some author activity: Boyle, Robinson, Dyckman, Earl + Deutch,

Frances Boyle is interviewed by Cara Waterfall for her Archipel; Elizabeth Robinson and Susanne Dyckman are zoom-interviewed on collaborative ekphrasis; Amanda Earl writes a guest post for Nikki Dudley's blog; Amanda Deutch has won the Ottoline Prize from Fence Books, which means her debut full-length will be appearing within the year (and part of the manuscript includes elements of her second above/ground press chapbook; and I've started posting occasionally to the Peripety and/or Tronies blog, run by Olivia Cronk, where I will be starting a very occasional "Canadian Poets Series" come April 1st.

an above/ground press (zoom) launch, May 19, 2024: Ballard, Eleftherion Carr, Deutch, Ebbitt + Polyck-O'Neill : video now online,

In case you missed it, the video for the above/ground press (zoom) launch from May 19, 2024 is now online, posted to the same YouTube channel that also hosts the ongoing  virtual reading series via periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics. With readings and launches by five different above/ground press authors: Micah Ballard (San Francisco CA), Melissa Eleftherion Carr (Ukiah CA), Amanda Deutch (Brooklyn NY), Katie Ebbitt (New York NY) + Julia Polyck O'Neill (Toronto ON). lovingly hosted by rob mclennan,

 

 
You can find the link to author biographies, as well as to each of the new chapbooks they were launching, here.

an above/ground press (zoom) launch, May 19: Micah Ballard, Melissa Eleftherion Carr, Amanda Deutch, Katie Ebbitt + Julia Polyck-O'Neill,

Micah Ballard (San Francisco CA)
Melissa Eleftherion Carr (Ukiah CA)
Amanda Deutch (Brooklyn NY)
Katie Ebbitt (New York NY)
+
Julia Polyck O'Neill (Toronto ON)

lovingly hosted by publisher/editor rob mclennan
Sunday, May 19 2024: 3pm PST/6pm EST ZOOM
please contact host or readers for zoom link:
rob mclennan : rob_mclennan (at) hotmail (dot) com or Melissa Eleftherion Carr : melissa.eleftherion (at) gmail (dot) com

Micah Ballard is the author of over a dozen books of poetry including Waifs and Strays (City Lights Books), Afterlives (Bootstrap Press), The Michaux Notebook (FMSBW), Krewes (Bootstrap Press), Selected Prose, 2008-19 (Blue Press), Evangeline Downs (Ugly Duckling Presse), Daily Vigs (Bird & Beckett Books), Vesper Chimes (Gas Meter), Muddy Waters (State Champs), and Negative Capability in the Verse of John Wieners (Bootstrap Press). He lives in San Francisco with poet Sunnylyn Thibodeaux, their daughter Lorca, and co-edits Auguste Press and Lew Gallery Editions.

He will be launching BUSY SECRET (2024), his first chapbook with above/ground press, although he did co-edit G U E S T [a journal of guest editors] #21, "Castle Greyskull," with Garrett Caples (above/ground press, 2022).

Melissa Eleftherion (she/they) is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. Born & raised in Brooklyn, she holds degrees from Brooklyn College, Mills College, and San Jose State University. They are the author of the full-length poetry collections, field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & gutter rainbows (Querencia Press, 2024), as well as twelve chapbooks including trauma suture (above/ground press, 2020), & sunflower spell (poems-for-all, 2022).  Her work has been widely published & featured in venues like Quarter after Eight, Sixth Finch, Entropy, & Barren Magazine. Melissa now lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Branch Library, curates the LOBA Reading Series, and serves as Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Ukiah. Recent work is available at www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.

She will be launching abject sutures (2024), her third chapbook with above/ground press, after little ditch (2018) and trauma suture (2020).

Amanda Deutch is a poet born and raised in New York City. She is the author of several chapbooks including Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (above/ground press, 2020), and Surf Avenue & 29th Street, Coney Island (Least Weasel Press, 2018). Deutch’s poetry has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, Oversound, The Rumpus, Cimarron Review and in many other journals and magazines. An artist book collaboration with Sarah Nicholls, wild anemone, is forthcoming in 2024. She lives in Brooklyn where she is the founder of Parachute Literary Arts.

She will be launching new york ironweed (2024), her second above/ground press title, after bodega night pigeon riot (2020).

Katie Ebbitt is a poet/psycho-behavioralist living in NYC. She is the author of the chapbooks ANOTHER LIFE (Counterpath, 2016), Para Ana (Inpatient, 2019), and Air Sign (Creative Writing Department, 2024). Fecund, her first full-length book, will be released by Keith LLC.

She will be launching HYSTERICAL PREGNANCY (2024), her first title with above/ground press.

Julia Polyck-O’Neill (they/she) is an artist, curator, critic, poet, and writer. They are currently the Michael Ridley Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Guelph and a former SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at York University’s Sensorium Centre for Digital Arts and Technology. Starting in July 2024, they will be an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Memorial University in Newfoundland. Her research explores feminist, digital approaches to interdisciplinary artists’ archives and intersections between archives and creative praxis. Her publications appear in Amodern, Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und Allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft (The Journal for Aesthetics and General Art History), English Studies in Canada, BC Studies, Canadian Literature, and other places.

She will be launching Process (2024), her fourth above/ground press title, after femme (2016), Everything will be taken away (2018) and poem | image | self (2019).

some author activity: Mc Donnell, Caporaso, Levy, Deutch, Unrau, Logan + Pirie,

Conor Mc Donnell has a new essay up at Chris Banks' new online journal, The Woodlot; Angela Caporaso and forthcoming author John Levy both have poems in the new issue of talking about strawberries all of the time; Amanda Deutch has new work at Warmly Zine; and Melanie Dennis Unrau, Nate Logan and Pearl Pirie each have new poems up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month!

new from above/ground press: new york ironweed, by Amanda Deutch

new york ironweed
Amanda Deutch
$5

seaside goldenrod


salty witch

which witch is witch?

all of them!

everyone is a little

afraid

please tickle them

I am
becoming
a very large woman

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2024
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

cover image by Amanda Deutch / cyanotype on fabric, 2023
digital composition by Charles Denson

Amanda Deutch is a poet born and raised in New York City. She is the author of several chapbooks including Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (above/ground press, 2020), and Surf Avenue & 29th Street, Coney Island (Least Weasel Press, 2018). Deutch’s poetry has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, Oversound, The Rumpus, Cimarron Review and in many other journals and magazines. An artist book collaboration with Sarah Nicholls, wild anemone, is forthcoming in 2024. She lives in Brooklyn where she is the founder of Parachute Literary Arts.

This is Deutch's second above/ground press title, after bodega night pigeon riot (2020).

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

some author activity: Moseman, Deutch, mclennan, Notley + Archer,

Lori Anderson Moseman has a poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series; Amanda Deutch has new work up at The Brooklyn Rail; rob mclennan has a new poem up at Pinhole Poetry, and is interviewed over there as well; Alice Notley has a new poem up at The New York Times Magazine, as selected by Anne Boyer; and Sacha Archer reads soon at Toronto's Type Books as part of the milk magazine reading series!

some author activity: Deutch, Arnott, Betts, mclennan, Christakos, Robinson, Jirgens + Smith,

Amanda Deutch has a poem in the "Tuesday poem" series; Joanne Arnott has been named a "Life Member" of The League of Canadian Poets; Gregory Betts has new work and a short write-up on NFTs online at Rattle; rob mclennan has new work in horseshoe journal here and here, as well as a brand-new substack post from "Lecture for an Empty Room"; and Margaret Christakos and Ben Robinson both have new work in Hamilton Arts & Letters, which also includes a conversation between Karl Jirgens and Steven Ross Smith on their ongoing fictions.

some author activity: mclennan, Barton, Deutch, Bolster, Boyle + Niespodziany,

rob mclennan has a new(ish) poem up on his blog; John Barton has a poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, as does Amanda Deutch, and so does Stephanie Bolster; Frances Boyle has new work up at Dust Poetry Magazine; and Benjamin Niespodziany has new work up at HAD, as well as The Boiler.

some author activity: Schapira, Deutch, Davis + Jarvis,

Kate Schapira reads "Questions and Practice For Your Origin Story" for Ours Poetica; Amanda Deutch has some new work up at GASHER; forthcoming author Jordan Davis has a new essay on Ted Berrigan up via The Poetry Foundation; and Jenna Jarvis is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews.

some author activity: Niespodziany, Eleftherion, Deutch, Yeary + mclennan,

Benjamin Niespodziany has a new prose poem in elsewhere, as well as up at autofocus; Melissa Eleftherion has new work up at Dream Geographies; Amanda Deutch's Coney Island Poetry Map is written up in an article for the Brooklyn Paper; James Yeary has a poem up in the Tuesday poem series; and rob mclennan is interviewed by Andrew French for Page Fright: A Literary Podcast.

some author activity: Deutch, Tate, fitzpatrick, Hyland + Hogg,

Amanda Deutch has new work up at house journal; Bronwen Tate has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog, as part of National Poetry Month, as does ryan fitzpatrick ; MC Hyland has some new work up at Solstice: a magazine of diverse voices; and Robert Hogg has a new poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at dusie.

some author activity: Earl, Reid, Kaplan, Deutch + mclennan,

An excerpt of Amanda Earl's "Beast Body Epic" is online at Osmosis, and a statement on her ongoing project, "The Vispo Bible," is now online at The Babel Tower Notice Board; Monty Reid is interviewed in the "Six Questions" series over at the Chaudiere Books blog; Genevieve Kaplan has some new work up as part of rob mclennan's Spotlight series; Amanda Deutch has some new work in issue #6 of Leon Literary Review; and rob mclennan answers a few questions at the Kenyon Review online.

Chris L. Butler reviews Amanda Deutch’s Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (2020) at The Poetry Question

Chris L. Butler was good enough to provide a second review for Amanda Deutch’s Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (2020), following Russell Carisse's review over in antilang #8, over at The Poetry Question. Thanks so much! You can see his original review here. As he writes:

Amanda Deutch’s chapbook Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (above/ground press, 2020) takes the reader on a journey manyurbanites know all too well from riding public transit. Deutch utilizes the haiku form to create a continuous poetic stream of consciousness from cover to cover via the experience of riding the subway in New York City.

Like riding in the car, riding the subway is a moment where many people wrestle with their thoughts. Sometimes these thoughts are a diagnosis of the self, other times they are external, a commentary on the troubles of the world around us. Examples of this in Bodega Night Pigeon Riot are the acknowledgement of a former mosque becoming a nail salon, or how New York is a city that makes or breaks all who dare to take a bite out of ‘The Big Apple.’

Detuch portrays this with lines like “the city that makes diamonds or glass out of us all.” Another great thing about this chapbook is that Deutch brings a different perspective as a New York transplant.

These haikus and sometimes micro poems weave together a larger narrative filled with self-discovery and political commentary. I recommend this to city transplants, east coasters, and lovers of shorter poems that connect into a larger story.

Russell Carisse reviews Amanda Deutch’s Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (2020) in antilang

Russell Carisse was good enough to provide the first review for Amanda Deutch’s Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (2020) in antilang #8. Thanks so much! You can see his original review here. As he writes:

Arrivals<>Departures

 

Rummaging around Brooklyn’s streetscape with Amanda Deutch’s Bodega Night Pigeon Riot, from above/gound press, one is drawn along and through the accoutrements and fashions of late-capital’s urban millieux. This chap of haiku rattles off with arhythmic comparisons made by the witness in the window of a moving train with words that embark on the dichotomous unrest of jarring the traditional fair of petals, lurching suddenly against the ossified detritus of economic growth - the final excrements of replicative production. There’s a moment hanging on a bridge reaching for itself, but the lul of progress, the lul of onomatopoeic security, of the flashing signs, the monetary venture to work arrives fully stationed for a fresh departure from tradition, again, but with touch of that temporal inflexibility and constraint incorporated in conjunction with the police state - America's cultural soul, as approved religiously over and over again. A soul that is expressed by civil iconographics and neon churches posing in stolen clothes. Pulling into a solipsism that is triggered by the act of naming, a feigned escape materializes from personal reminiscence but tempered with its assurances of willful forgetting and itemized appropriations - the valorized garb of existential valuation. And then it’s off again, with the cycle of storefront-church-mural, uninterupted and augmented by humanity’s popular refrain singing its tune of wealth appreciation. The destination arrives with the traditional fair now blooming and employed with a future naturally littering itself for an immanent return, as one will keep coming back to these poems. Oh, and FUCK the POL(ICE)!

   

new from above/ground press: bodega night pigeon riot, by Amanda Deutch

bodega night pigeon riot
Amanda Deutch
$5

Subway to Crescent Street
saucer magnolia petals
smoke stacks & antennae








litter island life urban
archipelago shit smeared on
F train seats

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Amanda Deutch is a poet and interdisciplinary artist. Her poems have been published in the New York Times, The Rumpus, Cimarron Review, Public Pool, Black Earth Institute, and Cosmonauts Avenue. The author of six chapbooks, her most recent book is Surf Avenue and 29th Street, Coney Island (Least Weasel Press, 2018). She has been a writer-in-residence at The Betsy Hotel (Miami) and Footpaths to Creativity (Azores). Deutch works as a Library Specialist for youth throughout the five boroughs of New York City and is the Executive Director of Parachute Literary Arts. Her poems can be found at www.amandadeutch.com.

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 at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com