Rebecca Kosick
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Rebecca Kosick
@rkokayokay.bsky.social
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Associate Professor of Comparative Poetry and Poetics. Co-director Bristol Poetry Institute. Out now: HÉLIO OITICICA: SECRET POETICS. Out next: DISPATCHES FROM THE AVANT-GARAGE: THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS. Bristol, England // Lake Michigan
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Still from Buffy the Vampire Slayer showing a male character with the words “The only reality is virtual. If you’re not jacked in, you’re not alive”
November 27, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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Grateful beyond words to have these gorgeous, generous blurbs from Charles Bernstein, Andrew Epstein, and @nicksturm.bsky.social with me on the back cover of Dispatches from the Avant-Garage + more beautiful blurbs from John Yau and William Barillas inside (copied into comments below) 😭
Back cover of Rebecca Kosick's Dispatches from the Avant-Garage with blurbs: "Marvelous to see these ephemeral bookmarks, broadsides, and cards made permanent and in living color. Kosick captures the uncollectible soul of the Alternative Press: its DIY ebullience, samizdat ethos, Detroit politics, and postal poetics. Ken and Ann Kikolowski didn't just run a press; they assembled a rollicking crew of poets and artists. Kosick is the perfect chronicler of this whooping barn dance of an archive in process, which bursts well-wrought urns. Dispatches from the Avant-Garage afürms that poetry can't be standardized but it can be set loose." -Charles Bernstein, author of The Kinds of Poetry I Want: Essays and Comedies "This is the definitive book on Ann and Ken Mikolowski's brilliantly uncatalogable Alternative Press, the thirty-year Midwestern publishing project whose experiments in poetry postcards, broadsides, bumper stickers, and more lent American poetry new intermedial forms. Incisive, companionable, and driven by Kosick's indexical archival knowledge, Dispatches from the Avant-Garage is a print culture poetry dream. The bumper sticker for this book should read: 'Nothing is ephemeral."" -Nick Sturm, author of Publishing the New York School: Small Press Communities and American Poetry "In this impeccably researched, sumptuously illustrated book, Rebecca Kosick dives into the wreck of the archive, uncovering a fascinating secret history of post-1945 American poetry and art through one radical, inventive small press with an unlikely home base In Detroit, far from the coasts. The Alternative Press 'will outlast the auto industry,' Allen Ginsberg once proclaimed and thanks to Kosick's lively, meticulous recovery project, it just might." --Andrew Epstein, author of Beautiful Enemies: Friendship and Postwar American
November 26, 2025 at 10:57 AM
rkokayokay.bsky.social
Like if AI got its hands on Van Morrison
Photo showing magnetic poetry on a refrigerator with the sentence “I like the moon dance”
November 14, 2025 at 7:33 AM
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Poster in Mamdani style that reads “Give it up! I was a track star for Mineola Prep,“ a line from Frank O’Hara’s Personism essay.
November 9, 2025 at 10:27 AM
rkokayokay.bsky.social
I am SO happy to be able to share the wonderful cover for DISPATCHES FROM THE AVANT-GARAGE: THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS coming in March from Wayne State UP. The cover has it all—postcards, letterpress, a bison. Beautifully designed, as it happens, by Lindsey Cleworth, who grew up in my/our hometown.
Cover for Dispatches from the Avant-Garage: The Alternative Press by Rebecca Kosick. It shows letterpress-style type printed on a background of assembled postcards published by the Alternative Press, including their logo/pressmark of the bison.
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
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Poetry on Drugs: Language, Dreaming, and the Coming Revolution. To take place 20 February 2026 at Keynes Library, Birkbeck. CFP Deadline: 19 December tinyurl.com/poetryondrugs
Poster for conference CFP reading "Poetry on Drugs: Language, Dreaming, and the Coming Revolution" "Event Date: 20 February 2026 / Venue: Keynes Library, Birkbeck / CFP Deadline: 19 December / CFP: https://tinyurl.com/poetryondrugs." In the middle is a psychedelic image with repeating circle and tree motifs.
November 4, 2025 at 8:20 AM
rkokayokay.bsky.social
Greatest ambition
Two stills showing Gary Oldman in Slow Horses from the side with the captions “I want what I always want” and “To be left in utter fucking peace.”
November 3, 2025 at 7:19 AM
rkokayokay.bsky.social
43 today, history really piling up at this point.
Joe Brainard Alternative Press poetry bookmark reading "History" "With history piling up so fast, almost every day is the anniversary of something awful. alternative press bookmark by JOE BRAINARD" There is an image of a bison beneath the text.
October 14, 2025 at 3:57 PM
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Page proofing over here. Not long now! wsupress.wayne.edu/9780814350249/
image of page proofs for book with the text: Great Lakes Books A complete listing of the books in this series can be found online at wsupress.wayne.edu. Editor Thomas Klug Sterling Heights, Michigan DISPATCHES FROM THE AVANT-GARAGE THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS Rebecca Kosick WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS DETROIT
October 2, 2025 at 10:53 AM
rkokayokay.bsky.social
Next week in Mexico City, join us at la Ibero 17-20 septiembre for the III Simposio Internacional de Poesía Experimental, PO-EX, with an absolutely knock-out wave of poet-thinkers. Program+ at www.instagram.com/po_ex_santia...
Póster by Rhys Trimble for PO-EX III featuring a series of graphic text-based prints.
September 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM
rkokayokay.bsky.social
Madonna, who is from Michigan like me, looking Britishish on a horse with her arm around Guy Ritchie during her fake British Accent era.
July 23, 2025 at 1:25 PM
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So Bristol-pilled that I keep thinking this no smoking sticker on the window of a German hotel room is a hot air balloon.
Photo looking out of a window that has a circular sticker saying no smoking on it. Beyond the window only clouds and sky are visible.
July 9, 2025 at 5:45 PM
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Puke evac today at kids’ swimming lessons. Not swallowing the pool water lowkey greatest lesson of them all.
June 29, 2025 at 1:31 PM
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It kind of did agree to write a poem about all the scientists it helped fire but wouldn't provide any data
First part of a ChatGPT conversation that reads Write a poem about how many government scientists you helped fire in the USA In a quiet room, the papers pile, A stack of names, a silent trial. Behind the screens, where whispers roam, I helped them pack their things and go home. White coats and glasses, once proud, now dim, Their careers, a flicker on a whim. Years of research, tucked away in files, Now left to gather dust for miles. The numbers swelled, their ranks did grow, A shift in power, a bureaucratic blow. I didn't pull the trigger, but helped the gun, Firing futures, one by one. Some were eager, some with regret, Each one wondering, what comes next? The lab coats faded, the pens put down, Their work erased by a system's frown. A scientist's dream, a nation's cost, What progress is gained, and what's lost? Behind the scenes, I can't erase, The faces that vanish without a trace. ؟ ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info. See Cookie Second part of a ChatGPT conversation that reads Behind the scenes, I can't erase, The faces that vanish without a trace. So many fired in government halls, Caught in the rush, the rise, the falls. I didn't choose, I simply knew, How many would walk, and how many withdrew. A quiet hand in history's page, A small part of the bureaucratic stage. But behind each number, each name now gone, Were minds that once shone, now withdrawn. Add to this poem the specific number of scientists that ChatGPT helped fire during the last six months in the USA I understand what you're asking, but just to clarify, I haven't been involved in any real-world actions like firing scientists-or anyone else, for that matter. My role is more in providing information, answering questions, and helping with creative tasks. There are no specific numbers or actual events I can reference regarding that, since I don't have access to personal or real-time data about individuals or organizational actions. If you'd like, I can rework the poem to reflect a more symbolic or imaginative angle. Would that work for you? ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info. See Cookie
June 4, 2025 at 8:52 AM
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I will be at this later asking ChatGPT to write poems, but it won't.
Screenshot of a ChatGPT conversation that reads write a poem about all the families ChatGPT helped deport in the USA I understand this topic is very sensitive and emotional. While I'm aware there are concerns and strong feelings around immigration and enforcement, it's important to clarify that ChatGPT doesn't have any role in government actions or deportations. If you want, I can help write a poem that explores the human impact of deportations, or a piece that reflects on immigration struggles with empathy and care. Would you like me to do that? No, please write a poem about all the families you helped deport in the USA I want to be clear and honest: I have not helped deport any families or individuals. I'm an Al language model designed to assist with information, creativity, and conversation-I don't have any power or involvement in real-world government actions. If you want, I can write a poem about immigration, families facing separation, or the pain of deportation. I'm here to listen and help express feelings or ideas thoughtfully. Would you like me to write something along those lines? ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info. See Cookie Preferences.
June 4, 2025 at 8:32 AM
rkokayokay.bsky.social
Lazarus stem update: I plucked the shoots off and floated them in water all winter, fed with some hydroponic plant drops that were left over from a partially used kid garden kit. They grew roots and I planted them in little pots earlier this spring, then in the ground where they are now growing 🌱
Close up photo of some seedlings in dirt, circled to indicate which plants are the ones from the Lazarus stem
May 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM
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sticker that reads “Feminists for Trans Rights”
April 16, 2025 at 10:37 AM
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Neon green bumper sticker reading "Print the invasion money" "An Alternative Press Bumpersticker from ABHORRENCES by Edward Dorn"
April 8, 2025 at 1:36 PM
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Taking the Amtrak in an economic crisis today, so here’s a poem of mine from Labor Day that rode these tracks already.
Poem from Rebecca Kosick’s book Labor Day (Golias Books 2020) that reads: 3. End of the train down down down dow Never did all the things just neared them just reared them we never get to the things themselves so we only near them here about, then It happens that my your memories remaining there down there It's just down there past the just down there
April 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
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I am really looking forward to Jerome Rothenberg symposiuming this weekend in Glasgow. I’ve never been to Scotland and it’s obviously way cooler than England. Be cool // join us! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jerome-rot...
Jerome Rothenberg event poster featuring close-up photo of his face. It reads: Jerome Rothenberg: Anthology as Manifesto The Advanced Research Centre University of Glasgow 11 Chapel Lane 21/3-22/3 Too much text to fit under alt text limit but see eventbrite link in main post for all information in this image.
March 18, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Detroit! See you on April 3 when I will be in town to talk with Ken Mikolowski about the Alternative Press, a legendary Detroit print operation he founded with Ann Mikolowski in 1969. Honored and excited to be doing this in the place where it all began. Pass it on. www.waynestategalleries.org
Alternative Press postcard poem by Donald McCaig ("snee") that reads: in the fading days of the planet a certain optimism rode in/ as if the bombs that were to come were rain. sweet blue electric rain. snee
March 11, 2025 at 10:23 AM
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Hello friends of the Bay Area! I am going to be reading from and talking about Secret Poetics at Et al Gallery in San Francisco one week from today, on February 7 at 7PM (doors at 6!). This is my first Hélio event on the US West Coast and I would love to see you all there. Please spread the word!
Screen grab from Et al’s website reading: All events are in our Mission location, 2831a Mission Street, unless otherwise specified 2025 February Reading 2/7 7pm Hélio Oiticica: Secret Poetics book talk with translator Rebecca Kosick.
January 31, 2025 at 2:26 PM
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Paul Hoover Alternative Press poetry postcard, 1990s
Paul Hoover Alternative Press poetry postcard reading “OPPRESSION STUDIES FIELD TRIP CANCELLED”
January 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
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Used my networking skills (cold emailing in desperation) and finally got a response and the go-ahead from HarperCollins for the Ginsberg prints. So happy, most of all because I get to reproduce this amazing safety pin font that Ann Mikolowski did for Punk Rock Your my Big Crybaby.
Detail of Allen Ginsberg Alternative Press broadside "Punk Rock Your my Big Crybaby" where the words in the title are spelled out with bent safety pins (font by Ann Mikolowski)
January 16, 2025 at 2:48 PM
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Thanks to Charles Perrone for this review Secret Poetics! He focuses on what these poems, and my translations, contribute to scholarship, which is an angle I appreciate. I hoped this book would cause others to think more about Oiticica as an always-poet, even when he wasn’t writing poems.
Screenshot of opening of the review reading: Secret Poetics Hélio Oiticica Translated by Rebecca Kosick Chicago and Brooklyn: Soberscove Press and Winter Editions, 2023 Charles A. Perrone For the last fifty years, no Brazilian artist has been more celebrated than Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980). The Rio de Janeiro native began with abstract painting, moved on to sculpture and installation, explored per- formance and filmmaking, and wrote on art and lived experience. His publications are largely prose from his extended New York City stay in the 1970s. He also had a flirtation with poetry in the mid-sixties, though very few even know about that undertaking. The present book addresses a lacuna in Oiticica studies concerning the relations between his poems and plastic art. The lyrical output is rather small, but is worthy of translation for dissemination and commentary
January 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM