new from above/ground press: transcend transcribe transfigure transform transgress, by derek beaulieu

transcend transcribe transfigure transform transgress
an essay by derek beaulieu
$6

if poetry is going to reclaim even a shred of relevancy for a contemporary audience then poets must become competitive for your readership and viewership    as graphic design  advertising and contemporary design culture expand to redefine and rewrite how we understand communication  poetry has become ruefully ensconced in the traditional    if  as brion gysin argued  writing is fifty years behind painting then poetry is even further behind contemporary design    the vast majority of poets are trapped in the 20th (if not the 19th) century  hopelessly reiterating tired tropes    mcdonalds golden arches  the nike swoosh and the apple logo best represent the contemporary descendants of the modernist poem    poet lew welch famously wrote raids ubiquitous advertising slogan raid kills bugs dead as a copywriter at advertising firm foote  cone and belding in 1966    los angeles-based poet vanessa place argues that

today we are of an age that understands corporations are people too and poetry is the stuff of placards. or vice versa.   

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

and don't forget 2015 subscriptions; still available!

cover image by amaranth borsuk

derek beaulieu is the author or editor of 15 books, the most recent of which are Please, No more poetry: the poetry of derek beaulieu (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2013) and kern (Les Figues press, 2014). He is the publisher of the acclaimed no press and is the visual poetry editor at UBUWeb. Beaulieu has exhibited his work across Canada, the United States and Europe and currently teaches at the Alberta College of Art + Design. He is the 2014-2016 Poet Laureate of Calgary, Canada.

This is derek beaulieu’s sixth above/ground press chapbook, after an issue of the long poem magazine STANZAS (“calcite gours 1-19,” issue no. 38), the interview chapbook ECONOMIES OF SCALE: rob mclennan interviews derek beaulieu on NO PRESS / derek beaulieu interviews rob mclennan on above/ground press (2012) and single-author chapbooks “A? any questions? (1998), [Dear Fred] (2004) and HOW TO EDIT, Chapter A. (ALBERTA SERIES #8; 2008).

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