some author activity: Burdick, Nećakov, Schmaltz + Henning,

Alice Burdick has a new essay up at The New Quarterly; Lillian Nećakov is interviewed alongside Scott Ferry and Lauren Scharhag for the podcast Meat for Teacast; Eric Schmaltz is interviewed by Myra Bloom at ASAP Review; and Barbara Henning has new work up at Long News.

some author activity: Gevirtz, Adams, mclennan, Gordon, Polyck-O'Neill, Schmaltz + Siklosi,

Susan Gevirtz is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Adrienne Adams has a poem up in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; rob mclennan has new work up at Gone Lawn; Nada Gordon's recent Segue Series reading with Kit Robinson is now up on YouTube; and Julia Polyck-O'Neill has a new poem up at NewPoetry, as does Eric Schmaltz, and Kate Siklosi!

new from above/ground press: A Mean, Mean Thirst, by Dani Spinosa

A Mean, Mean Thirst
poems for my friends and their books
Dani Spinosa
$5

like--
  most of us
    never even
      o-
         penned it
      quietude letting us
    rest finally
   sleep as if being awake was
    trivial as the closed captions reading
     unalive in some
      video
    we’ve both seen
  x times on
youtube or else me explaining
   zaddy
     after one or several
        beers && ok
     ciders for stephen && vodka sodas for
   dani && kate &&
      each of us wandering wondering what it’s been
         for, these
      gifts we carry
         here again and again
            in case in
                           jest in
                                    kin

(from "sequence dress," for andy weaver)

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

digital illustrations by the author

Dani Spinosa is a poet of digital and print media. She is sometimes a professor, sometimes a web developer, and all the time a co-founding editor of the feminist micropress Gap Riot. She has published several chapbooks of poetry, several more peer-reviewed journal articles on poetry, one long scholarly book, and one pink poetry book. She lives in beautiful Wasaga Beach, Ontario.

This is Spinosa’s third chapbook with above/ground press, after Glosas for Tired Eyes Volume 2 (2018) and Civilization (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

new from above/ground press: Mayday, by Stephen Cain

Mayday
Stephen Cain
$5

May 1, 2023
Won’t say sundown
No lightness, no levity
What makes a Canadian?
CBC songs & squibs
Lumps of lyricism
Or that we see it differently
A national imaginary or
An imaginary nationalism

May 2, 2023
Losing leaves, like losing hair
The trees & me
Small schadenfreude
The Great Creep Forward
Aspersions to the contrary
Some Klanada flags
Call the cops on “Commies”
Or mismanage the missive

May 3, 2023
The crash of dishes
Symbols & snares
Percussive aggression
Passive insistence
Red rage is coming down
Pellets against glas
Sing a song of Spring
Sakura suicide
With a cherry on top

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
September 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Note:
31 poems of 31 words, where May Day becomes mayday.

Cover design by Eric Schmaltz.

Stephen Cain lives, teaches, writes, & walks with gratitude in Tkaronto. His newest poetry collection, Walking & Stealing, is forthcoming from Book*hug Press.

This is Cain’s fifth above/ground press title, after CIRCA DIEM (1997), ZOOM (2013), Tag & Run: Canto One (2019) and the collaborative Hijinks: A Sequence from Double Helix (with Jay MillAr; 2003).

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: Reid, Beaulieu + Betts, mclennan, Schmaltz + O'Reilly,

Monty Reid has new work up at The Typescript; Derek Beaulieu and Gregory Betts recently collaborated on a review of Jean-Luc Champerret's The Lascaux Notebooks for Dublin journal Gorse; rob mclennan's archived zoom-reading, featured at Vancouver's Poets Corner Reading Series, is now online; Eric Schmaltz is featured in the Spotlight series; and Nathanael O'Reilly has new work up in The Bookends Review.

some author activity: Spinosa, Siklosi, Beaulieu, Swensen, Smith, Ross + Schmaltz,

Dani Spinosa writes on Kate Siklosi for Open Book, Kate Siklosi also has some new work up at Poem Atlas, as does Derek Beaulieu; Cole Swensen has new work up at The Brooklyn Rail, as does Dale Smith; Stuart Ross has a new poem online as part of National Poetry Month at the Chaudiere Books blog; and Dani Spinosa writes on Eric Schmaltz for Open Book.

some author activity: Birchard, mclennan, Tracy, Notley, Schmaltz + Rosenthal,

Guy Birchard has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; rob mclennan has had two poems up at Stride magazine here, and here; forthcoming author Dale Tracy is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; above/ground press authors Alice Notley and Eric Schmaltz (among others) will have work included in the next edition of Best American Experimental Writing; and Sarah Rosenthal has new work in ELDERLY #30.

some author activity: mclennan, Schmaltz, Burdick, Ross, Ball + Smith,

rob mclennan has a new essay in the "(Not) My Writing Desk" series over at Queen Mob's Teahouse, and a new poem up at his blog, for Vancouver poet Rita Wong; Eric Schmaltz is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal; Alice Burdick is interviewed over at Poetry in Voice (and now available for writing workshops in schools across Nova Scotia); Stuart Ross writes a moving post on Nelson Ball's last day, and days; and Jessica Smith has won the 2019 Betty Jane Abrahams Memorial Prize.

some author activity: mclennan, Syersak, Koss + Schmaltz,

rob mclennan writes of five favourite writers over at The Poetry Question, and has a new poem for Stuart Ross' birthday up at Train : a poetry journal; Jake Syersak has some new translations up at Folder magazine; forthcoming author Zane Koss has new work in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; and Eric Schmaltz has some new work up at Train : a poetry journal.

some author activity: Tate, Unsworth, Eleftherion + Schmaltz,

Bronwen Tate has some poems in The Tiny, and there is a recent article on her and her work online at Potash Hill: The Magazine of Marlboro College; forthcoming author Lydia Unsworth has a new poem up at Litter, and another up at Train : a poetry journal; Melissa Eleftherion has new work up at SWWIM; and the last of Eric Schmaltz' commentaries is now online at Jacket2.

some author activity: Sweeney, Etherin, Schmaltz, Clayton + Eleftherion,

[Heather Sweeney launching her new above/ground press chapbook at Storyfort in Boise, Idaho as part of the Treefort festival] Anthony Etherin provides an essay in the my (small press) writing day series; further of Eric Schmaltz's commentaries have been appearing at Jacket2; forthcoming author Conyer Clayton has a poem up at Train : a poetry journal, as well as in the Tuesday poem series, over at the dusie blog; and Melissa Eleftherion has new work up in Dream Pop Journal #7.

some author activity: Schmaltz, Pirie, Hajnoczky, Radmore + Waldrop,

Eric Schmaltz is posting a series of 'commentaries' over at Jacket2; Pearl Pirie has a new essay up at my (small press) writing day, as does Helen Hajnoczky, Claudia Coutu Radmore has a poem in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; and Rosmarie Waldrop has a poem up at Poets.org.

some author activity: Robinson, Schmaltz, Siklosi, Dolman, Earl, mclennan + Beaulieu,

Elizabeth Robinson is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews, as is Eric Schmaltz; Kate Siklosi, Anita Dolman and others have new work in issue #11 of Amanda Earl's experiment-o: and both rob mclennan and Derek Beaulieu write up their 'best of 2018' book lists.

Concrete Poetry exhibition at the Secret Handshake Gallery, Toronto:

Concrete is Porous
Act 1: Visual

An exhibition of concrete poetry.

November 3, 2018 to February 23, 2019
Opening reception November 3, 2:30pm to 6:30pm
The Secret Handshake Gallery
170a Baldwin Street
Toronto, Ontario

Featuring works by a variety of above/ground authors and non-authors, including bill bissett, dani spinosa, kate siklosi, eric schmaltz, derek beaulieu, michèle prevost, adeena karasick, david tin mouth, w mark sutherland, steve mccaffery, peggy lefler, mark laliberte, bpnichol, karl bekker, jim andrews, gary barwin, gustave morin, chad juriansz, paul dutton, michael e casteels, barbara caruso, amanda earl, jwcurry, judith copithorne, grant wilkins, hart broudy and daniel f bradley!

some author activity: Flemmer, Polyck-O'Neill, Schmaltz + mclennan,

Kyle Flemmer has a new essay up at my (small press) writing day, as does Julia Polyck-O'Neill; Eric Schmaltz answers the "12 or 20 questions"; and rob mclennan has some new poems up at Selcouth Station.

some author activity: Polyck-O'Neill, Braune, Deen, Syersak, Schmaltz + Tokar,

Julia Polyck-O'Neill, Sean Braune, Faizal Deen and Jake Syersak etc all have new work in the sixth issue of where is the river; Eric Schmaltz is interviewed at the ottawa poetry newsletter; and Janice Tokar is shortlisted for the 2018 Far Horizons Poetry Award, via The Malahat Review.

above/ground press 25th anniversary essay: Eric Schmaltz

This is the twenty-first in a series of short essays/reminiscences by a variety of authors and friends of the press to help mark the quarter century mark of above/ground. See links to the whole series here.

“I’d send those poems to rob mclennan. He publishes chapbooks of poems like these. The chapbooks don’t look great, but he makes sure your poems get into the right hands.” This is the advice and commentary given to me in 2008, which I then sat on for 5 years until I finally sent rob my first chapbook manuscript of visual poems, the awkwardly titled MITSUMI ELEC. CO. LTD.: keyboard poems (a title that rob hasn’t noticeably winced at). Almost immediately, he accepted the poems for publication. A Staples box eventually came in the mail and there it was: my very first chapbook. Once the chapbook came out, I learned that the advice was mostly true––rob ensures that the work of his poets gets into the hands of as many other poets and poetry-enthusiasts as possible.

I haven’t seen rob since 2013 without getting a bundle of addressed and unstamped envelopes thrust into my hands, followed by something like “well, I knew I’d be seeing you soon so I held onto these.” This usually happens as soon as I walk into a room, before I’ve found a seat or a place to put my bag. What’s inside those envelopes? Inside those envelopes are the new developments: fresh work from new voices, new work from established personalities. Those envelopes bear poems in progress, proto-books, test-pieces, experiments, but also final drafts and one-offs. Those are the poems of above/ground press. As an editor and publisher, rob is versatile and unmatched in his generosity; he is genuinely invested in poetry in a broad sense of the word.

For me, above/ground has been a place for testing ideas. It is where I got my footing. Four years after rob published my first chapbook, those poems appeared as part of my first full-length book Surfaces. My chapbook with rob led me there. With above/ground press, rob gave me something I could send to far-off places, to handout at a rare performance, to give in thanks. It gave me a foot in the door. Had it not been for that opportunity to let those poems into the world and to see what pings back, it seems unlikely that any later projects would have ever been realized. As indicated by conversations I’ve had with other poets and the other reflections published as part of this anniversary series, this seems to be true for many others.

Driven by rob’s tireless generosity as an editor, poet, and friend, above/ground advances a model for small press culture that I admire and that I hope others will take up. The simple gesture of passing work along for a very affordable price (if not for free) is essential, I think, for many writers here in Canada. With above/ground, rob helps new and established writers build and maintain an audience, but more truly he plays an essential role in building and maintaining a community.

In different words, the advice that was given to me in 2008 is advice I pass onto all of my aspiring poet friends and acquaintances. I trust that rob will find a way to welcome as many into the fold as he can. Among the many roles that rob plays, his role as community builder with above/ground press is one that should be appreciated.

Eric Schmaltz is an artist, writer, and educator living in Toronto. His work has been featured in Lemon Hound, Jacket2, The Capilano Review, The Berkeley Poetry Review, The Puritan, and Open Letter. His first book of poetry and text-art, Surfaces, is available from Invisible Publishing. For more: ericschmaltz.com or @eschmaltzzz.

Schmaltz is the author of two above/ground press chapbooks, including MITSUMI ELEC. CO. LTD.: keyboard poems (2014) and Trips from Here to There: Poems from the Dreamachine (2017).

some author activity: Hall, Anstee, Schmaltz, Barwin + McFadden,

Phil Hall has a new poem up at Halibut; Cameron Anstee is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Eric Schmaltz has some new collaborations up at h&; and Gary Barwin wrote a lovely response to David W. McFadden, via Coach House Books.

some author activity: Notley, Marshall, Schmaltz, hanna + Earl,

Alice Notley is interviewed in the "12 or 20 questions" series; forthcoming author Sara Renee Marshall is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Eric Schmaltz will be editing an anthology of concrete and visual poetry for Knife Fork Book and is seeking submissions; and natalie hanna has some new work up at Canthius, as does Amanda Earl.

new from above/ground press: Trips from Here to There: Poems from the Dreamachine, by Eric Schmaltz

Trips from Here to There: Poems from the Dreamachine

Eric Schmaltz

$4

the whirr of turquoise

tufts of pulsing moss;

enter paradoxical sleep.

the turquoise pulls.

moments of rust.

a sense that eyelids have failed.

somewhere beyond that

not quite centred,

i can feel the sketches of a carousel,

grayscale;

a fragmented familiarity

looking back in age,

a silhouette of elsewhere.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press

November 2017

a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Eric Schmaltz is an intermedia artist, writer, & educator living in Toronto. Eric’s work has been featured online and in print across Canada & internationally in places including Carousel, Broken Pencil, Lemon Hound, The Capilano Review, Open Letter, & Poetry is Dead. His visual work has been featured in Canada and the United States in places such as Havana Gallery (Vancouver), Lab T.O. (Toronto), Sugar City Arts Collective (Buffalo), the Critical Media Lab (Kitchener), Rodman Hall (St. Catharines), & Niagara Artists Centre (St. Catharines). More at ericschmaltz.com

This is Schmaltz’ second above/ground press chapbook, after MITSUMI ELEC. CO. LTD.: keyboard poems (2014).

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com