The Results Are In: $150 to Trans Maryland
[inc. personal housing news, Thunder & Lightning Poetry Collective, & more!]
On the move… soon, anyway…
I apologize for posting updates later than I aim to; recent housing news has kind of shaken things a lot.
My spouse and I received an end-of-tenancy letter for the end of May, so we’re having to find a new place to live.
[TLDR: property management kicking us out to overcharge whomever comes next]
I’m open to poetry commissions, due to upcoming financial expenses re: moving (and staying afloat in general):
Contact: lucasscheelk (at) gmail (dot) com
Subject Line: "Poetry Commission"
What I don't/won't write:
1. Erotica
2. Gore (my idea of horror is Vincent Price films, if that helps)
3. Sexual assault/rape/CSA
4. Narrator's identities outside of my own lived experiences and/or impacted communities (see: Jewish, autistic, bipolar disorder, to name a few)
meaning: I, the poet, will not participate in appropriation
also meaning: I, a white poet, will not participate in literary Blackface/Brownface/etc.)
[obligatory: not all Jews are white; I just happen to be a white Jew]
5. The I/P Conflict (please direct all interest towards Palestinians, as they can best write about their liberation)If you don't want a poetry commission & wish to donate instead:
[never required but always appreciated]
Venmo: Lucas-Scheelk
CashApp: $LucasScheelk#TransRightsReadathon
During the recent #TransRightsReadathon (created by Sim Kern), 5 poetry bundles from Mason Jar Press was sold (of which my book was included).
The bundles cost $30 each, which means that in total, $150 will be going to Trans Maryland!
Thank you to everyone! This means the absolute world!
Thunder & Lightning Poetry Collective
For readers familiar, I’ve been involved with Thunder & Lightning since 2022.
It’s now expanded into a poetry collective!
Thunder & Lightning Poetry Collective is a radical collective of BIPOC and/or queer Disabled poets (I’m in the latter category), supported by Art Spark Texas and the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities.
As per Crip Lyrical on IG:
Thunder & Lightning Poetry Collective is proud to announce three Gather + Grow workshop series!
April 18, 7PM (CDT): "Writing the Revolution!" facilitated by yours truly @criplyrical
April 20, 6PM (MST): "Poetry & the InBetween Spaces" facilitated by Aura Valdes
April 23, 10:30AM (CDT): "The Writing Brunch" facilitated by Suietko Zamorano-Chavez @2spiritqueer
Workshops are free for TLPC Members. Non member fee is a $0-15 sliding scale (pay what you can).
I’m honored to be one of the many members of this new poetry collective!
Keep an eye out for performance news in the very near future!
KB Brookins’ Poetry & the Body-Mind
April seems to be the meet-up place for all the things!
National Poetry Month.
Autism Acceptance Month.
Pesach.
My aforementioned shitty housing news.
But!
I had the honor to start out April with attending my poetry peer KB Brookins’ “Poetry & the Body-Mind” free online workshop.
There were separate body-inspired prompts for us to write from, with KB showing us resources such as 18 Mental Health Related Writing Prompts & 30 Creative Writing Prompts for People Living With Mental Illness & SIX POETRY PROMPTS FOR RADICAL SELF-LOVE.
Here’s one of mine from the workshop:
I’M FEELING
whatever liquid contains sea jellies
floating along Kitsap Peninsula
do they survive out of love? spite?
either way, be gentle and ask first, please?
you know the phrase about too-much-of-anythingI was nervous when I first saw that Sylvia Plath was going to be analyzed.
Thankfully, it wasn’t just me that called out the antisemitism in her works. That brought my comfort level back to a space I could enjoy again.
I’m not going to speak on others’ pieces (since it’s not mine to tell!) but the talent from everyone who shared! I was in awe!
Otherwise, I liked the analysis that came from discussing Lucille Clifton’s “poem to my uterus” (for personal transmasc reasons, I felt more comfortable sitting out of this conversation, but that’s 100% on me).
I would absolutely attend a KB Brookins workshop again!
[this is also the time to tell you about pre-ordering their book FREEDOM HOUSE]
APFANRA Sales Transparency
Speaking of KB, they posted about how difficult it was last year for them to get 1,000 copies of their chapbook sold, and invited poets to post their own sales numbers.
Keep in mind a few things:
I don’t have any Small Press Distribution stats
I don’t have any MJP stats past Oct 2022 (as of April 9th 2023)
Q3 (Spring 2022 - Oct 2022) sales for “A Prayer For A Non-Religious Autistic” from Mason Jar Press:
13 copies.
My goal for Q4 sales, whenever I get them, is 100 copies sold and to break even. It cost just over a grand to produce my book.
I want to make good on my promise and actually send profit donations (in perpetuity) to the Autistic People of Color Fund.
Lastly…
Considering everything, it may be a while until I update again. Or it may not.
I just don’t want to set a schedule when I know I don’t always follow linear time.
I’m extremely close to being able to talk more about my “Golem and the Librarian” poem acceptance. Related, it takes me 8 minutes to read that 5 page poem. It’s my fault for picking long poetry titles and writing even longer poems; may the memory of my lungs be for a blessing LOL.
I virtually attended Pink Peacock’s trans liberation hybrid seder, and oh my glitter, it is exactly what I needed as a trans queer Jew. Very fucking healing!
I virtually attended my dear friend Lior Hardin’s performance in Mixed Blood Theatre’s 12x12: Disability Communities. It was an absolute joy to watch my friend and poetry peer talk about outer space and DID.
I haven’t forgotten about the poetry lesson on the cut-up technique - the executive (dys)functioning first task barrier is a pain in my ass right now. I’m working on it.
I have one big poetry-related announcement that I can’t talk about yet, but soon!
It’s easier for me to update on shorter news via twitter.
If you’ve made it this far, please consider…
donating to the Autistic People of Color Fund!
donating to Michael LaBorn’s “Making space for Black and Brown authors!” fundraiser!
supporting an autistic creative during Autism Acceptance Month (& all year round) by paying them/buying their art/requesting their book(s) at your local library!
reading Adam Powers’ “What I’m Reading: Trans Climate & Eco-Poetics” [Climate ChangeIsms]
reading River 慧瑩 Dandelion’s “Spell for Trans Safety (I)”
reading Cyree Jarelle Johnson’s “Black Disability Justice Syllabus” [Sins Invalid]
donating to Trans Maryland!
checking out Keshet’s Pour Out Your Wrath!
reading three of my poems in swallow::tale press Mad Moments #2!
checking out Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned!
signing up for Georgina Kiersten’s Sensitivity Reader Exchange (FREE bartering service for low-income authors)!