edited by Donald H. Kent
Eastern National Park & Monument Association
(c)1989
When forced to surrender to the French in 1754 at Fort Necessity, this journal was left behind during the chaos of that moment. It is an extract with footnotes of Major Washington's journal which had made its way to Canada. I was not aware of this journal nor its significance prior to me finding this booklet.
36 pages, staple bound.
Saint Aidan's Folk Hymnal 1979
Saint Aidan's Episcopal Church
Alexandria, VA
(c)1979
Created by Ellen Holiday, Cecelia Brevard, Jackie Waller, and Sharon Cunningham. It's a staple bound collection of religious folk hymnals printed on yellow paper (which is why I am mentioning it)
above/ground press
Ontario, Canada
(c)2025
Found this in an art gallery/working space (like a beehive for artists) in Burlington, VT when I was there in April 2026. This is an oddly sized book in the sense that the cover is shorter than the pages of text. Like a person laying in a bed that is too short for their legs. I am sure it was on purpose.
This is the second item I have from above/ground press.
The author has been quite busy. 10 books + !!!
Fevers and Clocks
Kristina Marie Darling
March Street Press
(c)2006
The books of poetry published by March Street Press during the mid-aughts were formulaic and while they managed (barely) to put text on the spines of their books. Like on this one, tiny print though it is. 21 pages. It's a chapbook by page standards, but text on the spine so it's....what?
Short fiction. Good writing.
Robert Sargent
The Argonne House Press
Washington, DC
(c)2002
Another in the series that this imprint put out in the early years of this century. The poet was well known in the DC area. He was the author of 8 collections of poetry. He was actively involved with the Washington Writers Publishing House and the Bunny and Crocodile Press.
Staple bound. 46 pages. Author photo by Karren Alenier
Ryan Skrabalak
Tree Jumps Rainbow #13
(c) 2025
'Made for the occasion of a poetry reading at the Poetry Project (Kingston, NY), November 2025, with Nazareth Hassan.' Straight from the note in the back of this tiny little something with text and images by author. I picked this up at the Vermont Book Arts exhibition in Burlington, VT in April 2026. The author/artist is an associate of Monument which is a small press located in Kingston, NY. Met Rich and Sally in Burlington. Nice folks. Dedicated. What more can one ask?
Tifani Greenwood
Trimmvirate Press
(c)2002
The press does not exist as it had in 2002. It might have come into existence just to publish this book. The poet might also have made this book as a way to dovetail into the art world. In either case, it's a bit of an Art Book that I am happy to have found along the way.
Ken Denberg
University of South Carolina-Aiken
Aiken, South Carolina
(c)1993
Winner of The Devil's Millhopper Press poetry chapbook contest of 1993. Cover art by Walter Boppert. Staple bound chapbook. Good poetry.
Soraya Hammer
self - produced
(c)2026
In April 2026 I ventured north to New England to take in the first ever Vermont Art Book Fair which took place in Burlington, Vermont on April 10 & 11. It was an amazing array of book artists and print makers and student made work (like this one).
Collage small formatted staple bound effort. I made her sign this copy. I believe she's a student at the University of Vermont. I hope she continues to produce art.
Gregory Espy
I know nothing of this man. I did a google search and according to AI (as though that is a reliable source) this man had enough of an electronic footprint that what AI spewed was nothing but gushy accolades. So, I looked for his books on Amazon and, ah, he used the same cover image for another book, Hidden Behind My Mask, which was published in 2019. The exact statue face.
This chapbook has zero publication history and do not list a publisher.
It's not my mystery to uncover. Also, I am not impressed with his poetry.
Edith Kamkar
Catalyst Books
Redwood City, CA
(c)2001
Woodcuts by Barbara Leventhal-Stern
Handsome book with wonderful illustrations throughout. Love the feel of the cover, but the paper stock the poems are printed on feel like Xerox stock. Alas. Then again, this was a 200 copy run of the second printing of the book. That's something to note.
Amy Allen
Rootstock Publishing
Montpelier, VT
(c)2024
Was recently in New England and visited a friend in Rutland, Vermont who took me to Phoenix Books where I saw this chapbook. It's regional. 28 pages. The poet lives and works in state. The poems are grounded and stable as the state itself. The cover art is by Lindsey Taylor.
Janet Adkins
Village Graphics
(c)1993
Illustrations by author. This chapbook is a stand alone publishing of a 1985 presentation of the same piece that was included in PULPSMITH magazine where it had won the Madeline Sadine award for best poem by a woman.
This staple bound chapbook has a wonderfully textured cover and had an inscription as well as being signed twice by the author (who doubled as the illustrator as mentioned).
The book cover is a wrap around image
Twenty years of blogging about poetry chapbooks
It just dawned on me this morning that I started writing about these “tiny slivers of nothing” 20 years ago. I had been collecting them long before I decided to write about them. In part, of course, because I was also publishing them (as Plan B Press) but also because I felt that they represented those fragile - hopeful beginnings that every writer, every poet needs to “put themselves out there” in the literature flow of our culture, of our consciousness.
I just started because I felt the poets and the presses and the printers involved needed to be remembered - because they made the effort, because they created the work, because they mattered. As informative as A Secret Location on the Lower East Side was when it was published in 1998 it was not all inclusive, nor did it claim to be.
What I have learned through my own investigation into small presses and their corresponding chapbooks is that they existed across the country. Because there was a need. Because the big publishing houses could not and would not publish every collection of poetry that came their way, nor should they have. But if a poet or a printer or a publisher be determined to bring something to fruition; the better for all of us.
Some of it was technologically driven; the less expensive the process of producing a book became - the more books appeared. The more imprints appeared. The more small presses there were. Some of the small presses grew into mid-sized presses. Toothpaste Press became Coffee House Press, for example. But many of the smallest presses remained so. Some on purpose.
That’s the reality as much as there is one. Another reality is that even with the advent of e-books, there is a certain portion of the reading public that prefers to hold something physical. And more than that : something tactile. Something that feels like something. Not a Print-on-Demand machine products wigget (they may as well be) but something made by hand, made with care, craftsmenship, and dare I say - with love.
That’s why I continue to blog about poetry chapbooks; because I love what they are. I love the effort put into the creation of them. I may not always love the poetry itself. But I love the effort and the process, and get terribly excited when I find a gem that was lost in the mass market world of slicky produced schlock that sometimes passes as “art” or “literature” in our commerical-based society that favors availabiliy and cost over quality and panache.
And you know it when you feel it.
Nicholas James Whittington
Bird & Beckett
San Francisco
(c) 2012
Bird & Beckett is a bookstore in San Francisco. Bird & Beckett is also an imprint of books printed through the bookstore. Nicholas James Whittington is a poet - who is the person who operates the imprint for the bookstore. Nicholas James Whittington has three books out through the imprint that he manages. While I like the concept and layout of the book, publishing three of your own books via an imprint that you also manage borderlines being a vanity press. Then again, this chapbook was released 14 years ago, and Nicholas James Whittington's stature has changed since then. Perhaps this imprint no longer exists. As a snapshot in one man's creative process, this is definitely worth the finding.
guy r. beining
woodrose editions
Waupaca, WI
(c)1980
My introduction to the work of guy r. beining was a postcard printed by The Bellevue Press back in the 1970s. Some research later I found more of his work and sort of dismissed it out of turn (sorry, my bad)
I must have found his mailing address somewhere along the way because I found a letter that he had written me reminding me to send some of his artwork back to him when I was done looking at them (?) The letter was postmarked 2015. I hope I did return the pieces, I have no recollection either way. After rediscovering the letter, I sought a book of his that I might read the type of writing he was producing and found a copy of this book.
Much of the work appears on the page in a fashion similar to e e cummings or a LANGUAGE poet; the spacing on the page is intentional. I like that. The words breathe because they are not clumped together like sardines in a can. Yes!
Ava Leavell Haymon
Maude's Head Press
Houston, TX
(c)1991
The press no longer exists in the way it was operating in 1991. The poet is still alive and quite active. This staple-bound handsome chapbook is a joy to hold and read.
Catalyst Books/Tollbooth Press
Redwood, CA
(c)2002
This entry is different - I googled the name and among the links shown was a poem read aloud by the poet herself (in 2018) and once I heard her read that poem, and I opened this book and read the acknowledgments page - I knew it was the same person. I could hear the same voice while reading the words as I heard from watching the short video.
This is a 18 page small format booklet with a color photo of the poet, back to camera, walking along a road (going somewhere unknown)
I need to hear and read more from this poet.
James Liddy
White Rabbit Press
San Francisco, CA
(c)1969
Lovely chapbook. Great detail to cover design and production. The poetry is also noteworthy. Oh - and my copy was inscribed and signed by the poet. It's a keeper.
