some author activity: Barwin, Beaulieu, Earl, Nilson + Moure,

Gary Barwin has a new poem up at the Knife Fork Book website; Braydon Beaulieu is interviewed by Ian Whistle at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Amanda Earl is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; and Geoffrey Nilson appears in the monthly "spotlight" series (and: thanks to Karis Shearer for the Jeopardy! photo...

some author activity: Caple, Cassidy, McNair, Bolster, Lea, Whistle, Christie, Spinosa + mclennan,

Natalee Caple has a new essay online at Room magazine, on #MeToo backlash and burnout; Sara Cassidy, Christine McNair, Stephanie Bolster, N.W. Lea, Ian Whistle, Jason Christie and Dani Spinosa all have new work in the fourteenth issue of ottawater; and rob mclennan has a poem-in-progress, "snow day," posted over at his blog.

some author activity: Whistle, Harris, Braune, mclennan + Earl,

Ian Whistle wrote on Judith Copithorne for many gendered mothers; Sharon Harris has a new poem up as part of National Poetry Month on the Chaudiere Books blog, as does Sean Braune; and rob mclennan is interviewed by Nathaniel G. Moore in his new Roaring Nineties series, as is Amanda Earl.

some author activity: Ursuliak, Barwin, Blades, Polyck-O'Neill, Betts + Whistle,

Emily Ursuliak has a new essay in the "On Writing" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Gary Barwin has a new videopoem up at Moving Poems; Joe Blades has some new work and a short statement in rob mclennan's spotlight series; Julia Polyck-O'Neill has a new poem in Chaudiere Books' National Poetry Month series for 2017; and Gregory Betts was interviewed by Ian Whistle for the ottawa poetry newsletter.

new from above/ground press: Inaccuracies, by Ian Whistle

Inaccuracies
Ian Whistle
$4

Mistranslation

Khatumo Ceuta in the Spanish Mediterranean. The level of water is full of clothes and spread their weight and paddleboard illicit production. Thousands of foreign vessels in sealed boxes. Rarely forest safe in Brazil and Indonesia Coach handbags are leading the way. A meeting of the Russian military process. smuggling snuff products is prohibited in the Mohawk in Canada. Uday Hussein deals Mystery, workers of color television. Northern Canada, frogs and turtles coach products, household and office sales are sold worldwide. For smuggling on the border with Mexico, was nāki'i'ia peace. Brazil and lapa'au'ia, and millions of animals. Children between two and ten thousands of people traffic at the border. Nigeria "or" son of the victim, and sells cocoa harvest. Cocaine starts ka'ūhā. Syria Real illegal. Bible cocaine prison for women. The Warsaw ghetto wall power supply, doors, drainage and register the land illegally. 1800 New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and plaster illegally. It was a mystery. Incorporated. It was the shadow of the cross.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
April 2017
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Ian Whistle has published in filling Station, CRASH: a litzine, Moss Trill and Nöd. Small poetry publications have appeared via jwcurry’s 1cent and Ken Hunt’s Spacecraft. He currently runs h&, an occasional journal of visual/concrete poetry and assorted other oddities: http://handandpoetry.blogspot.ca/

This is Whistle’s third above/ground press chapbook, after “MOUTH or PLACE NAMES” (STANZAS magazine, issue #9, 1996) and resemblances (1998).

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

some author activity: Flemmer, Whistle, Earl, Dueck + mclennan,

Kyle Flemmer is interviewed by Ian Whistle over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Amanda Earl has new work up at Crap Orgasm, as does Nathan Dueck; and rob mclennan has a new poem produced as both a limited-edition pamphlet and online by Kyle Flemmer's The Blasted Tree.

some author activity: mclennan, Bolster, beaulieu + Betts,

rob mclennan is interviewed in the "We Who Are About To Die" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Stephanie Bolster's work has a new write-up by Nancy Holmes as part of the Brick Books Celebration of Canadian Poetry; derek beaulieu has a new visual poem up at h&; and Gregory Betts is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey.

some author activity: Turnbull, Clarke, Earl + Greenstreet,

Chris Turnbull is interviewed by Ian Whistle over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; George Elliott Clarke has a new poem on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month; Amanda Earl has a new poem up at h&; and Kate Greenstreet and The Factory Reading Series get a nice mention over at Amanda Earl's blog.

some author activity: Whistle, Hancock, Rogal, Ladouceur, Hall + Massey,

Ian Whistle has a new poem up as part of AngelHousePress' National Poetry Month site; Damian Rogers selects Brecken Hancock to feature at All Lit Up; Stan Rogal, Brecken Hancock, Ben Ladouceur, Phil Hall and others are featured in an All Lit Up pdf poetry sampler for National Poetry Month; and Karen Massey has been posting poems to PoMoSco for National Poetry Month.

Missing Jacket magazine, writing & visual art, bibliography: 1996-1997

Given my recent post detailing the bibliography of STANZAS magazine, I thought it might be interesting to go through another one of my late projects through above/ground press, the lamented Missing Jacket. Throughout the 1990s, I noticed how far apart the different artistic communities within Ottawa were, but for occasional individuals such as Dennis Tourbin and Michael Dennis that existed as a link between artistic groups. There was so much activity that wasn’t interacting, and artistic practices that somehow kept up barriers between them. There were stories of the late 1980s at Gallery 101, when Dennis Tourbin ran it, with literary events beside shows of artwork (back when Rob Manery and Louis Cabri ran The Transparency Machine events there).

I had spent a couple of years prior hanging around the Enriched Bread Studios and Gallery 101, as well as with artists Diane Woodward and David Cation, and wanted to attempt a magazine of writing and visual art through the City of Ottawa. We held the first issue launch at Enriched Bread, with artwork from all of the artists featured in the issue, and readings from a variety of contributors.

Had I had more resources (and perhaps wasn’t doing the entire journal by myself), perhaps it might have been able to continue, and the weight of which might not have simply collapsed. Almost exclusively run by myself, I was fortunate enough to have various authors and artists contribute enormously, whether their own work or via interviews, and former Montreal writer and ga press co-editor/publisher Colin Christie even designed the last couple of issues (before it all fell apart).

If anyone is interested, I still have mounds of copies sitting around the house. I would like to think that there is some interesting material within. Perhaps, even, a little portrait of the late 1990s arts community in Ottawa.

Where did the title come from? We had a little gathering in the apartment Tamara Fairchild and I once shared, and Brian Hill, co-editor of Ink magazine, had left his jacket behind; I misunderstood the phone message when Tamara informed: “Brian from missing jacket called.” I thought it was a magazine that already existed. When I realized it wasn’t, well…

Missing Jacket magazine, writing & visual art, #1. 500 copies, January 1996. edited by rob mclennan. poetry by Robin Hannah, David O'Meara, Lorraine Gamble. fiction by Catherine Jenkins. interviews with David W. McFadden (by David Collins), Daniel Nadezhdin (by Tamara Fairchild) and Dennis Tourbin (by michael dennis). artistic statements by Eliza Griffiths, Jonathan Brownz and Angela McFall. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker. Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price $3. 8 1/2" x 11". 38 pages.

Missing Jacket #2, spring, March 1996. poetry by Tamara Fairchild, David Collins, John Barton and Sean Johnston. fiction by David Scrimshaw and Dayv James-French. interviews with Ken Norris (part I, by rob mclennan), Mary Borsky (by rob mclennan) and Marie-Jeanne Musiol (by Cindy Stelmackowich). artistic statements by Valerie Roos-Linse, Adrian Gollner and Anna Kempffer-Paul. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price, $3.50. 40 pages.

Missing Jacket #3, summer, August 9, 1996. poetry by Stephanie Bolster, Joe Blades, Nadine McInnis & Jim Larwill. fiction by Douglas Ord. interviews with Ken Norris (part II, by rob mclennan), Joe Blades (by rob mclennan) & Diane Woodward (by David Collins). artistic statements by Maria Shin, Barbara Gamble and David Cation. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. ISSN#1203-5076. cover price, $3.50. 44 pages.

Missing Jacket #4, fall, October 1996. poetry by Clare Latremouille, Una McDonnell, Michael Holmes (from 21 Hotels) and Karen Massey. fiction by Douglas Ord and Stan Rogal. interviews with Eliza Griffiths (by David Collins), Judith Fitzgerald (by rob mclennan) and Greg Kerr (by rob mclennan). artistic statements by Eric Walker, Marcia Lea and Doug Van Rosen. project pages by Mark Marsters. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. layout by Colin Christie. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price, $3.50. 42 pages (including inside cover).

Missing Jacket #5, spring, April 1997. poetry by R.M. Vaughan, Michelle Desberats Fels, Ian Whistle and Rob Manery. fiction by Death Waits and Elizabeth Hay. interviews with Christian Bok (by Tricia Postle), John Moffat (by David Collins) and Patrick Kavanagh (by David Scrimshaw). artistic statements by Lesya Granger, Christopher Lea Dunning and Bhat Boy (the artist formerly known as Ian Van Lock). project pages by Adrian Gollner. Notes from the Bleeding Edge by James Spyker and Ottawa Boy cartoon by Greg Kerr. blah blah editorial blah blah blah by rob mclennan. layout by Colin Christie. ISSN# 1203-5076. cover price, $4.00. 48 pages (includes whole cover).

STANZAS magazine, bibliography: 1993-2006

Perhaps I should finally admit that my long poem magazine STANZAS is in the past tense. I’d long been hoping that the journal would make it to fifty issues, but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Although I haven’t given up the idea that I might produce one further, final issue as a trade anthology, keeping with the model the journal originally had of George Bowering’s twice a year IMAGO (1964-1974).

When I originally started above/ground press, I wanted to produce both magazine and chapbooks, and couldn’t imagine attempting to sell two different series; the idea was that if I had the journal as gratis, then it might help publicize the chapbooks, therefore the far larger print runs. I could mail a box of issues to anyone, anywhere (which happened far less than I would have liked, given the state of my finances) for distribution.

Over the past few months, thanks to our move last year into a house, I’ve been finally able to start digging through dozens of boxes, attempting to put together a single set of the whole run for possible inclusion as a perk for our big Chaudiere Books Indiegogo campaign (I’m hoping to add one or three items over the next week or so, to acknowledge the mid-way point of our current campaign). There are some issues I have a surprising number of copies of, still, and some that I have yet to locate. For the sake of interest, here is a rough bibliography of the entire run:

Volume 1, issue #1. edited by rob mclennan. 500 copies. November 1993. issue dedicated to George Bowering and IMAGO. “Garden I-V” and “Gardening Tips” by Clare Latremouille, “THE LAPIDARY 1-9” by Heather Ferguson (sic), “Where Once There Were 5 Million” by Joy Hewitt Mann, and “Brahms, 1993” for Henry Beissel by rob mclennan. distributed free. folded and stapled, 8 1/2 by 11. 12 pages.

Issue #2. 500 copies, January 1994. issue dedicated to Frank Zappa. “VIGIL” by Maggie Helwig. distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #3. 500 copies, May 1994. issue dedicated to Roy Kiyooka. “DON JUAN ON HIS DEATHBED” by Henry Beissel. distributed free. 8 pages.

Issue #4. 500 copies, October 1994. “Sketches of Hands” by Shannon Cowan, “Forgotten Photographs” by Colin Morton, “hockey night in canada,” for patrick hunt, by michael dennis. distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #5. larger print run, 750 copies, April 1995. Coast-to-coast issue. 650 sandstone covers for general distribution, 100 grey covers for the Spring Toronto Small Press Fair. “Echolocations” by Gil McElroy and “In Which Alice Meets Laura Palmer” by Stephanie Bolster. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #6. 750 copies, July/August 1995. issue gleefully dedicated to George Bowering’s IMAGO magazine from the 70’s. “stiltman” by C.J. Lockett, “love & the automatic bank teller” by Brian Burke. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #7. 750 copies, November 1995. “When” by rob mclennan & “REMEMBERING FRANK O'HARA” by Ken Norris. distributed free. 20 pages.

Issue #8. 750 copies, May 28, 1996. “The Big Fuck” by Judith Fitzgerald and “HOW TO SPEND MOST OF YOUR TIME ALONE AND STILL WRITE CONVINCINGLY ABOUT SEX” by R.M. Vaughan. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #9. 750 copies, August 1, 1996. this issue mourns the loss of Coach House Press 1965-1996 and first saw light at the first National Conference of Canadian Small and Micro Presses in Sechelt, B.C., August 2-4, 1996. “MOUTH or PLACE NAMES” by Ian Whistle. His first solo publication. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #10. 750 copies, October 1996. “Crashing Out” by I.M. Wiley, a(n obvious) pseudonym from Winnipeg. the same piece (slightly altered) was also published at the same time under another name in Zygote magazine, Winnipeg. distributed free. 12 pages. 76.

Issue #11. 750 copies, February 1997. “Re: Crossing” by Colin Morton and “Ferries Taken” by Aidan Baker. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #12. 750 copies, April 1997. “BLONDES ON BIKES: 1-20” by George Bowering. distributed free. 28 pages.

Issue #13. 750 copies, June 1997. “inside     first floor         at the randomization factory” by meghan lynch (who later became Meghan Jackson). distributed free. 12 pages. cover image by Emily Whist.

Issue #14. 750 copies, September 1997. “A Medical History of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan” by Carla Milo (who later became Carla Barkman). distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #15. 750 copies, March 1998. “last leaves II” by rob mclennan. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #16. 750 copies, April 1998. “POEM BOOOOOOOK” by Gerry Gilbert. cover photos by the author. distributed free. 28 pages.

Issue #17. 750 copies, May 1998. “from COAST ALL JOURN ALL” by Jay MillAr. published in Ottawa (at Carleton University and at Gallery 101) and Fredericton (at Gallery Connexion). distributed free. 16 pages. cover illustration by the author.

Issue #18. 750 copies, September 1998. “TWELVE POEMS FOR HUMAN BUTTERFLIES” by Greg Evason. distributed free. 16 pages. cover illustration, “The Sacral Butterfly,” by Nicholas Power.

Issue #19. 750 copies, February 1999. “t sea ache” by Joe Blades. distributed free. 20 pages.

Issue #20. 750 copies, May 1999. “Eulogistics” by Victor Coleman. released in Winnipeg, May 8, 1999. distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #21. 750 copies, October 1999. “this evidence against you” by Natalie Hanna. distributed free. 24 pages.

Issue #22. 750 copies, January 2000. “an unnatural history of the sexes” by Anne Stone. originally appeared in the Contemporary Feminist Baroque issue of Tessera. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #23. 1000 copies, March 2000 date, although not published until April 9. “cooleys key” by rob mclennan. “renga” page originally appeared in mo’ gumbo. distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #24. 750 copies, May 2000. “Aequanimitas” by Chris McCreary. sections originally appeared in Lost & Found Times, Rhizome and COMBO. distributed free. 20 pages.

Issue #25. July 2001. “further revisions” by ryan fitzpatrick. cover artwork by Emily Whist. 16 pages. $4.

Issue #26. 750 copies, March 2001. “SYNONYMS FOR FISH” by Gary Barwin. three poems, “SYNONYMS FOR FISH”, “CRUMB FALL” and “THE LOOKOUT MAN”. cover image by Joe Blades, signed “for mclennan, the only poet I know whose name is in magnetic poetry 8, 15 NOV 1998.” distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #27. 750 copies, April 2001. “summations : travels through Italy” by Helen Zisimatos. two long poems, “rome” and “siena”. distributed free. 34 pages.

Issue #28. 750 copies, August 2001. “Strange Days” by Paul Hardacre. cover artwork collage by rob mclennan. distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #29. 750 copies. “what exile   this” by nathalie stephens (now Nathanaël). distributed free. 28 pages.

Issue #30. 750 copies. “Continuations I-III” by Douglas Barbour and Sheila E. Murphy. distributed free. 24 pages.

Issue #31. 750 copies. “Meteor Showers” by Gil McElroy. distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #32. 1000 copies, “irregular heartbeats” by rob mclennan. distributed free. 12 pages.

Issue #33. 1000 copies, “The Museum of Perception” by Lisa Samuels. subtitled “American takeover issue.” distributed free. 16 pages.

Issue #35. 1000 copies, “Highway 99” by Meredith Quartermain. subtitled “10th anniversary issue.” distributed free. 8 2 x 7. pages

Issue #36. 1000 copies, “all sets go” by Daniel f. Bradley. distributed free. 20 pages.

Issue #37. 1000 copies, “Americasual” by Rob Budde. distributed free. 20 pages

Issue #38. 1000 copies, “calcite gours 1-19” by derek beaulieu. distributed free.

Issue #39. 1000 copies, “Dream Songs” by J.L. Jacobs. distributed free.

Issue #40. 1000 copies, “the naked & the nude” by Rachel Zolf. distributed free. 20 pages.

Issue #41. 1300 copies, “ottawa poems (blue notes)” by rob mclennan. distributed free.

Issue #42. 1000 copies, “personal peripherals 1-30” by Jan Allen. distributed free.

Issue #43. 1000 copies, “more fun with ‘pataphysics” by Sharon Harris. distributed free.

Issue #44. 1000 copies, “THE CELEBRITY RAG; Opá” by Stan Rogal. March 2006. distributed free.

Issue #45 (mis-numbered on cover as #44). 1000 copies. April 2006. “two poems” by Dennis Cooley. distributed free.