by Karie Luidens
[Editor’s Note: Click on each image below to view it at full size.]
Karie Luidens is a writer of criticism, commentary, current events, and semi-connected musings. The word-made-flesh λόγος is her first tattoo but surely won’t be her last. Follow her ever-evolving body of work at karieluidens.com.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Word Made Flesh”? I often find that I have grand creative visions but am too much of a perfectionist to follow through—I know the final version of any endeavor will never be as polished as the version in my mind’s eye. Tattoos pose a particular challenge to someone with that tendency. You can’t rework the draft endlessly in cycles of idea and doubt; either you have the tattoo, or you don’t. I figured if I could take the leap and commit ink to a permanent form in my own skin, that could help me commit ink to permanent forms in publication, too…even forms as imperfect as my own penmanship.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.
09/15 • Abbie Doll
09/22 • Karen Regen Tuero
09/29 • Amy Speace
10/06 • Jennifer Edwards
10/13 • Joseph O’Day
10/20 • Carolyn Zaikowski
10/27 • Sunmisola Odusola
11/03 • Sara Cassidy
11/10 • Liz Abrams-Morley
11/17 • TBD
11/24 • TBD
12/01 • TBD
12/08 • TBD
12/15 • TBD
12/22 • TBD
12/29 • TBD
11/17 • TBD
11/24 • TBD
12/01 • TBD
12/08 • TBD
12/15 • TBD
12/22 • TBD
12/29 • TBD