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!

some author activity: Boyle, Konchan, Smith, Reid, Kearney + Scroggins,

Frances Boyle has a poem in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; Virginia Konchan has a poem up at Poets.org; Pete Smith has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, as does Monty Reid, Rae Kearney, and even Frances Boyle, as well; and Mark Scroggins has a new poem up at Merion West.

some author activity: Kemp-Gee, Mody, Beaulieu, O'Reilly, Scroggins, van Vliet + Berlatsky,

Meghan Kemp-Gee has a new poem in Southeast Review; Monica Mody has new work in the Spotlight series; Derek Beaulieu has new work at petrichor; Nathanael O'Reilly is interviewed over at The Wild Umbrella; Mark Scroggins is interviewed at talking about strawberries all of the time, where Robert van Vliet also has poems; and Noah Berlatsky has a new poem at dadakuku.

some author activity: carisse, Armantrout, Scroggins, Logan + Reid,

russell carisse has a new poem up at dadakuku; Rae Armantrout has a poem up in The New Yorker; Mark Scroggins' work gets some good critical attention by James Berger over at Jacket2; Nate Logan is featured over at Leavings; and Monty Reid is interviewed by Pinhole Poetry, which also includes a new poem.

some author activity: Scroggins, Norris, Carisse, Hawes, Tracy, Mohammadi + Cadsby,

Mark Scroggins has a new poem up at talking about strawberries all of the time; Ken Norris is interviewed there, as is Russell Carisse, and so is James Hawes; Dale Tracy is interviewed in the '12 or 20 questions' series; Khashayar Mohammadi has a poem up on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, and so does forthcoming author Heather Cadsby!

new from above/ground press: P E S T / (Zion Offramp 65-70), by Mark Scroggins

P E S T / (Zion Offramp 65-70)
Mark Scroggins
$5

Who would spill into the seamless night, heave
the abductor apart? With what conjuration
do you address yourself to the exploit,
the token bypass? Clogged larvae, coagulate
gelid astonishment, were all they could descry
from the cabin, that abscessed and malodorous
primal scene. They joined us there, together we re-
arranged and shuffled densely printed blanks.

About logic they were rarely wrong, those old
    masters, their outlandish clothes
and gorgeous hairdos. Their elaborate ruffs
    and buttery, finely-tooled leather shoes.
Buckles, tassles, silver-headed walking
    sticks. Goose quills and microscopes,
spyglasses and nodding plumes. A camouflage
    bikini, a silk and latex trousseau.
The oracles and sages strut their way
    up the catwalk, toss their heads
at the turn. Syllogism and stemmata,
    quicksilver delta of the calculus
and hungry glimmer of philosopher’s stone.
    Names are sequent to things named, said
    someone: consequentia rerum, but requisite
    for any useful grasp of phenomena.
    Kaleidoscope of the world sliced
    into graspable gobbets, shapes
    modes attributes and other Latin words.
    The teacher says, Salve, discipuli; when
    the virtual session ends, vale. The teacher
    says, fermez vos livres. You’re trying
    to make sense of a new world by reading
    old books again, week in which each day
    has lost its surname, so ____day follows ___day,
    followed by undifferentiated ___day.
    Me, I’m always waiting, that’s what I do.
    Lamp trimmed and ready, parousia-gear stashed
    in a handy cupboard. My Aunt Anne
    would be in her element, downstairs closet
    filled top to bottom with discount
    toilet rolls. The rain almost gentle today.
    A block off someone hammers something. ("65")

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

Mark Scroggins lives in Montclair (New Jersey) and Manhattan. His poetry has been collected in Damage: Poems 1988-2022 (Dos Madres Press) and Zion Offramp 1-50 (MadHat Press). His most recent collection of essays and reviews is Arcane Pleasures: On Poetry and Some Other Arts (Selva Oscura/Three Count Pour).

This is Scroggins’ second above/ground press chapbook, after Elegiac Verses (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

some author activity: Abel, Armantrout, Scroggins + Robertson,

Jordan Abel delivers the 2022 Page Lecture at Queen's University, Kingston, on November 8; register for online or in-person here; Rae Armantrout has a new poem in The New Yorker, and three more in the London Review of Books; Mark Scroggins offers a new essay over at Hyperallergic; and Lisa Robertson offers an obituary for Issey Miyake (1938-2022) over at Artforum.

some author activity: Boyle, Rukeyser, Logan + Scroggins,

Frances Boyle has a poem in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; Susan Rukeyser has a new short story up at Arch Street Press; Nate Logan is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and Mark Scroggins writes on Anne Carson and David Hadbawnik for Hyperallergic.

some author activity: Naughton, Boyle, Rukeyser, Iijima + Scroggins,

Katie Naughton has a poem up in the Tuesday poem series via the dusie blog; Frances Boyle has a poem in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; Susan Rukeyser's above/ground press title gets a curious (and positive) review/mention by Gabriel Hart as part of Echoes from the Bear Creek Lending Library via the Bear Creek Gazette; Brenda Iijima has a new piece in collaboration with Janice Lee up at Annulet; and Mark Scroggins writes on Jack Spicer for Hyperallergic.

new from above/ground press: Elegiac Verses, by Mark Scroggins

Elegiac Verses
Mark Scroggins
$5

    4SB

Jaunty the porkpie, and jaunty
    the cigarette angle. Shard
broken off something hard
    and luminous penetrating
uncomfortable light—eclipsed,
    we shrink from unalloyed
heat, wit-sharpened rage to melt
    pretense and carefully curated
social mechanism. Dystopia a cliché,
    but still reality, total.
Vox clamantis in the street, or from
    the balcony of some tower-
block apartment, glass concrete
    I imagine and metal.
(Metal, metal—flesh so fragile.)
    Money’s sour breath, or light
glancing momentarily off spun
    filaments curious necessary
impertinent webbing of words
    in cold sun air.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
June 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Mark Scroggins is the author of four previous collections of poetry, the most recent being Pressure Dressing (MadHat, 2018). The first fifty sections of Zion Offramp are forthcoming as a single volume.

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 at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com