some author activity: Davis, Flemmer, Armantrout, Bartczak + Tardi,

Jordan Davis has ten poems posted at The Fortnightly Review; Kyle Flemmer is interviewed via The Miramichi Reader; Rae Armantrout writes on Fanny Howe for The Fortnightly Review, and has four new poems up at Granta, and a further poem via the website for the Poetry Foundation; and Kacper Bartczak has a new poem up at Poetry Northwest, as translated into English by Mark Tardi.

new from above/ground press: Dark Matter, by Rosío Céron; translated/etranslated by Sonja Greckol

Dark Matter 
—Sonja Greckol translation

Materia Oscura 
—Rosío Céron 

Dark Matter – Diverted
—Sonja Greckol etranstranslation
$6

1. 

East wind and sistrum. Shrill song of the nuthatch. Aching brow announces the evanescent gesture to the world. Trills and somersaults. One who looks at the fire of the first star, its dense depth. One who looks. Turns or attends. The secret vein of the wind –tremor of air its sign– dances before the eyes.

_________________________

  
Levante y sistro. Agudo canto del herrerillo. Adoloridas sienes anuncian al mundo el gesto evanescente. Trinos y volteretas. El que mira el fuego de la primera estrella, su espesura de fondo. El que mira. Giro o concurrencia. La vena secreta del viento –su señal de temblor de aire– danza frente a los ojos.

_________________________
  
The blue tit’s soaring mundo gestures temple trill cartwheel ring fail density or destiny sequencing secret rotation levante signal trembling air dance in eyes veining their first star

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

cover image by Sharon Harris

Rocío Cerón (Mexico City), poet and artist, investigates forms of construction of memory, its hesitations, the suspensions of meanings (to create other meanings) and displacement as territories clash to create transmedia pieces. She has released the sound poetry albums MIIUNI (2022), Sonic Bubbles (2020) and published the poetry books Simultáneo sucesivo (Eolas Ediciones, 2022), Divisible Corpóreo (Tresnubes ediciones-UANL, 2022), Spectio (Tresnubes ediciones-UANL 2019), Materia oscura (Parentalia Ediciones, 2018), Borealis (Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2016), Nudo vortex (Edición Proyecto Literal México, 2015), Diorama  4 editions: (UANL - Tabasco 189 México, 2012), (Diaz Grey Editores, NY Spanish/English 2103), (Amargord Ediciones, Madrid 2013), (Phoneme Media, Español e Inglés, 2014), Basalto (Editorial Casa Vacía, 2022) among others. Diorama was translated by Anna Rosenwong and won the 2025 Best Translated Book Award from the University of Rochester (United States). She has also been awarded with the 2000 Gilberto Owen National Literature Prize (Mexico) and the 2005 See America Travel Award (United States). Her poems have been translated into English and various European languages. Pieces of hers have been exhibited at international venues in Paris, London, Mexico, Berlin, and Stockholm. Cerón performs and lectures extensively internationally and her poems have been translated into multiple languages. 

Sonja Greckol (Tkaronto/Toronto Canada) has published No Hay Linea En EL Tiempo/No Line In Time translated by Eduardo Padilla (manofalsa editores, 2025), Monitoring Station (University of Alberta Press – Robert Kroetsch Series, 2023), No Line In Time (Tightrope, 2018), Skein of Days (Pedlar Press, 2014), and Gravity Matters (Inanna Press, 2008). Her long poem 'No Line In Time' won the 2017 Briar Patch Poetry Contest and No Line In Time was listed for the League of Canadian Poets Raymond P Souster Award in 2019. Monitoring Station was listed for the Book Publishers Association of Alberta Robert Kroetsch Prize (2024). Asymptote (Jan 2025) published an excerpt of her translation of Rocío Cerón’s Trances and La Presa (Spring 2017) published her e-transtranslation ‘Dark Matter - Diverted’ of Rocío Cerón’s ‘Materia Oscura’. Greckol edits poetry for Women and Environments International. 

'Dark Matter' was prepared in Erín Moure's translation workshop (2023-2025) with Lee Gould, Roman Ivashkiv, and Jaclyn Piudik who translated Spanish, Ukrainian and French poetry into English. 

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

new from above/ground press: Premières Poésies by Eudore Évanturel (1878), by Jamie Sharpe

Premières Poésies by Eudore Évanturel (1878)
Distillated into English by Jamie Sharpe
$6

Pastel

Strokes of dawn silhouette
her figure. Soft light. Colors
brush her skin. She breathes
in the palette of old ends
and new beginnings.


Translator's Preface

When I first encountered the poetry of Eudore Évanturel, I felt I’d stumbled across a misplaced heirloom: a finely etched reliquary of longing, wit, and restraint buried under a century of national amnesia. His images, though rooted in nineteenth-century Quebec, gleamed with modern edges.

My approach to this translation was not archival but sympathetic, even irreverent. I have rendered Évanturel’s French into a succinct English cadence not for fashion’s sake, but to let the poems exist without the velvet rope and museum glass. It is Évanturel in a world where existence is not an extended dance but a frequency, a beat. I hope I tapped into it, however briefly. 

If these poems feel fresh, it’s because they always were. We simply forgot.

Jamie Sharpe (July 11th, 2025)

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

Jamie Sharpe is the author of five previous poetry collections, the most recent of which is Get Well Soon. His next (and last) book, We, a novel-in-verse annexed from Russia, is forthcoming from ECW Press. He lives in Comox.

Eudore Évanturel (1852-1919) published one book of poetry, Premier Poésies, which was sparsely but poorly reviewed. Literary doors closed to him. He became moribund. Lost his job. Lost his friends. Basically: a paragon of the Canadian poet.

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

new from above/ground press: EL REY MURCIÉLAGO // THE BAT KING, by Yaxkin Melchy Ramos (translated from Spanish by Ryan Greene

EL REY MURCIÉLAGO // THE BAT KING
by Yaxkin Melchy Ramos, translated by Ryan Greene
$6

V

Bailaba con el aire
entonces mi historia era el brote de una planta

el reino vegetal de mi corazón crecía 
se incorporaba a los ríos
bailaba con el aire

V

I danced with the air
so my story was a plant sprouting

my heart’s vegetal kingdom grew
was incorporated into the rivers
danced with the air

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

first published in Spanish in 2010 by 2.0.1.2. editorial in México as part of EL SOL VERDE, the third book in EL NUEVO MUNDO

cover: Yaxkin Melchy Ramos & Ryan Greene

Yaxkin Melchy Ramos (Mexico City, 1985) is a Mexican and Peruvian-Quechua poet, translator, ecopoetics researcher, bookmaker, and artisan-activist-editor. He is the author of THE NEW WORLD, a five-part “cell-book, constellation-book, or choreography-book” which was written intermittently between 2007 and 2017. Currently he is a post-doctoral student at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, where he is researching ecopoetic currents between Japan and Latin America. Since 2017, he has been translating contemporary Japanese poetry to Spanish, and currently he runs the artisanal press Cactus del viento, which focuses on ecological, spiritual, and transpacific poetics. He also publishes on his personal blog, Flor de Amaneceres.
 
Ryan Greene writes, translates, makes, and caretakes books in "Phoenix, Arizona," the city where he grew up. For the past several years he has been working with Yaxkin Melchy to translate the first three books of THE NEW WORLD. He’s learning.

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

new from above/ground press: Verse on the Banks / Poèmes sur le rivage, eds./dir. Véronique Sylvain and/de David O’Meara

Verse on the Banks / Poèmes sur le rivage
eds./dir. Véronique Sylvain 
and/et David O’Meara
$6

including new poems in English (alongside French translation) and new poems in French (alongside English translation) by:

Manahil Bandukwala
Julie Huard
Amanda Earl
Myriam Legault-Beauregard 
David Groulx
Michèle Matteau
Monty Reid
Clémence Roy-Darisse

translations by/traductions de Myriam Legault-Beauregard

Avant-propos, par Véronique Sylvain et David O’Meara
Poète officielle francophone et poète officiel anglophone de la Ville d’Ottawa

Dans le cadre de nos mandats à titre de poètes officiels pour 2024-2026, nous tâchons de mettre en valeur des organismes qui jouent un rôle important pour l’écologie de notre région, notamment en matière de sensibilisation et d’intendance environnementale. Nous célébrons, dans ce recueil, la rivière des Outaouais et son bassin versant, de même que le travail de Garde-rivière des Outaouais (https://garderivieredesoutaouais.ca/), qui joue un rôle essentiel pour préserver nos habitats locaux et la qualité de notre eau. Dans cet esprit, nous avons demandé à huit poètes d’ici d’écrire sur le thème de la rivière, et de nous communiquer leurs pensées, leurs souvenirs et leurs peurs en s’inspirant des environs. Les prochaines pages rassemblent les poèmes qui en découlent. Nous espérons qu’ils sauront vous plaire.

Foreword from Véronique Sylvain and David O’Meara
Poets Laureate, Francophone and Anglophone, The City of Ottawa

As part of our Laureate programs for 2024-26, we endeavour to recognize organizations that play an important role in the education and stewardship of our local ecology and its environment. With this chapbook, we celebrate the Ottawa River and its watershed and the work of the Ottawa Riverkeeper (https://ottawariverkeeper.ca/) in their essential role as supporters of local habitat and water quality. Accordingly, we asked eight local poets to respond to the subject of the river, conveying their thoughts, memories and fears through inspiration in its environs. These poems are the result. We hope you’ll enjoy them.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
produced for the Verse on the Banks / Poèmes sur le rivage event, Wednesday June 18 2025 in Ottawa : tickets available at: https://ottawariverkeeper.ca/theme-event/current-conversations-poetry-by-the-river-june-18th-2025/
June 2025
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Biographies:

Manahil Bandukwala is a writer and visual artist. She is the author of Heliotropia (Brick Books 2024; shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award and the Raymond Souster Award) and MONUMENT (Brick Books 2022; shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award). She has been twice longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, and was selected as a Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Star in 2023. See her work at manahilbandukwala.com.

Julie Huard is an author, photographer, filmmaker and traveller. Her seventh book, Paysâmes et miroirs du monde (Éditions David) won the prix “Coup de cœur” awarded by the City of Gatineau in 2016. Over the years, Julie has been invited to many writers’ residencies and literary festivals, including in Haiti, Belgium and Guinea. In her most recent book, a poetic narrative titled Les merveilleuses (Éditions David), she follows the footsteps of her mother, Hélène, while honouring all the mothers in the world. Her passion? To explore the planet, to observe and reflect on human nature, as she pursues her quest for beauty.

Amanda Earl (she/her) writes, edits, reviews and publishes poetry, prose, visual poetry and hybrid work on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Peoples. Earl is the managing editor of Bywords.ca. Her latest work is “desire, a footnote,” a long poem in six chapbooks published by AngelHousePress. More information: AmandaEarl.com. 

Myriam Legault-Beauregard is a translator, a poet and a spoken-word artist. She earned two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s from the Université du Québec en Outaouais, and she is currently completing her PhD at the University of Ottawa. Her own works and shorter translations have been published in various magazines and journals, and her first poetry collection, Comme un myosotis, was launched in September 2023. Her first book-length translation, De plâtre et de platine (French version of Shashi Bhat’s The Most Precious Substance on Earth), was a finalist to the John-Glassco prize in the fall of 2024. She lives in Gatineau with her partner and their two children.

David Groulx is an award-winning Indigenous author. He has published 11 books of poetry and several of his books have been translated into Cree, French and Ojibwe languages. He won the John Newlove award for poetry in 2019 and was nominated for the Archibald Lampman award in 2015 and 2019. His poetry has appeared in over 200 magazines in 16 countries. He currently lives in Vanier, Ontario.

Born in the Province of Québec, Michèle Matteau has lived in British Columbia and in Nova Scotia, where she worked as a teacher and completed her master’s degree in psychology. She now resides in Ottawa. Since 1987, she has worked as a screenwriter and researcher for different producers, as well as an educator for cultural and/or educational Canadian organizations. She was the director of the “Vertiges” collection at L’Interligne from 2009 to 2013. She now gives literary workshops and accompanies professional writers in their artistic career. An author of novels and short stories, a poet and a playwright, Michèle has won several literary awards, including the Prix littéraire Trillium, twice.

David O’Meara is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently A Pretty Sight and Masses On Radar (Coach House Books, 2013, 2021). His novel, Chandelier, is published by Nightwood Editions (2024). He is the current Poet Laureate (Anglophone) of the City of Ottawa.

Emerging writer, actor and producer Clémence Roy-Darisse was among the cast of 2042 at the National Arts Centre, and of Mamuche, by Théâtre Mauve Sapin. In 2019, she presented “Profil”, a work on the dictatorship of happiness on social media, as well as “Laurence”. Clémence holds a master’s degree in Theatre, in which she focuses on the integration of eco-emotions in theatre. She also aspires to involve the artistic community in the ecological transition, and therefore embodies a new generation of socially committed artists. 

Monty Reid was born in Saskatchewan, worked in Alberta, and has lived beside the Ottawa River for the past 25 years.  His many books include Crawlspace (Anansi), The Luskville Reductions (Brick), and Garden (Chaudiere). His most recent chapbooks are Vertebrata, from Montreal’s Turret House, and the 20th anniversary re-issue of cuba A book, from above/ground press.

Véronique Sylvain lives in Ottawa, where she works in the publishing sector. Her poems appear in several literary journals and collectives. Thanks to her first collection, Premier quart (Prise de parole, 2019), she was rewarded with the Prix de poésie Trillium and the Prix du livre d’Ottawa, in 2020, as well as the prix Champlain and the Prix littéraire émergence AAOF, in 2021. Her most recent collection, En terrain miné, also published by Prise de parole, was launched in September 2024. She will be, until fall 2026, the Francophone Poet Laureate of the City of Ottawa. 

Notices biographiques:

Manahil Bandukwala est écrivaine et artiste en arts visuels. Elle est l’autrice d’Heliotropia (Brick Books, 2024, en lice pour le prix Pat-Lowther et le prix Raymond-Souster), ainsi que de MONUMENT (Brick Books, 2022 ; finaliste au prix Gerald-Lampert). Elle a fait partie, à deux reprises, de la liste préliminaire du CBC Poetry Prize, et a été sélectionnée au programme « Rising Star » du Writer’s Trust of Canada en 2023. Pour découvrir son œuvre : manahilbandukwala.com.

Julie Huard est auteure, photographe, réalisatrice et voyageuse. Son septième ouvrage, Paysâmes et miroirs du monde (David) remportait en 2016 le prix Coup de cœur de la Ville de Gatineau. Au fil du temps, Julie a été conviée à bon nombre de résidences d’auteurs et de festivals littéraires notamment en Haïti, en Belgique et en Guinée. Dans son plus récent ouvrage, Les merveilleuses (David), un récit poétique, elle suit les traces d’Hélène, sa mère, offrant un hommage à toutes les mères du monde. La passion de Julie? Découvrir la planète, observer et réfléchir sur la nature humaine en poursuivant sa quête de beauté.

Amanda Earl (elle) écrit, révise, critique et publie des œuvres de poésie, de prose, des poèmes visuels et des œuvres hybrides sur les terres non cédées des Algonquins Anichinabés. Elle est la directrice de rédaction du site Web Bywords.ca. Sa plus récente création, un long poème publié en six courts recueils, s’intitule « desire, a footnote » et a été publiée chez AngelHousePress. Pour en savoir plus : AmandaEarl.com. 

Myriam Legault-Beauregard est traductrice, poète et slameuse. Titulaire de deux baccalauréats et d’une maîtrise de l’Université du Québec en Outaouais, elle termine actuellement son doctorat à l’Université d’Ottawa. Ses propres créations et certaines de ses traductions ont été publiées dans diverses revues, et son premier recueil de poésie, Comme un myosotis, est paru en septembre 2023. Sa première traduction de roman, De plâtre et de platine (version française de The Most Precious Substance on Earth de Shashi Bhat), a été finaliste aux prix John-Glassco à l'automne 2024. Elle vit à Gatineau avec son conjoint et leurs deux filles.

David Groulx est un auteur autochtone primé. Il a fait paraître 11 recueils de poésie, et plusieurs de ses livres ont été traduits en cri, en français et en ojibwé. Il a remporté le prix de poésie John-Newlove en 2019 et a été finaliste au prix Archibald-Lampman en 2015 et en 2019. Ses poèmes ont été publiés dans plus de 200 revues, dans 16 pays. Il vit actuellement à Vanier, en Ontario.

Née au Québec, Michèle Matteau a vécu en Colombie-Britannique, puis en Nouvelle-Écosse où elle a enseigné et complété une maîtrise en psychologie. Elle réside aujourd’hui à Ottawa. Depuis 1987, elle a travaillé comme scénariste et recherchiste pour différents producteurs, et comme pédagogue pour des institutions culturelles ou éducatives canadiennes. Elle a dirigé la collection « Vertiges » (L’Interligne), de 2009 à 2013. Elle donne aujourd’hui des ateliers littéraires et accompagne des écrivain.e.s professionnel.le.s dans leur cheminement artistique. Autrice de romans et de nouvelles, poète et dramaturge, Michèle a remporté plusieurs prix littéraires dont deux fois le Prix Trillium.

David O’Meara est l’auteur de cinq recueils de poésie, dont les plus récents sont A Pretty Sight et On Radar (Coach House Books, 2013 et 2021). Son roman, intitulé Chandelier, a été publié chez Nightwood Editions en 2024. Il est actuellement le poète officiel anglophone de la Ville d’Ottawa.

Autrice, comédienne et metteure en scène de la relève, Clémence Roy-Darisse a fait partie de la distribution de 2042 au Centre national des Arts et de Mamuche du Théâtre Mauve Sapin. Elle a présenté, en 2019, « Profil », un texte sur la dictature du bonheur sur les réseaux sociaux et « Laurence ». Clémence détient une maîtrise en théâtre, où elle se concentre sur l’intégration des éco-émotions au théâtre. Elle aspire également à impliquer les artistes dans la transition écologique, incarnant ainsi une nouvelle génération d’artistes engagé.e.s.

Monty Reid est né en Saskatchewan, a travaillé en Alberta, et vit non loin de la rivière des Outaouais depuis 25 ans. Parmi les nombreux titres qu’il a fait paraître, mentionnons Crawlspace (House of Anansi), The Luskville Reductions (Brick Books), and Garden (Chaudière Books). Ses plus récentes publications sont deux courts recueils : Vertebrata, paru chez Turret House Press, à Montréal, et une réédition 20e anniversaire de cuba A book, parue chez above/ground press.

Véronique Sylvain habite à Ottawa, où elle travaille dans le milieu de l’édition. Ses poèmes ont paru dans plusieurs revues de création littéraire, ainsi que des collectifs. Son premier recueil, Premier quart (Prise de parole, 2019), lui a permis de remporter le Prix de poésie Trillium, le Prix du livre d’Ottawa, en 2020, le prix Champlain et le Prix littéraire émergence AAOF 2021. Son plus récent recueil de poésie, En terrain miné, est paru en septembre 2024 chez Prise de parole. Elle occupera, jusqu’à l’automne 2026, le poste de poète officielle francophone de la Ville d’Ottawa.

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: Tierney, Skrabalak, Carr, Robinson, Shea + Eleftherion,

Orchid Tierney is the third in the above/ground press author spotlights via the above/ground press substack; Ryan Skrabalak is interviewed alongside Robbie Wing by Miriam Atkin for "Specific Objects," WGXC: Radio for Open Ears; Julie Carr and Elizabeth Robinson have new work in the latest issue of Posit; Michael Martin Shea has some new translations of poems by Augusto Lunel over at Black Sun Lit; and Melissa Eleftherion has new work up Stone Circle Review.

some author activity: Birchard, Earl, Norris, Armantrout + Pittella,

Guy Birchard's work is discussed by Yukon poet Dawn Macdonald, over at her recently-launched substack, where she also discussed Amanda Earl's work and Ken Norris' work; the full text of "Poetry Meets Physics: Poet Rae Armantrout Reading and in Conversation with Physicist Ben Buchler. Street Theatre, Canberra, Thursday 19 September 2024" is online as a pdf; the first four poems from Pittella's above/ground press chapbook have been translated into Italian by Gianluca Rizzo and published online at rossocorpolingua: and Pittella also has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series.

some author activity: Boughn, Schapira, Levy, Ross, Clayton, Barton + The Peter F Yacht Club,

Michael Boughn has a YouTube channel, by the way, in which he's been posting a variety of reading videos, including himself and Victor Coleman, etcetera; Kate Schapira writes about the LA wildfires; John Levy has a poem for Stuart Ross up at International Times; Simon Brown has translated poems by Conyer Clayton into French for Revue Watts; John Barton has a new poem up  at Identity Theory; and a stranger recently sent me a photograph of this Peter F Yacht Club hat he picked up in Montreal, asking if know where the real yacht club might be. I have no idea! I would love to know,

new from above/ground press: Unsovereign, by Kacper Bartczak (trans. Mark Tardi

Unsovereign
Kacper Bartczak
translated from the Polish by Mark Tardi
$5

Hybrid engine triptych


1.

in singing the song all freight

migrates synthesizing a mineral loss

imparts the viscosity of light



2.

biometric sculpture a direct inject

vacuum emission in a unit

a buoyant mouth squishes a piston

spewing a party of grease light



3.

listen on the fora for all sorts of crash

see the algaesphere ionizing

expediting a party of sinking light

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

cover image: Agnieszka Kowalska-Owczarek
A watercolor from the series Wibracje – Linie z Niekończoności [Vibrations – Infinity Lines]

KACPER BARTCZAK is a Polish poet, scholar, and translator. Recent volumes include Czas Kompost [Time Compost] (2023), Widoki wymazy (2021), Naworadiowa [Radionaves] (2019), Pokarm suweren [Food Sovereign] (2017), and Wiersze organiczne [Organic Poems] (2015), which was nominated for two major awards in Poland. He has translated and published volumes of selected poems by Rae Armantrout, Charles Bernstein, and Peter Gizzi. as well as the work of many other poets into Polish. In English translation, recent poetry of his has appeared in Poetry, ANMLY, Denver Quarterly, Interim, MAYDAY, and Berlin Quarterly. His awards include two Fulbrights––at Stanford and Princeton, respectively––and a fellowship from the Kościuszko Foundation at Florida Atlantic University. He is an associate professor and department chair at the University of Łódź.

MARK TARDI is a writer and translator whose recent awards include a 2023 PEN/Heim Translation Grant and a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Translation fellowship. He is the author of three books, most recently, The Circus of Trust (Dalkey Archive Press, 2017), and his translations of The Squatters’ Gift by Robert Rybicki (Dalkey Archive Press) and Faith in Strangers by Katarzyna Szaulińska (Toad Press/Veliz Books) were published in 2021. Recent writing and translations have appeared in Poetry, Conjunctions, Guernica, ANMLY, Full-Stop, Interim, Cagibi, Denver Quarterly, and in the anthology The Experiment Will Not Be Bound (Unbound Edition Press, 2023). Viscera: Eight Voices from Poland will appear with Litmus Press in September 2024. He is on faculty at the University of Łódź.

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

new from above/ground press: Poor Rutebeuf, Translated from the French by William Vallières

Poor Rutebeuf
Translated by William Vallières
$5

In the time of leaves falling,
when there are more leaves falling
    than on the bough,
in a poverty that keeps me cowed,
that comes at me from all around
    like sneaky winter
coldly covering my verse,
my reel starts with a laden purse
    of sad stories.
Poor sense and perspicacity
God gave me, the King of glory,
    and poorer means,
and a cold ass when the winds freeze:
the ice of winds rip through me;
    it is often,
too too often that I feel the wind.
My reels promise to make a mint
    and they do:
I get a pound on the sou
for every misery, a fortune
    of penury.
Poverty is again on me:
its door is wide open wide to me;
    I am the guest
kept at its meagre breast.
In rain wet, in heat, all baked red:
     I go naked! ("Winter Reel")

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

William Vallières is a Montreal poet. His work has appeared in The Walrus, Best Canadian Poetry 2019, Grain, periodicities, Event, Plenitude, and other places. His first book of poetry, Versus, is out with Véhicule Press. He’s currently working on a book about the eccentric Québécois inventor—his grandfather—Jean St-Germain.

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: Mohammadi, Barbour, MacEachern, Coulton + Robinson,

Khashayar Mohammadi has some new translations of poetry, by Shahin Sadeghzadeh, now up at Asymptote Journal; Edmonton Journal publishes an article on the late Douglas Barbour; Jessi MacEachern is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and Valerie Coulton has begun to curate a new series of free pdf poetry chapbooks, palabrosa, which recently posted a new title by Elizabeth Robinson.

new from above/ground press: I am a language you are the sound device, by Sandra Moussempès (translated by Eléna Rivera

I am a language you are the sound device
Sandra Moussempès
translated by Eléna Rivera
$5

What connection are we looking for while watching a film,
while reading a poem?
anticipation or eloquence
using a repetitive metaphor

enjambment                “caesura”

the sequences between sound and sense, the poetry of affect,
the juxtaposition of the poem, time and light, fade(s) to black,
point of view, fragment, the metric, subtraction

what’s the difference between exorcism and the close-up
a way of writing in the dark (the visual narrative)

at first it’s a composition of living matter        barely
resized
our thoughts noted        inside the sculpted house

these fragments in a film-loop

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

Cover photograph by Russell Switzer, 2019

Sandra Moussempès is a poet and vocal artist, born in Paris in 1965, and former resident of the Villa Medici. She has published twelve books of poetry including : Cassandre à bout portant (Poésie/Flammarion, 2021), Cinéma de L’affect (Boucles de voix off pour film fantôme) (L’Attente, 2020), Colloque des Télépathes & CD Post-Gradiva (L’Attente 2017), and Sunny girls (Poésie/Flammarion 2015). As a sound and vocal artist, she has recorded four albums and has performed at the Centre Pompidou, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, and MAMCO in Geneva, among others. above/ground press also published a selection from Sunny girls, translated by Eléna Rivera (2017).

Eléna Rivera was born in Mexico City and raised in Paris. Her most recent book of poetry is Epic Series (Shearsman Books, 2020). Her translation of Bernard Noël’s The Rest of the Voyage (Graywolf, 2011) received the Robert Fagles Translation Prize. She also translated Noël’s The Ink’s Path (Cadastre8zéro, 2018), Isabelle Baladine Howald’s Hantôme (forthcoming Black Square Editions, 2021) and Isabelle Garron’s Body Was (forthcoming, Litmus Press, 2021). She received a National Endowment for the Arts in translation and fellowships from MacDowell (2020) and the Trelex Paris Poetry Residency (2019).

This is their second above/ground press chapbook, after From: Sunny girls (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

new from above/ground press: THE OCEANDWELLER, by Saeed Tavanaee Marvi (translated by Khashayar Mohammadi

THE OCEANDWELLER
Saeed Tavanaee Marvi translated by Khashayar Mohammadi
$4

the sounds of the Ocean
all sounds crash into cliffs
I recite all my poems to the Ocean 

soft music. we go inside the OceanCruiser. The OceanDweller walks among the white Poplars. We can hear the rustling of leaves. while walking on the dried leaves he speaks of the genesis of Song

a flower has bloomed
dried root       
            lively crown 

            some reprieve. the voice changes its timbre

Asuriq was the first flower on this planet; its pollen carried by the comet Indra to the depths of this planet’s oceans. Long roots and small leaves. Volcanic cycles made the flower surface 130 million years ago. Humanity had not yet come to earth.. It was the time of birds, alone with flowers on the surface. it was then that songs began to take form. the first song was a dialogue between the birds and Asuriq.

            the room. The television speaks in Farsi. No sound of birds.
     the poem is recited with soft music in the background.

I dreamt of you
it was spring
we were walking
you cried
there were no flowers

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

further of his translations of Marvi's work appeared recently at periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics

cover image: Babak Tavanaee Marvi

Saeed Tavanaee Marvi is a poet and translator born in the city of Mashhad in 1983. His books include The Woman With Chlorophyllic eyes, Verses of Death: An Anthology of American Poetry and a translation of Richard Brautigan’s Tokyo Montana Express.

Khashayar Mohammadi is a queer, Iranian born, Toronto-based Poet, Writer, Translator and Photographer. He is the author of poetry chapbooks Moe’s Skin by ZED press 2018, Dear Kestrel by knife | fork | book 2019 and Solitude is an Acrobatic Act by above/ground press 2020. His debut poetry collection Me, You, Then Snow is forthcoming with Gordon Hill Press in Spring 2021

This is Mohammadi’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after Solitude is an Acrobatic Act (2020).

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