Chin-Chin in Eden
Corey Mesler
Still Water Press
Galloway, NJ
(c) 2002
Corey Mesler is a publishing machine. Not Lyn Lifshin level but Mesler is a great writer as well as a book seller in Memphis, TN. He and his wife run Burkes Books which started operation in 1875.
The production of this chapbook is a bit on the bland side but the work is good.
Love in the Ruins
Gordon Osing
Spuyten Duyvil
New York City
(c) 2017
They made it like a book with a spine but it's only 16 pages. It's a chapbook, that's for sure. It's my understanding that this gentleman has "been there" whether or not he has "done that" I can not say. Not familiar with this press either but when I turned the book over and saw this
Red Land, Black Land
Tina Barr
Longleaf Press at Methodist College
Stony Creek, CT
(c)2002
26 page staple-bound chapbook. Contest winning chapbook. Nice piece of writing.
William Page
raccoon Books, Inc.
Memphis, TN
(c) 1982
Several years ago now, my humble little press (Plan B Press) ran a "Beat" poetry chapbook contest and the winner was Corey Mesler for a section of a much larger work which was published as Following Richard Brautigan. The chapbook has a foreword written by the great poet ruth weiss who died in July, 2020.
I wrote Corey not long ago about ruth's passing and our little chapbook in common (with the judge of that contest as well - William Brandon III who is now an accomplished author in his own right) and one thing led to another which resulted in me purchasing a number of chapbooks from his store in Memphis, the legendary Burkes Books.
The first of these chapbooks that I will be writing about is this one. William Page's 1982 chapbook, The Gatekeeper, primarily because it was published by raccoon Books, Inc. and I never heard of this press before. They were (yes, were - apparently defunct now) a Memphis press which had a journal as well as a publishing arm. The operation started in 1979 and ended operation more recently.
raccoon Books was associated with or was part of St. Jude Press in Memphis where the books were printed. William Page taught at Memphis State University and edited the Memphis State Review.
Tactics of Survival
San Francisco, CA
(c)1964
Bindweed Press was best known for their SF rock concert posters of the mid-1960s. Headed by Frank Westlake, the posters became synonymous with "the scene" and various SF venues. This handsome letter pressed book was published prior to that as George Hitchcock was just himself coming onto "the scene" in the poetry/playwright sphere.
The Bindweed Press started operation in 1962, publishing an earlier George Hitchcock book, Poems & Prints, with poetry by Hitchcock and illustrations by Adrian Wilson.
One of 700 printed. 8 drawings by Ann Parisi grace the pages. Handmade paper for cover stock. Staple-bound. 35 pages. Quite the item!
curated by The Debate Society
....
I was in the local second hand shop which supports the local hospital, and I went to the book section and saw a "little sliver of nothing" colored green and I pulled it out and looked at the front and wondered 'what the hell is this?' and then I turned it over and
....
Ugly Duckling Presse
New York City, NY
(c)2012
.....
Unpaginated staple-bound chapbook, one of 1000 printed. The generous (but likely befuddled) volunteers at the shop posted it for sale at .50 cents. I could afford that. And it is an interesting collection of plays if something 15 seconds short can count. Not surprisingly, it is out of print.
Pushing Out the Envelope
Tsaurah Litsky
Apathy Press Poets
Baltimore, MD
(c)1992
I found this woman's first chapbook on a small online bookselling presence, kind of like a virtual street corner shop, and bought it primarily because I was familiar with the image on the front cover. Turns out that Tsauarh Litzky is alive and living in NY.
It seems that long ago Apathy Press hosted a reading series in NY and Ms. Litzky attended these readings and the folks at Apathy Press offered to publish her - first chapbook, in fact.
I will have to research more about Apathy Press Poets and Ms. Litsky
There Ain't No Flies on the Lamb of God
Morgan Press
Milwaukee, WI
(c) 1974
Unique book comprised of poems by poems and images of artists associated with or chosen by publisher Ed Burton. Plywood back cover. One of only 50 copies made. Hand printed with teak and hand woven wool cover. Jim Sorcic is among those presented in this collection. Jim Gibbons, Lyn Lifshin, Paul Grillo, and others round out this handsome and extremely rare book.
Jim Sorcic
Morgan Press
(c) 1991
Published the same year as his large book, This Could Lead to Dancing, this small unpaginated book used the same cover stock for both books. This book is dedicated to Rachel Orvino. Short prose pieces, basically about single parenting his daughter. Something I can relate to - differently.
The tale and the trail of this family through literary collapse continued for a time beyond This Could Lead to Dancing with the 1992 Morgan Press version of Jim's 1972 book one day, one long day... and his 1994 book Small Handbook for the Heart: The Adoption Poems because Jim adopted a (or two) young Vietnamese boys.
Two other things I would like to add here about Morgan Press. Morgan Press was Ed Burton and Jennifer Roanhouse and possibly others. It existed from the early 1970s into the 1990s. It began in Ed's basement in Milwaukee where he had an old letterpress and he made chapbooks, postcards and posters. According to Jim Gibbons. Gibbons' first book, Prime the Pump, was the first book printed by Morgan Press in 1970. Ed Burton had a wife, Vickie.
I know that jennie orvino moved to California. I don't know what became of Rachel Orvino. I hope she is happy and is doing well.
Jim Sorcic
Morgan Press
Milwaukee, WI
(c) 1980
A short story with some shadowing of the author's real life, imaged perhaps, or fictionalized to a degree but all the same : Sorcic has dropped any hint of the "orvino" part of his life.
Jennie Orvino
Milwaukee Feminist Printing Collective
Milwaukee, WI
(c) 1975
This chapbook is a collection of, as the poet stated herself, "scraps" of poetic output from 1973 - 1975.
Work that was produced during a critical time in her life. Here shown on back cover with her "special friend", Barbara. This chapbook is dedicated to her daughter, Rachel, as well as Barbara and to her mother who she is convinced will never read this booklet.
Fascinating time piece.
Jim Orvino-Sorcic
Morgan Press
Milwaukee, WI
(c)1974
Within the saga of this marriage coming apart while raising a daughter separately/together, in 1974 Jim was still publishing as "Orvino-Sorcic" even though this chapbook is dedicated to a different woman. It is an oddly sized book to be sure. The poems tell of the upheaval and disintegration of a relationship found to be "faked" with bitter consequences as must be lived. It's heart-wrenching and truthful. As good writing needs to be.
like a tree
jennie orvino
Gunrunner Press
Milwaukee, WI
This thin sliver of nothing seems to be the next in chronologic order, an undated brief sex poem illustrated by a Jim Forest. One of 250 printed.
Jim Orvino Sorcic
Interabang Books
(c)1972
Published the same year as Jennie Orvino's The Fish, the Virgin, and the Lion, this handsome chapbook is dedicated to their daughter Rachel. Jim has adopted his wife's name as his middle name (akin to John Ono Lennon) but there is no additional mention of her in this collection.
It's a pretty heavy chapbook, actually. The poem series is about George Armstrong Custer and a massacre that he is involved in, told from a child's point of view and dedicated to his newly born daughter. Heavy stuff. Beautifully created chapbook though. All the credit in the world to the publishers. The name INTERABANG lives on as a bookstore name in Dallas, Texas but I am not willing to say that the publisher in 1972 and the bookstore today are in any way connected.
January 14, 2019. The Fish, The Virgin, and the Lion by Jennie Orvino. Seems to have been self-published in 1972 with B&W photos by Barbara Gibson. Jennie has given birth to a daughter, Rachel, and is coming to terms with a side of herself that she had not previously felt - a lesbian nature. Barbara was more than a photographer in this scenario. As the poems in the collection reveal, and a page of photos of the two of them on a bed, innocently looking at the camera and then each other, this coming out was captured in real poetic time.
The collection was dedicated to daughter and husband but Barbara did get a special notice. In her bio on her website, all these years later, Jennie Orvino mentions that she lived in Milwaukee for 10 years. But that's all she mentions. No husband. No daughter. No coming out. Just the time she spent in the city. Scrubbed of their importance in her live. Or why she moved to California, where she still lives.
James Sorcic
Vertigo Publications
Wales, UK
(c)1970
Following some level of a chronologic order, this would be the next. A very thin chapbook printed in Wales in 1970. The interesting thing about this one is that the back cover has a write-up BY jennie orvino.
So, they were involved by 1970. The book is dedicated to and almost all the poems mention jennie orvino. (married? the booklet is dedicated to jennie orvino sorcic)
One of the poems contains the line "jennie give me my son". Ironically, they had a daughter. But that's a thread for another book and another posting.
Back in July I wrote that I would be discussing a relationship through the published works of two poets and then promptly started and meandered off topic as the Summer burned through now into the Fall. Jennie Orvino and James Sorcic. A relationship grows and collapses chronicled through a series of chapbooks.
Five Luminous Towers
Carol Barton
Popular Kinetics Press
Philadelphia, PA
(c)2001
Oddly sized booklet. Appears to be a student's final project at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Spiral bound. Images corresponding to each piece. Interesting conceptual book.
James Sorcic
Gunrunner Press
Milwaukee, WI
(c) 1969
This is actually pretty important document. It's an anti-VIETNAM - war (draft) poetry blast. It harkens back to the time before the all volunteer military force. I almost said before endless war (with a nod to Daniel Collins) but the truth of the matter is that this country has been "at war" with someone or another since it's beginnings and two hundred years before that. Since the first European set foot on this continent. And prior to that, the Native peoples were at war with each other. So it goes back to the humans on this land mass, per se.
Also, it's the same James Sorcic who I mentioned two entries ago. Part of that thread of history through chapbooks that he and his wife had.
This is one of 300 copies printed at the time.
J. M. Allen
self published
(c) 2020
No information on the author nor the press, seems to have been a POD self published piece of work. I am not a fan of rhyming poetry. The collection is entirely composed of rhyming poetry. Next!
