"L _ _ _" A poetic study of relationships

By Dane Swan

"L _ _ _": A poetic study of relationships is the first in a series of collaborative projects that poet Dane Swan is loosely calling his "mixtape culture" series. For "L _ _ _" Dane invited members of his online social network to send their work on relationships. He was pleasantly surprised when he received over 20 responses to the call.

This anthology is the culmination of a project that has taken numerous months, and features the unique voices that the award winning poet admires. Poets from Canada and the US inspired by nature, urban environments and island roots create the diverse work of this collection.

The result? A powerful collection that travels from Gothic to urban verse, experimental work and everything in between.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dane Swan
• Release date: Oct 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301198078

Dane Swan

Dane Swan is a Bermuda raised, Toronto based, internationally published poet, writer, and musician. His first collection, Bending the Continuum was launched by Guernica Editions in the Spring of 2011. The collection was a recommended mid summer read by Open Book Toronto. In 2013 Dane was short listed for the Monica Ladell Award for his poem "Stopwatch."Dane is slated to be the February 2014 poet-in-residence for OpenBookToronto.com. In the Fall of 2015 Guernica Editions will be launching his second collection of poetry, "A Mingus Lullaby." Dane is also shopping a novella to various publishers.

Book preview

L _ _ _: A Poetic Study of Relationships

Dane Swan, Editor

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Dane Swan

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the creator.(s).

Contents

Preface

Prompt

Dianne Robinson

Faint

Psychology of Cheating

The Differences

Wes Ryan

If I...

Cathy Petch

Sarah

Soundly Sleepless

Superhero Strength

Gone Lover Gone

Mike Lipsius

Notebook

Pens

Jeannine Pitas

Terminal

Nostalgia

Feynmam's Flower

Our Own A-Maying

Addi Shabazz Stewart

A Few Thoughts on Love

Michelle Darby

Moonlight on the Introvert

Saturn's Orchard

Radiant Savage

baraka noel

the time traveler forgets... (excerpt)

Lisa Young

The New Maple

Things I Want To Do Before I Die

Love and Loss

List of Things I've Lost

First Morning at the Farm

Anthony Bansfield

in 1946

Bathtub Moments

Fly Like Eagles

Panthem

Adam F Davidson

Deconstruction of Living Self

Skeptic The Second

It's not Living

Envy Lil Stark

The Red Hat Theory

Cupid's Defeat

Sayre Croft

Sleep

The Wedding at Cana

Robert Downey Jr. Self Portrait, 1996.

Tomy Bewick

Sleeping Next to the Chainsaw

Falling in Love With a Stormcloud

Bänoo Zan

Assimilation

Electric Jon

Motel Lead

Else

The Weather Channel

anna Saini

The Story of Muse

Four Haiku

Mother Mary Full of Grace

Afterbirth

Pat Connors

That

Closure

Yogi Jogindra Siewrattan

Love

hold me

Eddy Da Original One David

Just Tuesday

get_christie_love

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54495 (02/06/06 15:35:01)

pad #28...

blame her)

Daniele D'onorio

diary of a broken duck

Finally

Lost in a Hallway

Mahlikah Awe:ri

Wade in the Water

Blood

Dane Swan

Sun Showers

RPG

Cold Remedies

Writer's block

Old Age

Collaborators (bios and notes)

Additional notes and acknowledgements

Preface

I want to create something that has an immediate impact.

That's what came across my mind when I decided to begin work on this project. In 2011 I launched my first book, the poetry collection Bending the Continuum with Guernica Editions. In 2012 I submitted my second manuscript to Guernica Editions, and early this year (2013) Guernica informed me that they will publish my next book late 2015/ early 2016.

Meanwhile, my twin brother DJ D-Mass, a long struggling musician, and music producer launched his first album-- a collection of songs that spanned over a decade. In 2012 graduate charted on multiple Campus radio stations, broke into CollegeRadioCharts.com's North American Urban ranks, and by the time that I learned of my successful second manuscript, independent artist DJ D-Mass had signed contracts with three record labels.

The best part of the music industry going digital is that immediacy. Meanwhile, the creative writing publishing industry (in Canada) is being dragged into the digital world kicking and screaming . So there I was, trying to figure out what to do to keep my name out there while waiting for my next book to make it to print.

These were my options:

1. Do the usual-- submit poems to literary magazines

2. Find a micro-publisher to publish a chapbook

3. Self-publish an e-book

4. Create something collaborative

I decided on number 4. I wanted to put together something inspired by the immediacy of the modern music industry. This series of projects should not be seen as poetry collections, or in this case an anthology, but rather as old-school mix-tapes inspired by the digital age. Hence the name of this series of projects: Mixtape Culture.

L _ _ _ explains itself so I won't go into too much detail here. I sent a prompt to a number of poets, and artistic minded friends via social media. Asked them to spread the word, and let things land where they did. What I received was poems from a wide range of sources: dub poets, slam poets, page poets, rappers, poetry event producers, even a visual artist submitted some writing (a poem and micro flash fiction of his made the collection). You'll notice that the prompt asks for visual art submissions. Visual art is part of this project. Initially, I saw this project more like an online magazine, but the quality of the work I received quickly changed my mind, and the focus became the poetry.

Well over a decade ago, when I started my poetic journey as a snot-nosed rapper, my brother told me that the reason my skills were respected was because the audience felt that they learned something personal. The audience felt they were part of the journey I was taking . Hopefully, this mix-tape allows you to see the poets, organizers and artists that inspire me as a poet. To be honest, I was not sure that I was going to include my own work. However, now I feel that placing my poetry besides so many dear friends and acquaintances tells a story that my younger self would have appreciated.

Prompt

(Originally posted early 2013 on a social media account)

Hope this finds you well,

For some unknown reason I've decided to put together an anthology of poetry in English. Loosely themed around the idea of relationships (with people, nature, inanimate objects, mathematical equations, etc) I'm looking for poems that break rules, are too long to publish, multiple genres, are in multiple languages (if one is English), transcribed spoken word pieces or raps that travel well to page, visual poems, etc., -- basically work that you want to get published but can't find a home (hence the broad theme).

Art: Even though this is not a print anthology it will still need