Stuart Ross's Blog, page 16
January 7, 2014
A poet I admire reads some poems: Jim Smith
Here's my dear friend and poetry hero Jim Smith, in my messy study, reading some poems a few years ago. He's reading from Back Off, Assassin! New and Selected Poems, which was his return to poetry after he ditched it for a decade to study and practice law. He's still a lawyer. But he's a poet again, too.
Over and out.
Over and out.
January 6, 2014
Mansfield and I
I joined Mansfield Press in 2006, when Denis De Klerck asked me — as an experiment — to bring to the press a book or two to publish. He had read an essay of mine in Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer in which I implored some publisher — any publisher! — to make me poetry editor, or at least put a book through the press.
The first publisher to take me up on that was Bev Daurio, who then ran The Mercury Press. I brought her Mark Laba's first full-length poetry book, Dummy Spit. Which was hell to wrench out of Laba. I practically had to threaten him to get the poems from him. So Bev published that book, and it likely sold very few copies, but I think it's one of the most exciting, original books in Canadian poetry.
That was back in 2002.
Anyway, Denis at Mansfield was willing to experiment. I'd bring him a book or two a year (and later a book or two a season), and we'd see how it goes. Eventually, I got my own imprint at Manfield, "a stuart ross book."
Here are the books I brought to the press and edited, up until 2013. I'm proud of them all. (There are a couple books here I brought to Mansfield after I got my imprint, but they didn't fit what I'm doing with the imprint, so they are under the broader Mansfield umbrella, and I edited them jointly with Denis. I've marked them here with an asterisk. And Jason Heroux migrated to my imprint after his first book was published by Mansfield before I joined the press.)
Nelson Ball, In This Thin Rain (2012)George Bowering, How I Wrote Certain of My Books (2011)George Bowering, Teeth: Poems 2006-2011 (2013)Stephen Brockwell, Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books (2013)Stephen Brockwell & Stuart Ross (eds.), Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Government (2010)Alice Burdick, Flutter (2009)Alice Burdick, Holler (2012)Jason Camlot, What The World Said (2013)*Sarah Dearing, The Art of Sufficient Conclusions (2012)Paula Eisenstein, Flip Turn (2012)Jaime Forsythe, Sympathy Loophole (2012)*Sara Heinonen, Dear Leaves, I Miss You All (2013)Jason Heroux, Emergency Hallelujah (2009)Jason Heroux, Natural Capital (2012)David W. McFadden, Be Calm, Honey (2009)David W. McFadden, Mother Died Last Summer (2013)David W. McFadden, What's The Score? (2012)Leigh Nash, Goodbye, Ukulele (2010)Lillian Necakov, The Bone Broker (2007)Lillian Necakov, Hooligans (2011)Peter Norman, At the Gates of the Theme Park (2011)Peter Norman, Water Damage (2013)
Natasha Nuhanovic, Stray Dog Embassy (2010)Catherine Owen & Joe Rosenblatt, with Karen Moe, Dog (2008)Stuart Ross & 29 collaborators, Our Days in Vaudeville (2013)Marko Sijan, Mongrel (2011)Jim Smith, Back Off, Assassin! New and Selected Poems (2010)Jim Smith, Happy Birthday, Nicanor Parra (2012)Robert Earl Stewart, Campfire Radio Rhapsody (2011)Robert Earl Stewart, Something Burned Along the Southern Border (2010)Carey Toane, The Crystal Palace (2011)Steve Venright, Floors of Enduring Beauty (2007)Tom Walmsley, Dog Eat Rat (2009)
You can order any of these books through your local bookstore, through online booksellers, or direct from the press.
This spring, I'm shepherding new books by poets Gary Barwin, Dani Couture, and David W. McFadden through the press.
Over and out.
The first publisher to take me up on that was Bev Daurio, who then ran The Mercury Press. I brought her Mark Laba's first full-length poetry book, Dummy Spit. Which was hell to wrench out of Laba. I practically had to threaten him to get the poems from him. So Bev published that book, and it likely sold very few copies, but I think it's one of the most exciting, original books in Canadian poetry.
That was back in 2002.
Anyway, Denis at Mansfield was willing to experiment. I'd bring him a book or two a year (and later a book or two a season), and we'd see how it goes. Eventually, I got my own imprint at Manfield, "a stuart ross book."
Here are the books I brought to the press and edited, up until 2013. I'm proud of them all. (There are a couple books here I brought to Mansfield after I got my imprint, but they didn't fit what I'm doing with the imprint, so they are under the broader Mansfield umbrella, and I edited them jointly with Denis. I've marked them here with an asterisk. And Jason Heroux migrated to my imprint after his first book was published by Mansfield before I joined the press.)
Nelson Ball, In This Thin Rain (2012)George Bowering, How I Wrote Certain of My Books (2011)George Bowering, Teeth: Poems 2006-2011 (2013)Stephen Brockwell, Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books (2013)Stephen Brockwell & Stuart Ross (eds.), Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Government (2010)Alice Burdick, Flutter (2009)Alice Burdick, Holler (2012)Jason Camlot, What The World Said (2013)*Sarah Dearing, The Art of Sufficient Conclusions (2012)Paula Eisenstein, Flip Turn (2012)Jaime Forsythe, Sympathy Loophole (2012)*Sara Heinonen, Dear Leaves, I Miss You All (2013)Jason Heroux, Emergency Hallelujah (2009)Jason Heroux, Natural Capital (2012)David W. McFadden, Be Calm, Honey (2009)David W. McFadden, Mother Died Last Summer (2013)David W. McFadden, What's The Score? (2012)Leigh Nash, Goodbye, Ukulele (2010)Lillian Necakov, The Bone Broker (2007)Lillian Necakov, Hooligans (2011)Peter Norman, At the Gates of the Theme Park (2011)Peter Norman, Water Damage (2013)
Natasha Nuhanovic, Stray Dog Embassy (2010)Catherine Owen & Joe Rosenblatt, with Karen Moe, Dog (2008)Stuart Ross & 29 collaborators, Our Days in Vaudeville (2013)Marko Sijan, Mongrel (2011)Jim Smith, Back Off, Assassin! New and Selected Poems (2010)Jim Smith, Happy Birthday, Nicanor Parra (2012)Robert Earl Stewart, Campfire Radio Rhapsody (2011)Robert Earl Stewart, Something Burned Along the Southern Border (2010)Carey Toane, The Crystal Palace (2011)Steve Venright, Floors of Enduring Beauty (2007)Tom Walmsley, Dog Eat Rat (2009)
You can order any of these books through your local bookstore, through online booksellers, or direct from the press.
This spring, I'm shepherding new books by poets Gary Barwin, Dani Couture, and David W. McFadden through the press.
Over and out.
January 1, 2014
My 2014 New Year poem
LESSONS FROM 2014
For your information, whenyou eat things they go into you.I learned this last year.This year, however,I cannot write a poem. I justcan’t do it. My dog skidsaround on the ice outside,I’m bleeding the radiatorwith fifty leeches, seismologistscurl at the foot of my bed,episodes of F Troopare shotin my living room, guppiesdo tricks in the depthsof my teacup, plus:
confusion is the basic unitof all living organisms. It hasbeen dubbed the building blockof life. A single confusiondivides to produce two daughterconfusions. Let’s pack a lunch,pile into the station wagonand sit in the driveway.
In closing, then:Blank sheets of paperscribble poems on me.A lamp throws a shadowinto the wastebasket.The radiance of the nightis just about endless.
Stuart Ross Wednesday, January 1, 2014
December 31, 2013
Remembering John Lavery on his birthday
I'm thinking about writer and friend John Lavery, who would have been celebrating his birthday today. John died on May 8, 2011. I was extremely fond of him, and in awe of his brilliance as a writer and composer/songwriter.
It surprises me how much I still yearn to talk with him again. To hear that soothing, quiet voice. To hear his blunt, provocative, and sometimes outrageous ideas about writing.
On September 17, 2011, his beautiful, awesome family — wife Claire, daughters Madeleine and Catherine, and son Charles-Éric — held a magnificent tribute to John in Gatineau, Quebec, where they lived. I hosted the event with Madeleine, and the program featured readings and music and memories from Peter Norman, Max Middle, the Fandango Guitar Quartet, Phillip Victor Bova, Glenn Nuotio, Jeni Labelle, Alison Leja, and others. Catherine read a passage from one of John's favourite writers, the novelist and short fictioneer Christian Bobin, and Charles-Éric, an accomplished musician himself, played his musical interpretation of John's poem "La Porte d'Entrée."
It was an afternoon filled with beautiful art — including Catherine's perfect portrait of her father playing guitar —
great readings, stunning music, and a lot of tears, especially during a brilliantly bagpiped "Scotland the Brave," video of John reading from Sandra Beck (shot by Aldo Erdic during a reading John and I gave at Levack Block in Toronto in February 2011), and the finale, an audio recording of John singing his farewell song, "Disappearing."
The printed programme for the event kicked off with this quotation by John:
"I am a natural performer, and have been since even before my parents made me show off my chops for their martini-drinking friends. Performing is a way of deflecting attention away from yourself. The performer offers up a version of himself which he hopes will be sufficiently interesting to people that when he stops performing, they will not interest themselves in what he considers to be the real version and leave him alone. The performer requires anonymity, but the anonymity would be unbearable without the performing."
Here's John playing one of his own compositions at the Manx Pub in Ottawa:
John was the author of three impeccable, moving, breathtaking books of fiction: the story collections Very Good Butter and You, Kwaznievski, You Piss Me Off (which he considered a novel) and the novel Sandra Beck. I believe he was one of the greatest and most inventive prose stylists this country as ever seen. At the tribute in September 2011, John's family launched Dignity, the CD of his songs John was determined to complete before he died. He did complete it, and it's a thing of wonder. John wrote songs like nothing I've ever heard before. Each is as literary and rich as a good short story. Madeleine said at the tribute: "Today is the official launch of the CD Dignitywhich John started taping with Bova Sound exactly one year ago, on September 17, 2010. To quote him: 'It was something I had only wanted to do since I had been 12 years old.' He unfortunately did not get the chance to see it through, as he had hoped, but we are very proud to be able to do it for him."
Those of us who knew John were blessed. Those who didn't know John can still read his enduring literary works, and listen to his songs.
Happy birthday, John.
Over and out.
It surprises me how much I still yearn to talk with him again. To hear that soothing, quiet voice. To hear his blunt, provocative, and sometimes outrageous ideas about writing.
On September 17, 2011, his beautiful, awesome family — wife Claire, daughters Madeleine and Catherine, and son Charles-Éric — held a magnificent tribute to John in Gatineau, Quebec, where they lived. I hosted the event with Madeleine, and the program featured readings and music and memories from Peter Norman, Max Middle, the Fandango Guitar Quartet, Phillip Victor Bova, Glenn Nuotio, Jeni Labelle, Alison Leja, and others. Catherine read a passage from one of John's favourite writers, the novelist and short fictioneer Christian Bobin, and Charles-Éric, an accomplished musician himself, played his musical interpretation of John's poem "La Porte d'Entrée."
It was an afternoon filled with beautiful art — including Catherine's perfect portrait of her father playing guitar —
great readings, stunning music, and a lot of tears, especially during a brilliantly bagpiped "Scotland the Brave," video of John reading from Sandra Beck (shot by Aldo Erdic during a reading John and I gave at Levack Block in Toronto in February 2011), and the finale, an audio recording of John singing his farewell song, "Disappearing."
The printed programme for the event kicked off with this quotation by John:
"I am a natural performer, and have been since even before my parents made me show off my chops for their martini-drinking friends. Performing is a way of deflecting attention away from yourself. The performer offers up a version of himself which he hopes will be sufficiently interesting to people that when he stops performing, they will not interest themselves in what he considers to be the real version and leave him alone. The performer requires anonymity, but the anonymity would be unbearable without the performing."
Here's John playing one of his own compositions at the Manx Pub in Ottawa:
John was the author of three impeccable, moving, breathtaking books of fiction: the story collections Very Good Butter and You, Kwaznievski, You Piss Me Off (which he considered a novel) and the novel Sandra Beck. I believe he was one of the greatest and most inventive prose stylists this country as ever seen. At the tribute in September 2011, John's family launched Dignity, the CD of his songs John was determined to complete before he died. He did complete it, and it's a thing of wonder. John wrote songs like nothing I've ever heard before. Each is as literary and rich as a good short story. Madeleine said at the tribute: "Today is the official launch of the CD Dignitywhich John started taping with Bova Sound exactly one year ago, on September 17, 2010. To quote him: 'It was something I had only wanted to do since I had been 12 years old.' He unfortunately did not get the chance to see it through, as he had hoped, but we are very proud to be able to do it for him."
Those of us who knew John were blessed. Those who didn't know John can still read his enduring literary works, and listen to his songs.
Happy birthday, John.
Over and out.
December 23, 2013
13 poetry favourites from 2013
Here, in alphabetical order, are 13 of the most exciting poetry reads I experienced during 2013. Although they may belong here, I have excluded books from Mansfield Press, where I have an imprint (issuing this year fantastic poetry by George Bowering, Stephen Brockwell, Jason Camlot and Peter Norman — as well as a collection by me and 29 Canadian collaborators). I have also excluded chapbooks, and I sure read a lot of great chapbooks this year.
If all I had read this past year were these 13 poetry books, it would have been a rich and satisfying 364 days. There are four exciting Selecteds or Collecteds here (Bolaño, Hamilton, Padgett, and Reverdy), as well as one indispensable multi-reissue (Nichol); four remarkable books that mark significant new territory for the poets (Bachinsky, Dailey, Graham, and Thammavongsa); three stunning additions to already-prolific careers (MillAr, Ruefle, and Wier); and one compelling debut (Faulkner).
Each one of these books is a book I will read again. In some cases, again and again. At least a couple of them will be lifelong companions.
Goes without saying, perhaps, that it was tough to keep this list to 13 titles. Next year, though, I guess I get to list 14.
Here are 2013's 13:
THE HOTTEST SUMMER IN RECORDED HISTORYElizabeth Bachinsky (Nightwood)
UNKNOWN UNIVERSITYRoberto Bolaño; trans. Laura Healy (New Directions)
INDUSTRIAL LOOPJoel Dailey (Lavender Ink/Fell Swoop)
NEED MACHINEAndrew Faulkner (Coach House)
HER RED HAIR RISES WITH THE WINGS OF INSECTSCatherine Graham (Wolsak & Wynn)
A DARK DREAMBOX OF ANOTHER KINDAlfred Starr Hamilton (The Song Cave)
TIMELY IRREVERENCEJay MillAr (Nightwood)
A BOOK OF VARIATIONS: LOVE • ZYGAL • ART FACTSbpNichol (Coach House)
THE COLLECTED POEMSRon Padgett (Coffee House)
PIERRE REVERDYed. by Mary Ann Caws; trans. John Ashbery, Dan Bellm, Mary Ann Caws, Lydia Davis, Marilyn Hacker, Richard Howard, Geoffrey O'Brien, Frank O'Hara, Don Padgett, Mark Polizzotti, Kenneth Rexroth, Richard Sieburth, Patricia Terry, Rosanna Warren (NYRB)
TRANCES OF THE BLASTMary Ruefle (Wave)
LIGHTSouvankham Thammavongsa (Pedlar)
YOU GOOD THINGDara Wier (Wave)
Over and out.
December 5, 2013
Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa launch tour!
My new book is out. It looks beautiful. It is the most insane book of poetry ever published in Canada, except perhaps for The Better Poems of Peter Paul Van Camp. I wrote it with 29 collaborators. It was published by Mansfield Press, under my own imprint, "a stuart ross book."
It's called Our Days in Vaudeville. I thought up that title, and then I inserted into a collaborative poem I was working on with Mark Laba to make it look like the title had grown organically from the book. Don't tell anyone.
On Sunday, I'm leaving for a brief tour of three cities, along with four other Mansfield Press authors: Stephen Brockwell, Jason Camlot, Glen Downie and Sara Heinonen. Stephen's and Jason's books were also published under my imprint at Mansfield. In each of the cities, I will have a few of my collaborators read our collaborative poems. it's going to be fun.
Here's all the info.
First, the new books:
POETRY
Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books, by Stephen Brockwell
What The World Said, by Jason Camlot
Monkey Soap, by Glen Downie
Our Days in Vaudeville, by Stuart Ross & 29 collaboratorsFICTION
Dear Leaves, I Miss You All, by Sara HeinonenHosted by Mansfield publisher/editor Denis De Klerck and editor Stuart Ross
DECEMBER 8 — TORONTO
at the legendary Monarch Tavern,
12 Clinton St, Toronto, ON M6J 2N8,
just a few short steps away from the legendary Mansfield Press.
7:30 PMMy guest collaborators: Dani Couture, Jim Smith, Paul VermeerschDECEMBER 9 — MONTREAL
at the brand new Cardinal Teahouse,
5326 St. Laurent, Montreal, QC H2T 1A5
The Cardinal Teahouse is the second floor of the very popular Sparrow bar.
7:30 PMMy guest collaborators: Sarah Burgoyne, Nicholas Papaxanthos
DECEMBER 11 — OTTAWA
at the wonderful Raw Sugar Cafe
692 Somerset W., Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6P4
7:30 PMMy guest collaborators: Cameron Anstee, Michael Dennis, Sandra RidleyIf you're anywhere near one of these cities, I hope to see you at the launch!Over and out.
It's called Our Days in Vaudeville. I thought up that title, and then I inserted into a collaborative poem I was working on with Mark Laba to make it look like the title had grown organically from the book. Don't tell anyone.
On Sunday, I'm leaving for a brief tour of three cities, along with four other Mansfield Press authors: Stephen Brockwell, Jason Camlot, Glen Downie and Sara Heinonen. Stephen's and Jason's books were also published under my imprint at Mansfield. In each of the cities, I will have a few of my collaborators read our collaborative poems. it's going to be fun.
Here's all the info.
First, the new books:
POETRY
Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books, by Stephen Brockwell
What The World Said, by Jason Camlot
Monkey Soap, by Glen Downie
Our Days in Vaudeville, by Stuart Ross & 29 collaboratorsFICTION
Dear Leaves, I Miss You All, by Sara HeinonenHosted by Mansfield publisher/editor Denis De Klerck and editor Stuart Ross
DECEMBER 8 — TORONTO
at the legendary Monarch Tavern,
12 Clinton St, Toronto, ON M6J 2N8,
just a few short steps away from the legendary Mansfield Press.
7:30 PMMy guest collaborators: Dani Couture, Jim Smith, Paul VermeerschDECEMBER 9 — MONTREAL
at the brand new Cardinal Teahouse,
5326 St. Laurent, Montreal, QC H2T 1A5
The Cardinal Teahouse is the second floor of the very popular Sparrow bar.
7:30 PMMy guest collaborators: Sarah Burgoyne, Nicholas Papaxanthos
DECEMBER 11 — OTTAWA
at the wonderful Raw Sugar Cafe
692 Somerset W., Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6P4
7:30 PMMy guest collaborators: Cameron Anstee, Michael Dennis, Sandra RidleyIf you're anywhere near one of these cities, I hope to see you at the launch!Over and out.
November 22, 2013
My new book — a Canadian first!
My new book is at the printer right now. Our Days in Vaudeville is coming out under my own imprint at Mansfield Press. Why not?
I believe it is the first book of its kind by a Canadian poet: a collection in which one poet collaborates with a big bunch of other poets. A few years back, I published New York poet Ron Padgett's If I Were You, a collection of collaborations by Ron with the likes of Larry Fagin, Alice Notley, and Allen Ginsberg. As the years passed, and I found myself collaborating with more and more poets, I decided that a similar book by me would be in order.
So here it is. There are collaborations here with long-time collaborators Mark Laba and Gary Barwin, as well as 27 others, some of whom I have known for decades but had never before collaborated with, and other, newer colleagues with whom I have written just a single poem.
When it came to the final cut, I had to arbitrarily hold back works with another dozen collaborators for what I hope will be a follow-up volume. There was just too much great stuff!
I also decided to limit this particular book to collaborations with Canadian poets, which, again, made it a bit easier to choose what to include.
The brilliant cover was created by my old friend Gary Clement, an award-winning illustrator and writer who also did the covers for two of my previous books, I Cut My Finger and You Exist. Details Follow. (both from Anvil Press), and the anthology I edited with Stephen Brockwell, Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament (Mansfield Press). Having a cover-creator like Gary makes me just about the luckiest writer in the world.
And collaborating with these fabulous writers just ups the luckiness ante.
I'm excited in so many ways about this profoundly demented book, and grateful to Mansfield publisher Denis De Klerck for bringing it into the world.
The Mansfield Press fall 2013 lineup also includes new books by Stephen Brockwell, Jason Camlot, Glen Downie and Sara Heinonen. Details of our launches in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal coming up soon!
Over and out.
I believe it is the first book of its kind by a Canadian poet: a collection in which one poet collaborates with a big bunch of other poets. A few years back, I published New York poet Ron Padgett's If I Were You, a collection of collaborations by Ron with the likes of Larry Fagin, Alice Notley, and Allen Ginsberg. As the years passed, and I found myself collaborating with more and more poets, I decided that a similar book by me would be in order.
So here it is. There are collaborations here with long-time collaborators Mark Laba and Gary Barwin, as well as 27 others, some of whom I have known for decades but had never before collaborated with, and other, newer colleagues with whom I have written just a single poem.
When it came to the final cut, I had to arbitrarily hold back works with another dozen collaborators for what I hope will be a follow-up volume. There was just too much great stuff!
I also decided to limit this particular book to collaborations with Canadian poets, which, again, made it a bit easier to choose what to include.
The brilliant cover was created by my old friend Gary Clement, an award-winning illustrator and writer who also did the covers for two of my previous books, I Cut My Finger and You Exist. Details Follow. (both from Anvil Press), and the anthology I edited with Stephen Brockwell, Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament (Mansfield Press). Having a cover-creator like Gary makes me just about the luckiest writer in the world.
And collaborating with these fabulous writers just ups the luckiness ante.
I'm excited in so many ways about this profoundly demented book, and grateful to Mansfield publisher Denis De Klerck for bringing it into the world.
The Mansfield Press fall 2013 lineup also includes new books by Stephen Brockwell, Jason Camlot, Glen Downie and Sara Heinonen. Details of our launches in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal coming up soon!
Over and out.
November 21, 2013
8 new poems in experiment-o
I have eight new poems in the 2013 issue of Amanda Earl's online litmag experiment-o. I think I wrote every one of these poems in workshops that I gave — in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver.
experiment-o is a lot of fun — very eclectic, with a nice mixture of the linear and the visual. Amanda lives in Ottawa and is crazily active in the poetry scene there: she organizes, publishes, writes, blogs.
I've been sending poems out this year, more than ever before. Another couple are about to pop up in mags in Canada and the U.S. It's something I've been terrible at — sending out submissions. But I want to give my poems as many lives as I can.
Over and out.
experiment-o is a lot of fun — very eclectic, with a nice mixture of the linear and the visual. Amanda lives in Ottawa and is crazily active in the poetry scene there: she organizes, publishes, writes, blogs.
I've been sending poems out this year, more than ever before. Another couple are about to pop up in mags in Canada and the U.S. It's something I've been terrible at — sending out submissions. But I want to give my poems as many lives as I can.
Over and out.
November 19, 2013
Indie Lit Market bounty!
The November 16 Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market in Toronto was perhaps the best small-press showcase I've yet attended. The Market is unique in that we members of the Meet the Presses collective curate this event: it's not a first-come, first-admitted event, or a free-for-all. We have limited space, and we want to make sure that people attending the Market are going to find amazing things there.
Because I was mostly stuck behind my own table, and simultaneously watching the Meet the Presses info table that featured the bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlisted titles, I didn't get to all the tables I wanted to explore. Also, things were busy at my table, where I did extremely good business, especially with my four new Proper Tales Press chapbooks, by Sarah Burgoyne, Paul Vermeersch, Tom Walmsley and me. I was sure fortunate to get my hands on Sarah's, Paul's and Tom's manuscripts.
Here's what I acquired at the Market:
André Alexis, A (BookThug, 2013)
John Barlow, Open Field Writing: work in progress (garden of poetics, 2013)
Jessica Bebenek, I, family (Loose Ends Press, 2012)
Christopher Bowen, We Were Giants (sunnyoutside, undated)
Anhvu Buchanan, The Disordered (sunnyoutside, 2013)
Michael e. Casteels, full moon loon call (Puddle of Sky Press, 2013)
Nathan Dueck, @BillMurray in Purgatorio (above/ground press, 2013)
Brecken Hancock, Husha (above/ground press broadside, undated)
illiterature, issue 3, edited by Michael e. Casteels (Puddle of Sky Press, 2013)
David McFadden, the poetry of our age (Letters, 1986)
Daniel Perry, Ode (undated)
Nicholas Power, Public Denial Poem (The Writing Space, 2003)
Rampike Vol. 22, No. 2, edited by Karl Jirgens (2013)
Kevin Spenst, Retractable (serif of nottingham, 2013)
Stone the Crows! Vol. 2, No. 2, edited by Larry Cowan (Fall 2013)
Caroline Szpak, Pomeranian Front (Horse of Operation, 2013)
Souvankham Thammavongsa, Light (Pedlar Press, 2013)
Adrienne Weiss, Production 1060: The Oz Monologues (Junction Books, 2013)
Zhush Redux: An OUTwrites Anthology, edited by Terence Go (OUTwrites, 2012)
It's probably lucky I didn't get to some of the other amazing presses' tables, because I would've gone broke.
Over and out.
Because I was mostly stuck behind my own table, and simultaneously watching the Meet the Presses info table that featured the bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlisted titles, I didn't get to all the tables I wanted to explore. Also, things were busy at my table, where I did extremely good business, especially with my four new Proper Tales Press chapbooks, by Sarah Burgoyne, Paul Vermeersch, Tom Walmsley and me. I was sure fortunate to get my hands on Sarah's, Paul's and Tom's manuscripts.
Here's what I acquired at the Market:
André Alexis, A (BookThug, 2013)
John Barlow, Open Field Writing: work in progress (garden of poetics, 2013)
Jessica Bebenek, I, family (Loose Ends Press, 2012)
Christopher Bowen, We Were Giants (sunnyoutside, undated)
Anhvu Buchanan, The Disordered (sunnyoutside, 2013)
Michael e. Casteels, full moon loon call (Puddle of Sky Press, 2013)
Nathan Dueck, @BillMurray in Purgatorio (above/ground press, 2013)
Brecken Hancock, Husha (above/ground press broadside, undated)
illiterature, issue 3, edited by Michael e. Casteels (Puddle of Sky Press, 2013)
David McFadden, the poetry of our age (Letters, 1986)
Daniel Perry, Ode (undated)
Nicholas Power, Public Denial Poem (The Writing Space, 2003)
Rampike Vol. 22, No. 2, edited by Karl Jirgens (2013)
Kevin Spenst, Retractable (serif of nottingham, 2013)
Stone the Crows! Vol. 2, No. 2, edited by Larry Cowan (Fall 2013)
Caroline Szpak, Pomeranian Front (Horse of Operation, 2013)
Souvankham Thammavongsa, Light (Pedlar Press, 2013)
Adrienne Weiss, Production 1060: The Oz Monologues (Junction Books, 2013)
Zhush Redux: An OUTwrites Anthology, edited by Terence Go (OUTwrites, 2012)
It's probably lucky I didn't get to some of the other amazing presses' tables, because I would've gone broke.
Over and out.
November 16, 2013
SOCKS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM MAYOR ROB FORD
TORONTO — Socks have joined Iceberg Vodka, Ford Motor Co., the Toronto Argonauts, and the Santa Claus Parade in distancing themselves from embattled Toronto mayor Rob Ford.
"When he made those vulgar comments on Thursday," said one sock, "he was wearing socks. We socks do not condone the mayor's misogynistic comments."
"For that matter," added another sock, "we do not condone drinking and driving while wearing socks or doing crack cocaine while wearing socks."
With socks now denouncing Ford, he is almost entirely isolated. "Lies, 100 percent lies," the mayor spluttered outside his office this morning. "I was not wearing socks during any of those isolated incidents. I have no choice but to take my socks to court. I don't know what else to say."
