new from above/ground press: This Guy Gets It, by David Currie & IAN MARTIN

This Guy Gets It
David Currie & IAN MARTIN
$6

Stand Up Poem

Sometimes I walk into rooms and there aren’t enough chairs. So, I end up standing because I don’t ever feel comfortable sitting on the floor, but when you’re standing and most people are sitting it’s pretty hard to find people on your level to talk to.

It’s awkward talking to someone sitting down when you’re standing because you don’t know if you should kneel or bend at the waist. If you bend at the waist, you’re right in their business, but if you kneel, your knees crack, and then the person looks down on you.

If you’re talking to someone sitting on a bar stool, then you’re both on the same level, but at the same time, it feels like you both have somewhere better to be and don’t know what to do with your feet.

You don’t want to walk into a room with too many chairs, because you’ll look conspicuous. If someone you don’t want to talk to walks in (and they will) they will come right over because you’re the only person in a mostly empty room.

Sometimes walking into rooms and there aren’t enough chairs is way better than sometimes walking into a room with too many chairs. 

Forget I said anything.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
June 2026
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

[David Currie and IAN MARTIN launch this title in Ottawa on Friday, June 19 as part of the ottawa small press book fair pre-fair reading at Anina's Cafe]

David Currie is not IAN MARTIN.  He is a different writer with whom IAN MARTIN is collaborating. David's work has appeared in various places – he wishes he could be more specific, but he forgot to write them down, and has been collected into six chapbooks. He is the author of no-book-books, so what are we even doing here?

IAN MARTIN is large and barely in charge. Their work has appeared recently in periodicities, BAD DOG Mag, Discordia Review, and Sumac Literary Magazine. IAN has published six chapbooks, most recently EVERYONE IS MY ENEMY (2022). When not writing, IAN makes small video games and complains. Visit www.ianmartin.rocks at your own risk.

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) 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

The Factory Reading Series pre-small press book fair reading, June 19: Bebenek, carisse, Currie, MARTIN + Saklikar,

span-o (the small press action network - ottawa) presents

The Factory Reading Series
the pre-small press book fair reading

featuring readings by:

Jessica Bebenek (Montreal)
russell carisse (NB)
David Currie (Ottawa)
IAN MARTIN (Ottawa)
+
Renée Sarojini Saklikar (Vancouver)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, June 19, 2026
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
Anina’s Café, 280 Joffre-Bélanger Way

[And don’t forget the ottawa small press book fair, held the following day at the Glebe Community Centre]

Jessica Bebenek is a queer interdisciplinary poet, bookmaker, and educator living between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and an off-grid shack on unceded Anishinaabe territory. Her most recent chapbook, You Don’t Get Out Much (2024), is a memoir of chronic illness & her first ‘real’ book, No One Knows Us There (Book*hug Press, 2025), was a finalist for two Quebec Writer’s Federation Awards and was named a CBC Books Best Book of the Year. @notyrmuse www.jessicabebenek.art

russell carisse is currently living on unceded Wolastoqiyik/Mi’kmaw territory in New Brunswick. Here they live in an off-grid trailer in the woods with their partner and animals, growing food and practicing other forms of underconsumption. Author of five chapbooks, their work appears in the anthology On Occasion: Poems for the People, and ARC Poetry, Queen’s Quarterly, The Temz Review, Touch the Donkey, Website: russellcarisse.carrd.co Mastodon: @russellcarisse@writing.exchange Bluesky: @russellcarisse.bsky.social 

David Currie is not IAN MARTIN. He is a different writer with whom IAN MARTIN is collaborating. David’s work has appeared in various places - he wishes he could be more specific, but he forgot to write them down, and has been collected into six chapbooks. Heat a neutral oil to a boil before turning it to medium-low. Add Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, and a nub of ginger. Simmer for an hour, but make sure not to burn. strain the oil into a mason jar with about a cup to a cup and a half of chili pepper powder (the more varieties the better). Oil can be used immediately and kept for about 6 months. He currently resides in Ottawa. Currie and MARTIN are launching a collaborative above/ground press chapbook at this event, so be warned.

IAN MARTIN [pictured] is large and barely in charge. Their work has appeared recently in BAD DOG Mag, Discordia Review, and Sumac Literary Magazine. IAN has published six chapbooks, most recently EVERYONE IS MY ENEMY (2022). When not writing, IAN makes small video games and complains. Visit WWW.IANMARTIN.ROCKS at your own risk.

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of six books, including the award-winning Children of Air India and Listening to the Bees. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies, including Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature. She was Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey (2015-2018), co-founded Lunch Poems at SFU, and teaches Creative Writing at Douglas College. Bramah’s Discovery is the third volume of her epic fantasy in verse series, THOTJBAP. Renee Sarojini is grateful to work, create, and live in East Vancouver on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

THIS WEDNESDAY: the ottawa small press book fair pre-fair reading:

readings and chapbook launches by:

Jennifer Baker
David Currie
Vera Hadzic
rob mclennan
+
Pearl Pirie

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
As a precursor to Saturday’s spring edition of the ottawa small press book fair
at Jack Purcell Community Centre:
Doors 7pm / Reading 730pm
Ten Toes Coffee House and Laundry
837 Somerset Street West (at Rochester Street,

Jennifer Baker is a poet and Adjunct Professor of English Literature at the University of Ottawa. She is the author of three chapbooks: Abject Lessons (above/ground press, 2014), Groundling (Trainwreck Press, 2021, reissued by above/ground press, 2023), and Memento Mishka (with David Currie, Apt.9 Press, 2023). Her poetry, reviews, and articles can be found in Ottawater, Dusie, Canthius, The Bull Calf, Canadian Literature, The Journal of Canadian Poetry, and Robert Kroetsch: Essayist, Novelist, Poet (University of Ottawa Press, 2020), among others, and she is the 2022 honourable mention recipient of Arc Poetry Magazine’s Diana Brebner Prize.

David Currie is a writer in Ottawa.  He is the author of five chapbooks and no book books. His chapbooks include Bird Facts (Apt 9 Press, 2014), Mystery Waffles (In/Words Press 2014), Poems for the Mishka (Shrieking Violet Press 2015), The Planets that Block our Light (In/Words 2015), and now Memento Mishka (Apt. 9, 2023) in collaboration with Jennifer Baker.  His poems have appeared in magazines across Canada most recently in Plants, Animals, and Humans (Apartment 613 2023).  He currently works as a political organizer – a job which brings him to exotic locations across Canada most recently the resplendent former municipality of Kanata.

Vera Hadzic is a writer from Ottawa, Ontario, currently studying English and history at the University of Ottawa. Her work has appeared in Minola Review, flo., and elsewhere. Her first chapbook, Fossils You Can Swallow, is from Proper Tales Press.

The author of more than thirty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, rob mclennan’s most recent titles include the poetry collections the book of smaller (University of Calgary Press, 2022) and World’s End, (ARP Books, 2023), the chapbook The Alta Vista Improvements (above/ground press, 2023), and a suite of pandemic essays, essays in the face of uncertainties (Mansfield Press, 2022). 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

Adding Up to This (Catkin Press, 2023) is Pearl Pirie’s [pictured] newest chapbook. Her next upcoming chapbook is A Couple Sumerians (Turret House Press, 2023). rain's small gestures (Apt 9 Press, 2021) won the Nelson Ball Prize 2022. footlights (Radiant Press, 2020). Support her at Patreon for the price of a coffee or less where there are author updates and poem drafts. Or at Substack where she writes in-depth essays. www.pearlpirie.com

The Factory Reading Series pre-small press book fair reading, November 7, 2014: Baker, Dolman, Boyle, Currie + Ross

span-o (the small press action network - ottawa) presents:

The Factory Reading Series
pre-small press book fair reading
featuring readings by:

Jennifer Baker (Ottawa)
Anita Dolman (Toronto)
Frances Boyle (Ottawa)
Dave Currie (Ottawa)
+ Stuart Ross (Coburg)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, November 7, 2014;
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
The Carleton Tavern,
223 Armstrong Street (at Parkdale; upstairs)

Jennifer Baker [pictured] was raised in Exeter, Ontario, where she divided her time between town and her grandparents' farm. She is currently a part-time professor and PhD candidate at the University of Ottawa. Her new chapbook, her first, is Abject Lessons (above/ground press).

Anita Dolman is an Ottawa-based writer and editor. Her poetry and fiction have appeared throughout Canada and the United States, including, most recently, in On Spec: the Canadian magazine of the fantastic, Grain, Bywords.ca, The Antigonish Review, ottawater and Geist. Her short story “Happy Enough” is available as an e-novella from Morning Rain Publishing (2014). Follow Anita on Twitter @ajdolman. Her second poetry chapbook is Where No One Can See You (AngelHousePress, 2014).

Frances Boyle is originally from Regina, and maintains a yearning for both the prairies and the west coast where she lived for a number of years. She is the author of Light-carved Passages (BuschekBooks, 2014) and the chapbook Portal Stones, winner of Tree Press’s chapbook contest. Among other awards, she’s received the Diana Brebner Prize, and first place in This Magazine’s Great Canadian Literary Hunt for poetry (with third place for fiction in the same year). Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Canadian and American literary magazines, both print and online, and anthologies on subjects from Hitchcock to form poetry to mother/daughter relationships. She serves on Arc Poetry Magazine’s editorial board.

Dave Currie’s Birds Facts is forthcoming from Apt. 9 Press, a sentence that fill him with bashful joy and quiet disbelief. His plays have been produced at the Ottawa Fringe Festival, Carleton University, Algonquin College and at small venues across the province. His origins in theatre transitioned into opportunities in television and film, most of which he accepted, performed adequately and then squandered.

He is currently working on a new play entitled “Clone-Hitler Goes To The Beach” set to be performed in 2015 and a film script simply entitled “Women.” His fiction will be available in magazines – some day.

Dave Currie is not now nor has he ever been a dog.

Stuart Ross published his first literary pamphlet on the photocopier in his dad’s office one night in 1979. Through the 1980s, he stood on Toronto’s Yonge Street wearing signs like “Writer Going To Hell,” selling over 7,000 poetry and fiction chapbooks. He is a founding member of the Meet the Presses collective, and is editor at Mansfield Press. He is the author of two collaborative novels, two story collections, eight poetry books, and the novel Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew. He has also published an essay collection, Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer, and co-edited Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament. His most recent poetry book is Our Days in Vaudeville (Mansfield Press), collaborations with 29 other poets from across Canada. Stuart has had three chapbooks published this year: Nice Haircut, Fiddlehead (Puddles of Sky Press), A Pretty Good Year (Nose in Book Publishing) and In In My Dream (Bookthug). Stuart is a member of the improvisational noise trio Donkey Lopez, whose first CD is Juan Lonely Night. He lives in Cobourg, Ontario.

[And don’t forget the 20th anniversary of the ottawa small press book fair, being held the following day at the Jack Purcell Community Centre]

above/ground press on the radio

Tonight, I will be interviewed live in the studio by David Currie on CKCU's Literary Landscapes about the upcoming above/ground press 19th anniversary reading/launch/party. Why not listen? 6:30-7pm EST.

Another interview, pre-recorded by Susan Johnston with myself, Cameron Anstee and Marilyn Irwin, will air on Friday, August 3, 2012 on Johnston's Friday Special Blend, a special hour of above/ground between 7am and 8am.

CKCU 93.1 FM, Carleton University Radio; you can even listen live online!

Cameron Anstee at the Bah! House Band Reading Series, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011

above/ground press author Cameron Anstee reads at the Bah! House Band Reading Series alongside Ottawa poet David Currie on Thursday, December 15, 2011; 9pm-11pm, Raw Sugar Cafe, 692 Somerset Street West, Ottawa.

The return of the House Band Reading Series, featuring DJ Komsomol & McNally in the band, with Special Guests Cameron Anstee and Dave Currie.
The House Band Reading Series mixes music with words, a DJ scoring each piece as it is read/performed with special guests bringing other genres of writing to round out the evening.

Mashing a musical score with prose, the House Band will be performing two seasonal pieces.

Dave Currie: a man haunted by schemes. Writing is one of them, he's been working on this racket for a while now and if it doesn't work out he might take up glass blowing or dream interpretation. He can often be seen stroking, chewing or raking his facial hair. He currently serves as the fiction editor of In/Words Magazine where he is often quite grumpy.

Cameron Anstee: Apt. 9 Press (Ottawa ON) publishes handmade book in limited editions by new and established writers. We publish poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Our publishing emphasizes local writers, but strives for broader dialogue. Our first titles were launched in August 2009. His chapbook Frank St. (above/ground, 2010) is still available, here.