some author activity: mclennan, Higdon, Greenstreet + Fox,

[Lady Aoife providing a valuable production assist] rob mclennan has a new poem up at Crap Orgasm; Hailey Higdon interviews Joanne Kyger over at Queen Mob's Teahouse; Kate Greenstreet is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and Sarah Fox has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog.

if anyone wishes to re-post, I spent the morning building this ad for above/ground press,

Eleni Zisimatos reviews philip miletic’s marginal prints (2017) at the Vallum blog

Montreal poet, editor and publisher Eleni Zisimatos was good enough to provide the first review of philip miletic’s marginal prints (2017) over at the blog for Vallum magazine. Thanks so much! You can see the original review here.

marginal prints by Philip Miletic is an accomplished book of avant-garde-type poetry that engages the reader fully. With expert control of his words, Miletic opens an exciting world to us, a world of spaces and meaning, couched within the avenues of a relationship. His poetry has a shifting range of forms, moving from poems like:

15

eyes erred

and edged;

soft-spoken script,

whispered periphery

to:

I thought of the passage

I thought of the passage in relation to you

I thought of the passage in relation to me

I thought of the passage and our shared conversation

I thought of the passage and our shared sense of ecstasy

marginal prints is a chapbook worth reading. Philip Miletic lives in Kitchener, ON and his book is published by above/ground press (2017).

Lady Aoife providing some essential production assistance

As you might have noticed, above/ground press has been producing a mound of items lately (and there's still time to subscribe for 2017! subscriptions can still and easily be backdated to January first). Here's Lady Aoife providing some essential production assistance on a new item by Sandra Moussempès, translated from the French by Eléna Rivera.

The Factory Reading Series @ VERSeFest: Faizal Deen + Marilyn Irwin, March 25, 2017

The Factory Reading Series

as part of the seventh annual VERSeFest poetry festival presents:

The Factory Reading Series Lecture Series, two talks and readings by:

Marilyn Irwin (Ottawa)

Faizal Deen (Ottawa)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan

Saturday, March 25, 2017

FREE ADMISSION!

1pm at Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Lisgar St. Ottawa

http://versefest.ca/year/2017/schedule/?day=Mar25

check the VERSeFest link for the full schedule of events!

March 21-26, 2017

http://versefest.ca

Shortlisted for the 2016 bpNichol Award, a 2014 Tree Reading Series Hot Ottawa Voice, and winner of the 2013 Diana Brebner Prize, Marilyn Irwin’s work has been published by above/ground press, Apt. 9 Press, Arc Magazine, and Matrix Magazine, among others. Her seventh chapbook, waving usufruct; a collaboration with David Emery and Samantha Lapierre, was published by The Steel Chisel last year, and she will be launching a brand new chapbook with above/ground press: north. She runs shreeking violet press in Ottawa. She'll be talking about the crosshairs of mental health and literature making.

http://versefest.ca/year/2017/poet/?id=168

Faizal Deen Forrester is a doctoral student in the Department of English Language & Literature at Carleton University. As a contributor to the Migration and Diaspora Studies initiative at Carleton, Faizal seeks to address the ways in which the cultural production of Caribbean populations in Canada—in particular, the work of poets—encourages us to rethink existing notions of diasporic identity. Faizal has studied at Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus), McGill University; and, most recently, received an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Windsor. As Faizal Deen, he maintains—along with his scholarly endeavours—an acclaimed poetry practice, beginning in 2000 with the publication of Land Without Chocolate, a Memoir, Guyana’s first LGBTQI poetry collection. His most recent collection, The Greatest Films, which, in part, addresses Caribbean queer Islamic identities in the post-9/11 era, was published by Mawenzi House.

http://versefest.ca/year/2017/poet/?id=204

some author activity: Earl, Robertson, Flemmer, Dolman, Anstee + Ladouceur,

Amanda Earl has begun blogging "Lisa Robertson, a reading diary"; Lisa Robertson has a poem up at Poets.org; Amanda Earl has a short essay on the prose poem up at Flat Singles Press; Kyle Flemmer has some new work up at h&; Anita Dolman has a new poem up at Crap Orgasm; and Cameron Anstee is interviewed on his Apt. 9 Press by Ben Ladouceur over at Open Book.

new from above/ground press: INVISIBLE WIFE, by Sarah Fox

INVISIBLE WIFE
Sarah Fox
$5

I tried to look. I carefully
talked to him whose form
dimmed, escaped its body,
superimposed over an imaginary
snake. Was I the dream?
Wasn’t the snake pretend?
He was a stone snake
that touched without touching,
kept burning his touch into
my mind until my mind
could not hold form. He
was a stone rising from the pit
of a fire, never not rising up.
My own mind became a ghost,
and everyone saw. He was blurred,
he unwound and unwound
and unwound. Did he become
my mind? I could not see
him when I looked at him.
He was rain. He was fire.
I squinted, he shapeshifted.
He had never touched me
with holiness. That was
a dream. Such a long dead
dream. I tried to talk. I
talked and talked and talked.
My talking unwound into
an aura he slid along
and through like a horse
that’s not a horse. Like
a snake through its own skin.
Through me, into me,
superimposed over my mind,
inside my organs. Colonizing
the very rhythm of my heart
beating in my chest while I slept
and he fondled me or himself.
I could not escape his unwinding.
My life blurred. “Some snakes
burn everything they touch.”

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
February 2017
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Sarah Fox lives in NE Minneapolis, and is the author of Because Why and The First Flag, both published by Coffee House Press. She is a teacher, astrologer, worker, writer, placenta encapsulator, artist, resister, and a grandmother.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com