new from above/ground press: Three Bloody Words : Twentieth Anniversary Edition, by Stephanie Bolster

Three Bloody Words : Twentieth Anniversary Edition
Stephanie Bolster
with a new afterword by the author
$5

my name is rose red blood

                                                             dark lips it’s all the same negation of everything my sister is they knew all along when we were born i was lesser more susceptible to lust less likely to reward them with golden grandchildren so she got the bear when he turned prince

                                                  i wish he had stayed dark & furry his skin thick as rugs smelling of musk wilted roses the inside of caves our new castle never a home not dark enough for me to steal away to him always his fair brother dozing beside me & him too far away in the next room with her dreaming of ripe berries

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
May 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Three Bloody Words was originally produced through above/ground press in an edition of 300 copies, May 1996. It subsequently appeared in the anthology Groundswell: the best of above/ground press, 1993-2003 (Fredericton NB: Broken Jaw Press / cauldron books, 2003), edited by rob mclennan.

Stephanie Bolster is the author of four books of poetry, the first of which, White Stone: The Alice Poems (Signal/Véhicule, 1998), won the Governor General’s and the Gerald Lampert Awards. Her latest book, A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth (Brick Books, 2011) was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award and more recent work was a finalist for the Canada Writes/CBC Poetry Prize in 2012. Editor of The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008 and The Ishtar Gate: Last and Selected Poems by the late Ottawa poet Diana Brebner, and co-editor of Penned: Zoo Poems, she was born in Vancouver and teaches creative writing at Concordia University in Montréal, where she also coordinates the writing program.

This is Stephanie Bolster’s third above/ground press chapbook, after the original Three Bloody Words (1996) and Biodome (2006).

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

some author activity: mclennan, Dyckman, Smith, Kaminski, Hogg + Turnbull,

rob mclennan was interviewed recently by Susanne Dyckman over at OmniVerse; he also has a new poem and a book recommendation via the Saskatoon Public Library website; Jessica Smith has some new poems up at past simple; Megan Kaminski has some poems in the new issue of Elderly; and there's an update on Robert Hogg's poem posted through Chris Turnbull's rout/e.

new from above/ground press: A New Love/ An Aching Stone, Pete Smith

A New Love/ An Aching Stone
A double-cento out of Yehuda Amichai & Mahmoud Darwish
Pete Smith
$4

Let's go as we are:
wills patched with many patches
and my song needs to breathe:  poetry isn't poetry
because of the wall.
Which exile do you want?

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
May 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Pete Smith: Born mid-century in middle of England. Became an ex-non-pat in 1974. Has lived in Kamloops area of BC since then. Is almost ready to write from that place, meanwhile writes from meetingplaces with poets, artists, photographers, composers, rogues & rascules of different ethnicities, genders, aesthetics, eras etc to discover who else he might be. Has published in USA, Ireland, Canada, England & in the wherever of on-line. A scatter of chapbooks, essays, interviews & reviews plus one preposthumous book, Bindings with Discords, 2015, from Shearsman (UK). No academic record of his existence. A New Love/ An Aching Stone may be his most important & is certainly his most impotent work. Thanks for asking, rob mclennan.

A New Love/ An Aching Stone is Smith’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after STRUM OF UNSEEN (2008).

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

new from above/ground press: Vesper Vigil, by Bronwen Tate

Vesper Vigil
Bronwen Tate
$4

What can be closer than my own body?

Known in sensation: heat, pain, and desire —

new furrows, grey hairs, unnoticed freckles,

apprehended in mirrors’ strange angles.

Presence began with the counting of days,

with each ultrasound’s fear and relief,

grew with sickness I delayed meals to know,

then reassured by that nausea, ate toast.

Legible bodies prompt declaration —

I said “due at the end of July.”

Fingers now join silent conversation,

limbs pushing taut skin in reply.

Beloved, still abstraction, I confess,

how can I know you till I see your face?

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
May 2016
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Cover image: V. Caleb Anderson

Bronwen Tate is the author of the chapbooks Souvenirs (Dusie 2007), Like the Native Tongue the Vanquished (Cannibal Books 2008), Scaffolding (Dusie 2009), if a thermometer (dancing girl press 2011) and The Loss Letters (Dusie 2011). She has taught courses in literature, aesthetics, creative writing, and composition at Brown University, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and Stanford University, where she is currently a lecturer and fellow in the Thinking Matters Program.

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

some author activity: Cooley, Best, Pirie, Roberston + Stewart,

Dennis Cooley is interviewed by Turnstone Press, and has a new poem (audio and text) online at Winnipeg Free Press; Ashley-Elizabeth Best has a new essay in the "On Writing" series at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Pearl Pirie has a new poem posted at h&; and Lisa Robertson reads with Christine Stewart on May 24th in Vancouver!

Anita Dolman on above/ground press;

Ottawa poet (and frequent above/ground press contributor) Anita Dolman was good enough to post a short write-up on above/ground press, the ongoing backlist/rarities lists I've been posting, and her relationship with the press on her blog today. Thanks much! You can see her original post here.

some author activity: beaulieu, mclennan, Weaver + Earl,

derek beaulieu has new work and a short statement up at The Found Poetry Review, he also reflects in a short piece on his two years as Calgary's Poet Laureate; rob mclennan has a new poem up on the Chaudiere Books blog to close off National Poetry Month, as does Andy Weaver; and rob mclennan's profile of Amanda Earl's NationalPoetryMonth.ca is now online at Open Book: Ontario.