Editor's Reflection on Visual Poetry 2023 Award Winners

By Bacopa Literary Review Poetry Co-Editor Oliver Keyhani

Honorable mention: "1040A" - Sara Adams

In visual poetry, an image is created. In some instances, the image challenges the viewer in an uncertain manner. Maybe it is something familiar, something cultural, something that defines a key characteristic of our society, but altered, almost disturbing in a nearly unconscious manner. We know something is missing, and it can be that very missing space which reminds us of the fragile nature of individual identity in the amalgamation of our social contract.

What is more universal than death and taxes? But what if the taxes themselves were effaced? What if all the numbers: income, social security, withholdings—the numbers that define our transactional society, were removed, save one? Save the one that is us? This is what Sara Adams does in this deceptively simple rendering of the ubiquitous 1040A form. The visual impact seems impersonal, nothing to make the individual, a bureaucratic white space, save for the "1", the zeroes, and the final "1". The "1" that reminds us we are there.

Visual Poetry Award Winner: "Snow" - CJ Sheu 

There are many diverse iterations of what constitutes visual poetry. In one aspect, actual discernable letters are used. However, these letters can move, mutate, rearrange themselves in ways that can direct and/or challenge the eye or gaze. No two letters, no two words, no two poems seem alike in CJ Sheu's "Snow". Like its referential title, the type seems to fall down the page, white on black, like a gentle snowstorm in the night. But the darkness brings with it some apprehension, as if something not quite perceived, not quite understood. When you look at the "snow" some disconcerting or disturbing voices are seen: "no", "no no", "on", "won", "now", "own". These emerge and fade back into the "snow". The visual nature cannot be ignored; the "w"s, the "o"s, the "n"s, and the "s"s all seem to lull the eye. The overall effect is surprising, a combination of calm and disorientation, an impressive accomplishment!

What do we look for in terms of visual poetry? The two award winners offer examples, but not limits for submission. Much in a basic way, is subjective. However, several points can be kept in mind. (1) If we have many submissions of one kind: for example, poems in the shape of an object, e.g., an animal, vegetable, etc., we are likely to only take one such visual poem-be unexpected. (2) We are limited regarding the size of the page and color can be problematic-those are some unfortunate limits, so please see if your visual poem would translate well and in enough detail in the format of the journal. (3) We are not just looking for interesting and appealing images, there must be some element of poetry—be able to define that in your mind and hopefully we will be able to see it too.

About the contributors:

Sara Adams’ chapbooks include Poems for Ivan (Porkbelly Press), Western Diseases (dancing girl press), Think Like a B (Trump erasure poems; SOd press; free to download!). and six Ghost City Press Summer Series Micro-chaps (also free to download). Check out more of Sara’s work, including chapbook links, at kartoshkaaaaa.com.

Chingshun J. Sheu is Assistant Professor of Applied English at Ming Chuan University in Taoyuan, Taiwan. He's also Taiwan's premier Anglophone film critic, indexed on Rotten Tomatoes as CJ Sheu. Tweet at him @cj_sheu.

Bacopa Literary Review 2024 Editorial Team

Editor in Chief J.N. Fishhawk is a poet and freelance writer. A founding co-host of the Civic Media Center’s open mic Thursday Night Poetry Jam, he is also the author of three chapbooks and Postcards from the Darklands, ekphrastic poems accompanying artwork by artist Jorge Ibanez. He is co-creating the ongoing World of Whim Sea children’s book series with illustrator Johnny Rocket Ibanez at fishhawkandrocket.com.

Managing Editor T. Walters is a poet, writer, and musician living among the orange trees. Their work appears in Nymeria Publishing’s Descendants of Medusa. Books, baking bread, and pulling needles through thread make up a significant portion of their life. They live to connect, create, and marvel at nature’s many wonders.

Poetry Co-Editor J. Nishida holds a BA, MA, and EdS, as well as a TESOL graduate certificate. She is active in the local poetry community as an organizer, teacher, editor, and performer, and is a co-host of the Thursday Night Poetry Jam at the Civic Media Center. She was Bacopa 2021’s Fiction Editor and will lead a poetry workshop for the 2024 Bard & Broadside North Central Florida Poetry Festival.

Fiction and Flash Fiction Editor Alec Kissoondyal is an undergraduate at the University of Florida pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English. His fiction has been published in Zephyr Literary Journal, Bacopa Literary Review, The Bookends Review, Roadrunner Review, Let’s Stab Caesar! Magazine, Retro Press Magazine, Drunk Monkeys Magazine, The Centifictionist, and The Los Angeles Review. He has a forthcoming short story to be released in Cornice Magazine.

Poetry Co-Editor Oliver Keyhani is a visual and performance artist, poet, and writer. He is a member of the Gainesville Fine Arts Association and a founding member of the Carousel of Souls Curiosities Circus Troupe (CoSCCT). His short experimental poem-play “Children of Gaia” has been produced at the Tank Theater in NYC. His hybrid visual-poetry works the “dada manuscripts”: thé avec dada and the book of dada dandies have received international acclaim, with forthcoming releases planned.

Creative Nonfiction Editor Stephanie Seguin studied English Literature and French at the University of Florida. She has published humor, short fiction, and personal memoir and spent over fifteen years as a freelance editor and teacher of languages.

Social Media Manager Mary Ansell, an outreach librarian by day, lives and creates in Gainesville, Florida. Her writing has appeared in The Inflectionist Review, Whale Road Review, and Pithead Chapel. Find her literature recommendations on Instagram @once.and.future.reads.

Editor Emerita Mary Bast‘s creative nonfiction, poetry, and flash memoir have appeared in a number of print and online journals, and she’s author, co-author, or contributor to eight professional books from her career as a psychologist, leadership consultant, and Enneagram coach. Bast is also a visual artist.