Poems in [Slippage]

[Slippage] magazine[Slippage] is a brand-new magazine devoted to “the confluence of science and art.” I have three poems in the first issue: “Dutchman’s Breeches,” “Kissing Bug” and “Siphonophore.” All three originally appeared at Via Negativa, but much to their credit, the editors do consider work that has been posted to a writer’s or artist’s own blog.

I was also pleased to find myself in some very good company, alongside poets such as Robin Chapman, Bill Knott, William Doreski and Jessamyn Smyth. Check it out. I think their mission to bridge the gap between the the arts and science is an important one.

Twelve Simple Songs, a new, free chapbook of photos and poetry, available in multiple formats

Twelve Simple Songs is a short cycle of poems in dialogue with photographs about an intercontinental love affair. It started as a Valentine’s Day gift for my girlfriend Rachel, a one-off print publication through Snapfish, but then I decided to make it available as free PDF and MP3 downloads, uploaded it to the ebook reader service Issuu, and enough readers at Via Negativa expressed interest in a print version that I set up an account with Peecho.com for print-on-demand, too, where you can get it in any of three formats (magazine, glossy paperback and hardcover). Meanwhile, in accordance with my decision to keep it in the gift economy, my friends Nic Sebastian and Marc Neys (a.k.a. Swoon) surprised me with a lovely videopoem, and Rachel pulled together an iBook incorporating text, photos, my readings, and the videopom. I’ve set up a permanent page for the chapbook where you can access all these versions: https://davebonta.com/twelve-simple-songs/.

“New ice” at tinywords

I have a photo up at one of my favorite online magazines, tinywords. The editors chose it as an interim feature between issues, a visual writing prompt for fans of the site:

While we are assembling the next issue, tinywords invites you to get inspired by Dave Bonta’s beautiful photograph above. Add your short poems inspired by his image “new ice” to our comment box below.

Thank you for lending your voices. And thanks to Dave for lending his photo. We will consider the best of the best for possible inclusion in tinywords 13.1.

Happy New Year!

Please stop by and contribute a poem to the growing collection. I wrote my own haiku in response to the photo back in January 2008 at Woodrat Photohaiku:

bone-white sticks
trapped in the cross-hatch foliage
new blue ice

New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan

I have a brief essay about bento boxes in the new anthology New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan, available in paperback (Amazon link) and for the Kindle. That’s not the main reason to get it though. Think of it instead as a donation to the Japanese Red Cross to support survivors of the 2011 tsunami, for which you get a free book. None of the editors, authors, or illustrators make a penny for this, and neither does the Aussie publisher. It’s a beautiful book with a great diversity of contributions — a feel-good gift for all the readers on your Christmas list. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan is an anthology of stories, flash fiction, poems, haibun, haiku and artwork and photography donated by over 60 creators from all over the world to support those in Japan still affected by the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake. All monies go the Japanese Red Cross.

This anthology was prepared by an international team of volunteers and includes the donation of a poem in German with English translation by award-winning Austrian poet and writer, Friederike Mayröcker.

Greg Mc Queen, founder of 100 Stories for Haiti and 50 Stories for Pakistan says this:

“You’re holding a book that beat the odds. A book made from determination. From compassion. And by holding it – buying it – reading it – telling others about it – you stand with the writers and artists who created it: ordinary people who watched the lives of strangers destroyed and decided that they needed to help.”

Celebrate with us Japan and its people.