new from above/ground press: The Moleskin Coat, by Ellen Chang-Richardson

The Moleskin Coat
Ellen Chang-Richardson
$6

06 • yyyy


worth revisiting—saline
rolling across our tongues
entwined and shimmering

certain now
      of our existence

akin to flavour
like pinches of white pepper
nestled in the depths
of long auburn hair

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[this is above/ground press publication #1400, for those keeping bibliographic track]

Ellen Chang-Richardson is an award-winning poet, multi-genre writer, judicial assistant, and editor of Taiwanese and Chinese Cambodian descent. A third culture kid at heart, Ellen’s writing is informed by their love of contemporary art, their concern with humanity’s impact on Earth, and their experience moving through various societies as a femme-presenting genderqueer.

The author/co-author of six other poetry chapbooks, Ellen’s multi-genre writing has appeared in Augur, Anti-Heroin Chic, the Ex-Puritan, the Fiddlehead, Grain, Plenitude, Watch Your Head, and more. Their debut collection, Blood Belies (Wolsak & Wynn, 2024), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. 

They are a co-founder of Riverbed Reading Series, an editor for Room and long con magazine, and a member of the poetry collective VII.

[Ellen Chang-Richardson launches this title in Ottawa on August 7, 2025 as part of the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch at RedBird Live; tickets available]

Chang-Richardson also had work appear in The Peter F. Yacht Club #32 (March 2023).

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

new from above/ground press: B U R N T O R A N G E, by Buck Downs

B U R N T O R A N G E 
Buck Downs
$6

the ampersand
—    for Creeley

        I’d like
    to hear more
    about that
etc.
    thing you like
to do and how
    the whole weight
of suggestion
    rests on it —

        I had
an ampersand,
        here — what
happened — it was
        too much —

I’m a sucker
to the power
of suggestion —

    when you say
etc.,
        I do
etc.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

BURNTORANGE is Buck Downs's fourth above/ground chapbook, after Shiftless [Harvester] (2016), The Hack of Heaven (2017), and Another Tricky Day (2020). Buck divides his time between Washington, D.C., and Ellisville, MIss. His latest full-length is Exit Style, available at buckdowns.com

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Banks, Campanello, Bell, Notley, Berlatsky + Olsen,

Chris Banks has new work and an interview up at Only Poems; Kimberly Campanello has an article up at The Guardian, on being diagnosed with Parkinson's; Wade Bell has some poems up at The Typescript; Anselm Berrigan reflects on his mother Alice Notley's life and legacy over at Interview magazine; Noah Berlatsky has a poem up at New Feathers Anthology; and Geoffrey Olsen is interviewed in the "12 or 20 questions" series.

new from above/ground press: Spamtoum, by Noah Berlatsky

Spamtoum
Noah Berlatsky
$6

Hi, Noah

Thank you for giving us 
the opportunity to consider
ultimately we appreciate
all the best
we promise to do our best
please do not reply
the message has been received
please do not reply
even if you gave permission
after careful consideration, please
there’s a lot to like here
thank you for trusting us
unfortunately, dear
please take this for what it is
it’s pretty amazing
we work hard
year-round, we work
your work, we wish and work
a venue for your creative work
even very high-quality
please do consider the future
has been received and look forward
to the future and organization directly
platforming your interest
in the decision-making process of the platform
receipt for your payment
that has shuttered operations
as you may have seen in the New York Times
you weren’t quite right for us
please do not reply
on our workloads, on our welcoming alternative
communities your patreon
your payments are precious
your interest looks forward
this email consideration forward
please remember your manuscript
your Instagram and your interest
we are interested and look forward
please do not reply.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Noah Berlatsky (he/him) is a freelance writer in Chicago. His full-length collections are Not Akhmatova (Ben Yehuda Press, 2024), Gnarly Thumbs (Anxiety Press, 2025), Meaning Is Embarrassing (Ranger, 2025) and Brevity (Nun Prophet, 2025). 

This is Berlatsky’s second above/ground press title, after Send $19.99 for Supplements and Freedom (2023).

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

new from above/ground press: Sigil Series, by Andrew Brenza

Sigil Series
Andrew Brenza
$6

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Andrew Brenza’s recent books include the visual poetry series The Book of Andrews (Red Fox Press) and the experimental science fiction play Night Walking & the Makers’ Taint (Sulfur Editions). He is also the founder and editor of Sigilist Press, a micropress devoted to the publication of visual poetry.

This is Brenza’s second above/ground press title, after Geometric Mantra (2021).

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Unsworth, Kolewe, mclennan, Ursuliak, Kratz + Straumsvåg,

[photo by Dag T. Straumsvåg] Lydia Unsworth has two new poems up at The Manchester Review; R. Kolewe has a poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series; rob mclennan has some new work up at Noir Sauna; Emily Ursuliak has an essay up at The Goose; and Al Kratz is interviewed by Constance Malloy.

new from above/ground press: THE TEMPORARY SPACE OF A PLACENTA, by Mandy Sandhu

THE TEMPORARY SPACE OF A PLACENTA
Mandy Sandhu
$6

ELECTROCUTION SUMMER

it was an electrocution chair summer 
I’m crazy about serial killers 
pyramid scheme porcelain skinned girls 
I gave you my carotid artery, Ted!   
Ted smokes camels after two humps 
both fucking wan thighs   pretty sleeping hands
I bet he likes beef tallow after limp limbs 
everything turns into writing
it was an electrocution chair summer 
words are more accurate than testimony 
How can you bear it, Ted?
I gave you my carotid artery

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Mandy Sandhu is a poet based in Oakville, Ontario. Her work, often in sonnet form, blends vivid imagery with sharp observation, drawing inspiration from writers like Sylvia Plath, the Beats, Dale Smith and Ted Berrigan. Mandy works at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Disability Office.

[Mandy Sandhu launches this title in Ottawa on August 7, 2025 as part of the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch at RedBird Live; tickets available]

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

above/ground press authors Sarah Mangold and Laura Walker are Saturnalia Books Award Winners!

Congratulations to above/ground press authors Sarah Mangold and Laura Walker, who were announced as two of three 2025 Book Prize winners over at Saturnalia Books! Sarah Mangold's manuscript, In the Service of the Mysteries, was chosen for the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize by guest judge Hadara Bar-Nadav, and Laura Walker's manuscript red was chosen by Saturnalia Books' staff as one of two Alma Book Awards (alongside the manuscript Agape by Patrick Kindig; it would be impolite to not mention him as well). You can see their announcement for such, as well as further information on their book prizes, here.

As you most likely already know, Sarah Mangold is the author of five chapbooks with above/ground press, including two editions of Cupcake Royale (2012; second edition, 2018), as well as Parlor (2012), A Copyist, an Astronomer, and a Calendar Expert (2016) and BIRDS I RECALL (2018). She also had a poem as part of the 25th anniversary above/ground press broadside project, and a festschrift on her work, Report from the Mangold Society, Vol 1. No. 1, appeared through above/ground press in 2022. You can find her 2015 Touch the Donkey interview here. Laura Walker, on her part, is the author of the above/ground press title, genesis (2023). They have both published a bunch of other things you should get your hands on, also, so you should probably get caught up before their new books land. Congrats to all three! I am very excited to see these books appear.

“poem” broadside #355 : TWO POEMS: “010 : I can lift ten thousand pounds” by rob mclennan

 

 

What these fragments conceal. Literality. Prior biographical context. Even the terror is. Deer, coyote, stray dogs. An example, of glorious wounds. Place is everything, sure. Cool and distant, an island. Look at me, look at me. Cut off from the world. A book near a pond. All articulation. The river’s prosody, corporeal. What dawn is repairable. Would you make meme. The very body of language. Slight of hand, slur of speech. It is true that you have. Will prolong. Plunges, headfirst. Future tense that evolves into elegy.

 

 

TWO POEMS:
“010 : I can lift ten thousand pounds” by rob mclennan
for travels around Ireland, July 2025
above/ground press broadside #355

 

 

rob mclennan is the author of some fifty books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. His latest titles include On Beauty: stories (University of Alberta Press, 2024), Snow day (Spuyten Duyvil, 2025) and the forthcoming the book of sentences (University of Calgary Press, 2025). He is the current Artistic Director of VERSeFest: Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival.

some author activity: Robinson, Kemp, Jenks, Inniss, Davies + Browne,

Elizabeth Robinson has new work in Under a Warm Green Linden; Penn Kemp has a poem and an article up at SAGE-ING; SJ Fowler interviews Tom Jenks for 3AM magazine; Scott Inniss interviews Kevin Davies over at Jacket2; and the Philly Poetry Chapbook Review offers five new poems by forthcoming author Laynie Browne.

new from above/ground press: The Deaf Forest of Cosmic Scaffolding, by Lina Ramona Vitkauskas

The Deaf Forest of Cosmic Scaffolding
Lina Ramona Vitkauskas
$6

I have forgotten the world

And what I wanted in it
anyway love was what 
anyone wanted the way 
a mist or these myths
wanted the way love is or
I was that way or any mist
and you were my moss bed
and these birch ringing
out any myths of love,
made in these woods
and were green; I wanted, 
anyway, a home with you 
us there for moments and myths, 
and the moss of my love wanted 
a ringing green, birch and love
the way anyone wanted.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

[Lina Ramona Vitkauskas launches this title in Ottawa on August 7, 2025 as part of the above/ground press 32nd anniversary reading/launch at RedBird Live; tickets available]

cover drawing by Larry Sawyer, design by the author

Lina Ramona Vitkauskas is a Canadian-American-Lithuanian formerly from Chicago, living in Toronto. She is an award-winning, published poet and video poet. She was a 2020 recipient of a PEN America grant for her development of an experimental poetry collection that adapted poems from Vsevolod Nekrasov and Bill Knott. She was also the voice of George Maciunas’ mother in the documentary, GEORGE (directed by Jeffrey Perkins) screened at MoMA and in Vilnius. Her work has been most recently featured in/at: Film Video Poetry Society (Los Angeles); Octopus Film Festival (Gdansk, Poland); John Gagné Contemporary Gallery (Toronto): Post-Future Era with Kunel Gaur, Justin Neely, and Confusions (Ben Turner); Poetic Phonotheque (Denmark); MOCA Toronto (public installation); SIFF (Moldova); Newlyn Film Festival (UK); Festival Fotogenia (Mexico); Midwest Poetry Fest (US); Vienna Video Poetry Festival (Austria); and the International Migration & Environmental Film Festival (Canada). Her website is linaramona.com.

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

today is the thirty-second anniversary of above/ground press,

happy 32nd anniversary to above/ground press! with nearly (so close) fourteen hundred publications to date! i've been making an absolute ton of material lately (with plenty more to come, as i'm sure you know); and don't forget our big anniversary event on THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2025 at RedBird, with readings and chapbook launches by: Jason Christie (Ottawa), Monty Reid (Ottawa), Beatriz Hausner (Toronto), Ellen Chang-Richardson (Ottawa), Lina Ramona Vitkauskas (Toronto) + Mandy Sandhu (Toronto)! tickets are available! last year's event was great [see my report on such here]; and are you following all the extra things posting over at the new(ish) above/ground press substack? sign up (free) for updates!

new from above/ground press: Never Saw it Coming, by Steph Gray

Never Saw it Coming
prose poems
Steph Gray
$6

How they rotate their vowels, 

 is how they drew it out, is how they sounded it out, it’s what was left unsaid, it’s what was left unread, it was without silent e, it was a faux that became undone (and showed what, for what it’s worth), it was the undone that outdid itself (to where?), the long and short became compressed, it was how they broke the vowels, it was how they re-upped the diphthongs, it was how the hymn distorted itself, it was how the gravel roaded, it was how the sheet rocked, it was how the way was high, it was how the frontage roaded, it was how your misplaced em-pa-thied, there’s nothing anywhere close to prime time, who designated time as prime, how did the prime become timed, when you grabbed your stopped watch, when you neglected to fix it for years, when the time stopped in your desk drawer, when your desk drawer forgot the time, when told to keep track of time that did not want tracking, to be told you were running on LA time, to be told you were running out of NY time, to be told no one knew what Chicago time was, to be asked why you do that all the time, who’s time was all?, it was, wasn’t it, open all the time, they own their own niche, they own their own nocturnal, oh sure, dude, for real, what was the reason, bruh—no matter what, being slightly off beat ‘cause you’re listening for the beat, not feeling it to anticipate it, we think the answer is…there’s no answer, i wasn’t really sure what was going on, to render yourself blank, editing every syllable, that’s so real, i sure don’t have the answer, it’s something you’ve seen before, haunted by that you know, there’s nothing you can do, it’s just that…it’s just the way it is, one day of normal, missing peripheral vision, a slow moving train wreck, carving out your own meaning, pretending that you’re here

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Cover disposable camera celluloid photograph by author.

Poet-filmmaker Steph Gray is the author of eight poetry collections, including the above/ground press titles below, the book Shorthand and Electric Language Stars (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2015), and chapbook A Country Road Going Back in Your Direction (Argos Books, 2015). Work has appeared in Brooklyn Rail, A Perfect Vacuum, The Recluse, Boog City, among others. Gray's experimental super 8 films and videos have screened internationally, including retrospectives at Anthology Film Archives (NYC), San Francisco Cinematheque and Mono No Aware (NYC). In Canada, Gray's work has shown in a retrospective with the 8 Fest (2022, Toronto) and film festivals including Antimatter (Vancouver) and the Inside Out LGBTQ+ Film Fest, among others.

This is Gray's third above/ground press title, after Go Under The Surface (2018) and Words Are What You Get / You Do It For Real: poems and prose poems (2019).

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

“poem” broadside #355 : TWO POEMS: “she left under a cloud” by Christine McNair

 

she left under a cloud
cirrus – cirrocumulus – altocumulus
altostratus – nimbostratus – cumulus
virga - cumulus fractus - cumulus congestus
noctilucent - cumulonimbus – mammatus –
nacreous – cirrostratus nebulosus – arcus  –  panus
                undulatus asperita 

roughweather

 

 

TWO POEMS:
“she left under a cloud” by Christine McNair
for travels around Ireland, July 2025
above/ground press broadside #353

 

Christine McNair's most recent book is her hybrid poetic memoir Toxemia (Book*hug, 2024). Her two previous books of poetry were Conflict (2012) and Charm (2017). She works as a book doctor in Ottawa.