... a little reminder that Puerto Ricans are a strong united people.
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There’s a photograph of Georgia O’Keeffe, her face hung like a moon and her hair pulled in a dark crescent, that has always haunted me. The image pulses with power, attacking the contemporary moment with the timelessness of an icon or a specter.
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Read MoreZodiac Diptych by Alex Iona
To express the tragedy of a legend through a single gaze, to evoke emotion through posture, to shape an identity in the classical veil of mythology.
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Because love can be nightmarish at times…
Read MoreWitchy World Roundup - September 2017
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. They are the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Sexting the Dead (Unknown Press, 2017) & Xenos (Agape Editions, 2016), and is the editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault (CCM, 2017). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is the founder of Yes, Poetry and the managing editor for Civil Coping Mechanisms and Luna Luna Magazine. Some of their writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Brooklyn Magazine, Prelude, BUST, Spork Press, and elsewhere. Joanna also leads workshops at Brooklyn Poets. joannavalente.com / Twitter: @joannasaid / IG: joannacvalente
Read MoreHow I Ritual With My Writer Friends
I have learned to write and submit with more confidence...
Read More8 International Films About the Terrifying Magic of Girlhood You Must Watch
Thus, these films below present young women creating an alternative reality to the limited structures or paths enforced upon them. These protagonists often find themselves willingly entering a rabbit hole, so to speak, to freely explore the nuances of their selves. Through magics within the self, these protagonists return to the familiar world ready to assert their narrative.
Read More5 Love Witch Inspired Items to Help You Wait Patiently for Anna Biller's next Release
So, basically, she had me at "Bluebeard." But since films, especially those created with the deliberate artistic and critical intent that Biller is known for, can take lots of time, here’s a list of items to tide you over until the big release.
Read More15 Presses & Journals That Will Make You Weep With Pleasure
BY LISA MARIE BASILE
I'm sure plenty of you know a few of these, but allow me, for those who might not, to introduce and love on the presses that are currently sending me into literary-body-psychic overdrive. What does this actually mean? It means I've been devouring their books for some time or that I've discovered their new work, or am re-reading their older work and losing my mind over it again and again. I believe that these presses and journals are doing beautiful, unique things, and I love the voices and work they're putting out there. To blood and beauty!
If you could press your hand against my chest, you would feel my heart fluttering. Wakefield Press is one of my new favorites, and it should be yours, too. Devoted to 'overlooked gems' in translation, literary oddities, and elegant packaging (oh god they are so good to us), this press is bringing immense beauty to the literary landscape.
I just got my hands on:
Spells by Michel de Ghelderode
Murder Most Serene by Gabrielle Wittkop
The Cathedral of Mist by Paul Willems
2. Siren Songs
Joanna C. Valente, managing editor here at Luna Luna, runs an imprint on Civil Coping Mechanisms—and they're publishing Devin Kelly, Cooper Wilhelm, Jayy Dodd, and Omatara James. Literally am waiting on the edge of my fucking seat. The press seeks work by queer, trans, nonbinary, women and people of color.
OK. So Inside the Castle runs a residency in October called Castle Freak. Do you feel that? That's me having an orgasm. This press is deliciously dark and strange, and everyone should check out their dedication to literature that does more. They publish 'difficult poetry and prose poetry.' Wouldst thou pick me up from the floor?
I just discovered this gem—they publish women artists and writers, and the magazine itself is filled with unique, beautiful work. It feels like you're flipping pages as you move through the beautiful site.
Full disclosure: I'm in a full-on romantic relationship with this press and journal. They might not know it, but I do. They've always been my go-to for good reading, they publish superb books, and they even chose my manuscript Nympholepsy as a finalist in their 2017 book awards. Their work is tight, well-crafted, and aesthetically inclined.
6. Occulum
Just click click click and indulge in the beauty. Their about page says, "Unreliable sources have claimed that OCCULUM is David Lynch’s favorite lit journal. This in turn, is also unreliable." Which, yes, please. They're ok with 'semi-normies' (lol no one here) but they publish speculative fiction and 'species' of poetry. Their peculiarities are why I dearly love them.
7. Monstering
As someone with a chronic illness, I love the fact that Monstering Mag makes a space for discussions around the body, disabled experiences, nombinary voices, and illness. Their work is vulnerable, necessary, and thoughtful.
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8. Spork Press
Run by Richard Siken (I know he's your favorite, too), this lit journal and press puts out some fantastic work. Each issue is like a mini car crash you can't look away from. The work is always tight as fuck.
9. Paragraphiti
Just discovered their 'Romanian poet' issue, and I'm in love. It's so important that we are treated to translated work, and I'm so glad to see journals like this one do the heavy lifting.
10. Action Books
One of my favorite all-time presses, Action Books makes books that make me weep and then go write books that make other people weep. And repeat. There isn't a single solitary book in their catalogue that won't break your heart and threaten your ideas of the literary status quo. You will realize what you've been missing. You will drown in it. The work is transcendent of what we know and understand and accept.
With their focus on the radical and mystical, this queer collective produces books that are loud and heavy in your hands. And always beautiful. Also, they've got a "west coast lean," which, to a New Yorker, means there's a hazy intoxicating palm tree ocean spray magic to it all. Their books also LOOK delicious. And, they focus on giving a voice to identities often excluded from the conversation.
12. Grimoire
Grimoire, like Luna Luna, makes a space for the occult alongside their literary selections. The work is stellar, and their little spell-treats and seances are especially to die for. I love this journal and can't wait to keep reading each new issue.
13. Dreginald
So apparently I was late to the party with Dreginald. Just discovered how awesome they are, and I am blown away. Their selections are carefully crafted, insanely unique, and they prick at you—leaving you feeling the wound long after you've left the site. Also, DREGINALD. Just say it.
Bonus Round: new journals
14. Bad Pony
This magazine is brandy-new, insanely beautiful, and not yet live. Their mission says, "We are a very bad pony. Maybe we have always been that way. Maybe we had a particularly bad childhood where instead of hay or grass, we were fed a large amount of Starburst," which has done me in. I am ready for this bad bad pony.
Our very own Nadia is launching her own literary magazine this Friday—and we can't wait. Nadia's eye for beautiful, audacious work helps shape Luna Luna, so I can't wait for her dreamy creation.
Lisa Marie Basile is an editor, writer and poet living in NYC. She is the founding editor-in-chief of Luna Luna Magazine and the author of APOCRYPHAL (Noctuary Press, 2014), as well as a few chapbooks: Andalucia (Poetry Society of New York), War/Lock (Hyacinth Girl Press), and Triste (Dancing Girl Press). Her bookNYMPHOLEPSY (co-authored with poet Alyssa Morhardt-Goldstein), was a finalist in the 2017 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards. She is working on her first poetic fiction novella, to be released by Clash Books/Clash Media.
Self Portrait: Natasha Carlos
My body is present in my landscapes, because I want to reflect my immersive, exploratory relationship with nature. There are countless landscapes in art history that feature women as beautiful props in the foreground with nature serving as a mere backdrop. There is no real dialogue with the environment. Artists like Ana Mendieta and Judy Dater challenged that norm and prompt me to think of the role my own body plays in the landscape.
On Black & White Photography & a Memory
I have always been drawn to black and white photos more so than color. I know the basics of color theory: black is the reflection of no color and white is the reflection of all colors and the colors we perceive are a matter of how much of the color present in light is reflected versus how much is absorbed. But theory does not help me answer these aesthetic questions: What is the appeal of black and white photography? How do photos, whether in black and white or color, relate to the stories we tell ourselves about the world?
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Read MoreBrown Is Boss: Poet and Zinester, Alma Rosa Rivera of Frijolera Press
"We exchanged energy and it was definitely a trade I’m grateful for."
Read MoreTheia Mania: In Conversation With Dallas Athent & Maria Pavlovska
BY LISA MARIE BASILE
Editor's Note: Theia Mania is a book of poetry by Dallas Athent with illustrations by Maria Pavlovska (Black Square Editions). This book is fiercely feminine, self-empowered, loud, brash, beautiful, and filled with references to gods and the Divine. Here. I interviewed Dallas and Maria about their collaboration and their work.
INTERVIEW WITH DALLAS ATHENT
LISA MARIE BASILE: Ah, the binary. I am addicted to it and your work explores it so well. It's bikinis versus god and bars versus transcendence and the problematic versus self-empowerment. Except here, the light always seems to win. Was that a conscious choice?
DALLAS ATHENT: I used to believe in good and evil. After my studies ofThe Golden Dawn and Platonic elements, I began believing instead in light and dark. Light elements are things that are connected to the divine, the higher powers, spirituality. Dark matter is that which makes us mortal. It's what drives us to be gluttons. This book is really a study of both states. Light doesn't always win because it is "good," per say, it wins because making art is a struggle for our dark matter to be connected to higher powers.
LISA MARIE BASILE: There's not a lot of subversion here, although on first read I thought there was. I think you're screaming, HEAR ME. And I love it. I don't see a lot of work that encounters radical self strength with such bravado. Tell me, were there weaknesses and fears and vulnerabilities you grappled with while writing this?
DALLAS ATHENT: At one point during this I was laid off from my job the same week I was closing on my apartment. It was a hard week for me and that's where on the one hand I was celebrating an accomplishment, but it felt fake, not knowing if I could really afford this thing I had been working towards. A lot of the darker poems were written during that week, and the ones that are more about me feeling like I can do anything were written when I got myself out of the hole.
LISA MARIE BASILE: So, you keep mentioning England. How did England shape you IRL?
DALLAS ATHENT: I love England. I lived there for a short while and I'm always trying to move back. I adore pub culture. A lot of my friends talk about wanting to visit warm places, and how beautiful beaches are, but for me the most natural state is in the corner of a pub on a rainy day with a book and a pint.
LISA MARIE BASILE: You say, "the purpose of art is horror," and I think that's fucking magic. I agree, but I haven't seen it put so succinctly. Tell me about this idea. Did you aim to horrify?
DALLAS ATHENT: The poem that's taken from is about making art, and trying to leave a mark through doing so. That being the last line was just me thinking of how hard we try and end up nowhere. It's like a beautiful nightmare.
LISA MARIE BASILE: I feel like this book is like if contemporary feminist discourse had a baby with the baddest, most rebellious, most sassy Lana Del Rey video ever. It's all girls and alcohol and scum and the body, but it's elevated with these ideas of divinity and Theia and the powerful feminine. How do you approach talking about BIG IDEAS in such an aesthetic way? I know when I was writing Apocryphal, I wanted this landscape of cars and deserts and fabrics and gardens and beaches and fires and tropics, but at the end of it, that was a character all meant to juxtapose the grandiose shit. What about you? Was this landscape and aesthetic conscious or not? Or was it just, "I love these things. They're real to me?"
DALLAS ATHENT: That's a great question. And I actually feel the same way about Apocryphal. You managed to create this classic, desperate, suburban summer on a coast feel — but used that landscape to illustrate what it's like being a young woman.
For Theia Mania, I've always loved cities and lived in cities. I'm obsessed with places where there's so many people and they all live so close to each other but don't actually know each other and have such drastically different lives. I just like how that contributes to the concept of trying to make art to be someone. It's a constant reminder that we will fade into the fabric of the earth no matter how well known we are.
LISA MARIE BASILE: (Thanks, Dallas). I've heard you talk about Yeats before. You write, "there is an oppressive veil separating us from the stars and Yeats." Can you tell me more?
DALLAS ATHENT: A while ago I read this essay titled the The Gnostics by Jacques Lacarriere. What I got from it was that the Gnostics believed there was a veil that separated us from all that is holy and divine, and that's why mortality is always doomed. Because we're always trying to see everything behind the veil but can never possibly. Yeats, being everyone's favorite Golden Dawn member, and a true inspiration to me, seems to have been someone who has achieved crossing the veil. It was a little line to give him a nod.
LISA MARIE BASILE: What does Theia mean to you?
DALLAS ATHENT: Theia Mania is a Platonic theory about how people who are experiencing horrible things, like heartbreak, are brought closer to the divine in those moments, and that's why we make great art. That state is really what the book is about, along with the dualities of being mortal and immoral, and trying to leave a mark on the world. That's how it got its title.
INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST MARIA PAVLOVSKA
LISA MARIE BASILE: Your pictures evoke chaos, but they seem finely, painstakingly deliberate. I'd love to learn about how you approached these works for this book.
MARIA PAVLOVSKA: There is a series of 30 drawings, which was one piece related to each other from the first one to the 30th. Altogether it is one story. They are not meant to be viewed individually, but as a collection. They were originally conceived as part of a show "Black and White Diaries," which included also large canvasses. I wanted to show, as I always do, the progression from drawing to painting.
LISA MARIE BASILE: Something I realized about this book is that there really is a balance between the good/bad or holy/not holy polarity. In your work, I sense that you contributed in a big way to that feeling. I find it very hard to strike a balance; how do you, as an artist, find that median?
MARIA PAVLOVSKA: My work translates topics of choice into pictorial language that demonstrate a quietly powerful eloquence. My drawings and paintings reflect painting as a battlefield, where light and darkness fight and the result is unpredictable.
One sees the lightning bolts of ideas at work, as they are being worked out. That is the balance I look for. This sort of simultaneous image /process / results in a dialectic that lies frozen in space, stimulating the viewer to actively participate in the image creation themselves by way of investigation, inviting myriad readings within a given theme.
LISA MARIE BASILE: You're from Macedonia. What about the culture inspires your work? Is there something you're bringing to your work — and Dallas' poetry — that is related to Macedonia in some way?
MARIA PAVLOVSKA: My inspiration does not specifically reflect my Macedonian heritage. I draw inspiration from who I am and how I see the world, in me and around me, and this is more of a global perspective. The people that see my work, whether they are in Berlin, Vienna, Belgrade, Paris or NYC derive this universal feeling from the art as unique.
LISA MARIE BASILE: What does Theia mean to you? Who is she in your work?
MARIA PAVLOVSKA: In my work, the contrast between light and dark, shadow and brightness, is evident. Theia, the Titaness, has several distinctions: brightness, uprightness, belief. Theia is a good omen.
LISA MARIE BASILE: Each of the works in this book feel like they're unraveling to some sort of secret that I finally learn. Can you tell me a secret?
MARIA PAVLOVSKA: As the viewer can notice, there is a lot of writing in my work. You cannot really make out the words or read it, as it's not a poem or a thought that needs to be read. I need to write inside during my work as the thoughts are coming from me, and i'ts part of the composition. In the end it is part of the piece. So in that sense, it is a kind of secret (obvious secret).
LISA MARIE BASILE: How do you make art from literature, like this? Is it a translation? Or a collaboration?
MARIA PAVLOVSKA: It is a collaboration as Dallas in one of her visits to the studio noticed the drawings realizing that they relate to her poems, and they seem to compliment each other. The drawings already existed, they were not created for the book, but, they seemed to fit with her poems perfectly (what I draw and explain with the lines, she writes and explains with words). We commented that my work would work well with her poems and that we could create this remarkable, new book Theia Mania.
Note: The images above were part of Pavlovska's Black & White Diaries concept. They were developed in a two-month residency studio Pavlovska won in 2014 at Cite Des Arts in Paris. The works were displayed at DRAWING ROOMS Gallery in New York City at the group show "Automatic - Systematic" in May 2014 and then shown at MANA CONTEMPORARY Open House in January 2015.
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Dallas Athent is an art reviewer for At Large Magazine, a board member of Nomadic Press and the editor of the short story collection, Bushwick Nightz. Her writing has appeared in Buzzfeed Community, PACKET Bi-Weekly, PANK Magazine, VIDA Reports from the Field, BUST Magazine, Yes Poetry & more. She has been an editor for Bushwick Daily and Luna Luna Magazine. Her work has been profiled in Bedford + Bowery of New York Magazine, Brooklyn Based, Brooklyn Magazine, Papermag among others.
Maria Pavlovska was born in Skopje, Macedonia (Former Yugoslavia) in 1975. BA and MA she receved at the Faculty of Fine Art in Skopje, Macedonia. Her work has been featured around the globe in over 28 solo shows and more than 100 group international exhibitions including Art Basel Miami, The Kunsthalle-Vienna and Kunsthalle-Krems (Austria), Gallery Lang (Vienna), Cite Internationale des Arts, The Dock (Paris), Museum of Contemporary Art, The National Gallery, Museum of the City - Skopje (Macedonia), City House in Nurnberg (Germany), Station Gallery, Gallery MC, The Open Space Gallery, Citibank (New York), FLA Gallery (Connecticut), Viota Gallery (San Juan - Puerto Rico), Prima Center (Berlin), MANA Contemporary and Drawing Rooms (New Jersey). Her work is held in private and public collections worldwide, including embassies, museums, galleries and libraries.