Emprise 18

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News | Bezalel Stern, Cezarija Abartis, Fiction, Foust, J. Bradley, J.A. Tyler, Jen Gann, Matt Dennison, Michael Beeman, Nate Pritts, Neil Carpathios, Poetry, Robert Kloss, Salvatore Pane, Sam Bell, Sandy Longhorn, Tres Crow | Leave a comment

Featured: Stillborn by Tres Crow

When the dead started attacking, my wife and I barricaded the house with all the furniture we could find. We put couches against doors, hammered shelves and floorboards across windows, put heavy things against all entrances. It looked like some explosion had blown all the furniture to the walls. The house was empty and turned inside out. Continue reading

Blog | Stillborn, Tres Crow, Undead | 2 Comments

Featured Writer: Sandy Longhorn

Interview & Poetry, February 2, 2011

Sandy Longhorn

What brought you to the writing life?

I suppose I was born to the writing life.  I’m the youngest of three girls, but we were all born very close together, leading me to often want to do things that weren’t quite age appropriate.  While my sisters got to go and do all the ‘big girl’ things, I was left to observe and cultivate a sense of being an outsider looking in.  That identity stuck with me even after I became a ‘big girl’ myself.  Combine that with a love of reading and the writing naturally followed.  Also, without being academically minded, our parents instilled us with a sense of curiosity and the ability to self-educate.  We had a set of the World Book Encyclopedia from the early 70’s and whenever I pestered my mother with a question about this or that, she sent me to the World Books.  I still remember spending endless hours flipping through those crisp pages. Continue reading

Featured Writer, Interviews | 1976, Blood Almanac, Dispatch From The Outpost, Interviews, Poetry, Sandy Longhorn | 1 Comment

Featured Writer: Matt Dennison

Interview and Four Poems, February 1, 2011

Reading a Matt Dennison poem is often like seeing a new star appear in the sky—so much energy and light, even in the darkest pieces. Tell us about the creative process from your point of view.

“I write a little every day, without hope, without despair..”
—Isak Dinesen

One way to begin is to stick your hands in the memory lake, feel around until you touch something gliding past, feel for it again, wait until you have some kind of a grip, then start pulling—some pieces pull straight out, close to being fully formed; others will need a huge amount of straightening once on dry land.  Either way, if it’s covered with music it’s the real thing and a place to begin.

Matt reads Enemy Camp

A lot of these memories don’t want to be caught or brought to the surface, and will fight to stay hidden.  They are not down there waiting, hoping, to be discovered.  But they are down there, and all you can do is hold on until the beast stops struggling and then pull with all your might, day after day.  Sometimes, though, you just have to tie off your line and come back later.  But when you do come back, both you and the creature will have been altered.  It’s a new day, a new battle, and one that is usually winnable to some degree.  Also, if there isn’t the occasional sense of horror at what you find, either you’re not going deep enough or you don’t know where to look. Continue reading

Featured Writer, Interviews | Carl Sandburg, Goethe, Matt Dennison | 13 Comments

Featured: Sky Poem by Nate Pritts

I keep describing the air
…………………………………..here
…………..the same way every time
………………………..to people who know
…………………………………..anyway

you hold it in wet clumps
……………………..hands a constant sheen
…………..of salt & sun

on skin ……………I can’t stop
…………..thinking about your sun
……………………………………………….bright hair

& the way I say everything
……………………………………I’m saying
………………………to you
-

Nate Pritts is the author of four full-length books of poems – most recently Big Bright Sun (BlazeVOX) & The Wonderfull Yeare (Cooper Dillon Books). His fifth book, Sweet Nothing, is forthcoming from Lowbrow Press in late 2011. He is the founder & principal editor of H_NGM_N & H_NGM_N BKS. Find him online at www.natepritts.com.

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Editorial | Nate Pritts, Poem, Sky Poem | 2 Comments