— Martin Achatz, Passages North Poetry Editor
I can’t wait to share the news that my fifth poetry collection, Tango, has been accepted for publication by Kelsay Books!
The publisher seems a good fit for me, and their books are lovely. The news came during Hurricane Milton prep, so I had to read the email several times before I believed what I was seeing. Tango had been rejected seven times over the last two years, but none of that matters now.
Cue the balloons and champagne, baby!
Many thanks to Concrete Wolf and Managing Editor Lana Hechtman Ayers for choosing my collection Tango as a finalist in their annual chapbook contest. And congratulations to the winner, Jennifer Saunders, for her collection, Tumor Moon. I’ll be ordering that book for sure.
Hopefully, I’ll be dancing for joy at some book publication news of my own before long. But not the tango, and not in these shoes!
I’m happy as a clam that my poem “I Fell in Love With an Octopus” was included in Three Hearts: An Anthology of Cephalopod Poetry. Thank you to Lana Hechtman Ayers and Sierra Nelson for creating this powerful, lovely collection.
The poem first appeared in my chapbook Flame in 2012, after an experience at Sea World, way before octopuses were cool, way before they were featured and explored in documentaries and fascinating books.
Who among us would NOT fall in love with these mysterious, intelligent, curious and personable creatures from the sea?
Read the poem here.
It was far from an ordinary Friday morning once I saw that my poem “Ordinary Hours” had been selected and published online at Autumn Sky Poetry DAILY.
I think the way editor Christine Klocek-Lim publishes the magazine is ingenious: Poets send one poem, and either it is chosen and appears online within seven days – or it’s a no-go.
No rejections or acceptance notices. Nice and simple, with a surprise at the end, one way or the other.
Photo by Judy Watson Tracy
