N.B. The following responses by Mary Meriam are a kind of tonal cento in the spirit of Nicole Santalucia’s newest chapbook, Spoiled Meat. To read a more forthright appraisal of Santalucia’s new work, look at the generous recommendation Meriam offered on the February 2019 Reading List over at Poetry’s Harriet blog. Also, check out Santalucia’s chapbook here. While you’re there, you might acquaint yourself with the many finely written chapbooks available in the Headmistress catalog. ~Dante Di Stefano
How did Headmistress Press come into being?
Some bitch like me sets the fire, cranks the heat, makes an online journal of lesbian poetry and art, Lavender Review, swallows the flare.
The flower pots and lesbian poems blaze one little fire at a time. Books sprout from Headmistress Press, thanks to some bitch Risa Denenberg taking care of the practical side.
Could you talk a bit about your catalog? What do Headmistress books have in common?
Yellow fires and red fires and cover art by lesbian artists, 52 books that are on fire. Pick the best chicken hut, make the best gas station, send them through the post office, and the readers: all on fire.
Tell us about your Lesbian Poet Trading Cards.
When the train passes through this neighborhood of flames, Rita Mae Reese knocks over the bitch who lit the first match. Her fire burns in the Chicago Tribune. Pretty soon Kathleen Rooney swirls in flames: Call attention to lacunae in the traditional literary canon and the clouds shrivel up. Dry out and put a face on the absences that exist in many readers’ knowledge. Drop like dog shit and provide another strategy to fight the invisibility that is often all too prevalent in the assembly of both anthologies of past writers and the tables of contents of current literary journals, as when editors say things to the effect of “we wanted to publish more work by (insert under-represented group here), we just couldn't find any.”
You’ve published two books under the Sally Jane Books imprint. Could you tell us about these titles?
To the sides of the streets and highways, where heroin addicts are left for dead, we start a wild and free imprint, where farmers grow lettuce, we trade sheep, text and art in exciting, fun, and innovative shoelaces and guns.
What else is on the horizon for Headmistress Press?
2019 AWP Book Fair in Portland.
What is one thing American poetry needs more of, in your opinion?
Some bitch like me.
Nicole Santalucia’s Spoiled Meat won your most recent Charlotte Mew chapbook contest. Would you tell us about the contest and about Santalucia’s book?
Spoiled Meat is a foul-mouthed rural fantasy, allegory, satire. It’s rage against the world’s waste, sickness, horror, corruption, injustice. It’s a witch’s hell-call for change. Some bitch Santalucia recounts the apocalypse with authority, takes the blame, makes the change.
Could you end the interview with a poem from Spoiled Meat?
Here’s the bitch-action I nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Pennsylvania on Fire
Some bitch like me sets the fire,
cranks the heat, burns the toast, swallows
the flare.
The flower pots and front lawns blaze
one little fire at a time. Flames sprout
from the gardens on Hanover Street.
Yellow fires and red fires and motherfuckers
drive trucks that are on fire. The chicken hut,
gas station, post office, and the neighbors: all on fire.
When the train passes through this neighborhood of flames
a gust of wind knocks over the bitch who lit the first match.
Her fire burns on fear. Pretty soon the black sky
swirls in flames and the clouds shrivel up,
dry out, and drop like dog shit
to the sides of the streets and highways
where heroin addicts are left for dead, where farmers
grow lettuce and trade sheep for shoelaces and guns,
where starving cows are auctioned and eaten alive, and the people
confuse women for beef and love for needles.
From Spoiled Meat by Nicole Santalucia
Mary Meriam co-founded Headmistress Press, edits Lavender Review (lesbian poetry and art), and is a professor in the MFA program at the University of Arkansas-Monticello. Her newest collection, My Girl's Green Jacket, is reviewed at Entropy and Lambda Literary. A new poem appears in the February issue of Poetry.
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