new from above/ground press: Unconsciousness Raising, by Miranda Mellis

Unconsciousness Raising
Miranda Mellis
$6

Detective Nothing

nothing is the unsigned confession
inside the unopened envelope

nothing is the evidence
which was never found

nothing is the weapon
mistaken for a prop

nothing is the foil
who fakes her own death

to solve the mystery of nothing
by becoming no one

pretending to be alive
she fools detective nothing

melting into the crowd
where no one is ever missed

without getting up
from her empty chair

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

cover art: Miranda Mellis

Miranda Mellis is the author of four books of fiction including Crocosmia (Nightboat, forthcoming 2025), The Spokes, None of This Is Real, and The Revisionist. Other publications include a book of aphorisms and prose poems, Demystifications, and several chapbooks: The Revolutionary, The Quarry, and Materialisms. She co-authored The Instead with Emily Abendroth and was an editor at The Encyclopedia Project. Originally from San Francisco, she now lives in Olympia, Washington and teaches at Evergreen State College. http://mirandamellis.com

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: Berlatsky, Downs, Henning, Kemp-Gee, Miller + Barwin,

forthcoming author Noah Berlatsky has some nice things to say about above/ground press; Buck Downs has a poem in The New York Times Magazine, as selected by Anne Boyer; Barbara Henning has new poems up at Mom Egg Review; Meghan Kemp-Gee's ONE MORE YEAR: The Ultimate Graphic Novel kickstarter is now live; David Miller is interviewed at ArtWay; and Gary Barwin won an award!

new from above/ground press: ESTRO FUNKY: FIELD NOTES, by MLA Chernoff

ESTRO FLUNKY: FIELD NOTES
MLA Chernoff
$5

Alright, fuck.
You got me.
I’m tired,
I don’t have enough
Vitamin D to
project my verse.
I’m much more inclined
to projectile vomit
into otherworldly girths.
No methodology can
alchemize my moors
out from these got dang
obscurantist stores.
You know why?
Because feelings are
H=A=R=D
and all games
inevitably
stop
short.

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

MLA Chernoff (@estroflunky) is a writer and recovering academic. Their debut full-length poetry collection, [SQUELCH PROCEDURES], was released by Gordon Hill Press in 2021. MLA is also the author of several chapbooks, including delet this (Bad Books, 2018), TERSE THIRSTY (Gap Riot Press, 2019), and I'M LIKE THE GREAT GRANDCHILD OF MARX & COCA-COLA (BUT NON-BINEY) (845 Press, 2022). They worked really hard on their website – mlachernoff.com – so please go and check it out right now, right this second. Thanks! Stay safe and keep masking xo xo

This is Chernoff’s second above/ground press title, after SCRIED FUNDAMENTS (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

new from above/ground press: ashes, by Marita Dachsel

ashes
Marita Dachsel
$5

We live on the top floor of one of those big old houses
in Victoria. Our suite has a wood stove and the first few years
we lived there, we didn’t use it, as we didn’t trust our toddling
daughter, but we’ve had six winters with wood heat.
The best heat.

As a child, my autumn weekends were spent hunting.
If my parents didn’t kill an animal,
we’d get some firewood. Hours of packing and unpacking
the truck. I hated it then, but remember it fondly. That strike slip of memory.

Crisp fall air. Mint tea and liverwurst sandwiches.
The sweet scent of a fresh cut tree. Sap.
Complaining crows. Scolding squirrels.
The quiet of the forest after the roar of the chainsaw.
The cracking of breaking branches as the tree comes down.

* * *

In 2019, Andrea MacPherson invited me to the Fraser Valley Literary Festival which took place in Abbotsford, BC, on traditional, unceded Stó:lō Territories on September 13 and 14 of that year. I was commissioned to write on the theme “The Terrible and the Sublime: From Monsters to Saints” which I was to share during the panel of the same name, with panelists Doretta Lau, Jónína Kirton and Danny Ramadan. “Ashes” came from that commission.

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

Marita Dachsel is the author of the poetry collections There Are Not Enough Sad Songs, Glossolalia, and All Things Said & Done. Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry, the Acorn-Plantos Award for People’s Poetry, and the ReLit Award. With Nancy Lee, she co-edited Sharp Notions: Essays from the Stitching Life. Her play Initiation Trilogy was nominated for both a Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Original Script and The Critics’ Choice Innovation Award. She has created interactive poetry-based installations for festivals and conferences in Victoria, Edmonton, and Toronto. She lives with her family on Lekwungen territory in Victoria, British Columbia where she teaches in UVic’s Writing Department and knits on the sly at any opportunity

This is Dachsel’s third above/ground press title, after learning to breathe (1996) and divination (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

new from above/ground press: Report from the fitzpatrick Society. Vol. 1 No. 1

Report from the fitzpatrick Society
Vol 1. No. 1
edited by rob mclennan
$7

an assemblage of writing in response
to the work of ryan fitzpatrick

including
poems, critical writings
and
philosophical transactions

with contributions by:
Jonathan Ball
Jason Christie
ryan fitzpatrick
Danielle Lafrance
rob mclennan
Julia Polyck-O’Neill
Nikki Reimer
Michael Robertson
Aaron Tucker
Fred Wah

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
full list of published reports here
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Report on the Society logo by C. McNair, editor’s devil (retired)

ryan fitzpatrick has published four chapbooks with above/ground press: further revisions (STANZAS #25, July 2001), Adolesce (2005), dealingwithit.gif (2015) and dang me (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 robmclennan.blogspot.com

new from above/ground press: AGALMA, by Kevin Stebner

AGALMA
Kevin Stebner
$5

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

Kevin Stebner is a multi-disciplinary writer, musician, and artist from Calgary, Alberta. As a concrete poet, Stebner is known for an astounding array of over 400 typewriter visual poems, many of which are appearing in chapbooks and publications (recently from Blasted Tree, NonPlusUltra, No Press & Timglaset) and is now pursuing a collection of letraset explorations. Stebner has spent over two decades dedicated to the DIY music in every capacity, notably from his bands Cold Water and Fulfilment, both having recently released new albums. He is also the proprietor of Calgary’s best bookstore that’s in a shed, Shed Books.

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: Boyle, Berlatsky, Beaulieu, Flemmer + Mellis,

Frances Boyle is interviewed over at talking about strawberries all of the time; where forthcoming author Noah Berlatsky also has poems; both Derek Beaulieu and Kyle Flemmer, among lots others, have work included in Laura Kerr's online pdf INTERZONE: a visual anthology; and forthcoming author Miranda Mellis is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey.