Meet Our Contributor: Mike Bagwell

Contributions

About the Contributor

Mike Bagwell

Mike Bagwell is a writer and software engineer in Philly. He received an MFA from Sarah Lawrence and his work appears or is forthcoming in ITERANT, Heavy Feather Review, trampset, Halfway Down the Stairs, HADBodegaWhiskey Island, and others, some kindly nominating him for a Pushcart. He is the author of the chapbooks A Collision of Soul in Midair (Bottlecap Press, 2023), Or Else They Are Trees, and a micro When We Look at Things We Steal Their Color and Grow Heavy Under Their Weight (Rinky Dink Press 2024).


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Publications

A Collision of Soul in Midair

A Collision of Soul in Midair by Mike Bagwell (cover art)

Publisher: Bottlecap Press
Publication Date: November, 2023
Format: Chapbook / eBook

Composed over twelve years, A Collision of Soul in Midair is a vibrant tour of many realms, a nimble flight through wild phantasmagoria, abundance, and the slippery mechanics of meaning. In these poems, fires give lectures on eternity and hand out promotional pamphlets, crows give you one of their ribs after mistaking you for an old testament god, and the year of the pig wants to build you a house of pomegranate seeds and your own naked body. Suitable gifts, all.

With simultaneous journeys through the Chinese zodiac, Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, and the poet’s life, the worlds of Mike Bagwell’s poems are held together by constraints, linguistic threads, and recurring characters and motifs. The zodiac offers prognostications on everything from color preferences to personality traits to gift giving, Bosch’s famous triptych offers surreal imagery and latent psychological and alchemical meaning, and the poet uses the passing of time as a fractal lens on the various themes that emerge.

A Collision of Soul in Midair is a delight in the overabundance of signs, a fascination with structure as an enzyme of creativity. Time speeds by and the mazes constructed herein can do nothing to hold it back.

Where to buy: Bottlecap Press Website


Or Else they are Trees

Publisher: El Aleph Press
Publication Date: 2012
Format: eBook

The first publication by El Aleph Press is a collaboration between Rebecca Miller and Michael Bagwell. The collection pairs artwork and poetry side by side in a gorgeous full-color layout. This is a limited run of 100 first-edition, signed, and hand-numbered books. Each comes with a large 17″ by 8″ print of The Rose Thief, a six-part poem and painting. A large format, hardcover edition was also created in a limited run.

Available for free (digital): Author Website


Front Page header (Volume 1, Issue 2: Mar-Apr 2024)

Contents

New Poetry Titles (2/27/24)

Check out new poetry books published the week of 2/27 from Alien Buddha Press, GASHER Press, Bottlecap Press, University of Arizona Press, Omnidawn, Signal Editions, Guernica Editions, The Backwaters Press, University of Nebraska Press, Caitlin Press Inc, Autumn House Press, Georgia Review Books, The University of Kentucky Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Brick Books, Changes Press, Tupelo Press, Black Lawrence Press, and MoonPath Press.

Click here to read.

March ‘24: Welcome to Issue 2

Read a note from editor Aiden Hunt about our second bimonthly issue, contributor accomplishments, and things to come.

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New Poetry Titles (3/5/24)

Check out new poetry books published the week of 3/5 from Graywolf Press, Knopf, Bottlecap Press, powerHouse Books, Milkweed Editions, Acre Books, Seagull Books, The University Press of Kentucky, Yale University Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Penguin Books, Able Muse Press, Button Poetry, Miami University Press, Eyewear Publishing, Black Ocean, Seren, MoonPath Press, and Book*Hub Press. Editor’s picks from Diane Seuss and Cindy Juyoung Ok.

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Contributor Poem of the Month: The Plan

Read the Contributor Poem of the Month for March 2024, “The Plan” by C.M. Crockford, along with a few words from the poet.

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New Poetry Titles (3/12/24)

Check out new poetry books published in the week of 3/12 from Belle Point Press, Bottlecap Press, Black Lawrence Press, Haymarket Books, Ecco, Milkweed Editions, Seagull Books, Hub City Press, Nightboat Books, Signature Books, Four Way Books, Curbstone Books, Kaya Press, Kith Books, Saturnalia Books, Ohio University Press, University of Wisconsin Press, Jackleg Press, Semiotext(e) and Brick Books.

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Chapbook Poem of the Month: Collection

Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for March 2024, “Collection” from Dreamsoak by Will Russo, along with a few words from the poet.

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Meet Our Contributor: C.M. Crockford

Meet our contributor, C.M. Crockford, a writer and editor originally from New Hampshire, now living in Philadelphia with his cat, Wally.

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New Poetry Titles (3/19/24)

Check out new poetry books published the week of 3/19 from Bottlecap Press, Autumn House Press, Knopf, Guernica Editions, Tin House Books, Milkweed Editions, University of Wisconsin Press and Book*Hug Press.

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Meet Our Contributor: Mike Bagwell

Meet our contributor, Mike Bagwell, a writer, poet, and software engineer in Philly. He’s published two poetry chapbooks and has a full-length collection forthcoming in 2024.

Click here to read.

New Poetry Titles (3/26/24)

Check out new poetry books for the week of 3/26 from Bottlecap Press, Nightwood Editions, Harbour Publishing, McClellan & Stewart, Carcanet Press, University of Regina Press, At Bay Press, Guernica Editions, Beltway Editions, University of Georgia Press, Lost Horse Press, University of New Mexico Press, University of Massachusetts Press, Book*Hug Books, Haymarket Books, Archipelago, Autumn House Press, Hat & Beard Press, Tigerlily Press, and GASHER Press.

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Meet Our Contributor: Francesca Leader

Meet our contributor, Francesca Leader, a Montanan living elsewhere who writes poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. Read about her writing life in her Contributor Q&A.

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April ‘24: Of SPD, Genocide, and Book Reviews

Editor Aiden Hunt writes about distribution woes, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and what we have coming during April in the Editor’s Note.

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New Poetry Titles (4/2/24)

Check out new poetry books published the week of 4/2 from Bottlecap Press, Green Linden Press, Stanchion Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Small Harbor Publishing, Milkweed Editions, Graywolf Press, Wave Books, Arsenal Pulp Press, New Directions, Invisible Publishing, Brick Books, Sixteen Rivers Press, Penguin Books, City Lights Publishers, And Other Stories, BOA Editions Ltd, OR Books, Not a Cult, Copper Canyon Press, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Beacon Press, Biblioasis, Nightboat Books, Amistad, House of Anansi Press, Hub City Press, Seagull Books, Fordham University Press, Iron Pen, Persea Books, Central Avenue Publishing, CavanKerry Press, W. W. Norton & Company, University of Akron Press and Red Hen Press.

Click here to read.

Contributor Poem of the Month: Self Portrait

Read the Contributor Poem of the Month for April 2024, “Self Portrait” by Mike Bagwell, along with a few words from the poet.

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On Cindy Juyoung Ok’s ‘House Work’: A Review Essay

Editor Aiden Hunt’s essay reviews Cindy Juyoung Ok’s poetry chapbook, ‘House Work’, published by Ugly Duckling Presse in March 2023.

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New Poetry Titles (4/9/24)

Check out new poetry books published the week of 4/9 from Faber & Faber, Small Harbor Publishing, Bottlecap Press, University of Pittsburgh Press, Green Writers Press, Loom Press, Paraclete Press, Able Muse Press, Caitlin Press Inc., Stephen F. Austin University Press, University of North Texas Press, McGill-Queen’s University Press, University of New Mexico Press, Curbstone Books, Milkweed Editions, Red Hen Press, Wave Books, Alice James Books, Paul Dry Books, Copper Canyon Press, Coffee House Press, powerHouse Books, Dial Press, Knopf, Nightboat Books, SUNY Press, Belle Point Press, White Stag Publishing, and Anhinga Press.

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New Poetry Titles (4/16/24)

Check out new poetry books published the week of 4/16 from Bottlecap Press, Knopf, HarperOne, Small Harbor Publishing, Red Hen Press, Copper Canyon Press, Nightwood Editions, Southern Illinois University Press, Seren, Sarabande Books, Phoneme Media, BOA Editions Ltd., W. W. Norton & Company, JBE Books, White Stag Publishing, ECW Press, knife | fork | book and McGill-Queen’s University Press.

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Chapbook Poem of the Month: Study of Daylight

Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for April 2024, “Study of Daylight” from Love Letters from a Burning Planet by MJ Gomez, along with a few words from the poet.

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Review: And Yet Held by T. De Los Reyes

As if an exploding star: T. De Los Reyes’s love-poems of self-discovery in the ordinary magic of the everyday. Read the review by new PCR contributor, Drishya.

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New Poetry Titles (4/23/24)

Check out new poetry books for the week of 4/23 from Bottlecap Press, Biblioasis, Copper Canyon Press, Red Hen Press, Milkweed Editions, University of Arkansas Press, Seren, Carcanet Press Ltd., Talonbooks, Unbound Edition Press and BOA Editions Ltd.

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On ‘A Throat Full of Forest-Dirt’ by Bri Stokes

C.M. Crockford reviews “A Throat Full of Forest-Dirt” by Bri Stokes, a poetry chapbook published by Bottlecap Press in November, 2023, in this essay.

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New Poetry Titles (4/30/24)

Check out new poetry books for the week of 4/30 from Bottlecap Press, Ugly Duckling Presse, University of Iowa Press, Copper Canyon Press, David R. Godine, Caitlin Press Inc, Seagull Books, Tupelo Press, Guernica Editions, Southern Illinois University Press, University of Nevada Press, University of Utah Press, University of Calgary Press, Salmon Poetry, Deep Vellum Publishing and Bauhan Publishing.

Click here to read.