Aster(ix) Journal Newsletter | June 2019

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Dear Aster(ix) Readers,

We are thrilled to announce that we are finalists for the CLMP Firecracker Award that honors those who “introduce important voices to readers far and wide.” Thank you to the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses for the recognition!

Serendipitously, our newest print issue, Unbound features the best Asterisms from the past five years that includes works we have published exclusively online. Congratulations to our poets and prose writers whose works were selected by our editors. Read works from (Un)bound: poetry and prose.

And for those that missed us at AWP, read on for a conversation with Aster(ix) Editor Angie Cruz, Patricia Engel, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Nelly Rosario and Marissa Johnson Valenzuela who answer the questions: Who is responsible for our work? And, what does a space where we can be our true selves look like?

We also invite you to read poems now online from: Edges, including Flavia Rocha, Lucas de Lima and Sue Scavo. As well as new Microeditorials, Remedios and an interview with the lead singer of Si*Sé, Carol C.

With much love and gratitude,
Aster(ix) Journal

ASTER(IX) UNBOUND

UNBOUND: BEST OF POETRY

UNBOUND: BEST OF PROSE

ASTER(IX) – FIVE YEARS LATER

In 2013 when we started Aster(ix) we didn’t know what we were committing ourselves to, but for the past five years the journal has been fueled with urgency, love and desire for a space that could house our wild tongue, imagination and vision.

Back then many of us were just starting out, unpublished, some of us the lone POC in our MFA programs. Many of these women from WILL are now on the Aster(ix) masthead and are contributors to the journal.

ASTER(IX) EDGES

POETRY: SELECTED POEMS | FLAVIA ROCHA

I left some roses here, near the end.
But they didn’t sound real,

they seemed human. They behaved like words,

with their cold curves and hard angles, arrows
of sound inside a box. You say FLOWER
with such cruelty. You make me understand
why every rose is an ex-rose.

POETRY: PINTO ( “PENIS” & SLANG FOR “CHICK” IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE) | LUCAS DE LIMA

if the dream is to go beyond empire

if the dream is to stretch our extremities

all the way thru

if o poder emana do povo

POETRY: BESIEGED | SUE SCAVO

you are here to annihilate to shatter

to bring fire must I be blaze

lose myself lose what is not am I not

you are here will there be I will bear

anything left all that remains

ASTERISMS

REMEDIOS: A LOVE LETTER TO MOTHERHOOD (FROM A WOMAN WHO DOES NOT WANT CHILDREN) | LAURA GÓMEZ

It’s been years trying to figure this out. Is something wrong with me for not wanting children? Surely being a mother is the most beautiful, fulfilling role any woman gets to play. I’ve been told this, my whole existence, by society, by movies, by strangers.

REMEDIOS: ON VINYL, THIS LOVE: A CONVERSATION WITH CAROL C. | CAROL C. & ANGIE CRUZ

She is the lead singer of Si*Sé; her music has been featured in numerous TV shows and films and she DJs all over the world. The Los Angeles Times described her musical style as “edgier than Sade, but more accessible than Everything But the Girl.” On July 12th she will release her solo album “Seven.”

MICROEDITORIAL: A MEDITATION ON POSSIBILITY IN ACADEMIA | LORGIA GARCIA PEÑA

I would urge us to talk beyond these awful violences, beyond the mourning and anger, to dig deeper into the “seamless” ways in which white supremacy shapes our institutions and every aspect of our lives. This is most evident in my location of work, in my subject position as a scholar of Latinx Studies.

REMEDIOS: DRAWING ON THE WALL | PHOEBE BOSWELL

It’s always a special install for me when I get to draw directly onto the walls of a gallery. I’m always so grateful for the process. Something about insisting myself on the space, something about the time and triumph of labour, something about the scars the charcoal finds (and works with) on the skin of the building, a result of a history of prior stories, prior hands, prior artworks and art-making

latest issue from Aster(ix):

unbound

In 2013 when we started Aster(ix), we didn’t know what we were committing ourselves to, but for the past five years the journal has been fueled with urgency, love and desire for a space that could house our wild tongue, imagination and vision…”

Aster(ix) Journal’s Winter 2018-2019 Issue, (Un)bound: Five Years of Asterisms, collects our favorite writing from the Asterisms section of the online journal, writing that embodies the spirit of Aster(ix) five years into our extraordinary adventure.

Purchase a copy »