some author activity: fitzpatrick, Pakdel, Armantrout, Kemp + Boyle,

ryan fitzpatrick is the first in the Canadian Poets series over at Peripety and/or Tronies; Saba Pakdel has a poem up in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; Rae Armantrout has three new poems up at N+1, and two new poems up at The Fortnightly Review; Penn Kemp has two poems and two paintings over at The Typescript; and Frances Boyle has new work at Full House Literary and a further at Major 7th Magazine.

some author activity: Davis, Pakdel, mclennan, Beaulieu + Meyerson,

Jordan Davis has a poem up at The Pi Review, as does Saba Pakdel; rob mclennan has a poem up at Common House Magazine; Tony Trehy mentions a title by Derek Beaulieu as his book of the year, just as Beaulieu offers his "most engaging books of 2024" list; and Ben Meyerson is interviewed by Fan Wu over at Torben Robertson's Common Measure substack.

some author activity: Armantrout, hanna, Boyle, Levy + Pakdel,

Rae Armantrout was recently interviewed by Parker Menzimer, now posted online at the Poetry Society of America website; Rusty Priske highlights an above/ground press title by natalie hanna as part of his ongoing reading list; Frances Boyle has a new poem online at The New Quarterly; John Levy is interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time ; and you saw Saba Pakdel is launching her latest above/ground press chapbook in Vancouver on November 15, 2024 as part of the Simon Fraser University Fall Poetry Salon, hosted by above/ground press author Geoffrey Nilson?

new from above/ground press: Un-Composed, Poetry by Saba Pakdel

Un-Composed
Poetry by Saba Pakdel
$5

Roots
                  —For Woman, Life, Freedom

an inability
an unwillingness
to forget
                cannot up-roots
that I exist
resist
cannot un-remember
my pain-bodied mother(land)

her hair

              every morning
              fall over my shoulders
that I carry
continue her being
the being
be
             (mother)land

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

Saba Pakdel is a poet, migration literature scholar, and PhD candidate in the English department at the University of Victoria. She specializes in migration studies and climate refugees with a focus on contemporary literature, exploring the experience of mobility, displacement, and climate crises. www.sabapakdel.com

This is Pakdel's second above/ground press title, after In-Between (2022)

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: Varrone, Pakdel, O'Reilly, Tracy, Robinson + Earl,

Here's a video that New Jersey high school students Charlie Mawn and Jonathan Kane made of Kevin Varrone’s "Poem I Wrote Sitting Across the Table from You"; Saba Pakdel has a poem in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; Nathanael O'Reilly has new work up at Eastern Iowa Review; Dale Tracy is interviewed by Rob Taylor over at Read Local BC; Ben Robinson also has a poem in the "poetry pause" series; and so does Amanda Earl!

some author activity: Blades, mclennan, Dyckman, Robinson, Townsend + Pakdel,

Catherine Owen podcasts a commemoration for the late Joe Blades as episode #34; rob mclennan, Susanne Dyckman, Elizabeth Robinson and Jamie Townsend, among others, have work in the new issue of Trilobite; and Saba Pakdel has a poem in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets.

some author activity: Niespodziany, Pakdel, Boyle, Campanello + mclennan,

Benjamin Niespodziany has four short poems up at The Poetry Project; Saba Pakdel has work in the new issue of Loft; Frances Boyle has new work in issue twenty-one of The Temz Review; Kimberly Campanello has a poem up at Granta; and rob mclennan has had another piece from his essay-in-progress on collaborating with Denver poet Julie Carr up on his clever substack.

new from above/ground press: In-Between, by Saba Pakdel

In-Between
Poetry by Saba Pakdel
a non-corresponding bilingual English/Persian collection
$5

lullaby

absence is a presence that never is
centuries would not pass
in an hourglass that’s falling
upside down
you did not believe in time
yet sand runs through
timelessness in a bubble
and oceans dry
does it all go back by turning the other end up?

what to do about the restlessness of the sun
the rebellious Icarus
falling to the borders of your stripped body
melts
in between your thighs
into a mirage appearing closer
yet absence still is
not standing afar
to outdistance recollections

here, is no fear
here is the fear
tall city towers fall
rows of pine trees succumb
a crowd wanders inside me
with hideous faces through the falling
I             am                  pregnant with a disaster
mother lullabies

time follows you all the way up
don’t try to move backward
shadows
are not the darkest side of absence
when trees are the presence that never is

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
May 2022
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Saba Pakdel (www.sabapakdel.com) is a poet, modernist scholar, and PhD student in the English department at University of Victoria. She completed her BA and MA in English language and literature in Iran. She earned her second MA in English at Simon Fraser University in 2021.

Saba has attended and coordinated literary workshops and poetry readings; published poems, translations, and essays; and collaborated in stage plays as a playwright and backstage filmmaker.

For a while, she worked as an editorial assistant at Talonbooks Publishing in Vancouver. Photography is her occasional and non-verbal means of communication with the world.

Saba specializes in migration studies and contemporary literature with a focus on exile, refugee, and immigration problems, particularly in works of migrant authors from the Middle East and Maghreb. Her research addresses the identity formation of migrants away from Euro-centric formulations based in twentieth century ideas about migration, largely derived from post-WWII circumstances, toward a contemporary reckoning with experiences of migration.

Pakdel will be launching In-Between in Victoria (in-person and virtually) on Friday, May 6 at UVic | Clearihue Building | Room C214 (2-4pm) and in Vancouver on Saturday, May 14 at This Gallery (noon-2pm). For more details, go to her website.

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: Graf, Mody, Lea, Pirie, Armantrout, Anstee, Dyckman + mclennan (plus Pakdel launch info!

Adele Graf has a poem on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month, as does Monica Mody, and N.W. Lea ; Pearl Pirie continues her mini-interviews and write-ups, featuring Rae Armantrout and Cameron Anstee; Susanne Dyckman has new poems online via Conjunctions; rob mclennan has a new poem up for Steven Heighton (1961-2022) ; and Saba Pakdel launches her forthcoming above/ground press title in Vancouver on May 14th!

some author activity: Betts, Pakdal, Archer, Pirie, Clayton, hanna, Boyle + mclennan,

Gregory Betts has a new poem up on the Chaudiere Books blog, as part of National Poetry Month, as does forthcoming author Saba Pakdal, and even Sacha Archer; Pearl Pirie has been posting mini-interviews/reviews lately, featuring Conyer Clayton, natalie hanna, Frances Boyle and rob mclennan, among others.

some author activity: Niespodziany, Pakdel, Mc Donnell, Logan, mclennan + Earl,

Benjamin Niespodziany is interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time; forthcoming author Saba Pakdel is featured over at rob mclennan's Spotlight Series; Conor Mc Donnell is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews, as is Nate Logan, who also has new work up at talking about strawberries all of the time; as does rob mclennan ; and Amanda Earl has a piece posted in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets.