The Red Issue - December 2019
Issue 1 of our self-titled print magazine.
When we were taking submissions for the first issue and hadn't published anything to show what we were about, Casey tried to explain Placeholder's intent by writing: "I just want to make something to give to people who don't understand the work I love, who didn't know writing could be for them, and say "Here it is, everything in these pages excites me. There'll be something in here that makes you happy, or less terrified of being in the world, or less alone in your terror." When Issue 1 came out, Casey said it was the proudest they'd ever been to be part of something, writing "The poetry, prose and art in Placeholder #1 had us so excited we couldn’t sleep, caught reading submissions in our lunch breaks because we couldn’t hold in our laughter, and made our bosses tear up when they asked what we were working on." We've done more since, but those core feelings haven't changed, only been added to. We want to get excited about the work that excites you as its creator or will excite you as its audience, then help it be shared and adored. Issue 1 of our self-titled print magazine. An online special issue published on New Years, ringing in the new decade with work looking back on the last. A limited edition chapbook as part of our Flashbulb series, EBOS was a collection of erasures made as the author recovered from hospitalisation following COVID-19 infection. Our first chapbook for our first pride month, EOTRYU is a memoir on intimacy and disability and all of the interplay between. The return of our print magazine. The Liquorish issue of our gothic sister publiation. The editors lives change significantly, Placeholder Press goes into hibernation. Jakob puts on an art exhibition and poetry reading on flint, time, decay and restoration at the heart of Norwich's historic churches. Casey helps with the poetry reading. It also serves as an experiment in what we were capable of running, to see if we could wake Placeholder from its slumber. Results of the experiment: We're good at what we do, but in 2022, don't have the facilities to do it more than episodically. With the editors lives and abilities looking very different (Jakob has multiple children, Casey gets debilitated by Post Covid Syndrome, day jobs and academia demand most of their energies, to name just a few forces acting against Placeholder) Casey and Jakob work towards getting their lives in order enough to have spare energy to dedicate to publishing again, and experiment with what that could look like. Definitely different, but still beautiful. Placeholder makes a slow step out of hibernation by remaking our website, in order to serve as a better archive for the work we had published - making it easily accessible online for free, on a simple website which can be affordably hosted indefinitely. Casey Garfield is an nonbinary poet, publisher and pal based in Exeter. They are the author of the chapbook 'stories in which' (Salo Press) and the free microchapbook 'hi hello I love you my name is Casey Garfield' (Ghost City Press), as well as various self-published zines made for just for funsies. They have run workshops for schools, charities and the NHS Wellbeing Service, as well as occasionally hosting less literary events such as 'lay down in the grass and tell Casey Garfield what you think clouds look like' and 'come eat 100 clementines with Casey Garfield'. They can be found at their website, www.caseygarfield.co.uk, or on instagram as @thepoetnotthecat. Jakob Millard is an artist & writer & goth based in Norwich.
Mission
I read snippets of chapbooks to the kids I work with as a shorthand for "Look, there are people who understand, and they're not just surviving, they've made these beautiful things for themselves but also for us, isn't it so wonderful things can be wonderful?"
I want more of that. I want to bring together people who think that matters, and for us put as many brilliant pieces in one place as we can, then to put it in front of as many people as we can."
Timeline
The Red Issue - December 2019
Archive - January 2020
Endless Bowls of Sky by Amy Shimshon-Santo - June 2020
Entertainer of the Year Runner-Up by Adrienne Walser - July 2020
The Orange Issue - October 2020
Misplacement Mag - March 2021
The Big Placeholder Pause Begins
Monuments - October 2022
Placeholder works towards waking
Website improvement
Masthead
Casey Garfield
Editor
Jakob Millard
Co-Editor | Designer | Misplacement Lead Editor