some author activity: Waldrop, Hall, Barwin, eckhoff, Wilkinson + mclennan,

Rosmarie Waldrop has a new poem as part of the dusie Tuesday poem series; Phil Hall is interviewed over at The Toronto Quarterly; Gary Barwin interviews kevin mcpherson eckhoff on his "Their Biography" project over at Jacket2; Joshua Marie Wilkinson participates in Green Mountains Review's "Why Write?" series with the essay "Or: A Hollow Little Nimbus of Grime: How I Made Certain of My Poems"; and rob mclennan has two new poems, as well as an interview, in the second issue of The Mackinac.

Apartment613 interviews: Gary Barwin, Marthe Reed, Marcus McCann and Monty Reid

Alejandro Butros was kind enough to interview above/ground chapbook authors Gary Barwin, Marthe Reed, Marcus McCann and Monty Reid recently for the sake of an article he was working on for Apartment613 on the 20th anniversary of above/ground press.

Since the original article by Butros could only include short excerpts from each of them, Gary Barwin was good enough to post his full responses over at his blog. Subsequently, Marthe Reed did the same, as did Marcus McCann. For the sake of completion, I include Monty Reid's responses as well to get a sense of the full range of materials. Thanks all for your generous work and words!

Monty Reid's responses are below:

1. What does the work of above/ground press mean to you?

above/ground means persistent, stubborn, wide-ranging, generous, cheap, self-reliant, unpretentious, hopeful, short, colorful, timely, funny, astute, alert, energetic, over-punctuated, under-capitalized, surprising, repetitive, capacious, serious, frustrating, exhilarating and available.

2. Please share a memorable anecdote about above/ground press.

I don't have an anecdote, just one piece of advice: be careful with offers to help move the above/ground library or any of rob's books - there are lots of books, and lots of stairs.

3. When did you first hear bout a/g press? How has it evolved, if at all, since your first interaction?

I had heard of above/ground before I moved to Ottawa in 1999, but don't know if I'd actually seen any of its work.  I may have first heard of it from the Contributor's Notes in other magazines.  One of the charms of the press is that it hasn't evolved much, at least not in the time I've known it.  It's well-adapted to its niche and there's little pressure for it to change, it survives and meets the needs of its environment.  In fact, if it were to change, it would be another press, which rob has already started.

4. Poets are often overlooked by the press and publishers. Given that this article will be written for an audience that is comprised mostly of non-writers, can you please explain how critical a publisher like a/g press is.

small independent publishers like above/ground are crucial in the literary community.  They give an opportunity for new writers to make an appearance, and for more-established writers to try out work that might be outside their routine.  It creates hope, and at least a small audience, for writers, and it offers a model for other potential publishers.  I think the abundance of micropresses in Ottawa owes a great deal to the consistent presence of above/ground. 

5. As an Ottawa poet, what is your view of your fellow poets in the NCR?

the community of writers in Ottawa is varied, of course, but at the moment it's particularly lively and supportive.  It's  a great pleasure to be working alongside people like Stephen Brockwell, Sandra Ridley, Michael Dennis, jw curry, Christine McNair, Dave O'Meara, Mike Blouin, Pearl Pirie and so many others.  While there is an excellent support network within this community, I think Ottawa poets have a particularly hard time getting broader attention because of the overwhelming dominance of nearby Toronto in what is a very small market, and the general perception across the country of Ottawa as a government town and little else.  In part, it's this very difficulty in reaching a wider audience that makes the Ottawa scene so rich and drives it diy ethos.

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #19; above/ground press 20th anniversary special!

The Peter F Yacht Club #19
above/ground press 20th anniversary special
edited by rob mclennan
[see the link here for information on the previous issue] [see the link here for a history of the publication]
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars and irregulars including Steven Artelle, Cameron Anstee, Gary Barwin, derek beaulieu, Joe Blades, Mark Cochrane, Amanda Earl, JM Francheteau, Marilyn Irwin, Marcus McCann, rob mclennan, Roland Prevost, Monty Reid, Stan Rogal, Janice Tokar + Vivian Vavassis.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2013
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 402 McLeod St #3, Ottawa ON K2P 1A6 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: Armantrout, Martin, curry + Ross, mclennan + Barwin

Catharine Wagner interviewed poet Rae Armantrout recently for POETRYEATER; Camille Martin has some new poems up at On Barcelona; jwcurry and Stuart Ross did some sound poetry improv in the open set of The Dusty Owl Reading Series, June 23, 2013 in Ottawa; rob mclennan has a new prose poem, "Life, Sentence," up at Otoliths; and have you seen the ongoing pieces that Gary Barwin has been writing for Jacket2?

Aaron Tucker: an essay, and an interview,

 

Aaron Tucker sure has been busy lately. He spoke of writing the poems included in his punchlines (above/ground press, 2013) in an essay for The Town Crier, and an interview in The Toronto Quarterly. Where might Tucker end up next?

Open Book: Ontario: Gary Barwin and Monty Reid,

Both Gary Barwin and Monty Reid have participated in Open Book: Ontario's "Poets in Profile" interviews, anticipating the twentieth anniversary reading and launch this Friday night. Barwin's interview was posted on Monday, and Reid's interview was posted on Tuesday.

new from above/ground press: After Swann, by Marthe Reed

After Swann
Marthe Reed
$4

21

these dreams
stop like a clock
a malady

too irresistible
this black cavity
precisely the same

she might have a red
principle
a certain type of femininity

her subjection
fixed in
space

oh, marvelous
the tombs
of sunlight straying

impossible for me
the vagrancy
of her

detachment
that face
deliberately unfinished

present except
in a flood of blue light
that current

we imagine
almost ours
that sort of tenderness
the instant of pain
the special pleasure
and seize

the mysterious object
still alive
buried in a couch of grass

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2013
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

The text for these constraint-driven poems is collaged from the Moncrieff translation of Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way, accessed via Project Gutenberg.

Marthe Reed is the author of three books: (em)bodied bliss (Moria Books 2013), Gaze (Black Radish Books 2010) and Tender Box, A Wunderkammer (Lavender Ink 2007). A fourth book, Pleth, a collaboration with j hastain, will appear September 2013 from Unlikely Books; a fifth will be published by Lavender Ink (2014). She has also published four chapbooks as part of the Dusie Kollektiv. Her poetry has appeared in New American Writing, Golden Handcuffs Review, New Orleans Review, HOW2, MiPOesias, Fairy Tale Review, Exquisite Corpse, BlazeVOX, and The Offending Adam, among others. Her manuscript, an earth of sweetness dances in the vein, was a finalist in Ahsahta Press’ 2006 Sawtooth Poetry Contest; her manuscript Nights Reading was a finalist for the Elizabeth P. Braddock Prize (Coconut Books). An essay on Claudia Rankine’s The Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue appears in American Letters and Commentary.

Marthe Reed will be launching After Swann in Ottawa as part of the above/ground press 20th anniversary reading/launch/party on August 23, 2013.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 402 McLeod St #3, Ottawa ON K2P 1A6 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com