Ryan Pratt reviews Touch the Donkey #s 1-3

Ryan Pratt reviews the first three issues of Touch the Donkey (one, two, three) over at the ottawa poetry newsletter. Thanks much, Ryan! Of course, copies of all three are still available, as are subscriptions (whether separately, or as part of the annual above/ground press subscriptions).

"poem" broadside #329 : "Inarticulate, how," by rob mclennan

            for/after Catherine Wagner,

Scratch that, siege. A greenery. Such teenaged thoughts: familiar thrum. It wasn’t literary. Trembled. First response: collage. For some three weeks a rhythm. Recycled air. The shadow harness, howls. Sexy, in the wrong place. Interrupted. Where one fits. A bolt of coloured fabric. Thwarted, in the undertow. Tracks the train must run on. Freedom, lies. Such romance. Where am all exposed. Unanswered. Trace, an accent. Ultrasonic. Outside, hours. Soft-hearted forms. This is not a game. Maintain. The baby: refuses sleep, refuses crib. Resists. Cohabitating forms. New to the neighbourhood. Cut up shapes and crawling. What would mention, over. How we love matures so slow. I remember only the simplest of forms. This is not a pencil.

Inarticulate, how
by rob mclennan
produced for a drive east with the family,
September 2014
above/ground press broadside #329

The author of nearly thirty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, Ottawa writer rob mclennan’s most recent titles include notes and dispatches: essays (Insomniac press, 2014), The Uncertainty Principle: stories, (Chaudiere Books, 2014) and the poetry collection If suppose we are a fragment (BuschekBooks, 2014). He spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, and regularly posts reviews, essays, interviews and other notices at robmclennan.blogspot.com

Touch the Donkey: self-profile and the release of the second issue!

In case you've wondered why I felt such need to invent a new magazine, there is now a self-profile of Touch the Donkey over at Open Book: Ontario. You can even head directly to the website to see information on the second issue, and remain posted on updates on our brand-new Facebook group. And yes, Touch the Donkey is included in the annual above/ground press subscription, in case you were wondering.

Email rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com if you wish to be included on either the Touch the Donkey or above/ground press email lists for updates as well.

Watch the Touch the Donkey blog over the next few weeks for interviews with issue #2 contributors Pearl Pirie, David Peter Clark, Julie Carr, Susan Holbrook, Susanne Dyckman and Catherine Wagner!

Touch the Donkey. There's more than one way to get high, baby.

The Volta Book of Poets: Wilkinson, Browning, Baus, Carr, Gordon, Wagner, etc.

Sidebrow Books has announced an indiegogo campaign in support of the publication of The Volta Book of Poets, edited by Joshua Marie Wilkinson. Normally, I wouldn't be posting fundraisers for all the other publishers, but between Wilkinson and a handful of other names, it means the book includes a number of authors published by above/ground press, as well as through the first two issues of Touch the Donkey (the second issue is due in July), and even the "Tuesday poem" series over at dusie. Besides, given the list of names, the book can't help but be anything but amazing. Please consider tossing a couple of bucks their way, or, if not, perhaps pick up a copy once it appears! As the indiegogo write-up begins:

THE VOLTA BOOK OF POETS features an array of talented poets representing a myriad of poetic schools, 25 male, 25 female: 

Rosa Alcalá, Eric Baus, Anselm Berrigan, Edmund Berrigan, Susan Briante, Sommer Browning, Julie Carr, Don Mee Choi, Arda Collins, Dot Devota, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Graham Foust, C.S. Giscombe, Renee Gladman, Noah Eli Gordon, Yona Harvey, Matthew Henriksen, Harmony Holiday, Cathy Park Hong, Bhanu Kapil, John Keene, Aaron Kunin, Dorothea Lasky, Juliana Leslie, Rachel Levitsky, Tan Lin, Dawn Lundy Martin, J. Michael Martinez, Farid Matuk, Shane McCrae, Anna Moschovakis, Fred Moten, Sawako Nakayasu, Chris Nealon, Hoa Nguyen, Khadijah Queen, Andrea Rexilius, Zachary Schomburg, Brandon Shimoda, Evie Shockley, Cedar Sigo, Abraham Smith, Christopher Stackhouse, Mathias Svalina, Roberto Tejada,TC Tolbert, Catherine Wagner, Dana Ward, Ronaldo V. Wilson, Lynn Xu

From Joshua Marie Wilkinson’s introduction:  “My goal is a relatively modest one: to cite a mere constellation. Indeed fifty stars in the night sky are a fraction of what lurks out there. While that’s a drastic metaphor, anybody familiar with poetry these days is readily stunned by the sheer quantity of poets writing and publishing.”

Each poet offers a statement of poetics to accompany their selection of poems. Contrasting styles, diverse voices, unique obsessions, differing poetic influences and approaches to cultural identity, THE VOLTA BOOK OF POETS is a celebration of contrasts. Think of it less as a unifying, thematic gesture than a starter map -- radiating out to poets, books, journals, reading series, nonprofits, and other organizations committed to the advancement of poets and poetry.