SPECIAL AMERICA (Claire Donato & Jeff T. Johnson) is a multi-media performance extravaganza.
T Clutch Fleischmann is the author of Syzygy, Beauty: An Essay. A Nonfiction Editor at DIAGRAM, they live in rural Tennessee.
Nora Wendl seeks to re-define architecture: what its built forms and its histories are, and what they could be. Her works exist on a spectrum between the written artifact and the built artifact, aligning architecture and its histories with the adjacent fields of fiction, poetry, contemporary art and literature. She is co-editor of Contemporary Art about Architecture: A Strange Utility (Ashgate, 2013). Her research has been featured in publications including 306090, Journal of Architectural Education, Invisible City, On Site, and Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, and various architectural and literary conferences, festivals and exhibition venues. She teaches architecture in Portland, Oregon.
Danniel Schoonebeek’s first book of poems, American Barricade, is out now from YesYes Books. A chapbook, Family Album, is also available from Poor Claudia. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry, Tin House, Boston Review, Fence, BOMB, Indiana Review, Guernica, jubilat, Gulf Coast, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. He writes a column on poetry for The American Reader, hosts the Hatchet Job reading series, and edits the PEN Poetry Series.
Dec. 3: Kopel // Weiss // Hosea // Bennett
Ben Kopel recently moved to New York by way of New Orleans. He is the author of Because We Must (Brave Men Press), VICTORY (H_NGM_N Books), and the co-author of Shut Up & Bloom (iO Books). He is currently working on his next collection, possibly titled Sutras of Love & Hate.
Marina Weiss is the poetry editor of the magazine formerly known as Explosion-Proof, and her poetry is published or forthcoming in Tin House, Narrative, Canteen, Paper Darts, Painted Bride Quarterly, dislocate, and elsewhere.
Chris Hosea is the author of the poetry collection PUT YOUR HANDS IN, forthcoming in March 2014 from Louisiana State University Press. John Ashbery chose Hosea for the 2013 Walt Whitman Award. Ashbery says: “Chris Hosea’s Put Your Hands In…somehow subsumes derision and erotic energy and comes out on top. Maybe that’s because ‘poetry is the cruelest month,’ as he says, correcting T.S. Eliot. Transfixed in mid-paroxysm, the poems also remind us of Samuel Beckett’s line (in Watt): ‘The pain not yet pleasure, the pleasure not yet pain.’ One feels plunged in a wave of happening that is about to crest.”
Rachel J. Bennett grew up on the Illinois-Iowa border. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in journals including elimae, inter|rupture, Permafrost, Similar:Peaks::, Sixth Finch, The Portland Review, Salt Hill Journal, Toad, and Verse Daily. They’ve won awards through Bayou Magazine, Smartish Pace, and Ruminate. She calls Bushwick home.
Oct. 29: Ben Fama//Iris Cushing//Joseph Bradshaw//Lily Goderstad
Dead Famous‘s lyrics have been described as “dramatic, bleak, funny vignettes about doomed relationships, lonely nightclubs, the burden of the past and the prison of the home.” Fama is also noted for his unusual baritone vocal style (though he sometimes uses falsetto), his quiff haircut and his dynamic live performances. Media controversies have been caused by his forthright and often contrarian opinions, and he has also attracted media attention for his advocacy of vegetarianism and animal rights.
Eyeless Cushing (August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Cushing’s amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar. Perhaps Cushing’s most famous trick was her ability to repeatedly split a playing card, edge-on, and put several more holes in it before it could touch the ground, while using a .22 caliber rifle, at 90 feet.
Joseph Bloody Hacksaw (April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Bradshaw identified 25 new species.
Lily God-is-dead ( July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American aviation pioneer and author. Goderstad was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this record. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. Goderstad joined the faculty of the Purdue University aviation department in 1935 as a visiting faculty member to counsel women on careers and help inspire others with her love for aviation. She was also a member of the National Woman’s Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Sept. 24: Teicher//Languell//McClure//White//Lambert
Craig Morgan Teicher is the author of three books, most recently To Keep Love Blurry (BOA, 2012) and the forthcoming chapbook Ambivalence and Other Conundrums. His prose appears widely, he works at Publishers Weekly, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and children.
Krystal Languell is a member of the Belladonna* Collaborative and edits the journal Bone Bouquet. She is the author of Call the Catastrophists (BlazeVox, 2011) and her work has appeared in esque, La Fovea, DIAGRAM and elsewhere. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute and a 2013 Emerge Surface Be fellow at The Poetry Project.
Monica McClure studied fiction, poetry, art history and literary theory at DePauw University and earned her MFA in Poetry from New York University. Her chapbooks Mood Swing and Petocha/Chiflada are forthcoming from Snacks Press Inc. and #wtfislongsdrugspress, respectively. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Los Angeles Review, Lit Review, Lambda Literary Review’s Spotlight Series, The Awl, Spork Press and elsewhere. She has taught writing at Bank Street College of Education, Bloomfield College and ASA College. With Brenda Shaughnessy, she is currently editing an anthology, Both and Neither: Biracial American Writers. She curates the Atlas Reading Series and lives in Crown Heights.
Jared White is the author of three poetry chapbooks: My Former Politics (H-NGM-N, Aug 2013), This Is What It Is Like to Be Loved by Me (Bloof, Feb 2013) and Yellowcake (Cannibal, 2009). Jared co-owns a small press bookstore, Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop, and is the father of a baby named Roman Field White.
Ashleigh Lambert is the author of the chapbook Ambivalent Amphibians, now available from Dancing Girl Press. Her poems can also be found in Anti-, Bone Bouquet, Redivider, and Sink Review. Ashleigh was formerly an editor of InDigest magazine and co-host of the 1207 reading series.
Mental Marginalia’s 2th Annibirthdary Party
MENTAL MARGINALIA, literary NYC’s drunk uncle, turns two this month. To celebrate we’re bringing back a few of our favorite poets and we’ll also have some poorly-thought out crowd-participatory activities. There’s no way anything could go wrong.
Two-year-olds use their motor skills to explore the creative arts. They make sounds by banging and shaking instruments and household items. They enjoy dancing upon request, doing finger plays and acting out chants and songs. Children this age are also gaining control over their voices and will join in singing the refrains of their favorite songs. With art, they enjoy the sensory pleasures of the art materials and focus on the process of creating art, rather than the final product.
The Readers!:
Marina Blitshteyn enjoys using her senses and motor skills to explore the world and is highly curious about unfamiliar objects, events and phenomena. She can solve simple problems with the “trial and error” method and will practice an activity many times to master it. Marina also pretends more during play, using familiar objects and situations to process her daily experiences.
As Russell Dillon plays and completes his daily routines, he learns important math skills. He can use a toy to represent another object, recognize patterns with daily activities, and understand concepts of time like, “tomorrow” and “yesterday.” Russell is just beginning to use logical reasoning to solve everyday problems. He can sort shapes, complete puzzles with eight pieces or less, and stack a set of rings on a peg by size. Russell also understands addition and subtraction with the numbers “one” and “two.”
Physically, Chris Slaughter explores all the ways to travel from here to there, including rolling, crawling, creeping, walking, running, jumping, and climbing. He can also kick a small ball forward, catch a rolled ball, and throw a ball overhand (but with little accuracy). Chris loves finger play activities (e.g., “The Itsy, Bitsy, Spider”), pounding and squeezing clay, shaking rhythm instruments, and scribbling. He can turn doorknobs and unscrew lids and has improved his skills using eating utensils.
Katie Byrum‘s blossoming language skills prompt many “why,” “what” and “how” questions. During the year, Katie has picked up most parts of speech to form more complete sentences. She can understand and say hundreds of words, but familiar adults may need to “translate” for others due to immature pronunciation skills. Katie also understands simple directions and many common phrases used in routine situations.
July 30: the BIRDS, LLC. fam up in the cage
We’ve got a special night planned with our feathery friends at Birds, LLC. 
TOMORROW: Mental Marginalia @ NYC Poetry Fest
Sunday, July 28th, we’ll be out on Governor’s Island for the 3rd annual NYC Poetry Festival. We’ll be at the Chumley’s stage around 3ish pm with four of our favorite poets:
Katie Byrum
Francesco Grisanzio
Lauren Hunter
Matthew Yeager
June 25th: Bibbins//Brandt//Smith//Wray
Mark Bibbins‘s third book of poems, They Don’t Kill You Because They’re Hungry, They Kill You Because They’re Full, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press in 2014.
Emily Brandt edits No, Dear magazine and teaches at a public high school in Brooklyn. She earned her MFA from New York University where she was awarded a fellowship to teach Creative Writing to veterans of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her poems have recently appeared in Epiphany, Berkeley Poetry Review, Lyre Lyre, and Jellyfish. This summer she will be in residency at Saltonstall.
Pat Smith is a poet and playwright. His play Driving Around the House has been produced around the U.S. and is published by New Rivers Press. Recent poems have been published in Psychic Meatloaf, Haggard and Halloo, Apeiron Journal, The Bakery, The Brooklyner and Eclectica. Pat used to edit Time magazine’s letters column. He’s currently a communications director for the CUNY teacher’s union. His poetry blog is Not in the News Today and you can follow him on Twitter @thatpatsmith.
Alanna Wray is a freelance set stylist assistant for films and photo shoots. She received her MFA from Hunter College and has poems in journals and so forth. Writing personal bios makes her itchy, so she tries at all cost to avoid it.
May 28th: Doyle//Gaughan//Clark-Wessel//Lobko
r. erica doyle was born in Brooklyn to Trinidadian immigrant parents, and has lived in Washington, DC, Farmington, Connecticut and La Marsa, Tunisia. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Poetry, Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Gay and Lesbian Writing from the Antilles, and Gumbo: A Celebration of African American Writing. Her poetry and fiction appear in various journals, including Ploughshares, Callaloo, Bloom and Sinister Wisdom.
Her articles and reviews have appeared in Ms. Magazine, Black Issues Book Review and on the Best American Poetry and Futurepoem blogs. She has received grants and awards from the Hurston/Wright Foundation, the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Humanities Council of DC and Poets and Writers, and she was a New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellow. Erica is also a fellow of Cave Canem: A Workshop and Retreat for Black Writers.
Patrick Gaughan’s poems and writings have been featured in BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, MOMA, PEN America, Everyday Genius, The Atlas Review, Coldfront, and others. He works for jubilat, and with Avram Kline, he curates PeopleHerd’s Readings at Milk&Roses.
Elizabeth Clark-Wessel‘s poems and translations have appeared in DIAGRAM, A Public Space, Guernica, Sixth Finch, Asymptote, Lana Turner Journal, and The Laurel Review, among others. Dana Levin chose her manuscript Whither Weather (GreenTower Press, 2012) for the Midwest Chapbook Series. She is a founding editor of Argos Books and co-editor of Circumference: Poetry in Translation. She lives in Brooklyn where she works as a translator.
W. M. Lobko’s poems, interviews, & reviews have appeared in journals such as Hunger Mountain, Kenyon Review, & The Paris-American. Current work appears in Seneca Review & The Literary Review, & new work is forthcoming from Boston Review. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, & was a semi-finalist for the 92Y / Boston Review “Discovery” Prize. He is a Founding Editor of TUBA, a new review of poetry & art. He studied at the University of Oregon & currently teaches in New York.
April 30: Paty//Roldán//Vigilla//Lovell
Allyson Paty [pronounced PAY-tee] is the author of The Further Away, a chapbook published by [sic] Press in 2012. Her poems can be found in Tin House, Best New Poets 2012, DIAGRAM, Handsome and elsewhere. She is co-founding editor of Singing Saw Press, a fine art and poetry publisher.
Camilo Roldán is a poet and translator living in Brooklyn, NY. He co-curates the Triptych Reading Series, is editor-in-chief for DIEZ and is the author of a chapbook, Amílkar U., Nadaísta in Translation (These Signals Press 2011).
Hubert Vigilla is writer living in Brooklyn, which makes him completely indistinguishable from four-fifths of people living in Brooklyn. He’s the News Editor and resident snob at the movie blog Flixist.com. He’s currently working on a novel, a short story collection, and a book-length essay on the film This is Spinal Tap.
Jaclyn Lovell teaches writing in the English Language Studies department at The New School. From Wisconsin, she currently lives in Brooklyn and is Editor in Chief at LIT. She’ll dance and sing for you on request.
MENTAL MARGINALIA 