat of darkly delicious and strangely scary female-centrism starring Mary Biddinger, Kathy Burkett, C. Delia Mulrooney, & Debrenee Adkisson.

Enjoy this euphoric plethora of womanly horror including slithering charm bracelets, an avalanche of nonpareils, a rainbow of glistening organ exposed, egg goo, a thirsty bloom, a gummy baby brain, always bleeding…

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

New Notes from a Poet with Dissection and Aphasia

2010-08-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

"I'm not a dead animal and my brain is better than that of a fetal pig. However, I still have not fully recovered from the results of my stroke and its resultant aphasia."

That is one line from my new article about the matter here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5602556/full_length_dissection.html?cat=70

P.S. I did make a small mistake within my article - in this line I used the wrong link (THIS link as a matter of fact) "If anyone would like to help me out a little bit and partake of your own creative goods, it would be utterly wonderful if you purchased a special something from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop at http://bloodyooze.blogspot.com/". The correct link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/BloodPuddingPress.

Thank you for partaking. Slurp!

NEW Thirteen Myna Birds

2010-07-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

The latest updated Thirteen Myna Birds includes new pieces by Avery Oslo, Daniel G. Snethen, & John Tustin (plus older but still darkly delicious stuff such as Angel Face Trailer, Tom Davidson, Michael Bernstein, Alana I. Capria, Tyler Gobble & Layne Ransom).

Cannibalized butterfly sperm & more!

Check it out at http://13myna.blogspot.com

Angel Face Trailer ONLINE

2010-06-20T16:29:00.001-07:00

You may now read Angel Face Trailer online, via Scribd.

Simply click Angel Face Trailer below.

(You may also purchase your very own hand-designed print copy of this yummy new poetry chapbook from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop at http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/. See my previous blog here for more details.)

Angel Face Trailer

Angel Face Trailer NOW AVAILABLE

2010-06-19T19:18:00.001-07:00

Angel Face Trailer is a delectably printed and hand bound poetry chapbook offering startlingly dark delicious poems with English pieces by Juliet Cook and Italian translations by Letizia Merello.

Five poems by each hot lady (for a total of ten) PLUS one extra brand spanking new poem put together by BOTH women. Ooh la la!

These scarily delectable twelve piece innards are bound together and designed by unique one of a kind outers, with each copy sold for $6.66.

Partake of and purchase your very own Angel Face Trailer within the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop at http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/

TypewriterGirls Gone Furry (oodles of odd)

2010-06-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

TypewriterGirls Gone Furry event one week from today!

Darkly Delirious Oodles of odd burlesque, music, POETRY, & more!

Lots of yummy details here:

http://typewritergirls.net/upcoming-cabarets-and-other-events/

Lovely Little Soft Foam Review

2010-06-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

I just read this wonderful little review of my poetry chapbook 'Soft Foam' (the latest Juliet Cook poetry chapbook, published by Blood Pudding Press as part of the Dusie Kollektiv 4), written by delicious fellow poet, Margaret Bashaar on her blog 'Plucked From Ogygia':

"Soft Foam by Juliet Cook (Blood Pudding Press, 2010) Before you even read this (tiny) review, I need you to go purchase this chapbook. Immediately. I'll wait. Okay. I am going to go ahead and assume you did as you were instructed, and now I'll tell you why. From the very first poem, Semi-Extraneous Consort, I knew I was going to adore this chapbook. I think, sometimes, that Juliet (or at least the persona Juliet writes in) and I have some of the same neurosis. I feel like she gets me and all the fucked up little things that go through my head. Much of this chapbook is a meditation on life and death - particularly that of of the speaker's husband's previous wife, who, it is revealed in the chapbook, has died. I, too, am my husband's second wife, and while his previous wife is not dead... when we first got together it felt different from him just having ex girlfriends. I feel like Juliet has an acute understanding of this and paints this relationship that her speaker has with her husband's dead first wife in such a painfully beautiful way that I couldn't put the chapbook down. I had some serious "goddamn! I want to write like this!" moments while reading Soft Foam. All the poems were, as I've now come to expect from Juliet, a treat to read aloud. I had some serious fun while elliptical-ing. Add in some creepy/lovely sea creatures, and you have my favorite chapbook I've read so far this year, hands down."

Yay! I am so very delighted by her review! Thank you Margaret!

If you are interested in purchasing this chapbook for yourself, per Margaret's suggestion, it is indeed still available from Blood Pudding Press at http://www.BloodPuddingPress.etsy.com/

***

ALSO, speaking of Margaret Bashaar, I am going to be involved with the next poetry reading/unique special event called 'TypewriterGirls Gone Furry' later this month (on June 25). Find out more about THAT, here: http://typewritergirls.net/ .

***

ALSO, speaking of Blood Pudding Press, a NEW poetry chapbook called 'Angel Face Trailer' will be coming soon. Scroll down for a tasty sneak peak...

NEW Thirteen Myna Birds

2010-06-02T16:45:00.000-07:00

An updated Thirteen Myna Birds is now LIVE, featuring darkly yummy poetry readings by Juliet Cook and Letizia Merello as a teaser for their soon-to-be published Blood Pudding Press chapbook--an awfully delicious response to their poem by Tom Davidson--a few unique pieces by Michael Bernstein and more! Check it out at http://www.13myna.blogspot.com/

*

You may see the blog entry below this one to find out more about Juliet & Letizia's chapbook, ANGEL FACE TRAILER.

MACAROON MOVIE PREVIEW - a poetry reading

2010-06-01T16:41:00.001-07:00

Please feel free to partake of this scrumptious little live reading of the poem 'MACAROON MOVIE PREVIEW' by Juliet Cook. This poem is part of a coming-soon chapbook by Blood Pudding Press, to be published later in June.

The chapbook is called ANGEL FACE TRAILER and will feature hideously creepy poems by Juliet Cook along with darkly deliciously unique Italian translations by Letizia Merello.

Please feel free to also look/listen to this poem's Italian translation, read live by yummy Letizia Merello, here: http://corpovalvola.blogspot.com/ !

MACAROON MOVIE PREVIEW

Otherwise known as Angel Face Trailer.
We need a few handfuls of height/weight proportionate females
weighing in at 130 pounds or less to just stand around
on men’s stomachs, feet sinking into the flesh.
Uncooked dough. Sprinkles. A dark cordial, the cherry floating
could be a bambi heart under blue light. Silky track
jacket. Satiny gym shorts. We need a few females to do their hair
like Farrah Fawcett when she was an angel. Hot rollers,
sponge rollers, long tube socks with candy stripes.

We need to see the little piggies literally sink
into the flesh. We mean wiggle and then disappear.

Thirteen Myna Birds (Harsh Horror)

2010-05-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Myna Birds new May update is harshly dark, hideously dirty, & knife-laden. Below I will post one little word from each of the ten new poems (by Alana I. Capria, Tyler Gobble, Layne Ransom, elvie suzuki, John Grochalski, Daniel G. Snethen, & Tom Davidson) and interested parties may check it out for themselves at

http://13myna.blogsppot.com

"octopus arms and parrot beaks, rusty swings and slides, dead frogs in the garden, a hand grenade, panicked brains, leeches in tight cocoons, a fat lip, an empty heart, omnipresent skullking, dizzy with stars of black"

ANGEL FACE TRAILER

2010-04-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

(incantation)

locks of black sheep, old rosary beads,
dried rose petals placed between pages
with a small ceremony you can only imagine
my desirousness, covetousness, little sprouts
that grow into twisting tubers, climbing me,
seeking entry, this calligraphy that writes itself
on the body, imprint of desiccated flowers, strained feeders
I’m holding my hand out in the shape of a reliquary

~Juliet Cook~

***

(incantesimo)

ricci di pecora nera, grani di vecchi rosari,
petali di rosa secchi messi in mezzo alle pagine
con una piccola cerimonia che puoi solo immaginare
il mio desiderio, la mia bramosia, piccoli germogli
che si trasformano in tuberi contorti, si arrampicano a me,
cercano di entrare, una calligrafia che si scrive da sé
sul corpo, impronte di fiori essiccati, tubi di alimentazione tesi
tendo la mia mano nella forma di un reliquiario

~Letizia Merello~

***

1. incantation is Juliet Cook's first poem from a small series called(B)URN
2. The series was previously published by Gold Wake Press (read it here - http://goldwakepress.org/2009/09/11/juliet-cook-burn/)
3. The Italian Translation was created by wondressly creative Letizia Merello
4. The next Blood Pudding Press chapbook, to be published circa June, will be ANGEL FACE TRAILER and will include more strangely delicious poems and translations by Juliet and Leti.
5. Yum!?! Stay tuned! P.S. If you can hardly wait,you may check out a few excerpts from this project-in-progress in the Italian online magazine, Viadellebelledonne:
http://viadellebelledonne.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/juliet-cook-tradotta-in-italiano-da-letizia-merello/

Thirteen Myna Birds update (slurp!)

2010-04-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Darkly Delicious New Birds Are shimmering and spitting and biting on Thirteen Myna Birds! Sweetly strange and oddly awful new poetry by Angie Werren, Holly Day, Tom Davidson, John Tustin, Theresa Senato Edwards, & Daniel Gallik. Slurp into the scene at http://13myna.blogspot.com/

***

P.S. Other fun online stuff: Zero Ducats 1 & 2 available in lovely little print is now ONLINE! Many odd and fun and peculiar materials, including a poem by me (Juliet Cook) in each issue. Check them out for free - http://www.zeroducats.com/

****

Also feel free to submit to Thirteen Myna Birds next issue, to be published in mid-May. Yay!

Twin Peaks 20th Anniversary (and Poetry)

2010-04-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

Today is the 20th Anniversary of Twin Peaks, the oddly darkly deliciously delightful TV show (and movies) by David Lynch. Twin Peaks was my favorite TV show ever, I adored it, and it had a wondrous impact upon my creativity, especially poetry.

In fact, I started writing many Twin Peaks inspired poems when I was in college--and many years later, even though this poems no longer seemed very good, strong, or interesting to me, I couldn't make myself throw them away, due to my memories. Boy am I glad I didn't, because years later, in late 2006, I inspiredly re-wrote them and was then so inspired to publish them in a unique chapbook that I started Blood Pudding Press!

Yes, my very first publication for Blood Pudding Press was my own Twin Peaks inspired chapbook called The Laura Poems.

Find out more about the Laura Poems in the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28467312

Read a little article of mine about Twin Peaks at my Associated Content site here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1634507/twin_peaks_the_moviea_poetic_favorite.html?cat=40

Finally, enjoy a few photos:

P.S. Speaking of photos, the image that appears on top of my online poetry publishing site, Thirteen Myna Birds, also happens to be from Twin Peaks! Check it out at http://13myna.blogspot.com

Poetry Delight in Tuscaloosa Alabama - April 23-24

2010-04-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Juliet Cook (me) will be reading a few of my poems as one part of many other fun-filled poetry readers participating in the Slash Pine Press Poetry Festival during the evening of Friday April 23 & pretty much all day and night on Saturday April 24. Wheee!

Several different poetry reading spots in Alabama take place throughout this event (Slash Pine Press lives at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa). The reading I am part of takes place on Saturday between 3 PM - 5:30 PM within a local bar called Little Willies. Find out more about this location, plus details about all the readings and readers on the Slash Pine Press website here: http://www.slashpinepress.com/festival/

I am involved in this reading because Slash Pine Press published my poetry chapbook called FONDANT PIG ANGST. More information about that book is also available in the above website where you may even purchase a copy for yourself AND/OR you may also purchase a copy from me via my etsy shop at http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/

If you live in or near Tusaloosa Alabama, maybe I'll see you at this yummy poetry festival! Yay!

***

My Poetry Related Associated Content article:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2848798/my_creative_writing_college_degree.html?image=804630&cat=4

***

Poetry Fever - Here Me Read An Older Little Poem:

http://doppelgangrene.blogspot.com/2010/04/fever.html

read me womenly

2010-03-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have an article about Feminist Poetry Publishing within the latest issue (seven) of make/shift Magazine -- http://www.makeshiftmag.com/subscribe.htm

My article mentions various loverly womanly little presses such as Blood Pudding Press (my own), Birds of Lace, Dancing Girl Press, Hex Presse, Switchback Books, & more!

Yum! Read me! Lick me! Love me!

Thirteen Myna Update

2010-03-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

New Thirteen Myna Frisky Words of Red & Black and leaking Birds:

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

***

P.S. Speaking of poetry, I finally tried writing a poem of my own, since having a stroke (and suffering from Aphasia). If you'd like to read it, it's been posted on my personal blog: http://doppelgangrene.blogspot.com

Soft Foam-ing

2010-03-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

Soft Foam is my newest poetry chapbook, created for the Dusie Kollektiv 4. All Dusie4 members have received a free copie in the mail, but I'm willing to create a few additional copies for any interested non-Dusie peeps.

It includes 16 poems about love, death, past lives, under water insects like Giant Squids and Haunted Sea Urchins, and more.

While the insides of all copies include the same poems, the outsides are different (see a few below).

If interested, a copy may be purchased at my Blood Pudding Press etsy shop: http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/

POETRY (and a small personal note)

2010-03-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Feel free to submit poems (or other odd little entities) to Thirteen Myna Birds, (the online piece I publish, of which you can visit the latest entry by clicking on it here - http://13myna.blogspot.com/ ). My reading is slower lately, but I hope to update the site sometime this month, if I receive at least a few interestingly weird or delish stuff that I feel like accepting. If you visit and read some of the latest Thirteen Myna Birds, you may also see the guidelines appearing near the bottom of the page.

*

If you would like to read some of my own poetry, two of my poems have been published in the ActionYes latest online issue here - http://actionyes.org/index.htm

Although these two poems are not brand new, they are not old. The first one also appears in my online chapbook Tongue Like a Stinger, published by Wheelhouse -http://www.wheelhousemagazine.com/chapbook.html ; the second one appears inside my print chapbook FONDANT PIG ANGST, published by Slash Pine Press. I will be reading a few pieces in Alabama next month, (April 24); see Slash Pine Press latest online site for more info. - http://www.slashpinepress.com/

I recently published another, even newer poetry chapbook, Soft Foam, for the hot yum-o-rama Dusie Kollektiv 4. The Dusie Kollektiv involves more than thirty poets, all of whom make their own chaps. and then mail free copies to all the others. All of my copies have now been mailed out to all other Dusie 4 participants, woohoo! (Just in case a non-Dusie participant is interested in receiving her/his own copy, I will probably offer a few for sale soon via my etsy shop - http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/ .

I was previously involved with the Dusie Kollektiv 3, in which we each made another poet's chapbook. I made one by E. Tracy Grinnell, (a few copies of which are still up for sale via etsy)--and Dana Teen Lomax made MONDO CRAMPO by me. Although those came out in print a while back, they have recently been published online, here - http://www.dusie.org/issuenine.html

*

Alright, I might have had a few more things to say, but I'm a darn slow writer lately (although also slowly improving), due to a surprisingly scary health issue I suffered this past January. I had a kind of stroke, from which I could have died! Thank goodness I survived. A wonderful doctor added a stent into my carotid artery at the base of my skull & behind my left ear.

When I first got home from the hospital, I could not read at all--and even if my husband read my own poems to me (and even if I wrote those poems recently), I could not remember writing them nor understand all the words in them. This really bothered and disturbed me, but now I can remember the words and like the writing of my own poems and others' poems; however my reading is still a lot slower.

Ususally, I don't add much semi-personal information to this blog (I have my own slightly more personal blog called DOPPELGANGRENE; it typically has different messages, but today, I will place parts of this message there) - but since the last few posts I've added here have been quite short, I thought I would mention a few recent personal woes. Despite such woes, I'm very happy to be alive. Despite my slow reading, I still love poetry--and really look forward to reading more, as well as writing more, reasonably soon.

Panty Flowers Rising (a poetry book review)

2010-03-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

Panty Flowers Rising: My Review on Karyna McGlynn’s poetry book,

I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl

http://gentlyread.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/panty-flowers-rising-juliet-cook-on-karyna-mcglynn%e2%80%99s-i-have-to-go-back-to-1994-and-kill-a-girl/

Thirteen Myna Birds Update

2010-02-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

Finally I've managed to update Thirteen Myna Birds with some hideous, weird, odd, and delicious poetry--by Lena Judith Drake & Scott Abels & Matt Ryan & Emma Stein & Michael Lee Johnson & John Grey.

Check it out at: http://13myna.blogspot.com/

(And perhaps think of submitting for the next update!)

Delirious Hem Content

2010-02-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

This is What a Feminist [Poet] Looks Like--

Juliet Cook's delirious hem piece of weird yumminess--

http://delirioushem.blogspot.com/2010/02/juliet-cook.html

Happy New Year From Thirteen Myna Birds

2010-01-05T16:01:00.001-08:00

The first issue of 2010 has flown onto the scene, starring new birdbodies by Richard Prins, Heather Napualani Hodges, & Kristina Marie Darling (with some residual holiday cheer still in effect from David Wolach & Apocalypse Cakes). Razzle dazzle bang, my bird lovers!

http://13myna.blogspot.com/

(Submissions now being accepted for ISSUE 60!)

THE DOLL INJECTION MOLD DISASTER

2010-01-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

Here is an announcement about my new in 2010 Read Write Poem column:

The Doll Injection Mold Disaster
With a title like that, you know the column’s author must be none other than Juliet Cook. In this series, Cook will explore thoughts on (conflicted) feminisms and (warped) poetics. If you’re familiar with Cook’s writing style and her perspectives, you already know this column is bound to be a real ride — and you are likely to feel both bound and ridden after reading it.

Here's a link to an announcement about the entire new in 2010 editorial lineup, including poetry advice, poetry snark, poetry horoscopes, and much more!:

http://readwritepoem.org/blog/2010/01/04/announcing-the-2010-editorial-lineup-here-at-read-write-poem-bigger-and-better/

My column will be a bi-monthly affair.

Happy New Year from Blood Pudding Press

2009-12-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

Why not consider ringing in the New Year with some provocative new poetry?

*

Thirteen Myna Birds is aiming for a new issue on January 2 or 3; it's not too late to submit, if you send me some stuff today. Meanwhile, it's also not too late to partake of the oozilicious Apocalyptic Holiday Spawn Issue, featuring David Wolach and Apocalypse Cakes! Scroll down to previous entry for more.

*

Blood Pudding Press editor Juliet Cook will be writing a new bi-monthly column on (warped) poetics and (conflicted) feminsim for Read Write Poem in 2010. I'm currently brainstorming titles for the column and ideas for the first installment, sleighted for mid-January. Title contenders so far include:

CRAMPTASTIC

DESIGNER VAGINA DENTATA

THE DOLL INJECTION MOLD DISASTER

I'm tending towards the latter, but suggestions are very welcome!

*

Happy New Year and stay tuned for more from Blood Pudding Press!

Thirteen Myna Birds-APOCALYPTIC HOLIDAY SPAWN ISSUE

2009-12-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Myna Birds is wrapping up 2009 with a bloody, frosting-y razzle dazzle bang, with the APOCALYPTIC HOLIDAY SPAWN ISSUE. This hideously delicious mutant entity features poetry by David Wolach as the sodden bread for an oozilcious Apocalypse Cakes sandwich!

Poetry, blood, fallen angels, tainted feathers, and perversely festive fruitcake are among the bounty of grotesque offerings at this holiday banquet. Oh, my stomach!

If you like the Apcocalypse Cakes you ravenous slut, you can actually buy the recipe cards and bake them yourselves; just click the link below to visit the Apocalypse Cakes etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Apocalypsecakes

As for Wolach's poetry, if you'd like to consume some more of that, word on the street is he has three books coming out in 2010. 'The Cutting Room' , from which two of the poems on Thirteen are taken, will be published by Differentia Press.

Thirteen Myna Birds will return with fresh baked content in 2010, too; submissions are always welcome.

Until then, enjoy the apocalyptic holiday feast at http://13myna.blogspot.com/

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P.S. Another Best of 2009 list aka some of my favorite poetry chapbooks and books of the year:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2532369/top_five_poetry_books_and_poetry_chapbooks.html?cat=38

Joe Milford Poetry Show Hosts Dana Guthrie-Martin--LIVE!

2009-12-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

Poet Dana Guthrie Martin is reading live from her Blood Pudding Press chapbook, 'The Spare Room' right now on the Joe Milford Poetry Show:

Joe Milford Hosts Dana Guthrie-Martin

Her chapbook is available from the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop at http://www.bloodpuddingpress.etsy.com/

"It does walk the line between sensuality and brutality."

Thirteen Myna Birds-Fifty Seventh Flight Formation

2009-12-14T16:31:00.001-08:00

http://13myna.blogspot.com

New Millenium Interview

2009-12-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

Didi Menendez, poet, artist, & editor/publisher extraordinaire of such publications as MiPOesias and Oranges & Sardines is posting interviews with various poets she has published this decade on a blog called 'Poetry: The First Ten Years of the New Millenium'. The ones I've read so far are pretty interesting and she put up a whole little slew of new ones today, including an interview with me:

http://goss183.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/juliet-cook/

In the time between me responding to her interview q's and her posting my response, my new poetry chapbook FONDANT PIG ANGST became available; for more details, see the entry below.

Here's a mini excerpt from my interview:

"Imprinted somewhere in my head is a cookie cutter that I am both trying to fit into and trying to creep out of. Much of my poetry is situated in the realm of that conflicted resistance. If I could grow some new appendages like a misshapen tail or tentacles, then I wouldn’t fit the mold. I think of my poems as appendages on a larger body that is trying to evolve into a new breed of misfit."

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P.S. I also have a little Best of 2009 list over at BIG OTHER:
http://bigother.com/2009/12/14/juliet-cooks-best-of-2009/

Now Available From Slash Pine Press

2009-12-11T16:58:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I've received my fabulous author copies, so am now offering a small quantity of signed copies of FONDANT PIG ANGST in my etsy shop at http://www.BloodPuddingPress.etsy.com.

This weekend, Slash Pine Press finished hand stitching my new poetry chapbook, FONDANT PIG ANGST, and it is now available for only $5.00 online or by mail. For more details on how to acquire, please see the Slash Pine Press website at http://slashpinepress.blogspot.com/.

From the site: "Slash Pine Press is pleased to announce the release of our first chapbook of poems, Juliet Cook's dynamically gut-wrenching, Fondant Pig Angst. I feel confident in saying Juliet's voice is an American original, fusing pastry with grotesquerie, icing with amputation. These poems are not plainly 'dark'. No, they are alive and electric and full of verve and spunk, playfulness even, and it's these competing impulses that make for such an amazing collection of poems. "

When I receive my own copies of the book, I will also offer a few signed copies for sale in the Blood Pudding Press etsy shop.

I will also be reading at the Slash Pine Press Poetry Festival this April, but more on that later.

(The Birthday Pig image is the cover art on FONDANT PIG ANGST, by the marvelous Marnie Weber.)