UNCOLLECTED PRESS: The Raw Art Review

Dean Gessie is an author and poet who has won dozens of international awards and prizes. Among other honors, Dean won the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award in England, the Allingham Arts Festival Poetry Competition in Ireland, the Samuel Washington Allen Prize in Massachusetts, the COP26 Poetry Competition in Scotland, the UN-aligned Poetry Contest in Finland and the Creators of Justice Literary Award [Fiction Category] from the International Human Rights Art Festival in New York. In addition, Dean won the Frank O’Hara Poetry Prize in Massachusetts, the Enizagam Poetry Contest in California, the Ageless Authors Poetry Contest in Texas, the Indigo Open Poetry Prize in England, the Spoon River Review Editors’ Prize in Illinois and the Southern Shakespeare Company Sonnet Contest in Florida. Dean was also included in The 64 Best Poets of 2018 and 2019 by Black Mountain Press in North Carolina. Elsewhere, Dean’s short story collection – called Anthropocene – won an Eyelands Book Award in Greece and the Uncollected Press Prize in Maryland.

DEAN GESSIE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

DEAN GESSIE ENDORSEMENTS

BOOK OF POETRY FROM UNCOLLECTED PRESS: “Goat Song ” by Dean Gessie

BOOK OF SHORT STORIES FROM UNCOLLECTED PRESS PUBLISHED: “Anthropocene” by Dean Gessie

UNCOLLECTED PRESS (UCP) INNER CIRCLE AWARD

PRAISE FOR POETRY AND PROSE FROM DEAN GESSIE

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“Dean Gessie’s scintillating goat song reveals a poet and writer at the height of his powers. Defying genre and canon, Gessie shapeshifts, skin shucks and shimmies in this masterfully crafted, explosively seditious, viscerally engaging magnum opus of satire. Equal parts alchemy, threnody and rebel gospel, goat song is a potent protest song to human, animal and planetary suffering. Threaded through with finely honed lyric, motif, imagery and metaphor, not a word is spare. This collection sings throughout with razor’s edge wit and supremely slick syntax.”

Anne Casey, poet and writer, winner of multiple international awards, including first prize in the American Writers Review Contest 2021 and winner of the 2021 iWoman Global Award in the field of literature.

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Gessie’s poems “torrent through the mind, an effort of resistance language like crashing a bus into a TV screen. Genius with a pocketful of broken fetters.”

Tongo Eisen-Martin, from Enizagam Literary Journal, winner of an American Book Award, a California Book Award and shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize.

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“Gessie’s goat song reads like a whirlwind holding a machete. It takes no prisoners. He explores human failings and fragility as a Bacchanalian dance of visceral sensuality. There is so much to savour in this brilliant collection. Eulogy for Empire [the longest poem] is a tour de force.”

Fawzia Kane, poet and educator, author of Tantie Diablesse by Waterloo Press and Houses of the Dead by Thamesis Publications.

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“Readers searching for the artful language of Fitzgerald and the cultural relevance of Achebe in a volume that speaks directly to global citizens of the twenty-first century have finally found their lost ark in Anthropocene. It’s not difficult to find writers today who explore problematic issues within our brave new world of cultural collisions, gender politics and new-look human subjugation. What is incredibly rare, however, is to find a writer willing to criticize contemporary social ills with both empathic concern and vehement distaste—as Gessie does—while remaining faithful to the craft of literary fiction. There’s no dark corner he won’t articulately explore in this astonishing collection of stories. Readers will wrestle with Gessie’s thinly veiled accusations of our own complicity with social injustice and, yet, they will also laugh along with his wide array of marginalized, irreverent voices. Anthropocene is, at once, a buoyant, hilarious and deeply disturbing experience.”

Keith Kupsch
Director of the Joshua Weinzweig Creative Writing Program
Pickering College

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WINNER of the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, London, England, anthology publication, 2021

WINNER of the Ageless Authors International Poetry Contest, Texas, U.S.A., 2021

MEDALIST in the Nosside Prize 2020 Competition and published in the XXXV World Poetry Prize Anthology, Italy, 2021

HIGHLY COMMENDED in the Desmond Morton Internationl Poetry Contest, Ireland, 2021

FINALIST for the Plough International Poetry Prize, United Kingdom, 2021

SECOND PRIZE WINNER in the 90^th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, Cincinnati, Ohio, anthology publication, 2021

THIRD PRIZE WINNER, Mikrokosmos Poetry Contest, U.S.A. 2022

terra australis incognita

WINNER of the Enizagam International Poetry Contest and published in Enizagam, Oakland, California, 2019

WINNER of the UN-aligned Poetry Competition, Finland, 2021

COMMENDED POEM, Parkinson’s Art Poet of the Year, England, 2022

Published in poets meet politics, Hungry Hill Writing, England, 2019

Published in The Best 64 Poets of 2019 by Black Mountain Press, North Carolina

diary of a dead eel boy

WINNER of the Frank O’Hara Prize in Massachusetts for best contest submission, anthology publication in 2021

WINNER of the Spoon River Poetry Review Editors’ Prize, Illinois, anthology publication, 2022

WINNER of the Allingham Arts Festival Poetry Competition, Ireland, 2021

HIGHLY COMMENDED in the Desmond Morton Internationl Poetry Contest, Ireland, 2021

TOP FOUR in the Oprelle Masters Poetry Competition, Pennsylvania, anthology publication, 2021

#mentoo

CONTEST WINNER and published in The Best 64 Poets of 2018 by Black Mountain Press, 2019

one big loud thing unheard

WINNER of the Enizagam International Poetry Contest and published in Enizagam, Oakland, California, 2019

FINALIST and published in Passionate Penholders, Wingless Dreamer Chapbook, India, 2019

gram bonkers makes a wireless connection

CONTEST WINNER and published in The Best 64 Poets of 2018 by Black Mountain Press, 2019

CONTEST WINNER and published in Nature 20/20 by Willowdown Books, England, 2020

octopus in the room

WINNER of the Enizagam International Poetry Contest and published in Enizagam, Oakland, California, 2019

FINALIST in the Poets Meet Painters 2022 Competition and published in Poets Meet Painters 2022, Ireland, 2022

existential deer

COMMENDED POEM (top five of 2000) in the Magma Poetry Competition, London, England, 2019-2020

FINALIST for the Milton Kessler Memorial Prize for Poetry in New York and published in Harpur Palate, a literary journal, 2021

a mother mulls her son’s self-injuries

HIGHLY COMMENDED in the Desmond Morton Internationl Poetry Contest, Ireland, 2021

Deer [sic] Poetry Contest Judges

SHORTLIST for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, London, England, anthology publication, 2020

What happens when I die?

Published by Cathexis Northwest Press, 2021

the influencer

WINNER of the Southern Shakespeare Company Sonnet Contest, Florida, 2022

old man seven bell

WINNER of the Indigo Open Poetry Prize, England, online publication, 2022

eulogy for empire

WINNER of the Samuel Washington Allen Prize for best long poem, NEPC, Massachusetts, publication, 2022

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Books by Dean Gessie

Guantanamo Redux, Anaphora Literary Press, Brownsville, Texas, 2016.

A Brief History of Summer Employment, Anaphora Literary Press, Brownsville, Texas, 2017.

TrumpeterVille, Anaphora Literary Press, Brownsville, Texas, 2017.

Anthropocene, UnCollected Press, Ellicott City, Maryland, 2020.

goat song, UnCollected Press, Ellicott City, Maryland, 2020.

The submission period for the RAR Winter 2023 journal issue has been closed. All submissions have been read and the final selections for the journal issue have been made. All submitters will receive notification over the next few days.

The RAR Winter 2023 Cover Art Contest has also been completed. Winner, Runner-up and Honorable Mention submissions have been selected and notifications will be sent in the next few days.

Thank you for all the beautiful artwork received! What a pleasure it has been to immerse ourselves in their beauty.

Editors can be a mean-spirited, small-minded, indiscriminate, parochial, and sometimes vindictive bunch.

Understanding that this is just the way it is, we are offering our REJECTED WORK/FOUND ART CONTEST AND ANTHOLOGY.

Send us your poem or flash fiction piece or short story or novel excerpt or artwork image – any work of art that has fallen victim to myopic and unimaginative editors.

We want your rejected work. We are sure that beautiful artwork is being shamefully misunderstood and willfully neglected.

Turn things around. Some editor rejects your piece; turn it around and send it to us. Transform pain to promise. Redeem your rejections!

The work of art we like the best will earn $100
The work or art we like second best will receive $50.
Four honorable mention submissions will be paid $25.
All accepted rejections will appear in the anthology.

DETAILS BELOW:

NOTE – Follow us on our website to stay current on our FOUND ART ANTHOLOGY submissions and contest results. See follow button at the top of the righthand sidebar on our homepage.

1. RAR is looking for your REJECTED prose, poems and artwork (all media) that use content and form to express powerful emotions, aesthetics, ideas and/or revelations. We do not discriminate against any genre.
2. The UnCollected Press FOUND ART ANTHOLOGY will appear In Print and as an Online Downloadable Publication. Artwork and writing also may be posted to RAR’s home page as a Featured Work of Art. The In-Print version of the FOUND ART ANTHOLOGY is a high quality, perfect-bound, full color cover and interior production. We use coated paper to present the artwork in the best possible way. Author BIOs, which may include web and social media channel addresses, also appear in both versions of the book. The book will be sold in online and storefront book sellers.
3. NOTE: – The Raw Art Review is no longer offering a contributor’s copy for works published in its journals and anthologies. The cost of producing this book is very high and sales of the book are typically low. We have therefore reduced the reading fee for submission, will offer all contributors a free electronic version of the FOUND ART ANTHOLOGY, and will offer the printed version of the FOUND ART ANTHOLOGY for sale from the UnCollected Press Website and other bookseller sites.
4. Submissions may also result in the artist/writer being selected as a Featured Artist in a dedicated gallery or library accessible from the RAR home page. (See Featured Artist Page).
5. Artists whose work generates particular interest among our editors may be invited to submit a manuscript for book publication of poetry, prose (fiction or non-fiction), and artwork.
6. There are no rules of form and content. The sole criterion for acceptance is the power of the emotional/psychological/spiritual/physiological impact on editors reading the poem. A piece of writing or artwork can be tightly wrought and beautifully organized or wild, unruly, and improvisational.
7. There are no trade-craft expectations or requirements. Single or double space, left-center-right alignment, long lines/short lines, standard use of punctuation or use of line breaks to set a poem’s rhythm, etc. NOTE: we attempt to maintain as much of your formatting as we can in the book production.
8. GOOD ENOUGH IS PERFECT – TYPOS – we understand it is difficult to catch all typos and other “errors”. We will presume a typo or error is volitional, so for the purpose of maintaining your intent for the writing or artwork it is in your best interest to review carefully, get help from others, etc. NOTE: If you need line/copy editing for this submission or any other manuscripts, RAR Editors are available. Email us at editor@therawartreview.com for details and an estimate.
9. Review of writing and artwork is blind. Please do not put your name or any other identifying information on your manuscript pages.
10. BIO is not required at this time. You can include a BIO and publication history in the cover letter if you want, or you can use the cover letter space provided on the submission form to tell us about your artwork. Feel free to skip the cover letter entirely by putting something like “No COVER LETTER” in the field or by leaving the field blank. NOTE: We do read and enjoy cover letters, but never before selections have been made.
11. Editors are prohibited from rejecting writing or artwork on first review. All writing and artworks get at least 2 reviews before a decision is made.
12. Editors assume you are smarter than we are. We will strive to understand your intention, stay open-minded and try to avoid imposing our presumptions on your work. We will never use irresponsible, misguided, and self-aggrandizing slurs to describe your work like “purple writing” or “that technique is a gimmick”.
13. We may use writing and artwork that has been accepted on a revolving basis during the submission period as blog posts on The Raw Art Review’s home page.
14. There is a $10 reading Fee for submission. We are also offering a $10 expedite fee. Expedited work is reviewed and a response given within two weeks.
15. We value the slush pile. (Not a derogatory term among our editors). Writing or Artwork is not rejected as much as it is “completed” and saved, with your permission, in the slush pile for future consideration. We will of course seek your permission before anything in the slush pile is published and lay no claim to saved works.
16. 3 poems or 1 short story or 5 photos of artwork per entry. You may enter as many times as you like but the $10.00 fee applies to each entry. NOTE: We generally cannot publish stories that are more than 3000 words. This is not a strict limit but is a guideline. If the story is too long for the FOUND ART ANTHOLOGY but we like it, we may ask for you to submit an alternative and, occasionally, will publish a story longer than 3000 words. It also could lead to book publication.
17. Simultaneous submission is fine.
18. Previously published writing or artwork is fine if you own re-publication rights. We are happy to credit the original publisher upon your request.
19. Deadline for submission is SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2023.
20. Please use Submittable for submissions. Submittable accounts are free to submitters, and the tool is great for organizing and tracking submissions. If this presents a hardship, please email us at editor@therawartreview.com about direct email submission.
21. We recognize that the fee may be a deterrent for some submitters who are challenged by financial hardship. We consider a limited number of requests for financial aid in covering part or all the fee. Please send an email to editor@therawartreview.com to make a request for financial aid. PLEASE NOTE: UCP/RAR has its own financial challenges, so please do not request financial aid unless it is absolutely necessary. Thank you.
22. RAR has implemented a “3 Strikes and WE are out” rule. If you have been declined for publication in 3 OR MORE SEPARATE SUBMISSIONS, please notify us at our email address – editor@therawartreview.com. Your next submission to any Journal Issue or Contest will be free, and all of our editors will be notified to pay particular attention to your submission. NOTE – This is 3 separate submissions – not 3 works submitted as part of a single submission.
23. UnCollected Press will reject all manuscripts that in the opinion of the editors intends to promote racist, homophobic, misogynist, and other idealogies that target hate speech toward any persons of any race, creed, color, and religion.

a poem by Inner Circle Award winner – John D. Robinson (FROM RED DANCE).

Folks, listen to John read his poem Awaking as Lovers. It doesn’t get any better than this.

I was going to write of

waking up at dawn in a

bus-shelter, robbed of my

money, jacket and shoes

and walking home bare-

foot and fragile but it

was a poem of beauty

and tenderness, like

when Carmelina and I

first awoke as lovers

in my studio-room,

sparsely furnished,

bleak but friendly:

I made some coffee

before she awoke and I

looked at her sleeping,

I still do that now,

over 3 decades later.

BUY RED DANCE