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aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
About Place Journal
@aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
260 followers 160 following 100 posts
A literary journal published by the Black Earth Institute blackearthinst.bsky.social | Dedicated to re-forging the links between art and spirit, earth and society.
Black Earth, Wisconsin | aboutplacejournal.org
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blackearthinst.bsky.social
🎉 Congratulations to our 2025 @pushcartprize.bsky.social
nominees! Explore the nominated works from the 'On Freedom' and 'Careful/Care-full Collaboration' issues of our literary journal @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social.

#Poetry #Prose #PushcartPrize

blackearthinstitute.org/pushcart-pri...
Pushcart Prize Nominees
From the Careful/Care-full Collaboration issue Chai is Resilience by Zorian A. Chakraborty (prose) as the fence now runs / I stand in the place by Erica M. Breen (poetry) AI by Jeremy Jacob Perez an...
blackearthinstitute.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:54 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
so many fires
tips of fingers
tree tops
rabid thoughts
ripe ripening
incendiary an ignition flick
simple gestures
handshakes flame then ash
cue secret mycelium lounge clubs

__________

From 'to record what was becoming invisible' by Stephanie Heit

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
Stephanie Heit – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
November 9, 2025 at 12:05 AM
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blackearthinst.bsky.social
We are excited to announce the @pushcartprize.bsky.social nominees from the “Careful/Care-full Collaboration” issue of our literary journal @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social.

🎉 Congratulations and best of luck to these incredible nominees!
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social About Place Journal @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social · 9d
Announcing our Pushcart Prize nominees:

✒️Erica M. Breen’s “as the fence now runs (1948 quit claim deed)” & “(2023 reflections) I stand in the place"

✒️Jeremy Jacob Perez & Joan Cambridge Mayfield’s “AI”

✒️Zorian A. Chakraborty's "Chai is Resilience"

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/caref...
aboutplacejournal.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:14 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
Announcing our Pushcart Prize nominees:

✒️Erica M. Breen’s “as the fence now runs (1948 quit claim deed)” & “(2023 reflections) I stand in the place"

✒️Jeremy Jacob Perez & Joan Cambridge Mayfield’s “AI”

✒️Zorian A. Chakraborty's "Chai is Resilience"

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/caref...
aboutplacejournal.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:10 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
As we think about freedom in times of great change, especially during the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, J.W.M. Morgan looks into the perspective of historical figures to understand their personal motives for fighting for freedom.

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
J.W.M. Morgan – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
November 2, 2025 at 1:55 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
Father’s gone, and the legs are out.
She blesses the tabletop with twin aces and forgets
to call the others  
her sisters—
their lingerie,
already hanging from the crucifix.
Down to garters and double veils

From 'Nuns Playing Strip Poker' by Harrison Hamm

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
hands holding a cross. Photo by Kseniia Ilinykh on Unsplash.
October 31, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by About Place Journal
bookgaga.bsky.social
"to even say the word “haint” was a spell
we cast on ourselves and all our friends."

#TodaysPoem #poetry
The Names by Thomas Rain Crowe (2017 @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social)
Thomas Rain Crowe – SOUTH – About Place Journal
“The Names”
aboutplacejournal.org
October 29, 2025 at 11:45 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
#Poems from Slave Narrative Project 1936-1937, Revisited 2025, by Dr. Mel Michelle Lewis ➡️This one is very important and special, with several works written in dialect that tells a story we should all know better. aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
Mel Michelle Lewis – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 26, 2025 at 3:38 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
We are the shining stars, we are the daughters of the night sky, and tonight, we’re not going back to that awful home until after curfew. After curfew.

➡️ From 'Kiki Says' by Hawaii-born writer Zach Keali’i Murphy

#Prose #LitMag

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
Zach Keali'i Murphy – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 19, 2025 at 2:47 PM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
In our latest issue ➡️Crossings: In this section many works speak to new areas to express challenges and freedom from self-doubt. There are many to choose from. Which one moves you most?

( ✒️ Section artwork: There’s a door by Crash Solo) #LitMag

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
Cartoon figures in conversation. Caption: There's a door that leads out.
October 16, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by About Place Journal
drkopacz.bsky.social
It is disappointing that health & MAHA has become twisted, in an Orwellian way, into its opposite.

Joseph Rael and I used the term back in March 2021 in @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social

"Making America Healthy Again: Indigenous Perspectives on Land & Health"

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/geogr...
David R. Kopacz MD & Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow) – Geographies of Justice – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 16, 2025 at 7:46 PM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
Hundreds and thousands line up by the sea
following last night’s bombings where again many have died—it’s difficult to know what this means;
the sun hasn’t fully come up although the sky
which is never blue anymore and is now patched
with smoke, is bright.

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
Jayant Kashyap – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 16, 2025 at 1:09 AM
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blackearthinst.bsky.social
The editorial team of @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social is proud to include a dedicated section 'Young Authors & Artists' in our latest edition.

➡️ 🌐 "With flair and honesty, these artists and writers articulate what it means to move, gather, speak, and exist in a world they are reshaping."
#LitMag
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social About Place Journal @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social · Oct 9
The artwork for the section 'Succession: Young Authors & Artists' was done by Iranian photographer, storyteller, and poet Zohreh Zadbood.

➡️ The piece is titled 'Color in Wind,' in our latest edition. aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...

🔗 Discover more of her creative work at zohrehzadbood.com
Bird kite in flight. 'Color in Wind' by Zohreh Zadbood.
October 9, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by About Place Journal
bookgaga.bsky.social
"Tell it to send its small things past us,
past us like smoke empties from a jar, tell the tiny lightning bodies to

glint mica, spread borealis."

#TodaysPoem #poetry
Long Exposure Fireflies by Amie Irwin (2017 @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social) aboutplacejournal.org/issues/south...
Amie Irwin – SOUTH – About Place Journal
“Long Exposure Fireflies” and “Sardis Song”
aboutplacejournal.org
October 10, 2025 at 2:48 PM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
The artwork for the section 'Succession: Young Authors & Artists' was done by Iranian photographer, storyteller, and poet Zohreh Zadbood.

➡️ The piece is titled 'Color in Wind,' in our latest edition. aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...

🔗 Discover more of her creative work at zohrehzadbood.com
Bird kite in flight. 'Color in Wind' by Zohreh Zadbood.
October 9, 2025 at 4:18 PM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
The cover artwork for the latest edition of About Place Journal is titled 'A song for you/Flight' and was created by Joseph Laurro. Laurro holds a BFA from SUNY New Paltz and an MA from Brooklyn College, and teaches art in NYC public schools. #LitMag #Art aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
Joseph Laurro – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 7, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Reposted by About Place Journal
lesleymwheeler.bsky.social
Thanks to @aboutplacejournal.bsky.social for another great issue! Here are two new ones from me: aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
Lesley Wheeler – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by About Place Journal
drkopacz.bsky.social
Chris Smith & I have an article in About Place
"Freedom & Free Doom: Reflections on Agency, Doom, and Hope"
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
@aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
#freedom #doom #hope #agency
@soulinmedicine.bsky.social
Chris A Smith & David R Kopacz – On Freedom – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 4, 2025 at 5:58 PM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
The fall issue of About Place Journal, On Freedom is out today!! The poetry, prose, visual art speak to so many of the freedoms we see, feel and include in our hopes.

➡️ Issue Eds: DJ Lee & Michael McDermott with Assistant Eds: Rachel Sanchez & Jacob Klaung
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/on-fr...
On Freedom – About Place Journal
“On Freedom” features poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, visual art, video, and hybrid works that question what freedom means in our turbulent world. The pieces in this issue explore freedom's dual...
aboutplacejournal.org
October 4, 2025 at 3:13 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
When I stand before
my mirror, ready

to attack my tangled locks,
I see dozens of well-groomed
soldiers with purple picks

stowed safely in kit bags
as they attack. I see
the enemy striking back.

From 'Combing My Hair,
Operation Desert Storm'

- Jill Barrie

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/caref...
Military personnel. Photo from Unsplash.
October 2, 2025 at 12:51 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
There are times when I fear the distance of the past
& sit with the collapse. Forget who I am
while in an office too far above the soil.
I sit at a desk writing words – insisting
to find meaning elsewhere on a page

- simóne j banks

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/caref...
simóne j banks – Careful/Care-full Collaboration – About Place Journal
aboutplacejournal.org
October 1, 2025 at 12:59 AM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
How do our movements create resonance(s) between us? asks issue editor Dr. Mita Mahato.

➡️Resonance. I am thinking about insects. Their buzzing, winging, rubbing, clicking, scurrying fill my ears. At its most fundamental, “resonance” means sound again.

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/caref...
Mita Mahato
September 21, 2025 at 3:20 PM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
-Our Table - Orchestra - Marulas

Three poems from 'body,' a #poetry manuscript by Erica Waters "challenges 'myths of exceptional individualism as constructed within colonial and capitalist contexts.'”

Waters is an Assistant Teaching Professor at CSU.
aboutplacejournal.org/issues/caref...
Trees with sun shining through. Image from Pixabay.
September 13, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by About Place Journal
anniefinch.com
My Poem Commemorating 9-11

poems.anniefinch.com/occasions/th...
“The Naming: A Chant”: Memorial Poem for 9-11
Inspired by Meredith Bergmann’s sculpture memorializing the victims of 9/11, and written to be read aloud, this poem was first performed by Annie at the sculpture’s installation in the Cathedral of St...
poems.anniefinch.com
September 11, 2025 at 8:20 PM
aboutplacejournal.bsky.social
We’re already all here, the lot of us,
more than the sum of our parts,

oneness not sameness, diversity
that spins. Shared meal persists,

even when we trust too much in knives,
even when we break dishes, spill wine
__

From 'Our Table'
by Erica Waters

aboutplacejournal.org/issues/caref...
People around a dinner table. Photo by Zach Reiner on Unsplash.
September 8, 2025 at 7:51 PM