on poetry & being human

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on community

& film recs, reading recs, tweets, etc.

Despy Boutris
Feb 16, 2022
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Share this post

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despyboutris.substack.com

Hi. Hello. Welcome.

I’m here with a Wednesday post this week because I have 1) time and 2) things to say. Thank you for reading!

Here’s what I have for you today:

  • Housekeeping

    • Film recs

    • A new zine

  • What I read last week

  • On community

  • Tweets


Housekeeping:

My fiction collection remains available for preorders:

Twitter avatar for @BullCityPress
Bull City Press 🐂 @BullCityPress
"We learned the hollow of a throat is maybe also heaven, and a boy’s lips are good for so much more than just keeping his mouth shut” @itsdbouts from BURIALS #Inch50 #ComingSoon bullcitypress.com/product-catego…
Image
3:30 PM ∙ Feb 16, 2022
8Likes3Retweets

& film recs:

This week, I’ve been perusing old issues of Femme Fatale for research/archival purposes. And, in doing so, I’ve gathered a bunch of horror/thriller film titles with lesbian undertones (or overtones!).

Here’s the list—and bear in mind that I haven’t seen any of these yet:

  • Velvet Vampire

  • The Hunger

  • Daughters of Darkness

  • The Haunting

  • Dracula’s Daughter

  • Terror from the Crypt

  • Vampyres

  • The Killing of Sister George

  • The In Crowd

  • Mulholland Drive

  • Showgirls

  • Double Exposure

  • Fugitive Rage

  • Hot Blades

  • The Hunger

  • The Haunting of Morella

  • Mercy

  • Plan B

  • Chained Heat

  • Embrace of the Vampire

  • Wild Things

  • The Hot Spot

  • Barbarella

  • The Devil’s Wedding Night

  • The Forsaken

  • Deadlier than the Male

  • Another Woman’s Lipstick

  • Jack and Jill and Jill

  • Pendulum


& I have a new zine

available for purchase, with work from my memoir-in-progress.

You can swipe through some excerpts here:

dbouts
A post shared by dbouts (@dbouts)

And you can purchase it here.


What I read last week:

  • The Real Bad Art Friend Is the Horrible Political Economy of Writing

  • Lesbianism Made Easy, Helen Eisenbach (extremely funny; highly recommend)

Twitter avatar for @itsdbouts
Despy Boutris @itsdbouts
anyways i am thoroughly enjoying helen eisenbach’s “lesbianism made easy”
Image
Image
3:32 AM ∙ Feb 16, 2022

On community:

I address this a little in Publishing Poems: An Easy Guide and in being a good literary citizen, but it bears repeating, so here we are.

This week, I read “The Real Bad Art Friend Is the Horrible Political Economy of Writing,” which argues that

the jealousies, backbiting, and professional sniping stereotypically associated with artists, and recently spotlighted by a viral New York Times culture piece, are actually the product of the daunting and merciless political economy they’re forced to operate in.

In other words: that the pettiness in which (some) writers participate is inevitable because of the competition for resources that comes from the scarcity model.

The author writes,

What if this kind of poisonous behavior is exactly what happens when human beings are forced to compete for scraps at a steadily dwindling economic banquet?

[…]

Dorland and Larson’s own colleague, author Steve Almond, has urged readers to try and understand that the two are “human beings, writers living in an era . . . in which it often feels impossible (especially for writers early in their careers) to believe their stories will ever get published and read.”

The author then goes into depth about just how depressing the field of writing & creative writing & academia is, and it’s quite depressing, so I won’t share the numbers here.

I am interested, though, in this idea of competition-as-necessity, due to our material realities and—even more so—the ways in which we can subvert this expectation through community, mutual aid, and efforts toward enabling other people’s success.

Here, again, are a few ways you can build community as opposed to buying into the long-held model of scarcity.

  • When you like a writer’s work, say so.

  • Review books you love for literary journals.

  • Share their work with others.

  • Solicit from writers you like (as an editor).

  • Alert your friends/acquaintances about job openings, grants, and other opportunities that might be of interest.

  • Tell your press about manuscripts you’ve read that they might like.

  • Buy more books!

  • Pay writers for their work (as an editor).

  • Start a reading series.

  • Attend readings.

  • Participate in a mentorship program.

  • Mentor on your own.

In a previous post, I summarized what being a good community-member means for me:

  1. being generous with your praise

  2. interrogating gatekeeping, inequity, and unethical behavior from The Powers That Be, and

  3. seeking to help build a more inclusive and just future within the literary world at large.


Tweets:

Twitter avatar for @imjustinrandall
Justin Randall @imjustinrandall
Happy pride it’s not too late to become gay if you’re considering it
3:24 PM ∙ Jun 28, 2020
1,033Likes172Retweets
Twitter avatar for @carebearscare91
careys a girls name @carebearscare91
Sure unfollowing toxic muscle gays is great but have you ever tried unfollowing gays with big apartments
6:56 PM ∙ Jun 23, 2020
94Likes7Retweets
Twitter avatar for @BullCityPress
Bull City Press 🐂 @BullCityPress
"We learned the hollow of a throat is maybe also heaven, and a boy’s lips are good for so much more than just keeping his mouth shut” @itsdbouts from BURIALS #Inch50 #ComingSoon bullcitypress.com/product-catego…
Image
3:30 PM ∙ Feb 16, 2022
9Likes3Retweets
Twitter avatar for @pshares
Ploughshares @pshares
"The news insists this summer’s the hottest/ on record, that the flames won’t stop,/ the drought will drag on." Read @itsdbouts's poem "Elegy for the Woods, and Innocence" in the Winter 2021-22 Issue of Ploughshares: pshr.us/Winter2021-22
Image
1:06 PM ∙ Feb 16, 2022
10Likes2Retweets
Twitter avatar for @mattxiv
matt @mattxiv
tbh i don’t think the kim kanye stuff is funny or entertaining i think it’s scary and triggering for anyone who’s been in a stalking/abusive situation before
Image
Image
3:43 AM ∙ Feb 15, 2022
73,064Likes8,545Retweets
Twitter avatar for @_schittscreek
out of context schitt's creek @_schittscreek
Schitt’s Creek Singles Week. David and Patrick in Rose Apothecary. Patrick Brewer to David Rose captioned “You're my Mariah Carey.” David wincing in response.
Schitt’s Creek Singles Week. David and Patrick in Rose Apothecary. Patrick Brewer to David Rose captioned “You're my Mariah Carey.” David wincing in response.
6:45 PM ∙ Feb 14, 2022
3,914Likes523Retweets
Twitter avatar for @gabehudson
Gabe Hudson @gabehudson
I’m fucking horrified & outraged that a new week is upon us
8:06 PM ∙ Feb 14, 2022
102Likes5Retweets

Now, speaking of community & community-building, go forth & email a writer whose work you love. And preorder my chapbook so I can buy myself some bagels.

And, as always, thank you for being here—

-Despy Boutris

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