Editors' Notes

Maria Damon and Michelle Greenblatt
Jim Leftwich and Michelle Greenblatt
Sheila E. Murphy and Michelle Greenblatt

A Visual Conversation on Michelle Greenblatt's ASHES AND SEEDS with Stephen Harrison, Monika Mori | MOO, Jonathan Penton and Michelle Greenblatt

Letters for Michelle: with work by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Jeffrey Side, Larry Goodell, mark hartenbach, Charles J. Butler, Alexandria Bryan and Brian Kovich

Visual Poetry by Reed Altemus
Poetry by Glen Armstrong
Poetry by Lana Bella
A Eulogic Poem by John M. Bennett
Elegic Poetry by John M. Bennett
Poetry by Wendy Taylor Carlisle
A Eulogy by Vincent A. Cellucci
Poetry by Vincent A. Cellucci
Poetry by Joel Chace
A Spoken Word Poem and Visual Art by K.R. Copeland
A Eulogy by Alan Fyfe
Poetry by Win Harms
Poetry by Carolyn Hembree
Poetry by Cindy Hochman
A Eulogy by Steffen Horstmann
A Eulogic Poem by Dylan Krieger
An Elegic Poem by Dylan Krieger
Visual Art by Donna Kuhn
Poetry by Louise Landes Levi
Poetry by Jim Lineberger
Poetry by Dennis Mahagin
Poetry by Peter Marra
A Eulogy by Frankie Metro
A Song by Alexis Moon and Jonathan Penton
Poetry by Jay Passer
A Eulogy by Jonathan Penton
Visual Poetry by Anne Elezabeth Pluto and Bryson Dean-Gauthier
Visual Art by Marthe Reed
A Eulogy by Gabriel Ricard
Poetry by Alison Ross
A Short Movie by Bernd Sauermann
Poetry by Christopher Shipman
A Spoken Word Poem by Larissa Shmailo
A Eulogic Poem by Jay Sizemore
Elegic Poetry by Jay Sizemore
Poetry by Felino A. Soriano
Visual Art by Jamie Stoneman
Poetry by Ray Succre
Poetry by Yuriy Tarnawsky
A Song by Marc Vincenz


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I've written, more than once, at this site and elsewhere, about my friends Anne McMillen and Kurtice Kucheman, and how we, dropouts of various institutions and lifestyles, taught each other to write. I've talked about how we each brought our reading material and frames of reference, comparing notes, drafts, and philosophies, and thus started on our individual literary paths.

Kurt died on February 23rd, 2014. Almost three months later, I find I have less to write about that. I miss him, and I wish I spent more time with him. But Kurt's life and work was interesting. His death strikes me as less so. We tend to treat people's lives as stories, and their deaths as the end of the story; we tend to place too much emphasis on the stories' endings, and read ridiculous headlines such as “Mickey Rooney's Sad Final Days." But people don't have “a story" that ends at death, or even when everyone who knew them finally dies. Kurt is a person, whose influence on me and this site is, in my eyes, worth celebrating. His memory is worth a great deal to me. It is certainly worth this issue's dedication—an issue that is, coincidentally, a solid six months late.

I missed Kurt's funeral. I missed it to attend a literary conference, where I was able to briefly read and talk about his work. Literature is a funny business. Skipping Kurt's funeral to go on a business trip seems obscene. But literature is largely a volunteer business, and if I skipped the conference, I'd be leaving a number of volunteers, people I love and respect, in very uncomfortable positions.

And so this weird little (usually unprofitable) industry continues. Kurt studied hard, worked hard, wrote wonderfully, and died, leaving changes in the hearts of those who read him. I study hard, work hard, try (and often fail) to publish wonderful writers in grand style and (more problematically) a timely fashion. I hope that Kurt's work moves you before I die. Or afterward. It's all good.

A lot has happened in the time it took to put this issue together. Unlikely Books has released some incredible titles by Marc Vincenz and Larissa Shmailo. MadHat Press, where I am Managing Editor, has released some fantastic new titles. And Fulcrum: an anthology of poetry and aesthetics, which has honored me by making me their Managing Editor, is accepting submissions for its eighth issue—submissions are wide-open for the month of May. There have been reads in Seattle, Boston, New York, and Louisiana—all of which will eventually make their way to our YouTube channel.

In addition to being one of our tardiest issues, this is, by far, our biggest issue. An insane amount of work has gone into building it, and although I've spent many hours with Photoshop and my HTML editor, the majority of the work wasn't mine. Poetry Editor Michelle Greenblatt put together a massive selection of work, as well as a huge VISual POetry exhibit, with a full-sized gallery and feature of VISPOet Jim Leftwich—and then helped out with the fiction selections. Jeremy Hight interviewed artist after artist as he curated their work, and curated an on-going selection of slant-wise narrative exploration, Ethan has nowhere to go, recently released as a preview of this issue and always available here at Unlikely. Willis Gordon continued to do great work as our Political Editor, collecting a unique blend of perspectives and struggles, not least his own. And as I slipped and failed to perform various tasks, K.R. Copeland picked up the slack, in her new role as our Social Media Director. If this issue is late, I don't mind telling you that it's a beautiful one, and it is because of them.

So go read it. Kurt would've wanted you to.

I mean, he probably wouldn't have given a shit. But he would've read it, himself, which is frankly a better reason to check it out.

Jonathan Penton



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