Paige Ackerson-Kiely’s 'Book About a Candle Burning in a Shed' reviewed

a review of Paige Ackerson-Kiely’s 'Book About a Candle Burning in a Shed' (above/ground press, 2012) by writer and dg associate Amanda Roth:

Book About a Candle Burning in a Shed is just that, but also so much more.

Paige Ackerson-Kiely, currently of Vermont, has authored the poetry collections My Love is a Dead Arctic Explorer (Ahsahta Press, forthcoming), and In No One’s Land (Ahsahta, 2007)—which won the Sawtooth Poetry Prize—and a limited edition art folio/collaboration, This Landscape (Argos Books, 2010).

Ackerson-Kiely’s first chapbook from above/ground press is a collection of prose poems which combine to produce a memoir dealing with the death of a girl in a small town, and an authority figure’s pursuit of justice amongst internal struggles of his own. It is with fervor and beauty that the author weaves together individual scenes to provide a unique display the whole storyline.

The immediacy of the title bleeds through the pages of this chapbook, displaying context with a certain severity:

Thicket of weeds upon which her body ballooned. Dark dirty water I had to drink once. / There was nothing else around that I could see.

And yet, there are touches of the sporadic and perplexing tendencies of an overactive mind. This inner conflict is a reoccurring theme throughout the collection.

You’re cold again. Her delicate finger pointing to the hall that touches me some nights until I shivered. You’re so far away. You’re an iceberg in the ocean and you will melt and be forgotten.

The intensity of the narrator’s thoughts is overwhelming and enthralling. It is only by understanding each piece of the puzzle arranged by Ackerson-Kiely in this collection of poems that the audience is able to witness the greater narrative within.

Paige Ackerson-Kiely

Amanda Roth is a freelance writer based in St. Catharines, Ontario with a strong passion for literature that explores historical, political and humanitarian themes. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Brock Press, The Cord and The Martlet, as well as online at Grey Borders Reading Series and The Buddhist Channel. She has also contributed to Irregular Artifact Press. You can find her online here.

Paige Ackerson-Kiely authored the poetry collections In No One’s Land (Ahsahta, 2007), My Love is a Dead Arctic Explorer (Ahsahta, forthcoming) and a limited edition art folio/collaboration, This Landscape (Argos Books, 2010). Paige lives in rural Vermont, edits the poetry annual A Handsome Journal, and works at a homeless shelter.

thank you so much to Amanda Roth for this great review! :)

find out more about Paige and Candle Burning in a Shed from above/ground here!

xx

dg is now closed to submissions!

wow! thank you so much to everyone who shared their work with us!

this round definitely involved some of the toughest decisions we've had to make yet.

I could definitely see dg becoming a triannual magazine in the future-- there was way too much good work to choose from for this issue!

we considered over two hundred and fifty pieces of art and lit for issue three!

we got submissions from everywhere around the world-- Australia, the U.S., Italy, all over the U.K., and all across Canada :)

almost all of our emails have been edited and sent, so we should be announcing our official line-up on Monday!

we're so excited to unleash the issue three beast!

love you all,
dg :)

upcoming events!

TOMORROW, Wednesday, January 18th at 8pm, The Hearts Oak Collective presents some cool activist tunes by musicians Mike XVX, Tyler Shipley, and Eric Smith at Rise Above (120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ont.). this event is pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $10! 

ALL AGES.

this Saturday, January 21st, Fur Free Niagara holds their second protest at Plusche Furs (6380 Fallsview Boulevard, Niagara Falls, Ont.) from 12pm to 4pm.

Fur Free Niagara's first protest at Henry's Furs in St. Catharines was a huge success resulting in the store actually being closed down only days later!

please come on out and help FFN make this demonstration just as successful :)

find the event on facebook!

and next Tuesday, January 24th at 7pm, IndoorShoes Record Label introduces an awesome lineup - The Sadies featuring special guests Souls (ex. Sleep the Season and Sleeper Set Sail) at the Mansion House (5 William Street, St.Catharines)! the show is $12adv. at TicketScene or Rock Universe (237 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines)-- and $15 at the door!

hope to see you at one or all of these!! 

and, don't forget, Queer Action Niagara and dg's RAE SPOON DANCE PARTY is next Thursday, the 26th at Rise Above (8pm)! 

can't wait :)

Rae Spoon DANCE PARTY, and poetry reading!

dead gender is teaming up with Queer Action Niagara to bring you--
a RAE SPOON DANCE PARTY! 

join us on Thursday, January 26th at 8pm at Rise Above (120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines), and don't forget your dancing shoes :)

we're kicking off the night with some rad poetry by Shannon Maguire and Steve Greenwood, an opening musical performance by Le Stack, and then Rae Spoon will be playing some amazing tunes!

this event is pay what you can--

with a suggested donation of $10 :)

RSVP on facebook!

ahh, so excited :)

hopefully we'll see you all there! 

 

SPREAD THE WORD.

^ Rae Spoon's duet with Elisha Lim ^

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

dead (g)end(er) magazine is calling for art+lit submissions for our THIRD ISSUE--
the spring, 2012 issue!
wow! as Yoda would say, 'fly time does, when having fun.'

we do not have a specific theme for this issue!

(other than our usual theme of just pure awesomeness. *wink)

we like the radical, 

the hilarious, 

the heart-warming, 

and the unique!

we like just about any style/form/genre -
we've published mask art, visual poetry, a play, an art exhibit review, and a ton more.
we're always looking to spice things up!

(for a more in-depth look at just what dg likes, you can grab a copy of our latest issue here!)

we'd love to check out your work :)

so, SEND YOUR STUFF ON OVER TO DG!

we accept: 
visual art - photography, doodles, sketches, paintings, sculptures, graphic design, make-up art, fashion design, etc.

• attach up to five visual pieces! [high resolution jpg. doc's/photos.]

literature - poetry, visual poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, articles, reviews, interviews, essays, novel excerpts, screen-play excerpts, theatre excerpts, song lyrics, etc.

• submit up to five poems, or prose no longer than 2000 words! please send writing in the body of your email unless your form will get all messed up!

*prose writers: since we typically only have room to print one or two short stories per issue, sending along some flash fiction-- stories that are no longer than 750-1000 words-- with a longer submission might help your chances of getting into dg :)

due to copyrights, we cannot print fan art, or previously published works.

submissions and inquiries can be sent to: deadgender.mag@gmail.com

(you must include your mailing address with your submission. 

biographies are strongly encouraged!)

you can check out our guidelines at any time on the 'submissions' page above.

SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE is FEBRUARY 29th, 2012

poster by David O'Connor <- check out his site!

three things you NEED to know about

ONE

Still Ships photography has officially hit the web! Niagara region visual artists Tracy Van Oosten and Barsin Aghajan push the boundaries of traditional photography to bring an artistic edge to each wedding and event they cover :)

please check out the Still Ships site and some of their beautiful past work here!
or contact them at info@stillships.com for a personal quote :)

also, here's a wonderful video Still Ships made for newlyweds Victoria and Jordan:

 TWO

speaking of awesome Niagara region artists, the band Elk has also powered up their own great site!

Elk's new site helps you keep up-to-date with all their performance announcements, and how working on their latest record has been going :)

*a tune from the new in-progress Elk record will be included on the IndoorShoes Record Label compilation which you can grab at their one year bash:

THREE

IndoorShoes celebrates their one year anniversary with three days of amazing lineups!

besides Elk's newest record release at the December 27th show, Howler will be performing their LAST SHOW ever at the December 28th show at Mahtay Cafe! 

check out the current lineup of IndoorShoes' three day extravaganza! :) 

Monday, December 26th, 2011, will feature Bronx Cheerleader, Lambs Become Lions, Waterbodies, Souls, The Bends, and The Kindest Man. (this event starts at 6pm at The Mansion House - 5 William Street, St. Catharines, Ontario - tickets: $8 advanced, $10 at the door.)

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011, will feature Northern Primitive, Elk, The Diry Nil, and Canyon Carvers. (this event starts at 6pm at The Mansion House - 5 Willaim Street, St. Catharines, Ontario - tickets: $8 advanced, $10 at the door.) 

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011, will feature Howler (last show), Julianna Riolino, Kaptur, Talk In Blue, and Paul Federici. (this event starts at 6pm at Mahtay Cafe & Lounge - 241 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ontario - tickets: $5)

v see you there!! v

(by the way, info about dg's next call for submissions will be dropped next week!)

LIMITED TIME OFFER

dead gender magazine is teaming up with Toronto, Ontario's Hello Vegan Zine to bring you a sweet deal :)

order your copy of dg's second issue, and you'll get HVZ's first issue-- the 'how-to-guide'-- FREE!

ohhh yeah, dg's already in the holiday spirit :)

also, we really love Hello Vegan Zine - everyone should get the chance to check it out!

HVZ is a really fun and entertaining read for vegans and non-vegans alike!

check out their website and a bit more about them here :)

supplies are extremely limited, so get your copy of dg issue two/free copy of HVZ now!

order below, or on the 'issue archive' page above!

who may I say is clicking?

an art lover $10.00 a featured artist $5.00

"Information is key, sharing is vital. It's how we create change." - Hello Vegan Zine :)

our new 'links' page!

have you noticed dg's new page, 'links to cool places'?

we've listed some of our favourite sites around the net, and we hope you'll find them interesting, too :)

we've split the links up into sections like 'cummunity'/Niagara Region links, 'animals'/fun info about veganism, and of course, 'art', 'literature', and 'music'!

please let us know if there's a site we missed, or a site you think we'd like to post about :)

also, there's no shame in a little self-promotion! if you've got a cool site, send us the link!!

deadgender.mag@gmail.com

facebook.com/deadgender

v love, dg v

^ link link link ^

call for fan art submissions!

DG WANTS YOUR FAN/POP CULTURE ART :)

 
Sebastián Franchini's Megaman

although we're not able to print art or lit that has to do with certain characters/plots of t.v. shows/movies/etc. for legal reasons, dg would still love to publish these pieces in some way :)

so, we decided to feature a special page on the dg site that would be dedicated exclusively to one of our favourite forms of art: fan art!

every month we'll feature new artists/writers and some of their pop culture inspired works on the Fan Art Page of Fame! :)

*we would LOVE to see some slash fic, as well! ;)

SHOW US WHAT YA GOT!

send no more than three visual pieces (high res. jpg. doc's), or three pieces of lit (no more than 1000 words each/in the body of your email) to deadgender.mag@gmail.com with 'fan art' in the subject line!

please include your name, the titles of the pieces, and the year each was completed! (no previously published works, please!)

*the deadline for the December edition will be November 25th, 2011*

v pop culture ftw v

the dg issue two launch party!

last Friday, October 21st, we hosted the launch of our second issue! and we had an awesome time :)

the evening featured three poetry readings from issue two contributors, a musical performance by Young Wife, and free vegan treats! (the Rise Above donuts were snatched up like there was no tomorrow, hahaha.)

we kicked off the night with (the imaginary being) Terry Trowbridge who regaled us with stories of the planetary weather patterns of Jupiter and Saturn, topping off his hilarious performance by reading his piece from issue two, "Italian Astronaut Mourns Mother's Death".

Natalie Zina Walschots-- poet/metal head/music reviewer/awesome lady-- then shared some of her supervillain love poetry! judging by the amount of things she's accomplished in such a short time, I'm almost positive Natalie doesn't sleep, hahaha.

after a short break of drinks, snacks, and chats, we headed back to the performing area and listened to some more great work by Mat Laporte-- one of the only attendees who actually dressed up in a Halloween costume: that's how awesome he is! Mat read from issue two, and his book Demons (which was published by the Press he co-runs, Ferno House <- check them out!).

finally, Young Wife capped the evening off with some great tunes!

the night had a pretty wide-ranging audience-- poetry and art lovers, local music buffs, people interested in supporting Niagara businesses, and more! in fact, some folks who came out to see Young Wife ended up falling in love with the poetry aspect of the evening, and approached the readers asking where and how they could get more involved in the lit community of St. Kitts.

so, the dg crew put their heads together, and came up with an idea: a monthly event where lit-art-music-activism can come together! local poetry, bands, visual art, theatre performances, talks on animal rights/queer rights/environmental rights, and a ton more. *tentatively known as the 'spread the word' series - we'll have more information for you in November! :)

thanks so much to everyone who came by on Friday to support! also, thanks to everyone who's ordered a copy of issue two already!

if you weren't able to make it to the launch party, you can pick up your copy of issue two here :)

congratulations once again to our contest winners!

first prize - Natalie Z. Walschots

runner up - Sean M. Cummings

three outstanding pieces by - Mat Laporte, Ian Langohr, Robin Richardson

another great round of contributors! we can't wait for the next one :)

v love, dg v

dg goes live!

listen in on CFBU 103.7FM today at 5:30pm to catch the folks at Our Word is Our Weapon interview dg!

we'll be discussing the mag's inspirations, beginning trials, and future hopes :)

email Our Words is Our Weapon at ourwordsareweapons@gmail.com