National Poetry Month draws to a close, it was brutal to say the least but most of it self-inflicted for some odd reason…
Dumpster Fire Press made an event out of it, releasing five titles going hard with daily entries for VOICES FROM THE FIRE and while it drew me away from my own creative endeavors and a multitude of other projects I’d like to put out with different people, I’d sure as hell would and probably will do it most of it again.
There’s nothing more pleasurable as a small press publisher than to help in showcasing the work of a poet and artist who hasn’t been heard of much before, often or not at all. For DFP, the press stuck the objective of being a venue for a multitude of voices and will continue to do so.
I highly encourage everyone to peruse through all the VOICES posts from the last month and check out what has been posted if you haven’t already and most definitely pick up what will probably be one of the coolest issues of VOICES FROM THE FIRE vol. 2 “April was cruel…”
Shameless plugs abound….I’ll babble more about this issue when it officially drops but here’s the rest of them
The first volume of VOICES FROM THE FIRE…a series from Dumpster Fire Press collecting poetry, prose and art from here, there and everywhere else in-between. Spotlighting voices heard, seldom heard or never heard at all. First featured on the VOICES FROM THE FIRE series via dumspterfirepress.com. Come, jump into the fire with us…let’s burn together.
Two women. Two complete strangers who embarked on a single journey together under the direst of circumstances bring you a unified vision of beauty celebrating the joy of living and love. Rita Marie Recine and her friend Svetlana Kostantinov vowed to write a book poetry together to chronicle their journey through life and adversity. Sadly, Svetlana departed before it could be completed but Rita Marie continued and along with Dumpster Fire Press we are proud to present this heart touching collection of poetry.
Bleeding Heart Poet takes you to another time and place, drawing you into lives ravaged by war in a land where voices are seldom heard from or even heard at all. Letters as poetry or poetry as letters to a certain “president”…war, propaganda, geopolitical manipulation? What is it all good for?
Roz Washington is a force of nature in terms of poetry, a blend of Hip-hop, mystic visions and voices seldom heard from various walks of life. Words meant to be read aloud invoke the mythic back into ordinary existence rendering our star dust rooted world back into cosmic consciousness in one’s daily contemplation of being. Sun Life isn’t just a collection of poetry, it’s a philosophy that will get you to reconsider the ground of all being.”
Dumpster Fire Press is proud to partner with translator Xi Nan in bringing poet Li Kan’s work from China into the West. Li Kan’s poetry writing uses a lot of spoken language, and the contents of his writing also focus on personal daily life and emotional experience. On this basis, he puts forward the writing concept of “flow of life” (生命流). In recent years, Li Kan has experienced a lot of philosophical thinking in addition to his daily writing. The ideas of Heidegger, Laozi, Zhuang Zhou and others have a certain influence on the formation of his writing philosophy. In poetry writing, this also makes Li Kan’s poems show a good internal order, harmony and rationality.
I wish there was enough space to thank all the artists and poets who contributed as well but then again, I guess that’s why a second volume of VOICES FROM THE FIRE is being released relatively soon.
I myself am burned out but still working on May releases….
Next week Monday, VOICES FROM THE FIRE will return to its original format along with some announcements regarding future release dates or rather relative times, it’s been an organically chaotic process and the revelations to be shared.
Also, secretly I love anthologies…the birth of conception, editing, reading submissions all of it in the unification of a multitude of creative voices…
Yeah a sucker for pain who isn’t going to sacrifice his creative elastic eye yet but keep in mind never let anyone down who entrusts me with their work.
Stay surreal kids, April was cruel but the dumpster fire itself is only going to flame on, despite a certain human torch of a marvel who might be furious I absconded with a certain slogan but hey, we all can’t get miraculously hit by cosmic rays to find a cynical thing that sort of resembles a jilted state of bliss.
Dumpster Fire Press 