#katie ebbitt

[neoyorzapoteca]

A LOT OF BODY The violence of asking for anything other than comfort             and comfort all around             and I had such a desperate urge for comfort             and also in moments of calm See how activated             a singular practicality reigns And I, queenlike, reign over myself And any who will yield themselves to me Tantalizing to speak amidst a hurl of narrative             and find my voice expert,                       how rarely I advise

Katie Ebbitt, A lot of body | Prelude

[ave-studio]

On Thursday, 16 November 2023, I will be reading a portion of the forthcoming English translation of Michael Surya’s Dead End by Kit Schluter. The entire book will be read by the six of us together. Join us at Black Spring Books.

DEAD END (translated to English from French by Kit Schluter) is a sinuous pornographic work that forms a part of Michel Surya’s series of erotic books released in France over the past four decades. Drafted around 1985, rediscovered among the author’s papers in 2004, and revised in 2006, Dead End speaks with the cerebral starkness of a vanitas painting. Here, the limits of excess themselves are stifling, erotic immoderation no longer satisfies, and worldly anguish reveals itself as ever crueler, more evident. Developing a genre unto itself which might be termed “neurotica,” this flood of language—rawer with every unpunctuated breath—affirms and reaffirms the fear that we are beyond salvation. As full of vertiginous bravado and self-loathing as it is of sensual generosity and the genuine search for mutual pleasure, Dead End’s address of the beloved unspools with the devastating, nearly religious force of total confession. This translation by Kit Schluter, featuring a foreword by French poet Amandine André, marks the debut of Surya’s fiction in the English language.

[earlybellidling]

Above/Ground Press Author Reading

A recording of a delightful reading of above/ground press authors as we launched our new chapbooks!

A delightful reading of above/ground press authors as we launched our new chapbooks! Rob McLennan lovingly hosted us as we shared work from our chaps and had an enjoyable q&a. Julia Polyck-O’Neill, Amanda Deutch, Micah Ballard, Katie Ebbitt & Melissa Eleftherion~

[lifeinpoetry]

Ana, this is a love poem but also an anti-suicide note. I wish you were alive to write the letter you didn’t.

People seem to forget how hard it is to kill yourself on purpose. My psychiatrist told me she learned from a surgeon that it’s hard to kill a human. I want to say that I agree with the surgeon not anecdotally but experientially. I won’t go into specifics, Ana, but I think you know what I mean. I know that a body’s desire to live is an instinctual strength, a strength very much tied to panic. I know the only time to live is in the present, and if you are in the process of actively dying, the present’s acuity intensifies. You chose a very quick death, Ana. Perhaps you should have given yourself more time. It’s not less violent, Ana, to choose a slower means. Suicide is the ultimate violence against the world as it’s against yourself.

Ana, I have changed my mind on self-determination.

— Katie Ebbitt, from Para Ana

[jaynedolluk]

One must aestheticize her life for it to be tolerable. To aestheticize is to curate a vibe, and a vibe requires tending to, you have to shift a mood as the atmosphere calls

[queenspoetlore]

Artwork credit: James Bartolacci

RSVP Here. F R E E. 

The New Year's Day Marathon has historically been The Poetry Project's most important fundraiser of the year. While this year's presentation is free to access, if you feel compelled to support our vision of more collective, care-based, and equitable cultural community, you can make a contribution here.

25-Hour Schedule of the 47th Annual New Year's Day Broadcast

*Please note all times are in EST and subject to change. Performances within each hour are listed in the order of appearance.

Throughout the broadcast, we'll also be remembering beloved poets, artists, and friends who are no longer living: Miguel Algarín, Steve Cannon, Steve Dalachinsky, Diane di Prima, John Giorno, Jonas Mekas, and Lewis Warsh. We're so grateful for the continued presence of each of these co-celebrants, whose names are marked in italics below. Tune in at the appointed hour for special archival presentations of their readings and performances at The Poetry Project.

In case yr interested, my time slot:

8:30am - 10am

READINGS & PERFORMANCES by Bob Holman / Jan-Henry Gray / Julia Mounsey & Peter Mills Weiss / Mitch Corber / LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs / Katie Ebbitt / Annabel Lee / Arden Wohl & Elizabeth Hart / Ian Dreiblatt / Omar Berrada / Sharon Mesmer / Susan Howe / Ed Friedman / Lee Ann Brown & Bethany Hughes / Jordan Davis / Anna Gurton-Wachter / Rosmarie Waldrop / Helga Davis / Sarah Riggs / Paolo Javier / Don Yorty / George Abraham / Sophie Robinson / Trevor Ketner / Dana Ward

[her-moth]

A) GLIMPSE) OF) #04: Experiencing the Radical Body

In other news? 

A preview (that you can listen to) of the upcoming issue of A) Glimpse) Of) - 'Experiencing the Radical Body' edited by Dimitra Ioannou & Rebecca Wilcox.

The preview features recordings by the poets, and/or performers Serena Braida, Louisa Doloksa, Katie Ebbitt, So Mayer, Eleanor Perry, me - and a special message by yarrow yes woods.

More info on the issue.

[queenmobs]

Another Life: Poems By Katie Ebbitt

I find myself drawn to women in sales

Only interested in high voices, manicured hands

I find myself only interested in women

To be a woman

Wanting to be with women

Only trusting of women

Cool songs of a woman

I hold onto life with women

I crawl into women’s laps and rest

And find comfort there beyond an outside

That doesn’t have the loose affection for a dream

I will believe a woman when she tells me to lie down

at noon

I believe myself

My womanhood has no context within the world

My body is felt by epitomizing stereotype

I can’t be understood

I have no say on gender

My face like a boy’s, dark eyes, brow

I am trying to form a tight group that understands

That sacrifices each of ourselves for a collective

future

Where I can cut off my breasts

And use them to feed myself for centuries

READ MORE

[neoyorzapoteca]

Poetry saved me in many ways, and the publication of “Another Life” was the best thing that ever happened in my life. Poetry saved me in a religious way — that it touched me and brought me into a space of healing and artistry that I was so desperate for it hurt, and I knew that a healing space was available and I was searching, but wasn’t sure where to search and not until poetry came to me, and in many ways not until the publication of “Another Life,” did that search for a healing space subside. I did a reading with Judy Grahn and CA Conrad and Judy said “speak up, because you have something to say.” And I thought, I want to always be quiet, and insurgent and make people listen closely and in turn listen very, very closely to others. I feel so much life force and love feeling and I want those feelings to burn the world. I do have a space of authority working as a clinical social worker. There is very little creativity in being a therapist for me, in the sense that therapeutic intervention is based on rules and specific modalities, and while you blend and intuit these practices, it’s from an automatic, prescribed space. Poetry for me is about the body, but an etheric body. My work as a therapist is not about me. It’s about facilitating a space of healing for the people I work with. Poetry is mine though.

Insurrection Shouldn't Be Against the Self: A Conversation with Katie Ebbitt On Her Epistolary Letters to Ana Cristina Cesar – curated by Vi Khi Nao - Tupelo Quarterly

[neoyorzapoteca]

BEDLAM BY WAY OF A SERIOUS GIRL Caution: I am ruffled into a dress. Floating on preteen primetime. Obliging separatists. Wrote a letter with a craving for power. Listen to me if you please: my earnestness is a flaw, the flat underside of a boat on land. On the rear by the engine carried the silver blade of Saint Someone, a medallion on the key ring, a plastic pouch for a can of beer. I jump out (but the foot hasps the dock), I’m no longer comfortable, I don’t catch a fish without biting my tongue. I grease and idle my body that stares decadently at the sandy bottom. I never look back so I don’t have to answer if I am being called: my hands and mouth are salty.

Katie Ebbitt, Bedlam by way of a serious girl | Prelude

[neoyorzapoteca]

[MY MOON] My moon Is dull From this dull day in the arbor We forget our water bottles My hair has shifted in shape Ineluctable like my habits I put my hand on your neck A snaking swallow Of this groove Today I remind You to mind The flame

Katie Ebbitt, [My Moon] | Prelude

[neoyorzapoteca]

Laughing is better than crying, I think. There is an absurdity in illness. What a waste of life to not be well. Wellness is hard won. There is a lot of work that goes into living. I have respect for those suffering from illness, but not for the illness itself. I often feel unable to write. I write in my dreams, but forget the specifics. I forget my dream writing because the words aren’t clear, and I have a visual memory. I can’t spell waking or sleeping. Writing with and alongside others is very important to me. (...)   Writing means everything to me. It’s my singular absolute.

Insurrection Shouldn't Be Against the Self: A Conversation with Katie Ebbitt On Her Epistolary Letters to Ana Cristina Cesar – curated by Vi Khi Nao - Tupelo Quarterly

[neoyorzapoteca]

So many sentences I’ve found So many I’ve heard, for forgetting, On the boardwalk — I did everything for the sun to not burn me I was a protected woman,            half-seal, half-fish Little midday lounging Scratching at my side Jolly, winded, Total package, even Maybe Leviathan, Then getting chilled I sprawled            (dried off) I made holes, deeply, Because being cold left me Bruising, or the opposite, healed Face that forgets Its own age And I made mutations, maybe Hoping for the sounds to sound Different, just for Your obliged understanding

Katie Ebbitt, Synthetic (Black Sun Lit)

[neoyorzapoteca]

Insurrection shouldn’t be against the self. Devastation shouldn’t be against the self.

Insurrection Shouldn't Be Against the Self: A Conversation with Katie Ebbitt On Her Epistolary Letters to Ana Cristina Cesar – curated by Vi Khi Nao - Tupelo Quarterly