updating the blog

over here

Coming Soon from Hex Presse

Cleromancy Poetry Game

******six word dice for poetry, divination, and play******

*Six dice; each side of each die has a different word (for a total of 36 words)
*Words for cleromancy #1 are sourced from the poetry of Emily Dickinson
*Each die comes from a different poem.
*Cleromancy #1 comes from poems #339 ("I tend my flowers for thee--"), #479 ("She dealt her pretty words like Blades-- "), #1775 ("The earth has many keys."), #500 ("Within my Garden, rides a Bird"), #311 ("It sifts from Leaden Sieves--"), and #632 ("The Brain -- is wider than the Sky --").
*Comes in a Hexagon shaped box
*Dice and box are pyrographed and inked by hand
*Roll the dice to make poems or divinations


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Games will be available through the Hex Presse Etsy shop soon!
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There will be MORE cleromancy poetry games from Hex Presse. Each game will be sourced from "woman-authored texts"** and contemporary poets will be invited to "curate" the dice. Cleromancy #2 and #3 are curated by Jessica Smith and sourced from the work of Christina Rossetti.
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Cleromancy is a form of divination using sortilege, casting lots or casting bones in which an outcome is determined by random means, such as the rolling of a dice.

Words on dice can be used to make make poems. Here are some examples of visual poems made with word dice.

**open to interpretation :)

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x-posted to ovaries & sequins and Hex Presse blog

Submission Update

Hello! We will be reading for a "mini" summer in July. The summer issue will go live in August to coincide with the release of the first chapbook from Hex Presse. We will also begin updating the blog and website with new links, so stay tuned.

FINALLY WITH WOMEN

ETA: Turns out this event was last summer. Thanks to Gina for the heads up.

A super-happening summer reading series celebrating the work of women poets.

Sunday, August 6 - Mina Loy
Monday, August 7 - Audre Lorde
Tuesday, August 8 - Barbara Guest
Wednesday, August 9 - Muriel Rukeyser
Thursday, August 10 - Gertrude Stein

Details here.

Hex Presse

the print companion to WOMB poetry!
























Look for our first chapbook -- Resurrection Party by Michalle Gould -- in August!

ghosts

awesome poem by Amy King up at Verse Daily today.

Feminaissance and Wack

So I did get a little taste of Feminaissance on Saturday. It took us forever to leave the house so we only made the last panel, but it was a very interesting one. I wish that I had been less caffeine deprived...but this is what happens when you stay up until 4 am every night!

As I mentioned earlier, Eileen Myles is AMAZING. I'm still organizing my thoughts about the other presentations, but here are some of the notes I took during E.M.'s presentation from the "categories" panel:

- the world determines your gender before you do
- one can be caught in the midst of two [gendered] performances: one true and one false
- hormones are writing (!!!)
- gender is a public thought
- gender and "things." In inflected languages (i.e. Latin) nouns are given masculine or feminine endings. In English, some things are gendered. For example, ships are "she." Also discussed gender and hurricanes. After the panel I did some research. As it turns out, the gender of hurricanes alternates through the alphabet, which seems sort of conceptually elegant to me -- this idea of alternating gender as something controlled/contained by letters and "names." You can see this list of names here. Also, why don't we name earthquakes or volcanic eruptions? Does a hurricane seem somehow more "live"; or perhaps a storm seems more distinct from the planet itself?

We also made what felt like a very cursory tour of the WACK show, which is electric and dense and thrilling. The concentration of feminist art creates a very palpable sense of urgency and power. It also highlights a desire to "get out" of the museums, which is to say that it draws attention to/makes clear the limits of the museum. Forms are used and simultaneously undermined. Museum spaces are productive and necessary and often feel like sanctuaries, but the underlying imperative -- the quicksilver vein of the WACK show -- is that we must change the world outside the museum. This may seem like a banal point, but trust me -- it has a sharpened tip in the context of this exhibit.

Anyway, the MOCA is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. Besides the WACK show, there are some very interesting pieces there. Among them are some texty pieces by Alexandra Grant, including a glinting silver wire mesh sphere which seemed like something out of one of my dreams. Another piece I *loved* was by chilean artist Livia Marin. This piece involved over 2k tubes of lipstick (!!!) aranged on a curved base; the tips of the lipstick were sculpted into all sorts of shapes and reminded me of chess pieces in drag. Thrilling.

April Update

WOMB will be opening for submissions soon. We're currently working on a "mini" summer issue slated to come out in August. At that time, we'll also be publishing our first print chap through our sister project HexPresse. Also, please check out our friend Little Red Leaves. This new, smokin' hot online journal will be launching on Mayday (May 1st). Details about that are coming soon.

poetry

Nikki Giovanni at Virginia Tech

Rae Armantrout reading "Yonder"

Womb Room

Faith Wilding

Clickety Click and Listen

Pussipo reading at MiPo radio!!!

Susan Howe @ Penn Sound

Barbara Guest tribute

Beyond Media

Luscious Links

M/E/A/N/I/N/G #4 : Feminist Art Forum

A Conversation with Alice Notley

feminism @ flickr

Womb as a title for a publication

WOMB POETRY VOLUME ONE: HIVES AND COVENS

Volume One
dedicated in memory to kari edwards

* t h r u m *

: kari edwards : Eileen Tabios : Barbara Jane Reyes : Elizabeth Treadwell : Ann Bogle : : Alison Cimino :Susan B.A. Somers-Willett : Amy King : Kristy Bowen : Julie Choffel : : J.B. Rowell : Ebony Golden : Jenna Cardinale : Juliet Cook : Susan Morrison-Kilfoyle : : Holaday Mason : Toti O'Brien : Jessica Schneider : Karen McBurney : Sunnylyn Thibodeaux : : Sarah Mangold : Meagan Evans : Jennifer Bartlett : Marcia Arrieta : Michele Miller : : Priscilla Atkins : Anne Elezebeth Pluto : Marie Buck : Michalle Gould : Anne Heide : : Susan Meyers : Melissa Eleftherion : Susan Settlemyre Williams : J. Elizabeth Clark :

* s p a r k l e *

: Danielle Pafunda : Kathryn Miller : Julia Drescher : k. lorraine graham : Karen McBurney : : Michelle Caplan : Marcia Arrieta : Ashley Smith : Annette Sugden : Christine Bruness :

* c h i m e *


: a chapbook by Julia Drescher :

POETRY FOR EVERYBODY

This is the blog for ~*~W_O_M_B~*~, an online journal of poetry by women. Our first issue will launch on January 15, 2007 at wombpoetry.com.

SUBMISSION INFO

F.A.Q.

Vol. 1: Hives and Covens

goes live on January 15!

Galleys

Contributors will receive galleys soon!

Shiny Shiny Shiny

The womb website is unda construction. Check it out!

Submission Update

Thank you to everyone who submitted to our first issue. We are finishing up with the submissions now. If you are waiting for a response, you can expect one by the end of the month.

Submissions officially closed on November 1, however we'd like to extend the deadline for visual and aural poetry. If you have a visual or sound piece that you think would be perfect for us, please feel free to query. We would love to feature more visual/video/collage/sound poetry in our first issue.

~*~ Update ~*~

Hello Everybody! We've moved and unpacked and we're ready to jump. If you've submitted to the journal and have yet to hear from us, be assured that we will respond to you soon. And if you'd like to submit, remember that we are open until November 1. The issue will go live January 15, 2007, and it is going to be a BIG honeycombed hive of delicious. Join us!

Summer Juice

The new How2 is chock FULL of wonderful

Also check out ensemble jourine, hybrid writing by women

++++Yummy Wonders+++++++++

a.rawlings & Peter Huggon: /motioncapture

On the Gurlesque by Arielle Greenberg

Sheikh 'n' Vac by Yara El-Sherbini

Suitcase Body Is Missing Woman by Eva Weinmayr

Rule Book by Angela Bulloch

Luscious Linkies for Your Yum

Knit a WOMB
above photo courtesy pattern designer MK Fisher and Knitty.com

Michelle Caplan, mixed media collage artist (discovered via Katey Nicosia's That's Hot)

Eva Hesse

Women of Concrete Message thread @ Spidertangle


*sorry these updates have not been as regular lately. We will now be back to our regular schedule of weekly link updates. Feel free to pass on a suggestion.

Kool Things

TURNS

Black Women's Hair Poetry

Cobweb

Sky

Cool Clicks

Riding the Meridian (check out the Progressive Dinner Party)

graffgirlz

Deb King's Wizard of Odd

Cool Lynx

Joanne Kyger's "Man"

Mephista

Julie Becker's "A Place to Rest"

M.I.A.

Beatrice Riese

NEW!!! F.A.Q.s!

Q. Why only women?

A. The short answer: Because we felt compelled to gather, solicit, and create a space specifically for poems made by women. By doing this, we hope to bring more attention to all of the exciting work currently being done by women poets. We find the idea of looking at a collection of poetry by various women really exciting.

The long answer: We believe in multiple genders, and believe the term "“women"” includes multiple genders. We hope this multiplicity is evident in the work we showcase.

Much of our inspiration comes from our long ago involvement with the riot grrrl scene, and the zines that came out of that community. These zines were exciting because they mixed academic discourse about gender with D.I.Y. aesthetics and attitude. They made use of, and incorporated, traditionally "“feminine"” or "“girly"” imagery, while simultaneously challenging that imagery. Nothing was off-limits. Like riot grrrl, which existed within the larger context of indie rock and punk, we hope WOMB will work as something that exists within the larger context of online publishing. That is to say that we see WOMB as something within -- – not against --– the online poetry community. This point is especially important to us.

The other thing of course, is that an online journal which focuses on work created by women provides a context that will allow all of us to explore the role gender plays in poetry, performance, and cyberspace. We don'’t have an answer to this, but we do believe that gender is something worth thinking about. Will WOMB be different from other journals because it focuses on work created by women? We're not sure.

There are some amazing venues which focus on poetries created by women. Check 'em out: HOW2, belladonna*, Superflux, Wicked Alice, Dancing Girl Press, Kelsey Street Press, Switchback Books, and others listed in our sidebar.

Also: Many people have written about women-only spaces as an essential aspect of attaining world-wide gender equality. If you are interested, you can check out this piece which argues that women-only spaces are still vital to achieving gender-equality in the west, or this article on the benefits of women-only spaces in the quest for gender equality in Africa .

Q. Is WOMB just for women?

A. The short answer: WOMB is for everybody! One of our main goals is to make a meaningful contribution to the exciting world of online journals, and for us that means making something that is for everybody.

The long answer: Although WOMB is for everybody, we do hope to provide a space that allows women to find/connect with other women more easily. The internet is a sprawling, rhizomatic space. We hope that WOMB might become a "hub" or sorts. One of the ways we are trying to do this is by building a comprehensive blogroll of poet / bloggers who identify as women.

It goes without saying that this resource will also be of interest and useful to everybody.

Q. Are you looking for "“women'’s writing"”?

The short answer: No.

The long answer: The short answer is no because we'’re not really sure what "“women'’s writing"” is, but it seems like most people who've used this term think "“women'’s writing"” is writing that addresses or discusses "“women-specific"” issues (rape, pregnancy, domestic violence, ect.). Of course we are open to poetry that deals with these subjects, as we are open to poetry that deals with any subject. We have no preferences content-wise. We like all sorts of stuff, which we hope is evident in our weekly links and the links in our sidebar. Check '‘em out!

*That said, there is the term "feminine writing" or "écriture feminine," as coined by Helene Cixous in The Laugh of the Medusa. If you are interested in this term you might want to start here. Additionally, there is Nu shu or "women's script," a form of writing invented by women hundreds of years ago in Jiang Yong Prefecture, Hunan Province, China.

Q. Why the name WOMB?

It'’s a word we'’ve always liked, and it's a not a word you hear very often.

We also like the figurative/connotative properties of the word "“womb."” The etymology of WOMB, and the connections made to "womb" in other words' etymologies, is also interesting.

You can read more about the why we like the word "womb" as a title for a publication here.

Q. Why the funny mark-ups in the title?

It'’s sort of our little homage to thirteen year old girls, which is where we got the inspiration. Something about the urge to decorate text -- – whether it be using bubble letters or tildes and asterisks and underscores -- really appeals to us. We also like how it turns a mark that has a "standard use"” into something decorative. In this sense, thirteen year old girls have successfully appropriated these marks to suit their aesthetic preferences. We think that'’s pretty hip.

Q. I am an artist who works in genres / media other than poetry. Can I still submit to WOMB?

YES!

We consider poetry inclusive of all media. Really. Some "types" of poetry include: Visual and Concrete Poetry, Tactile Poetry, Gestural Poetry, Sound Poetry, HTML and digital poetry, Video Poetry, Found Poetry, Prose Poetry, Altered Texts, and Book Arts.

Anything is poetry if you say it is.

Q. Why online?

It's accessible 24/7 worldwide. It'’s less expensive for us. It'’s free for readers. Plus, it will allow us to include lots of images, movies, and poetry which requires an online/digital environment. Plus, we plan to archive everything forever.

Q. Is WOMB a blog? A zine? A journal? What?

For now, WOMB exists here -- at wombpoetry.blogspot.com -- as a blog. But we are working on a website, and when WOMB launches in January 2007, it will be at our website. We'’ll always have a blog, which we like because it'’s easy to update and is open to comments.

As to whether WOMB is a "zine" or a "“journal," we'’re not sure, and for now we don't really care. Call us whatever you want.

Q. Is WOMB feminist?

The short answer: YES.

We like the deinition bell hooks offers in her book Feminisim is for Everybody. “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression”

The long answer: There are many types of feminisims. The one thing we'd like to make clear is that we are feminist because we love everybody -- including men. We are feminist because we believe everybody should have the same rights and freedoms. We believe feminisim is good for everybody.

Q. What can I do to help or become involved with WOMB?

A. The short answer: Spread the word! Link to us! Submit!

The long answer: We are always grateful for your thoughts and feedback. Feel free to write to us at wombpoetry at gmail dot com. And if you have any special skills that you'd like to volunteer, particularly with web design, we'd love to hear from you!

WOMB Recommends

Each week we'll post links to cool poem / art projects that are made by or involve women.

Sonja Ahlers reconstructed books, mixed media installations, and drawings.

Stephanie Strickland

Assemblage: the Women's New Media Gallery

Dominoa

WOMB Recommends

Each week we'll post links to cool poem / art projects that are made by or involve women.

Ayesha Hameeed's Sea/ Myth/ Build

Erica Hunt at Penn Sound

The Photomontages of Hannah Hoch

Gertrude Stein at Penn Sound

*~*W_O_M_B~*~ Recommends

Each week we'll post links to cool poem / art projects that are made by or involve women.


Mara Taber's Weird and Wonderful Photographs

Hannah Weiner's Little Books / Indians

Yoko One at UBU

~*~W_O_M_B~*~ Recommends

Each week we'll post links to cool poem / art projects that are made by or involve women.

Jen Bervin's "a non-breaking space" from Ugly Duckling Press

Ana Marie Uribe's Anipoems at UBU

Barbara Guest Memory Bank at How2

Paper Rad

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

~*~W_O_M_B~*~, a new, online journal of poetry by women, seeks submissions for it's premier issue, set to launch January 1, 2007.


~*~W_O_M_B~*~ is intended to showcase the innovative and intriguing and electrifying work of contemporary poets who self-identify as women. We also hope to provide links to resources that are of particular interest to women poets, and to build a comprehensive blogroll of women poets who blog. If you'd like to suggest a link, please e-mail femme feral at gmail dot com. We believe this will be a vital contribution to the exciting world of online poetry journals and to the community of poets who blog.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:


*Please send 3-6 poems as inline text (in the body of an e-mail) or as .doc or .rtf or .pdf attachment.

*We also welcome submissions of audio, visual, tactile, and collage poetry. To submit poetry of this nature, please attach a sound file or jpeg/pdf image of your work. If the work is hosted online, you can also just send us a link. If you think the file is too large to send via e-mail, please contact us to obtain a snail mail address.

*If you are interested in submitting hypertext or video poetry or poetry that requires a flash player, please send a file that is viewable using quicktime or real player. Again, if you think your file is too large to send via e-mail, please contact us to obtain a snail mail address.

*Collaborations and translations are also welcome.

*If you are interested in submitting something that does not fit into any of the above descriptions, that's fine. Just help us out by providing us with a brief description of the piece.

*Please query if you are interested in doing a book review.

* Send all submissions to wombpoetry at gmail dot com


NUTS AND BOLTS:

* We are open for submissions from April 1, 2006 to November 1, 2006. Issue 1 will launch on January 15, 2007.

*Please put your name and date in the subject line of your e-mail. Please also include a cover letter with a brief bio so that we can get to know you a little bit.

*Simultaneous submissions are allowed, just let as know asap if a piece has been accepted elsewhere.

*Please note that we do not consider previously published work (however we are willing to consider work that has been posted to a personal blog; if this is the case, please make a note in your cover letter).

*Please allow 6-8 weeks for a response. If you haven't heard from us in eight weeks, feel free to query.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Thanks for considering sending your poetry to ~*~W_O_M_B~*~! We look forward to reading your work!


Kind Regards,

Michelle Detorie

What is WOMB?

_W_O_M_B_ is poetry by women.

_W_O_M_B_ is online poetry.

_W_O_M_B_ is coming.

Details re: submissions will be posted here soon.

Make and Transmit

Hi!

Hello! Welcome to WOMB. WOMB is a new, online journal for women's poetry. We're brand new, and we're still just getting a feel for things, but we wanted to say Hello! and Welcome!

Right now, we hope to put out an official call for submissions on April 1, with the magazine launching on January 1, 2007.

In the meantime, we'd like to make this space chock full of links that are of interest or are useful to women poets and people interested in women's poetry. We'd also like to build a complete list of women poets who blog, so if you are a woman poet who blogs or know of a woman poet who blogs, please let us know.

Thanks very much!

ONLINE POETRY

HOW2
WICKED ALICE
LA PETITE ZINE
NO TELL MOTEL
SUNSPINNER
TYPO
OCTOPUS
FASCICLE
DIAGRAM
PUPPY FLOWERS
MORIA
MILK
DUSIE
ERATIO
ZAFUSY
ACTION, YES
ELIMINAE
PIP LIT
PETTYCOAT RELAXER
FRIGATE
FREE VERSE
AMPERSAND
PETTYCOAT RELAXER
UNPLEASANT EVENT SCHEDULE
CAN WE HAVE OUR BALL BACK
BORN
H_NGM_N
FAILBETTER
SOFTBLOW
SHAMPOO
Pom2
LOCUS NOVUS
TRIPTYCH HAIKU
GALATEA RESURRECTS
WORD FOR/WORD
Pemmican
The Adirondack Review
Alsop Review
Archipelago
Blackbird
BLACKBOX
Cortland Review
Dead Mule
Drunken Boat
Exquisite Corpse
Foliate Oak
Go Ezines
God Particle
IdentityTheory
Iowa Review Online
Jacket Magazine
Konundrum
Literal Latte
Madhatters' Review
McSweeney's
Memorious
Muse Apprentice Guild
Paumanok Review
Pif Magazine
Pittsburgh Quarterly Review
Richmond Review
Sidebrow
Slope
Small Spiral Notebook
SoMa Literary Review
Tarpaulin Sky
Triplopia
2River
3AM Magazine
3rd Bed
Web del Sol
WEIRD DEER
Word Riot
Words Without Border

SELBY'S LIST
*** Guide to online lit journals @ New Pages ***

Know of an online pub we should add to the list? Drop us a comment. Thanks!

ETYMOLOGY FUN

VULVA

1548, from L. vulva, earlier volva "womb, female sexual organ," lit. "wrapper," from volvere "to turn, twist, roll, revolve," also "turn over in the mind," from PIE base *wel- "to turn, revolve" (cf. Skt. valate "turns round," ulvam "womb, vulva;" Lith. valtis "twine, net," apvalus "round;" O.C.S. valiti "roll, welter," vluna "wave;" Gk. eluo "wind, wrap," helix "spiral object," eilein "to turn, squeeze;" Goth. walwjan "to roll;" O.E. wealwian "roll," weoloc "whelk, spiral-shelled mollusk;" O.H.G. walzan "to roll, waltz;" O.Ir. fulumain "rolling;" Welsh olwyn "wheel").

source

DIPTYCH