great weather for MEDIA is delighted to announce our nominations for the 2016 Pushcart Prize – Best of the Small Presses Series.

These nominations are for work published in 2014 and were chosen from our anthologyI Let Go of the Stars in My Hand, and the collections Retrograde by Puma Perl and meant to wake up feeling by Aimee Herman.

Linda Camplese - My Father's Gun

Aimee Herman - quadratic equation

Ron Kolm - Bird and Me

Puma Perl - Stories from the Big Black Shoes

John W. Snyder - To the Girl Who Called Me a Faggot

John Sibley Williams - In the Pitch Bright Darkness

Want a taster? Here are the first few lines…

He was a cash and carry kind of man cash business, cashed in, cashed out carried a big, fat, American-style handgun and he was right when he thought it made him look tough.

- Linda Camplese

I used my fingers longer than it was socially acceptable. I cannot recall if it's because I clouded my brain with the smoke of drugs, but numbers and names have a difficult time remaining in me.

- Aimee Herman

I read somewhere That Charlie Parker Ate a rose.

- Ron Kolm

William Burroughs' untied shoelace cracks my morning dream.

Sad as Coca Cola and a can of Pringles.

- Puma Perl

To the girl who called me a faggot that day at Six Flags when I decided to wear

my super-fabulous. skin-tight, women's pants with yellow and pink animal print on them.

- John W. Snyder

What a strange music sounds from the dead birds frozen to the wire!

- John Sibley Williams

Congratulations to all our nominees and good luck!

Remember we are currently accepting submissions for our next collection, so send us your fearless best. Be sure to check out all our books. We look forward to reading your work.

I Let Go of the Stars in My Hand contributor John W. Snyder chats with Thomas Fucaloro

John W. Snyder is first and foremost a figment of your imagination—but when he isn't busy keeping you up at night, or having you question your sanity, he is writing poetry. He comes from the imaginary land of Staten Island where all the buildings are made out of candy and the inhabitants barter for goods with hair gel and empty promises. His work can be found in the great weather for MEDIA anthology I Let Go Of the Stars In My Hand, Flushed magazine from NYSAI Press, and scribbled on the walls of your nightmares.

TF: I'd like to talk to you about the poem and video for "Strange Surrogate." How did this come into being?

JWS: Because of choices I made in my past, I can't help but be defined by my scars—they are almost impossible to miss. Everyone can see them and everyone can make judgments about them. Whether I like it or not, self-mutilation is a large part of my identity. This poem was about taking a macabre, often misunderstood, facet of my being and making it more tangible and relatable. And what's more relatable than a fast food burger? A video seemed like the next logical step for this piece. The concept for the video was a stroke of genius on the part of Kristopher Johnson, the man behind the camera. I love the end result because it's more conversational than cinematic. It has a grounding effect that would otherwise be hard to achieve with the subject matter.

TF: You also have another poem vid called "On Hunting Vampires." It is so beautiful. Can you talk about this as well?

JWS: The poem is about the slaying of a peacock that occurred in Tottenville, on Staten Island, years ago. I spent a long time trying to write a poem that simply honored the peacock (peahen, technically.) Something pretty and elegiac. But after learning more about the young man who committed the horrendous crime I found myself writing from his perspective. It became important to me to try and better understand this individual. He was mentally ill and because he didn't receive adequate care this horrible thing occurred. The poem became a kind of statement about society's treatment of mental health issues and how they often slip into the background until something tragic happens. The video features Lys Riganti, a great dancer and friend of mine who's performed with me for this piece when I've done it live. It was important that she was the focal point for the video because she represents the beautiful peacock that existed in reality and the demonic entity that the speaker obsessed over.

TF: You have a poem in the new great weather anthology called "To the Girl Who Called Me a Faggot." What is the history of this poem? How did it came to be?

JWS: This poem was partly inspired by an article I read in Rolling Stone that I'll never forget. It was about a string of suicides that occurred in conservative Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's home district. All the victims were teens who were bullied either for being gay or being perceived as gay. I could never read through it without sobbing. As a member of the LGBTQ community I couldn't help but be furious and appalled at the hateful environment that evangelicals and conservative activists created for these young people. It made me think back to a time when I felt I was wrongfully attacked just for being who I was. The incident I refer to in my poem, being called a faggot by some person I didn't know in a public place, ended right there. I just ignored the girl and walked away. But in the poem I get to say all the things I probably should have said. In a way poetry becomes a form of righteous revenge.

TF: In this poem you ask, "Why is my human love invalid?" Why is any sort of love now viewed as heresy? Is love a good or bad thing? How can we change things?

JWS: I think love scares people. Love by itself is inherently good but it can be responsible for a lot of hurt and a lot of craziness. Love is powerful and has the ability to transform and alter things. People are afraid of newness, afraid of what they don't immediately understand. The only way things change is to love like a brick wall. We must be immovable, constant, and unwavering in the face of ignorance and fear.

TF: What's next for John W. Snyder?

JWS: I loved making videos for my poetry. The process was incredibly fun and added a new layer to my work. I really want to continue making videos and possibly exploring other forms of media for poetry. The great thing about poetry is its amazing versatility.

Read John W. Snyder’s work in our anthologies I Let Go of the Stars in My Hand and The Understanding between Foxes and Light.

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