https://doublymad.org Doubly Mad Sun, 19 Oct 2025 23:14:32 +0000 https://doublymad.org en https://doublymad.org/Home Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:26:34 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/Home DOUBLY MADAN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL OF ARTS &amp; IDEAS︎ "Because the world is mad, / The only way through the world is to learn The arts and double the madness. Are you listening?" Robert Bly https://doublymad.org/About Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:26:37 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/About DOUBLY MAD AN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL OF ARTS &amp; IDEAS ︎ "Because the world is mad, The only way through the world is to learn The arts and double the madness.&nbsp; Are you listening?" Robert Bly Doubly Mad (ISSN: 2689-4424) is a division of The Other Side of Utica, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to representing the creative voices&nbsp; of Central New York and beyond. &nbsp; Doubly Mad is an annual literary and visual arts journal published by The Other Side of Utica, Inc. with support through granting organizations and our readers. Our aim is to publish excellent poetry, fiction, essays and visual art, with an emphasis on people working and living in Central New York, though not to the exclusion of our neighbors throughout the U.S. and around the world.&nbsp; <img width="1251" height="348" width_o="1251" height_o="348" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0cad10039fb9ab38179d9405b56caefcad0f00d847f9e1784b5cc8bb9bbf7bec/DM-Original-Banner.jpg" data-mid="49920912" border="0" data-scale="90" alt="Original Doubly Mad Logo, Circa 2003" data-caption="Original Doubly Mad Logo, Circa 2003" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0cad10039fb9ab38179d9405b56caefcad0f00d847f9e1784b5cc8bb9bbf7bec/DM-Original-Banner.jpg" /> Original Doubly Mad Logo, Circa 2004 Doubly Mad was started in 2004 by Orin and Kim Domenico, based out of their cafe in Utica, NY: The Cafe Domenico. The project has grown since then, but our mission remains to foster artists wherever they may live and work by providing them with an in-print venue to share the results of their efforts and imaginations. About Doubly Mad, Kim wrote:“The hermit [of Bly’s poem “Listening”] does not counsel escape or shopping or antidepressants or ‘living well is the best revenge,’ the popular responses to the pain and madness of the world. The madness is a fact...[But, the world] is where we can sing our own song or plant our own small business, restoring life to human scale. Doubling the madness suggests a healing, not a cure. Through this journal, we hope to entertain, provoke, amuse, inspire...In dark times it’s important not just to light candles, but to understand the fire didn’t really go out, you wandered off somewhere! Doubly Mad hopes to inspire the outsider in everyone and to honor the insider as well; and to contribute, in our way, to relearning the art of living locally; to reclaiming liberal arts and the humanities for everyone, enlarging the conversation, and expanding the range of our listening.” &nbsp;&nbsp; It is our conviction that art is a modus vivendi which everyone has the ability to pursue in their own fashion, whether on a “professional” level or for “personal satisfaction.” We disagree with the commonly held view that “art is useless.” On the contrary, our view is that devotion to an art is one of the surest ways, perhaps the only way, to liberate oneself from the top-down hegemony of our society, both in its overt and subtle manifestations, because devotion to an art begins with an assertion of an individual’s experience. To create requires a person to open, at least partially, to an intuitive self, which can instigate opportunities for reflection, self and social scrutiny, as well as celebration, mourning, humor — the gambit, essentially, of human experience. &nbsp; The result is a deepening knowledge and acceptance of oneself, and a deepening knowledge of our neighbors. The danger to any social structure which depends on complicity and obedience, which depends on consumption of ready-made products, is real. To anyone cynical of our position, we only ask one question: why are repressive authorities so eager to control or silence artists if art and art-making is such an ineffective endeavor?&nbsp; Masthead: William Welch &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Colleen Doody &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Ruth Ann DandreaMary Katherine Moylan&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Ann CareyThomas Townsley is our guest Poetry Editor for the upcoming 2026 issue!&nbsp; For general questions, or to inquire about an order, email us at: doublymadjournal@gmail.com Issues of DOUBLY MAD&nbsp;are available for purchase online HERE.&nbsp; GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY: Carl A. Rubino DONATE HERE https://doublymad.org/Doubly-Mad-Journal Mon, 25 Feb 2019 21:51:11 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/Doubly-Mad-Journal ︎︎ Journal Doubly Mad is an annual literary and visual arts journal published by&nbsp;The Other Side of Utica, Inc. with support through granting organizations and our readers. Our aim is to publish excellent poetry, fiction, essays, and visual art, with an emphasis on people working and living in Central New York, though not to the exclusion of our neighbors throughout the U.S. and around the world. Previous issues of Doubly Mad as well as contributors are featured below. <img width="924" height="1196" width_o="924" height_o="1196" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2ece505c972a21d7fa73e518f553ea58b158c9f33d4eb781cffb8ad6bf32bbc7/Doubly-Mad-2025-Front-Cover.png" data-mid="230468309" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/924/i/2ece505c972a21d7fa73e518f553ea58b158c9f33d4eb781cffb8ad6bf32bbc7/Doubly-Mad-2025-Front-Cover.png" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 12Spring 2025 Featuring: Joshua Ives (Cover, Artwork)&nbsp;︎︎︎ David Daniel (Fiction) Yuan Changming (Poetry) Lillian EJ Farias (Poetry) Carol Barrett (Poetry) Patrick Meeds (Poetry) Randall Watson (Poetry) Elaine Braunshweiger (Poetry) Kayla Belser (Nonfiction) Susana H. Case (Poetry)︎︎︎&nbsp; Eric Oman Callahan (Fiction) Peggy Liuzzi (Poetry) Francis Fernandes (Poetry) Leighton Schreyer (Poetry)︎︎︎&nbsp; Alexander Etheridge (Poetry) Abigail Drach (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Brad Rose (Poetry) ︎︎︎ &nbsp; Marjorie Power (Poetry) ︎︎︎ Bruce Cohen (Poetry) Stephanie McCarley Dugger (Poetry) Lech Kowalski (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Patrick Lawler (Poetry) Stephanie Roback (Essay) ︎︎︎ Thomas Townsley (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Orin Domenico (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Kim Domenico (Essay) Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Sherman Stein (Poetry)PURCHASE AT MAGCLOUD ︎ <img width="966" height="1280" width_o="966" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fb5d078ce7b020cabf32b8708e5f7f8dd1d3f7c3f0a240f5ea80dffe0e8e8764/Doubly-Mad-2024.png" data-mid="212365245" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/966/i/fb5d078ce7b020cabf32b8708e5f7f8dd1d3f7c3f0a240f5ea80dffe0e8e8764/Doubly-Mad-2024.png" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 11Spring 2024 Featuring: Veronica Juyoun Byun (Cover, Artwork)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Christian Paulisich (Poetry) John Grey (Poetry) S. G. Fromm (Poetry) Kate Polak (Poetry) Megan Lubey (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Chelsey Clammer (Nonfiction)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Sri Lal (Poetry) David James (Poetry) Matthew Kirby (Poetry) Andrew Robin (Poetry) Peter J. Dellolio (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ James Hartman (Fiction) Anastasia White (Fiction) Lisa Sultani (Poetry) Sara Mohr (Nonfiction)Thomas Townsley (Poetry)Orin Domenico (Poetry)Kim Domenico (Nonfiction)Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry) PURCHASE AT MAGCLOUD ︎ <img width="964" height="1246" width_o="964" height_o="1246" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/419fe79bec762f32f5dab26f1142189ff630202a83221c153b1e49bc60576480/DM-2023-cover.png" data-mid="174237123" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/964/i/419fe79bec762f32f5dab26f1142189ff630202a83221c153b1e49bc60576480/DM-2023-cover.png" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 10Spring 2023 Featuring: Letters by Hayden Carruth! Julie Waldas (Artwork)&nbsp;Darren C Demaree (Poetry)Suzanne O’Connell (Poetry)Andy Fogle (Poetry)Amanda Stopa Goldstein (Poetry)Norman Minnick (Poetry)Bob Herz (Poetry)Timothy Robbins (Poetry)Brad Rose (Poetry)David Blistein (Fiction)Kofi Antwi (Poetry)Josephine Clare (Poetry) Allen Guy Wilcox (Poetry) Anne Savage (Fiction) Theodore Worozbyt (Poetry) Gunilla T Kester (Poetry) Malcolm Flanigan (Fiction)Thomas Townsley (Poetry)Kim Domenico (Essay)Orin Domenico (Poetry)Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry) PURCHASE AT MAGCLOUD&nbsp;︎ <img width="844" height="1088" width_o="844" height_o="1088" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2d3567f222004c76ab3c58ca085b512fdc14f7e580ec0351717c0d2a81f16172/Screen-Shot-2022-05-05-at-5.40.13-PM.png" data-mid="141789921" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/844/i/2d3567f222004c76ab3c58ca085b512fdc14f7e580ec0351717c0d2a81f16172/Screen-Shot-2022-05-05-at-5.40.13-PM.png" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 9Spring 2022 Featuring:Sylvia de Swaan (Artwork) ︎︎︎Margaret Lloyd (Poetry) William Doreski (Poetry) Lowell Jaeger (Poetry) Carol Graser (Poetry) Will Cordeiro (Poetry) Grace Elizabeth Butler (Fiction) Jacqueline Henry (Poetry) Jean Kane (Fiction) Evalyn Lee (Poetry) Kurt Luchs (Poetry) Thomas Townsley (Poetry, Interview)Kim Domenico (Essay)Orin Domenico (Poetry)Ruth Ann Dandrea (Book Review) PURCHASE AT MAGCLOUD ︎ <img width="1006" height="1290" width_o="1006" height_o="1290" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0a5ec458ca845180102a78e78d95b1a18a7bc4053eee50a5a2d13b2b698cb02d/DM-summer-2021.png" data-mid="115663172" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0a5ec458ca845180102a78e78d95b1a18a7bc4053eee50a5a2d13b2b698cb02d/DM-summer-2021.png" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 8Summer 2021 Featuring: John Balaban (Poetry / Interview)&nbsp;︎︎︎Robert Knight (Artwork) ︎︎︎Robert Granader (Fiction)Eva-Maria Sher (Poetry) Patricia L. Meek (Poetry) ︎︎︎Lisa Mottolo (Poetry)Ivana Mestrovic (Poetry) Patrick Lawler (Poetry)Rex Ybañez (Poetry) Julio Monteiro Martins (Trans. Donald Stang and Helen Wickes) (Poetry) Rochelle Jewel Shapiro (Poetry) Cindy Day (Poetry)Thomas Townsley (Poetry)Kim Domenico (Essay)Orin Domenico (Poetry)Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry) <img width="994" height="1276" width_o="994" height_o="1276" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/65888ebd50a1ff026efcdac06a7622eb6237d5b3b9aae1d8ea6c9015e4224f2e/Doubly-Mad-Fall-2020.png" data-mid="94584987" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/994/i/65888ebd50a1ff026efcdac06a7622eb6237d5b3b9aae1d8ea6c9015e4224f2e/Doubly-Mad-Fall-2020.png" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 7Autumn / Winter 2020 Featuring: Audrey Hasen Taylor (Artwork, Interview)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Kari Wergeland (Fiction) David Lloyd (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Despy Boutris (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Patrick Meeds (Poetry) Michael Salcman (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Timi Sanni (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎ D. W. Davis (Fiction) ︎︎︎ Thomas Townsley (Poetry) Kim Domenico (Essay) Orin Domenico (Poetry) Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry) <img width="760" height="943" width_o="760" height_o="943" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/060d39a5993d5d81b2e1a265b419b04e9f83c1b114d5fb74774679fbf066ac14/doublymadcover07-2020.jpg" data-mid="79290756" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/760/i/060d39a5993d5d81b2e1a265b419b04e9f83c1b114d5fb74774679fbf066ac14/doublymadcover07-2020.jpg" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 6Summer 2020 Featuring:Rainer Maria Wehner (Artwork, Interview, Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎Kim Domenico (Essay)Bill Glose (Fiction)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Margaret Thickstun (Poetry) Donald Gasperson (Poetry) Sunset Combs (Poetry)Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry)Orin Domenico (Poetry) James Tyler (Poetry) Rachael Schiel (Essay) Terry Tierney (Fiction)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Glen Armstrong (Poetry) Thomas Townsley (Poetry) Timothy Robbins (Poetry: hear Timothy read his poem!)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Elizabeth Sackett (Poetry) <img width="1750" height="2250" width_o="1750" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cce307a1e2061a92a5e6eae501e5a318fac6c5e7a6e568cda1f12885314d1525/Doubly-Mad-Fall-2019.jpg" data-mid="60268391" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cce307a1e2061a92a5e6eae501e5a318fac6c5e7a6e568cda1f12885314d1525/Doubly-Mad-Fall-2019.jpg" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 5Autumn 2019 Featuring:John Loy (Artwork)&nbsp;︎︎︎ Kim Domenico (Essay) Isis Davis-Marks (Essay) Victoria Ocampo (Essay) Peter Szilagyi (Poetry) Gary Duehr (Poetry) Trevor Knorr (Poetry) Mike Dubaniewicz (Interview) Cindy Day (Poetry) Jane Ellen Glasser (Poetry) Shelly Callahan (Interview) Thomas Townsley (Poetry) Ruth Ann Dandrea (Short Fiction) Orin Domenico (Editorial, Poetry) Guest Editors: Kate Casler (Poetry) Trinh Truong (Nonfiction) <img width="1300" height="1688" width_o="1300" height_o="1688" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e756c5b4652e9554b949c3773b3598d076503bde3619d3af01c134e250e57dfd/doublymadcover04-19.jpg" data-mid="49481431" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e756c5b4652e9554b949c3773b3598d076503bde3619d3af01c134e250e57dfd/doublymadcover04-19.jpg" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 4Spring 2019 Featuring:Kathy Donovan (Artwork)&nbsp;︎︎︎Maria Peycke (Photography)Ruth Ann Dandrea (Short Fiction)Carmine Dandrea (Poetry)Casey Burke-Ruhl (Poetry)Eileen Moeller (Poetry)Andrew Sblendorio (Performance Piece Script)Philip Memmer (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎J. Schnitt (Interview)&nbsp;︎︎︎Kim Domenico (Essay)Orin Domenico (Essay)Simon Perchik (Poetry)Thomas Townsley (Poetry) <img width="1700" height="2200" width_o="1700" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eb1318f20ce759d6d5faca0071ac7dc31e38a9aaa904f171dcd231de515187ef/doublymadcover09-2018.jpg" data-mid="49262479" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eb1318f20ce759d6d5faca0071ac7dc31e38a9aaa904f171dcd231de515187ef/doublymadcover09-2018.jpg" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 3Fall 2018 Featuring:Cindy Day (Poetry)Serena Perrone (Artwork / Interview)&nbsp;︎︎︎Craig Czury (Poetry)&nbsp;︎︎︎Rialda Shulman (Poetry)Alexis Aguam (Personal Essay)Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry)Kim Domenico (Essay)Orin Domenico (Poetry) &nbsp; <img width="740" height="960" width_o="740" height_o="960" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b3400df41ad9a85063c87f0184f37adb9b179f2dd621408514431428cd33cd7f/2018-DM-March-Cover.jpg" data-mid="36289793" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/740/i/b3400df41ad9a85063c87f0184f37adb9b179f2dd621408514431428cd33cd7f/2018-DM-March-Cover.jpg" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 2Spring 2018 Featuring:Malcolm Flanigan (Short Fiction)Thomas Townsley (Poetry)Jessica Jones (Collage)&nbsp;︎︎︎Kim Domenico (Essay)John Bentham (Photography)&nbsp;︎︎︎Ruth Ann Dandrea (Poetry)Michael Muller “Miguel” (Poetry)Alexis Aguam (Personal Essay)John Paul Gardner (Collage)&nbsp;︎︎︎Joe Ducato (Short Fiction)Orin Domenico (Essay) <img width="1700" height="2200" width_o="1700" height_o="2200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/012c91f37a13c1bbc4d3da7bb502e3e63704c345b3bbfd6c4ff3deda27e403bc/doublymadcover10-2017.jpg" data-mid="49262480" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/012c91f37a13c1bbc4d3da7bb502e3e63704c345b3bbfd6c4ff3deda27e403bc/doublymadcover10-2017.jpg" /> DOUBLY MAD JOURNALVolume 7, Issue 1Fall 2017 Featuring: Geena Massaro (Cover, Artwork)&nbsp;︎︎︎Ruth Ann Dandrea (Fiction)Connie Christiana (Poetry)Orin Domenico (Poetry)Julia Galime Cooper (Poetry) Holly Wilson (Artwork, Interview)&nbsp;︎︎︎Alexis Aguam (Fiction)David Deeley (Poetry)Thomas Townsley (Poetry)Kyle Corea (Photography, Film Stills)Patrick Scanlon (Essay)Kim Domenico (Essay)Steven Specht (Poetry)Colleen Doody (Photograph)Anthony Thompson (Illustration) https://doublymad.org/Dance-in-the-Dirthouse Sun, 19 Oct 2025 23:14:32 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/Dance-in-the-Dirthouse Dance in the Dirthouse Patrick Lawler October 2025 The Poem That Used to be a Novel Before it Was a Script Before it Was a PoemPraise for Dance in the Dirthouse: “Thought is a thistle,” Patrick Lawler writes in his new full-length collection, Dance in the Dirthouse. It is an apt metaphor for these poems as well, exquisite, but sharp, requiring care if you are going to hold them. Each poem is a mere six lines, yet in those lines Lawler explores elemental themes. “We are being tested by the brain,” he writes. “We wander between / the endless supplies of gratitude and hunger.” Add to Cart ︎ <img width="1200" height="1800" width_o="1200" height_o="1800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b880c3c33c46d173c864c0a958d1f97ad14a7a2eb7d80633e24d31f824759176/Dance-in-the-Dirthouse-Cover.jpg" data-mid="239558400" border="0" data-scale="98" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b880c3c33c46d173c864c0a958d1f97ad14a7a2eb7d80633e24d31f824759176/Dance-in-the-Dirthouse-Cover.jpg" /> RUPTURE I work all day in the Honey-Mine. When I went to church,the best advice I received was not to be combustible,and still, I have a migraine of the soul.It is beautiful how knowing brings forth a world&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; with thick drops of melted mirror.How to explain the burst pipe of rapture? DREAMING IN THE DIRT Clouds rub over the rooftops of the town.Thunder is a wheelbarrow of coal tumbling down a cellar stairs.We look up to see the white knuckle of the moon.Night paws &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the windows.Eventually, we have an appointment with Light.&nbsp; &nbsp; Waiting for us &nbsp; &nbsp; outside &nbsp; &nbsp; is the mysterious &nbsp; &nbsp; within. https://doublymad.org/Alphabet-Noise Mon, 04 Aug 2025 18:59:27 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/Alphabet-Noise Alphabet Noise Thomas Townsley 2025 <img width="1800" height="2700" width_o="1800" height_o="2700" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/19d8eb87ed96287d7e9722e05913865d04f173c0f3ec5941636e992274f5cbec/Alphabet-Noise-cover-pic.jpg" data-mid="236651193" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/19d8eb87ed96287d7e9722e05913865d04f173c0f3ec5941636e992274f5cbec/Alphabet-Noise-cover-pic.jpg" /> “Exuberant, amphibian and phantasmagoric!” The sixth full length collection of poems from Thomas Townsley is an imaginative tour de force. “Do you seek le mot au jus?” “Don’t read too much into the falling apple blossoms.”&nbsp; “They say a man who breaks forms is often broken by them.” “The instructions were never quite right&nbsp; &nbsp; never quite clear...” “(The narrator raises an eyebrow and offers the reader a spoon.)” “But enough mimesis.” The poems in Alphabet Noise push language to a breaking point, beyond which it is possible to glimpse...what exactly? “The radio hisses.” “The reader is reminded that ‘some slippage is inevitable.’” Praise for Alphabet Noise: Alphabet Noise is an immersive experience, a croquembouche of crunchy predicates and polysemous jouissance. A wang dang doodle. A dynamo of “mad sleeping alphabets” galvanized by the noise of construction. Sparks flying. The blinding light of a welder creating a chassis of vocable transport. This is the noise of the poet as maker, the poet as innovator and explorer. The language is exuberant, amphibian and phantasmagoric. Intellect is endowed with puckish autonomy, a verbal acrobatics and jubilant excess which functions as an antidote against the toxins of those who would try to control and undermine the true merit of words, which is yet to be fully realized. This is the factory. This is the place where things get made. Hyper-objects. Philosophies. Le paradoxe de Mallarmé. “In the lit Palace of Nothing there are only voices.” -John Olson Author of numerous books of poetry and prose poetry&nbsp;and recipient of The Stranger’s 2004 Literature Genius Award.&nbsp;His seventh novel, Unfinished World, is forthcoming from Quale Press. ADD TO CART&nbsp;︎ Famous Last Words #31 (10/15/2022) Face down in poetry-schemes &nbsp; &nbsp; awaiting the swoon of whispers I feel these albatross sentences becoming ever more centrifugal The words emerge &nbsp; &nbsp; a new skin &nbsp; &nbsp; forgotten etymologies &nbsp; &nbsp; dream fulcrums Irregular verbs drunk in cars &nbsp; &nbsp; clouds of white numbers &nbsp; &nbsp; and myths in sleep’s clothing Why this devotion to outcast echoes? &nbsp; &nbsp; The passions of men come to nothing The mirror’s black holes &nbsp; &nbsp; distance and time scraping at the glass Bodies aching to remember love’s missing pages &nbsp; &nbsp; The original language is a map of impermanence &nbsp; &nbsp; the first metaphor a dead angel a priori Chthonic deities practice sleight of hand in their dark towers &nbsp; &nbsp; and each human skull’s a labyrinth of signs &nbsp; &nbsp; Each stammering poem explodes perpetually into the uncreated the fundamental silence &nbsp; &nbsp; Each single word burns the incense of sun-spent eternity What little we know is memory &nbsp; &nbsp; a falling star &nbsp; &nbsp; and nothing else will follow So how was your summer? &nbsp; &nbsp; Were we crazy-drunk and wrecked by music? Did the symbols speak their pluralities? &nbsp; &nbsp; Did we dare the thunder to erase our names? https://doublymad.org/Casting Fri, 07 Feb 2025 17:54:14 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/Casting Casting Ruth Ann Dandrea February 2025 cause (light or shadow) to appear on a surface register (a vote) throw (a net, or the hooked and baited end of a fishing line) out into the water shape (metal or other material) by pouring it into a mold while molten cause (a magic spell) to take effect shed (skin or horns) in the process of growth assign a part in a play, film, or other production to (an actor) <img width="1875" height="2775" width_o="1875" height_o="2775" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/956215d93baeea503e67a1412a09304ba15a442b73baf4d5a83038a0cbafc994/Casting-Cover-Final.jpg" data-mid="226169415" border="0" data-scale="95" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/956215d93baeea503e67a1412a09304ba15a442b73baf4d5a83038a0cbafc994/Casting-Cover-Final.jpg" /> Praise for Casting: Throughout Casting, Ruth Ann Dandrea expresses thanks and angst; gratitude for life’s gifts of grandchildren, the bits and bounty of the natural world; distress over wars and waste, violence and greed. This collection is one of self discovery through love, loss, and lessons learned. The images throughout Casting allow us a glimpse into the rhythms of Dandrea’s life, and just possibly encourage us to reexamine our own perspectives. Dandrea is exceptional, and Casting a thoroughly enjoyable read. Kathy DeLong, co-author of Wow: Women on Water Order Here! ︎ Tree Pose My mother’s ghost has moved in to the rounded rock beside the white picket fence around my new backyard. My father is the yard itself, grass, soil, weed, and flower. A whole earth surrounding and supporting her. I pray to them both every morning, balanced on one foot, prayer hands held high. I look for the lightest light, switch feet to find the darkest dark. Understand that I am wrapped, rapt, in the arms of earth and sky. A forever intertwined past with what’s to come. I am the tree, toe roots wound round rock, sunk into soil. My lifted arms, limbs of son and daughter. See my small granddaughter dangling from my fingertips, still able to exist on air alone? <img width="1875" height="2775" width_o="1875" height_o="2775" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/501614d2a5bef9e28510493cc2b8f3904d7655ac3f8da595834d31725ad21367/Draft-10-Recovered---Trillium-Forms---Copy.png" data-mid="226181060" border="0" data-scale="17" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/501614d2a5bef9e28510493cc2b8f3904d7655ac3f8da595834d31725ad21367/Draft-10-Recovered---Trillium-Forms---Copy.png" /> https://doublymad.org/Complicated-Thanks Thu, 25 May 2023 15:05:12 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/Complicated-Thanks Complicated Thanks Cindy Day June 2023 Cindy Day’s first full-length collection of poetry is, simply put, a masterpiece. At her best in these pages, Day manages to take the conundrums of average experience and turn them inside out. Often her poems build quietly, lulling the reader, and then in their final lines turn a volta that would make even the best sonneteer jealous. The result is work that shows the day-to-day lives we live are never mundane. &nbsp; Praise for Complicated Thanks: Cindy Day has the remarkable ability to examine the ordinary in life—a visit to a family homestead, a stop for coffee at a diner—in ordinary language that quietly achieves transcendence. These poems explore the span of a life, from childhood to the contemplation of mortality: honestly, fearlessly, and with astonishing tenderness. Margaret Thickstun Jane Watson Irwin Professor of Literature Hamilton College Around the things most precious to us in life—our innermost admissions, the nourishing images that have been with us since childhood, the familiar contours of pain that help shape our adult identities—around these precious inner treasures, we build a walled garden. In her new and deeply stirring collection, Complicated Thanks, Cindy Day has deliberately placed a ladder against the walled garden of her own inner life, allowing brave readers to peer over the edge, and look in. The effect on this reader of what he saw was nothing short of transformative. Allen Guy Wilcox Founder, Time’s Arrow Literature Order Here!&nbsp;︎ <img width="698" height="1037" width_o="698" height_o="1037" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3208a0cfc3cb06d52ad58d65d910408e74ce2aa4cf3be36f5feef7142a474d85/Complicated-Thanks-cover-pic.png" data-mid="179951907" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/698/i/3208a0cfc3cb06d52ad58d65d910408e74ce2aa4cf3be36f5feef7142a474d85/Complicated-Thanks-cover-pic.png" /> The Leopard When delights spring out of our depths like leopards our soul’s life is in danger. Thomas Merton The leopard seemed harmless when he was sleeping. All I want now is peace you said so many times. Amen, I said, I’ve had it with running around. I was wearing my straw hat with the cherries on it, you smoked your meerschaum, I drank my Cotes du Rhone, you liked your vocabulary and altogether delighted we walked around Green Lake calling out the flowers’ names. After about six months of this we bought the house. Next we sat on the patio in the new lawn chairs and admired the sun setting over Syracuse, called it peace. But the leopard was stretched out beside us. He licked himself clean beside us, dozed and his content rumbled in his chest. He had fed lately on passion and could wait. He knew it would come again, the desperation, and we, having moved as usual a little too fast, feeling ourselves safe, god-like, when we were only the same two cranks in fancy clothes, kept him as an exotic pet, something wild that would sleep on the patio. To make a long story short the leopard tore us to pieces, ate us up. But you know that and about all the regret. The real story comes after, the one about the soul. Anyone can have a leopard. Check out Cindy’s interview with Allen Guy Wilcox on&nbsp;Time’s Arrow Literature’s YouTube Channel. https://doublymad.org/My-Rap-Sheet-is-Long Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:26:34 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/My-Rap-Sheet-is-Long My Rap Sheet is Long Poems Selected 1995-2018 By Orin Domenico 2019 Orin Domenico has been writing poetry for almost thirty years but My Rap Sheet Is Long is his first full-length book to date. He borrows Gil Scott Heron’s term “bluesologist” to describe his work and his process. Indeed, Domenico is heavily influenced by the blues, as well as jazz, and often plays with the tropes and forms found in the “Great American Song Book,” in the cries, laments, Devil-on-my-trail hollers and shouts that make up the music, but he does this while creating his own “diction,” as he puts it. He is equally indebted to Allen Ginsberg, Robert Bly, and William Yeats, but that debt is not the limit to Domenico’s range. Each of these different sources are the ingredients that he uses to develop a unique vocabulary of images and sounds. With this vocabulary, he works through the long history of his personal life, as well as the transformations in American society he has witnessed since the 1960s. <img width="1260" height="1890" width_o="1260" height_o="1890" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a5a3cd77d571948f66062ad1e06587ec8c780a8e33e2b7ae2fac841ca446284a/doublymadodomenicorapsheet.jpg" data-mid="49481459" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a5a3cd77d571948f66062ad1e06587ec8c780a8e33e2b7ae2fac841ca446284a/doublymadodomenicorapsheet.jpg" /> &nbsp; Order Here!&nbsp;︎ Interview of Orin Domenico by Allen Guy Wilcox for Time’s Arrow Literature. “This readable and beckoning collection of poesy by Orin Domenico trembles with trust, angst, thanatopsis, and worry, yet is certain in its voyage of mixing of his radical/progressive life experience with appreciation of his own remarkable history. Orin Domenico walks the talk, and talks the Walk, singing and chanting the worth of the down-trodden in the murk and muck and mayhem of modern and not-so-modern living... A fine, readable collection is MY RAP SHEET IS LONG. Get it, and take the time to read and study it.” Ed Sanders The Poet, Ordered to Write a Poem, Listens to Children Waiting for the Bus The children waiting for the yellow busesare loud today caught as they are in the swayof energies they do not comprehendnor are inclined to further investigatelocked up as they are in the world ofheadphones, smart phones and homesdominated by television chatter wherewords careen from speakers and tonguesto fall and shatter on the cold concreteunimpeded in their descent by inquisitiveears or by the soul’s need to ponder theirdeeper resonance. Who in the electronicplaypen in which they are confined willtake the time to teach them the wonder of words the way they tunnel like wormsinto the warm loam of the soul, titillating,conjugating, fornicating freely within thesafe realm of the imagination whereinsurgency and liberation are conceived?Who will grab them by their ears andlet them hear the way words can pirouetteupon the tongue, spin out from pursed lips to whisper or explode gentle or violentin the barren air between the palate wherethey are formed and the hungry ears thatreceive them, the way the sonic syllablesplay off one another, to dance, prance, chant, enchant, rant and pant in theendless erotic interplay of sound withmeaning? What mercurial thief will helpthem release words from their current confinement to the vernacular flatlandof information and the abstract wastelandof academic blather, for words if given achoice would rather frolic once again inthe poetic, cave-wall-painting world ofconnotation from which they cameabandoning the lame land of denotationthe simple game of point and name sodevoid of deeper knowing? Who will teachthem that the tongue is the ultimate toolof love, the servant of ear and eye theseducer who released from its corporateshackles might lead you and me back to thatmyth-laden land where a dragon lies uponthe mound of gold needed for our ransom? https://doublymad.org/I-Pray-This-Letter-Reaches-You-in-Time Thu, 25 May 2023 14:22:26 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/I-Pray-This-Letter-Reaches-You-in-Time I Pray This Letter Reaches You in Time Thomas Townsley 2022 Thomas Townsley’s fourth collection is his best yet. In poems such as “About My Last Poem” and “Summer on Neptune,” he&nbsp;combines esoteric ideas with humor.&nbsp;Despite his often sardonic tone, one senses a deep reservoir of emotion in these pieces. Each one ties into what Jacques Lacan called the object petit a. Unknowable, yet inescapable, the central point of our desire drives much of our personality and influences our experiences. Townsley has found a way to hotwire his poems into this zone which is usually off limits to us. Praise for I Pray This Letter Reaches You in Time: “I receive a letter. Inside the letter is a flyer that promises to ‘decipher the unknown.’” Thomas Townsley’s I Pray This Letter Reaches You in Time is a text-travelling, word-unravelling erotic prayfulness within a cosmic/comic playfulness. Along with the poet, we have to ask the urgent questions: “Is it possible to lie without language?//And with language, is it possible NOT to?” So true. Or definitely NOT. You see, I pray this blurb reaches this book in time. Townsley is more than a poet as he spins tunes on Neptune (see “Summer on Neptune”). He is a dada shaman communicating with the stars. He is Russell Edson writing complex, twisted parables for The Firesign Theatre; he is Salvador Dali and Ernie Kovaks rewriting Zarathustra. His poetry is meaning-shaking. It is as if he is writing inside a kaleidoscope made of firing synapses and flying fractals (see “Kaleidescape”). After I write this, I receive a letter, and inside the letter is a book, and inside the book is a poem with these words inside it: “’Shut up! Shut up!’ I cry. ‘Can’t you see I’m trying to write a poem?’” Patrick Lawler Author of The Exhalation Therapist/Breathe a Wor(l)d Tiger Bark Press ADD TO CART&nbsp;︎ <img width="1827" height="2771" width_o="1827" height_o="2771" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c6a0edb65114c4d0dab510f7f8245b4ab7325a806135ea8066231eca49fe5647/i-pray-cover-final-copy-2.jpg" data-mid="179943116" border="0" data-scale="72" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c6a0edb65114c4d0dab510f7f8245b4ab7325a806135ea8066231eca49fe5647/i-pray-cover-final-copy-2.jpg" /> The Problem With Me No. 74 Time changed the lock on my youth. Under the zeppelin’s shadow, I contemplated the irreducibility of one heart’s longing. I once believed that the living had an advantage over the dead, in that the dead were unaware of their condition, while the living were aware of theirs. Then I began to imagine there might exist an imponderable but pervasive force to which our living blinded us, the same way death blinds the dead to consciousness. I became a chimney sweep—I mean, a Ferris wheel operator— I mean, a poet. I made a sacristy of what I believed to be your eyes. When given the opportunity, I refused to sign on the dotted line, “for the moment of a text’s inscription marks a singularity that carries with it a fissuring, a priori”—or so they said in cosmetology school. I once held your hand in a sensory deprivation tank. I can never get enough manna. My past-times include winking, buffing parabolas, extorting empiricists, and bleeding on faulty syllogisms. My imagined scenarios outnumber my real ones thirteen to one. “Hey there, dreamer! What are you dreaming about?” the moon asked one night. “Nothing,” I said. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; “Hmm. Same here,” said the moon, and then one of us went back to sleep. Check out Tom’s interview with Allen Guy Wilcox on Time’s Arrow Literature’s YouTube Channel. https://doublymad.org/Night-Class-for-Insomniacs Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:26:35 +0000 Doubly Mad https://doublymad.org/Night-Class-for-Insomniacs Night Class for Insomniacs Thomas Townsley 2018 Night Class for Insomniacs, Thomas Townsley’s second collection of poetry and prose, extends the work which he began in Reading the Empty Page. What is the basis for our knowledge of ourselves and the world we inhabit? Can we interact with each other in any direct way if we are caught in language games? The difficulties of communication, whether between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, or between story characters and their readers, are fully tallied and balanced with slapstick humor. The result is an original take on the major concerns of post-modern thinking.&nbsp; Congratulations, you’ve been enrolled in night class!&nbsp; Your performance has no bearing whatsoever on the final grade. ADD TO CART&nbsp;︎ <img width="1440" height="1980" width_o="1440" height_o="1980" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/34726f4da9d28ce8e344dc3b1e41fc278112b030eda2bfe91a8ba0c156c15eef/doublymadnightclasscover.jpg" data-mid="49263467" border="0" data-scale="72" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/34726f4da9d28ce8e344dc3b1e41fc278112b030eda2bfe91a8ba0c156c15eef/doublymadnightclasscover.jpg" /> Dialectic I came home early and found my dog reading Kierkegaard’s Sickness Unto Death. “Hey, buddy. I didn’t know you could read,” I said. “It says here,” my dog replied, without looking up, “that ‘not being in despair, not being conscious of being in despair, is precisely a form of despair.’” “Well, you know how we humans are, always getting ourselves in a tangle over nothing.” I gave him a pat on the head. “How about a nice game of catch?” “But,” my dog said, “Am I in despair?” “Do you feel like you’re in despair?” I asked, scratching him behind the ear in that spot he liked. “Is him in despair? Does him feel despair?” I watched his face go taut, the way it always does. “To be honest, I’ve never really thought about it,” he said. His leg began to twitch. “Well,” I said, waiting until it was thumping rhythmically against the armrest, “Then the answer would be yes.” &nbsp;