new from above/ground press: Look Out, Yellow Umbrella, by Jason Heroux

Look Out, Yellow Umbrella
Jason Heroux
$6

Can U help me, yellow umbrella?

Yellow umbrella, can U tell me?

Come here, yellow umbrella, come in.

Yellow umbrella, can U speak?

I am Jason, yellow umbrella, who are U?

What’s Ur name, yellow umbrella?

How do U spell yellow umbrella?

Yellow umbrella, I don’t understand.

Yellow umbrella, when do U open?

Where is Ur entrance, yellow umbrella?  

Are U open at the moment, yellow umbrella?

How long is the wait, yellow umbrella?

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

Author’s note:

This manuscript was inspired by two influences: a recent painting titled “Oblivion” (2026) painted by my Grade 11 English teacher, Maurice Krystal, and a pamphlet called English-Swahili Useful Phrases, written by Aime F Lacasse, W.F. (T.M.P. Book Department, Tabora, undated).

back cover image: Maurice Krystal, “Oblivion” (2026)

Jason Heroux resides in Kingston, Ontario, works at ServiceOntario and lives with his wife Soheir and their two cats, Pablo and Neruda. He is the author of five books of poetry: Memoirs of an Alias (2004), Emergency Hallelujah (2008), Natural Capital (2012), Hard Work Cheering Up Sad Machines (2016), and Like a Trophy from the Sun (2024), which was listed on CBC’s list of “44 Canadian poetry collections to watch for in fall 2024.” His short story collection Survivors of the Hive (2023) was also listed among the best books of the year by The Miramichi Reader and 49th Shelf.  A new collection of poems, Unfinished Wilderness (A Feed Dog Book, Anvil Press), is forthcoming in Fall 2026. He was the third Poet Laureate for the City of Kingston, Ontario, from 2019 to 2022.

This is Heroux’s fourth above/ground press chapbook, after Something or Other (2023), A Further Introduction to Bingo, with Dag T. Straumsvåg (2024), and My Life as a Notebook (2025).

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

some author activity: Armantrout, Maloukis, Heroux, Cannon, Bolster + Nećakov,

Rae Armantrout has a new poem up at the London Review of Books; Rose Maloukis offers a list of what she's been reading lately over at The New Quarterly; Jason Heroux has work up in the Spotlight series; Frances Cannon is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Stephanie Bolster is included in the "Canadian Poets Series" via Peripety and/or Tronies; and Lillian Nećakov has a new poem up in Paul Vermeersch's "In the Third Sleep" series.

Noah Berlatsky includes Jason Heroux and Dag T. Straumsvag's A Further Introduction to Bingo (2024) as part of his "Best Books of 2025" list,

American poet, critic and above/ground press author Noah Berlatsky was good enough to include Jason Heroux and Dag T. Straumsvag's collaborative chapbook A Further Introduction to Bingo (2024) as part of his "Best Books of 2025" list. Thanks so much! You can catch his full list here. As he writes:

Jason Heroux & Dag T. Straumsvag
A Further Introduction to Bingo

Jason Heroux and Dag T. Straumsvag’s above/ground chapbook is a collection of apparently randomly numbered, semi-surreal, semi-elegaic prose poems/vignettes about a bingo parlor, a mathematician, and some numbers seeking meaning, or maybe just sequence. As in Lewis Caroll, it’s not just reality but logic itself that breaks down as our sort of heroes, sort of abstractions wander from elevator to parking lot to funeral parlor asking questions like, “Did numbers have parents?” and “Why can’t your letter be delivered?” Russel Edson and James Tate are maybe touchstones, but Heroux and Straumsvag attain a loopy, giggling sense of missed prizes that is all their own. Heroux’s 2nd above/ground chapbook of the year, My Life As a Notebook, is almost as wonderful.

Jason Heroux : My Life as a Notebook (book trailer,

Kingston poet Jason Heroux has produced a book trailer for his latest above/ground press chapbook, My Life as a Notebook (2025)! Either watch it above, or catch it as part of the YouTube channel, which also includes over one hundred videos as part of the virtual reading series via periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics.

new from above/ground press: My Life as a Notebook, by Jason Heroux

My Life as a Notebook
Jason Heroux
$6

1.    I am speaking now from a Dollar Store within a mall in Kingston, Ontario where I live a quiet, simple life as a notebook. 100 pages. College ruled. White paper. 3-hole punched. Originally manufactured by ACCO Brands in Brooklyn, New York, USA, I currently reside in the stationary aisle among a diverse range of notebooks. Surrounded by pens, erasers, liquid paper bottles, markers, stickers, other school supplies. I’ve spent years here. Saw a lot of nearby products grow old, lose their abilities, expire, get tossed aside. Their spirits are still on the shelves. Somehow I never expired. Where’s my spirit?

2.    Business is quiet. There seems to be less and less customers these days. A rumour is circulating that the mall is scheduled to shut down, get demolished. A spider overheard the property manager talking on the phone to his brother. “It’s happening.” Yesterday two ghosts wandered along the aisle. The child ghost raised a hand and pointed at me. “A note boat.” The mother ghost laughed, and corrected the child. “No, it’s called a notebook.” But I prefer the term note-boat over notebook. I am a vessel, far off at sea, carrying my blank pages to the nearest shore. 

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
as the thirty-first title in above/ground’s prose/naut imprint
September 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Jason Heroux is a person of some sort, although this has yet to be verified.

This is Heroux's third above/ground press chapbook, after Something or Other (2023) and A Further Introduction to Bingo, with Dag T. Straumsvåg (2024).

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

some author activity: Heroux, Jenks, Earl, Siklosi, Barwin, Collis, Robinson + Niespodziany,

Jason Heroux has a poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog for National Poetry Month, as does forthcoming author Tom Jenks, and Amanda Earl; Amanda Earl also has a new essay up a The Typescript; Kate Siklosi is #3 in the Canadian Poets Series over at Peripety and/or Tronies; Gary Barwin has started a substack; Stephen Collis is interviewed via the SFU Department of English website; Elizabeth Robinson has a poem up at Poetry Daily; and Benjamin Niespodziany has new work up on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month.

some author activity: Armantrout, Browne, Turner, Stebner, Dean, Barwin, Nichol + Heroux,

Rae Armantrout discusses two poems from her latest collection with Laynie Browne, Julia Bloch and Al Fireis as part of PoemTalk #207 at Jacket2; Michael Turner has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog for National Poetry Month, as does Kevin Stebner, and even Leesa Dean; Gary Barwin has posted new music over at bandcamp, "I before H: music after bpNichol"; and Jason Heroux has a new poem up at unbroken.

some author activity: Manery, Markotić, Doller, Straumsvåg, Heroux, Fagan, Barwin, Reid + Solomon,

forthcoming author Sandra Doller is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Dag T. Straumsvåg and Jason Heroux's collaborative chapbook gets a nice mention by Cary Fagan over at his review blog; Gary Barwin has an archived poem up at The Walrus; Monty Reid is reviewed by Dawn Macdonald; and Misha Solomon has new work up in the Spotlight series.

new from above/ground press: A Further Introduction to Bingo, by Jason Heroux and Dag T. Straumsvåg

A Further Introduction to Bingo
Jason Heroux and Dag T. Straumsvåg
$5

25

Meanwhile, the mathematician crosses the town square, walks down North Street, turns right, and enters the Britannia Hotel. Fifteen minutes later he reappears on the street. At 1 pm, on a bench outside the cathedral, he eats a sandwich. He spends all afternoon in the harbour, watching the fishing boats come in. Ten, at dusk, he walks home. Once inside, he heads straight for the kitchen table, and starts jotting down numbers in a notebook. At 11 pm he gets up, undresses, turns of the lights, and starts playing his xylophone in the dark.

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

Cover and interior design by Angella Kassube

Jason Heroux lives in Kingston. His recent publications include a chapbook Blizzard of None (Puddles of Sky Press) and the collection of prose poems Like a Trophy from the Sun (Guernica Editions). He was the Poet Laureate for the City of Kingston from 2019 to 2022.

Dag T. Straumsvåg lives in Trondheim, Norway, and is the author and translator of ten books of poetry, including Nelson (Proper Tales Press, 2017), But in the Stillness (Apt. 9 Press, 2024), and The Mountains of Kong: New & Selected Prose Poems (Assembly Press, 2025). He runs the small press A + D with his girlfriend, the artist and graphic designer Angella Kassube. His work has appeared in a wide variety of journals in Norway, Canada, and the United States.

This is Jason Heroux’s second title with above/ground press, after Something or Other (2023).

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 upcoming author readings: mclennan in Picton, Ebbitt in NYC + Tracy, Casteels + Heroux in Kingston, etc

rob mclennan reads with Kingston poet and Anstruther Press author Y. S. Lee on Thursday, June 20 in Picton, Ontario as part of the PEP Rally series hosted by Assembly Press: 6:30-8pm at Books & Company, 289 Main Street; Katie Ebbitt launches her above/ground press title alongside Riley Mac, Sophia Kiam, Coco Gordon Moore, Krithika Varagur and Stephanie Wambugu as part of Red Room KGB, 7pm on Sunday, June 23 in New York City; Dale Tracy launches her above/ground press title alongside Michael e. Casteels and Jason Heroux chapbook launches on Tuesday, June 18, 7pm, at Novel Idea Bookstore in Kingston, 156 Princess Street ; and you heard the ottawa small press book fair is next weekend, yes?

some author activity: Heroux, Houbolt, Banks, Flemmer, Armantrout, Campos + Nilson,

Jason Heroux has some poems up at anti-heroin chic; Kyla Houbolt has a new poem up for National Poetry Month at the Chaudiere Books blog, as does forthcoming author Chris Banks and Kyle Flemmer; Rae Armantrout has a poem up in The New Yorker; Isabel Sobral Campos has a poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series, and do you know what Geoffrey Nilson has been up to?

some author activity: MacEachern, mclennan, Archer, Heroux + Barwin,

Jessi MacEachern, nina jane drystek, rob mclennan and Sacha Archer (among others) all have work in the final issue of Carousel, which also includes an interview between Jason Heroux and Jerrod Edson; and Gary Barwin is on the inaugural League of Canadian Poets Spoken Word Award shortlist.

some author activity: van Vliet, Armantrout, Niespodziany, Eleftherion, Novak + Heroux,

forthcoming author Robert Van Vliet and Rae Armantrout have new poems up at Guesthouse; Benjamin Niespodziany has a new piece up at Maudlin House; Melissa Eleftherion has a new poem up at Sixth Finch; JoAnna Novak is featured in the Between the Covers podcast via Tin House; and Jason Heroux has a poem in the "Tuesday poem" series via the dusie blog.

2023 #AWP (unofficial) offsite (virtual) readings : day two of five: MacEachern, Heroux, Vallières, Webb + Drescher,

Furthering yesterday’s post, as part of the above/ground press thirtieth anniversary, I thought it would be both interesting and amusing to host a virtual (and unaffiliated) offsite reding as part of this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual Conference and Bookfair. I mean, offsite means offsite, right?

Jessi MacEachern (she/her) is the author of the poetry collection A Number of Stunning Attacks, as well as the chapbooks Television Poems, You Do Not Like Animal Sounds, and Ravishing the Sex into the Hold. Her new chapbook When a Folk, When a Sprawl is forthcoming with above/ground press in 2023 and her new poetry collection Cut Side Down is forthcoming with Invisible in 2025. She is the 2022–24 reviewer of Poetics for Oxford University Press’s This Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory and is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Bishop’s University.

Jason Heroux was the Poet Laureate for the City of Kingston from 2019 to 2022. He is the author of four books of poetry: Memoirs of an Alias (2004); Emergency Hallelujah (2008); Natural Capital (2012) and Hard Work Cheering Up Sad Machines (2016). His recent books include a short fiction collection Survivors of the Hive (Radiant Press) and two poetry chapbooks: New and Selected Days (Origami Poems Project) and Something or Other (above/ground press).

William Vallières is a Montreal poet. His work has appeared in The Walrus, Best Canadian Poetry, Grain, and Event, among other places. His chapbook Poor Rutebeuf, a translation of the French medieval poet Rutebeuf, just appeared through above/ground press. His first book of poems, Versus, is out with Véhicule Press.

Lindsey Webb is the author of the chapbooks House (Ghost Proposal, 2020) and Perfumer’s Organ (above/ground press, 2023). Her writings have appeared in Chicago Review, Denver Quarterly, jubilat, and Lana Turner, among others. She lives in Salt Lake City, where she is a Steffensen Cannon fellow in the PhD program in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Utah.

Julia Drescher is the author of OPEN EPIC (Delete Press, 2017). Her above/ground chapbooks are BLATTA & Metastatic Flower (2020). She lives in Colorado.

new from above/ground press: Something or Other, by Jason Heroux

Something or Other
Jason Heroux
$5

SOMETHING

The process of assuming control of someone’s territory and applying one’s own systems of law, government and religion is called something. In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered something in 1969 Neal Armstrong stepped on something in 1915 Albert Einstein published his theory of something.

In Judges 14:14 Samson says, “Out of the eater came something to eat.”

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

Cover artwork: Samuel Strathman

Jason Heroux was the Poet Laureate for the City of Kingston from 2019 to 2022. He is the author of four books of poetry: Memoirs of an Alias (2004); Emergency Hallelujah (2008); Natural Capital (2012) and Hard Work Cheering Up Sad Machines (2016). His forthcoming books include a short fiction collection Survivors of the Hive (Radiant Press) and a poetry chapbook New and Selected Days (Origami Poems Project).

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