Welcome to the Ephemera Newsletter, gwadenyochi! (Amharic for “friends”).
We thank you for your presence this month. In our second month of publishing poetry, we want to thank all submitters for your lovely work. Particularly, we thank May’s Poet @ Ephemera, Mark Saba.
Speaking of poetry, today is the final day to submit for June. There are still several slots left: we cap submissions to help submitters understand how many submissions are in the pool. We wish you all good things!
Featuring, art from Tony Oursler. Music from LCD Soundsystem. 3 magazines with open calls. 3 awards/prizes from respected institutions. An Interesante article on the best and or greatest fictional deaths across all media. Jobs, book recs, a fantastic poem and some bonus content. Onward!
Merci. Danke. Kiitos. 고마워 Go-ma-wo. Cảm ơn. Xiè xiè.
Ephemera
Dear Readers,
May arrives just as our patience for bone chilling nights, too-large overcoats and parkas wanes. We can take evening walks with a corona of sunset light. We can rise early and turn to our reading and or pens before reaching for a sweater, sweats, and a hat (who knows, some of us keep our places nipping to save gas—maybe one less side hustle and an extra few beats to write), or worse, turning over past snooze. These weeks are for bursting into our practices, working fast and furious, not overly concerned with detail, not too distracted by friends and goings on. Yes, renew if you’ve temporarily lost it. We’ve been told, we’ve lived it ourselves, that pauses and breaks are common. You are what you think and want to be, but, now…here’s the time to spelunk back to where you left off deep in the caves and recesses of your full length, your novel or collection, you project held up. If you’ve been pacing yourself, bravo! Add another hour or two. Don’t let these easy moments pass. Summer wants more of us in terms of adventure, so now, now, now. Plot and plan and unroll and deliver. Our thoughts are wild like so many thistles blooms, dead nettles blushing, lilting bird’s-eye and cat’s ear.
“‘Where’s the record?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not going to answer to you. That’s not how this works. You know what the deal is. I go and make the record. Tough shit. It comes out when it’s done.’”
—James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, Interview with Indiewire
Pace. Development. Honing. It’s ready when it’s ready. Too, we’re ready when we’re ready as artists, as opus producers. Writers, like the best actors, are their own vehicles by which they achieve. We cannot improve our craft independent of who we are as beings, not really. Surely, we can practice textbook requests, problem solve by crowd-sourcing on the internet. Sure we can google a guru, hire an editor (which is quite important despite its location in this line). These are solid ways to make incremental gains. Of course, an editor can provide that last bit of polish, proofread, and or check your wildest bouts or larger narrative ploys. Unless, however, we treat ourselves as the body of work that needs growth and improvement along side our projects or from one to the next, we’ll find it hard to rise beyond our current bests. That’s something to love about writing, the process of getting to become a type of knowing dynamic being, someone who when we were young (maybe some of us are, right now, still teenagers, still college folk) we admired and were in awe of. Writers get to be that project unto themselves and there’s no fixed recipe. Sure, ingredients abound, some might could be said to be essential, but in what combination? We’re learning to enjoy growth en route to finished long-form work. LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy tried for ten years before all of the guff and groaning of a decade settled deep within to tremble out during ad-hoc vocal sessions with panache and a completeness that stems from, well, the process. Keep becoming. Slow or fast or in bursts and pauses. We believe in your arc.
Misigana!
(Gratitude)
~We’re so happy you’re here!~
Poetry by Mark Saba
Conscious
Listen: a raptor’s call
from the trees. It bristles
the blood—a gargled coo
down the spine.In my dreams I have murdered
then buried the soiled body parts.
I awaken smelling blood
as I blow my nose.It’s everywhere: our past.
Somewhere, some one of us—family—
has done this. We carry the memory
in our eyes, unleash instinctunder government orders. I know
I have murdered says the dream.
I know it’s true. Where has my blood
roamed? Sardinia? Mongolia? Lebanon?I smell the past about me, hanging
in the trees, dug under my garden.
Body parts are buried there. I see them
by my ancestors’ eyes.What one of us has done
will find us, one by one.
Writers Submit: Three Magazines
An online and print journal that pays per accepted piece. The magazine has published numerous editions since launching in 2019. They are looking for work in every genre. Deadline August 16
This online & print magazine from Canada has published over 100 editions since 1967. They are seeking work in every genre and feature many prominent and new writers and pay $70 CAD per work. Deadline Rolling
The print edition magazine looks for writing from a diverse background of faiths and ideas, and publishes work in every genre of writing. The magazine has received NEA and other grants. Deadline Rolling
Featured Music: LCD Soundsystem
The fast rising punk-electro-dance act that came out of Brooklyn in the aughts with four albums culminating with a second Grammy win in category in 2010 and their subsequent breakup known as LCD Soundsytem has recently re-materialized. They’ve always been a bit of a paradox, wildly popular, accepted by mainstream gatekeepers and yet somehow indie, somehow retaining their cool-band bona fides. Maybe it’s because they’re unassuming. Maybe they play down their popularity. Maybe breaking up at the height of said recognition was an ultimate punk move. Not debatable is that they’ve produced several gen x and millenial, young-people-ageing thought-dance ballads that so many recognize and like even if they’re not sure who’s behind the song. Probably that track, “Drunk Girls,” typifies the phenomenon. Probably most people have heard, “Daft Punk is Playing at My House.”
LCD Soundsystem currently boasts of six members, though they’ve had at times more or fewer. They’re putative front man, James Murphy, is their most recognizable face and the voice we hear in the tracks, the source of the artful post-punk, sometimes navel-gazing, sometimes Brooklyn-Youth-Culture Philosophizing lyrics. He may be speaking for a generation, or two, if you listen carefully—or so it’s been suggested. Still, the group has many tracks worth liking; you can go into the depths of their albums and find unassuming tracks with great musicality, creative dexterity in the genre. Each album has a couple of poignant, catch-all yet somehow particular and meaningful ostensible anthems where there’s a greater story, some or a lot of dancing, an understated epic-ness as a result of the two aforementioned points of intrigue and possibly other reasons we can’t quite put our thumb on.
“And so it starts
You switch the engine on
We set controls for the heart of the sun
One of the ways that we show our age
And if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up
If the sun comes up and I still don't wanna stagger home
Then it's the memory of our betters
That are keeping us on our feet”
—LCD Soundsystem, lyrics from “All My Friends.”
We’re interested in the intriguingly paced and yet wistful “All My Friends,” for these reasons, for the fitful piano riff that drops immediately and sustains the song, the emotionality throughout. Things are moving, we’re all moving, growing fast; it’s flitting by, bye-bye, buy it or not all of our people and peers are here and gone and we’re playing catch up with them, ourselves, our lives, and it’s all about to be over too soon. Hurry, hurry, dance and listen, enjoy and hold close this and that, whatever you’ve got that you like or might like or might like to like. The lyrics and tone and the in-betweenness of great songs that glue them together and keep us interested might only be possible when discussing a subject matter with the appropriate distance and introspection. Murphy and LCD’s genius is the ability to frame words, tone, instrumentation perfectly to capture a notion with a deft mix of unique sounds, poppy theme, bouncy beats, just enough virtuoso, just enough nuance and chance, newness and homage.
Writers can create boppy work that contains depth but delivers the sentiment with contemporary, relatable style. Pay attention to how LCD Soundsystem structures their tunes, builds a theme and layers that theme with sharp motifs. They’re catchy but not not cloying. We believe this is no accident. Top notch craft work. We can unify movements with a strong, resilient sentiment, fill in with concrete significant details that rhyme in some way, and conclude with epiphanic relish. Let’s also observe, that LCD Soundsystem, at least by measure of Murphy’s age, spent the onset of middle age, 34-44 something, peaking after a somewhat lost decade of exploration and attempts. We love to hear of lessons such as this. Writers, we can mature into our best work.
Recent Interview: Murphy and Indiewire
Submit Poetry to Ephemera
The deadline for June is May 7.
Please explore May’s poet, Mark Saba’s about page w/ biographical info, an artist statement, and chosen poems for this month.
$200 Honorarium / $15 fee / Submit 5-10 poems
120 submissions permitted per call
Appear across 4 or 5 issues
Weekly Artist: Tony Oursler
We need artists of the weird, of the collective unconscious as gleaned through the internet. Tony Oursler has been interested in contemporary mythology and the intersection of technology for decades and he has infused his art with his readings and findings. His art ranges from dioramas, to paintings and collage, to mixed media, to film, sculpture, and amalgams of all. He stays focused on human weirdness, on, some might say, the fringes, and yet his work is widely exhibited and has been included in numerous galleries around the world since 1979. Born in New York City, he took a bachelors from the California Institute of Arts and has been an autodidact and strange-art collector and creator ever since. We thoroughly recommend perusing his website for the plethora of interesting and often odd or jolting works, many of which contend with humanity through the portrayal of distorted faces.
“One thing it’s done is help me to ask: What is the current, agreed upon reality here in America? If you bother to scratch the surface, it turns out that high percentages of people believe in ESP, UFOs, ghosts, and one in three does not believe in evolution. These are important things to know about reality now.”
—Tony Oursler, interview w/ Bomb Magazine 2016
Oursler just closed an exhibition at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in NYC which was titled, “mAcHiNe E.L.F.,” a name derived in part (for those of you not up to date with internet chatter around drug culture and mysticism) from the rumored and so-called elves folks see when tripping on DMT. There’s a strange coherence of disparate people unknown to each other all reportedly seeing the same thing. In any case, Oursler’s trippy exhibition piece, featured above, is a film screened over a psychedelic diorama described as “Dichroic refraction, synthetic polymer, wood, mirror, acrylic paint.” The crystals help render the scene as three dimensional while they also represent this odd movement of far out people who worship them; some believe the crystals heal or have other types of curative and even enhancing powers. The scene is colorful with myriad sounds, nearly song-like, chimes and other effects, and features video of distorted faces and characters, referencing sci-fi themes, transhumanism, technology and A.I. and more.
We love this exhibition for its weirdness. It’s fine, perhaps even advisable, to confront oneself with far-out experiences. Art can provide this safely. This is a type of unassuming hyper novelty; very odd but it feels closer than one might expect, partially because of Oursler’s study of the collective unconscious, particularly as manifest via the internet. Humans are story-telling, myth-creating, religious beings. Without focused effort, without hierarchy, outside of institutions, perhaps this is what we look, and sound, and feel like. Pieces of a lot of partial thoughts, half notions, fleeting fancies, daydreams, nightmares, wants, and projections over the infrastructure of our educated selves. We might do well to peruse the corners, of libraries and Reddits, of amateur art and story-telling…maybe listening to strange folks tell us about themselves is sufficient. Writing wants more weirdness; good writing and the strange are not mutually exclusive. Have at it. Dive deep. Maybe even scare yourself a little.
Interesante: 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths
From: Slate.com
— (5 min scroll/25 study)
“We’ve assembled the 50 greatest fictional deaths of all time—the most moving, most funny, most shocking, most influential scenes from books, movies, TV, theater, video games, and more.”
Given the macabre nature of the last few years, given the Spring/death asynchrony, given the utility of the well or poor-timed death in any narrative (or even poetic) endeavor, the intrigue possessed by media consumers (sex and death sells), we found this list interesting, though, in many ways, supremely arguable. So it goes with “best of all time” lists. There’s gotta be so many literary deaths not acknowledged (no Frankenstein, no Moby Dick, no Julius Caesar, no Wuthering Heights, and on) partially because there are so many harrowing and or important ones. For this article, we’d love to hear from you, oh learned reader: what are your top 5 from any medium? —Read the article.
Prizes/Awards/Stipends Spring ‘23
The Leeway Transformation Award grants unrestricted $15,000 awards to writers & artists living in Philadelphia who are women, trans, and or gender nonconforming who have created significant social change. $15k Grant. No Fee. Deadline May 15.
Max Ritvo Poetry Prize awards $10,000 and publication at Milkweed Editions to a book of poetry. The winning title will be published in cloth and audiobook editions. Judged by Louise Glück. $10k + Pub. $25 fee. Deadline May 31.
Autumn House Press Prizes $1000 & publication for a book in Fiction, Nonfiction, & Poetry. Winners receive a $1,500 travel stipend. Great small indie press with a big rep. Lots of talented authors. $1k (x3) + Pub + $1.5k for travel. $30 Fee. Deadline May 31.
Bookstore: Guides, Gifts & Classics
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Book Rec:
Last Week’s Rec — Artist, Hank Willis Thomas
»»»Remember last week’s letter has urgent deadlines!«««
Thank you for subscribing to Ephemera. We appreciate your support very much. It means a lot to have you as a reader. We look forward to growing the letter and bringing you new content and conversation along side our staples. Let us know if you have any ideas on how we can improve.
~~~Sinibiti~~~
(Farewell)
**Bonus Section**
Select Job Postings
Adams County: Poet Residency. 2yr post. Publications Req. $40k. Adams, CO.
GW U: Postdoc & PostMFAFellow. 2yr post. MFA/PhD. FT. ~$480k. Wash, DC.
Fort Hays State U.: Instructor Eng Comp. 2 yrs Exp. FT. MFA/MA. Henan, China.
Ephemera Programs
Poetry at Ephemera:
The Write-In:
New deadline May 14 for the first round. We all need more time to read and write, find new books, and publishers. In that pursuit, we’re hosting The Write-In Residency. The Write In Residency will sponsor 2 individuals, where each winner is gifted a curated package of 10 new books in multiple literary genres each from a different independent publisher, a Moleskin & pen, and a $300 award to upgrade their writing nook or home office. It’s a staycation for the bookish!