Stuart Ross's Blog, page 11

January 5, 2016

"Wigwam" on Synapse

I have another new poem up on an online venue. "Wigwam" will be making its next appearance in my best-selling blockbuster spring collection, A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent (Wolsak and Wynn, under Paul Vermeersch's Buckrider Books imprint), but its debut is right here on Synapse, an onliner out of, I think, Ottawa. I'm wondering now whether my Grade 2 teacher's name was Leibovici or Leibovic. I better find out before the book gets published! Anyway, it features the excellent education I received in First Nations issues in the 1960s in North York.

This online publication is all part of my desperate campaign to give a pile of new poems an extra life before the book comes out. I'll have a few more publications to announce soon.

Over and out.

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Published on January 05, 2016 18:01

January 1, 2016

Alterations (2016 New Year's Poem)

ALTERATIONS

The weight of John Ashbery’s
Collected French Translations:
Poetry
(414 pages) and Roberto
Bolaño’s The Unknown University
(835 pages) on my mattress this
New Year’s morning is like
the weight of my mother and
father sitting on the foot of
the bed, watching me as I sleep.
Twenty-one years gone and fifteen,
respectively, they’re from another
world. “What’s a guy like you
doing here? / Are you plotting
a crime?” my father asks,
and he puts me in a headlock.
“O closed heart O heavy heart O
deep heart / You will never get
used to sorrow,” my mother says,
and she strokes my left cheek.
Thing is, I’ve stopped writing
poems about them. Also,
my strides are longer, and
I can be out the door and
at the lake in three steps. I
kneel down and scoop
some water into my palm.
Soon the water turns to ice.
The weight of me makes me
sink into the snow that covers
the beach. By the time spring
comes and the snow has melted,
I will have a little tailor shop
down there. I will have become
my grandfathers. My parents
are just a gleam in my eye.
I switch a little light on
above my sewing machine
and do some alterations.



1 January 2016
Cobourg



Over and out.
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Published on January 01, 2016 15:58

December 31, 2015

3 poems to usher out the Old Year

I'm very pleased to have three poems up on The Lake today. Nice to squeeze in a final 2015 publication on the last day of the year.

Here be those poems.

The poem "Doxology" contains the lines that title my spring 2016 book, A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent, from Wolsak and Wynn, the book that is going to allow me to hire a chauffeur and also buy a small holiday house in Nicaragua. I'm really proud of this poem: it's the one that set the tone — and gave me motivation — for the new book, which I think will be a very different book for me.

I'm also pleased to have "Adul and the Magic Book" up. I've gotten a great response to that poem at recent readings. And it's another poem I'm particularly proud of. Even as it makes me very uncomfortable. Perhaps because it makes me very uncomfortable.

The third poem, "Three in a Room," is from a few years ago. It is a very personal poem, and one of my decreasingly rare strictly autobiographical poems (though A Sparrow has a few more of those). In my mother's last week or so of life, in 1995, as she lay in a hospital bed, she at one point opened her eyes to see me and my two brothers in room with her. The three of us Ross boys together all at one time was not a common sight. I'm glad she got to see that. I think it gave her a lot of comfort.

Over and out.

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Published on December 31, 2015 07:29

December 29, 2015

25 of my poetry favourites from 2015

Okay, the heading for this blog entry isn't exactly true. I didn't read nearly enough new poetry books this year. So really, these are simply 25 of my favourite 2015 poetry books, chosen from those that I read. And the heading's still not accurate. For example, I'm not including the books I ushered through Mansfield Press under my "a stuart ross book" imprint: Last Stop, Lonesome Town, by Tara Azzopardi; My Planet of Kites, by Marie-Ève Comtois (translated my Michelle Winters and me); Abnormal Brain Sonnets, by David W. McFadden; The Purpose Pitch, by Kathryn Mockler; Love Me Tender, by Nick Papaxanthos; punchlines, by Aaron Tucker. And then there's my own, almost totally ignored, collection, A Hamburger in a Gallery (DC Books), which I think is pretty damn good. And there are also all the books and chapbooks I couldn't locate over the past few days. And beyond that, some of the 25 books below were published as fiction or non-fiction, but I think they're poetry. Oh, and I included a book from my own Proper Tales Press, which I know is cheating, but this is my blog.

Breezeway, John Ashbery (Ecco)
Thirty Poems, Nelson Ball (Rubblestone)
Thrillows & Despairos, Chris Chambers (Wolsak and Wynn)
Poems to Work On: The Collected Poems of Jim Dine (Cuneiform)
Sonosyntactics: Selected and New Poetry of Paul Dutton (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Rilke Shake, Angélica Freitas, trans. Hilary Kaplan (Phoneme Media)
Moods, Yoel Hoffmann, trans. Peter Cole (New Directions)
That Said, Richard Huttel (Proper Tales)
the blue, blue there, Marilyn Irwin (Apt. 9)
Our Inland Sea, James Lindsay (Wolsak and Wynn)
Ongoingness: The End of a Diary, by Sarah Manguso (Graywolf)
The Well-Dressed Wound, Derek McCormack (Semiotext(e))
Get Me Out of Here, Sachiko Murakami (Talonbooks)
Diversion, George Murray (ECW)
The Lake Contains an Emergency Room, Lillian Necakov (Apt. 9)
Tells of the Crackling, Hoa Nguyen (Ugly Ducking)
Alone and Not Alone, Ron Padgett (Coffee House)
The Exiles' Gallery, Elise Partridge (Anansi)
Dear Leader, Damian Rogers (Coach House)
Thirteen Ways of Looking at CanLit, by Rachel Rose (BookThug)
Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine (Graywolf)
Careen, Carolyn Smart (Brick)
That Train Again, Mark Statman (Lavender Ink)
Dome of the Hidden Pavilion, James Tate (Ecco)
A Brief History of Portable Literature, Enrique Vila-Matas, trans. Anne McLean & Thomas Bunstead (New Directions)

Over and out.

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Published on December 29, 2015 18:00

December 4, 2015

Ladles & geraniums, the cover of my spring 2016 book…

I have been immensely fortunate in that almost every one of my book covers has been graced by art and/or design by someone of my choice, and always a friend. I met Victoria painter Roy Green only once in person a few years back, but I have admired his work ever since and we've corresponded on social media. I'm thrilled that one of his paintings will be on the cover of my forthcoming poetry book, A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent, to be published this spring by Wolsak and Wynn, under Paul Vermeersch's excellent Buckrider Books imprint. The cover design is by Natalie Olsen of Kisscut Design. I like the simple, almost Letraset-like type treatment. The image below is a low-res version: the final thing will be much sharper. But I'm eager to get this out there. I love it.



I like the suggested religiosity of the image. The title of the book comes from my poem "Doxology." So it all makes sense, right? This will be my religious book. My mainstream book. My Rod McKuen book. Maybe even my last book of poetry.

Over and out.
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Published on December 04, 2015 10:12

December 2, 2015

Pushcart follies

Well, after nearly 40 years of crawling through the small-press trenches, I have now been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, thanks to Kathryn Mockler and The Rusty Toque!

The Rusty Toque is an excellent online literary mag, featuring fiction, poetry, interview, reviews, and more. Here are the pieces they nominated. I'm in very good company.

It's funny. I had never even thought that I might be nominated for a Pushcart — the most coveted prize in the small-press universe — but now that I have been, I'm all indignant that it had never happened before!

Unfortunately, my story, "The United States Has Gone Crazy," is completely whacko and I have no chance at the prize.

Over and out.
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Published on December 02, 2015 07:40

November 30, 2015

500 hours on a squirrel

Did a little math today. I'm not good at math. But this wasn't too tough. I estimated that I have spent about 500 hours on the Patchy Squirrel Lit-Serv, the weekly literary mail-out of Toronto events I've been doing, on a volunteer basis, for nearly nine years. For a while, Dani Couture collaborated with me on Patchy, and for a while Carey Toane did. But for most of the time, I have been the sole Patchy Operative.

Every week when it's time to do Patchy, I feel a bit resentful. Have to admit that. I feel bitter. I haven't lived in Toronto for over five years. Why do I bother doing this? But having taken on the responsibility, I have trouble thinking about throwing in the towel. My own presence in Toronto has nearly evaporated. I'm barely ever invited to read there anymore. I'm not part of that community anymore.

Anyway, the 500-hour estimate really hit me hard. I could have written five novels in that time. Maybe more. I could have written a hundred short stories. An awful lot of poems, too. Or I could have done stuff that made me money.

In each Patchy mailing, I ask for donations. I don't know how much I've been tipped over the years. Maybe $500. A dollar for each hour I've put into the project. The donations come every few weeks. Occasionally I get a note of thanks.

But I don't know if it's worth my trouble. I'm getting close to putting a knife in its back.

Over and out.

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Published on November 30, 2015 17:40

November 3, 2015

Reading in Peterborough November 4 with Tara Azzopardi!!!

It's my first non-school reading in Peterborough in about 30 years. And it's Mansfield Press's first-ever Peterborough launch. Over and out.
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Published on November 03, 2015 18:49

September 4, 2015

Upcoming shenanigans

Busy, busy summer. And moving into a busy fall.

Shelter Valley Folk Festival, Grafton
This weekend, September 4 to 6, I'll be part of the Artists' Village at The Shelter Valley Folk Festival in Grafton, just 15 minutes east of Cobourg, where I've lived since leaving Toronto. At my tent, I will be selling my own books, as well as a selection from Proper Tales, including my two new chapbooks, Grey Snotes and Cobourg Variations (expanded second edition), and Richard Huttel's first full-lengther, That Said. I will also offer the following: I will read a poem for visitors to my tent for free; I will write a personalized poem for $5; I will conduct a 20-minute poetry workshop for groups of 3 (minimum) by donation. The festival features an amazing lineup of musical acts, plus dancers, craftspeople, writers, and visual artists.

Art Bar Reading Series, Toronto
Then, on Tuesday, I head to Toronto, where I read at the Art Bar Reading Series on September 8, along with Joe Fiorito and Nancy Bullis. That happens at the Black Swan, 154 Danforth Avenue, 8 pm.

The eBar, Guelph
On October 7, I head to Guelph to read at the eBar in Guelph, just upstairs from the amazing Bookshelf, at 41 Quebec Street. The event will also be a launch for local writer Michael Kleiza. Happens at 7 pm.

Translating Horses Launch, Toronto
Back to Toronto on October 22, for the launch of the Baseline Press poetry anthology Translating Horses, edited by Jessica Hiemstra and Gillian Sze. I have a poem in the book. The launch happens at 6:30 pm at Supermarket, 268 Augusta Avenue.

The Other 23 & a Half Hours Launch, Cobourg
I don't have all the details for this one yet, but on October 23, I'll be taking part in the launch of Catherine Owen's The Other 23 & a Half Hours: Or Everything You Wanted to Know that Your MFA Didn’t Teach You, from Wolsak and Wynn. I contributed to the book, and at the launch I'll be doing short talks on small press and collaboration. I'm guessing this will happen at the Human Bean around 7 pm, but I'll let you know.

Ottawa International Writers' Festival
I've been invited back to my favourite writers' festival (well, it's tied with the Lucerne festival in New Denver) for October 25. I'll be reading poetry from A Hamburger in a Gallery, plus some new stuff, and I'll be joined by Nicholas Papaxanthos and Tara Azzopardi, whose brilliant poetry debuts — respectively Love Me Tender and Last Stop, Lonesome Town — will have just been released under my "a stuart ross imprint" from Mansfield Press. The where and the when will be forthcoming, but you can always check out the Ottawa International Writers' Festival website.

Ottawa Small Press Fair
Boing! Right back to Ottawa on November 7 for the Ottawa Small Press Fair, which is always a lot of fun, mostly because the Ottawa small pressers are such a wonderful and welcoming community. Goes from noon till 5 at the Jack Purcell Community Centre, 320 Jack Purcell Lane. I'll be doing a Stuart Ross/Proper Tales table, and maybe a Mansfield table too.

Indie Literary Market, Toronto
The Meet the Presses collective is gearing up for another Indie Literary Market at the Tranzac on November 21. I think it goes from 11:30 till 5. I'll be there with a Proper Tales/Stuart Ross table. The winner of the bpNichol Chapbook Award will be announced. There will be an amazing array of micropresses.

When I feel like a washed-up has-been, I remind myself that I'm a pretty busy washed-up has-been.

Over and out.
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Published on September 04, 2015 02:31

July 31, 2015

Monkey Bars in Banlieue!

Just arrived in Montreal for the Banlieue! exhibition opening tomorrow in Laval at the Maison des arts. The show is curated by Montreal poet and organizer of many things artful and literary Catherine Cormier. The theme of the exhibition is suburbia, and Catherine asked me to be one of two anglophone writers to write a piece on that subject. I wrote a multi-part tale of Bathurst Manor, the Toronto suburb where I grew up. The piece is called "Monkey Bars."

I am a bit terrified of this opening tomorrow because I don't speak French. On the other hand, it's very exciting that my text will appear in full in the exhibition catalogue, and a portion, translated into French by Catherine, will be on the wall in the gallery. There are a ton of artists involved in this show, and I'm excited to see all the different approaches to the subject that will be on display.

I like this link I have to Montreal, and especially to the francophone community. Winning that award in 2013 from l'Académie de la vie littéraire au tournant du 21ème siècle, which led to my co-translation, with Michelle Winters, of Marie-Ève Comtois' second poetry collection, with the English title My Planet of Kites. And now this. I mean, it's tenuous, but it's something anyway. Meanwhile, I am working on my French.

Here's the programme for the day's events.

Over and out.
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Published on July 31, 2015 13:57