kicking your ass is a poetry magazine interested in work that engages with the disappointing minutia of daily life. So many poems want us to consider the beauty of the world, or our own terrible suffering, but so few tell us what it’s like to push on a door marked pull or how to deal with sitting next to a rude grizzly bear at a restaurant.
Think of us as your literary complaint department. Upset about a too cold breeze? A long line at the store? A haircut that’s pretty good, but not great? Whatever is kicking your ass, there’s poetry to be made from that.
We want the irreverent, strange and inexplicable. The surreal, the silly, the grotesque and over the top. We’re looking for poems that make us laugh and demonstrate that art that can be found in suffering an inconvenience.
Imagine James Tate or Jack Handey writing one-star Amazon reviews of a party guest who talks too loudly. That’s the vibe.
Our process: We believe in a collaborate editorial process. If we accept a poem, we may offer honest, constructive feedback. We want your work to be the best it can be. Sometimes that means excising a word. Sometimes that means major reconstructive surgery. This is why we have editors. So you can kick ass.
Adrian Sobol is the editor-in-chief of kicking your ass.
kicking your ass 