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# NINETENTHS Press

Tell us ya worst.

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://ninetenthspress.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Pages

- [](https://ninetenthspress.com/) - Tell us ya worst.
- [ISSUE 2: SUMMER 2022](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/) - A NOTE ON THE THEME: MARRIAGE NON-FICTION STRAWBERRY PATCHWENDY LANE FACING DEMONSMARY JUMBELIC CUT DIAMONDSJILL VEADER FINDING A WAY INPOLLY INGRAHAM POETRY IN TÖÖLÖ, HELSINKI, 2010DAVID DE YOUNG WYOMING INTERROGATIVEMILTON JORDAN LOTS OF SECRETS TO LONG MARRIAGEGERARD SARNAT HOW TO PACK YOUR BAGSJAN HARRIS EMOTIONAL PRAGMATISM & THE LAST PRESENTLEAH MUELLER WHAT WE WANTLINDA MCCAULEY
- [CONTACT](https://ninetenthspress.com/contact/) - Questions? We ain't in.
- [ISSUE 1: SPRING 2022](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/) - LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-GRIEF: WELCOME TO NINETENTHS A NOTE ON THE THEME: PERENNIAL POETRY CASTING SHADOWS TO MAKE A MOLD OF ME & FEELING A WINTER WINTERJILLIAN BLACKWELL BILLY'S GOD IS A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEPANNE LYNN THOUGHTS THAT BUG MESARAH MORRIS NOVEMBER IDENTITY POEM & ROUGHED UPWILLIAM DORESKI THE WAY OF TIMETOM BARLOW HEAVY METALSKRYST
- [SUBMISSION GUIDELINES](https://ninetenthspress.com/submissions/) - NINETENTHS Quarterly Call For Submissions: CLOSED Thank you to everyone who has participated in this project. WE ACCEPT POETRY: 1-5 poems per reading period. No line limits. We are looking for narrative driven poetry that have characteristics of the confessional. We are unlikely to accept form poetry. While all art "lies to tell the truth"
- [ABOUT](https://ninetenthspress.com/about/) - NINETENTHS Press is part traditional curatorial project and part meditation on the inevitability of failure and loss. Often times it feels like 90% (or more) of the things we attempt end up not working out, are rejected, just fall short, less than satisfy. Some failures are preventable, others necessary. Some are personal, others societal, but
- [JOURNAL](https://ninetenthspress.com/quarterly/)
- [FOUR DRAWINGS / NICOLE MICHAUD](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/five-drawings-nicole-michaud/) - ARTIST STATEMENT These drawings and paintings were started as part of a daily practice during the period of Lent. This transformative time was chosen not for self-denial, but to find the kernel of something lost, and nurture it like a found seed. They are in a way, a reflection of the emotions of the day
- [ABOUT HATE / DESIRÉE JUNG](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/about-hate-desiree-jung/) - Video poem by Desirée Jung.Directed by Cristiane Oliveira. @aprimeiramortedejoana Art by Priscilla de Paula. @pridadepaula DESIRÉE JUNG / VANCOUVER BC, CANADADésirée Jung has been trying to ignore herself for her entire life, until life began to forget her too. The day that happened, a shadow covered her face and she was able to see a
- [LAST TIMES / KATHERINE EDGREN](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/last-times-katherine-edgren/) - Breaking track in the shelter of fragrant pinesis over for us. Our knees and hips protest.Instead of storing skis and poles forever,we donate them to a resale shop.The last time had come and gone. You always know the first time,but rarely see the last one coming. Afterwards,in the rearview mirror, you glimpsethe fork in the
- [LOTS OF SECRETS TO LONG MARRIAGE / GERARD SARNAT](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/lots-of-secrets-to-long-marriage-gerard-sarnat/) - Gottman says positive to negative bid ratio.Greatest Of All Time QB Brady bleats, Next play.Havrilesky advocates a very healthy dose of amnesia. GERARD SARNAT / PORTOLA VALLEY, CA Gerard Sarnat is an architecturally increasingly bent-out-of-shape marginalized 76 year-old with a history of disabling back pain, spinal stenosis, vertebral collapse and bilateral hip replacements. Patriarch and part
- [IN TÖÖLÖ, HELSINKI, 2010 / DAVID DE YOUNG](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/in-toolo-helsinki-2010-david-de-young/) - After Dean Young I said, let’s get married and you said, yes, we could live in your apartment in Finland, and I could get a job in IT and you could be a therapist, and I could bring my guitar, and you could organize our books by color, and we could have children and move to the suburbs, and
- [THEME: MARRIAGE](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/theme-marriage/) - The editors have been thinking a lot about marriage lately. The reason? Simple. We got married two months ago. The prompt followed: Our dog doesn't like it when we kiss. She rejects "We are not two, we are one." She whines "We are not two, we are three." We think it might be possible that
- [MONSTERA DELICIOSA & NIGHTSHADE / R.K. JANTZI](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/monstera-deliciosa-nightshade-r-k-jantzi/) - R. K. JANTZI / ALLENTOWN, PA Having developed and then quit many toxic vices (drinking, smoking, self harm, disordered eating, abusive and inappropriate relationships, and promiscuity,) Rachel K Jantzi is now left with the unquittable food, a number of chronic health problems and impending surgeries, and the label of "obese" that she acquired while growing her
- [EMOTIONAL PRAGMATISM & THE LAST PRESENT / LEAH MUELLER](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/emotional-pragmatism-the-last-present-leah-mueller/) - Emotional Pragmatism At 63, I expectlittle from life,and even lessfrom romance. Just somebodyto vacuum my floor, fix my broken screen,wipe the crumbsfrom my kitchen counter, and give me orgasmsthree times a week, without driving mebonkers from boredomin the process. Let’s face facts:it’s hard to livewith anybody. They all fart inthe bedroom,say stupid shit,and snore. What
- [IN EVERY MARRIAGE THERE WILL BE QUANTUM SUICIDE & PROPERTIES OF ACIDS / ALICE CAMPBELL ROMANO](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/in-every-marriage-there-will-be-quantum-suicide-properties-of-acids-alice-campbell-romano/) - IN EVERY MARRIAGE THERE WILL BE QUANTUM SUICIDE If I shoot myself on this patio, the theory goes, I survivein Many-Worlds. Each path doesn’t simply quitafter it bends at the yellow undergrowth. I stomped, I cried, I threw things. I screamed at Mother.Husband—did I choose you as my lover or my penance?Many-Worlds: Where Mother doesn’t
- [FACING DEMONS / MARY JUMBELIC](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/facing-demons-mary-jumbelic/) - I shuddered. The FEMA markings still stained the house fronts in New Orleans. It had been a decade since Katrina slammed into this Cajun town and I had first seen them. During the searches, rescue workers spray painted an X on buildings after they completed their tasks indicating the date, team number, hazards and people
- [WHAT WE WANT / LINDA MCCAULEY FREEMAN](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/what-we-want-linda-mccauley-freeman/) - I. I want an unblemished sky,a rope hammock, a baby. You want a fishing line,a lure, a largemouth bass. I don’t want black flies,the sun in my eyes, the brokenbranches. You don’t want. II. I hold your feet on my lapwhile we watch TV,rub my fingers againsttiny hairs. But when I moveunderneath to the smooth,callused
- [HOW TO PACK YOUR BAGS / JAN HARRIS](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/how-to-pack-your-bags-jan-harris/) - I want to start by saying I am sorry for these habits that upset youI want to start by saying I am a Libra and conflict avoidantI want to mention all the generous things you have done for meI’ll be honest and say I still love you which is why I want to say there are
- [WYOMING INTERROGATIVE / MILTON JORDAN](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/wyoming-interrogative-milton-jordan/) - Do you remember that table, woodenwith benches attached, where we stopped one Junein Pinedale for lunch and debatedif or not we had sat at that same tablethree years back in September returningfrom our late season visit to Glacier,not the time we stayed at the rustic logBoulder Inn so new you smelled fresh cut timber,but before
- [FINDING A WAY IN / POLLY INGRAHAM](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/finding-a-way-in-polly-ingraham/) - It wasn’t unusual to get mail from the church where my husband serves as rector, but this particular April letter was out of the ordinary. “The garden tour subcommittee met last week. We have made a number of decisions and have left some up to you. We hope that you will be willing to sell
- [STRAWBERRY PATCH / WENDY LANE](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/strawberry-patch-wendy-lane/) - There is a small patch of garden next to the house that is the only place we can grow plants requiring full sun. My spouse Judy and I planted strawberries there and gathered dead pine needles to fertilize the soil. The heirloom seedlings we transplanted from wild strawberries have grown reliably every year with small,
- [CUT DIAMONDS / JILL VEADER](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue-2-summer-2022/cut-diamonds-jill-veader/) - i. clarity When a diamond is cut perfectly, the light will travel through it without any refraction, leaving only a sparkling, pure carbon gem. Most diamonds—in your earrings, your wedding band, a tennis bracelet—are flawed in some way; small imperfections that only a trained eye is able to notice. My father is one of those
- [THEME: PERENNIAL](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/theme-perennial/) - Two months ago we put out a prompt and a paragraph: Here, and here again. Gone sometimes, but never forever. Oh, you again? Yeah, this again. We seem to be repeating ourselves. What a relief. What a bastard! What a bore. With spring comes flowers waking, clothes stripping, sun staying. The habits you crave and
- [ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AS A METAPHOR FOR THE UNENDING STRUGGLE YOU ARE TO ME AND I AM TO YOU / AARON SANDBERG](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/assassination-attempt-as-a-metaphor-for-the-unending-struggle-you-are-to-me-and-i-am-to-you-aaron-sandberg/) - I hearthe shufflebehind meand my thumbs slipunder yourgarrote wireand we trip eachother tothe floorwhere we scuffle, dumb,fear inour foureyes—forever. AARON SANDBERG / SCHAUMBURG, IL Aaron Sandberg is haunted by his memories of the future from childhood. He searches for symptoms of privacy in his private browser. He fears his writing will write him back. He
- [THE WAY OF TIME / TOM BARLOW](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/the-way-of-time-tom-barlow/) - Our wedding album, and I am challenged to name the faces in the guest photos.I fail miserably. My mind has been coming apart a stitch at a time, like the rag doll my sister wrestled from our dog Willie's mouth, who had thrashed it to break its cotton neck. Isn't that the way of memory, to nail a trivial
- [UNTIL THE PAVEMENT / RILEY WINCHESTER](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/until-the-pavement-riley-winchester/) - The road had always been unpaved. It ran east to west and was nothing but compacted dirt while the north-south road that it intersected was paved and busy with traffic. Then one morning the east-west road was paved. The first morning it was paved, I stopped at the intersection like I did every day. I
- [TWO POEMS / WILLIAM DORESKI](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/two-poems-william-doreski/) - November Identity Poem The first snow is hardly a cruston the sloping old graveyard.Dogwalkers tromp alongwith their friendly pets grinning. You were describing your dreamof Holland, where tulip fieldsgive way to vast cities of sex.Pale bodies rumpled with abuse gyrate in windmill danceschoreographed to flatter touristsfrom nations less palpably nubile.Why should you dream such stuff
- [TWO POEMS / JILLIAN BLACKWELL](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/two-poems-jillian-blackwell/) - Casting shadows to make a mold of me Dry lick of a hillside the nape of the neck grass tuftsa crow crabs around the interior of my head like the thoughts clattering in the tree branches. They are black as raisins from far away, black as dismay, a month when I begin to sleep in
- [THOUGHTS THAT BUG ME / SARAH MORRIS](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/thoughts-that-bug-me-sarah-morris/) - I.What delight to while a morning awaywandering along a dew-draped trailstretching itself sturdy in the sun stripes stillfreshly cracked from the chipper dawn breaking.I feel the glory-glory-hallelujah of it all:I stand and pledge allegiance to the birds’ roll call,I press my feet into Earth’s generous ground,I notice her soiland I wonder about wormsand how it
- [HEAVY METALS / KRYST LE GRIF](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/heavy-metals-kryst-le-grif/) - 1.I drag from the cigarette stolen from your lipThe filter absorbing nicotine, chemicals and spitI suck in the smoke pretending it’s you. 2.Tequila soaked air floating above us as we harmonize deep breathsA drunken stupor slumber, two cretins folded in blanketsAnd a deep ache for more that I burrow. 3.Tangled deep in sheets and anchored
- [TWO PAINTINGS / LAUREN DOYLE](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/two-paintings-lauren-doyle/) - LAUREN DOYLE / PHILADELPHIA, PA Lauren Doyle believes you can break your own heart by freezing it in layers of thick ice then chisel away with an ice pick. She sees death as a close friend who stands beside her but whispers nothing. Her fails her by not allowing her to eat all the cheese
- [THE YEARNING SPACE / R.K. JANTZI](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/the-yearning-space-rachel-k-jantzi/) - ARTIST STATEMENT As a traditionally trained artist and writer, I find great pleasure in the space where word and emotional expression meet sculptural form and texture. This piece breaks the boundaries of the static word as it turns through and around the concept of love and loss and the ever-presence of a relationship that no
- [SEVEN DRAWINGS / NICOLE MICHAUD](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/seven-drawings-nicole-michaud/) - ARTIST STATEMENT These drawings are some of my fumblings with honesty, with silence breaking. They are made to manifest turbulent memory and emotional turmoil, outside of the realm of secrets. NICOLE MICHAUD / PHILADELPHIA, PA Ms. Michaud is haunted by memories of repeat childhood sexual assault. There was other abuse, too, by family and others.
- [SENSE MEMORIES / BETH HEANEY](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/sense-memories-beth-heaney/) - Once a year, it smells like that first summer in Philly. On the seventh floor in the Pine dormitories with no air conditioning, and the windows thrown open. Hearing the unfamiliar sounds on the street, in a strange place away from the suburbs for the first time. The third week of the intensive college life
- [QUIJA / JAMESY TURNER](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/quija-jamesy-turner/) - JAMESY TURNER / BALTIMORE, MD As an artist, Jamesy has worked exclusively in horror for most of his life. Exploring and communicating personal horrors has been a lifelong process for him. Confronting feelings of grief related to loss of relationships and the death of loved ones has been a part of that process. Jamesy believes
- [MY FAMILY ONCE TOLD ME / BRYANA LORENZO](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/my-family-once-told-me-bryana-lorenzo/) - My grandmother once asked when I’d write her life story into a novel like I promised when I was eight. I’d write it in Spanish—obviously, even if my turns of tongue and word choice could only rival a kindergartner. But I’ll figure it out. I come from poets. I come from storytellers. Safe to say—I
- [LIFE CYCLE / PHOEBE FM](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/life-cycle/) - PHOEBE FM / PHILADELPHIA, PA Phoebe is far too familiar with death. It has given her wisdom she would have preferred to learn later in life and caused her to hate condolence cards. Why do people take themselves to the card aisle of the grocery store, choose a card with a wilted flower on it,
- [LETTER FROM THE EDITOR](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/letter-from-the-editors/) - I am fueled by envy, a trait I’ve found most people are loathe to admit they also possess. That familiar pull when I encounter something that makes me envious creates cords around my self worth that I can’t unbind until, almost in spite of myself, I am hurtling toward the creation of the life I
- [FIVE SONG DRAWINGS / KIT LAYFIELD](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/five-songs-kit-layfield/) - KIT LAYFIELD / PHILADELPHIA, PA Kit Layfield is an Illustrator living in the city of Philadelphia. Although, capable of minor amusements, he has failed create anything that does not fall into one of two buckets, utterly insufferable pretentious junk or pathetically low brow pleads for attention. He has been trying to do something creative for
- [FEBRUARY 23 2022 / JAY SMITH](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/jay-smith/) - JAY SMITH / OLD HICKORY, TN Jay watched her uncle die at the age of 13 (she was, not him, he was 64). The shape of his hands never left her mind. She started writing to forget, but also to remember. Funny how that works. She stopped going to church that summer. She realized the
- [BILLY'S GOD IS A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP / ANNE LYNN](https://ninetenthspress.com/issue1/billys-god-is-a-good-nights-sleep-anne-lynn/) - Sometimes I have to try to remember the word surrender I start by remembering the letter S and then it comes to meAnd I vaguely remember a corner storeBut not the corner It was the day I met Billy's god She would later ensure us that her god was big (really really big)Big enough to know
- [CHAPBOOKS](https://ninetenthspress.com/chapbooks/)
- [SHOP](https://ninetenthspress.com/shop/) - Coming soon