some author activity: Sandhu, Mellis, Scroggins, Dyckman, Robinson, Witte, Rosenthal + Massey,

Mandy Sandhu has work up in the Spotlight series; Miranda Mellis is interviewed via Nightboat Books; Mark Scroggins has a poem up at the arts fuse; Susanne Dyckman and Elizabeth Robinson and Valerie Witte and Sarah Rosenthal have new work up at Literary Cherry; and Karen Massey is one of ten finalists for the 2024 3-day novel contest!

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #35 : 2025 VERSeFest Special

The Peter F Yacht Club #35
2025 VERSeFest Special
lovingly hand-crafted, folded, stapled, edited and carried around in bags of envelopes by rob mclennan,
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars, irregulars and VERSeFest 2025 participants, including Kimberly Quiogue Andrews, Susan J. Atkinson, Frances Boyle, Jason Christie, Michelle Desbarats, Em Dial, AJ Dolman, Amanda Earl, Cara Goodwin, Phil Hall, Jessica Hiemstra, Rebecca Kempe, Laurie Koensgen, Margo LaPierre, Karen Massey, rob mclennan, Pamela Mosher, Salem Paige, Terese Mason Pierre, Pearl Pirie, Monty Reid, stephanie roberts + Grant Wilkins;

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[a small stack of copies will be distributed free as part of the fifteenth annual VERSeFest, March 25-29, 2025]
[see the prior issue here; see last year's VERSeFest issue here]

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

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #34 : 2024 Holiday Special,

The Peter F Yacht Club #34
2024 Holiday Special
lovingly hand-crafted, folded, stapled, edited and carried around in bags of envelopes by rob mclennan,
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars and irregulars, including Frances Boyle, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Jason Christie, David Currie, Michelle Desbarats, AJ Dolman, nina jane drystek, Amanda Earl, Laura Farina, ryan fitzpatrick, Cara Goodwin, Chris Johnson, Margo LaPierre, IAN MARTIN, Karen Massey, rob mclennan, James K. Moran, Pearl Pirie, Colin Quin, Monty Reid, Joan Rivard, Stuart Ross and Grant Wilkins!

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
December 27, 2024 ; as the final above/ground press item of 2024!
[launching tonight at our annual holiday reading/regatta! you should come out!]
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

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

Lillian Nećakov and Karen Massey are Finalists for The Montreal International Poetry Prize!

In case you hadn't heard, Toronto poet Lillian Nećakov (3¢ Pulp) and Ottawa poet Karen Massey (bullet, Strange fits of beauty & light, SONGS FROM THE DEMENTIA SUITCASE), both above/ground press authors, have poems included in the list of fifty-one finalists for this year's Montreal International Poetry Prize! Congratulations!

some author activity: mclennan, Webb, Jirgens, Carpenter, Pirie, Tracy + Massey,

a video of rob mclennan reading now exists online as part of the Gap Riot Press summer 2024 launch; there's a conversation between Lindsey Webb and Kelly Hoffer online at BOMB magazine, and Webb also has new poems and book recommendations up at Etcetera; Karl Jirgens has a poem in the "Tuesday poem" series; J.R. Carpenter has new work in Blackbox Manifold; and Pearl Pirie, Karen Massey and Dale Tracy have poems in the August issue of Bywords.ca

report: the above/ground press 30th anniversary reading/launch/party!

Can you believe three decades have come and gone already? As you probably know, I hosted a reading and launch and party on August 12, 2023 at the Clocktower Brew Pub in the Glebe as part of the glorious thirtieth anniversary of above/ground press, with readings by Jennifer Baker, nina jane drystek, Amanda Earl, Sophia Magliocca, Karen Massey, Jérôme Melançon, Monty Reid and Grant Wilkins. Unfortunately, Adrienne Ho Rose was unable to come in from Iowa City, but we all waved at one point to acknowledge her (I wonder if she saw us wave?). Her parents still live here, so I'm hoping there might be further opportunities for her to read in Ottawa at some point.

David Currie and Christine McNair

It was nice to finally have another in-person anniversary event, given the prior one was back in 2019 [see my report on such here]. And, naturally, brilliant thanks to my slate of attractive volunteers: Christine McNair and David Currie who ran the book table, and Brendan McNally who covered door duty. And did you see that Christine even dressed the same colours as the cover (which was originally temporary, but I wonder now if it may have stuck) for this fall's groundwork: the best of the third decade of above/ground press 2013-2023 (Invisible Publishing)? Naturally, pre-orders are available now for this fine volume; and I think we're launching via the ottawa international writers festival this fall?

Amanda Earl

nina jane drystek [photo credit: Jérôme Melançon]

The first reader was Amanda Earl, who read from the latest issue of Touch the Donkey, which included some of her work. Having produced some ten chapbooks of her work-to-date through above/ground press [as well as a festschrift on her work], I always delight in hearing what she's been working on. Amanda really has been on fire the past few years. Have you heard that she's launching a new book soon? nina jane drystek launched her third chapbook and first with above/ground, missing matrilineal, a deeply intimate examination of loss that balances precision with open space, hesitation and clear patter.

Jennifer Baker [photo credit: David Currie]

Monty Reid

Jennifer Baker's Groundling: On Apology is a reissue of a chapbook she had in 2021 with the late John Goodman's Trainwreck Press, produced in a short enough run that she wanted to see it further out into the world. I know she works slowly, but I've been curious to see what else she's been working on. I was first introduced to her work through Phil Hall, from his time as writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa, which resulted in the publication of Baker's chapbook debut, Abject Lessons (2014). Monty Reid's Where there's smoke emerged as a direct result of the ongoing fires, with smoke that stretched not only across Quebec and Ontario, but his prior landscape of Alberta [you saw the festschrift I produced on his work, yes?]. I told the story of meeting Monty for the first time when we both participated in a group reading for National Poetry Month through The League of Canadian Poets, back on April 1, 1999 (curated and hosted by Susan McMaster, I think it was). I was curious at him travelling all that way for the reading, and he said: No, I moved here yesterday.

Chris Johnson [photo credit: Jérôme Melançon]

Oh, and I suggested Chris Johnson bring along copies of the latest issue of Arc Poetry Magazine for potential sale, given the new issue has a good-sized essay on above/ground press by Jérôme Melançon. Make sure you pick up a copy!

Karen Massey [photo credit: Jérôme Melançon]

Sophia Magliocca

It does seem that every decade or so above/ground press produces a new chapbook by Karen Massey, a poet who is clearly long overdue for a first full-sized collection. When might that happen? If only we were still doing Chaudiere Books, honestly. Karen was one of the first people (and only participant younger than forty) that I met when I first started attending readings via The TREE Reading Series circa 1992. Where has the time gone? Her third chapbook, SONGS FROM THE DEMENTIA SUITCASE, is easily the strongest work I've seen from her so far. Next up was Montreal-based poet Sophia Magliocca, launching her chapbook debut and arriving with her parents in tow, all of whom were deeply supportive and absolutely adorable. Adorable! Sophia (one of a growing list of authors younger than the press) is a poet I first heard about through a recommendation by Montreal poet Sarah Burgoyne, who has offered a handful of poets with chapbook manuscripts my way over the past few years (Misha Solomon, Rose Maloukis and Vivian Lewin being others). Sarah clearly has an interesting eye. I am looking forward to seeing what Sophia does next.

Jérôme Melançon

Jérôme Melançon flew in from Regina (to visit family in Gatineau, but we coordinated) to launch his third above/ground press chapbook, Bridges under the water. There aren't that many attending English and French-language poetries the way he is, now having published works in both languages, as well as writing criticism on both French and English-language titles in periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics. You should catch this interview I did with him last year over at Touch the Donkey on the two sides of his language/poetic: there's some interesting stuff in there.

rob mclennan [photo credit: Jérôme Melançon]

And he even pushed me to read a poem, saying that he came all this way and wanted to hear me read in person. So I did!

Grant Wilkins [photo credit: Jérôme Melançon]

The final reader of the evening was Ottawa poet and printer Grant Wilkins, who somehow exploded out of the woodwork a few years back, despite being around the Ottawa literary scene since the early 1990s (not long after I emerged). Grant always used to tell folk that he didn't write, no no, but I think it was his work with jwcurry and Messagio Galore that prompted something, whether a newfound interest or confidence, and now he's doing the most interesting combination of sound, visual and conceptual/response work around. We launched not one but two chapbooks of his as part of this event (with a prior above/ground press title earlier this year and even another one last year). What might be next?

Thanks so much for all who attended! It was such a great crowd, including natalie hanna, Charles Earl, Marilyn Irwin, Rob Fairchild, Jason Christie, Frances Boyle, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Cathy Macdonald-Zytveld, Marc Adornado, Susan Johnston, Senka Stankovic and a whole bunch more. Thanks again to the Clocktower Brew Pub! It was a pretty nice space. We clearly need to do this again next year.

new from above/ground press: SONGS FROM THE DEMENTIA SUITCASE, by Karen Massey

SONGS FROM THE DEMENTIA SUITCASE
Karen Massey
$5

Commiserating, a friend texts,
I hate dementia/pandemic eldercare


              / all night snowfall,
so much so hard you hear it
stacking up, filling dim
elastic hours with drowsy moonlit
blasts, yet pre-dawn, such depths,
tenderness, artful drift architecture
cut by gusts—roofs, bicycles, even
thin lamp posts balance enormous
tall white toques, tires spin as
neighbours strain to push free of
buried hours where breath colludes
& shadows slump chilled, listless,
or stretch away from daylight, thin
ache-blue branches reminiscent of  /

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[Karen Massey will be launching this title in Ottawa as part of the above/ground press 30th anniversary reading/launch/party on August 12!]

Karen Massey (she/her) lives in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded Algonquin Anishinabe territory. Her poems & found poems have been published online, in 2 chapbooks, over 2 dozen print anthologies, & in literary journals including TNQ, Aesthetica, Mslexia, subTerrain & Arc Poetry Magazine, where she received the 2020 Diana Brebner Award.

This is Massey’s third above/ground press title, after Bullet (1999) and Strange Fits of Beauty & Light (2014).

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

Karen Massey wins the 2020 Diana Brebner Prize

Clearly, I'm behind on my information, having discovered only today through reading Arc Poetry Magazine #95 (summer 2021) that Ottawa poet and above/ground press author Karen Massey won the annual Diana Brebner Prize last October (I'm completely willing to blame Covid-distractions on all of this) for the "best poem written by a National Capital Region poet, who has not yet published in book form." The prize was judged by BC writer Susan Musgrave. A belated congratulations! Musgrave selected Karen's “Mary Oliver in the Hereafter” for the $500 grand prize; Dessa Bayrock’s “What Do You See” was named the honourable mention for this year’s prize.

Here’s what Susan Musgrave had to say about “Mary Oliver in the Hereafter”:

First of all, I loved the title. And then I loved the first line. And then…anon. I like the Big Philosophical Questions the poem asks but doesn’t answer. That’s what a good poem will do. It doesn’t give you any answers, just unanswerable questions. I also love the way the poem uses abstractions — hope, joy — but renders them concrete. By the time I get to the last line, I feel lighter, the grass smells sweeter.

Karen Massey's poetry has been published online and in anthologies and journals in Canada, the United States and the UK, including Aesthetica, Arc, subTerrain and experiment-o. She has two chapbooks-to-date with above/ground press, Bullet (1999) and STRANGE FITS OF BEAUTY & LIGHT: Erasure Poems from Archibald Lampman’s Sonnets (2014), and she was part of the anthology Decalogue: Ten Ottawa Poets (Chaudiere Books, 2006). And Karen isn't the first above/ground press author to win such, as Marilyn Irwin won the same prize back in 2013, and natalie hanna had an honourable mention in 2019!

And if such prompts, they are currently taking poems for this year's competition! Pay attention!

some author activity: Blades, Pirie, Massey, McElroy, mclennan, Clayton + Polyck-O'Neill,

Joe Blades has a new poem on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of #NationalPoetryMonth, as does Pearl Pirie, Karen Massey and Gil McElroy; rob mclennan has a poem in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; forthcoming author Conyer Clayton is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal, and has new work at talking about strawberries all of the time; and Julia Polyck-O'Neill is also interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time.

ottawater: 15.0 : Barton, Clarke, Dolman, Earl, Graf, Massey, Pirie, Radmore + Reid

A variety of above/ground press authors (as well as plenty of other former and current Ottawa-area poets) have new work in the fifteenth issue of the online Ottawa poetry pdf annual ottawater, which is now available online.

Edited/published by rob mclennan, you can see new poems at www.ottawater.com by John Barton, George Elliott Clarke, Anita Dolman, Amanda Earl, Adele Graf, Karen Massey, Pearl Pirie, Claudia Coutu Radmore and Monty Reid, among others. 

If you can, why not go to tomorrow night's launch? 7:30pm at the Carleton Tavern, Parkdale Market, Ottawa. Lovingly hosted by editor/publisher rob mclennan.

Karen Massey interviewed/featured in Arc Poetry Magazine #83

above/ground press author Karen Massey (author of the chapbooks Bullet from 1999 and Strange Fits of Beauty & Light from 2014) is Arc Poetry Magazine's first "Emerging Writer Feature," which includes five new poems, as well as a short interview conducted by Arc editor Rhonda Douglas. You have to pick up a copy of the issue to see the full interview, but a fragment of it reads:

RD: Tell me a little about what occupies you as a writer... do you feel like ou are addressing any central thematic concerns?

KM: I think there are some of the same central concerns. I'm mostly interested in form right now. In my earlier work, in my first chapbook for example, there are some conversations with other writers. I would start with a title, like "Sylvia Plath in Heaven Does Tie-Dye," and then riff on that. Then I found an old textbook, of the time my mother would have been in school, and I realized there was all this older Canadian poetry that they would have studied and I hadn't read any of it, and so as a way to get into them I started to make erasure poems from the originals. And that's how the chapbook I did with rob mclennan (Strange Fits of Beauty & Light) came about... I'm trying to bring some of those ideas into the now. A lot of my stuff comes from titles and I'll go back from there. I hvae one poem recently where I had the title for two years but I had to do some research and the poems sit there for a while, percolating or fermenting, and then they write themselves. And then I edit them. For me, that's the fun part, going back over and editing.

the peter f yacht club regatta, 2015

Another year has come and nearly gone, which means we've held our annual Peter F. Yacht Club Christmas party/reading/regatta at Parkdale Market's Carleton Tavern (I seem to have reported on the event from two years ago, but not last year's, for some reason). Pearl Pirie was also good enough to post her own report as well.

Last night was a half-packed house with readings by PFYC regulars Cameron Anstee, Amanda Earl, Marilyn Irwin, Chris Johnson, Ben Ladouceur (pictured, above), Karen Massey, myself, Roland Prevost, Monty Reid (pictured, below), Peter Richardson and Janice Tokar. After an exhausting non-stop four days of Christmas travel and social, six-months-pregnant Christine McNair was exhausted, and sent her regrets, as did more than a couple of others, including at least one unable to appear for the sake of snowstorm concerns.

There were readings, books, chapbooks, cookies and cupcakes, all part of our casual mid-holiday holiday gathering. And drinks. And a few loaves of banana and zucchini bread floating around the room as well. Oh, and festive merriment. Yes, yes.
 

And: even though you missed the event, you can still pick up a copy of the new issue, here. Otherwise, the next events through The Factory Reading Series have yet to be scheduled, but there are already plans afoot for the launch of the next issue of ottawater, and readings by a variety of writers, including Gary Barwin and Julie Morrissy, as well as appearances by Anne Boyer and Ben Ladouceur as part of our slot at this year's VERSeFest; keep an eye out here for details, or keep checking Bywords.ca (obviously). And you know about the above/ground press 2016 subscriptions?

some author activity: Massey, Christie, Earl, Prevost, McElroy + Anstee,

Karen Massey has a poem in the new issue of Bywords.ca; Jason Christie has some new poems up at The Rusty Toque; Amanda Earl discusses coffee (and other matters) over at Queen Mob's Teahouse, where Roland Prevost interviews Gil McElroy as well; and Cameron Anstee and his Apt. 9 Press are featured in an article over at Ottawa Life Magazine.

Ryan Pratt reviews Karen Massey's STRANGE FITS OF BEAUTY & LIGHT (2014)

Ryan Pratt was good enough to review Karen Massey's Strange Fits of Beauty & Light (2014) over at the ottawa poetry newsletter. Thanks much! You can see the original review here. This is actually the second review of Massey's chapbook, after Ronnie R. Brown reviewed it over at Bywords.ca.

some author activity: Baus, mclennan, Hall, Rogal, Graham + Massey,

Eric Baus writes on Eliane Radigue over at Coldfront; rob mclennan has a new poem up at Cosmonauts Avenue; Ruth R. Pierson writes on Phil Hall over at the Brick Books website; Stan Rogal writes on Emma Healey as "Poetry Primer #9" for All Lit Up; Lea Graham has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, as does Karen Massey.

Karen Massey at The TREE Reading Series

above/ground press author Karen Massey features as part of the Hot Ottawa Voices at The TREE Reading Series. Celebrating thirty-five years of Ottawa's longest-running reading series with readings by three Ottawa poets: Karen Massey, David Stymeist and Susan Atkinson.

open set + featured reader(s)
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
8pm at Black Squirrel Books, 1073 Bank Street, Ottawa

for further information on Massey's latest above/ground press chapbook: http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.ca/2014/12/new-from-aboveground-press-strange-fits.html

for further information on The TREE Reading Series: http://www.treereadingseries.ca/

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.

Ronnie R. Brown reviews Karen Massey's STRANGE FITS OF BEAUTY & LIGHT (2014)

Ottawa poet Ronnie R. Brown was good enough to review Karen Massey's Strange Fits of Beauty & Light (2014) over at Bywords.ca. Thanks much! You can see the original review here.

new from above/ground press: The Peter F Yacht Club #21!

The Peter F Yacht Club #21
edited by rob mclennan
[see the link here for information on the previous issue]
[see the link here for a history of the publication]
$6

With new writing by a host of Peter F Yacht Club regulars and irregulars alike, including Cameron Anstee, Steve Artelle, Jason Christie, Anita Dolman, Amanda Earl and Tom Walmsley, Laurie Fuhr, Marilyn Irwin, Chris Johnson, Michael Lithgow, Karen Massey, rob mclennan, Pearl Pirie, Roland Prevost and Sandra Ridley.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
December 2014
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[launching tonight at the peter f yacht club annual regatta/reading/christmas party!]

above/ground press 2015 subscriptions still available!

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

new from above/ground press: Strange Fits of Beauty & Light, by Karen Massey

Strange Fits of Beauty & Light
Karen Massey
$4

Sting Me


The bees are
Busy murmurous birds, are
Pure mead, are
Tiny emerald flames, are
Small red hats or parasols, are
Jocund sunshine laughing, are
Shimmers in the wind;
Tough little lacquered summer wings

Source: “April Time” or “Nesting Time” or “When
the Bobolink Comes”  May 4, 1894

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
December 2014
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

and don't forget 2015 subscriptions; still available!

Karen Massey lives in Ottawa, between the canal and the river. Her poetry has won numerous prizes and been published in literary journals and anthologies including Decalogue: Ten Ottawa Poets (Chaudiere Books). Her erasure poetry has appeared in anthologies including Bukowski Erasure Poetry Anthology (Silver Birch Press, 2014) and online at the Chaudiere Books blog, Bywords.ca, ottawater, Bukowski on Wry, and in Là Bloom, the special Bloomsday issue of the Found Poetry Review featuring poetry sourced from James Joyce’s Ulysses.

The source for these erasure poems is Lampman’s Sonnets 1884-1899: Complete Sonnets of Archibald Lampman. Edited and with an introduction by Margaret Coulby Whitridge. Ottawa: Borealis Press, 1976.

Archibald Lampman was born in Morpeth, Ontario in 1861, came to Ottawa in 1883, and died here in 1899. Whitridge called him “Canada’s most outstanding lyrical poet and exponent of the sonnet.”

[Karen Massey launches Strange Fits of Beauty & Light in Ottawa as part of The Factory Reading Series, December 12, 2014, alongside Pearl Pirie and Marilyn Irwin]

This is Karen Massey’s second above/ground press chapbook, after Bullet (1999).

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