Jim Johnstone, Write Print Fold and Staple: On Poetry and Micropress in Canada
When considering the impact of micropress it’s importantto recognize that small publishers aren’t simply extensions of largeroperations. derek beaulieu and Jason Christie touch on the disjunction betweensmall and large publishers in a 2004 issue of Open Letter dedicated to “CanadianSmall Presses / Micropress,” positing that:
It is crucial to considerthe small press as a non-entity or an amorphous totality because to give itpre-eminence, to define the small press in its entirety, would be to make of ita structure capable of registering with the same presence as ‘CanadianLiterature’ in the media and with casual readers. The small press would then besubject to the same ideological baggage of canon formation and capitalist obligation.
At the hear of thisargument is thee notion that micropresses have the power to equalize thepublishing landscape. But if they’re hard to define, and nearly impossible totrace, then how do they democratize, and who benefits from their presence?
Part of the answer lies with the authors who close micropressesover the continuum of publishing houses that publish trade books. There’sfreedom in printing material without bowing to the pressures of commercial expectation—acommitment to the art of writing itself. Saying this, I’m less interested inthose who use micropresses as developmental territories, levelling-up totraditional publishers when they’ve established a presence in the literarycommunity, than those who commit to disseminating their work ephemerally, evenafter publishing trade books. Authors who traffic in chapbooks and pamphletsare able to distribute material that wouldn’t fit, or is frowned upon at largerpresses, highlighted by transgressive, unusual, or unpopular subject matter. Inthis way, they benefit from the creative potentiality of micropress, whichallows for risk and encourages publishing in real-time.
Iwas very pleased to be introduced to Toronto poet, editor and publisher JimJohnstone’s latest, the small critical folio Write Print Fold and Staple: On Poetry and Micropress in Canada (Kentville NS: Gaspereau Press, 2023). Thistitle is so new that he’s travelling around with copies as part of a tour for hislatest poetry title [see my review of such here]. The book exists in threeparts: “Write, Print, Fold, and Staple: Four Principles of Micropress,” “StartSmall, Stay Small: Khashayar Mohammadi and the Creative Potentiality ofMicropress” and “In Praise of the Mayfly: A Survey of Canadian Micropresses.” Johnstoneapproaches this critical folio as not simply someone interested in the form,but as someone existing deep within the consideration and ecosystem of smalland micro press. Johnstone is a writer, editor and publisher, having co-founded Anstruther Press in 2014 with his wife, Erica Smith (a press still verymuch active), and more recently, editing full-length collections throughPalimpsest Press, as well as the occasional anthology. He not only understandsthe ethos and approach of small and micro press publishing, but is an activeparticipant, having been such for quite some time, and he opens his overviewwith a description of his own small press beginnings, from working sixteenissues of Misunderstandings Magazine, his time as part of Cactus Pressto his eventual co-founding of Anstruther (he also guest-edited an issue of GU E S T [a journal of guest editors], produced through above/ground pressnot that long back).
Since these origins, one of Anstruther’s main initiativeshas been to form an editorial collective to scout manuscripts from poets acrossthe country. The net cast by having editors in cities like Halifax,Fredericton, Montreal, London, and Vancouver means that we’re able to tap intowriting communities outside central Canada, and at the same time extend thepress’s visibility to writers looking to publish first chapbooks, both of whichare important parts of our mission. Moreover, pairing poets with editors hasallowed those involved in the Anstruther bookmaking process to develop experienceon either side of the publishing divide.
Whatis most compelling about this small folio is in just how effectively it worksto provide an overview of some of the small and micro-press publishing activityin Canada at this particular moment, providing information on the nature of chapbookpublishing, and focusing on a wide range of publishers currently and formerlyactive in various corners of the country—something that had previously been thepurview of journals such as the late, lamented Open Letter: A CanadianJournal of Writing and Theory (1965-2013). Honestly, I can’t even think ofa Canadian overview since that particular issue of Open Letter thatJohnstone quoted above, the “Canadian Small Presses and Micropresses” issue,guest edited by derek beaulieu & Jason Christie (Twelfth Series, No. 4:Fall 2004). Also, the 1989 issue that holds ten interviews with British Columbia poet/publishers, conducted and edited by Barry McKinnon, is alsopretty cool. Curiously, the focus on Toronto-based poet and publisher KhashayarMohammadi in the second chapter is interesting, offering an example of a writerand translator able to get work out into the world that might have been difficult,if not impossible, without the assistance of small press:
Mohammadi’s trajectory is an exemplar of the kind of markan author can make by staying small. Moe’s Skin is an ambitiousbeginning, consisting of a single long poem with multiple sections. Printed onyellow cardstock, its cover features a Velvet Underground-like banana peeledback to reveal a figure that looks very much like the author. While the bookonly retailed for $10, it’s thirty-two-pages long, and was hand sewn in anedition of one hundred copies. Contrast this with what came next for Mohammadi—theperfect-bound, Coach House Books-printed Dear Kestrel, published by Knife|Fork|Bookin 2019—and you have an illustration of how varied micropress endeavours canbe. For my money, Dear Kestrel is the most aesthetically-pleasing objectKnife|Fork|Book has published to date, with 80 lb Mohawk Loop Straw cardstockused for the cover, overlaid with tan ink so that the title almost looks likeit’s been burned into wood.
TheCanadian small and micro presses that Johnstone gathers and discusses as partof his survey, each with an individual write-ups (with full-colour photographsof titles by each), include above/ground press (1993-present), The Alfred Gustav Press (2008-present), Apt. 9 Press (2009-present), Baseline Press(2011-present), Collusion Books (2020-present), Ferno House (2009-2014), Frog Hollow Press (2001-2022), Gap Riot Press (2017-present), Jackpine Press(2002-present), Junction Books (1999-present), Knife|Fork|Book (2017-present),Model Press (2020-present), No Press (2005-present), Rahila’s Ghost Press (2017-2022)and Thee Hellbox Press (1983-85; 2005-18). Obviously works such as these rarelyaim to be complete, but I would have been curious to see his take on pressessuch as Proper Tales Press, AngelHousePress, puddles of sky press, The Blasted Tree or Simulacrum Press, for example [see a further list of active Canadiansmall and micro presses at the Small Press Interactive Map curated by Kate Siklosi], or even Gaspereau Press itself. Either way, this is one of the most comprehensive critical titles I’veseen on contemporary chapbook production in some time, and a fantastic introductionto both an opening as well as a deeper understanding of contemporary publishing.As he writes of his own approach to publishing and production, one might evenconsider this an ethos for all the editor/publishers mentioned, a question posedbefore citing the four principles of small publishing (ideal units for poetry,value in small, chapbooks are democratic and large presses depend on the small):
Assembling books by handhas stuck with me, and one of the reasons I’ve been able to persist is thatAnstruther titles are produced in much the same way as the books I made inelementary school—folded and stapled—only now with the aid of a printer andphotocopier. These are the tools of the trade for those interested inmicropress at a base level, a place where many poets learn and expand theircraft. But who chooses to stay small? And is there value in ephemeral,hand-distributed material in the digital age?
