How does this fit intothe poem published today in The Boston Literary Magazine? The observation/research was all done before the time and place which the poem was set. The hypothesis/prediction is why the poem even came to be and the experimentation led to the conclusion that there was no turning back.
The Boston Literary Magazine is run by Robin Stratton (who I wrote with and published with HERE), who is waiting to hear from you, Richard N. Hill who can be called but only with emergencies and Barbara Meikle, who could not be reached for comment.
With a few clever clicks you can read the Spring Issue on-line and with about $12 you will soon be able to purchase it.
Sending you the hoodie pic...it'll make you want my hoodie
pretend you are with my hoodie
imagine yourself inside it
The second influence for the story was my Dick. Dick Butkus. I had sent her a picture of Dick Butkus as a joke a few months earlier. (For the record I have no idea why guys send those other ones via text message.)
Then on December 2, while Teisha and I were chatting on IM and texting simultaneously I was started to combine some of the lines in my head which formed the original opening.
It’s been awhile since I’ve had a good dick picture.
By sending you the hoodie pic of my hoodie...it'll make you want my hoodie And pretend you are with it. You will imagine yourself wearing it, being inside it.
I typed and sent her those and said, "Let's write it." and we went back and forth in Microsoft Word, for the rest of the morning, re-attaching and polishing the text of the ever growing story a few lines at a time. The ground rules were that either of us could add to what was already written, and also edit anything previous to fit where the piece wanted to. This included Point of View and even the tense, which each changed at least once during the process.
This is what Teisha said of the process:
This was
my first attempt at Flash Fiction, a genre I was pretty
greenhorn to until I met Tim. I absolutely love his work, and
so when he asked me to collaborate with him, I was super honored to
have the opportunity! I was also a bit nervous of course, but Tim has a
way of pushing me out of my comfort zone and inspiring me to take more
risks when I am writing. I think this piece is a demonstration of how
people who share a common passion for words and narrative, can push the
envelope and create something that comes across as beautifully alien to
them.
As for me, I found the process to be mind blowing. We'd be together for a few months and Teisha's poetry made my brain explode, going places I never could or ever would be able to go, so I was really excited to collaborate on the story with her. I'd read her work "How to Treat Pretty Things" originally published in Ibettson 32 and was amazed. It's a great journal you should buy.
Here are more examples of Teisha Twomey's work you can read or view.
As far as "After Receiving a Picture of Dick Butkus vis Text Message" goes, if only you knew who wrote which line, it might make your brain explode as well.
Also in this issue are Leah Angstman (the editor who published my book, These Poems Are Not Pink Clouds), Peter Cunis, Tyler Gates, Robert Vaughan, Len Kuntz, Eric Suhem and Aleathia Drehmer. Read and enjoy their cross dimensional flash fiction.
Here's the story "Leftovers at the Lays Factory" out today in Wigleaf, and I'm thrilled to get published here. I admit that I got some great editing help from Scott Garson, and without his help, the story would have been left at the side of the slushy road.
Here's a bonus! Once you
get accepted there, Wigleaf has a neat little extra for their writers, which
is offering them a chance to send an internet postcard to them, which
they publish.
Wigleaf's masthead is full of writers I've been reading and respecting forever. MASTHEAD Scott Garson does the editing and design. Rebecca R. Scott reads and gives editorial counsel. Laura Ellen Scott is the Series Editor for the Wigleaf Top 50. Mel Bosworth is an Associate Series Editor for the Wigleaf Top 50. Erin Fitzgerald is an Associate Series Editor for the Wigleaf Top 50. Sean Lovelace is an Associate Series Editor for the Wigleaf Top 50.
I've sent numerous work to Wigleaf and have never received an acceptance, so I very grateful to been seen on their site with so many other great writers. (I did make an honorable mention for their well know Top 50 of 2008 for Best Interest of the Child, published by Thieves Jargon.)
The story was accompanied by this really cool photograph by Kevin Dooley:
