Janeshek publishes ‘MADCAP,’ a collection of poetry

BETHANY, W.Va. – A Bethany College associate professor of English recently released a new collection of poetry that revisits 1920s and 1930s Hollywood.

Dr. Jessie Janeshek will read passages of “MADCAP: Poems” and sign copies at 11 a.m. Nov. 5 in Bethany’s Academic Parlour, on the second floor of Old Main.

“Madcap is a word, to me, that means zaniness and that is a little bit anarchist,” Janeshek said.

Janeshek, who serves as Bethany’s director of writing across curriculum, said her interest in classic Hollywood began as a hobby, but it soon found its way into her writing.

“In the 1920s and 30s, actors and actresses had a real emptiness and sadness,” she said.

“MADCAP” is Janeshek’s third full-length book of poetry, following “The Shaky Phase” in 2017 and “Invisible Mink” in 2010.

Janeshek said she tried to get away from the Hollywood Theme in “The Shaky Phase” but decided to “embrace her obsession” in her latest poetry collection.

“I felt like in ‘MADCAP’ I return to some of the themes I started with ‘Invisible Mink,’” Janeshek said. “I just recast them in new ways.”

In addition to her full-length books, Janeshek has published several shorter chapbooks – “Auto-Harlow” in 2018, “Supernoir” in 2017, and “Spanish Donkey/Pear of Anguish” and “Rah-Rah Nostalgia,” both in 2016. Janeshek describes her chapbooks as “more tightly thematic.”

“I like poetry because you can have a lot more freedom,” Janeshek said. “It’s the genre that fit my imagination.”

“MADCAP” was published by Stalking Horse Press, an independent publishing house that its website describes as committed to radical voices in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction.

Janeshek, a 2003 graduate of Bethany College, joined the faculty in 2011. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Emory College in Boston and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Janeshek anticipates two additional publications in the coming months: “Hardscape” with Reality Beach and “Channel U” with Grey Book Press.

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