Ongoing notes: the ottawa small press book fair (part three : Jenny Wong, Michael e. Casteels + Barbara Caruso,

[see the first part of these notes here; see the second part of these notes here]

BC/ON: One of the most recent chapbook titles throughPinhole Poetry Chapbook Press is SHIFTINGS & other coordinates ofdisorder (2024), the chapbook debut by Jenny Wong, a poet who “resides inCanada near the Rocky Mountains.” There are some curious moments and silencesacross Wong’s lines—halts, and hesitations across first-person observational/meditationallyrics. “I come early / before sunscreen and sand / precipitate over miles ofskin,” she writes, to open the poem “At Kitsilano Beach,” “before portable nets/ catch spikes and volleys / of sunlit sound.” These poems hold such curious slownesses,and some intriguing lines amid striking images. “The lawns have begun todisintegrate / into brittle lessons about primary colors.” she writes, as partof “August Storms,” “Observe what happens to green / when there is nolonger blue. Feel the prick / of parched dry yellow.” Certain of thesepoems could have used a bit of an edit, but I am interested to see what Wongpublishes next; it does feel as though Wong is working to get at something thatshe hasn’t quite reached yet, but is certainly possible (and not that far off).As she writes to close the poem “Lactic Acid”:

Perhaps as we get older,our skeletons begin to show.

There is something insideme that eats away any desire for stillness. And so perhaps this is why I wander.Something in my bones.

Looking for home.

Michael e. Casteels + jwcurry, post-fair

Kingston/Cobourg ON: I’m always pleased tosee a new title by Kingston writer Michael e. Casteels, and his latest is theprose collection A SUDDEN CHANGE OF SEASON (Proper Tales Press, 2024), acollection of thirteen pieces that sit in the realm of “postcard fiction.” I’vebeen intrigued for some time with Casteels’ ongoing work, watching each projectshift focus and framing between more narrative prose, prose poems and shorterpoem-structures to collaborative and even visual works. With each newpublication, I’m enjoying the fact that one doesn’t quite know what structures hemight be working with until one opens to the first page. Are these shortstories? Are these postcard fictions? Are these moments?

Monte and Me

My horse retrieved mymoccasins from the saddle bags. I took off my boots and slung them onto thesaddle horn. Then I donned the moccasins.

“What are you thinkin’?”he asked.

“Only one of us can makeit. I’ll pin them down, you open that gate.”

For a moment he stood inthe lemon light, inhaling deeply. Then he started down the hill, putting eachfoot down with equal care. Precious few moments were left.

Proper Tales Press (with Stuart Ross' works on the left + Anvil Press on the right,

Ottawa/Paris ON: A while back, Cameron Anstee produced atitle by the late painter, publisher, collaborator and writer Barbara Caruso(1937-2009), her WORD HAPPENS POEM (Apt. 9 Press, 2023), a small titlethat opens with a “STATEMENT” by Caruso’s late husband (dated March 2018), thepoet Nelson Ball (1942-2019) [see my obituary for him here]. As he wrote:“Barbara occasionally employed letter forms, numbers and sometimes words in herearliest paintings and drawings. Her paintings became exclusively non-objectivearound 1970, while in her drawings she continued to incorporate the forms ofletters and numbers.” There is something lovely about Anstee working hissequence of archival projects, focusing his attention on the minutae of Caruso,as well as William Hawkins, whether through repeated issues, reissues or the collectedpoems that landed not long before Old Bill passed. There is such a delicateintelligence, out of complex, straightforward play in Caruso’s work, one thatdeserves a far larger attention (might a collected around pieces such as these,be worth considering?). Ball’s introduction continues, a bit further on:

Sometimes during such aperiod of respite she would make things, frequently working with small sizes.She was usually playful in what she produced. Word Happens Poem is anexample. She made it around 1970 as a private gift to me. It was drawn withgraphite pencil, employing stencils. Other examples of her “play” are the verysmall rubber hand-stamped presspresspress (1988-1998) booklets that shedistributed selectively to friends, and a series of miniature ink drawings madein the manner of her larger non-objective drawings.

It was not Barbara’sintention to publish Word Happens Poem. She grew up in the town ofKincardine during the 1950s, a conservative era in Ontario. Even today, she maynot have approved publication of several of the pieces. Nevertheless, theseries is here complete.