FLAWN #3 - April 2023
A monthly newsletter of events, shout-outs, interviews, and bite-sized pieces of creative work from the Florida Local Artist & Writer Network (FLAWN).
A Piece of FLAWN
Welcome to our third serving of FLAWN. If you enjoy what you find here, be sure to subscribe, and you’ll get our monthly newsletter in your e-mail inbox once per month! Desktop view allows for optimal viewing.
Subscribers can also submit one piece of writing (<500 words), art, or multimedia content for guest post consideration. As we want to promote the arts in Florida, we’ll consider pieces submitted by those who live in the state, were born here, or whose work is somehow inspired by the state. All genres are welcome.
To submit, email FLAWNinfo@gmail.com.
Submissions: Calendar of Events
We are currently working on a calendar of art and literary events. We're a volunteer-based group, so if anyone has experience with wide-scale calendars please drop us a line at FLAWNinfo@gmail.com.
Have an event to submit?
In the meantime, you are welcome to submit an event through the button below if you are a FLAWN subscriber. Keep in mind that we are still working out the logistics of a calendar, so events before May 2023 might not be included.
This Month’s Slice of Art
Interview with Acclaimed Visual Artist Dustin Harewood
Acclaimed visual artist (and fellow Wu-head) Dustin Harewood shares his wisdom, experiences and perspective in this interview with FLAWN. Through paint and collage, Dustin expresses themes of multiculturalism and the consequences of industrialization and colonialism, as well as his travels across Barbados, Japan and the US. A sample of Dustin’s work is below—for more, visit his website at DustinHarewood.com.
Guest Post! Roots By Vanessa Frances Cleo loved her tomato plant. She stored it on the top shelf of her bathroom, where the humidity was plentiful, and the corners of its leaves could reach up against the glass towards the sunlight. The plant was just two months old but had already given her five plump cherry tomatoes. Each was a delightful deep red, bursting on her teeth and filling her mouth with seeds. The only thing Cleo liked nearly as much as tomatoes were strawberries. She wasn’t sure why; maybe it was something about the color red. Today was Saturday, and the humidity was overflowing in Cleo’s bathroom, filling it with dense heat. Cleo tried taming her unruly hair, picking knots from her matted, graying blonde hair. She thought it was important to look her best today, smudging brown eyeshadow across her eyelids. For the first time in a month, Cleo had plans today. She had a date. The date was tonight at seven, at a restaurant just a few miles from her house. It looked like a nice place, according to the photos she’d pulled up on Google: tall white columns, huge open windows, and wooden floors. She couldn’t believe in all the years she’d lived here that, she’d never seen this place before. Had she known about it, she’d have begged several past suitors to take her through the solid wood doors, showing her off on their arm to the other patrons. Nevertheless, Cleo was excited. After reading the menu online, she knew that the restaurant served seafood, and Cleo had written down what she might like to order in a notebook she’d slid into the pale green purse she was planning on wearing tonight. The problem was she didn’t have a single dress to match. Deciding that wouldn’t be a problem, Cleo swung open the bathroom door back into her bedroom, nearly tripping on the boxes scattered all over the floor. She’d find a dress made to make the whole restaurant notice. In her excitement for this evening, Cleo had strewn clothes all around the room, looking for something to match the green purse. The fabric of multiple skirts and dresses clumped into canyons across her bedroom's landscape, casting the tight space in a kaleidoscope of color. Still, none of them fit the image she had in her head of what she wanted to look like tonight. Marching back through the discarded fabric, Cleo felt her foot brush against something heavy on the floor. Looking down, Cleo discovered she’d knocked over her bookshelf last night in the frenzy. It had gotten lost underneath the eighth wonder of the world she’d carved out of her bedroom, the bottom wooden corner barely visible from underneath an array of fabric. Carefully, she lifted the heavy bookshelf onto the top of her back, pushing it up against the wall until it was fully upright. Vanessa Frances is the author of three poetry collections, written through her teenage and young adult life. She holds a BA in Digital Journalism and Media from Pennsylvania State University and is pursuing an MS in Environmental Law from Vermont Law and Graduate School. She works as a marketer, managing editor, musician, and dog walker. Through Neighboring Windows is her first full-length collection. Visit Vanessa Frances @faaemusic on Instagram.
Lesbian Barbie by Dustin Brookshire Plastic body to plastic body in the toy box with all the other Barbies. She’s horrified when her arm that was left reaching for the sky is now up Christmas Barbie’s ball gown. (She respects consent.) People think she’s good with power tools, could build a deck or add a room to the Barbie Dreamhouse, but she’s never held a drill. (She can’t!) Lesbian Barbie is envious of Made to Move Baseball Player Barbie’s 22 joints—some in the neck, wrists, torso, and hips— that allow for, as Mattel says, Lots of flexibility and an incredible range of movement. She knows with joints she’d be a player, hopes to join Mattel’s baseball team, at least one Baseball Player Barbie has to be a lesbian too. “Lesbian Barbie” was originally published in the Florida-based Gulf Stream Magazine. The poem is also included in the chapbook Never Picked First For Playtime (Harbor Editions), which is a tribute to Floridian Denise Duhamel’s 1997 classic, Kinky. South Florida writer, Caridad Moro-Gronlier, says this about Never Picked First For Playtime: "Dustin Brookshire's Never Picked First For Playtime is an astute take on contemporary society as seen through a Barbie tinted lens. Brookshire proves masterful at providing keen observations through short, laser sharp poems that unpack an assortment of modern day issues that include COVID protocols, anti-vaxxing crusaders, the MAGAverse, systemic racism, homophobia, a Biblical origin story for misogyny, a portrait of political chicanery, and the middle aged right of passage that is a colonoscopy. Brookshire goes as far as to deconstruct one of our national treasures through one of his deliciously wry and bite sized pieces--the Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuit. At turns poignant, hilarious, cheeky and deadly serious, Never Picked First For Playtime needs not fear the fate of its title--this beauty is destined to be picked up again and again."
Sakura
by Boy in the Rain
Penny Pleas By Brianna Johnson “Use me, please?” begged Penny. “Flip me, flick me, throw me….” It hopped around the pocket. “Abuse me, please?” It curled in the warmth of a palm. It nipped at fingertips. “Yes, that’s it, spend me!” Penny felt a rush of air. It saw sky then ground then sky. It felt joy. It felt worth. It felt loved. Penny landed in dark and wet. Stench. Rot. Cold. “Make a wish!” demanded Penny. “Please?” This micro story was originally published in crag magazine.
new nature! By Tyler Gillespie I dressed myself in choral & kelp, then dove headfirst to drink the tides, I say to my grandma over the phone. She hates when I talk in metaphors, but, darling, I’m a poet born of deep waters. She tells me, I’m gonna let you go. I walk to the corner store & buy cigarettes. I quit smoking when I gave up drinking oceanwater, but I still finger packs & fight my nature. Marlboro Reds, a loaf of bread. I feed the goose: He’s my least favorite bird. He isn’t beautiful as a cardinal or regal like the eagle. I bring him dinner to make amends for the ugly parts of me I only talk about in metaphors. I should forgive myself, I know, but buying bread is so much easier. In the park’s lake, the lonely alligator sings. I’ve always loved these reptiles. They don’t hide their teeth. I eat the goose’s bread in solidarity with the gator & head back home. There’s a voice mail from my grandma, but I wait a week to hear her say: Next time remember there are some bugs who burrow without ever once looking at the sky. "new nature!" was commissioned by Keep St. Pete Lit in partnership with the Foundation for Healthy St. Petersburg, PEIMS, and Art Xchange for the You Good? art show to help promote mental health awareness. It's also included in the nature machine! forthcoming in May from Autofocus. You can pre-order here. The launch will feature Heather Sellers and Kaitlin Crockett and will take place on May 10th, 7PM, at Tombolo Books. You can get free tickets here.
New(ish) pod, who dis?
By Ryan Rivas
Back in 2020 I heard this great literary podcast. When I realized the hosts were based in Orlando, I thought: Fuck yeah! Hosts Dennie Wang and Veronica Smith are vulgar, they are geniuses, they are The Vulgar Geniuses, and they have since grown their pod (notable guests include Kiese Laymon! Xochitl Gonzalez!! Jonathan Escoffery!!!) into a multi-platform company spotlighting writers and artists of color.
I was super pleased to hear that they’ll be launching a new reading series this month: Midnight Marauders Story Hour will take place at 8pm at Stardust Video & Coffee in Orlando on Sunday April 16. » Save the date & we can get down! «
Yours truly will have the honor of reading alongside fellow FLAWN member Brianna Johnson, as well as the amazing Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, and Michelle Lizet Flores. If you’re in the area, we hope to see you there. Keep it rollin’.
The Writer’s Corner
The Writer’s Corner is a monthly installment in which Dustin Brookshire interviews writers residing in Florida with a focus on south Florida writers. The April installment features Miami-Dade poet Clayre Benzadon. Clayre received her MFA from the University of Miami and currently works full-time as an educator at Miami Dade College. Her chapbook, Liminal Zenith was published by SurVision Books in 2019. She was awarded the Alfred Boas (BOE-AS) Poetry Prize for "Linguistic Rewilding,” was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has been published in places including ANMLY, Olney Magazine, and SWWIM.
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