new from above/ground press: THE BEFORE, by Amanda Earl

THE BEFORE,
an excerpt from Welcome to Upper Zygonia
Amanda Earl
$5

Reading The Tarot of a Dying Planet


the first persecution
of a cliff is the sun
it can be depicted
as a mother
it is not clear
the goddess of shock
will shake up frogs,
lice, gnats, diseased livestock
the plague of wildfires
is roaming imperial

the second card kills
everything in scarlet
turn the card over i
i am afraid

if darkness was
a slap in the ocean
presume a series
of visions of
boils, hail, locusts

i imagine jumping into
the end of time
insert ink stain and
paper cuts the blood
of saints

maybe i seek
redemption from
cosmic disasters
preparation
for a loop

this scarlet
conflagration
is going to come
to this world
in some way

the card has given
you water turned
into blood

the tower makes
the sea sacred
my useless words
at the edge
of panic

cardinals face
the sun
away from
the tarnished doom
of the land

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
February 2022
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Amanda Earl (she/her) is a Canadian pansexual polyamorous feminist who writes poetry and prose, makes visual poetry, edits, and publishes others from her 19th floor apartment in Ottawa, Ontario.

She’s the author of Kiki (Chaudiere Books, 2014, now with Invisible Publishing), Coming Together Presents Amanda Earl (Coming Together, 2014) and A World of Yes (Devil House, 2015), and over 30 chapbooks. Her most recent chapbook is Matthew (Knife Fork Book, 2021). For Electric Garden, Earl received the Tree Press Chapbook Award in 2017 and in 2014, she was inducted into the VERSeOttawa Hall of Honour.

Earl is the managing editor of Bywords.ca, the editor of Judith: Women Making Visual Poetry (Timglaset Editions, 2021) and the fallen angel of AngelHousePress. Her visual poetry has been exhibited in Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK and USA. More information is available at AmandaEarl.com or connect on Twitter @KikiFolle.

This is Amanda Earl’s tenth chapbook with above/ground press, after Eleanor (2007), The Sad Phoenician’s Other Woman (2008), Sex First & Then A Sandwich (2012), A Book of Saints (2015), Lady Lazarus Redux (2017), The Book of Mark (2018), Aftermath or Scenes of a Woman Convalescing (2019), Sessions from the DreamHouse Aria (2020) and a field guide to fanciful bugs (2021).

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