BY JOANNA C. VALENTE
Emily Pettit's poem at Boston Review is everything:
"Eva Dean is not holding a gun and eating a hot dog. Eva Dean is not screaming in the shower. Eva Dean is not starring into a broken mirror. Eva Dean is not wearing sunglasses, driving off of a cliff. Eva Dean is not walking along the beach not looking at the camera. Eva Dean does not have a bird on her finger. Eva Dean does not have an apple in her hand. Eva Dean does not want to talk to you or walk with you. Eva Dean walks with headphones and it will only ever be this way."
Sam Dylan Finch on Ravishly: "Listen: I Don't Care If You're A Burden. If You Need Help, Ask For It":
"Because listen: You are too important, too precious, too valuable to sabotage your own well-being because you are afraid of hurting others."
Love spells from Witch Craft Mag:
"Light the pink candles and place and mix them with the yellow ones, mingling the love and communication energies. You got the fire, the water, the air, now prepare the earth element. In your cauldron or other fun mixing pot (a friend of mine uses an upturned seashell) mix the rose petals and rosemary. These symbolize love and loyalty. Additionally, the scent of rosemary enhances memory, so keeping this in your home and maybe carrying some whenever you meet your lover will help him remember why he loves you. As you mix these think about the first time you two met, and what initially drew you together."
Mexico City artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña was interviewed by The Pen Ten:
"We should always try to fight censorship, any form of censorship: governmental, religious, corporate, media, academic. I am more worried about self-censorship. It’s much more insidious and harder to fight. When writers and artists decide not to tackle certain issues because doing it might affect their job, status, or finances, it becomes a real issue. "
Margaret Jacobsen recorded all the racist things people said to her, via Romper:
"The next morning we ate downstairs at the buffet, which is honestly the best part of ANY casino I focused on getting my food and tried to ignore the staring. While serving myself potatoes, one of the women working from behind the counter and called her friend over without even acknowledging me. She yelled, "I think she has the same hair as your mixed daughter!'"
"Review books — any and everywhere: Amazon and Goodreads are great places to leave book reviews.
Book reviews are free to write, easy to post, and so helpful to writers. Reviews help authors get the word out, and the more reviews a book has, the better the amazon ratings. Even a short review can give a marketing boost as well as simply being an easy way to encourage fellow writers."
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (forthcoming 2016, ELJ Publications) & Xenos (forthcoming 2017, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the chief editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Huffington Post, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. She has lead workshops at Brooklyn Poets.