The War Series: Ben Ladouceur,

Ben Ladouceur recently discussed the re-issue of his chapbook LIME KILN QUAY ROAD (above/ground press, 2014) as part of his participation in "The War Series: Writers as Readers" questionnaire over at Open Book: Ontario. And did you hear he has a first trade collection of poetry forthcoming with Coach House Books in 2015? Congratulations!

At The Desk: Pearl Pirie

Pearl Pirie discusses, among other things, her recent vertigoheel for the dilly (above/ground press, 2014) as part of her participation in the "At the Desk" series over at Open Book: Ontario. And we are very much looking forward to her third trade poetry collection out next year with BookThug!

Missing Jacket magazine, writing & visual art, bibliography: 1996-1997

Given my recent post detailing the bibliography of STANZAS magazine, I thought it might be interesting to go through another one of my late projects through above/ground press, the lamented Missing Jacket. Throughout the 1990s, I noticed how far apart the different artistic communities within Ottawa were, but for occasional individuals such as Dennis Tourbin and Michael Dennis that existed as a link between artistic groups. There was so much activity that wasn’t interacting, and artistic practices that somehow kept up barriers between them. There were stories of the late 1980s at Gallery 101, when Dennis Tourbin ran it, with literary events beside shows of artwork (back when Rob Manery and Louis Cabri ran The Transparency Machine events there).

I had spent a couple of years prior hanging around the Enriched Bread Studios and Gallery 101, as well as with artists Diane Woodward and David Cation, and wanted to attempt a magazine of writing and visual art through the City of Ottawa. We held the first issue launch at Enriched Bread, with artwork from all of the artists featured in the issue, and readings from a variety of contributors.

Had I had more resources (and perhaps wasn’t doing the entire journal by myself), perhaps it might have been able to continue, and the weight of which might not have simply collapsed. Almost exclusively run by myself, I was fortunate enough to have various authors and artists contribute enormously, whether their own work or via interviews, and former Montreal writer and ga press co-editor/publisher Colin Christie even designed the last couple of issues (before it all fell apart).

If anyone is interested, I still have mounds of copies sitting around the house. I would like to think that there is some interesting material within. Perhaps, even, a little portrait of the late 1990s arts community in Ottawa.

Where did the title come from? We had a little gathering in the apartment Tamara Fairchild and I once shared, and Brian Hill, co-editor of Ink magazine, had left his jacket behind; I misunderstood the phone message when Tamara informed: “Brian from missing jacket called.” I thought it was a magazine that already existed. When I realized it wasn’t, well…

Missing Jacket magazine, writing & visual art, #1. 500 copies, January 1996. edited by rob mclennan. poetry by Robin Hannah, David O'Meara, Lorraine Gamble. fiction by Catherine Jenkins. interviews with David W. McFadden (by David Collins), Daniel Nadezhdin (by Tamara Fairchild) and Dennis Tourbin (by michael dennis). artistic statements by Eliza Griffiths, Jonathan Brownz and Angela McFall. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker. Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price $3. 8 1/2" x 11". 38 pages.

Missing Jacket #2, spring, March 1996. poetry by Tamara Fairchild, David Collins, John Barton and Sean Johnston. fiction by David Scrimshaw and Dayv James-French. interviews with Ken Norris (part I, by rob mclennan), Mary Borsky (by rob mclennan) and Marie-Jeanne Musiol (by Cindy Stelmackowich). artistic statements by Valerie Roos-Linse, Adrian Gollner and Anna Kempffer-Paul. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price, $3.50. 40 pages.

Missing Jacket #3, summer, August 9, 1996. poetry by Stephanie Bolster, Joe Blades, Nadine McInnis & Jim Larwill. fiction by Douglas Ord. interviews with Ken Norris (part II, by rob mclennan), Joe Blades (by rob mclennan) & Diane Woodward (by David Collins). artistic statements by Maria Shin, Barbara Gamble and David Cation. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. ISSN#1203-5076. cover price, $3.50. 44 pages.

Missing Jacket #4, fall, October 1996. poetry by Clare Latremouille, Una McDonnell, Michael Holmes (from 21 Hotels) and Karen Massey. fiction by Douglas Ord and Stan Rogal. interviews with Eliza Griffiths (by David Collins), Judith Fitzgerald (by rob mclennan) and Greg Kerr (by rob mclennan). artistic statements by Eric Walker, Marcia Lea and Doug Van Rosen. project pages by Mark Marsters. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. layout by Colin Christie. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price, $3.50. 42 pages (including inside cover).

Missing Jacket #5, spring, April 1997. poetry by R.M. Vaughan, Michelle Desberats Fels, Ian Whistle and Rob Manery. fiction by Death Waits and Elizabeth Hay. interviews with Christian Bok (by Tricia Postle), John Moffat (by David Collins) and Patrick Kavanagh (by David Scrimshaw). artistic statements by Lesya Granger, Christopher Lea Dunning and Bhat Boy (the artist formerly known as Ian Van Lock). project pages by Adrian Gollner. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. layout by Colin Christie. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price, $4.00. 48 pages (includes whole cover).

derek beaulieu: Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts Artist-in-Residence

Calgary poet laureate derek beaulieu has been named the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at Calgary's Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts. Congratulations derek!

The residency begins tomorrow and runs through October 24, 2014. He plans to be "working on a series of text-art pieces and hosting a number of events."

See his blog post describing further details, here.

some author activity: Martin, Pirie, beaulieu, Smith, Browning + Baus,

Camille Martin has curated a small "Robert Zend Sampler" of visual poetry over at Coldfront magazine; Pearl Pirie is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; derek beaulieu's "Game of Life: A User's Manual" is now online at NewPoetry; Jessica Smith has new work up in The Volta, guest-edited by Sommer Browning; and Eric Baus has some new poems up in Wag's Revue.

new from above/ground press: Wintering Prairie, by Megan Kaminski

Wintering Prairie
Megan Kaminski
$4

Snow drifts the prairie white
each gathering a prayer a knife a candle
water crystalline seeding warmth
ground expectant bootfall above sod below
the ground between us the ground we share
ground that sprouts green that holds roots deep
soft porous mealy with bug and vole
and this poem will be a long one
will widen will drift like snow
like language like dribbles and artic chill
will stretch to Dakota fox alone in the field
to field mice buried deep
will follow the compass’s pull magnetic north
oil in shale beneath us tallgrass roots beneath us
bodies of fathers and mothers beneath us
the sod the Kanza-call the warmth of snow on this day
will stretch north to you and children by the fire
to pipelines and trains and fractures in bedrock
to artic-alpine fingernail clam and mourning cloak
will carry me wrapped in sound breath encased

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2014
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Megan Kaminski’s first book of poetry is Desiring Map (Coconut Books, 2012). She is also the author of seven chapbooks. Her current work Deep City explores the body and the city as architectures in crisis. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Kansas and curates the Taproom Poetry Series in downtown Lawrence.

Originally produced in an edition of 100 copies as part of the dusie kollektiv, February 2014.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

new from above/ground press: Concatenations, by Andy Weaver

Concatenations
Andy Weaver
$4

  concatenations
           dictate
                 easy
           figurations
             gaudy
           highlights
            invest
              jerkwater
            kaleidoscopic
              lexemes
     mit
             noesis
         obliquely
             prehending
quodammodotative
              reality
         sublimely
           traced
           unbreachable
               varsal
               worlds
              x-irradiated
            yestern
            zeitgeists
        alwise
            bedevilling


****

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2014
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Andy Weaver has published two books of poetry, Were the bees (NeWest, 2005) and Gangson (NeWest, 2011). He teaches contemporary poetry and poetics at York University.

This is his fifth above/ground press publication and third chapbook publication, after Three Ghazals to the constellation Corvus (The Crow) (2001) and Other Work for your Hands (2004).

[Andy Weaver launches Concatenations as part of the above/ground press twenty-first anniversary event, reading with Anita Dolman and Jason Christie, on Thursday, August 14, 2014]

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com