The Chaos Section Poetry Project
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Fractions in a Spectrum: An Interview on Collaborature
Back in September, I sat down with poet and editor Melissa Lemay for an interview on her site, Collaborature. Somehow I completely missed when the piece went live—and we can chalk that up to juggling a few too many projects at once, or my own scatterbrained nature, or… whatever—but that one’s definitely on me. Melissa did send me the link, and Continue reading
Austin writers, Collaborature, contemporary poets, coping mechanisms, creative process, independent publishing, Jeff Tweedy, Melissa Lemay, poet interview, poetry community, poetry interview, political poetry, Record of Dissent, Stoicism, TCS Press, The Chaos Section Poetry Project, What We Hold On To, wilco, writing habits -
Poetry That Breaks the Rules—and Works
Broken Rengay: Unruly Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Melissa Lemay, and Barbara Leonhard(Prolific Pulse Press, 2025) Melissa Lemay, who readers will recognize from Record of Dissent, is back with a new collaboration, and this one leans hard into play. Broken Rengay: Unruly Poetry is a quick, sharp collection co-written with Nolcha Fox and Barbara Leonhard, with a striking cover illustration Continue reading
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The Chaos Section Poetry Project is Open for Submissions: Coping Mechanisms
Submissions Are Open! The Chaos Section Poetry Project is now accepting poems for our next collection. Theme: Coping MechanismsDeadline: Monday, September 15, 2025Publication: Winter 2025 We’re looking for poems about how people endure, adapt, and hold on in turbulent times. Coping can be political or personal, healthy or messy, quiet or loud. Protest, ritual, stress eating, resilience, bad Continue reading
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Get Your Copy: “Record of Dissent” Is Now Available in Paperback
After months of reading, curating, editing, and wrangling files into formats they did not want to be in, I’m proud to say that Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age is now available in print. You can order a copy online through IngramSpark, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, BookPeople, Alibris, or ask your local indie bookseller to Continue reading
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Emerging from the Penumbra
Merril D. Smith In scant light, slant light, shadows strollabove the bones unseen,remains of scattered, shattered lives,Glory, Hallelujah, we used to sing. Was this then, or is this now?The truth is marching on–torn, twisted, and trampledin scant, slant light as shadows stroll, as masked men menace, muscled maraudersfrom obscurity troll in the scant, slant light Continue reading
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Learning about Nazis in High School
Bartholomew Barker Reading my history texts, I imaginedwhat I would’ve done if I’d livedin Germany during the War. How I would’ve resisted, hidden Jewsin my basement, risked my life,my freedom to foil the fascists. But having grown-up and fat,I sign petitions, write lettersto the editor and merely vote. I don’t think I could fit a Continue reading
The Chaos Section Poetry Project 