Volume 09, Chapter 03 | January 2022

Posted on by

Image by Dee Mulrooney
Dear writers, readers and friends,

We made it! Another year over, a new one begins, and to celebrate we present our first issue of Visual Verse for 2022. This one comes with a large dose of gratitude. After another challenging year we are ever more grateful to you, our community of readers and writers, for continuing to deliver exciting, challenging work. This past November were were especially floored by your responses to our inaugural writing competition. Thank you for helping us build our unique publication, woven together with your voices and ideas.

We have been thinking and talking about the vocabulary around beauty and joy. Our editorial team recently had an illuminating discussion about how much easier it is to access vocabulary around pain and suffering than vocabulary around beauty and hope. A common misconception is that a poem needs to mine the darkness to be truly moving. But joy can move us just as powerfully. We need to work a little harder to find the words but the words are there. So, how about this: for your January submission, challenge yourself to explore the vocabulary around beauty, joy, hope and/or optimism. Help us create an issue full of words that will lift us up and carry us into 2022 with a skip in our step.

To inspire you, some of our team have shared the writing that bring them joy:

Lucie Stevens, our Sydney-based Deputy Editor, recommends Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself’, specifically section 46: https://poets.org/poem/song-myself-46. She says “It’s an oldie, but a goodie, and one I return to often.”

Isabel Brooks, our UK-based Deputy Editor, has four joyful poems to share:
“Hope” is the Thing with Feathers (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314) by Emily Dickinson
My Heart (https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion/my-heart) by Frank O’Hara
Still I Rise (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise) by Maya Angelou
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58762/catalog-of-unabashed-gratitude) by Ross Gay

And Jordan Fleming, our NYC-based editorial assistant, recommends some longer reads: Resignation by Nikki Giovanni, Walking Our Boundaries by Audre Lorde, The Perfect Ease of Grain by Toni Morrison and Le sporting-club de Monte Carlo (For Lena Horne) by James Baldwin.

So now, without further ado: this issue invites you to respond to a magnificent, layered image by Berlin-based Irish artist Dee Mulrooney (http://deirdre-mulrooney.com/) . Dee’s work is peppered with little whispers of ancestors, folklore and femininity. Take your time with it as there is much to see.

Launching us into the new year is a reflection on friendship by Allie Coker (https://www.facebook.com/alliecokerauthor) . Allie holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Queens University of Charlotte. She has taught creative writing courses and also worked as an editor. Her second book, a novella titled The Last Resort (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-resort-allie-coker/1138584134) , was published in January 2021. She was selected for a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts residency, as well as a Wildacres residency. She is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network and shares a home with her two rescued hairballs, Bob and Queen, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

On page 2, Yen Ooi (https://www.yenooi.com/) invites you to relax. Yen is a writer-editor-researcher who explores East and Southeast Asian culture, identity and values. Her projects aim to cultivate cultural engagement in our modern, technology-driven lives. She is a PhD candidate at Royal Holloway, University of London looking at the development of Chinese science fiction by diaspora writers and writers from Chinese-speaking nations. Yen is narrative director and writer on Road to Guangdong (https://shop.excalibur-games.com/products/road-to-guangdong) , a narrative-style driving game. She is author of Sun: Queens of Earth (novel) and A Suspicious Collection of Short Stories and Poetry (collection). She is also co-editor of Ab Terra, Brain Mill Press’s science fiction imprint. When she’s not got her head in a book, she lectures, mentors and plays the viola. Her latest book, Rén: The Ancient Chinese Art of Finding Peace and Fulfilment
(https://uk.bookshop.org/books/ren-the-ancient-chinese-art-of-finding-fulfilment-through-the-world-around-you/9781787398221?aid=7145) will be available in February 2022.

Page 3 offers a thought-provoking piece by Simon Costello (https://twitter.com/simoncostello13 ) . Simon’s poems have appeared in bath magg, The Stinging Fly, The Rialto, Magma and The Irish Times. In 2021, he won The Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition and was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. He lives in Co. Offaly, Ireland.

And now, dear writers, it’s over to you. We look forward to seeing what our January image and bonus writing challenge inspire.

Just a reminder to both long-term contributors and new members of the fold: write 50-500 words in one hour, responding to the image. Please only submit one piece per month. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we will only review your first submissions each month. All subsequent submissions are removed from our system, so make sure the piece you submit is the one you want us to consider.
And don’t forget to submit by the closing date and time. Submissions close midnight (UK time) on January 15th. You can find our full submission guidelines here (https://visualverse.org/submission-guidelines/) . Good luck and happy writing!

The image is the starting point, the rest is up to you.

With love and new year wishes from the VV team.

Kristen, Lucie, Preti, Isabel, Tam, Nahda, Jordan, Aimee and Anna.
Follow us on Twitter

@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
@ (https://twitter.com/yenooi ) yenooi (https://twitter.com/yenooi )
@simoncostello13 (https://twitter.com/simoncostello13)

Follow us on Instagram
@visualverseanthology (https://www.instagram.com/visualverseanthology/)
@lady_literateur (https://www.instagram.com/lady_literateur/?hl=en)
@deemulrooney (https://www.instagram.com/deemulrooney/?hl=en)

Volume 06, Chapter 10 | August 2019

Posted on by

Image by Jakob Owens

Dear writers, readers and friends,

Welcome to August. In a time of great weirdness – in the climate, in politics and all of the rest – this is the month to stretch beyond the borders of language and reality towards some other future. And here it is – we bestow upon you this little piggy, along with a bumper summer selection of writing from the finest poets, fictionists and translators we could gather.

Our wonderful, surreal image prompt is brought to you by photographer and filmmaker Jakob Owens, who you can follow on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jakobowens/?hl=en) .

This month’s writing lifts off with a wonderful piece by Michael Donkor (https://twitter.com/MichaelDonkor) , who studied English at Wadham College, Oxford, undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and now teaches English Literature to secondary school students. The Observer named him as one of 2018’s best debut authors for his first novel Hold (4th Estate) and this year he was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize.

On page 2 we feature Lucie McKnight Hardy (https://twitter.com/LMcKnightHardy) who grew up in West Wales and is a Welsh speaker. Her work has featured, or is forthcoming, in various places online and in print, including The Lonely Crowd, The Shadow Booth, Best British Short Stories 2019, and as a limited edition chapbook from Nightjar Press. Her debut novel, Water Shall Refuse Them, was shortlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition 2017 and longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award 2018 and is published this July by Dead Ink Books (https://deadinkbooks.com/) .

Next up, we are delighted to bring you Jess Thayil (https://twitter.com/JessThayil) , whose poems have featured in Magma Poetry, The Stinging Fly, Ink Sweat And Tears, Black Bough Poetry, AbstractMagazineTV, Potomac Review and Whale Road Review. She’s also engaged in self-taught abstract and mixed media art practice.

On page 4, we’re thrilled to welcome writer and translator Lucy Jones, who is British born and has lived in Berlin since 1998. Lucy studied German, film and applied linguistics and did several jobs before becoming a translator, including freelance fashion photography. Returning to her roots in literature, in 2008 she founded Transfiction (http://www.transfiction.eu/about-us/) , a collective of translators in Berlin. She also hosts a reading event called The Fiction Canteen (https://fictioncanteen.blog/) for writers and translators in Berlin.

And finally we have Durre Shawar (http://durreshahwar.com) , a writer, editor, and co-founder of ‘Where I’m Coming From’, an open mic event that platforms underrepresented writers in Wales (next event is on August 13 (https://www.facebook.com/whereimcomingfrom/) ). Durre has been published in various magazines and anthologies including Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class (Dead Ink Books), We Shall Fight Until We Win (404 Ink), Cheval 10 – Terry Hetherington Young Writers Award (Parthian Books). Her work explores themes of identity, intersectionality and mental health. Durre has worked and written for National Theatre Wales, British Council, Metro, National Museum Cardiff and Wales Arts Review. She is a regular speaker and performer at events and festivals and was part of the Hay Festival Writers at Work scheme, as well as BBC Writersroom Wales.

So, dear readers if you’re feeling political, personal, hungry or like swimming in a sandy-bottomed sea, we hope you enjoy our amazing lead selection. May it inspire you to get writing now. You know the rules: 50-500 words, one hour. Subs close on 15 August.

The image is the starting point, the text is up to you…

Preti, Kristen, Lucie and Luke

@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
@MichaelDonkor (https://twitter.com/MichaelDonkor)
@LMcKnightHardy (https://twitter.com/LMcKnightHardy)
@BacktoJones (https://twitter.com/BacktoJones)
@JessThayil (https://twitter.com/JessThayil)
@Durre_Shahwar (https://twitter.com/Durre_Shahwar)

Home


mailto:visualverse@thecurvedhouse.com
https://www.facebook.com/visualverseanthology

Volume 03, Chapter 05 | March 2016

Posted on by

Image by Zata Banks
Guest Editor: Eley Williams

Dear writers, readers and friends,_x005F
After an exceptional month in February, with over 160 submissions published, we have pushed the Visual Verse format to new limits and present to you our first piece of concrete poetry (https://visualverse.org/submissions/anosmia/) , by Zata Banks. What a thing of beauty it is, sitting alongside this strange, furry image by Alejandro Carol.

Banks’ piece seems to mirror the contradiction within this image – that it is both starkly obvious and full of mystery all at once. What exactly is this creature? Why are we so close to it? Is it real or fake? Is it wild or tame? Help us to understand what we are seeing, dear writers. _x005F
And, as we have pushed our own limits, we challenge you to push yours too. We challenge you to write something outside of your comfort zone or choose a style you haven’t tried before. Our lead writers this month have set the bar high with innovative writing and we are thrilled to feature them.

Zata Banks (https://twitter.com/zoltarmaga) ‘ writing has been published in numerous anthologies, magazines and featured on BBC Radio 4, while her creative work has been used for courses at institutions including The Royal College of Art, the Poetry School, and the National Film and Television School. In addition, she is the founder of PoetryFilm (http://poetryfilm.org/) , a practice-based project that aims to celebrate experimental text/image/sound-screening, and explores semiotics and meaning-making within the art form.

Kate Potts (http://www.katepotts.net/) ‘ debut pamphlet Whichever Music (tall-lighthouse, 2008) was a Poetry Book Society Choice and was shortlisted for a Michael Marks Award. She received an Arts Council award towards her first collection Pure Hustle (Bloodaxe, 2011). Kate currently teaches for Oxford University and Royal Holloway, and is completing a PhD on the poetic radio play.

Annabel Banks (http://www.annabelbanks.com/) ’ work is published in numerous journals, magazines and anthologies including The Manchester Review, Litro, 3:AM and International Times, is forthcoming in Under the Radar, and is included in Eyewear’s Best New British and Irish Poets 2016. Recently she received three nominations for the 2016 Pushcart Prize (two for fiction and one for poetry), plus nominations for the Queen’s Ferry Press Best Short Fictions 2016, Blazvox’s 2016 Bettering American Poetry and the 2016 Derringer Awards. She is also on Twitter, @annabelwrites.

Nick Murray is a live literature producer, writer, musician and founder of Annexe Press, based in London. As a writer, Nick’s work has appeared in publications such as Lives Beyond Us (Sidekick Books), The Bohemyth and Belleville Park Pages. He is on Twitter, @terratrouve.

This is perhaps the most challenging image to date, in our opinion, so let’s see what you make of it.

Awaiting your words at www.visualverse.org/submit.

Preti, Kristen and Eley

Home


mailto:visualverse@thecurvedhouse.com
https://www.facebook.com/visualverseanthology