Lately by Charles S. Cobean (2026)

 

Lately

Charles S. Cobean

Finishing Line Press

Georgetown, KY

(c)2026

It's a new book. I usually don't see chapbooks so new. 

Raven's Address (Notes from the Colorado Plateau) by Eric Walter (1993)

Raven's Address (Notes from the Colorado Plateau)

Eric Walter

Longhand Press

Golden, CO

(c)1993

Illustrated by Doug Goodwin.

Staple-bound chapbook. Longhand Press published local Colorado writers to bring out work dealing with the region. This one fit into their "range" (figuratively and literally). Two additional images here for context. Most chapbooks don't include anything like either so kudos for the press to have them, especially this one: 

which is located at the end of the book, right before this : 

                                          which I found to be cooler than cool. Great work, Longhand Press, wherever you are!

Rewind by David Hiatt (unstated)

 

REWIND

David Hiatt

GRR/book   /11

LeGrande, OR

(c) not stated

tiny format paperback. Staple-bound with tape cover. Yellow paper. 

Many poems about driving and being "on the road". 

two tiny tinies by Ben L Hiatt (both from 1968)

 

A Solitary Tribute to the Hermit of Bald Mountain

Hangyard Press

Lickapoo Falls, WA

(c) 1968

                                                                       Fish Poems

                                                                                 Runcible Spoon

                                                                                 Sacramento, CA

                                                                                 (c) 1968

These were the two items that led to some internet confusion but serious curiosity on my part. I had heard of Runcible Spoon previously (not from anything I blogged though) and knew it was associated with Sacramento. I had never heard of Ben L Hiatt though. It didn't surprise me to learn that he had stayed in Sacramento. It did surprise me that he was also published by an equally tiny outfit in Washington State. 

Hangyard Press was run by Grayson B. Goldstein who made it known he hated submissions and would rather poets fuck off than publish them. And yet...this one exists. 

 

Ben L Hiatt and David Hiatt are different people from different places

 I feel the need to convey this rather obvious truth since AI did not - could not - distinguish between the two with the limited about of information they provided which led me to purchasing a small lot of tiny chapbooks by David Hiatt, but the description of the lot was faulty and in fact 2 of the 3 items were by Ben Hiatt. 

I want to thank those of you who have faithfully remained connected to my 'adventures in poetry chapbooks'. By now you know that I have focused on the unknown or under appreciated poets and small presses that have existed (and disappeared like summer incests after the first frost). But what you didn't know and what I didn't realize until recently was that I was unconsciously gathering pieces for a book about poetry chapbooks and have now begun fleshing it out. 

It will be both different and in a way a follow up to the landmark A Secret Location on the Lower East Side by Steven Clay and Rodney Phillips. That well known book focuses on the years 1960-1980 and it was published in 1998. My interest is both earlier than 1960 and as recently as the next chapbook published anywhere in America. As any of you, observer/witnesses already know, I am interested in the small presses in places other than New York and San Francisco because those places, literally EVERY place is a place where someone could and often did start a small press and "publish" something, be it as tiny as a 4 page booklet slightly larger than a stamp or a tall thin book, hand-sewn, with some manner of incredibly detailed images. Those objects were not destined to be recalled or remembered, but I find them the most interesting and in some cases the first publications of authors who went on to become well known and established writers, some even "household names". Because the truth is, everybody starts somewhere. And those "somewheres" are places as diverse as the Pacific Northwest and West Texas grasslands. Wherever creative people live and could conceive of a way to print, they did. 

One thing I learned from William S Burroughs was the difference from making a statement THE (whatever) or A (whatever). THE subjects definitive, absolute or complete. A does not subject anything like that, so what I am working on is A history of poetry chapbooks in the United States, not THE.  For the practical reality that no sooner would such a book get printed than dozens of new possible additions would arise. New presses appear with great regularity, printing fresh new books all the time. So, I will be writing what I have and know and get it into print so it's real and available. A moment captured. Not a finality. full-stop done. 

The book will not be written or augmented by AI. The technology is not precise, it's still a dumb machine. The beginning example of BEN, not DAVID Hiatt is testimony to that. Some human posted something that was not factually accurate and because AI had no reference of the people involved, it simply stated the inaccuracies as facts. Can't rely on AI yet, maybe ever, but certainly when it comes to Hiatt /Hiatt. 

The Last Poem of Volcek Kalsaretz by Cesar Calvo (1970)

 The Last Poem of Volcek Kalsaretz

Cesar Calvo

translated by James Stevens

design and illustrations by Gary Viskupic

The Depot Press

(c)1970

This is an exquisite item. Beautifully illustrated with a trick or two up its sleeves as well. Sponsored in part by the University of Illinois Foundation. 

Unbinding by Lisabeth Bisgyer (1975)

 

Unbinding 

Lizabeth Bisgyer

Turkey Press

(c)1975

I have had other books by this press but they were just a little too "wordy" (too many pages) to be considered a chapbook so I didn't write about them. Inside back cover has some additional details about this book, actually. It was on of 200 printed. The painstaking work of printing was handled by David Cooper and Henry Reese. Also - the book was dedicated to John Cake. 

Footsteps by Dennis Hutton (1971)

 Footsteps

Dennis Hutton

A Traveling Grain and Cider Press Bokk

twowindows press

San Francisco, CA

(c)1971

One of only 90 copies printed. Designed by Don Grey and G, Flynn. Illustration and cover serigraph by U. R. Sanchez. Handsewn. This is a gorgeous booklet with poems laid out both traditionally and non-traditionally (you know, the way I like to see the words floating down a page). 

I had not hear of the poet of the press before. One of the things I love about what I just wrote is that AI hadn't heard of the poet either and it attempting to bullshit a response. Truly. "Not well known" is its cover. OMG, even. 

I actually found two different books by the same press, one published in 1967. The other in 1987. I wrote about them at the time. Of the three that I have now in my collection, this one is the most beautifully done. Just stunning work. 

Home For the Night by Robert Peterson (1962)

 

Home For the Night

Robert Peterson with illustrations by Mel Fowler

Amber House Press

San Francisco, CA

(c)1962

This is a unique book because it is inscribed to Donald Allen, the translator, publisher and editor of the renowned poetry anthology,  The New American Poetry: 1945-1960. Beautifully illustrated throughout by Mel Fowler. 

35 pages. Beautifully executed. One of a kind. 

Phone Book by Gerry Gilbert (1969)

 

Phone Book 

Gerry Gilbert

Weed/Flower Press / Ganglia Press

Toronto, Canada

(c)1969

Another doozy find from a lot of poetry books. While I am adding a link to both the poet and the press, I have mention that later in his life the poet got involved with found and concrete poetry. There are items that he either made himself or was involved with currently listed on Ebay, for example, although I don't need to hold one in my hands to see their oddly sized and shaped existence. Mr. Gilbert died in 2009. It appears that all of his books were published in Canada. 

Plastic Father by C. W. Truesdale (1971)

 

Plastic Father

C. W. Truesdale

Fragments Press

New York

(c)1971

Illustrations throughout by Neil Greenberg. Fragments Press seems to have disappeared without much of an internet "footprint". Mr. Truesdale was the author of several books of poetry, this one among his earliest. 

I like the use of differing fonts and some spacial deviations that I am quite used to seeing now but was kind of surprised to see in a 1971 chapbook. He's experimenting and I fully appreciate his efforts and those of Fragments Press, a press that was associated with Rutgers University. The books from Fragments Press were distributed by New Rivers Press (NYC), also a press I know next to nothing about. 

At the same time, this book is also a film critique of the 1959 John Wayne movie, Rio Bravo, using the language and "experimentation" I previously mentioned to pick through the corpse of the movie. (Not a "film", but light John Wayne western entertainment oozing with white privilege and minority troupes that were common place back then) - but this astute poet noted and wrote about in this tiny volume. Truesdale spares no one; even the scriptwriter gets a kick in the pants.