Habib Tengour
Translated from the French by Pierre Joris
Duration Press
Sausalito, CA
(c) 1999
Another in the series of International poets in translation published by Duration in 1999, with afterword by translator. #7 in the series. Unpaginated.
Buck Downs
self published
Washington, DC
(c)2008
The dude is that and more.
Louisa Schnaithmann
Moonstone Press
Philadephia, PA
(c)2021
A collection of poems based on an on-line romance that becomes a life partnership. Refreshing and timely - otherwise ruined by slap dash production by the publisher. Sad.
Written by Winifred Frick
Illustrated by Katie Tillotson
and that literately is all she wrote - publication date, no publication location. 60 pages of staple bound lizards on pages that were not trimmed. Kind of amazing and kind of helpless.
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
Senal #2
BOMB magazine/ Ugly Ducking Presse
(c) 2015
Second volume that is part of a series done by this collaborative effort. Translated by Stalina Emmanuelle Villarreal. 25 pages. Bilingual edition. Afterword by translator.
Claudia Smith
Rose Metal Press
Brookline, MA
(c) 2007
Well written collection of short stories and other "short-shorts"
Michael McClure
Frank Hallman
New York, NY
(c)1975
Unpaginated staple-bound chapbook. Two poems. Dedicated to Anne Waldman. Lovely item.
We Know Better by James Aswell.
Gordon Lewis Publisher
Charlottesville, VA
(C) 1927
On 9/16/23 our family was in Philadelphia and went to the Italian Market in South Philly, and there was a bookstore there - Molly’s Books and Records - so we went into it. Our kids were interested in vinyl and ended up buying some 45s while I looked around, and looked around, and then looked up between the top of the bookshelf that hosted the poetry section there and the ceiling and there were a few larger books that didn’t fit on the shelves arranged just out of my reach - one of which caught my eye though.
It was a black cover with what looked like woodcut letter pressed words but I couldn’t make it out from the distance I was from the book, so I got the employee’s attention and asked to see that book and it was We Know Better by James Aswell. Instantly I knew I was dealing with something unique because this book was published in Charlottesville, VA - in 1927.
So, what makes it unique? Well, the “black cover” that first attracted my eye was a cardboard box, a clamshell cover, for a staple-bound book of poetry with woodcut images throughout by Don Millar.
It’s 72 pages, but it’s staple bound. And I had never seen a book published in 1927 be presented like this before - so, yeah, unique. And it was signed by James Aswell.
I haven’t found much about the author but of the publisher - Gordon Lewis was an owner of Charlottesville's landmark bookstore The New Dominion Bookshop from at least 1923 as well as a contributor the University of Virginia Magazine in the 1920s.
Perhaps he published other uniquely presented books as well.
Luis Felipe Fabre
Senal / BOMB magazine
(c) 2015
Senal is a chapbook series for contemporary poetry from Latin America in transition, published collectively by BOMB magazine, Libros Antena Books, and Ugly Duckling Presse. Translated by John Pluecker. This is the first book in that series. In Spanish and English.
Translated by Peter France
New Directions Poetry Pamphlet #16
New Direction Books
(c) 2014
The book is not a pamphlet, for goodness sake it's 72 pages long. But it is staple-bound so..... and I didn't have anything by Osip Mandelstam before. Now I have this.
Stephen Dunn
Jane Street Press
New York City
(c) 2012
I am always intrigued when beginning to research a recently found book and realize that there are rabbit holes leading to rabbit holes leading to hours of possible reviewing and investigating when all I wanted to say was "small formatted staple-bound chapbook from a previously unknown press".
And yet, that is no longer sufficient to say because I do know more. Jane Street Press began in the early aughts as the brainchild of poet Douglas Goetsch. Several of the first books published by this press were collections of his work. If you go the website for this press you will find a link to his personal website. Don't bother clicking, the link is no longer up. Dead end.
But this is a fine small collection of Stephen Dunn's work. For a Dunn completist, it's worth getting.
Ingrid M. Calderon-Collins
resurrection press
(c) 2023
Not to be confused with a Catholic Church related press.
This one is a spin off of resurrection magazine, also run by Ms. Calderon-Collins. This item, brilliantly collaborated with artist mark m. mellon, blends his collage with her text for a haunting/surreal collection.
Na Kim
First Last Booklet Series
Philadelphia, PA
(c) 2023
Quoting an insert
"This series of images was created as a sketch for Na Kim's installation. FFC on 6, 7, 8 she brings her two dimensional investigations to life in space and at architectural scale. The installation is inspired by architect Adele Maude Santos' original vision of ICA's building, which embraced the potential of its location as a nexus where the Penn campus meets the city, using large glass windows to connect people with the art inside and life on the street. Bringing renewed attention to the building's gridded structure. FFC on 6, 7, 8 spans from the eastside windows into the lobby, mezzanine, and beyond, animating what Kin describes as the "social conscious' of ICA.
I am glad to have had that insert in the booklet : I thought it was a poor knock-off of Mondrian.
Appreciate the correction.
Philadelphia, PA
I went to an event in the Crane Building in the Northern Liberties in Philadelphia recently and ran into a book seller there and chose to support their effort by buying a few things. This was one of them.
The best thing I can say about it is that I like that they were trying out a stitching machine.
It is a booklet of random images intended to tell a story visually about, my take at least, the rise of new age religion in the US during the 1990s (harkening back to the 1970s?)
I am mentioning it to acknowledge it. I can not recommend it. It's a clusterfuck in fine stitching.
Christopher Edgar
The Song Cave
Northampton, MA
(c) 2012
I found a very thorough review of this chapbook Here.
I can neither add to this review nor would I be willing to try. I am writing about it because it exists, I have a copy of it, it is signed by the poet and that's it. There are days like this and this one of those days.
The Press of the Territorian
Santa Fe, NM
assumed 1966 publication
Number 11 of a Series of Western Americana
40 page historical record of the lynching of this particular Elizabeth Taylor and her brother, Thomas Jones, in 1885. The west was wild and untamed as were the people who "claimed" it. Brutal is a more likely description. It's useful to remember that "lynching" came from a judge. Judge Lynch. Justice at the end of a rope is not justice at all.
Edgewood, KY
(c) 1995
I visited the Baldwin Book Barn in West Chester, PA recently and found a number of chapbooks all published by this small enterprise. I opted for this one because it had a poetry postcard inside that I have yet to send out but that's another story.
Now, I have done just enough research to link to this Robert Barth individual as well as the author of this collection.
Rick Kearns, editor
Harrisburg, PA
(date unknown)
This a a glimpse at a journal in transition. The editor wasn't throwing in the towel but also wasn't committing all his energy in making this guitar play either. I got it because I am familiar with a number of the poets whose work in included in this "crossroads" issue. Lamont Steptoe, Aaron Yeatts Perry, Barbara Crooker, Martin Espada, Jack Veasey among them.
A journal like this is a time capsule showing a melding of Philadelphia with poets from Central and Eastern PA in one staple-bound booklet. A treasure indeed.
Joseph Kriesberg
Critical Mass Energy Project
Washington, DC
(c) 1987
Full disclosure: I am an anti-nuker. I marched against. I protested against. I am still committed to decommissioning all nukes. I was Green Party material before it was popular.
This booklet is 68 pages of strategies that obviously have not stopped the Nuclear industry. Three Mile Island was the closest thing that we have experienced in the US to a "full stop" moment. That was 1979. In fact, ironically, I had gone to a late night viewing of the movie "the China Syndrome" the night before and I woke up to that news. It suddenly didn't seem like an only in the movies moment.
Richard Henry Less
acorn publishing
Newburyport, MA
(c) 1975
There was a Richard Henry Lee who wrote and lived from 1732-1794
This is not him. This is poetry of a strong Christian and moral nature that comes across as homespun and folksy. Spiral bound. Oddly sized.
Ana Bozicevic
Belladonna Chapbook Series
#137
Brooklyn, NY
(c) 2011
Great series. 17 pages. Nearly invisible (what spine can there be?)
Bentspoon Blog
Calgary AB Canada
(c) 2012
It is exactly what it says it is. "Ross" created this tiny zine.
by Cory Linstrum
Microcosm
(c)2015
Volume 2 of their Scene History series
Staple-bound booklet. 32 pages of informative content. B&W band photos as well. Pretty cool stuff.
(c) 1999
published in India
Spiral bound, printed in English and Czech. 300 copies printed.
I scored this copy from a neighbor who had visited Prague and met Ms. Chase.
edited by Alexander Herbert
volume 4 in series
(c) 2019
Across the street from Philly legendary punk spot 'ZIPPERHEADS' is a record store of note and in that store there were, when we visited there recently, some punk zines and I bought a few of them including this one.
The production of this booklet is actually better than true xeroxed punk publications of the late 1970s, and the photos are in actual non-squinting visibility. High quality for price and very informative for the majority of Americans who would never superglue Minot to Punk, but there was a scene. It eventually ended. What's next?
Worth the read for die-hard punk rockers and historians.
Amelia Bjesse-Puffin
Microcosm.Pub
Portland, OR
(c) 2020
I have read a number of books, both non-fiction and poetry, about the demise of "zombie capitalism" and its effects on the land and the communities negatively impacted by the CLOSING of America, as it were, and this unpaginated staple-bound booklet emphasizes this uncontrolled collapse as well as any $50.00 academic book published by a major publisher. Probably more accurate since it is not written by anyone in the ivory tower but by someone who lives on the ground and feels the street level withdrawal more acutely. This is the same city that has generated the conditions that led to Mimi German's insightful Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars (capturing the plight of the homeless in an unforgiving city) and Loaners: The Making of a Street Library by Ben Hodgson and Laura Moulton (about a portable library "catering" to street people).
It should surprise no one that the publisher, Microcosm.Pub, also brings out books about punk of local music scenes across the country. More on that part next.
Philip Mason
Interesting and informative booklet of those (crazy) daredevils who took on the Falls. B&W photos throughout. Cool, right
(also, not poetry)
(also, printed in Canada)
Brian Bagdonas
Grime City Productions
Dayton, OH
(c)1992
This was an Ebay find, have to say.
Actually when I saw the image it was a deja vu moment, I felt I had seen the image before - had held the book before, but no, I had not. The cover of the booklet/chapbook was both cover and mailer. The other side, the "back cover" of the book, was actually designed to be for addressing and mailing the book out.
This has GOT to be among the first things that Brian Bagdonas created. I researched a bit and found that:
"Brian Scott Bagdonas has worked in the commercial print industry since 1992. He first got a taste for print and small "mom and pop" print shop culture as a result of making zines and record covers in support of his hometown underground music scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s."
and this book has all the markings of a creative should working out how to present a concept. He even created "Grime City Productions" with a Dayton, Ohio address.
Very inventive, for the completist - this one is a must. Especially since this one is addressed and signed by Brian himself.
M R Trower
An Inkmaggot Comic!
(c)2013
Staple-bound chapbook sized comic. Never saw one of these before.
Gilbert Sorrentino
Corinth Books/Totem Press
New York, NY
(c)1964
Cover art by Morton Leaks
Sorrentino did not the receive the attention he deserved. Great poetry here. Of the time and in the time.
The Song Cave
(c) 2012
Part of a series. This is #55 of 100 printed. Signed by Nealon. Covers all the same pattern (must have been a thing for the series. Staple bound, unpaginated. Single poem.
Big bear paws
Which hold the fist
But could also hold
The breasts of Time
So easily
She would gladly feed us.
(my italics)
what? WHAT? What the absolute BLEEP is that supposed to mean? The breasts of time? I can't. It isn't. I won't.
Henry Crawford
printF
(c)2022
I think Mr. Crawford and I both dabble in computerized language that anticipated the emerging AI "threat" to all things human. He has a method. I need a key code. I do not have it. Shrug.
Tom Pescatore
Alien Buddha Press
(c) 2021
This press has been popping up frequently of late. As has Kelsey Books out in Utah. Good it see new publishers sprouting up as older ones fade and wither as is the nature of all things. Pescatore is a street/rebel poet who has spent time living in the elements. Off the grid. On the border between civilization and "the wilds". His work is true. And worth a read.
W. Luther Jett
Kelsey Books
American Fork, UT
(c)2021
Full disclosure : I used to run a poetry series at a local library and Luther Jett was one of our featured poets in 2020/21 and he read most of the poems that are in this collection, thanking me afterwards for providing the space where he could read them aloud in front of an audience as he was formulating the idea that became this collection.
So - I am a little biased in favor of it. All the same, this is a wonderful collection of poems produced well by Kelsey Books, an enterprise that was been doing great work of late.
Emma Trelles
Goss185-Casa Menendez
Bloomington, IN
(c)2008
It's a chapbook pretending to be bigger since it has a spine - too thin for text. The writing is good though. That's something.
Julie A Selman
One Woman's Press
Juneau, Alaska
(c) 1992
I know nothing about this poet or this press, but it's an interesting piece notwithstanding. This particular copy does not contain "slate sand found on the shore of Gastineau Channel". But it is one of 500 copies printed on recycled paper. Remember this is 1992 -
The poet and publisher are showing a depth of ecological awareness. It's a work tied to and defined by Juneau and its waterways. Glad to have found it. Definitely will be keeping it.
Hale Chatfield
New/Books
Trumansburg, NY
(c) 1967
36 pages. There's a spine with actual lettering on it. Cover and title page by Walter Wanger. Good writing, nice presentation.
Konglomerati Press
Gulfport, FL
(c) 1976
Konglomerati was a magazine of visual poetry, irregularly printed, out of Gulfport, Florida. It billed itself as "visual poetry" but what that most seemed to mean is that it was poems presented on mixed media and their definition of mixed media was "scrap paper".
This is not a chapbook but a small collection of individual pieces of paper with poems on them in a uniquely folded paper folder which I have to say is the most intriguing element to the whole presentation.
bitsy sanders
self published
(c) 2013
Full disclosure : I briefly attended York College of Pennsylvania where Ms. Sanders graduated from. That said, I did know the difference between a "chapbook" of less than 40 pages and a book of 68 pages, which is what this book has. It has a spine with no writing on it - but why? If a book is thick enough to have a spine, then have the title and author's name on the spine for goodness sake. How is a person supposed to KNOW what that bit of color on the spine IS ?
This is not a chapbook. This is also not a completed thought. This is a shotgun wedding without a preacher. This is a signed copy of a book that the signee parted with - this is an example of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".
a tree was wasted to make this - hopefully another was planted to replace it.
Mary Anne Radmacher-Hershey
Hershey Studios
Cannon Beach, OR
(c)1994
2nd edition.
Handmade book, part of a series produced by this lady. Each book fancy cursive handwriting. I am acknowledging it but it does not resonate with my creative palette.
Peter Waterhouse
Duration Press
(c) 1999
translated by Rosemarie Waldrop
Part of the Duration translation series, this is #10 of that series.
Monster House Press
(Phamplet Series) 003
Bloomington, IN
(c) 2016
This single poem booklet appeared the year before Akbar's book Portrait of the Alcoholic (2017). Appears signed on front cover. Staple bought, interesting find.
Carmen Gimenez Smith
Dusie
( ?)
I am acknowledging the existence of this booklet. That is the extent of my comments. What Dusie does sometimes is beyond my comprehension
In the Arbor
Kent State University Press
Kent, OH
(c)1997
26 pages, staple-bound chapbook.
Little Winter Theatre
Ugly Duckling Presse
Brooklyn, NY
(c) 2011
Non-standard sized hand sewn chapbook. One of 500 printed.
The Nocturnal Factory
Ugly Duckling Presse
Brooklyn, NY
(c)2008
27 pages. Velum flyleaf page.
all three present different aspects of the author's work and all three are rare as her other books are all perfect bound books.
Diane Wakoski
Editura Univers
Socialist Republic of Romania
(c)1981
While this is NOT technically a chapbook due to its page count, I am mentioning it here because it's a rare (for being in the USA) and handsome oddly sized book - not published in English. There is no writing on the spine so I will be storing it with chapbooks so it doesn't get lost.
