above/ground press: Michael Sikkema

Showing posts with label Michael Sikkema. Show all posts

Thursday, April 16, 2026

some author activity: Clayton, Niespodziany, Sikkema, Earl, Levy + MacEachern,

Conyer Clayton is included in the Canadian Poets Series over at Peripety and/or Tronies; Benjamin Niespodziany has two new poems up at HAD; Michael Sikkema has new work up at Antiphony; Amanda Earl has new visual poems up at talking about strawberries all of the time, where John Levy also has new visual collaborations with Shloka Shankar; and Jessi MacEachern has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog for National Poetry Month.

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Jon Cone : Omnibus review : above/ground press 2025 : Sandhu, Greene, Berlatsky, Ladouceur, Kelly, Reid, Ross, Sikkema + Browne,

Canadian expat poet [and above/ground press author] Jon Cone was good enough to provide a series of first reviews, short and sketched on an array of above/ground press titles from 2025: THE TEMPORARY SPACE OF A PLACENTA, by Mandy Sandhu (2025); EL REY MURCIÉLAGO // THE BAT KING, by Yaxkin Melchy Ramos, translated by Ryan Greene (2025); Spamtoum, by Noah Berlatsky (2025); The Last Man, by Ben Ladouceur (2025); More of How to Read the Bible, by J-T Kelly (2025); cuba A book: twentieth anniversary edition, by Monty Reid (2025); AND THEN THE GENTILE LIT THE CANDLES: Seven Stories, by Stuart Ross (2025); Just a Minute, Moon's Too Loud, by Michael Sikkema (2025); and Daily Self-Portrait Valentine, by Laynie Browne (2025). Thanks so much! You can see the original post here. Or read, below:

Here are some brief reviews of my favorite titles issued by Above/Ground Press during the year 2025. While I was not asked to write any of these reviews, I will state for the purpose of full disclosure that I was published by this press in 2025 and will appear as a co-author of another title in 2026.

THE TEMPORARY SPACE OF A PLACENTA by Mandy Sandhu

This is a wonderful collection. Sandhu’s poems are characterized by their concision, allusiveness, a leaping of imagery and wit. The voice behind the poetry suggests great intelligence and familiarity with various poetic traditions. Reading Sandhu’s poems, I thought of Ted Berrigan’s Sonnets. Then reading her bio at the back of the chapbook I was pleased to note Sandhu listed Berrigan as influence. A superb collection.

EL REY MURCIÉLAGO THE BAT KING by
Yaxkin Melchy Ramos [tr. Ryan Greene]

This work appears to combine various forms and traditions – Surrealism, Concrete (Visual) Poetry, Mythology, Science Fiction – and doubtless others – into a contemporary hybrid that veers between poetry and prose. If you ask your poetry to break down barriers, then this is a chapbook you’ll find rewarding. An added felicity: it is bilingual so you can compare English translation to Spanish original. Experimental in the best sense.

SPAMTOUM by Noah Berlatsky

This title contains one long poem of 95 stanzas of four-lines each, the titular “Spamtoum”, and a final poem “Hi Noah”. ‘Spamtoum’ with its repeating lines expands the pantoum form. Because I enjoy form, I set out to trace the pattern, then gave up at a certain point because it dawned on me the pattern itself was incidental to the feverish language play taking place before me. Much like John Ashbery’s sestina “Farm Implements and Rutagagas in a Landscape”, Berlatsky’s unfurling of the pantoum is intended to be gloriously screwball. Spam is where language goes to die. Here it is rescued, given oxygen, and a second chance. If you enjoy poetry that delights in language, then “Spamtoum” is ideal reading.

THE LAST MAN by Ben Ladouceur

Ben Ladouceur writes elegant, well-crafted poems. His poetic imagination is considerable; his evident care with line and stanza enviable. Thus it is impossible for me to read a poem by Ladouceur and not be impressed by both form and content, as if those aspects can ever be fully separated, because his writing achieves its results with apparent effortlessness. He is a poet in full control of his gifts for the poetic art. (Color me envious.) A brilliant collection.

MORE OF HOW TO READ THE BIBLE by J-T Kelly

Kelly writes poems that deal with his religious life, much like Franz Wright did. And like Wright, Kelly often deals with the struggle to maintain it in today’s world. Like the best love poetry, religious poetry appeals to us because it yearns to go beyond the material world toward a transcendent one. A highlight for me is Kelly’s catalog of sacred names that ends on a culminating moment; another favorite is the prose poem “Morning Exercise”, which has the profound bearing of a meditation one might encounter, say, in the journals of Thomas Merton. A serious and fine example of the art.

cuba A book by Monty Reid (twentieth anniversary edition)

This reissue contains a brief essay by Monty Reid that describers the circumstances that prompted the writing of the original poem. Reid wrote cuba A book after a period of not-writing, and it impresses by how assured it feels. None of that hesitancy or searching around for line or voice: from the start it is all there. I suppose that really shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. For those familiar with Reid’s work and those who would like a good place to start: recommended.

AND THEN THE GENTILE LIT THE CANDLES by Stuart Ross

Stuart Ross is a poet who also writes a great deal of fiction. He’s a wonderful fiction writer. This small collection reminds me at times of Brautigan, at times of early Raymond Carver. (The Carver under the influence of Lish.) In his economy of language, Ross calls to mind another great Canadian short story writer: Norman Levine. The title story is a fine one; however, my personal favorite is “Meredith and Craig Sit in Their Kitchen and Play Stringed Instruments.” In that story you get an ending with a palpable sense of what music critic Greil Marcus called ‘that old weird America’ – a voice haunted, distant, haunting. An excellent collection.

JUST A MINUTE, MOON’S TOO LOUD by Michael Sikkema

A concise poetry that pays homage to the natural world, the world encountered at the edge of a hike or in a moment of jeweled awareness. Sikkema surely enjoys the ancient Chinese masters, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t enjoy writers such as Gary Snyder and Wendell Berry. There’s humor here too, light, whimsical, lovely high seeming, as this complete poem demonstrates:

fav crow
ate my
rear view

When brevity is desired, let these poems answer the need.

DAILY SELF-PORTRAIT VALENTINE by Laynie Browne

This chapbook, at first glance, is composed of lyrics that resemble those of Emily Dickinson. That is a misleading impression to have. As Browne tells us in an author’s note these poems grew out of “a year-long durational project” in which she “made a self-portrait every day for one year.” The resulting collection enacts a quest, one where memory accompanies Browne, as the outside world of obligation seems to call to the poet in the midst of her purposeful concentrations. These self-portraits are by necessity impressionistic. It is a collection that usefully demonstrates how poetry can come out of a daily practice.

These are other fine titles can be found here https://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com

Monday, January 5, 2026

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!

Friday, August 15, 2025

new from above/ground press: Just a Minute, Moon’s too Loud, by Michael Sikkema

Just a Minute, Moon’s too Loud
Michael Sikkema
$6

what a room
all these birches
and thunder
an exit wound
on the way
a gown of roses
for the bees

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

Michael Sikkema is a poet in Michigan who works with children of all ages and enjoys planting plants and treeing trees.

This is Sikkema's fourth chapbook with above/ground press, after Here on Huron (2019), Transmissions from the Crawdad Constellation (2021) and Boing, Extinction VS Wow! Signal (2021).

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

Thursday, April 10, 2025

some author activity: Sikkema, Robertson, Kolewe, Crosby, Shirley, Witek + mclennan,

Michael Sikkema has new work up at cul-de-sac of blood; did you know that Lisa Robertson has an occasional newsletter you can sign up for, as does R. Kolewe?; Gregory Crosby and Vik Shirley each have work up at talking about strawberries all of the time, as does forthcoming author Terri Witek; Chris Banks interviews rob mclennan for The Woodlot; and don't forget that above/ground press has that new substack you can sign up for, with extra-special other things to appear there.

Friday, July 2, 2021

new from above/ground press: Boing, Extinction VS Wow! Signal, by Michael Sikkema

Boing, Extinction VS Wow! Signal
Michael Sikkema
$5

Kenning is shadowy paragraphs illicit

   Bernadette adjusts
   the pitch of
   the headtake

Mahalia is rotary asteroid barnacles

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Michael Sikkema is a poet who draws on western, sci fi and horror elements, and is more interested in Big Tent Poetry, rather than the life of the individual poem. He has written chapbooks and books, which you can learn more about via search engines. He has work forthcoming with Trembling Pillow Press, and Low Frequency Press. He enjoys correspondence at michael.sikkema@gmail.com.

This is Sikkema’s third chapbook with above/ground press after Here on Huron (2019) and Transmissions from the Crawdad Constellation (2021).

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

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

new from above/ground press: Transmissions from the Crawdad Constellation, by Michael Sikkema

Transmissions from the Crawdad Constellation
Michael Sikkema
$5

< . . . now . . . >

       becoming noise

* & *                    ///
      * *                   ^
*    *     *               \\\

     “   ,       branch and antler

           \|/                 /|\

               “   ,   > , , , ‘ ‘ ‘ <
                                                       * & *
              *

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Michael Sikkema is interested in feral alphabets, bird-mushroom confluences, tree music, and the function of poetry for the human microbiome. His most recent book is You’ve Got a Pretty Hellmouth (Trembling Pillow Press), and consists of long poems that play with western, horror, and sci fi tropes. Caw Caw Phony is his next full length collection, which explores closed captions, foley art, listening maps, and other sound-related material as a conduit for poetry. It is forthcoming from Trembling Pillow Press in 2021. He lives in West Michigan.

This is Sikkema’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after Here on Huron (2019). A third is forthcoming.

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

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Joel William Vaughan reviews Michael Sikkema’s Here on Huron (2019) in Broken Pencil #88

Joel William Vaughan was good enough to provide the first review of Michael Sikkema’s Here on Huron (2019) over at Broken Pencil. Thanks so much!

The poet’s bio describes an interest in “feral alphabets, bird-mushroom confluences, tree music, and the function of poetry for the human microbiome.” I can’t find any of these topics in Here on Huron, really, but the description is at least a warning: this chapbook is wacky.

Visual poems blend into each other, dissolve off the page. More ASCII art than verse, Michael Sikkema still tries to wrangle his word-images into form and narrative. “Split screen:” reads one untitled poem, “cloned secret hero views / secret hero through rifle scope, secret / hero stares at their own hands then a gutpile.” He closes: “gutpile zoom: tiny society evolving rapidly / writing, ag, cities, early stages of flight.” Making heads or tails of the revenge plot between “secret hero” and “cloned secret hero” is a fool’s errand. As Sikkema assures us in his “chorus,” “everything / is already / something else.” It’s as if he’s translated a damaged VHS into letters and punctuation. Some of the words make it through – less of the plot – so the dance becomes an incomplete, but steady corruption. An interesting read.