new from above/ground press: Inventions, by Robert van Vliet

inventions
Robert van Vliet
$6

Sometimes we expect a window, and find a mirror. Is that supposed to be the pond? And where’s the maple? Equally bewildering is when we expect a mirror but are looking out a window. What a leafy face I have.

                                                dark music
                                          scrawled on wood

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

Robert van Vliet grew up in the Twin Cities and spent many years living in lots of other places. He has been, among other things, a process manager, a singer/songwriter, a repair technician for Macintosh computers, and a typographer. He is currently a high school English teacher. His poetry has appeared in The Sixth Chamber Review, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Guesthouse, Otoliths, and elsewhere. He has a website at robertvanvliet.com and a blog at letterspace.org. His first book of poetry, Vessels, was published by Unsolicited Press in 2024. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with his wife, Ana.

This is van Vliet’s second above/ground press chapbook, after This Folded Path (2023).

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: Vitkauskas, van Vliet, Betts, Beaulieu, Kemp, Smith, Barwin + Jarvis,

did you know that Lina Ramona Vitkauskas has a substack? ; Robert van Vliet answers the "12 or 20 questions"; Gregory Betts is a guest on Richard Capener's Morgiana Podcast/substack, where I had clearly missed that Derek Beaulieu had also been a guest, as had Penn Kemp; some new Steven Ross Smith collaborations are now up at bandcamp; Gary Barwin has a new visual poem up at Asemana Magazine; and Jenna Jarvis has new work up at Discordia Review.

some author activity: mclennan, Robertson, Caporaso, Jirgens, van Vliet, Armantrout + Robinson,

rob mclennan has a new poem up at Amsterdam Review, and is interviewed by Stan Rogal for periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics; Lisa Robertson is Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Ralph Gustafson Distinguished Poet for 2024-25 and is giving the Ralph Gustafson Distinguished Poet lecture on October 24 from 7 to 8:30 pm on the Nanaimo campus; Angela Caporaso is interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time, where Karl Jirgens also has poems, and Robert van Vliet is also interviewed; Rae Armantrout has a poem up at the Poetry Foundation; and Elizabeth Robinson has new work up at Big Other.

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: Konchan, Witek, van Vliet, Drescher, Oniță + Armantrout,

Virginia Konchan has a poem up at Sixth Finch; forthcoming author Terri Witek is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Robert van Vliet has a poem in the "Tuesday poem" series; the video of an October 2023 reading at the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University by Julia Drescher and C. J. Martin is now online as part of the Poetry Center Digital Archive; Adriana Oniță has work in the Spotlight series; and Rae Armantrout has four new poems up at Plume.

new from above/ground press: This Folded Path, by Robert van Vliet

This Folded Path
Robert van Vliet
$5

1


The
gentle wind
above the houses.

Everything that is
new is
not

new.
Heaven creates
itself without doing

anything. A long
river like
a

claw.
A flat
cloud stained like

a bloody liver.
What else
but

this
can any
of it mean?

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

Robert van Vliet’s poetry has appeared in The Sixth Chamber Review, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Wine Cellar Press, Selcouth Station, Eunoia Review, Guesthouse, Otoliths, and elsewhere. He has been, among other things, a typographer, a singer/songwriter, a repair technician for Macintosh computers, a process designer, and a tutor & substitute teacher for middle school & high school. His first book, Vessels, is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in 2024. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with his wife, Ana. His website is robertvanvliet.com.

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: 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 five of five: Koss, van Vliet + Arnott,

As it all winds down. Do you remember where you were? Here we are, already, on the final day of this stretch of virtual readings as an adjunct to this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual Conference and Bookfair. There are lots of other upcoming schemes, by the way, to help celebrate above/ground press’ thirtieth year. You’ll hear about them soon enough. After today, I think you’ve earned a few days off, yes? Well, before Ottawa’s VERSeFest begins next week, obviously.

Zane Koss is a poet, translator, teacher, and scholar from the East Kootenays, currently living in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author of Harbour Grids (Invisible, 2022) and co-translator of Commonplace by Hugo García Manríquez (Cardboard House, 2022), along with several poetry chapbooks, most recently Kitchen Table (Model, 2023).

Robert van Vliet is a poet and teacher who lives in St Paul, Minnesota. His above/ground chapbook is This Folded Path (2023), and his first book will be published by Unsolicited Press in 2024.

Mother of many, master of none, Joanne Arnott is a writer, editor, arts activist on the west coast. Reading a selection from A Night for the Lady (Ronsdale) and pandemic friendship (above/ground press). She’s published ten poetry books/chapbooks, among other titles, and edited a dozen volumes by others. Poetry Mentor (The Writers Studio), Poetry Editor (EVENT Magazine), and Shadbolt Fellow (2021-2).