Robert Bolick discusses Derek Beaulieu's tattered sails (after un coup de des) (2018) at BOOKS ON BOOKS

Robert Bolick discusses Derek Beaulieu's prior above/ground press chapbook, tattered sails (after un coup de des) (2018), in a thorough review over at BOOKS ON BOOKS. Thanks so much! You can read Bolick's review-essay here. This is actually the second review of Beaulieu's 2018 chapbook, after Scott Bryson reviewed such over at Broken Pencil.

new from above/ground press: CABARET, by Derek Beaulieu

CABARET
Derek Beaulieu
$4

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Derek Beaulieu is the author/editor of over twenty collections of poetry, prose, and criticism, including two volumes of his selected work, Please, No More Poetry (2013) and Konzeptuelle Arbeiten (2017). His most recent volume of fiction, a, A Novel was published by Paris’s Jean Boîte Editions. Beaulieu has exhibited his visual work across Canada, the United States, and Europe and has won multiple local and national awards for his teaching and dedication to students. Derek Beaulieu holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Roehampton University and is the Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. He can be found online at www.derekbeaulieu.com

This is Beaulieu’s ninth above/ground press chapbook, after an issue of the long poem magazine STANZAS (“calcite gours 1-19,” issue no. 38), the interview chapbook ECONOMIES OF SCALE: rob mclennan interviews derek beaulieu on NO PRESS / derek beaulieu interviews rob mclennan on above/ground press (2012) and single-author chapbooks “A? any questions? (1998), [Dear Fred] (2004), HOW TO EDIT, Chapter A. (ALBERTA SERIES #8; 2008), transcend transcribe transfigure transform transgress (2014), a a novel: 1-20 (2017) and tattered sails (after un coup de des) (2018).

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 at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some above/ground press author activity: Maloukis, Barwin, Mohammadi + Clayton,

forthcoming author Rose Maloukis has a new poem up at Train : a poetry journal, as well as an interview; both Gary Barwin (with Michael Orr) and Khashayar Mohammadi (with Mehraz Karami) have new collaborations up at Long Con Magazine; and Conyer Clayton is interviewed by book blogger Ivana over at her blog.

new from above/ground press: BLATTA, by Julia Drescher

BLATTA
Julia Drescher
$5

Did solitude ever exist?

Scrap metal from bombs exposed.

Punctuation hurts.


A passive tumbling instrument of.

Experiments in such, the grid's diffract by did.


The larynx of an animal throws at the illusion of a fixed position.

If you hiss you can pray to roaches against God.

Low trees. Have you gotten to the bottom of things? Waivering.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Julia Drescher is the author of Open Epic (Delete Press). She lives in Colorado where she co-edits the press Further Other Book Works with C.J. Martin. A second above/ground press title is forthcoming.

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 at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

Alina Stefanescu on Andrea Rexilius and Khashayar Mohammadi

American poet Alina Stefanescu (who is both kind and clever enough to be an above/ground press subscriber) has been writing short essay-pieces on poems lately, including some poems she found in recent above/ground press titles: Khashayar Mohammadi’s poem, “Brink of Life,” from Solitude Is An Acrobatic Act (above/ground, 2020) [you can read her essay on such here] and on Andrea Rexilius' "The Structure of a Flower: Stem," from Afterworlds (above/ground, 2020) [you can read her essay on such here]. Thanks so much! Her blog has some other neat pieces worth reading on there as well, if you wander around for a bit, including "'Voice' by Jennifer Horne: Wondering towards a mother's voice," "11 poetry writing prompts for pandemic moments," and this really lovely personal essay I quite enjoyed. Gadzooks!

new from above/ground press: FLORALS, by Misha Solomon

FLORALS
Misha Solomon
$5

Chunnel

a stranger looks like a boy but yawns like a man
children yawn freely
little lions roaring at their tiredness
he shows restraint
jaw tense, cheeks taut
ashamed of his fatigue

I was last on this train as a boy
expecting to see fish under the Atlantic
expected to read the map for my mother

now, fish surround me
one raises the armrest between our seats
and leans its head on my shoulder
I’m not sure I’m moist enough
to keep its gills from drying up

I’m tired too
but my jaw clicks
and my cheeks

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
June 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Misha Solomon (he/him) is a queer poet in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. These are his first published poems.

cover artwork: Naomie Hadida

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 at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

new from above/ground press: Civilization, by Dani Spinosa

Civilization
Dani Spinosa
$4

The English

By 1858 I declare war on my final opponent, the English, who have taken the rest of this continent. They have redcoats, and by now I have tanks.

I take Hull, Sheffield.

In 1866, I take London. It’s the last capital on the map, and for this game, that means I’ve won. It plays a victory cut scene. I can’t stop.

Just one more turn…

I take Manchester. I take Stoke-upon-Trent. I take Plymouth.

I take Preston. I take Bradford. England is defeated. I do not see it, but imagine the game plays out a sad cut scene of a sun setting.

There is no cut scene. The dial simply loads, lets me choose the next turn.  

I can’t stop. I start taking over city states: La Venta, Lisbon. I head towards more but now I have AT crews that are clobbering catapults. It feels pointless, wrong.

And Love has spread across this world, tiny turtles by each city’s name.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
June 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Dani Spinosa is a poet and a scholar and an adjunct professor. She’s a co-founding editor of Gap Riot Press, the Managing Editor of the Electronic Literature Directory, and the author of two books: OO: Typewriter Poems (Invisible Publishing, 2020) and Anarchists in the Academy (U of Alberta Press, 2018). You can find her online at www.genericpronoun.com.

This is Spinosa’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after Glosas for Tired Eyes Volume 2 (2018).

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 at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com