new from above/ground press: REFRAMING PAUL CADMUS, by John Barton

REFRAMING PAUL CADMUS
John Barton
$5 

DANCER

Egg tempera on pressed wood panel, 1945
1.5 x 1.25 inches

Sprawled in tights
On floorboards in a tiny

Square of time drafted between
Rehearsals near the end       

Of the war, the page
After page he browses so

Distracting from start
To finish, the spine

Of his book broken
His shoulders exhausted

Foreshortened by the score
He has all morning bent

His essence to, the music’s dark
Harmonies without

Remorse forcing his world in
To step with its own, as

No longer lithe, he removes
Himself, gives in, pas

À pas, to oblivion
Reading himself beyond

Men yet to return and others
He loves who never shall

The precise squares
Of time he borrows

So necessary
So seldom spared.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

John Barton has published eleven collections of poetry, including West of Darkness: Emily Carr, a Self-Portrait; Designs from the Interior; Hypothesis; Hymn; For the Boy with the Eyes of the Virgin: Selected Poems; and Polari. He has also published six previous chapbooks. Coeditor of Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay-Male Poets, he has won three Archibald Lampman Awards, an Ottawa Book Award, a CBC Literary Award, and a National Magazine Award. Since 1980, his poems have appeared in anthologies, magazines, and newspapers across Canada and in Australia, China, India, Romania, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. From 1985 to 2003, he worked as a librarian, a production manager, a publications coordinator, and an editor for five national museums in Ottawa, where he also edited Vernissage: The Magazine of the National Gallery of Canada for two years and co-edited Arc Poetry Magazine for thirteen years. He has taught or given workshops at the Banff Centre, Sage Hill Writing Experience, Tree, the New Brunswick Writers Federation, and the University of Victoria. He has been writer in residence at the Saskatoon Public Library, the University of New Brunswick, and Memorial. He makes his home in Victoria where, since 2004, he has edited The Malahat Review.

This is his third chapbook with above/ground press, after DESTINATIONS, LEAVING THE MAP (1995) and Oxygen (1999).

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

some author activity: Higdon, mclennan, Downs + Braune,

did you know that Hailey Higdon has a blog? ; rob mclennan is now a monthly blogger for Ploughshares; Buck Downs is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and Sean Braune has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog.

new from above/ground press: GRAPPLE, by Carrie Olivia Adams

GRAPPLE
Carrie Olivia Adams
$4

Come back to the space
where we were so close

Tell us again how you know

how you submerged us
how we re-wrote the movement of sidewalk and street
how it bent up to meet us
how our cries made a body an earthquake
What was that chain reaction?

Notes on the Composition

“Grapple” was written as a multidisciplinary poetry-dance work in collaboration with the Coincidentals, Chicago choreographers and dancers Jamie Corliss and Lydia Feuerhelm. Initially the dancers drew inspiration from a photo by Shayna Stacy of an arrest of a young African American man during a protest as part of Moral Mondays Illinois in Chicago in November of 2015. The text then incorporated ideas from the image alongside source material and videos provided by the dancers. Together, we adapted the structure of the poem to inform the building of the dance, so that the two work with and against each other. Using spoken text and movement, the resulting piece evokes the complex physicality of the act of protest where intimacy and aggression overlap. Street protest occupies a unique space in contemporary society, where strangers are fueled by a shared urgency, where limpness and release take the form of strength, where people defy norms by being so close. Rather than address the politics of protest, the piece in performance addresses the energy and feeling of these movements in a corporeal sense. It examines how physicality in protest exists in seemingly contradictory ways: bodily weakness can be an act of strength and physical closeness can unify or it can assert power hierarchies. 

“Grapple” was first performed in Chicago as part of the Mess Hall series in August 2016.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Carrie Olivia Adams lives in Chicago, where she is a book publicist for the University of Chicago Press and the poetry editor for Black Ocean. She is the author of Operating Theater (Noctuary Press 2015), Forty-One Jane Doe’s (book and companion DVD, Ahsahta 2013) and Intervening Absence (Ahsahta 2009) as well as the chapbooks An Overture in the Key of F (above/ground press 2013) and A Useless Window (Black Ocean 2006).

This is her second chapbook with above/ground press, after An Overture in the Key of F (2013).

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

Scott Bryson reviews Elizabeth Robinson's Simplified Holy Passage (2015) in Broken Pencil

Scott Bryson was good enough to review Elizabeth Robinson's Simplified Holy Passage (2015) in Broken Pencil. Thanks so much! You can see the review here. This is actually the second review of Robinson's chapbook, after Pearl Pirie wrote about such here. As Bryson writes:

A pleasant continuity inhabits these poems — like a snowball rolling downhill, collecting and growing. Themes and explicit notions resurface frequently, often deliberately, but sometimes surreptitiously.

When you catch those veiled recurrences, it’s like Elizabeth Robinson is giving you a knowing wink — you’re in on her scheme. She even drops in round-about references to her methods: “The question is how one can pick up a process and continue it after / an interruption. If that is even possible.”

Robinson’s tone is reliably confessional and conversational. Most of this reads like a journal — poems are titled “Day 1,” “Day 2,” etc. — though it often comes across as a letter. She’s directly addressing a particular person that she’s imagining reading it.

Structurally, these poems are succinct. They consist of small stanzas that are usually no more than one to three lines. There’s little need for embellishment; Robinson’s phrases read like they have weight behind them — like she’s close to uncovering something profound.

She also possesses some inexplicable means of drawing investment out of a reader. In short order, you begin to care about her experiences. The final poem, “Unnumbered days later,” works like the epilogue of a film, when you’re shown — for your own peace of mind — that after the trials and tribulations, lessons were learned and everything worked out.

Jeff Low reviews Pete Smith's A New Love/ An Aching Stone (2016) in Broken Pencil

Jeff Low was good enough to provide the first review of Pete Smith's A New Love/ An Aching Stone (2016) in Broken Pencil. Thanks so much! You can see the review here. As he writes:

A New Love/ An Aching Stone is, contextually, pretty clear from the get go. The cover introduces the text as a somewhat fractured spirit: partial photos of two men are arranged side by side, yet separated by a triangular wedge of negative space. Their half-smiles align but do not meet in the middle. The dialogue is frustrated and I haven’t even flipped the thing open yet. The title page reads: “A double-cento out of Yehuda Amichai Mahmoud Darwish.” The former was an Israeli poet and the latter, a Palestinian poet. And so, the text’s political backbone surfaces. Throughout the text, Pete Smith examines the correspondence of Israeli-Palestinian art and identity with a whisper of futility. “Poetry isn’t poetry / because of the wall. / Which exile do you want?”

A New Love/ An Aching Stone is quick to set up circumstantial boundaries. But there is plenty of poetic ambiguity throughout, rest assured. The speaker laments the loss of identity both individual and collective: “The dust is my conscious, the stone my subconscious: / a heavenly horizon … and a hidden chasm / which wasn’t even good for thorns and thistles / in the emigrant’s night.” History is clouded by dust and dark convictions: “Perhaps I’ve been here once before, / the road of invaders who want to renovate their history, / make again a new love / over an aching stone.”

Pete Smith’s writing is strong and produces a clear poetic vision — a vision of fragmented political and cultural histories. And, in doing so, A New Love/ An Aching Stone remains wholeheartedly empathetic.

some author activity: beaulieu, Barwin, Ladouceur, Beaulieu, mclennan + Brockwell,

derek beaulieu has some new work up at NewPoetry, and he is interviewed over at the Chaudiere Books blog for The Calgary Renaissance (Chaudiere Books, 2016); Gary Barwin gets a nice write-up in Maclean's; Ben Ladouceur has a new poem up at Crap Orgasm; Braydon Beaulieu is also interviewed over at the Chaudiere Books blog for The Calgary Renaissance; and rob mclennan and Stephen Brockwell read November 8 at Edmonton's Olive Reading Series.

How to keep a small chapbook press alive for twenty-three years (a primer, at Open Book,

My short piece, "How to keep a small chapbook press alive for twenty-three years (a primer," is now online at Open Book. And, have you thought of subscribing?

Scott Bryson reviews Robert Hogg's from Lamentations (2016) in Broken Pencil

Scott Bryson was good enough to review Robert Hogg's from Lamentations (2016) in Broken Pencil. Thanks much! This is actually the second review of Hogg's chapbook, after Rebecca Anne Banks reviewed such over at Subterranean Blue Poetry. You can see Bryson's review here. As he writes:

You need to be a few pages deep in this collection before its title begins to make sense. It opens with a two-page freestyle that pays tribute to the late Western actor, Roy Rogers, then moves to a childhood memory of Robert Hogg sitting atop a horse himself. The mood is predominantly upbeat until Hogg drops the lines “who took this photo / probably mom dead now,” and the material begins its shift into the advertised lamentation direction.

That Rogers elegy aside, Hogg’s lines are rarely more than two to four words long, and his phrases are continually interrupted. The stilted reading that results is almost like someone trying to talk through sobs — getting out a few words with each breath. This brevity, as well as Hogg’s plainspoken approach, is reminiscent of award-winning British Columbia poet, Tom Wayman. Where Wayman tackled the toll of work, Hogg examines the weight of death and loss.

The best poems in this collection recognize loss while celebrating (sometimes flippantly) what comes before and after. The stand-out piece, “Summer of Sixty- three,” sees Hogg longing for estranged friends and the good old days, when he and his comrades — smoking joints and listening to jazz records — “expected / to die the next day get busted or live forever talking poetry.”

new from above/ground press: Shiftless(Harvester), by Buck Downs

Shiftless(Harvester)
Buck Downs
$4

shiftless

            put a licking out

on that ass

to heat it up

            put a licking out

on that ass

to cool it off

who the fuck

trust a man

switch a lick like that

  

published in Ottawa by above/ground press

October 2016

a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

A native of Jones County, Miss., Buck Downs’ previous books include Tachycardia (Edge Books) and You Can’t Get Enough of What You Really Don’t Need (Private Edition). He works as an executive writing coach and lives in Washington, DC. Other work appears in issue #11 of Touch the Donkey.

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

Scott Bryson reviews Renée Sarojini Saklikar's After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees (2016) in Broken Pencil

Scott Bryson was good enough to provide the first review of Renée Sarojini Saklikar's After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees (2016) in Broken Pencil. Thanks so much! You can see the review here. As he writes:

There has never been a Battle of Kingsway, in a literal sense. Kingsway, in this case, is a thoroughfare that runs through Vancouver and Burnaby, and Renée Sarojini Saklikar — Surrey, British Columbia’s first Poet Laureate — has drafted a virtual battle along its length (plus, there are bees).

These poems all appear to be connected and loosely plotted. There are recurring and curiously-named characters — (A)bigail, the INVESTIGATOR is one such example — but their function isn’t always clear; this is not transparent verse. While the events depicted are open to interpretation, it’s evident that Saklikar is draping a historical veil over modern concerns, such as community housing issues and protests.

What this collection portrays more than anything, is the streets and parklands of Vancouver. Significant time is spent dissecting plant and animal life — including several varieties of bee — but the talk on wildlife reliably gives way to urban locales: tennis courts; a lab; shops on Robson Street.

After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees is excerpted from thecanadaproject, Saklikar’s “life- long poem chronicle about place, identity, language.” It’s an effortless read — her style is studious but smooth — though comprehension of the bigger picture will require ongoing contemplation.

some author activity: Saklikar, Christie, beaulieu, Clarke + McEwan,

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is featured over at Drunken Boat; Jason Christie has new work in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; five pages from derek beaulieu's forthcoming a a novel are now up at X-Peri; Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke gets a write-up at the CBC website; and Drew McEwan has some new work featured at the Matrix magazine website.

new from above/ground press: Femme, by Julia Polyck-O'Neill

Femme
Julia Polyck-O’Neill
$4

Undervalue/Dark (after Sylvia Plath, “ELM: For Ruth Fainlight”)

I know the bottom . . .

It is what you fear.

                                   I do not fear it: I have been there.

put your money where your mouth is

put your mouth where your money is

your money is.

your mouth is.

                                  (I am terrified by this dark thing/

That sleeps in me)

         & at this point I think life writing is the better solution.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Produced, in part, for distribution as part of the Festival of Readers and The Concept of Vancouver conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, October 13-15, 2016. Thanks much to Gregory and Lisa Betts for their help and support. http://www.festivalofreaders.com

Julia Polyck-O’Neill is an artist, curator, critic, and writer. She lives in St Catharines, Ontario, where she runs the award-winning Border Blur Reading Series. She is a doctoral candidate in Brock University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities program, where she is completing a SSHRC-funded interdisciplinary and comparative critical study of contemporary conceptualist literature and art in Vancouver. She also teaches in visual culture in the department of Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School.

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

Joseph LaBine reviews George Bowering’s That Toddlin’ Town / Baby, don’t ya wanna go? (above/ground press, 2016)

Joseph LaBine was good enough to review George Bowering’s That Toddlin’ Town / Baby, don’t ya wanna go? (above/ground press, 2016) over at the Flat Singles Press blog. Thanks so much! This is the first review of Bowering's latest, and you can see the original review here.

new from above/ground press: THE PATIENT STORM, by Dana Claxton

THE PATIENT STORM
Dana Claxton
$4

They are heading in from the West and perhaps they are held up… not only in the valley, but by the river’s edge. Hm. Either way, we will have to depart soon and they can join us.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Dana Claxton is an interdisciplinary artist whose work includes film and video, installation and performance art. Her work is held in public collections, including the The National Gallery of Canada and Vancouver Art Gallery. Her work has been screened internationally, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (New York) and the Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis). Dana is of Hunkpapa Lakota descent and her family reserve is Wood Mountain Saskatchewan. Dana currently resides in Vancouver Canada and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia.

Produced, in part, for distribution as part of the Festival of Readers and The Concept of Vancouver conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, October 13-15, 2016. Thanks much to Gregory and Lisa Betts for their help and support. http://www.festivalofreaders.com

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

some author activity: Brockwell, Bramer, Ladouceur + Ball,

Stephen Brockwell is interviewed on his journal The Rideau Review (1987-88); Shannon Bramer has new poems up at Minola Review; Ben Ladouceur participates in the "12 or 20 questions" interview series; and The University of Sheffield Library does a nice write-up on Nelson Ball's Weed/Flower Press.

new from above/ground press: theory of rooms, by Drew McEwan

theory of rooms
Drew McEwan
$4

Rooms with furniture inside.
Inside buildings. Buildings repeat in a city.
Food left on table rewrites a presence.

A room refuses help. Chairs remain, and later.

Animals who live in maps of forests.
Forests shaped like rooms in building.
Animals labour to expand the boundary.

Rooms of forests on another coast.
Buildings recycle a muscular tension.
From a distance it looks the same.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Drew McEwan is the author the books repeater (BookThug 2012), a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award, and the forthcoming If Pressed (BookThug 2017), as well as numerous chapbooks including Cant tell if this book is depressing or if i’m just sad (No press 2016) and Conditional (Jackpine 2014). She lives in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Produced, in part, for distribution as part of the Festival of Readers and The Concept of Vancouver conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, October 13-15, 2016. Thanks much to Gregory and Lisa Betts for their help and support. http://www.festivalofreaders.com
 
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

Avant-Canada: On the Canadian avant-garde, eds. Betts + Price, Jacket2

above/ground press authors Gregory Betts and Katie L. Price have co-edited "Avant-Canada: On the Canadian avant-garde" over at Jacket2, featuring a series of essays that came out of the Avant Canada: Artists, Prophets, Revolutionaries conference that was held at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, November 4–6, 2014.

Check out here to see their introduction, and links to the featured essays. The list of contributors to the feature includes essays by past and present above/ground press authors Stephen Collis, Alex Porco, Lori Emerson and Erín Moure, as well as Sarah Dowling, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Kaie Kellough, Tyrus Miller, Heather Milne and Vanessa Place, with critical pieces on Jordan Abel, Christian Bök, Ron Silliman, Erin Wunker, Michael Nardone, Lillian Allan, Steve McCaffery, d'bi.young, Lee Maracle, Jeff Derksen, Louis Cabri and Rachel Zolf.

new from above/ground press: Fugue, by Michael Turner

Fugue
Michael Turner
$3

Muse

The story is told of a woman who broke into the home of another woman, a writer, and forced her from her bed and into her study, where for three hours she held a loaded gun to her head after whispering the words, “Now write something.”

“It is difficult to write under such conditions,” the writer kept saying, writing, but at the end of three hours she happily announced that she might have the start of something, and that, said the intruder, was all she needed to hear.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Michael Turner is a Vancouver-based writer of fiction, criticism and song.

Produced, in part, for distribution as part of the Festival of Readers and The Concept of Vancouver conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, October 13-15, 2016. Thanks much to Gregory and Lisa Betts for their help and support. http://www.festivalofreaders.com

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

some author activity: Pirie, mclennan, Saklikar, Collis + beaulieu,

Pearl Pirie writes on rob mclennan's work for Brick Books' Celebration of Canadian Poetry, and again, on rob mclennan and mentorship, for The League of Canadian Poets blog; part four of Renée Sarojini Saklikar's interview with Stephen Collis is now online; and derek beaulieu has five new visual poems up at A-Minor.