The Chimaera Blog

Submissions now closed for Issue 8

2011-06-04T15:18:00.001-07:00

The submission period for Issue 8, due out late July 2011, has closed. Please do not submit until further notice. No decision has been made regarding timing of future issues or when we might reopen for submissions. Please check back periodically.

The Chimaera’s 2010 Pushcart Prize Nominations

2010-11-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

Good luck to all!

Alison Brackenbury — ‘Over the field’ http://www.the-chimaera.com/March2010/Poems/Brackenbury.html

Anna Evans — ‘Why I Am Attracted to Men with Dyslexia’ http://www.the-chimaera.com/March2010/Poems/Evans.html

Janet Kenny — ‘Last Danceֹ’ http://www.the-chimaera.com/March2010/Poems/Kenny.html

Ralph La Rosa — ‘Sauntering’ http://www.the-chimaera.com/March2010/Theme/Poems/LaRosa.html

Lance Levens — ‘Begging’ http://www.the-chimaera.com/March2010/Poems/Levens.html

Parker Tettleton — ‘The Living Lie’ http://www.the-chimaera.com/March2010/Theme/Poems/Tettleton.html

THE FLEA Bug Bash!

2010-06-08T15:55:00.001-07:00

Come to THE FLEA Circus and Bug Rave — a cast of trillions!

http://www.the-flea.com/

Alan Gould, The Seventh Chimaera's Featured Poet

2010-02-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

Amor Fati Overnight In Hospital

The wardsman shaving my pubic hair
is shyer than I am here.
We contrive to talk
from further selves for manhood's sake.

Amid sea-green professionals
I watch myself on screen.
The catheter probes my blood-vessels
like a mouse in a maze-experiment,

finds as they expect, no more.
The talon of arteries that holds my heart
erect to life has one weak claw.
I feel humiliation, not fear.

The plastic bottle they insist
I use to pee, I'll not use.
Courteous, desperate, I last
till two am, evade the night-nurse.

The triumph's paltry. Returning, I see,
huge on my inside thigh
my Viking blood has splayed and run
to a purple map of Europe beneath the skin.

My forbears went to the New World from that,
and sure, it's proper, says my heart
to face the thing and snuff it quick,
Grettir on Drangey, not liking the dark

but taking what comes and its loneliness,
strange elation at how exact is this.
But here are good professional staff
reading screens to make my future safe

who require no more than a stranglehold
upon the wild affections of my world.
For this is blockage, infirmity. This
is not me, but the mortal incubus,

the hobbler who
must walk beside me with his cue
of Now when it comes, it will hold no surprise,
a self watching my self with angel eyes.

—by Alan Gould, from The Past Completes Me

The Seventh Chimaera will be online in March, 2010, at http://www.the-chimaera.com/

A Fresh Flea Fangeth Forthe (well Fyfthe actually)

2010-02-22T10:55:00.001-08:00

A Flea moreover which transmuteth that which is base imperfect Mettle into Gold, & whych projecteth many a Stone Philosophickal or Nugget Poetickal thereby; as witnesseth Philip Quinlan, Leo Yankevich, Joseph Salemi, Fr. Robert J. Pecotte, Geoff Page, Amit Majmudar, Rose Kelleher, Nigel Holt, Bill Greenwell, Alan Gould, Louis Gallo, Angela France, Nausheen Eusuf, Stephen Edgar, Ann Drysdale, Kevin Cutrer, Peter Coghill, C.E. Chaffin & Jared Carter.

http://www.the-flea.com/

Season of THE FLEA

2009-12-04T11:12:00.001-08:00

You've got to pick up every stitch,
The rabbit’s running in the ditch,
Beatniks are out to make it rich,
Oh no! Must be the Season of the Witch...

http://www.the-flea.com

Thomas Zimmerman, Marly Youmans, Gail White, Timothy Murphy, Rick Mullin, David W. Landrum, Rose Kelleher, Clive James, Jan Iwaszkiewicz, Midge Goldberg, Richard Epstein, Ann Drysdale, Kevin Cutrer, Norman Ball, Gene Auprey, Mark Allinson, Mary Alexandra Agner.

Caratacus Rides Again!

2009-10-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

My Domus Carataci personal blog on JournalSpace with years of posts was destroyed when JournalSpace's server crashed in 2007. Since then I haven't run a personal blog, channeling most of my energies into Shit Creek Review, The Chimaera and THE FLEA and their respective blogs. But some material fits better onto a personal blog than onto the more formal context of a literary magazine's blog; with that in mind I have revived Domus Carataci, now on Blogspot, and renamed it I, Caratacus. I will update it from time to time, whenever Bloggina, the Muse of Bloggers, inspires me.

Dzanc Best of Web and Pushcart Nominations

2009-10-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

IMPORTANT: Submissions Sept - October

2009-10-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

My computer and much of its back-up went to God on the morning of 4th October due to an unfortunate combination of events involving two poodles, a lunatic cat, some tequila and a go-go dancer. Consequently if you submitted work by DIRECT EMAIL to The Chimaera between September 7 and October 4 you need to resubmit it.

If you submitted work by the online form, as most did, then your work is safe and you should not resubmit. Read the announcement here: http://www.the-chimaera.com/Submissions.html

Needless to say I am mortified by this development, and apologise to all concerned.

The Fleas of the Apocalypse

2009-10-02T12:28:00.001-07:00

THE THIRD FLEA of the Apocalypse is loose!

http://www.the-flea.com/

Mark Allinson, Mary Alexandra Agner, Maryann Corbett, Ann Drysdale, Richard Epstein, Midge Goldberg, Bill Greenwell, R. Nemo Hill, Janet Kenny, Janice D. Soderling, J.J. Steinfeld, Leo Yankevich, Marly Youmans, & Thomas Zimmerman

Flea! Flea!

Terry Stanton needs help

2009-08-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

My old friend Terry Stanton, who used to drink at The Royal George, is in dire straits. Nine months ago he fell and hit his head, and has been in intensive care ever since, having lost many of his faculties. There will be a benefit for him at Palm Beach R.S.L. on Sunday 30th August, 1-4 pm, with an auction of art by (amongst others) Martin Sharp, Reg Mombassa, Bruce Goold and Mick Glasheen. Phone (02) 9974 5566.

Click on the images below to make them bigger and easier to read.

Chimaeras, Dark Ladies and the GOP

2009-08-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from one of Jennifer Reeser's 'Dark Lady' sonnets recently published in The Chimaera has been picked up by a website called 'GOP12'. It's an online blog which tracks American Presidential hopefuls for 2012 from the Republican party — and has been quoted in ABC Business News, and at salon.com, among other places:

From one of the best contemporary poets, Jennifer Reeser, an excerpt from the assumed perspective of the obscure woman of William Shakespeare's later poems.

If I were both thy mistress and thy muse,
From all conceivable reactions, chief
Among my choices — if I had to choose —
Would be the innocence of disbelief.

More here.

Jee Leong Koh on the Joe Milford Poetry Show

2009-08-15T00:41:00.001-07:00

From Jee Leong Koh:

"I was interviewed recently on the Joe Milford Poetry Show: one-and-a-half hour unedited reading and conversation about my new book of poems Equal to the Earth. We talked about my Singaporean background, art and autobiography, the mythic sea, use of meter and form, sense of humor (!), the objective correlative, children's playfulness, Chinese homosexuals, and love. I hope you enjoy some of it."

Best, Jee

From the show website:

The Joe Milford Poetry Show archives readings and interviews from acclaimed and established poets as well as up-and-coming poets from America and Canada. The Joe Milford Poetry Show prides itself on its candid and organic nature infused with a lively discussion of poetics, genre, the writing process, and myriad theories and movements of poetry. Join us once a week for regularly scheduled shows on Saturdays at 5pm Eastern Time, and watch for special edition shows by announcement. Add The Joe Milford Poetry Show to your MySpace Friends by going to the links page.

Ann Drysdale and The Well-Wrought Chimaera

2009-08-10T04:58:00.000-07:00

Ann Drysdale is the star of The Chimaera #6, now online. There is poetry by Ann, essays, reviews and reflections on her by various hands (including the inimitable John Whitworth), and an interview.

The Chimaera also boasts a feature on intricate Well-Wrought Form, edited by Peter Bloxsom, Stephen Edgar and myself. Here you will find work by Timothy Murphy, Rhina Espaillat, Clive James, Alan Gould, Claire Askew, and many more. The General section is well-stocked, too, with poetry by Australian poet Geoff Page, Maryann Corbett, and some more of Jennifer Reeser's delicious Sonnets from the Dark Lady. Reviews by Rose Kelleher, Nigel Holt and Maggie Butt.

Submissions for Issue 7 will be accepted from September 1st to November 30th. The themed section will be on Voyages and Quests. We are also looking for poetry and prose outside that theme, as well as critical work on the Australian poet and fiction writer Alan Gould.

http://www.the-chimaera.com/

The Chimaera looms

2009-07-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Issue #6 of The Chimaera is gestating and should hatch by the end of July, possibly early August.

The Flea Byteth a Second Time

2009-07-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

The Second Flea has hatch'd, and, pamper'd, swells — with verse by Peter Bloxsom, Catherine Chandler, David Davis, Ann Drysdale, Rhina P. Espaillat, Bill Greenwell, Clive James, Jalina Mhyana, Timothy Murphy, Alfred Nicol, Marly Youmans and Thomas Zimmerman. Go, read, be bytten!

http://www.the-flea.com/

Recent news from our published authors

2009-07-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

A new interview with Joseph S. Salemi, along with some of his published work, appears at the following website address: http://alongstoryshort.net/ThePoetsCorner-June09.html

Salemi writes a monthly column for The Pennsylvania Review , and his comic poem ‘Rear-Meat Rhoda’ is up at The Formalist Portal.

Bench Press: Poetry that exerts pressure at every point, and so achieves a momentary rest.

Bench Press, an independent publisher of poetry, will be launched on July 4, 2009. On that day its website will go ‘live’ and unveil its logo.

The press is pleased to announce its first title: Jee Leong Koh’s Equal to the Earth. Of Koh’s book, Vijay Seshadri writes: ‘Jee Leong Koh is a vigorous, physical poet very much captured by the expressive power of rhythm, rhetoric, and the lexicon. He is also, paradoxically, a poet in pursuit of the most elusive and delicate of human emotions. The contradiction is wonderful and compelling, and so are his poems.’

You can read a poem from the book on the press website, and purchase a copy of the book.

Margaret Menamin, Poet

2009-07-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

We are all saddened to hear of Margaret Menamin's death. She was a poet's poet and beloved by many, not only for her fine work but her gracious and thoughtful critique. This poem of hers from The Chimaera III speaks beautifully about acceptance, remembrance and treasured relationships …how those who loved her will come to remember her season on season, summer after spring.

Baucis and Philemon

I believe I know how it will be
with you and me:
Coming silent one day through the wood
where last you stood,
I will stop, remembering, and see
a newsprung tree.

It will be as if it had been planned:
Where then you stand
I will stop, remembering, and see
a wild young tree
tall and straight among the others, and
put forth my hand.

As I touch your greenness, some strange thing
will leap and sing
within the hardening fibers of my hand.
So we will stand,
season on season, summer after spring,
remembering.

Chimaeric Editor Quizzed

2009-06-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

Paul Stevens interviewed by Nic Sebastian:

http://verylikeawhale.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/ten-questions-for-poetry-editors-paul-stevens/

Book Launch for Ray Pospisil's The Bell

2009-06-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ray Pospisil, a Brooklyn based poet and journalist, was born in Bogota, Colombia, and early in his life moved with his parents to Union, New Jersey. He spent most of his life in New York City. Ray was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Rutgers University. He worked as an energy and environment journalist working for Fairchild Publications sand then McGraw-Hill and later became a freelance journalist working mostly for McGraw-Hill publications. Ray had a passion for poetry and often read in the East Village and in Manhattan. His work has been published by Lyric, Iambs & Trochees, The Newport Review, Rogue Scholars and others. In 2006, his chapbook of poems, Some Time Before the Bell, was published by Modern Metrics.

Ray died tragically on January 28, 2008, aged 54. The Bell is a book of remarkable precision, feeling, and sense of beauty among the squalor of urban life in the early twenty-first century. A mixture of anger, humor, compassion, and a deep, hard-earned love for life in spite of its many disappointments make this a painful yet transcendently beautiful collection.

Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Nightingale Lounge
213 Second Ave (Corner of 13th Street)
Manhattan, New York

Featured readers:

Quincy Lehr
R. Nemo Hill, Jane Ormerod, Oran Ryan,
Thomas Fucaloro, Michelle Slater, Su Polo,
David Elsasser, Terese Coe, and Wendy Sloan.

If You Love English Poetry...

2009-05-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

SCR's Poetry Editor, Angela France, has a book out! It's called Occupation, and it's a ripper! Occupation is full of the sort of poetry that The Chimaera loves: articulate, honest, incisive, imaginative, true.

And English: if you love English poetry—not just poetry in English, but English poetry — you will love this book. And if you're going to buy a book of poems to read and then come back to, this is the one.

Occupation is available for pre-publication order from Ragged Raven Press, and will be launched with a reading at Ledbury Poetry Festival on July 10th.

Ragged Raven Press is here: http://raggedraven.co.uk/collections.htm#Occupation

Angela France’s robust poems move through a range of themes, but the passage of time and the struggle against it, in physical effort, in mind and in dream, recur. There is also a very welcome intellectual clarity that produces a beauty of its own, in short poems, like Unpoem and Beeing, but also in more gritty works of realism like Urban. The poems are always vigorous and rhythmically controlled. Occupation establishes a clear, firm, valuable voice in contemporary poetry.

—George Szirtes

Here's a poem from Occupation to whet your appetite:

Secrets

The scrubbed block had scars and nicks
from the graded blades hanging on the rack;
I could see blood lingering
in deep cuts. His slabbed hands
were always wet and red, fingers
plump as the sausages forced
from the maw of his machine.

He smiled at customers as he slapped steak
on white paper, chatted as his cleaver
slammed through flesh and joint.
He knew all the wives by name,
knew who would want the cheap cuts,
the marrow bones for soup. He’d wink
an extra slice of ham into the wrapper
for Mrs Green and tease newlyweds
about what they’d give their man for supper.

I’d keep my eyes down, only offer
words from the shopping list,
scurry away with ideas about his steel door
and what it hid, sure of his kinship
to the plaster pig in the window
with a striped apron and a perverse smile
as its varnished trotter pointed
to rows of glistening chops.

I coloured him red,
heard draining arteries in his voice,
the thud of cleavers in his laugh.
I watched him checking a delivery, afraid
of what might burst from the straining seams.
He caught me looking
at the pigs hanging in the lorry,
pink feet pointing in a row.
Look like ballet dancers, don’t they?

The Flea Reviewed

2009-05-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

Christine Klocek-Lim reviews The Flea here:

http://novemberskypoetry.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-of-flea.html

" ...At least I know that there is still poetry in the world that speaks to the mind and heart without navigating through the navel first and miring us all in the lint so often found therein."

They Flea from Me that Sometime Did Me Seek

2009-05-08T01:34:00.000-07:00

The Flea is definitely out there! Poems by John Whitworth, Jennifer Reeser, Geoff Page, Tim Murphy, Rose Kelleher, Tim Hawkins, Alan Gould, Anna Evans, Rhina P. Espaillat, Stephen Edgar, Ann Drysdale, Temple Cone, Catherine Chandler & Alison Brackenbury.

http://www.the-flea.com

THE FLEA cometh

2009-04-16T14:32:00.001-07:00

Mr. Paul Stevens, ever stedfaste in the conviction that he hath indeed in Former Times befported and comported himfelf during a long & difreputable Paft Life as a Fellowe and Boone-Companion of Jack Donne Esq.,Ben Jonfon, Sir John Suckling, Richard Lovelace and his partickular Frende and Crony Mr. Andrew Marvell of Hull & Nun Appleton Houfe, wishes to presage the imminent Publickation of an Exhibition or Congeries of Poemes, Sonets,Squibs & Epigrammes,endited & compofed of variovs Illvftrious Avthors & diuers Handes, whych he hath whimfically deuysed under the Favoure of the Souereygne Muse in a Broadsheet to be called THE FLEA, after the excellent Conceite of his Frende Mr. Donne; and will aduyfe furthermore any new Newes as seems appofyte and timely.

I love this poem!

2009-04-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

It's called 'Martin' and its on Peterloo Poets here:

http://www.peterloopoets.com/html/EnglishCivilWar.htm

'Martin' comes from Keith Chandler's new book The English Civil War Part 2 published by Peterloo and available for purchase on the Peterloo site.

SCR/Chimaera News March/April 2009

2009-03-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

Shit Creek Review Editor Angela France has been shortlisted for the Irish Strokestown Poetry Competition which has very healthy cash prizes and stacks of prestige. Respect, Angela! Angela's forthcoming book, Occupation, will be launched at Ledbury Poetry Festival in July.

Susan McLean, whose work appeared in The Chimaera of May 2008, has an essay on translating Martial's epigrams in Amphora, the newsletter of the American Philological Association, now available for free in PDF at the address below:

http://www.apaclassics.org/outreach/amphora/2008/Amphora7.2.pdf

The essay is on pages 4-5 and includes a few sample translations.

Sally Cook who has appeared several times in TC and SCR, has a poem, 'Some of the Parts' in the current issue of The New Formalist, another poem 'The World Arises' in Contemporary Sonnet Number 4 and an essay 'A Very Contemporary Artist Speaks' in the most recent issue of The Formalist Portal.

Work by Joseph S. Salemi appears in a new anthology recently published by published by The Oxford University Press, titled A Mind Apart. The book, clustering about themes of melancholia, madness, and addiction, has as its editor one Dr. Mark S. Bauer, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard

Salemi’s 'Sicilian Beachhead' keeps good company with poets from the fourteenth century up to the moment such as Cowper, Clare, Dowson, Herbert, Hardy, Kees, Larkin, Millay, Plath, Roethke, and others.

Sonnets galore! Recent new editons have appeared of online sonnet magazines 14by14 and Contemporary Sonnet, two magazines which serve the sonnet form excellently. Both feature work by many authors who have appeared in SCR and The Chimaera.

That excellent poetry forum The Gazebo has had major server troubles which are now being repaired, but the repairs will take some time. Meanwhile a Gazebo in Exile forum has been set up at http://thegazeboinexile.iforums.us/. The Gazebo is a a very good place to have your poetry critiqued — in return of course for offering your own critique of the work of others there. It also offers discussion about submission of work for publication in various venues. And let us not forget that it was a riotous thread at Gazebo that gave birth to the legendary Shit Creek Review. Hmmm...

Shit Creek Review and the Nightmare of History

2009-03-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

Eternal recurrence, Whiggish progress towards Liberty and Enlightenment, dustbin, or just plain old wie es eigentlich gewesen -- the Februaryish Shit Creek Review's 'History and Memory' issue is now online. There are a few poets there you'll recognise, some you might not have met before, and as many bent views of History as the most rabid Post Structuralist could desire, with as goodly a dash of memory as would satisfy the impossible yearnings of the most nostalgic Traditionalist.

Poetry and art by David Gwilym Anthony, Peter Austin, Sam Byfield, Michael Cantor, Mary Cresswell, Jan Iwaszkiewicz, Kathryn Jacobs, Dennis Loney, Donal Mahoney, Matt Merritt, Alistair Noon, Christine Potter, Janice D. Soderling, Peter Swanson, John Whitworth, Mark Bulwinkle, C. Albert, Don Zirilli, Patricia Wallace Jones, Ed Clarke and R.K. Sohm. Edited by Nigel Holt, Angela France, Pat Jones, Don Zirilli and Your Humble Obedient Servant.

Want to plunge further into the Nightmare of History? Just click >>>>HERE<<<< and say a quick Hail Mary.

Listen up. The Subs Gate is now open for SCR issue #10, due to come out in approximately July, circa 2009. The cheery theme for that issue is 'Talking to the Dead'. Better check out the Submissions page (accessible from the SCR front cover). So get out there and start talking to the Dead. Then write the poems and bung them off them to me c/o Heart of Darkness, Shit Creek, in a plain packet ballasted with Kruger Rands. Subs close May 31st. Or (perhaps more reliable) use the email address and online submissions form on the Submissions page.

Slouching complete!

2009-02-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

We tried to hold it back but it escaped a few days ago! The fifth Chimaera is officially at large. You should find a spoor of it at http://www.the-chimaera.com/.

A swift Shift+Refresh or cache clearance might be needed there, but you're certain to find the actual beast itself at http://www.the-chimaera.com/Feb2009/.

It's bearing up well under the weight of the Light Verse feature (guest-edited by John Whitworth) and the glare of the Spotlight, which is aimed at Australian "formalist" Stephen Edgar — intro. by Clive James, a long interview, lots of poems, and contributions from other prominent persons. In the general section, more poems, two reviews (or is it five?) by Quincy Lehr, an unusual piece of fiction by Michael Sheehan, a review by David Holper of Rose Kelleher's book, and Tim Murphy's interview with Leslie Monsour. Have at it!

The Beast Sloucheth Ever More Near

2009-01-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

Not long now, Monster-Watchers. Your valiant and tireless editors, Sir Peter de Bloxsom and St Paul of the Croissant, fending off the howling gargoyles, gibbering apes and rampant wyverns of Real Life, have been toiling around the sundial, cobbling tag and code, cutting, pasting, tweaking, linking, correcting: labouring to bring the fabulous beast to birth. The Light Chimaera is almost here. Just one or two more sleeps. Or so.

To pass the time meanwhile you will do no better than to swing over to Autumn Sky Poetry and have a good old read. Antonia Clark's 'Lunatic Blues' will knock your socks off. You probably won't even remember The Chimaera after you've read it.

The Chimaera Slouches Closer

2009-01-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

The Fifth Chimaera, its hour almost come round at last, is slouching towards Bethlehem, and should be born fairly soon. Some of the editors have been having insistent reality-engagement issues involving end-of-days scenarios: rivers running with blood, women wailing for their demon lovers, lions prowling at midnight on the High Street, clouds opening to reveal God, new-born puppies with heads like Tony Blair and so forth. We expect these issues to be resolved fairly soon, and The Fifth Chimaera lightly to trip ~~fourth~~ forth when the moon is in the seventh house.

The Chimaera Reports

2008-11-15T01:01:00.000-08:00

A Message From the Chief Monster

Due to the retrograde influence of a mysterious but demanding phenomenon known as 'Real Life', not much work has appeared on the Chimaera/Shit Creek Blog news front. This post is an attempt to catch up on some of that.

From J.J. Steinfeld, Canadian writer whose brilliant flash fiction apppeared in The Chimaera's issues #3 and #4:

"Thought you might be interested in knowing that Chimaera has entered Canadian academe in the form of an essay topic for an English literature course at the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada). Attached are the course outline for "ENGL 1080-06 F08: Reading the Past" and the (May 2008) Chimaera topic from that course. So, some eager Canadian literature students should soon be visiting Chimaera."

I tell you, Lads and Lad-esses, that eventually The Chimaera and the Shit Creek Review will be required reading for every student on the planet! Untold wealth and fabulous fame will flow from these mighty enterprises. Even as I rant, 60,000 New South Welsh students, their teachers, and tutors, as well as the massive educational support industry, are searching for additional texts for the mandatory Year 12 Higher School Certificate Area of Study question on 'Belonging' — and many of them are starting to find The Chimaera's 'Belonging' themed feature from issue #3. Another 60,000 + will do the same thing next year, and the next, until about 2012: many of these will end up at The Chimaera, and find poems or prose relating to Belonging that they can discuss at school and write about in the HSC. There are worse things for writers than finding your way into Senior High and University courses and essays.

Dennis Greene's lovely poem 'One Tree Bridge' was published in SCR #2. Now Dennis tells me that the state officer given the task of updating the signage at One Tree Bridge ( in Western Australia )has written to him, saying that he was searching around on the internet for information and came across'One Tree Bridge' on Shit Creek Review, adding 'I would like to use this poem at the [One Tree Bridge] site as I think it is a great description of the area and alludes to the history which is the major focus of the interpretation.' Who says that poetry has no impact on the real world? Well done, Dennis!

Jack Large has posted nearly 100 short videos of US poets reading on his YouTube (jakvid) channel http://uk.youtube.com/user/jakvid . You may also be interested in looking over the website at www.thetemplebookstore.com. Jack's recommendations for the YouTube foray: Janine Pommy Vega ("Habeas Corpus"); Klyd Watkins, ("Nipple of light"), Charles Potts ("The English Verbs", "Pahsimeroi Eki"), Andy Clausen ("Deconstruction of an erection") and Corrine De Winter ("Heroin poem").

Sally Cook has a poem 'The Face Of Morning' in the June/July 2008 issue of First Things. Seven poems by Sally are now on The Hypertexts. Sally also joins Margaret Menamin, Jared Carter, David W. Landrum, and Joseph S. Salemi on the Featured Poet roster at The Formalist Portal. But there's more! Sally has reviewed The Conservative Poets: A Contemporary Anthology, by William Baer (published by University of Evansville Press (Evansville, Ind.) 192 pp., $20.00 cloth, 2006.) The review, 'Rhyming The Right', appears in the Summer 2008 University Bookman.

More readings on Youtube with Leo Yankevich's White Horse Tavern page: http://uk.youtube.com/user/WhiteHorseTavern, where Leo reads a number of his own poems. Leo edits The New Formalist and other Formalist literary magazines.

Australian poet Peter Nicholson has an very interesting online site at http://peternicholson.com.au/, with poetry, essays and student notes; see also his blog on 3 Quarks Daily.

A reminder for New South Wales poets, especially Novocastrians and those on the Central Coast, that Poetry at the Pub is held at the Northern Star Hotel in Hamilton, normally on the third and fifth Monday of the month (check their website first) — a good chance to drink a schooner or two of ~~Black Ale~~ pure inspirational water from the Muses' fountain.

Paul Hostovsky, who appeared in The Chimaera's Belonging feature in issue #3, has a new book out, Bending the Notes, from Main Street Rag Store.

Kathryn Jacobs, whose work also appeared in issue #3 of The Chimaera, has a book out, Advice Column, with Finishing Line Press (the titles are arranged alphabetically; scroll down to find Kathryn's book).

Juleigh Howard-Hobson, who has been with us since way back, has had a few gigs lately: work in 14 by 14, HawkandWhippoorwill, Soundzine and Bumbershoot Candelabrum, The Road Not Taken Journal of Formal Poetry and PanGaia. Doubtless more, since she told me this back in August!

I've put a lot of news items in here, but may have missed some that people have sent in. I'll have another go very soon: promise! In the meantime, if you are an SCR or Chimaera poet who is sending me an item, it really helps (now that we have a great many authors on board) if you tell me which issue your work appeared in so I can quickly find it and link to it; or better still, send me the actual URL. This would expedite considerably these news relays.

I experience the submission process from both sides of the equation: I receive submissions as an editor, but I also send poems out to editors in hope of publication. Sometimes they are published, more often they are not; sometimes editors are impressively prompt in replying, more often they take 6-12 weeks; depressingly fequently I never hear back from them at all. So, Dear Poets, without whose contributions there would be no Shit Creek Review or Chimaera, what I'm saying is that I know what it feels like to wait and wait. All of us working on both magazines are practising poets: we know the angst. Editors at SCR and TC try hard to move things through quickly, given that they all have day jobs, families, and all sorts of other commitments. And poems have to be emailed to and fro betweeen, and considered by, several editors: this takes time.

Also, with our system of selection there remains the fact that if you submit near the beginning of any particular submission cycle, that is just after the latest issue came out, you are probably going to wait longer than if you submitted late in the cycle, since decisions tend to be made when sufficient submissions have accumulated. So please factor that into your submission-response-freak-out-tolerance quotient. And finally: a percentage of my replies bounce — that is, the submitter's isp or mailbox just refuses to accept them. Unless I have another way of contacting that person (for example through a poetry board's PM facility) there's nowt I can do except feel sorry for the submitter. I always retry several times, but I'm often left with submissions from authors to whom I am unable to reply. I'm sure some replies end up in Spam folders, so if you're keen to hear your submission's fate it pays to check those from time to time. But If your emailer totally bounces my reply, I'm afraid it's Game Over. And the bugger is that you will not realise that this has happened, and think, 'Oh, bloody slack Stevens is probably drinking rounds of Calvados, flirting with poetry groupies, partying around the clock and generally skiving off while totally ignoring my poems!' Not so, alas! Not so!

PS: Rose Kelleher's Bundle o' Tinder is now on sale at Waywiser. Buy it, or we'll position the Shit Creek Corporation peace-keeping nuclear-armed gatling-gun satellite over your house and it will be the worse for you!

South African Poetry Blog

2008-10-25T15:11:00.001-07:00

South African poets seem hard to find on the English-speaking poetry boards and in the ezines. Lots of Merkins, Canuks, Pommies, Aussies and the odd EnZedder, but in my ignorance I just don't seem to stumble across many Seth Efricans. Now here's a cool poetry blog emanating from that direction — Peony Moon. It's run by Michelle McGrane, a smart lady who's given me some great ideas. Peony Moon's worth following — I've put the url into the Links list.

Light Submissions!

2008-10-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

For The Chimaera Issue 5, due out in the second half of January 2009, our Feature Theme will be light verse. John Whitworth (Spotlight Poet in this issue) has agreed to guest-edit the feature. The definition of light verse will be broad rather than narrow. We’ll be looking for well-made poems in a lighter style (see the part of the the Spotlight interview touching on light verse). John will select for the feature from submissions received, which should be sent via our online form (preferred) or by email to the usual editorial address (editor@the-chimaera.com) — not, please, directly to John. And please read our submission guidelines first.

Our Spotlight Poet for Issue 5 will be Stephen Edgar, three of whose poems appear in the current issue. If you have special familiarity with Stephen Edgar’s work and would like to contribute to this feature, please contact the editor.

Issue 5 will also include the usual miscellany of verse and prose in various styles and on various themes. We invite Submissions for this General section as well.

All submissions need to be in by December 1st, 2008.

The Fourth Chimaera

2008-09-26T05:55:00.000-07:00

It's the Fourth Chimaera!

Starring

John Whitworth,

with Mark Allinson, Peter Austin, Anne Bryant-Hamon, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Antonia Clark , Sarah Colona, Maryann Corbett, Corrie Fenner, Sally Festing , Jan Iwaszkiewicz, Margaret Menamin, Timothy Murphy, Henry Quince, Myra Schneider, Janice D. Soderling, John Weston, Christopher Whitby, Gail White, Greta Bolger, J. J. Steinfeld, Alan Brownjohn, Harry Chambers, Wendy Cope, Gregory Dowling, Ann Drysdale, R.S. Gwynn, Richard Broderick, Stephen Edgar, Sally Festing, Howie Good, Taylor Graham, Christopher Hanson, Janet Kenny, Quincy Lehr, Lance Levens, Amy Bell, Julie Wakeman-Linn, Duncan Gillies MacLaurin, David Holper, and Quincy Lehr.

Cameo performances by Les Murray and Roger McGough.

Art by Pat Jones. Blood, sweat and tears by Peter Bloxsom and Paul Stevens.

Better read it now!

Rose, and John, and Joseph, and Poetry at the Pub, and...

2008-08-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Creekish or Chimaeric Reader,

Coming soon! The September Chimaera approaches, carrying poems, stories, reviews and articles in its maw(s) — including a Spotlight Feature on the UK poet John Whitworth. John has published ten books of verse (and a very good book on writing poetry called errmm... Writing Poetry). His poem 'The Examiners', published in The Chimaera, was voted by readers of the Times Literary Supplement to second place in TLS's Foyles Poetry Competition (details here). I love reading John's poetry for all sorts of reasons — not least because it's fun! The ludic element in his verse is extremely vigorous, and exhilarating: this is poetry that you can unashamedly enjoy reading — aloud if possible!

Anyway, read a lovely bunch of new poems by John, as well as an interview with the good fellow, and some of what other poets have to say about him — and a few other little surprises as well.

The September Chimaera will also have a 'Multum in parvo' themed section where writers will attempt to express a greast deal in relatively few words. We're pretty tight-lipped about that. 'Nuff said.

As for the next Shit Creek Review — prepare for weirdness! The normally sane, orderly, clean-minded Shit Creek Review will become strangely psychotic. Bizarre obsessions will run riot in ever-diminishing circles. Implacable compulsions will drive the writers — and the readers — relentlessly on. Compulsive reading indeed: due out sometime in September — provided I ever get my hands clean enough to type it up.

Rose Kelleher is well known to readers of The Chimaera and Shit Creek Review. SCR nominated her 'Mortimer' for the Best of the Net, and Rose, as we reported, won Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize for her forthcoming book, Bundle O' Tinder. This feisty but perfectly formed little book is full of real, live poems, some of which will bite you on the bum! We highly recommend Bundle O' Tinder which is available to pre-order here at Amazon. Rose reviewed Gail White's new book Easy Marks at Quincy Lehr's new blog The Belletrist. The Belletrist, according to Quincy, 'aims to fill something of a lacuna in the reviewing of new work—books on independent publishing houses and chapbooks in particular — from less 'established' writers, as well as to provide at least some coverage of live readings', and the site looks set to fulfil that aim admirably.

Paul Hostovsky contributed some of his work to The Chimaera's 'Belonging' feature, here. Now he too has a book forthcoming: Bending the Notes, available at Main Street Rag Store (towards the bottom of the page). So there goes the rest of your pocket money!

Sally Cook has graced our various online organs several times, with controversial prose and well-turned verse. Not content with such glory, she now has a poem, 'The Face of Morning', in the June/July 2008 issue of First Things. Tim Murphy has a poem in the August/September issue of First Things, as well. But back to Sally: check out her contributions to The Bumbershoot Annual , where you'll find three of Sally Cook's poems: one, 'Artistic Licenses' in the general section, and two parodies (one on Auden's 'The Fall of Rome' the other on Emily Dickinson's 'A Light Exists in Spring') in the Fractured Verse section. I think I recognise some of the other writers there too. Sally's been busy: her poem 'MRI' is in Contemporary Sonnet, and you'll also find work by Sally, and Joseph S. Salemi, and Juleigh Howard-Hobson, and David Anthony — all SCR/TC writers — in Poems for Big Kids.

Speaking of Joseph S. Salemi: his brief essay and three annotated translations from the Roman poet Martial were published in the latest issue of The Barefoot Muse . These are worth a read! — But only if you're not easliy shocked. Another essay on poetic composition ('Bottom's Dream') has just appeared at ShatterColors Literary Review. A pair of matched sonnets by Joseph are in the newest issue (issue #3) of Contemporary Sonnet, and two brand-new sections from his verse satire 'A Gallery of Ethopaths' have been showcased at The HyperTexts website, along with illustrations by the political cartoonist Bob Fisk.

I reside in New South wales, and went to high school in Newcastle. So speaking authoritatively as an ex-Novocastrian, I'd like to recommend one of the very best of our local live poetry venues: Poetry at the Pub, which takes place at The Northern Star Hotel, Beaumont Street, Hamilton in Newcastle, normally on the third and fifth mondays of the month. Recently Stephen Edgar (who will feature as the Spotlighted poet in The Chimaera's January 2009 issue) appeared there, and Michael Collins and David Reiter will be reading there on August 18th and September 29th repectively.

In the Write Light, Spain's hippest creative writing workshop, has ditched the hippy digs for chic boutique. For the October 1st to 5th workshop, they are moving from the campo to the town centre. Participants will enjoy the luxury of local hotel, Pousada Vagamundo. Martina Devlin, the bestselling author and tutor for this workshop will be showing would-be writers how to give their work a commercial edge and get published see their site for details.

SCR/TC will publish this newsletter on its blogs at irregular intervals, and will willingly include poetry news that I deem more or less relevant to our particular vision of poetry (there! I used the 'V' word!). But writing the newsletter up is extremely time-consuming, so be aware that producing it is not at the very top of my list of priorities: it trails behind making a living, trying to be a good family man, doing household chores, editing The Shit Creek Review and The Chimaera, helping select sonnets for 14by14, watching The Sopranos (again!), partying, pursuing mindless pleasure, playing fan-tan, staring absent-mindedly into space — oh, and trying to find time to write my own poetry in the middle of all this. Actually it's a wonder that the bloody newsletter gets published at all!

If you sent me an item of news and I've left it out, it was probably inadvertent. Email me and remind me. You know where.

Cheers!

Paul

Obsession up the Creek

2008-07-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Chimaera's parent magazine, The Shit Creek Review, is calling for submissions for its September issue on the theme of Obsession. Here are the details (wash your hands first):

Obsession: not just a fashion accessory.

Obsession is how you make art, poetry, music, progress. Love.

"Love: the cognitive-affective state characterised by intrusive and obsessive fantasising concerning reciprocity of amorant feelings by the object of the amorance."

(Definition of Love from a psychology textbook)

So get your obsessions to work for The Shit Creek Review, whose theme for Issue #8 is.... well, yes: Obsession.

If you don't do Obsession, try Compulsion. Write poetry compulsively instead. Set free your inner Nutter.

However you get there, write the blooming obsessive-compulsive poems, then, if you can bear ever to part with them, send them to The Shit Creek Review.

Here we are:

http://www.shitcreekreview.com/

Check the Submissions Guideline page for details.

But if Mars Sector 6 has commanded that you don't look at submissions guidelines on alternate Sundays, then send the poems direct to editor@shitcreekreview.com

Chimaeric News

2008-06-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

We're very proud of Angela France, Poetry Editor of our parent zine The Shit Creek Review, who has had an eventful few weeks. She has been appointed to the editorial board of the excellent U.K. poetry magazine iota along with SCR contributor Sonia Hendy-Isaac. The editorial team at iota will be headed by Nigel McLoughlin, who is another contributor to SCR ( here and here) as well as to The Chimaera. Congratulations, Angela, Sonia and Nigel!

Poetry submissions to iota poetry may be made here: http://iotapoetry.co.uk/submissions.htm

iota poetry journal is currently recruiting reviewers. Please send two sample copies of your review writing along with CV to Kate North, Reviews Editor, at: knorth@glos.ac.uk

But there's more! Angela and Sonia have had their poetry collections chosen from over 300 manuscripts submitted to the Bristol-based publishing house, Bluechrome. Angela's collection is provisionally titled Occupation, and Sonia's Flesh.

Anthony Delgrado, director of the press, commented: "Angela France’s work has a real depth of craft, and a lyrical quality to the language... Sonia Hendy-Isaac has a really saleable quality which feeds off the performance tradition but combines it with the literary tradition.”

Angela and Sonia will join a strong list of writers such as Catherine Smith, Matthew Francis, D.M. Thomas, Susan Wicks and James Kirkup, who have all recently signed up with the Bluechrome Press.

More congratulations, Angela and Sonia!

Resident artist Pat Jones, who does such fantastic work in selecting and crafting fresh, lively art to complement the poems published in SCR and The Chimaera, and who has been the soul and guiding light for SCR since its strange inception, has been honoured with a feature on her in the current Avatar Review . Go there and treat yourself to some stunning art, as well as to Pat's enlightening reflections on the artistic process.

Sally Cook, whose work is in the current Masks issue of SCR, has a poem "The Face of Morning" in the June/July
issue of First Things. Her "Advice On The Groundhog" appears in both the online and hard copy version of the recently published Poems For Big Kids. Her poem "A Passion For Fashion", which tied for third place, Limerick Award in Alfred Dorn's recent World Order Of Narrative And Formalist Poets Contest, is to be published in Light Quarterly. Two other of her poems have been accepted by The New Formalist.

Don't miss out on the Spotlight Feature on Alison Brackenbury in The May Chimaera. There's reviews, interviews, and new poems from Alison.

If you are a contributor to SCR or TC we will publish your poetry news here from time to time. Send news items to the editor([at]shitcreekreview.com . We assert our absolute right to decide what we will or will not publish, and particularly wish to avoid material which is political (rather than cultural) in nature. Sometimes we will include news of contributors' publications in other ezines and magazines, but this will be entirely at our discretion. Readers of the SCR and TC Blogs may also leave comments on the Blog sites, though these will be moderated.

The Chimaera and Belonging

2008-06-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Part serpent, part goat, part lioness — the fabulous beast must roam unknown lands, always searching for its like...

The Chimaera has wandered far and brings to you now its 'Belonging' themed issue, exploring notions of both belonging and alienation through a variety of texts: poems, stories and articles that engage with the topic from a variety of perspectives.

As well there is a spotlight feature on English poet Alison Brackenbury, including nine of her new poems, an interview, and a review of her new book Singing in the Dark.

The Chimaera's lair is well-stocked with poetry, reviews and fiction for your enjoyment. Just be careful The Gryphon doesn't see you there!

After you've roamed hither, thither and yon with The Chimaera, leap into a barbed-wire canoe and start paddling upstream to The Shit Creek Review issue #7. The theme is 'Masks', the poetry is hot, the art is enough to make you lose your paddle!

('Sun-Paddle' art by Mark Bulwinkle)

Houston...

2008-05-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

...we have Chimaera!

http://www.the-chimaera.com/

The Chimaera apologises...

2008-05-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

...for this unfortunate delay in the May issue's publication. Hopefully proofs will go out to contributors very soon.

Even the Gryphon is depressed.

Slouching towards Bethlehem

2008-05-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

The May Chimaera, its hour come round at last, will soon be born. It's just a matter of time. It will include a collection of texts—poetry, fiction, critical prose—on the theme of Belonging, and on Belonging's darker twin, Alienation. There will be other poetry, fiction and reviews galore, as well as a special feature on English poet Alison Brackenbury, including an extended interview and some new poetry by her.

Surely The May Chimaera is at hand!

The Chimaera's Poetry News

2008-04-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

The April 14by14 Sonnet zine is out! Sonnetic gems by Anna Evans, Robert Crawford and 12 others. Some of them are wicked! It looks like Peter has nicked the Adirondack chair from the front porch of The Gazebo! Only one poet at a time will be able to sit there now. You've got to keep an eye on these poetry editors.

~~~

Irish-American Poet T. S. Kerrigan whose work will appear in The Chimaera's issue #3 due out in May, will read from his new book, My Dark People in Sanata Monica (USA) on May 10th.

This new volume of verse is 'a profound look at the lessons of a difficult past with the hope for a better and richer future'. X.J. Kennedy, poet and former Poetry Editor of The Paris Review describes My Dark People in the current issue of Chicago's Light Quarterly as a book '[America] sorely needs by one of the finest and most entertaining American poets alive.' Distinguished poet Timothy Murphy has said that in this book 'Kerrigan's tenor has the register of John McCormack. It is a sometimes grave, sometimes hilarious, always profound view of the modern world by a man who has tasted victory and defeat at its highest levels. A master of understatement...'

The poems will be read by Kerrigan himself, an by Thomas MacGreevy (who trained at Dublin's Abbey Theatre) and Michael Cooke (Mulholland Drive, Showgirls). The reading will take place here:

May 10th, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Martin Luther King Auditorium
Santa Monica Main Library
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 458-8600

There is a map here.

My Dark People can be ordered on http://www.centralavepress.com or http://www.kerryrecords.com, or later this month on Amazon.com.

~~~

Joseph S. Salemi's latest essay 'The Witness Revisited: Whittaker Chambers and American Conservatism' has just been published in the Spring 2008 issue of The University Bookman. Joseph's essays and poems have appeared in The Chimaera/II here and here, and in Shit Creek Review here and here.

~~~

David Landrum has had two poems accepted for the fabled Blue Unicorn. David's work has appeared in SCR/II and The Chimaera here and here. He is the editor of Lucid Rhythms, a great little online poetry magazine.

~~~

Quote du jour:

'I’ll clean toilets at Piccadilly Circus but don’t let me come back as a Poetry Editor.'

—Carlol Baldock, Orbis.

Rose Kelleher wins Anthony Hecht Prize!

2008-04-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

Rose Kelleher, a Chimaera/SCR poet, has just won the 2008 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize for her book Bundle o' Tinder, which will be published by Waywiser Press. The competition was judged by Richard Wilbur.

Rose is a poet whose work Shit Creek Review and The Chimaera have always loved to publish. Just two examples:

Sea Monster

Mortimer

Rose's web page may be found here.

Well done, Rose—thoroughly deserved!

Joseph S. Salemi interviewed by Paula Berinstein

2008-03-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Joseph S. Salemi, who has published work in The Chimaera and SCR (here and here), was recently interviewed at length by Paula Berinstein of the Writing Show website on the problems of contemporary poetry. This interview will be of interest to all engaged with poetry, whether they agree with Dr. Salemi's argument or not. 'The State of Poetry Today' interview can be accessed as an audio podcast at http://www.writingshow.com.

Also, one of Salemi's translations of Horace's Odes was a finalist for the latest Willis Barnstone Translation Prize.

Rick Mullin's New Chapbook

2008-03-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Rick Mullin's work has graced the pages of SCR/TC on more than one occasion:

'Amity After the Fire'

'Shrine to Satan' (An SCR Pushcart Prize nomination)

'Still Life with Mackerel'

'Waziristan'

Now Rick has a new chapbook out, Aquinas Flinched, available from Modern Metrics. You'll also find books there by SCR/TC contributors Mark Allinson, Mary Meriam and Quincy Lehr.

+

SCR#7 'Masks' issue deadline is SOON!

March 23rd, 2008, in fact. Crikey! That's ~~next week~~ this Sunday!

Submissions for SCR #7

The Chimaera's 'Belonging' issue deadline is pretty soon too—April Fool's Day.

Grab some vellum, sharpen those quills and start composing!

Submissions for The Belonging Chimaera.

Pat Jones in The Guardian

2008-03-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Pat Jones,the artist/photographer for The Chimaera, is also a very gifted poet. Her poem 'Fog Woman' not only features in The Guardian's poetry workshop for March hosted by David Morley, but a richly evocative phrase from the poem, thick with season, is used as the title for the whole workshop article! Pat is also Shit Creek Review's Resident Artist.

Good on you, Pat!

A Prayer for Sobriety

2008-02-29T14:13:00.000-08:00

«Hart Crane, Wystan Auden, Robert Lowell, Theodore Roethke, Delmore Schwartz, Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Bogan, John Ciardi, Dylan Thomas, James MacAuley, John Berryman: this is only a short list of remarkably talented 20th Century poets who destroyed themselves with alcohol. I am well along my way to doing the same, which is why I am seeking help at St. John’s.

Curiously, none of these gifted writers wrote compellingly of the thing that slowly or suddenly killed them, thus leaving me “open field running” as a football coach might say. As part of the reconciliation with the truth prerequisite to any recovery from alcoholism, I have gathered together my poems of the last decade which bear upon this affliction... »

The Chimaera is honoured to publish these poems, whose import extends far beyond the issue of alcoholism, and addresses the more general human issue of addiction. Tim Murphy's poems on can be found in The Chimaera #2.

Nigel McLoughlin's Dissonances

2008-02-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

Nigel McLoughlin's new book Dissonances is out at bluechrome. Nigel has two poems, Cailleach and Snapshot in the current SCR, as well as translations in The Chimaera.

He'll be reading at these venues:

7pm Thursday 28th February 2008

The Poetry Cafe
Betterton Street
Covent Garden
London

and

Buzzwords at The Exmouth
Bath Road, Cheltenham

Sunday March 2nd 2008
7pm for the workshop
8pm for the Reading.

"...Dissonances is a fiercely ambitious collection which succeeds in creating its atmosphere of unease and voices McLoughlin’s concerns articulately and forcefully."

—Round Table Review.

Pat Jones in the moving pictures

2008-02-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Our own brilliant Pat Jones has one of her inimitable graphics animated by the clever Beau Blue to read a Rachel Dacus poem, 'One Night Light', using Rachel's voice, here. How cool is that! Rachel Dacus was one of the poets who gave great support to SCR in its infancy—and SCR of course went on to spawn The Chimaera.

Check out more of Beau's great poetry animations at Blue's Cruzio Cafe.

Across the Grid of Streets

2008-02-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Quincy Lehr had work in The Expatriate Chimaera as well as in the Proto-Chimaeric II.

Now he has his first full-length poetry collection, Across the Grid of Streets up on amazon.co.uk.

The hardcover edition is here.

The softcover edition is here.

And there's more! For the accompanying chapbook, go here.

The quintessential Quincy! Another glorious triumph to rival his famous victory in a poetry contest sponsored by Tig Neactains Pub Galway, for which he won 300 quid.

Singing in the Dark

2008-02-25T22:53:00.000-08:00

You might remember Alison Brackenbury's poems from The Chimaera #1, as well as 'Out of the Box' from the SCR Horror.

Just released is her new book of verse: Singing in the Dark. Alison's website is here.

The Chimaera received its copy a couple of weeks ago, and it is delighted! Here is a poem from it reprinted in The Guardian.

Highly recommended!

Sound system update

2008-02-20T15:39:00.000-08:00

If you’re among the minority who’ve had trouble playing the sound files in Issue 2 of The Chimaera, please try again. We’ve changed over to a system that should work for more people.

Provided you have Flash V7 or later installed — as the great majority of users now have — you should be able to play the sound files in any modern browser. If you don’t have Flash, you can get it HERE. The file download is quite small (under 2Mb).

Chimaeric Kudos Aplenty!

2008-02-17T11:20:00.000-08:00

Our contributors are a talented lot. Not only did Frank Osen win The Best American Poetry Poem Challenge II, but Sally Cook (also in The Chimaera #1) was awarded the third prize in that competition for her poem "As The Underworld Turns".

But there's more. In Dr. Dorn's 2007 World Order Of Narrative and Formalist Poets Contest, Sally won First Prize in the Gutenberg to Heisenberg category for her poem "Fruit in His Future", Second Prize in the Richard Wilbur category for her poem "Changes", a tie for Second Prize in the Dylan Thomas Award category for her poem "The Flowered Days", and for Third Prize in both the Limerick and the Alfred Dorn Sonnet Award for her poems "A Passion for Fashion" and "Icy Cycle", In addition, she won numerous Honorable Mentions for other poems. Her poem "She Walks, She Talks" won an Honorable mention in the Ben Jonson Award category, and in the the Elizabeth Bishop Award she won an Honorable Mention for her poem "Diana of the Shopping Mall".

Even more: David Landrum won a first place in the WOFP 'From Cellini to Bernini' category for his poem 'Two Davids'; a second place in the June Kraft Memorial Award for 'Garden Menagerie'; a second in the Elizabeth Bishop Award for 'Dirt' as well as four honorable mentions.

Still more: Gail White won the WOFP Herrick competition, and Susan McLean tied for third place in the Felix Stefanile Triadic Sonnet Award for her poem 'Doors'.

And Quincy Lehr won 300 quid from his local pub in Ireland for a 'love' sonnet entitled 'We All Have Our Needs'. Irish pubs have poetry contests? That's better than chook raffles.

Well done, Chimaereans!

SCR6 is afoot

2008-02-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

...or a jar

...or a door—a portal into other universes!

...or an online poetry magazine.

Anyway, SCR, disreputable parent of The Chimaera, has a Travelling Special as its theme for January, 2008. It's now up and running at

http://www.shitcreekreview.com/

Climb on board the little canoe! It's perfectly safe...

Wander amongst the verbal and visual artefacts crafted by

Mark Allinson, C.B. Anderson, David Anthony, Alison Brackenbury, Emily Brink, Patrick Carrington, Antonia Clark, Robert Clawson, Peter H. Desmond, William Doreski, Dennis Greene, Nigel McLoughlin, Tim Murphy, Amy Nawrocki, Cindy Nelson-Nold, Stephen Payne, Thomas Rodes, Peter Wyton, Mark Bulwinkle, Justin Evans, Patricia Wallace Jones, Peter Schwartz, R. K. Sohm, Donald Zirilli, Nigel Holt and Captain Philip Barrie. Lurking somewhere behind the scenes are Peter Bloxsom and Angela France.

The scientific reasons for SCR's January issue coming out in February are explained with amazing clarity here.

The theme for our next issue (May, 2008) will be 'Masks'. You will
find details on our Submissions page. Submissions for the Shit Creek Review May 2008 issue must be received by March 23rd, 2008.

Happy paddling!

Chimaeric Kudos

2008-02-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

Co-editor of The Chimaera, Peter Bloxsom, has been short-listed for the Open Poetry Sonnet Competition, which has a first prize of £1400! Mike Alexander, who contributed to the Proto-Chimaeric II, is also on the short-list. Well done, and Good Luck!

Frank Osen, who contributed to The Chimaera #1, has won The Best American Poetry Poem Challenge II. What an esoteric challenge! What a strong poem!

The Return of The Chimaera

2008-01-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

This time The Chimaera is obsessed with Translation.

Traduttore, Traditore? you ask.

The answer is—Found in Translation!

http://www.the-chimaera.com

But there's general poetry and prose, and a spotlight feature on Tim Murphy's alcoholism poems too: 'A Prayer for Sobriety'.

Poems and prose by L. Ward Abel, Mary Alexandra Agner, Arlene Ang, Neil Carpathios, William Doreski, George Good, Howie Good, Simon Hunt, James Keane, Guy Kettelhack, Don Kimball, David W. Landrum, Ralph La Rosa, Dave McClure, Margaret Menamin, Corey Mesler, Chris O’Carroll, Samuel Prince, Gail White, Peter Wyton, and Donald Zirilli.

Translations by Mark Allinson, Robert Bolick, Antoine Cassar, Catherine Chandler, Debjani Chatterjee, Adam Elgar, B. J. Epstein, Rhina P. Espaillat, Anna Evans, Andrew Frisardi, Susan McLean, Nigel McLoughlin, Chris Mooney-Singh, Aaron Poochigian, Henry Quince, Jennifer Reeser, Wendy Sloan, Janice D. Soderling, Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy.

Lots of high-quality reading in this one. Congratulations to all our authors, especially Dr Debanji Chatterjee, who was awarded an MBE for services to Literature in the Queen's New Year's Honours List.

The Examiners

2008-01-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

John Whitworth's poem 'The Examiners', published in last October's The Chimaera, was placed second in the Times Literary Supplement Foyles poetry competition, judged by readers. 'The Examiners' and other poems by John Whitworth can be found in The Chimaera here:

The Examiners

John's poem 'Not You' was one of TC's Pushcart Nominations:

Not You

And his 'Naughty, Naughty' was a gruesome part of The Shit Creek Horror

John's tenth book of poems Being the Bad Guy is available from Peterloo Poets, here.

The Chimaera's Pushcart Prize Nominations

2007-11-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

These are the poems nominated by The Chimaera for the Pushcart Prize. Congratulations to these poets, and to all those other poets who appear in The Chimaera:

Alison Brackenbury 'In the gap'

Don Kimball 'Prayer for My Father'

Peter Richards 'An Adolescent Contemplates Leaving'

David Rosenthal 'Bechtle’s Alameda Gran Torino, 1974'

Salli Shepherd 'Homesick'

John Whitworth 'Not You'

The poems can be found under their authors' names in the Current Issue here:

http://www.the-chimaera.com/

The Chimaera Lives!

2007-10-07T05:18:00.001-07:00

The Chimaera has arrived. It has crawled out of the primeval sludge of The Shit Creek Review and and now runs on its own four heterogeneous paws, gallivanting across the fields and foothills of Poetry and Prose which border on Mounts Parnassus and Helicon, and around the Lycian Way.

There is more real poetry here than you could shake a lyre at, and vigorous prose discussions too, as well as entertaining true fictions. We have picked what we think is the very best from a huge volume of submissions, and the result is a curious and provocative mix of styles, preoccupations and perspectives. We chose the work that appealed to us most, based entirely on high quality as we saw it.

To give a roll-call of authors in our first issue would be tedious and spoil the fun of exploring for yourself. And there are other mysteries for you to uncover, too: What is the magical Poem of the Day? How does being an Expat relate to being a poet? Who will win the William McGonagall Prize for Chimerical Verse? How can garlic bread be fraught with danger?

So pull on your Corinthian helmet, hop onto your faithful Pegasus and fly on over to http://www.the-chimaera.com to find out for yourself!

And mark you this: The Chimaera's next issue will accept general prose and verse submissions, as well as articles, essays and poems for a Translation special feature. Read the Submissions page for details:

http://www.the-chimaera.com/Submissions.html

Oh, by the way: expect something rather gruesome from The Shit Creek Review's Horror Department soon--very soon.

The Chimaera cometh

2007-10-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Chimaeras, ‘begotten between Feare, and Darknesse, which vanish with the light’ (Cornwallys).

What a Chimaera!

2007-09-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

"What a Chimaera, then, is man! What a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depositary of the truth, cloaca of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe!"

—Blaise Pascal

The Chimaera Runs Loose

2007-09-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

As II sinks beneath the surface of Shit Creek to lurk amidst the murk and possibly surge up again at any moment, a strange, bedraggled creature heaves itself from the waters, crawls up the muddy bank, shakes itself dry with a toss of its three heads, and prepares to gallivant off across the wastelands to terrorise Mount Parnassus.

It is The Chimaera. A terrible beauty is born.

The Chimaera will be an independent literary miscellany which hopes to publish a wide range of serious and satirical verse and prose. The design and content of The Chimaera will be similar to that which characterised II , but will develop in new directions over time. The Chimaera will be published separately from SCR. SCR will primarily focus on its mission of poetry/art/html fusion, but The Chimaera will be more text-based.

There is no set theme for poems or prose submitted to the October issue of The Chimaera: send us your best 1–5 poems, or one or more prose pieces, on whatever topic you like. We are happy to consider both formal verse and vers libre, and humorous, satirical and light verse as well as more serious work. But please read the General Submission Guidelines before sending your submission.

The Chimaera is taking over publication of the range of prose published in The Shit Creek Review (which will focus on poetry), including fiction (stories complete in themselves of up to about 5000 words), critical essays, memoirs, reviews, reports on your local poetry scene, wit and drollery and so on. We are happy to discuss the suitability of your ideas for projected prose pieces prior to submission.

The October issue of The Chimaera will include a special feature on expatriate poets, and submissions of prose, verse or other material relating to that topic are invited as well.

Submissions for The Chimaera's October Issue must be received by Monday, September 17th, 2007. Please read our Submission Guidelines.

Send submitted work to editor@the-chimaera.com

When the first edition of The Chimaera is ready (in October—not yet!) its url will be

http://www.the-chimaera.com

Say the sea is to be questioned. Below the bounds
of this estate the chimaera our madness does not cease to reinvent
and which we dare not think alive, crawls in a thick ooze.

—Carol Frost