News and Notes and Inappropriate Touching

by Bryan Borland

My poem “Watching Brokeback Mountain in Little Rock” has been nominated for Best of the Net through Shape of a Box. I watched from the sidelines as Stephen S. Mills and Jessie Carty celebrated last year, and now I get to go to the party! I’ll bring the cheese dip!

I just this week learned how to properly pronounce the name of Sibling Rivalry Press’ new gay-themed journal, which we’ll/will be putting out in January. Assaracus. Say it with me. Ass-uh-RACK-us.  I picked the name to honor John Stahle and Ganymede, since Assaracus was Ganymede’s brother, according to the magnificence of Wikipedia. And see? Sibling Rivalry Press. Brothers. It just works.  We’ve got a fantastic lineup in place so far for the first issue, and submissions are still rolling in. Gritty elegant. That’s the feel we’re going for. Assaracus will focus on a small number of gay poets, with multiple pieces by each poet. The goal is to keep it affordable and create something that will showcase the diversity within the queer writing community.

Sibling Rivalry Press has signed its first author for a 2011 solo project – stay tuned. We won’t be mute about it for long! (Yes, that’s a hint)

We’ll be headed to New York City on Thursday to prepare for John Stahle’s memorial gathering on Saturday. I’ll be reading from Ganymede Unfinished - pieces John selected himself by Digby Mackworth Dolben. I bought a new suit today.

Matthew Hittinger wrote a beautiful tribute to John that’s posted at LambdaLiterary.

Somewhere in all of this, I’m finding time to write new poems for Less Fortunate Pirates: Poems from the First Year Without My Father. As I’ve joked before, this manuscript might was well be titled Therapy. I feel like it’s the best stuff I’ve ever written. Not sure how I’ll go about bringing it to the world, or when, but you’ll be the first to know.

Also, let me just say this: Holy crap. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know that things just sort of took off for me I guess around March. I am so thankful and appreciative for everyone who has opened doors for me, everyone who has commented on my poetry, given me feedback, bought my books, supported My Life as Adam, supported Sibling Rivalry Press, and cheered me on. Not for one second is any of this lost on me.  Sometimes all you can say is thank you.

So thank you.