Over at qarrtsiluni, the literary e-zine I help curate, we’ve just lauched a new issue: Insecta. The editors are Ivy Alvarez and Marly Youmans, both writers I got to know by reading their blogs. Their call for submissions welcomes both writing about insects and writing inspired by insects, so I hope the issue will blend straight-up nature writing with some wilder and woolier explorations: J. Henri Fabre meets Karel Capek.
The issue just completed, Making Sense, features some outstanding work. As the editors wrote in their summary,
We got… scales, petals, cloves. The wet insides of living creatures. Jackknives, fishhooks, claws. Days and nights, in one way or another aware and present. People large and immediate; people small in a wide, living space. A sense of beginning and ending and putting to bed…
Rob also wrote about the experience of editing an issue of qarrtsiluni in a recent blog post.
UPDATE: Speaking of insects, be sure to check out the latest issue of the invertebrate blog carnival, Circus of the Spineless, at The Other 95%.
OMG. I love that picture. I absolutely love that picture. I absolutely frickin love that picture.
Me, too. Gorgeous picture, Dave.
Me three.
Thanks! I originally blogged it here.
Dave, you are a far better photographer then poet.
And you are a good poet/writer.
Hint.
Actually, I think my best 3-4 poems are closer to the best poems being written in English today than my best photos are to the average work of any professional nature photographer. I mean, speaking strictly in terms of technical competence. Aside from that, it is a purely subjective (and somewhat apples and oranges) comparison. But if you’re saying I need to get out with my camera more often, I couldn’t disagree. In fact, I’m going out right now, O.K.?
I love the photo too. I’d been thinking I might try and do something for Qarrtsiluni with one of my nice dragonfly pictures, but they’re really ordinary compared with this… so I guess it’s back to the drawing board.
That is the perfect picture for Fabre meets ÄŒapek.
And I say keep doing both pictures and poems! They probably interbreed and fertilize in ways even you don’t understand.
Wondered if this was something you wanted to include:
http://shemorion.deviantart.com/art/Thirsty-67656443
Let me know if you do. I won’t charge a fee, of course, in case you were wondering.
-S