Post 013: Post-Suggestion

julys, suggestions, leos

I. Pre-

I am writing this around 6:30 in the evening, which these days means the sun has not yet set. Rufus is looking out the balcony, which I just stepped into for long enough to feel the lingering humidity of the day. Another month has almost culminated.

This has been a month of sweat, travel, and too-much—highlights included audio description/poetry at Lincoln Center with DJ Who Girl; a un-American exquisites BBQ; two days on Governor’s Island for the NYC Poetry Fest with exquisites and No, Dear; and trips to Philly and the Adirondacks. I hope you’ve been staying hydrated and been able to bask in long-lit nights.

II. Post-Suggestion

I’m thrilled to share my third chaplet as part of the Ghost City Press Summer series was just released! I started suggestion as more profound or more interesting than the thing itself in July of 2018, on the bus home after a date I don’t really remember. It became my first long poem, accumulating over months and eventually years. It holds bits of what started as other poems, scraps from what I’ve heard and overheard over the years. In this poem are tales of first apartments, of doctor’s visits, and of transportation centers. While some of the context of the poem has changed, many of the questions remain—how does one approach the extended form? How does one lend just-enough language to the inexpressible? How do we negotiate the power of our winks and Glissantian opacity with the necessity of directness, particularly in the face of (Zionist, nationalist) double-speak?

The cover features Maquette Drawing (Red Light) (2024) by Bix Archer, who I’ve been grateful to collaborate with for the trio if chaplet covers so far (my first two chaplets are available for free download here and here). The layers of translation and approximation in this and other maquette paintings feel very connected to the poem, as does Bix’s tenderness towards light and the domestic.

[ID: White book cover with Maquette Drawing (Red Light) by Bix Archer in its center. Archer’s paintings of a two story maquette, its front open for us to see a pointed ceiling, a staircase, and two figures enveloped in red light. The photo of the painting is surrounded by the the title, suggestion as more profound or more interesting than the thing itself. ]  

III. (Re)-Post

• I’m reading at exquisite’s annual all-Leo lineup this coming Thursday, August 1st at Art Cafe & Bar in Brooklyn alongside my co-host (and July Leo) Em, as well as the fantastic Kyle Dacuyan, Alicia Mountain, Rena Yehuda Newman, and Parissah Lin. I’ll be reading suggestion…, and some recent poems as well. Join us!

[ID orange and yellow flyer with a smiling, sparking lion and sun. The details and featured readings of the next all-Leo exquisites are shared in a deep purple alongside a few logos and a white exclamation to save the date!]

• I’m thrilled to be supporting No, Dear’s current open chapbook call! Submissions close on July 31st—shoot(ing star) your shot!

  

  [ID: An orange and yellow cosmic graphic exclaiming that no, dear is accepting first chapbooks. the text is yellow and white, except for the center no, dear logo which is black bold text surrounded by lipsticks]

• This Friday, I’m DJing the afterparty for soak, alexa dexa’s new bathtub Zoom opera. More details + free RSVP here!

  

  [ID: Dreamy, wet visuals by alexa dexa for soak, made up of sultry shades of purples and blues]

Leo season forever,

d