This is the thirty-seventh
in a series of short essays/reminiscences by a variety of authors and friends
of the press to help mark the quarter century mark of above/ground. See links to the whole series here.
above ground press: a quarter century of
community and paper cuts
It is hard to consider
above/ground press without considering the man who created it and has kept it
the well-oiled machine it has been for 25 years now.
The first time
I heard about rob was at a book store in Alexandria, Ontario, about 12 years
ago. I randomly picked up one of his books off the shelf in the poetry section
after a five year hiatus from writing post-high school. The cashier gushed how
rob was from the area and looked just like he did in the photo on the back of
the book. I bought the book.
The first time
I met rob was at a reading of his when I first moved to Ottawa in 2007. He was launching
his novel white and about to move out
west for a year as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Alberta. I
purchased a copy of his book and someone (Ottawa poet Amanda Earl?) told me he
would be happy to sign it. I was (still can be) debilitatingly shy but managed
to approach him. He inscribed it as follows: “for Marilyn, who I do not know”.
As he was packing up the book table, he handed me “a thing,” as he put it.
Truth be told, I don’t remember if it was a broadside or a chapbook but it was
an above/ground press publication. After the reading, a handful of people went
out for drinks at the Dom (Dominion Tavern); Amanda, husband Charles, Pearl and
Brian Pirie, Max Middle, Joshua Massey, rob and me. It would be the first of
many shenanigans centred around poetry, around this person, a personified nexus,
who seemed to know everyone in the local and farther reaching community and who
had the stories to prove it. Soon after, rob started handing me envelopes at
literary events stuffed to the gills with above/ground press goodies. This was
how I came to know the Ottawa poetry community and beyond.
I have lost
count of the number of Factory Reading Series events rob has organized in the
10ish years I’ve been going to them but they are usually like family reunions.
rob brings people together. rob has and continues to make things easy for us
all to find one another – even in this digital age – to trade or buy each
other’s books and, often, has been the catalyst for new acquaintances,
friendships and lovers (for better or worse). Without rob’s efforts; his
publishing, events, encouragement/coaxing of new, emerging and established
poets to put new work out into the world, without his workshops (which I’ve
taken a few times and totally recommend) and the ottawa small press book fair
and reviews and essays, etc., etc., etc., the Ottawa and Canadian poetry
communities would look very differently. Personally, my knowledge of the
literary landscape would be much less informed. And he has made it all look
easy, though I can only imagine how many long-armed staplers he’s been through
in the past quarter century or how many paper cuts he’s had or grocery bills
he’s tightened to subsidize putting poetry goodness into the world.
rob was kind enough
to reprint my first (self-published) chapbook
in 2010, shortly after he invited me to read at a Factory event – my first
official reading alongside stellar poets Marcus McCann and Cameron Anstee. I
have since had seven more chapbooks, two published through above/ground, in no
small part due to his gentle nagging for new work from me.
I
owe a debt of gratitude to you, rob, for helping me get this far despite my
mountains of reservations. So, thanks, rob, who I know, for all that you do and
congratulations on such a fine achievement!
I have often
heard rob say something to the effect of “I enjoy what I do so why would I
stop?” Here’s hoping he continues to enjoy doing what he does; I can’t wait to
see what the next 25 years bring.
Shortlisted for the 2016 bpNichol Award and winner of the 2013 Diana Brebner Prize, Marilyn Irwin’s [photo credit: John W. MacDonald] work has been published by Apt. 9
Press, Arc Poetry Magazine, bywords.ca, In/Words, Puddles of Sky, and The
Steel Chisel, among others. north,
her eighth chapbook, and third published by above/ground press, was released in
2017. She runs shreeking violet press in Ottawa.
Irwin’s three chapbooks through above/ground press include for when you pick daisies (2010), flicker
(2012) and north (2017).
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