The Bottoms at the West End of Kentucky

Here it is, “The Bottoms at the West End of Kentucky,” first published in the very good print / online journal Pea River Journal, and nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology. I am very proud of this one. Feel free to leave a comment. **Almost forgot to mention: you can read along over at Pea River: http://peariverjournal.com/2014/06/23/eric-m-r-webb-bottoms-kentucky/**

** Edited

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Working on a New Recording Tonight

Another piece previously published. Look for it tonight or tomorrow.

Psssttt— It’s Up!

Recording of “Oh Ezra”

You can read along at Pea River Journal.

Best of the Net 2014: our nominations

So, my poem “The Bottoms of the West End of Kentucky” is nominated for annual Best of the Net. And that’s exciting! And a big Thank You to Pea River Journal!

pea river journal

We publish a small slice of each issue online, and that small slice tends to come from our favorite-of-favorites list. Of that small slice published between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014, we nominated seven pieces for Best of the Net:

Greg Brown, “Unnatural Disasters“

Lauren Camp, “Visit to Iraq“

Matthew Kabik, “In the Orchard, In the Field“

Al Maginnes, “How Things Break in This World“

Corey Mesler, “A Small Simic Afternoon“

Jose Padua, “Gin and the River“

Eric M. R. Webb, “The Bottoms of the West End of Kentucky“

If you haven’t read them yet, please do. Seek these writers out wherever you can find them.

(Thank you, Sundress.)

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The Prints Project

Over at Pea River Journal:

http://peariverjournal.com/the-prints-project/

You should definitely check this out, very cool. And while you’re there, check out the upcoming issue and buy a copy 🙂

Back Again, Like Old School

Lots of news to write about!

Two biggest things:

1 – No Bullshit Review is live with its first issue! It’s only in print, but you can find out more by going to the site: http://nobullshitreview.tumblr.com. I’m really proud of the first issue and all the great writing I was able to accept for it. There are instructions for getting a copy on the blog. Really easy: send an email to thenobsreview+subscribe@gmail.com with your mailing address (like I said, in print only).

2 – I got a manuscript accepted! It is titled How to Lose Faith, here’s the announcement link: Blast Furnace Press. Take a look at the most recent issue of the magazine! This will be my first chapbook publication, and includes a couple of poems from my thesis, a couple published elsewhere, and some new stuff. I am really excited about it, it means I get to call myself a full-fledged Published Poet!

There’s been a lot of radio silence lately, I went and got myself an adult job, so there’s not as much room for activities. But I have done a lot in the last few months, including getting a magazine up and running, reading submissions and putting together enough content for a whole issue. Not to mention revising that manuscript over and over and submitting it over and over.

It is a strange beast, to finally come into fruition this way. It is a strange beast, to winnow a ~70 page manuscript down to several poems. It is a howling clawing process, in fact. And it is even harder to describe, but I may take a stab at it over on the other WordPress blog.

In the meantime, check out No Bullshit Review, send me a poem or three, or a nonfiction piece. Everyone hurts for good nonfiction submissions, and NoBS Review is not an exception.

Oh Hey, How are You?

Aha!

Once again it has been a while.

Mostly I’m here right now to plug this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://nobullshitreview.tumblr.com

It’s a tiny little thing I’m starting. You should check it out and submit something.

I’ve also been writing for National Poetry Month here:

http://ericmrwebb.tumblr.com/tagged/NaPoWriMo

 

Results of Our Poll about Literary Magazines, Part 1

Poll Results

About ten days ago, I put this poll up on the blog here. While not a great number of responses, I am pleased with the number of people who took the minute or so to offer their opinions on the state of contemporary literary magazines.

One of the things I wrote in that original post was

We know that there are more literary magazines than there are readers, but not as many as there are writers,

and this is a problem. Another problem writers come across is that there is little payment available out there for accepted works. That is a discussion outside of this one.

Pea River Journal – almost. almost almost almost. and nearly.

almost. almost almost almost. and nearly..

The new issue of Pea River Journal comes out soon, with two poems by yours truly!

 

Revision and Creation: 1 – Close Attention pt. 1

The initial post introducing the ideas here occurred over on Poetry Thesis Musings, a blog about it being self-defining. Go ahead and take a minute to read that; it’s short, I promise.

Now that you’ve read the initial post, walk along this exploration with me. The beginning of this journey is about the act of close attention. As just about any poet will tell you, close attention is one of the primary aspects of writing poetry. Another way to say this is that poems do not unveil themselves without your hard work of paying attention to the world around you.

But what does this have to do with revision?

Good question, you! Where ecstatic creation in the face of the results of close attention (a good example is found among the Beat Poets) may result in much earnest poetry–and even very good poetry–the act of revision asks for close attention to the poem, the poet, and the subject of the poem. Revision forces the poet to decide, to act, to reflect, to unveil, and to question.