I Hate All Your Shit.

This is the cover for the first book that I will be releasing in September under µPress: A DIY Publishing Party! (as I have decided to call it) titled “The Face of War Only Dreams of Death”(which is the stupidest and most functional title I have come up with…) It is the story of a man utterly defined by his surroundings, in a storybook type format, illustrated with some collages that I did… Here, an excerpt:(tl;dr)

Once upon a time there was a man who found himself perfectly happy pushing a boulder up a hill. He loved the dirt pushing into the crevices between his toes, the dewy feathers of grass under his feet. He loved the weight of the warm boulder against his calloused palms, and its rhythm of soft thuds as it rolled easily up the hill. He loved the tiredness in his shoulders and legs; a reflection of his anticipation of the accomplishment he would feel once he reached the top of the hill. He loved the sweat that dripped from his brow, stinging his eyes. He loved the watchful birds above, and the angular rocks, kin to his burden, that he passed as he labored up the hill.

In his effort, it seemed that there was so much more to this than just hill, boulder, and strength. Not just the rocks to his boulder, but the dirt, grass and sweat as well, were all partners in his labor. It felt as though his surroundings were somehow family, and when he dug into the earth with his toes and wrenched his shoulders against his hips as a fulcrum, the breeze cooled his back, and they were all, together, carrying him forward.

He continued his ascent, and began to imagine the top of the hill, seeing it clearer in his mind with every circuit of the boulder’s roll; the earth falling away at his feet, shadows of clouds dancing on waving fields of grass, wary forests watching winding streams trickling from the tops of majestic mountains in the distance. Perhaps he would roll his boulder all the way to those mountains, stopping to drink from the streams on the way…

His burden grew heavier as the hill grew steeper, the angular rocks changed to gravel, scraping his feet and tripping him every know and then, buy he only became more determined to reach the top. Once, he slipped and almost lost the boulder. It nearly tumbled back down the hill over top of him. But, he managed to get his footing in the sliding gravel at last.

The sky grew pale gold with evening, and he began to lose hope. In desperation he stopped, feeling the full weight of his burden pushing back against him, and he looked around one side of it to see the sun moving across the sky, illuminating the dome-shaped hilltop. His heart leaped in his chest, and he pushed his boulder faster and harder then he had all that day; hands of the earth nudging him towards the hill’s horizon. His burden began to feel heavier still, as the sky turned violet above. The hill would not be his today.

As he placed his last foot before the other, nearly collapsing in the gravelly ground, the boulder rolled forward just slightly, and stopped. He had reached the top.

This is a DIY publishing experiment that, as of now, I expect to be running wholly myself, and will thusly serve as an outlet for my own work and possibly some close friends’. I would like to expand the possibilities of this experiment, as I hope to establish a seasonal release of larger pieces with some smaller ones interspersed semi-monthly (i.e. zines, pamphlets, µ(micro)books, etc…) with this project. SO, if you, or anyone you know writes or doodles or thinks out loud and you can record and transcribe this madness, and are interested in getting things out there somehow, in someway, no matter how small, I love you forever, and will help you make that happen!

I am not totally fixed on subject matter, length, or ‘quality’ even. I do appreciate things of a radical nature, though (anarchism, lgbtq* thangs, feminism, anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-capitalism…), as I feel that the area that I live in desperately needs exposure to these things… I should also say that I am not very socially connected in the area anymore… SO, if anyone can help me out there…and let me know of decent open mics, or shows going, etc… ALSO, if anyone knows anything about printing stuff, I am totally learning as I go, and all advice is appreciated! Same with editing… PRINTING FIRST, PROMOTION NEXT!

ALSO! Don’t forget to follow my spasmodically updated poetry & writing blog! imagesofouroboros.tumblr.com