Ephemera Newsletter Iss May.4
(Creativity and Motivation Weekly)
Welcome to the Ephemera Newsletter, Pheuon! (Lao for “friends”)
A fourth and final expedited issue basking in the poetry of Robert McBrearty, Ephemera’s poet for the month of May! If you haven’t yet, please check out his artist statement and bio on this dedicated post. We thank you for your presence.
On to our standard content matters: Won’t you please check out last week’s issue if you missed it.
PLEASE REVIEW OUR SPONSOR!
After being sent a copy, we were intrigued and entertained by this book and agreed to promote the work in the newsletter. Anyone who’s ever read a play by Shakespeare and wondered about the pseudonym will be immediately gratified by the introductory and parting notes to the reader that more formally access the who and why of the novel, addressing the politics of Shakespeare’s identity as well as the evidence. In the end—and we’ll let you read it—the author’s conclusion (pen name deployed in apropos fashion) fascinated us. And the novel as well. The notes and novel work together like a Pale Fire—as in they inform each other, though in The Which of Shakespeare’s Why the notes are indeed separate and not a part of the fiction, are meant as non-fiction, essays by the pseudonymous author who apparently serves in academia somewhere. We hope you’ll take a look for yourselves.
From the publisher:
The controversy over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays has been around almost since they were written. Was the genius behind the plays really that obscure glover’s son from Stratford? Or was it someone else entirely—a man whose class, background, education, and peculiarities make him a more than plausible candidate?
In The Which of Shakespeare’s Why, a 21st-century playwright named Harry Haines makes the case for a major contender via a play he himself is writing for a struggling New Jersey theatre company. Faced with strong disapproval from the “Stratfordites” and with the backing of supporters that sometimes takes some unusual forms, Harry attempts, against great odds, to get the play written and staged.
In the process he has to overcome his own doubts, stay on the right side of the right people, keep his romantic life under control, and deal with not only a difficult actress or two but a flock of opinionated Rockettes. Part hilarious farce, part serious critical examination, The Which of Shakespeare’s Why provides a thought-provoking look at a controversial puzzle with a surprising, ingenious, and wholly satisfying ending that Shakespeare—whoever he was—would have given a standing ovation.
In Brief…this week’s features:
Briefly: quick thoughts on Tara De Lempicka’s art.
Listening to Bobbing, California chill-rock artist and his song “Johnny Bravo.”
May’s poet, Robert McBrearty and his fourth of four poems, “The Incessant Barking of My Dog.”
Our weekly lists:
3 magazines with open calls
3 awards/prizes
3 recent job listings for editors and writers.
SPONSOR: From Simon & Schuster publishers, The Which of Shakespeare’s Why, a novel about a playwright who attempts to answer the question of Shakespeare’s true identity while putting on a play of his own under immense pressure from funders and performers alike.
More ephemera:
Merci. Danke. Kiitos. 고마워 Go-ma-wo. Cảm ơn. Xiè xiè.
Ephemera
Dear Readers,
Quickly! Quickly now. We’re traveling again and are here to offer a briefer letter than the usual this final, albeit late, addition to our May collection. We spent a few days in New York City cavorting with artists and magazine peoples, milling about an afternoon at an artist’s home studio—which we’ll be discussing soon—visiting one of our favorite locations north of NYC in Beacon, NY: DIA Beacon—also coming soon. This weekend, we’ll be at an opening in the Berkshires at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens, a curious location for an exhibition which we’re entirely down for, novelty and weirdness of things being useful. We have a few more stops and visits to make all in effort to bring our readers some refreshed and new ideas and happenstances. We’re taking our own advice and getting into excursions to start the Summer off well. Also, when the writing bug misses us for a time, when we have ye olde block, when our creative energy feels a bit dull, as we like to say, we move out of our space into the world and get uncomfortable. Inspiration in new art, old art seen anew, discussions and refreshed thought-spaces contingent upon new vapors, new airs, new essences.
We bid you take these next few weeks, longer if you need, to get out of your groove if you’ve found yourself a little stale. Movement is key. Exercise, for sure, but certainly moving about outside of even if only adjacent to your normal track. Art anew. Read anew. Meet new folks or revisit known people with an eye toward newing the encounter—that’s always fun. (Ode to those friends that roll with the oddly thrown punches you may send their way once in a while, those friends who bob and weave with you just as you intend, a game of sorts, your standard interaction always available to be had and respected for its constancy and mutualism). Friends! Writers need those. Don’t lose sight of your pals, even when chained to your desk, even when interruptions threaten your awesome thought on the verge expression. Summers, we dare say, are for being open and welcoming distraction—particularly and maybe even only if you’ve established a routine of capturing your experiences while also living them fully, wildly, having figured how to defamiliarize, re-see, note and connect, fluidly, all in one without breaking. Be everything you can to the fullest reaches of what being you might allow. Push for more. We’re solar flaring until next time.
Khuaam ka tan nyu!
(Gratitude)
Poetry by Robert McBrearty
The Incessant Barking of My Dog Something has killed my imagination, perhaps this house this neighborhood. I will speak to the neighbors and ask if their imaginations have been killed too. Maybe it’s my dog, the incessant barking. I have a yard with a garden. Maybe I could sit in the garden and listen to the bees instead of the barking, the incessant barking of my dog.
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Featured Music: Bobbing
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