Toward a Theory of Female Phallicism

by K. Allison Hammer The 2020 Netflix documentary Disclosure gives an historical sweep of transphobia in Hollywood, briefly revisiting that nadir of ’90s transmisogyny— The Crying Game (1992). While I’m highly skeptical of Disclosure’s optimism about the transformative power of mainstream representation, celebrity culture, and Hollywood itself, I was grateful for its renewed attention to the Crying Game’s viral transmisogyny. Thanks to Disclosure, the scene … Continue reading Toward a Theory of Female Phallicism

Diving Into the Wreck: Trans and Anti-Trans Feminism

by Joy Ladin In summer 2000, Emi Koyama’s influential “Transfeminist Manifesto” defined trans feminism as “a movement by and for trans women who view their liberation to be intrinsically linked to the liberation of all women and beyond” (245). For Koyama, and for many trans and non-trans feminists since, trans feminism is a no-brainer, one among many efforts to “broaden” feminism to include “women who … Continue reading Diving Into the Wreck: Trans and Anti-Trans Feminism

WRI(GH)TE [ING] PUNCTUATION: READING LESLIE SCALAPINO

by Jordan Antonucci Scalapino’s The Dihedrons Gazelle-Dihedrals Zoom is remarkable in its physical and lyrical layers. It takes its readers to an imaginative space that lives at the bottom of the psyche and provides characters that continue to leave a space open for interpretation. She creates a deep dream state from which the reader surfaces occasionally in reality to encompass world issues and basic human … Continue reading WRI(GH)TE [ING] PUNCTUATION: READING LESLIE SCALAPINO

“If I didn’t write it down, it’s shhhhh”: On Writing Dementia.

“If I didn’t write it down, it’s shhhhh”: On Writing Dementia Edited by Susan M. Schultz   Table of Contents:   Introduction: Home (Un)founded Susan M Schultz Seven Poems by Barbara Moore Vincent (transcribed by her son, Stephen Vincent) “Frances” (from The Trebus Project) David Clegg and Susan M. Schultz, eds Interview with David Clegg of the Trebus Project Susan M. Schultz Poetry by Dr. … Continue reading “If I didn’t write it down, it’s shhhhh”: On Writing Dementia.

Interview with David Clegg of the Trebus Project

Please say something about how you got involved with The Trebus project and how this work relates to your earlier life as a sculptor. The Trebus Project grew directly out of the work I was already doing as a sculptor. The Trebus Project is just a name I gave to the work I do as an artist. Sometimes it involves commissioning or collaborating with other … Continue reading Interview with David Clegg of the Trebus Project

This can be it or the starting point: Lonely Christopher in conversation with Gregory Laynor

Gregory Laynor: What’s your favorite color? Lonely Christopher: My favorite color is red. Gregory Laynor: I want to ask you about a few of my favorite things, like the clichés in your story “Burning Church”: “Always look on the bright side. It’s always the darkest before dawn. Every cloud has a silver lining. Pink sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Why buy the cow … Continue reading This can be it or the starting point: Lonely Christopher in conversation with Gregory Laynor

Home (Un)founded: Introduction

Editorial Statement for “If I didn’t write it down, it’s shhhhh”: On Writing Dementia By Susan M. Schultz   Homeward directly, I wish –Patricia Rose Straub, “Anastrophe” This notion that home can operate as a foundation of identity allows that identity (since we seem to need it) might function as some kind of “soul,” part of the baggage we can’t leave (behind, or somewhere else) … Continue reading Home (Un)founded: Introduction

The Practice of Worlds: Will Alexander’s “Compression and Purity”

by Gary Sloboda I first encountered Will Alexander’s poetry after enduring (almost willingly) a six-year lapse in my own writing.  To a recovering non-writer, the amplitude of Alexander’s poetry exploded and reinvigorated what had degenerated into the shorn lingual sphere I had come to inhabit.  Since reading Alexander’s works, such as Asia & Haiti, Above the Human Nerve Domain, and The Sri Lankan Loxodrome, his … Continue reading The Practice of Worlds: Will Alexander’s “Compression and Purity”

Alice Notley: Sheets of Time in Contemporary Lyric Practice

by Chris Tysh   I don’t fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future –Patti Smith [1] ●  “One day, I awoke” “& found myself on”  “a subway” (3) ●  Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita[2] mi ritrovai per una selva obsura for the straight way was lost ●  A sea of stories[3]: in the endless night I ride below … Continue reading Alice Notley: Sheets of Time in Contemporary Lyric Practice

A Berth in the Haven

An Excerpt from Outside Inside, a Memoir     A berth at Grand Haven had been dead Paul Blackburn’s gift to us. A teaching position at Thomas Jefferson College of Grand Valley State Colleges in Annandale, Michigan. TJC. I thought it was weirdly ironic. Baz and Paul had spent a long evening together when Paul was first offered a teaching job at Cortland. I heard … Continue reading A Berth in the Haven

Experimental Prose and the Reconfiguration of Incestuous Bonds: from the Grasmere Journal to Tender Buttons

  by Joshua Wilner Suppose one were to approach Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Journal as a radical complement to William’s efforts to demonstrate that “there is no essential difference between the language of poetry and the language of prose.” Suppose, that is, one were to view the pages of her journal as participating in a history of experimental prose that includes such figures as De Quincey, … Continue reading Experimental Prose and the Reconfiguration of Incestuous Bonds: from the Grasmere Journal to Tender Buttons

Conversation with Harryette Mullen: From B to D

by Barbara Henning With Harryette Mullen’s dense, layered and playful poems in Sleeping with the Dictionary, there is often a subtle question, almost present but not quite present, a riddle-like structure that leaves the reader wondering: How did she make this poem? As a prep for an MFA course I was teaching at Long Island University in the summer of 2009, and as a project … Continue reading Conversation with Harryette Mullen: From B to D