Valerie Coulton is interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time, as is Edward Smallfield, Buck Downs, and Cecilia Stuart; Nathanael O'Reilly has a new poem up at Crow of Minerva; and National Poetry Month has begun over at the Chaudiere Books blog, with new poems by, among others, Andy Weaver and Misha Solomon!
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Thursday, April 8, 2021
new from above/ground press: a grain of sand, by Helen Hajnoczky
a grain of sand
Photograph by Julya Hajnoczky
Poem by Helen Hajnoczky
$5
what i escape through memory
my imprints a memorial
what land spread out
in this way
i am an imprint
like a wave
how have i sculpted my
own shores and
the moments
like sand
published in Ottawa by above/ground press
April 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
Julya Hajnoczky was born in Calgary and raised by hippie parents, surrounded by unruly houseplants, bookishness and art supplies, with CBC radio playing softly, constantly, in the background. It was inevitable, then, that she would grow up to be an artist. She holds a BDes in photography from the Alberta University of the Arts. Her multidisciplinary practice includes photography, sculpture and installation. She draws inspiration from the natural sciences, in-depth study of ecosystems, and a deep personal relationship with the wilderness. If she's not in her home studio working on something tiny, she's out in the forest working on something big. See more of her work online at www.obscura-lucida.com and on Instagram @obscuralucida and @alfrescosciencemachine
Helen Hajnoczky was also born in Calgary and raised by the aforementioned hippie parents as well. She is the author of Magyarázni, shortlisted for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, Poets and Killers: A Life in Advertising, shortlisted for Expozine’s English Book of the Year award, and the chapbook Bloom & Martyr, winner of the 2015 John Lent Poetry/Prose Award. Her next book, Frost & Pollen, is forthcoming from Invisible Publishing. Helen’s written and visual poetry have also appeared in a variety of chapbooks and magazines. Helen shares her artwork, including collaborations with her late father Steve Hajnoczky, on Instagram @ateacozyisasometimes and at www.ateacozyisasometimes.com
This is Hajnoczky’s fourth chapbook with above/ground press, after A history of button collecting (2010), The Double Bind Dictionary (2013) and No Right on Red (2017).
To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com
Monday, April 5, 2021
new from above/ground press: a journal of the plague year, by Edward Smallfield
a journal of the plague year
Edward Smallfield
$5
meditations in an emergency
1 reading Defoe—A Journal of the Plague Year
2 fare Boccaccio
3 spring sun the same
4 color as
5 ‘locked down’
6 ‘high alert’
7 in the isolation chamber
8 the higher pitched
9 ambient sound here
10 the lower pitched
11 just what you thought: an interior
12 a broken flowering
13 & dust &
published in Ottawa by above/ground press
April 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
Edward Smallfield is the author of The Pleasures of C, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (with Doug MacPherson), equinox, and to whom it may concern. He is also the author of several chapbooks: locate (with Miriam Pirone) and lirio and anonymous (both with Valerie Coulton) and, most recently, americana (from above/ground press). His poems have appeared in Denver Quarterly, e-poema.eu, Five Fingers Review, New American Writing, Páginas Rojas, parentheses, Parthenon West Review, talking about strawberries all the time, where is the river: a poetry experiment, 26, Wicked Alice, and many other magazines and websites. He has participated in poetry conferences in Delphi, Paou, Paros, and Sofia, and lives in Barcelona with his wife, the poet Valerie Coulton.
This is Smallfield’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after americana (2018).
To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com
Saturday, April 3, 2021
some author activity: Graf, Unsworth, Young, Turnbull, Saklikar + Solomon,
Adele Graf is interviewed in the "Six Questions" series over at Chaudiere Books; Lydia Unsworth has two poems up at The Pi Review; Geoffrey Young has some new work in Hello Goodbye Apocalypse; Chris Turnbull has posted the first installment of a series, interviewing Renée Sarojini Saklikar at the ottawa poetry newsletter; and Misha Solomon opens this year's array of poetry posting for National Poetry Month via the Chaudiere Books blog!
Friday, April 2, 2021
new from above/ground press: still life with elegy, by Valerie Coulton
still life with elegy
Valerie Coulton
$5
always writing
interrupting her notation of the present
wire bound
she places a plant on the nightstand
she cuts a recipe out of a magazine
there were poems about her &
she was satisfied with them
she was delighted
something in this language is deficient
chocolate wrappings
homemade soup
we complain about almost everything
we drink a cold beer
published in Ottawa by above/ground press
April 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
Valerie Coulton’s books include small bed & field guide (above/ground press), open book (Apogee Press), and The Cellar Dreamer (Apogee Press). With husband Edward Smallfield, she’s the co-author of lirio and anonymous, both from Dancing Girl Press. She lives in Barcelona and co-edits parentheses, an annual journal of international writing.
This is Coulton’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after small bed & field guide (2017).
To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com