Two of Kara’s poems, “A Prayer for Massage Therapists” and “Seeking Refuge” were published in the 2017 edition of For A Better World. For A Better World is published each year as part of SOS Art Cincinnati, an Arts Vehicle for Peace and Justice and for a Change.
Kara is thrilled to have two of her poems appear in this anthology.
Bared collects the work of 170 contemporary women poets and artists. Exploring the gendered narratives that clothe and fashion the body, gender subversion, the traditional male gaze, feminist theories, and more, the artists and poets collected in Bared resist given narratives about the breast and bra by boldly presenting alternatives in written and visual art. The poetry and art of Bared consider commodification, training bras, mammograms, bra factories, biopsies, bra-fit, pencil tests, cancer, mastectomies, sexuality, implants, nursing, representation, and so much more, highlighting the importance of women’s bodies now and in the future. The cover art is by Wanda Ewing, University of Nebraska at Omaha’s tenured professor who was diagnosed with cancer in May 2013 and died a few short months later in December. She was only 43. A portion of the proceeds from Bared will be donated to the University of Nebraska Foundation Wanda Ewing Memorial Scholarship Fund.During select events, a portion of proceeds will also go to specified organizations that support women.
Read more! “Bloodsuckers” is a short story published in Illuminations, Volume 16 | 2015, edited by Kimberly Fangman.
Illuminations (http://online.southeast.edu/Illuminations.nsf) is the award-winning artistic publication of Southeast Community College. In the Community College Humanities Association’s literary magazine competition, Illuminations contributor Cameron Koll was awarded the Judges’ Merit Award in Fiction for his short story, “Baby Doll,” which appeared in Illuminations, Vol. 10!
Read more! “A Late Frost” is a short story published in Illuminations, Volume 15| 2014, edited by Kimberly Fangman.
Illuminations (http://online.southeast.edu/Illuminations.nsf) is the award-winning artistic publication of Southeast Community College. In the Community College Humanities Association’s literary magazine competition, lluminations contributor Cameron Koll was awarded the Judges’ Merit Award in Fiction for his short story, “Baby Doll,” which appeared in Illuminations, Vol. 10!
Edited by Heidi Hermanson, Liz Kay, Jen Lambert, and Sarah McKinstry-Brown. Published by The Backwaters Press. The four editors of THE UNTIDY SEASON, each an accomplished poet in her own right, searched for poems of clarity, honesty, passion, and brilliance. One of the editors writes: “We were drawn to work that both celebrated and subverted the ‘typical’ Nebraska experience, the ‘typical’ experience of motherhood, the ‘typical’ experience of womanhood. I suppose my own aesthetic leads me to be drawn to work that challenges ‘typical,’ but much of the work we experienced over that year of reading submissions forced me to engage with my own stereotypes and see inside them.”
Reviews:
Illuminations Volume 13 2012
For the first three decades of my life, I had lived with an unidentified pain, an invisible wound that I wasn’t even aware of. I felt the mask of my adoption shattering around me. Memories flooded my mind, cracks in the veneer of my pretense. I saw myself at age four, waking from a recurring nightmare in which I had been abducted or my parents killed in house fires and natural disasters; at age six, overhearing my parents discuss my teacher’s frustration at my constant crying; age nine, asking my mother if it was possible that I had a twin somewhere who had been adopted by another family; age twelve, filled with guilt after responding to a saleslady’s observation that I looked just like my mother with a curt, “No I don’t. I’m adopted;” age fourteen, racking my brains trying to respond to an English assignment prompt that asked me to tell the story of my birth; age fifteen, paralyzed by the recessive/dominant gene trait worksheet my Biology teacher had assigned. I was a tongue-roller with a widow’s peak and free ear lobes (dominant) and had light hair with reddish tints (recessive), but none of my physical combinations aligned with the family I grew up with like my classmates’ did.
“What Lies Under the Heart” is a narrative essay published in Illuminations, Volume 13 | 2012, edited by Kimberly Fangman. Also published in this edition is the poem “Garlic.”
Illuminations (http://online.southeast.edu/Illuminations.nsf) is the award-winning artistic publication of Southeast Community College. In the Community College Humanities Association’s literary magazine competition, Illuminations contributor Cameron Koll was awarded the Judges’ Merit Award in Fiction for his short story, “Baby Doll,” which appeared in Illuminations, Vol. 10.
Illuminations Volume 12 2011
My heart is pounding. I know what I have to do. I have to free the mouse. I have to feed the mouse. Uta stares blankly at me. Can two seconds possibly be enough time for her to assess my situation? Are two seconds enough to comprehend the passionate fiasco of hundreds of uneaten cartons spanning the sticky rice seasons of five years? Can the sweet and glutinous liberation rising in my chest, a thick, fermented, bubbly sensation, possibly travel from my side of the table to hers in just two seconds?
“Caught” is a short story published in Illuminations, Volume 12 | 2011, edited by Kimberly Fangman.
Illuminations (http://online.southeast.edu/Illuminations.nsf) is the award-winning artistic publication of Southeast Community College. In the Community College Humanities Association’s literary magazine competition, Illuminations contributor Cameron Koll was awarded the Judges’ Merit Award in Fiction for his short story, “Baby Doll,” which appeared in Illuminations, Vol. 10!
