Assiduous Dust

Joshua Corwin interviews LYNNE THOMPSONfor ASSIDUOUS DUST #14.5, asks her to share some of her poetry and engages with her in a novel type of poem, completely spontaneous and unprepared.

LYNNE THOMPSONis the author of Start With a Small Guitar (What Books Press) and Beg No Pardon, winner of the Perugia Book Award and the Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award. In 2018, Jane Hirshfield selected her manuscript Fretworkas the winner of the Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize. A “recovering attorney”, Thompson is the recipient of multiple awards among them an Individual Art Fellowship from the City of Los Angeles and a Tucson Literary Award and special mention from the Pushcart Prize. Her most recent work appears or is forthcoming in Ninth Letter, Black Warrior Review, New England Review, Pleiades,and2020’s Best American Poetry, among others. Thompson serves on the Boards of Cave Canem and the Los Angeles Review of Books and is Chair of the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Scripps College.

Joshua Corwin, a Los Angeles native, is a neurodiverse, 2-time Pushcart Prize-nominated, 1-time Best of the Net-nominated poet and Spillwords Press Publication of the Month winner. His debut poetry collection Becoming Vulnerable (2020) details his experience with autism, addiction, sobriety and spirituality. He has lectured at UCLA, performed at the 2020 National Beat Poetry Festival and Mystic Boxing Commission Festival of Sound and Vision, read with 2013 US Presidential Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, Michael C. Ford, S.A. Griffin, Ellyn Maybe, among others. His Beat poetry is anthologized alongside Ferlinghetti, Hirschman, Ford, Coleman and weiss (Sparring Omnibus, Mystic Boxing Commission; December 31, 2020). He hosts the poetry podcast “Assiduous Dust,” writes the weekly Incentovise column for Oddball Magazine and teaches poetry to neurodiverse individuals and autistic addicts in recovery at The Miracle Project, an autism nonprofit. Corwin’s collaborative collection A Double Meaning, with David Dephy, is seeking publication. He also has forthcoming collaborative poetry projects with Ellyn Maybe including Ghosts Sing into the World’s Ear (Ghost Accordion series 1st Wave, Mystic Boxing Commission).

Corwin is the editor and producer of Assiduous Dust: Home of the OTSCP, Vol. 1 (April 5, 2021) featuring 36 award-winning poets, all demonstrating a new type of found poem (OTSCP) he invented. For more information, please visit https://www.joshuacorwin.com/.

Also, see https://www.joshuacorwin.com/, and listen to the Assiduous Dust podcasts. Follow/like Assiduous Dust on Facebook and subscribe to the YouTube Channel for the video podcast episodes of Assiduous Dust. NEXT WEEK: Larissa Shmailo and Elena Karina Byrne (YouTube Premiere).

JUBI ARRIOLA-HEADLEY(he/him) is a Black queer poet, storyteller, & first-generation United Statesian who lives with his husband in South Florida & whose work explores themes of manhood, vulnerability, rage, tenderness & joy. He’s a 2018 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, holds an MFA from the University of Miami,  & his poems have been published with Ambit, Beloit Poetry Journal, Nimrod,  Southeastern Humanities Review, The Nervous Breakdown, & elsewhere. Jubi’s debut collection of poems, original kink, is available now from Sibling Rivalry Press.

Dr. MELISSA CASTILLO PLANAS is an Assistant Professor of English at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY specializing in Latinx Literature and Culture. She is the author of the poetry collection Coatlicue Eats the Apple, editor of the anthology, ¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets, co-editor of La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidadesand co-author of the novel, Pure Bronx.Her most recent book project, with Rutgers University Press’ new Global Race and Media series (March 2020), A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture,examines the creative worlds and cultural productions of Mexican migrants in New York City.  Her second poetry collection Chingona Rules is forthcoming with Finishing Line Press.

LINKS

A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture
https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/a-mexican-state-of-mind/9781978802278

La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades
https://ohiostatepress.org/books/BookPages/castillo-garsow_verdad.html

¡Manteca! An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets
https://artepublicopress.com/product/manteca-an-anthology-of-afro-latin-poets/

Jason Wright is the editor and founder of Oddball Magazine, a Boston based online lit/art magazine. His column Jagged Thoughts appears every Tuesday. He is a mental health advocate, and trauma survivor. He is the author of two books, his recent is Train of Thought: Poems from the RedLine. Please visit www.oddballmagazine.com.

Doug Holder founded the Ibbetson Street Press in Somerville, MA. with Dianne Robitaille, and Richard Wilhelm. Holder has had numerous collections of poetry published, his most recent: "The Essential Doug Holder: New and Selected Poems" (Big Table Publishing.) Holder teaches Creative Writing at Endicott College in Beverly, Ma. Holder has received a citation from the Massachusetts State House of Representatives for his work as a professor, publisher, editor, and poet in 2015.  Holder also received the Allen Ginsberg Award from the Newton Writing and Publishing Center. The "Doug Holder Papers Collection" is housed at the University at Buffalo. Holder has been a longtime arts editor of The Somerville Times, as well as the curator at the Newton Free Library Poetry Series. Holder audio visual interviews with poets and writers are housed at the Harvard University Libraries and in the Cid Corman Collection at University of Massachusetts/ Boston. His work has been published widely in such journals as Rattle, Cafe Review, Toronto Quarterly, South Florida Poetry Journal, Constellations, Worcester Review, and elsewhere. He holds an M.A in English and American literature and Language from Harvard University.

LINKS

Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene   http://dougholder.blogspot.com

Ibbetson Street Press http://www.ibbetsonpress.com

Poet to Poet/Writer to Writer  http://www.poettopoetwritertowriter.blogspot.com

Doug Holder CV http://www.dougholderresume.blogspot.com

Doug Holder's Columns in The Somerville Times

https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/?s=%22Doug+Holder%22&x=0&y=0

Doug Holder's collection at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/@dougholder

LAUREN CAMP is the author of five books, most recently Took House (Tupelo Press, 2020), which Publishers Weekly calls a “stirring, original collection.” Her poems have appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Pleiades,the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series, Poet Lore, Slice, DIAGRAMandother journals. Honors include the Dorset Prize, fellowships from Black Earth Institute and the Taft-Nicholson Center, and finalist citations for the Arab American Book Award and the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. Her work has been translated into Mandarin, Turkish, Spanish, and Arabic. In 2020, she was selected to be one of 100 international artists for 100 Offerings of Peace and one of 101 women storytellers for The Scheherezade Project. Lauren lives in New Mexico, where she teaches creative writing to people of all ages. www.laurencamp.com

BRIANA MUÑOZ is a writer from Southern California. She is the author of Loose Lips, a poetry collection published by Prickly Pear Publishing (2019) and the author of forthcoming collection Everything is Returned to the Soil. Her work has been published in the the Dryland Literary Journal, in Boundless: The Anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, and in the Oakland Arts Review, among others. When she isn't typing stanzas, she enjoys cats, thrift stores, and live music.

TAYLOR BYAS is a Black poet and essayist. Originally from Chicago, she moved to Alabama for six years, where she received both her Bachelor’s degree in English and her Master’s degree in English (Creative Writing concentration) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Taylor currently lives in Cincinnati, where she is a second year PhD student and Albert C. Yates Scholar at the University of Cincinnati studying poetry. She is a reader for both The Rumpus and The Cincinnati Review, and the Poetry Editor for FlyPaper Lit. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Glass Poetry, Borderlands Texas Poetry Review, Hobart, Pidgeonholes, SWWIM, The Rumpus and others. Her prose appears or is forthcoming in Empty Mirror, Jellyfish Review, JMWW, Mixed Mag and others. She has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, Best New Poets 2020, and has received six Best of the Net nominations. She is also the 2020 Winner of the Poetry Super Highway Poetry Contest.

ELLYN MAYBE, Southern California based poet, United States Artist nominee 2012, is the author of numerous books and widely anthologized. She has a critically acclaimed album, Rodeo for the Sheepish (Hen House Studios). Her latest poetry/music project is called ellyn & robbie. Their album, Skywriting with Glitter, has also received high praise. She also has forthcoming collaborative poetry projects with Joshua Corwin including Ghosts Sing into the World's Ear (Ghost Accordion series 1st Wave, Mystic Boxing Commission).

DAVID DEPHY -- The trilingual Georgian/American award-winning poet, novelist, multimedia artist. The winner of the 2019 Spillwords Press Poetry Award and the finalist of the Adelaide Literary Award Anthology 2019 for the category of Best Poem. An active participant in the American and international poetry and artistic scenes, such as PEN World Voices, 92Y Poetry Center, Voices of Poetry, Brownstone Poets, Lit Balm, Spectrum Reading Series, Long Island Poetry Listings, New York Public Library, Starr Bar Poetry Series, Poets in Nassau, Poets in Massachusetts, Columbia University – School of the Arts in the City of New York, Great Weather for Media in New York City, New York City Voices, Bowery Poetry Club which named him a Literature Luminary as well as the Statorec Magazine named him the Incomparable Poet. His works have been published and anthologized in USA and all over the world by the many literary magazines, journals and publishing houses. He is an author of fifteen books of poetry, eight novels and three audio albums of poetry. His first book-length works in English, a poetry Eastern Star is published in USA on October 28, 2020 from Adelaide Books New York, also his book-length works in English, a poetry Lilac Shadow of a Tree and a novel A Mystiere, are forthcoming in USA in Spring/Fall 2021 from Mad Hat Press. He lives and works in New York.

MIKE SONKSEN, a.k.a. Mike “the PoeT,” is a 3rd-generation Los Angeles native. Poet, professor, journalist, historian and tour-guide, his latest book Letters to My City is published with Writ Large Press. Sonksen’s poetry’s been featured on Public Radio Stations KCRW, KPCC and KPFK in addition to TV programs such as Spectrum News. Sonksen has lectured at & had his book I AM ALIVE IN LOS ANGELES! added to the curriculum of over 60 universities & high schools. He holds a B.A. from UCLA and an Interdisciplinary M.A. in English & History from Cal State LA. After teaching high school for five years, Sonksen teaches at Woodbury University. https://theaccomplices.org/?s=mike+sonksen

MEGHA SOOD lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. She is an Assistant Poetry Editor for the UK based Arts and Literary Journal MookyChick and a Literary Partner in the “Life in Quarantine” Project by Stanford University, California, USA. She is a contributing member at Free Verse Revolution, Heretics, Lovers and Madmen, Sudden Denouement, Whisper, and the Roar, GoDogGoCafe. Over 450+ works in journals including Better than Starbucks, Gothamist. Poetry Society of New York, WNYC Studios, Kissing Dynamite, American Writers Review, Setu Magazine.FIVE:2: ONE, KOAN, Quail Bell, Dime show review, and many more. Works featured/upcoming in 48+ other print anthologies by the US, UK, Australian, and Canadian Press. Three-time State-level winner NAMI Dara Axelrod NJ Poetry Contest 2018/2019/2020.National Winner Spring Robinson Lit Prize 2020, Honorable Mention Pangolin Poetry Prize 2019, Finalist in the Adelaide Literary Award 2019, Shortlisted for the Erbacce Prize 2020, Nominated for the iWomanGlobalAwards 2020, Finalist in TWIBB Beyond Black Sakhi Awards 2020. Works selected numerous times by Jersey City Writers group and Department of Cultural Affairs for the Arts House Festival. Chosen twice as the panelist for the Jersey City Theater Center Online Series “Voices Around the World”. She is currently co-editing the anthologies (“The Medusa Project”, Mookychick) and ( “The Kali Project”, Capital Tree Press). She blogs at https://meghasworldsite.wordpress.com/ and tweets at @meghasood16.

Megha Sood
Assistant Poetry Editor | MookyChick (UK)
Collaborator | Life in Quarantine, Stanford University, USA
Website | https://meghasworldsite.wordpress.com/
PW.org | https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/...Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/megha.rani.10
Twitter | @meghasood16