Online Feature-Somatic Book Review of Beast Feast

Somatic Book Review of Beast Feast by Cody-Rose Clevidence

Cody-Rose Clevidence
Beast Feast
Ahsahta Press
$18

Before beginning, take a butter knife from the kitchen counter drawer and begin to saw off your breasts [or] before beginning, take a butter knife from the kitchen counter drawer and begin to saw off your penis and balls. A steak knife will not do, you really want to feel the irony here of the most delicate weapon in the vicinity causing the highest intensity of pain. DO NOT WASH THE BODY PARTS DOWN THE DISPOSAL ! I instruct you to use them as book marks. You may need time to rest your eyes in between pages, as the content is rather mindfully invigorating, and it will be appropriate while coming back unto a page to have a reminder of the parts of you that did not exists as parts, but as an extension of the whole, before you were so mercilessly dragged through the poetic forrest that is Clevidence’s mind. A book that makes you WORK. Red gatorade is not recommended for hydration, the dye stains your insides and we might need those for later. Water is best, unless you reside in a city where Whole Foods is more rampant than water supply, in which case certified organic coconut water will do (however, do not drink the milk of the actual certified organic coconut, which excessive consumption has in some cases been known to cause diarrhea, which will cause, most obviously, dehydration).
Furthermore, embarrassment is expected once the blood stains swim into abstract pool designs on your respective boob or ball areas, but this book is really not meant to be consumed in the corner crevice of a couch in your mother’s basement. It is meant, obviously, to be experienced in the presence of beasts.
Any preschool will do, really. I recommend volunteering for story-time around page 52. Scream (I do not mean this gently) SCREAM the words into their wild, absurdly bendy little human ears until they are satiated to the point of missing snack time. Before encountering the last page, run! (I do not mean this gently) RUN ! Nearing the end of the last page, you will be, physically, a deformed running beast, captured and consumed by the sticky hands of small beasts, booked marked in time of death by severed breasts and/or balls. This is, arguably so, the preferred state of being for whispering the last line, and truly offers such a visceral perspective for interpretation of the text as a whole.

REVIEW BY MARIE CONLAN

 

 

Tomorrow Night (12/10/14):

Our reading series closes for the season at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe, in Boulder, CO–

with phenomenal artists Richard Froude and Junior Burke, followed by an open mic.

The reading starts at 7pm

The night will be filled with poetry and music and fun!

ONLINE FEATURE-JKS AUDIO ARCHIVE

Anselm Hollo, Haryette Mullen, Renee Gladman, and Eleni Sikelianos reading, June, 2002

In honor of the Jack Kerouc School’s 40^th anniversary, Bombay Gin feels it’s necessary to share even more content related to the school, its founders and its alumni. This particular recording contains Anselm Hollo’s poignant rendition of his poetry from his collection, Guests of Space (Coffee House Press 2007), followed by other esteemed writers like Harryette Mullen, Eleni Sikelianos, and Renee Gladman. At the JKS conference in October we had the privilege of listening to Jane Dalrymple-Hollo read from Hollo’s work making his voice a staple of the conference and the Jack Kerouac School even after his passing. Also within this file is the subtly striking voice of Reed Bye who fits snugly between the cynically terse Hollo, the delicious language of Gladman, Event Factory (Dorothy 2010), and the beautiful poetic deliveries of Mullen and Sikelianos. While Harryette Mullen didn’t read from Hollo’s work, her latest Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary (Graywolf Press 2013) continues to exemplify her craft. Eleni continues to publish and experiment with her latest You Animal Machine (The Golden Greek) (Coffee House Press 2014), a memoir.

BOMBAY GIN EXTRAVAGANZA!

What: Bombay Gin 41 Reading and Fundraising Extravaganza!

When: Thursday, November 13 7:00pm – 10:30pm MST

Where: Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe

Bombay Gin is pleased to announce an evening of reading and fundraising that is not to be missed. The festivities begin at 7pm on Thursday, November 13th with a reading featuring Boulder Tribe poet Jonathan Montgomery, Sacramento poet Ike Torres, and an open mic. Then at 9pm, the party gets started in the name of raising money to support the thriving of Bombay Gin. Refreshments will be served, conversations will be had, and most importantly, prizes will be won!

During the party, we will have a silent auction where you can bid on some mind blowing opportunities with some of your favorite poets. So far we have these confirmed items for your bidding pleasure:

A cassette tape made just for you by Thurston Moore

A personalized somatic ritual written for you by CA Conrad

A consultation on 25 pages of your writing OR a divination card reading by Selah Saterstrom

A personalized chapbook written for you by Mathias Svalina

A personalized care package and handwritten letter from TC Tolbert

Reed Bye taking you out for a drink

Michelle Naka Pierce treating you to chips and guac and a copy of her book Continuous Frieze Bordering Red

Tea with Naropa’s President Chuck Leif

You do not need to attend in order to participate in the auction. Just email your maximum bid for any of the above to bgin@naropa.edu by 10 pm Wednesday, November 12 in order to be included in the bidding. Be sure to include what item you’re bidding on and your contact information!

We will also have a raffle with prizes from City Lights, Les Figues Press, Counterpath, Factory Hollow Press, Boulder Book Store, Innisfree, Buchanan’s, and Cinemark. The more tickets you buy, the better your odds, so bring cash! (Unfortunately, raffle participation is only for those lucky folks who can make it to the party).

More prizes and auction items continue to roll in, so check back regularly for the latest information. Can’t wait to celebrate Bombay Gin with you all!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR BOMBAY GIN 39.2

Bombay Gin is taking submissions from February 1, 2013 through April 1, 2013.

In her introduction to the she said dialogues: flesh memory, Akilah Oliver offers the following definition of “flesh memory”: “the body’s truths and realities… everything that we’ve ever experienced or known, whether we know it directly or through some type of genetic memory, osmosis or environment.” Recognizing “the multiplicity of languages and realities” the bones hold, we can begin to identify the “demons” that haunts us. Grounded in dance and performance art, flesh memory becomes an embodied practice, an expression of culture and ancestral memory, as when Akilah writes, “this text is situated in the on-going work I’ve been doing in performance with the concept of flesh memory as it relates to a critical interrogation of the African American literary/performative tradition.”

With the late Akilah Oliver’s spirit and thought in mind, Bombay Gin invites submissions for issue 39.2 that explore “flesh memory.” We encourage contributors to extend Akilah’s “flesh memory.” Consider the following:

…what the body knows that the mind can’t hold, the DNA-memory of 500,000 years of human experience and 4 billion years of life on Earth, thinking is one way of knowing the world, the other is being…

…the memory of trauma, through repetition and the reinforcement of patterns, the body learns loneliness, self-destruction, body memory is paved into neural and muscular pathways….

… neuroplasticity—through consistent, positive action, dance, body work, we can heal the mind’s trauma that lies trapped in the body; like everything else, it is a matter of practice and patience, trial and error, repetition…

…how has the world impressed itself upon the body, how does the body hold its experiences? what does the body know? how do we return to the body? what does it mean to write from the body? how might flesh memory access the feral space below and beyond reason, the animal instinct and animal body?

We welcome manuscripts of fiction, essays, poetry, and cross-genre work. Poetry submissions should be comprised of 3-5 poems; prose and cross-genre manuscripts should generally consist of no more than 15 pages. Accompany each manuscript with a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply, and mail it to the following address:

BOMBAY GIN
NAROPA UNIVERSITY
JACK KEROUAC SCHOOL
2130 ARAPAHOE AVE.
BOULDER, CO 80302

Please support the journal in which you want your work published.  Bombay Gin can be purchased through SMALL PRESS DISTRIBUTION, on our website, or by sending a check for $12.00, made out to BOMBAY GIN. Thank you for your interest in our magazine.

Win Suzanne Scanlon’s Promising Young Women

To celebrate our anticipation of issue 39.1, as we proof and proof, Bombay Gin editors are excited to kick off a series of book giveaways.  I’m proud to announce our first giveaway is in collaboration with Dorothy, A Publishing Project, a small press edited by the fantastic Danielle Dutton that brings us innovative “fiction, or near fiction, or about fiction, mostly by women.”

Dorothy publishes two books a year, in complement to one another, and Bombay Gin will publish reviews of and give away BOTH of the 2012 pair.

First: Suzanne Scanlon’s Promising Young Women.

Naropa University M.F.A. candidate Rachel M. Newlon’s review of Scanlon’s first book will appear in forthcoming (think January) 39.1.  Rachel’s work has been published online (Thirteen Myna Birds, Big River Poetry Review, Horse Less Press, Cactus Heart, Foliate Oak Literary Journal) as well as in print (A Poet’s View of Being, Erasure, Bombay Gin).  Rachel’s interview with Suzanne Scanlon enriches her thoughtful review.

Here is a little taste:

…women within the pages of Scanlon’s writings struggle to have a recognizable voice in a world that is unable to accept their gender, their madness and in which they have no part to play.  Promising Young Women mirrors the content of the ward book – scientifically exposing perspective, stereotypes, bias, and failure.

Scanlon’s writing induces a confusing sense of eternity – the reader is lost in this place, where events perpetuate repetitiously, realistically, with no hope of ceasing.  Scanlon merges pastiche and iconic cultural references about females and madness into a skillfully written piece that is nearly impossible to ignore.

I promise, you want to read this—Scanlon’s book and BG 39.1.

For a chance to win a free copy of Promising Young Women, simply leave a comment below telling us why you’re interested.

The window to enter this giveaway will close at Midnight MST on Friday, November 30th, and the winner will be randomly chosen via random.org.

Call for Submissions

BOMBAY GIN is taking submissions from September 1, 2012 through October 1, 2012.

THEME: Please send submissions that respond to this issue’s theme of the “The Contemplative as Transgressive.” Writers and artists are encouraged to question and define “contemplative” and to consider how the contemplative, in addition to silent and calm, might also be transgressive, radical, allowing for an encounter with another space-time, an absolute other. In addition to your interpretations of the theme, we encourage you to submit contemplative writing experiments as well as the product of such experiments.

We welcome manuscripts of fiction, essays, poetry, and cross-genre work; we will not read manuscripts submitted after the reading period ends. Poetry submissions should be comprised of 3-5 poems; prose and cross-genre manuscripts should generally consist of no more than 15 pages. Accompany each manuscript with a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply, and mail it to the following address:

BOMBAY GIN
NAROPA UNIVERSITY
JACK KEROUAC SCHOOL
2130 ARAPAHOE AVE.
BOULDER, CO 80302

Visual artists may submit images through email: bgin@naropa.edu. Accepted submissions will be printed in black and white only. Please submit the following:

• Professional quality digital images in TIFF or JPG formats (if JPG, saved in “baseline” or “standard” format at the highest quality possible). Images must be Mac and PC compatible. Note: Please do not submit PPT or PPTX presentations.
• A minimum of 320 dpi
• Between 1200 and 2400 pixels in the longest dimension
• Please title image files with your last name and first initial, year of the work, title, medium and dimensions (example: Doe_J_2009_Title_oil on panel_9x12.jpg).
• Brief biographical/artist statement as either a text file (Word) or as a PDF. Please title the file with your last name, first initial, and the content of the file (example: Doe_J_ArtistStatement.doc or Doe_J_Biography.doc).

Sample copies of the BOMBAY GIN can be purchased through SMALL PRESS DISTRIBUTION, on our website, or by sending a check for $12.00, made out to BOMBAY GIN. Thank you for your interest in our magazine.

The Hotcake Issue, Threshold: Tenuous Proposition Of

Before the Front Range issue sweeps us away, I should update you on the state of “Threshold: Tenuous Proposition Of.”

This issue sold like hotcakes. Our first run sold out immediately. At the time,  AWPwas less than a month away and we need issues to sell there.

My issue of Bombay Gin 38.1, Threshold: Tenuous Proposition Of. Please don’t ask to buy this off me because I won’t sell it…

So: we did a second print run. Again, hotcakes.

When I was setting up the Bombay Gin table at the Violence & Community Symposium reading, there were no issues left. Dunzo, threshold. Not to worry, I told myself, we still have at least 30 issues at Small Press Distribution (unless they sold).

Well, no. Not quite.

As of today, we have 16 Threshold issues left. Hotcakes.

And, before opening my big blog mouth, I had to double check there were absolutely no more issues tucked away in the Bombay Gin office. Good news: Diana McLean found our last TWO issues!

Overall, we have 18 issues left (unless more sell on SPD while I type…). Get your copy of “Threshold: Tenuous Proposition Of” or someone will…

All of this success is due to you, dear readers, for your generosity and reception of Bombay Gin. Thank you all so much for all that you do for us whether you contributed to this issue, helped us fund raise, bought an issue, supported our  release party, submitted work, ad infinitum.

Thank you. This is all for you.

–Heather

Front Range Writers & Artists Release Party

We are pleased to announce the release party for our Front Range Writers & Artists issue of Bombay Gin. Celebrate our writing community and join us for an evening of readings and performances by some of the contributors of this issue. This event is free and open to the public, and we will be serving sweets and refreshing beverages.

Pick up a copy of Bombay Gin 38.2: Front Range Writers & Artists for $12. We’ll also be selling bundles of back issues from $5 to $10, as well as chapbooks from the Kavyayantra Press.

If you have any questions about the event, leave me a comment or send an email to bgin@naropa.edu.

Can’t wait to see you there!

–Heather

Springtime Inspiration from Lily Hoang

I have a confession: despite owning a copy of Lily Hoang’s The Evolutionary Revolution for over a year, I have yet to actually read it. The book was recommended to me by a classmate last spring when my writing was overtaken with evolutions of bodies and vocabularies. I bought it with enthusiasm, then failed completely in reading it.

My not reading this book is more an issue of time than it is desire. As a full-time MFA student with a habit of taking on far too many commitments, pleasure reading is a luxury I am rarely afforded. I can say that on several occasions, I’ve hesitated at this text, opened it to a random page, and absorbed some of Lily Hoang’s gorgeous words “rhizomatically” (to use a phrase of fellow Bombay Gin 38.1 contributor Bhanu Kapil). At the very least, these small moments I take with the text partially appease me, remind me of the worlds which wait on my bookshelf for the day when I finally have time. It is always the starting of something that is most difficult, isn’t it?

On the cusp of this 2012 spring, I am yet again drawn toward Lily Hoang’s writing. A recent blog post of hers spoke directly to what I (like many others) am feeling at the moment. There is an inherent and instinctual something about spring which makes us crave a new project, that clichéd fresh start. And along with it comes the anxiety of facing a fresh, open void of possibility. I am talking about my own writing. I am talking about the in-the-works next issue of Bombay Gin. I am talking about the garden I plant in my backyard every May which is officially dead by July. I am talking about that which you are on the verge of creating at this very moment.

May we all find some solace in Lily Hoang’s words (even if you only have time to scan them “rhizomatically”) so that we, too, can enjoy whatever bloom is about to occur.

– Jade Lascelles