above/ground press author spotlights : substack : Trivedi, Houglum, Tierney, Christie, Gray, Reid, Unsworth, Ballard, O’Reilly, Ladouceur, Sikkema, Siklosi, Norris, Nećakov, Saklikar, Fagan, Earl + Downs,

Since building my above/ground press substack last spring, I've started posting a series of interviews with above/ground press authors (new platform, new project, after all), focusing on authors published through the press with a new/recent chapbook, as well as multiple publications with the press, to give each interview a bit more heft. Since May, I've posted interviews with Amish Trivedi, Brook Houglum, Orchid Tierney, Jason Christie, Steph Gray, Monty Reid, Lydia Unsworth, Micah Ballard, Nathanael O’Reilly, Ben Ladouceur, Michael Sikkema, Kate Siklosi, Ken Norris, Lillian Nećakov, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Cary Fagan, Amanda Earl and Buck Downs, with forthcoming interviews still to post with poets including russell carisse, Pearl Pirie, Guy Birchard, Jill Stengel, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, N.W. Lea and Gary Barwin, among others. Otherwise, I do post a round-up of new publications every two months or so, as well as a round-up of the weekly "author activity" posts, also every two months or so (but I didn't want the substack to simply be a replication of the blog, right?) Free to sign up! And lands as an email, direct to your in-box. Huzzah! And can you believe the press turns thirty-three years old this summer? Gadzooks!

new from above/ground press: A N G E L D U S T, by Micah Ballard

A N G E L D U S T
Micah Ballard
$6

CONNOISSEURSHIP

Irresponsible joy
recycling moods inhaled surreal
what ifs all heart sensitive aloof
picked up maddening static
detained by a friendly hand
laughing and sinking into the most
luxurious eros. What a show off
yawing at the police
A charmed suddenness always talking
alone in the quasi I am unable
to be sad. You make me believe
I embarrass myself and go to bed early
all these souls jumping
inside and out. I am not asleep
I am only emerging
my broken mask invisible
with a subtle task

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
May 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

cover image: Jason Morris, while listening to Dead Moon on repeat.

Micah Ballard is the author of over a dozen books of poetry including Waifs and Strays (City Lights Books), Afterlives (Bootstrap Press), The Michaux Notebook (FMSBW), Parish Krewes (Bootstrap Press), Selected Prose, 2008–19 (Blue Press), Evangeline Downs (Ugly Duckling Presse), Daily Vigs (Bird & Beckett Books), Vesper Chimes (Gas Meter), Busy Secret (first ed. above/ground press; second ed. FMSBW) and Negative Capability in the Verse of John Wieners (Bootstrap Press). He lives in San Francisco with poet Sunnylyn Thibodeaux and their daughter Lorca.

This is Ballard’s second above/ground press title, after Busy Secret (2024). With Garrett Caples, he co-edited G U E S T [a journal of guest editors] #21, “Castle Guestskull” (2022).

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

Catherine Marcotte reviews Micah Ballard's Busy Secret (2024)

Kingston, Ontario-based reader, editor and writer Catherine Marcotte was good enough to provide the first review for Micah Ballard's Busy Secret (2024) at The Miramichi Reader. Thanks so much! You can read the original post here. As Marcotte writes

Micah Ballard’s latest chapbook Busy Secret is a quippy, somewhat resigned meditation on the liminal spaces between life and death, and wealth and work. For Ballard’s narrators, these themes are central, presenting the questions that both create and disrupt the everyday textures of our lives. Through its repeated allusions to failed occupations, a distrust of wealth, and a meandering sense of self, the collection considers the relationship between our inner and outer lives and ultimately demonstrates the fragility of the relationship between the two.

In “Moscow on the Hudson,” the speaker treats poems like “diamonds cut for consignment,” gesturing to the modern devaluation of poetics. “Anything misleading count me in,” the speaker adds, as if to confirm that the life of the poet is not often what it appears to be. Indeed, the inner life of the dedicated poet does not always (or even often) translate to the successful outer life of an established one. “Whatever I had to become I became,” the speaker muses, gesturing to the necessity of adaptability in the arts. For Ballard’s narrator, and perhaps Ballard himself, a poet must be ready for a chameleon career, must be willing, as the speaker has been, to not only be a poet, but to be an aspiring poet, an artist cloaked under labels such as student, academic, or even, as in “Moscow on the Hudson,” unlicensed fortune teller.

In “Name Value,” the speaker similarly contemplates life in academia, commenting on the policing of poetry and subtly integrating a metanarrative into the text — a secondary narrative that breaks the so-called fourth wall between the reader and the poem. “Name Value” both acknowledges the supposedly dwindling state of the poetic genre and the fact that the text itself is a poem, beckoning readers to consider the seemingly endless possibilities of the poetic form. Here, Ballard is honest and reflective, imbuing his work with a compelling vulnerability and nuance. Although melancholic about the state and status of modern poetics, Ballard’s narrator is, in a way, also deeply hopeful. Despite his fears for the genre, he continues to write, affirming the writing form’s value in the face of its hardships. In a way, Busy Secret rejects binary organizations, presenting failure and success, as well as delight and disgust, not as opposing states but as conjoined ones. While a “rotting mansion” and a well-populated “Museum of Death” are central scenes, delightful images of mouth-watering “gumbo,” “jambalaya” and “crawfish etouffee” regularly compete for the reader’s (and the speaker’s) attention. The text’s dealings in both extremes are as compelling as they are off-putting, creating a unique blend of short, punchy narratives that spur reflection (and re-reading). A short, impactful read, Micah Ballard’s Busy Secret is a strange, almost enigmatic chapbook that considers the boundaries between our lives and our selves. It is just as sure to resonate as it is to disconcert.

some author activity: Rosenthal, carisse, Ballard, Niespodziany + Kelly,

Sarah Rosenthal has three poems up as part of LAdige Review's "California Series"; russell carisse has new work up at The Pi Review; Micah Ballard has new work up at the Spotlight series; Benjamin Niespodziany has new work at Bennington Review; and forthcoming author J-T Kelly is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey.

some author activity: Ballard, Berlatsky, mclennan, Boughn, Clayton + Barwin,

Micah Ballard has a new piece in The Brooklyn Rail, as part of "In Memoriam: A Tribute to Neeli Cherkovski"; Noah Berlatsky has a poem up at Memoir Mixtapes, and is interviewed in the '12 or 20 questions' series; rob mclennan is interviewed by Cara Waterfall for Archipel; Michael Boughn has new work in the Spotlight series; Conyer Clayton has a poem in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; and Gary Barwin is interviewed by Rina Barone over at Stories from the Pink House.

some author activity: Ballard, Smith, Kaminski, Trivedi + Houbolt,

the livestream video for Kevin Opstedal and Micah Ballard's July 21, 2024 reading at Bird & Beckett Books, San Francisco is now online; Mahaila Smith is interviewed over at News & Press from The Future Fire; Megan Kaminski has poems from a new project forthcoming in Plant Perspectives; Amish Trivedi read some poems as part of the Disaster Research Center 60th Anniversary Workshop at the University of Delaware, now up on YouTube; and Kyla Houbolt has two new poems and a write-up newly posted at Moist Poetry Journal.

an above/ground press (zoom) launch, May 19, 2024: Ballard, Eleftherion Carr, Deutch, Ebbitt + Polyck-O'Neill : video now online,

In case you missed it, the video for the above/ground press (zoom) launch from May 19, 2024 is now online, posted to the same YouTube channel that also hosts the ongoing  virtual reading series via periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics. With readings and launches by five different above/ground press authors: Micah Ballard (San Francisco CA), Melissa Eleftherion Carr (Ukiah CA), Amanda Deutch (Brooklyn NY), Katie Ebbitt (New York NY) + Julia Polyck O'Neill (Toronto ON). lovingly hosted by rob mclennan,

 

 
You can find the link to author biographies, as well as to each of the new chapbooks they were launching, here.

an above/ground press (zoom) launch, May 19: Micah Ballard, Melissa Eleftherion Carr, Amanda Deutch, Katie Ebbitt + Julia Polyck-O'Neill,

Micah Ballard (San Francisco CA)
Melissa Eleftherion Carr (Ukiah CA)
Amanda Deutch (Brooklyn NY)
Katie Ebbitt (New York NY)
+
Julia Polyck O'Neill (Toronto ON)

lovingly hosted by publisher/editor rob mclennan
Sunday, May 19 2024: 3pm PST/6pm EST ZOOM
please contact host or readers for zoom link:
rob mclennan : rob_mclennan (at) hotmail (dot) com or Melissa Eleftherion Carr : melissa.eleftherion (at) gmail (dot) com

Micah Ballard is the author of over a dozen books of poetry including Waifs and Strays (City Lights Books), Afterlives (Bootstrap Press), The Michaux Notebook (FMSBW), Krewes (Bootstrap Press), Selected Prose, 2008-19 (Blue Press), Evangeline Downs (Ugly Duckling Presse), Daily Vigs (Bird & Beckett Books), Vesper Chimes (Gas Meter), Muddy Waters (State Champs), and Negative Capability in the Verse of John Wieners (Bootstrap Press). He lives in San Francisco with poet Sunnylyn Thibodeaux, their daughter Lorca, and co-edits Auguste Press and Lew Gallery Editions.

He will be launching BUSY SECRET (2024), his first chapbook with above/ground press, although he did co-edit G U E S T [a journal of guest editors] #21, "Castle Greyskull," with Garrett Caples (above/ground press, 2022).

Melissa Eleftherion (she/they) is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. Born & raised in Brooklyn, she holds degrees from Brooklyn College, Mills College, and San Jose State University. They are the author of the full-length poetry collections, field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & gutter rainbows (Querencia Press, 2024), as well as twelve chapbooks including trauma suture (above/ground press, 2020), & sunflower spell (poems-for-all, 2022).  Her work has been widely published & featured in venues like Quarter after Eight, Sixth Finch, Entropy, & Barren Magazine. Melissa now lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Branch Library, curates the LOBA Reading Series, and serves as Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Ukiah. Recent work is available at www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.

She will be launching abject sutures (2024), her third chapbook with above/ground press, after little ditch (2018) and trauma suture (2020).

Amanda Deutch is a poet born and raised in New York City. She is the author of several chapbooks including Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (above/ground press, 2020), and Surf Avenue & 29th Street, Coney Island (Least Weasel Press, 2018). Deutch’s poetry has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, Oversound, The Rumpus, Cimarron Review and in many other journals and magazines. An artist book collaboration with Sarah Nicholls, wild anemone, is forthcoming in 2024. She lives in Brooklyn where she is the founder of Parachute Literary Arts.

She will be launching new york ironweed (2024), her second above/ground press title, after bodega night pigeon riot (2020).

Katie Ebbitt is a poet/psycho-behavioralist living in NYC. She is the author of the chapbooks ANOTHER LIFE (Counterpath, 2016), Para Ana (Inpatient, 2019), and Air Sign (Creative Writing Department, 2024). Fecund, her first full-length book, will be released by Keith LLC.

She will be launching HYSTERICAL PREGNANCY (2024), her first title with above/ground press.

Julia Polyck-O’Neill (they/she) is an artist, curator, critic, poet, and writer. They are currently the Michael Ridley Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Guelph and a former SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at York University’s Sensorium Centre for Digital Arts and Technology. Starting in July 2024, they will be an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Memorial University in Newfoundland. Her research explores feminist, digital approaches to interdisciplinary artists’ archives and intersections between archives and creative praxis. Her publications appear in Amodern, Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und Allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft (The Journal for Aesthetics and General Art History), English Studies in Canada, BC Studies, Canadian Literature, and other places.

She will be launching Process (2024), her fourth above/ground press title, after femme (2016), Everything will be taken away (2018) and poem | image | self (2019).

new from above/ground press: BUSY SECRET, by Micah Ballard

BUSY SECRET
Micah Ballard
$5

FRANCIS FARMER

Embroidering
pranks delicate helix hand
please forgive my radiance
of new and ferocious types
this is your tomb too
the remote control is for everyone
in the sky there’s no competition
cigarettes smoke themselves
all the clouds could care less
banter is only banter
it polishes its own secrets
when the heavenly demons
come back where will you be?
Please keep next to me

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

Cover image/design: Colter Jacobsen

Micah Ballard is the author of over a dozen books of poetry including Waifs and Strays (City Lights Books), Afterlives (Bootstrap Press), The Michaux Notebook (FMSBW), Krewes (Bootstrap Press), Selected Prose, 2008-19 (Blue Press), Evangeline Downs (Ugly Duckling Presse), Daily Vigs (Bird & Beckett Books), Vesper Chimes (Gas Meter), Muddy Waters (State Champs), and Negative Capability in the Verse of John Wieners (Bootstrap Press). He lives in San Francisco with poet Sunnylyn Thibodeaux, their daughter Lorca, and co-edits Auguste Press and Lew Gallery Editions.

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: Mellis, Blouin, Gwathmey + Ballard,

forthcoming author Miranda Mellis has some new work in Annulet; Michael Blouin is interviewed by Finnian Burnett; Matthew Gwathmey has a new poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series via dusie; and forthcoming author Micah Ballard has a new poem up as part of the weekly feature "Poetry at The Arts Fuse."

some author activity: fitzpatrick, Ballard, Jahn, Armantrout + Smith,

ryan fitzpatrick has a poem online at We Did It!; forthcoming author Micah Ballard is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Ben Jahn has a new poem up at Hobart; Rae Armantrout has a new poem in The New Yorker; and Pete Smith has a poem online at Arc Poetry Magazine.