new from above/ground press: missing matrilineal, by nina jane drystek

missing matrilineal
nina jane drystek
$5

               there is only

 

edge of knife
             tine of fork
                         spoon to eat grapefruit

                      flesh

my grandmother how me how to make the perfect shape

                       mirror of a nail
                       neck          line
                       needle      hem

hold pustule between finger & thumb
                        squash it with tongue         

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[nina jane drystek will be launching this title in Ottawa as part of the above/ground press 30th anniversary reading/launch/party on August 12!]

cover image: Woman before a Mirror (1897) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

nina jane drystek is a poet, writer and performer based in Ottawa, unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory. she is author of a:of:in (Gap Riot Press, 2021) and knewro suite (Simulacrum Press, 2019), and her poems have appeared in online and print publications, as well as in self-published chapbooks and broadsides. her original sound poem scores can be heard on bandcamp. she is one of the co-founders of Riverbed Reading Series, was shortlisted for the 2020 Bronwen Wallace Award for Poetry, writes collaborative poetry with VII – authors of holy disorder of being (Gap Riot, 2022) and Towers (Collusion Books, 2021) – and performs sound poetry with the rotating group of collaborators. if you have ever lived in the same city as her you have likely seen her riding a red or blue bicycle. you can find her @textcurious.

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: Girl gives long-fingered self-portrait, by Sophia Magliocca

Girl gives long-fingered self-portrait
Sophia Magliocca
$5

Note

I’ve overpaid my dues to the screen
billed 21 hours of glossy eyes on the glass
resisted rubbing thrusting my hips on the gram
even tongue wrestled some pens today
committed to a new notebook
stopped clanking in the back scene
convinced myself sleep won’t make me better
even hit my protein goal by noon
cleared my throat
driven off the island
shaken the angst from my skin
even combed my hair  

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[Sophia Magliocca will be launching this title in Ottawa as part of the above/ground press 30th anniversary reading/launch/party on August 12!]

cover art: Salvatore Magliocca

Sophia Magliocca is a Master’s student in English Literature at Concordia University (Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal) where she researches the effects of (mis)interpreting how women's legacies are documented across literary history. Sophia is a known lover of travel, pasta and orange cats. Most recently she has published poetry in Canadian literary journals such as Yolk, Montreal Writes and periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics. Find her on Instagram @sophmagli

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 Baroness and her Ex Read Orgasmic Toast: To Whom It May Concern, by Grant Wilkins

The Baroness and her Ex Read Orgasmic Toast: To Whom It May Concern
Grant Wilkins
$5

              Art!


When our statesmen and orators called out
concerning our love of dog-eared bibles and flame-flagged men,
the earth was thus provisioned for the idleness of the pious
and the omnipotency generated by the Elizabethan intrigue
and accidental antiquity of our Malted Milkshakes.

The ancient critics would pronounce this the greatest
achievement in lyricism of which they knew,
and so we will nudge it, kick it, prod it, push it and
broadcast it by all of our best endeavours
and senseless relentless pleasures
upwards and onwards
into the realm of Art!

 

* * * *

These poems are a response to “The Baroness Elsa Project,” an exhibition of art, poetry and performance inspired by the dadaist artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, which showed at the Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa from September 28 to December 12, 2021. The exhibition was curated by Heather Anderson and Irene Gammel.

The motivation to write the poems came from my participation in “Cosmic Chemistry,” an experimental performance and improvised choral event that followed the exhibition, organized by CUAG and led by Gabriel Dharmoo and Kathy Kennedy.

Special thanks to Glenn Nuotio for inviting me to participate.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[Grant Wilkins will be launching this title in Ottawa as part of the above/ground press 30th anniversary reading/launch/party on August 12!]

Grant Wilkins is an occasional poet, printer and papermaker from Ottawa who has made a practice of doing strange things to other people’s words. He has degrees in History & Classical Civilization and in English, and he likes ink, metal, paper, letters, sounds and words, in no particular order.

This is Wilkins’ third chapbook with above/ground press, after Reading The Great Classics Of Canlit through Book 5 of bpNichol’s The Martyrology (2022) and In Which Archibald Lampman / Translates Arthur Rimbaud (2023). A fourth launches later this week.

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: Bolster, Niespodziany, Glover + Boyle,

Stephanie Bolster answers the 'six questions' interview questions via Chaudiere Books; Benjamin Niespodziany has new work up at Jake; ; Douglas Glover has new work up at minor literature[s] (he also has a substack worth following, but you probably already know that, yes?); and Frances Boyle has new work up at Dark Winter Lit, Acropolis Journal, The Windsor Review, petrichor, Rogue Agent and Parenthesis Journal.

new from above/ground press: Groundling : On Apology, by Jennifer Baker

Groundling: On Apology
Jennifer Baker
$5

*

fighting in the street
 we were two kicked dogs

bared teeth
 cornered

& terrible
    we clung
    
I still don't know
how to write about this in a poem
    the utter    breakdown        of love
    when love is seeing each other

    we got it so wrong
    we devoured our own hearts

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[Jennifer Baker will be launching this title in Ottawa as part of the above/ground press 30th anniversary reading/launch/party on August 12!]

Groundling: On Apology was originally published by John Goodman’s Trainwreck Press, November 2021.

Jennifer Baker is a poet and Adjunct Professor of English Literature living and working in Ottawa. She is the author of three chapbooks: Abject Lessons (above/ground press, 2014), Memento Mishka (with David Currie, Apt.9 Press, 2023) and Groundling (Trainwreck Press, 2021). Her poetry, reviews, and articles can be found in ottawater, Dusie, Canthius, The Bull Calf, Canadian Literature, The Journal of Canadian Poetry, and Robert Kroetsch: Essayist, Novelist, Poet (University of Ottawa Press, 2020), among others, and she is the 2022 honourable mention recipient of Arc Poetry Magazine’s Diana Brebner Prize.

This is Baker’s second title with above/ground press, following Abject Lessons (2014).

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

Jérôme Melançon: 30 Years Above Ground: The Aesthetics of above/ground press : Arc Poetry Magazine #101

Regina poet, critic, translator and above/ground press author Jérôme Melançon was good enough to compose the essay "30 Years Above Ground: The Aesthetics of above/ground press" which was recently published in Arc Poetry Magazine #101! You should pick up a copy at your local/favourite magazine shop, or order a copy directly from them here! Thanks so much!

new from above/ground press: SONGS FROM THE DEMENTIA SUITCASE, by Karen Massey

SONGS FROM THE DEMENTIA SUITCASE
Karen Massey
$5

Commiserating, a friend texts,
I hate dementia/pandemic eldercare


              / all night snowfall,
so much so hard you hear it
stacking up, filling dim
elastic hours with drowsy moonlit
blasts, yet pre-dawn, such depths,
tenderness, artful drift architecture
cut by gusts—roofs, bicycles, even
thin lamp posts balance enormous
tall white toques, tires spin as
neighbours strain to push free of
buried hours where breath colludes
& shadows slump chilled, listless,
or stretch away from daylight, thin
ache-blue branches reminiscent of  /

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
August 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy
[Karen Massey will be launching this title in Ottawa as part of the above/ground press 30th anniversary reading/launch/party on August 12!]

Karen Massey (she/her) lives in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded Algonquin Anishinabe territory. Her poems & found poems have been published online, in 2 chapbooks, over 2 dozen print anthologies, & in literary journals including TNQ, Aesthetica, Mslexia, subTerrain & Arc Poetry Magazine, where she received the 2020 Diana Brebner Award.

This is Massey’s third above/ground press title, after Bullet (1999) and Strange Fits of Beauty & Light (2014).

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