great weather for MEDIA is delighted to announce our nominations for the next Pushcart Prize – Best of the Small Presses Series.
These nominations are for work published in 2017 and were chosen from our anthology The Other Side of Violet and the poetry collection Surge by Michelle Whittaker.
MELISSA HUNTER GURNEY- Eating Shadows
CAROL GUESS - Ten Perspectives on a Smoking Gun
ISA GUZMAN - Ars Poetica
YUKO OTOMO - from Color(s) of THE DAY
PEGGY ROBLES-ALVARADO - Swelter
MICHELLE WHITTAKER - In the Afterlife
Want a taster? Here are the first few lines...
“When we are hungry we eat our shadows. When I’m hungry I think about Titi and Guayaba. They were with me when I lived in Venezuela and they continue to be with me now. ”
“I want to be the dangerous thing, but I’m safe as stealing from myself. Never-ending birds fly south. We’re best west, my dog and me. We veer toward water because we’re mostly blue. Crash on every pointed thing. I knew the stain on the pillow was lipstick. I pretended the stain on the pillow was blood. ”
“The poem cannot be dictated or lived by fiscal control boards.
No, the poem is the hard stop of timelines that seek
the everything happening on the inside, robbing words
from a space called sombra. ”
“The first color I was drawn in by amongst all those colors of the phenomenal world of Paris as we arrived was naturally & very appropriately, “GREY.” “Paris Grey!” S & I simultaneously uttered. As light shimmered through variations of grey layered by ever-changing cloud formations, the city welcomed us back with the grey(s) all those painters had painted throughout history.”
“Six months pregnant, my
mother, right leg: an engorged
eggplant pressing the foot
pedal, withering under pounds
of lace piece work, beaded
appliqué, plastic rose buttons,
threading needles, MADE IN
THE USA tags 13 hour shift
doors chained shut to ensure
productivity, ”
“What comes to mind is Kurt.
He’s the first thought rather than lost,
and I imagine his mother godmothering
at his grave, reimagining his austere earth
closed, and then what comes to mind spasms
like the cramp of a charley horse tasking for the heart ”
Congratulations to all our nominees and good luck! It was so hard choosing just six out of the immensely talented writers we have published this year.
Remember we are currently accepting submissions for our next collection, so send us your fearless best. Deadline January 15 2018. Be sure to check out all our books. We look forward to reading your work.