some author activity: fitzpatrick, Kemp, mclennan, Beaulieu, Saklikar, Collis + Manery,

the Calgary Guardian offers "a day in the life" of poet ryan fitzpatrick; Penn Kemp has new work up at Public Reverie; rob mclennan is interviewed at On Creative Writing, and also has some new work up at Public Reverie; Derek Beaulieu once again offers his annual list of Most Engaging Books; and the audio of Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s Vancouver chapbook launch, hosted by Stephen Collis with readings by Stephen Collis, Annie Lafleur (read by Stephen Collis), Rob Manery, Renee Rodin, Marguerite Pigeon, and Renée Sarojini Saklikar at People’s Co-op Bookstore on Dec. 6, 2025, is now online via Rob Manery.

some author activity: Collis, Dueck, Shea, Bowering + Norris,

Stephen Collis is interviewed via Victoria Festival of Authors, as publicity for an upcoming reading; Jonathan Ball's podcast Writing the Wrong Way offers a two-part interview with Nathan Dueck: Parenting And Productive Writing With Nathan Dueck - Part 1, Parenting And Productive Writing With Nathan Dueck - Part 2; Michael Martin Shea is interviewed by Lloyd Wallace for Poetry Daily; and both George Bowering and Ken Norris have new work up at The Typescript.

some author activity: Heroux, Jenks, Earl, Siklosi, Barwin, Collis, Robinson + Niespodziany,

Jason Heroux has a poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog for National Poetry Month, as does forthcoming author Tom Jenks, and Amanda Earl; Amanda Earl also has a new essay up a The Typescript; Kate Siklosi is #3 in the Canadian Poets Series over at Peripety and/or Tronies; Gary Barwin has started a substack; Stephen Collis is interviewed via the SFU Department of English website; Elizabeth Robinson has a poem up at Poetry Daily; and Benjamin Niespodziany has new work up on the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month.

new from above/ground press: Gardens in Motion, by Stephen Collis

Gardens in Motion
Stephen Collis
$5

went out to walk at plant pace

long arcing stride of rubus stepping canes

coastal rainforest zone Pacific mists

to berry and behold

if we ever come this way again the seeds were saying

sown on the wind and trampled on the trail

gut carried and shat forward

mycelium inching beneath the forest’s shifting fringe

some forgotten corner of the holy forest

bees’ jet-black bodies and blue iridescent wings  

time lapse and our lapse in timing

no future as sure as less abundant being

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

Stephen Collis' many books include Almost Islands and A History of the Theories of Rain. Most recently he edited A Dream in the Eye: the Complete Paintings and Collages of Phyllis Webb. He lives near Vancouver and teaches at Simon Fraser University.

This is Collis’s third title with above/ground press, after NEW LIFE (2016) and FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN (2017).

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: Notley, Martin, Waldrop, Collis, Trivedi, Olsen + Iijima,

Alice Notley has a new poem up at Harper's magazine; Camille Martin has been posting further to her blog lately; obituary for Keith Waldrop in The New York Times; Stephen Collis is featured up at Etcetera; Amish Trivedi has some new poems up at Tupelo Quarterly; and Geoffrey Olsen and Brenda Iijima have new work in the debut issue of The Call Center Collective.

some author activity: Brown, Collis, Niespodziany, mclennan, Tate + Bell,

Simon Brown has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem" series; Stephen Collis reads in Vancouver (with others) on April 6 as part of the first annual Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading; Benjamin Niespodziany has a new poem up at Booth; rob mclennan continues his work-in-progress "Lecture for an Empty Room" via substack, and was interviewed recently by Sam Szanto in her "20 Questions" series; Jillian Hess writes on Bronwen Tate's notebooks; and Wade Bell now has an author website, and a new short story up at The Typescript.

some author activity: Naughton, O'Reilly, Burgoyne, MacEachern, Collis + Siklosi,

Katie Naughton is interviewed in the new issue of Red Weather; Nathanael O'Reilly has a new poem up at Marathon Lit Review; Sarah Burgoyne interviews Jessi MacEachern over at Canthius; Stephen Collis is interviewed over at the Canadian Literature Podcast, "Getting Lit with Linda"; and Kate Siklosi is interviewed over at Artisanal Writer.

new from above/ground press: Calling to the Sun: Poems for Isabella Wang

Calling to the Sun: Poems for Isabella Wang
edited by Stephen Collis
$5

with contributions by:

Manahil Bandukwala
Otoniya J. Okot Bitek
Yvonne Blomer
Stephen Collis
Zoe Dagneault
Diana Hayes
Erica Hiroko Isomura
Fiona Tinwei Lam
Jen Sookfong Lee
Natalie Lim
Tanis MacDonald
rob mclennan
Hasan Namir
Chimedum Ohaegbu
Tolu Oloruntoba
Arleen Paré
Rob Taylor

Towards the end of 2021 many of us in the Canadian poetry community learned of Isabella Wang’s illness. In a short period of time, this young poet’s generosity and enthusiasm has touched and moved so many—I joke sometimes, that I’ve yet to find a poet who doesn’t already know Isabella. What can we do for our sick friend? This little collection is one thing—poets singing out to encourage, to let her know we are here, that we love her, that we need her remarkable poetic voice, and that we will keep her in our thoughts and hearts until she is well again. Dear Isabella, we hope you find something here to pick you up and fortify you for the journey you are on. At the very least, remember: this is where you belong, amongst the poets, in the long conversation poetry entails. From your beautiful Pebble Swing to all the books you still have to write, we are waiting to continue this conversation.
—Stephen Collis

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

Contributors:

Manahil Bandukwala is a writer and artist. She loves love poems.

Otoniya J. Okot Bitek is a poet. She lives on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Anishnabe and Haudensaunee people in Kingston.

Yvonne Blomer (she/her) lives in Victoria, BC on Lək̓ʷəŋən territory. The Last Show on Earth, her fifth book of poetry, is forthcoming with Caitlin Press in 2022. She was Victoria’s poet laureate from 2015-2018. www.yvonneblomer.com

Stephen Collis is the author, most recently, of A History of the Theories of Rain (Talonbooks 2021).

Zoe Dagneault is a poet completing her Masters of Fine Arts at the University of British Columbia. She Lives with her family on the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ.

Diana Hayes was born in Toronto and has lived on both coasts of Canada. She received her BA (UVIC and MFA (UBC) in creative writing and has six published books of poetry, most recently Gold in the Shadow: Twenty-Two Ghazals and a Cento for Phyllis Webb. www.dianahayes.com

Erica Hiroko Isomura is an essayist, poet, cultural producer, and a Scorpio.

Fiona Tinwei Lam has published three poetry collections and a children’s book, co-edited two nonfiction anthologies and edited The Bright Well: Contemporary Canadian Poems on Facing Cancer. Isabella was the youngest student to attend a poetry course at SFU Continuing Studies co-taught by Fiona and Evelyn Lau. Isabella’s enthusiasm and devotion to poetry made an indelible impression on everyone.

Jen Sookfong Lee is the author of The Conjoined, nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award. She is an acquiring editor for ECW Press and co-hosts the literary podcast Can’t Lit.

Natalie Lim is a Chinese-Canadian poet living on the unceded, traditional territories of the Musquem, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, BC). She is the winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and her debut chapbook, arrhythmia, is forthcoming from Rahila's Ghost Press in early 2022.

Tanis MacDonald is the author of seven books and a free-range literary animal. She lives in Waterloo, Ontario, and first met Isabella at a reading for The New Quarterly.

rob mclennan lives in Ottawa, despite being born there. His latest collection is the book of smaller (University of Calgary Press 2022). He has not actually met Isabella Wang in person yet, but a chapbook of hers is forthcoming through his above/ground press.

Hasan Namir is an Iraqi-Canadian author and poet.

Chimedum Ohaegbu is an editor with Uncanny Magazine, a poet, and a writer of speculative fiction. As far as she can recall—though her memory’s fuzzy—she met Isabella at her (Chimedum’s) very first reading, and felt encouraged immediately.

Tolu Oloruntoba is a writer from Nigeria that now lives and works in the metro area of Coast Salish lands known as Vancouver. His new poetry collection, Each One a Furnace, is forthcoming from McClelland & Stewart in Spring 2022.

Arleen Paré is a Victoria writer with eight collections of poetry, including a recent chapbook.  She has been short-listed for the BC Dorothy Livesay BC Award for Poetry and has won the American Golden Crown Award for Poetry, the Victoria Butler Book Prize, a CBC Bookie Award, and a Governor Generals’ Award for Poetry.

Rob Taylor taught Isabella Wang in her first creative writing class. He thought, “That person is very talented and possesses a frightening level of enthusiasm. They will go far,” and he’s very pleased to see that’s proven true.

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: Archer, Collis, MacEachern, Niespodziany, Mody + The Free Nashville Poetry Library,

[above/ground press items seen in the wild at The Free Nashville Poetry Library; photo by Megan M. Garr] Sacha Archer is interviewed over at Artisanal Writer; Stephen Collis has a new poem up at the scales project; Jessi MacEachern has a new poem (audio and text) up at Vallum magazine; Benjamin Niespodziany has some new work up at Blue Arrangements; and Monica Mody has a poem up in the Tuesday poem series over at the dusie blog.

some author activity: Rogal, Collis, Downs + Niespodziany,

Stan Rogal has some poems up at The Pi Review; a poem by Stephen Collis is discussed by Pattie McCarthy, Kate Colby and Lily Applebaum via the Jacket2 podcast PoemTalk; an article (with interview) on Buck Downs' latest project, "The Poet Posting Stickers All Over Washington D.C.," is covered by The Click; and Benjamin Niespodziany is interviewed over at the new podcast We All Speak In Poems.

some author activity: Collis, Rogal, Tierney + Boyle,

Stephen Collis is featured in the "Spotlight" series; Stan Rogal has new poems up at talking about strawberries all of the time, as well as an interview; Orchid Tierney is also interviewed there; and Frances Boyle has a new poem up at The Maynard.

some author activity: Betts, Collis, Mohammadi, Kaplan + Tierney,

Gregory Betts has some new work up at The Pi Review, as does Stephen Collis; Khashayar Mohammadi has new poems up at Watch Your Head; Point Loma Nazarene University is holding their 22nd annual Poetry Day on September 24, 2020, featuring afternoon and evening events with forthcoming above/ground press author Genevieve Kaplan; and Orchid Tierney is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey.

some author activity: Collis, Nilson + Izsak,

Stephen Collis has a new piece, "Future Imperfect," on Joseph Harrington's blog, as well as at WATCH YOUR HEAD: A Climate Crisis Anthology; Geoffrey Nilson was interviewed by Shazia Hafiz Ramji over at the Invisible Publishing blog, and more recently wrote on Lynn Crosbie for many gendered mothers; and Emily Izsak was interviewed over at Touch the Donkey.

the Vancouver launch of Rob Manery's SOME magazine, June 23, 2019 w Stephen Collis, Nicole Markotić etc

above/ground press authors Stephen Collis and Nicole Markotić read along with Michael Barnholden, Ted Byrne, Louis Cabri, Clint Burnham and Catriona Strang in Vancouver on Sunday, June 23, 2019 as part of the launch of the debut issue of Rob Manery's new poetry journal, SOME magazine. Further details on where and how to pick up an issue once that becomes available.

The Café Review "Canadian issue" launch: Anstee, Clayton, Hall, Weaver, Hogg + Turnbull

above/ground press authors Cameron Anstee, Conyer Clayton, Phil Hall, Andy Weaver and Chris Turnbull read alongside poets Sandra Ridley and Bruce Whiteman in Ottawa as part of the launch of the "Canadian issue" of Maine's The Café Review.

Guest-edited by poet and above/ground press author Robert Hogg, the issue features new poetry by multiple above/ground press authors (highlighted) and non-authors alike, including Cameron Anstee, Nelson Ball, bill bissett, Conyer Clayton, Stephen Collis, Neil Flowers, Phil Hall, Daphne Marlatt, Don McKay, Barry McKinnon, Sandra Ridley, Armand Garnet Ruffo, Carolyn Smart, Sharon Thesen, Aaron Tucker, Chris Turnbull, Andy Weaver and Bruce Whiteman. This issue also features work by artists Jim Andrews and Judith Copithorne with a review by Dana Wilde.

Saturday, May 11, 2019
2-4:30pm
Bar Robo: 692 Somerset St W, Ottawa

some author activity: Kaminski, Collis, Rosenthal, Lederer + mclennan,

Another article on Megan Kaminski and her new above/ground press title appears, this time via The University Daily Kansan; Stephen Collis has a new essay up at my (small press) writing day; Sarah Rosenthal has new work posted in all the sins; Katy Lederer is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and rob mclennan has a new poem over at his clever blog.

Esther Chen reviews Kyle Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) and Stephen Collis' FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN (2017) online at PRISM International

Thanks to Kyle Flemmer catching such online yesterday through a random Google search, I've found out that Esther Chen reviewed two above/ground press titles this past summer over at PRISM International: Kyle Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) and Stephen Collis' FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN (2017). Thanks so much! You can see the original review here. This is actually the third review of Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (after Scott Bryson reviewed such over at Broken Pencil, and Greg Bem reviewed such via Yellow Rabbits) and the second review of Collis' chapbook (after Cary Fagan's generous review on his blog). And of course, copies of both titles (as well as their other above/ground press chapbooks) are still very much available.

ASTRAL PROJECTION by Kyle Flemmer
above/ground press

Defined, “astral projection” refers to the term used to describe a willful out-of-body experience during which the astral body leaves the physical body and travels to the astral plane. The poems in Flemmer’s newest chapbook follow suit. ASTRAL PROJECTION reads curiously, pushing the limits of form, leaving the traditional body of what we think of when we think “poetry” in favour of white space, splatters of text, and hanging brackets. Reading through each piece is an exercise in letting go of the concrete, of certainty. The lines break unexpectedly, jumping from left to right and back again, at times reading both left to right and top to bottom. Mentions of Greek mythology add to the sense of otherworldliness. It is tempting to try to find visual patterns in the spaces of text and blankness, to try to find some familiar form or stanza in which to ground yourself. Instead, Flemmer creates in this book a unique space for the reader to float through the pieces, light.

FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN by Stephen Collis
above/ground press

Stephen Collis’s chapbook FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN is comprised of a single, long, twisting poem that oscillates between passionate and resigned, rambling yet brimming with a sure intention. The poem opens by cutting right to the chase, setting the scene of “a universe we / No longer have to search the limits of / the revolutionary subject lies elsewhere” and asks “can we revive?” The tone is restless, that of a racing, intelligent mind: “Late now. Sound of the furnace. Cathy out. Girls asleep. / Take apart all ideas plans and structures again and again.” There is a throughline of righteous anger: at contemporary culture, at the recursive loop pattern of living, at the corruption of art. Open brackets following open brackets and repeating loops of text add to the sense that the speaker is ruminating over these musings, spiralling deeper and deeper, opening box after box. Throughout the piece, Collis maintains a stream of consciousness that is the opposite of messy, the lines hold a straight-edged coherence, clean yet urgent. While a shorter book than other chapbooks out there, Collis’s is an important piece that drives one to question their own artistry (“what is poetry if money is information?”), to pick apart and think, to write and write and write. “Writing as problem solving…” Collis pens at one point, “…in the age of insoluble problems.”

some author activity: Trivedi, Collis, Braune, Ladouceur + Ayer,

Amish Trivedi has an excerpt of a current work-in-progress, along with a note on the project, now up at Jacket2; Stephen Collis has a new poem up at Train : a poetry journal, as does Sean Braune; Dayne Ogilvie winner Ben Ladouceur is interviewed over at Open Book; and forthcoming author Beth Ayer has a new poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog.

Greg Bem reviews Stephen Collis’ NEW LIFE (2016)

Our pal Greg Bem was good enough to provide the first review for Stephen Collis’ NEW LIFE (2016) at Goodreads. Thanks so much! You can see the original review here.

Stephen Collis, known for an activation of activism among and beyond the Canadian paradigm, brings forth a handful of new ideas and frames for approaching and appreciating the process of social life in the contemporary discourse/discord. Collis's poems here meet the standard and expectations of the majority of his work, but fall slightly flat in their compactness. The poems are certainly enjoyable and provocative, but fail to resonate with the louder bang+crunch of works that find appropriate space and context within a larger work. Still, as a brief glimpse, a shortened assortment, the book does stand on its own and deserves a read despite the want for it to be supplemental to a definite, greater significance (proven elsewhere and beyond by Collis himself).

above/ground press at Word on the Street, Toronto + Vancouver; September 24,

above/ground press will be represented at both the Toronto and Vancouver editions of this year's Word on the Street! Thanks much to WOTS, as well as The League of Canadian Poets, for their continued support:

Toronto: Head on over to The League of Canadian Poets booth, Writers Block Table 12, and pick up a copy of an above/ground press broadside! I really dug through the archives for this one, pulling out poems published throughout the past fifteen years, and there will be a whole mound of poems and authors to choose from, including poems old and new by derek beaulieu, Sandra Ridley, rob mclennan, Eric Schmaltz, Fred Wah, Gwendolyn Guth and a slew of others. Get them while supplies last!

Vancouver: Stephen Collis will be reading as part of the Vancouver launch of his chapbook FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN! He, of course, will have copies of the chapbook on-hand for anyone interested.