Tuesday, August 25, 2009

chapbooks 36

Ernest Hemingway : A Critical Essay
Nathan Scott, Jr.
William B Eerdmans /Publishers
Grand Rapids, Michigan
©1966

46 page tract looking into the Christian values and views expressed in the works of Hemingway. You know, I have never thought of Ernest Hemingway as a redeemable Christian, nor a role model in any sense of the word. Aren’t Christians against suicide?

A tree was felled for this booklet, what a waste of a tree!


Big Game Animals
Bill Stevens
Federal Cartridge Corporation
Minneapolis, Minnesota
©1971

23 page color booklet of animals that can be killed by hunters. Oh Boy!! What fun!! The publisher is also a company that makes bullets that, um, kill the animals listed in the booklet. A tree was cut down for this? Horrible.

Speaking of horrible……

Smallum opus of edwin schur
ninth street press
new york, NY
©2005

Edwin Schur is an emeritus professor of Sociology at NYU. He is the author of several nonfiction books. He began to write “poetry” at the age of 67. He frequented the West Chester University Poetry Conference. His “poetry” is primarily epigrams. He mentions the work of J V Cunningham, whom I am familiar with as I have a small collection of Cunningham’s books.

This 21 page self published chapbook is a dread to look at and the truth is I am not a fan of epigrams. These are not particularly good epigrams. It looks like a Xerox special. More trees died to fluff this author’s ego. A shame, really.


Manhattan Poetry Review #6
Winter-Spring 1985-86
Manhattan Poetry Review
New York, NY
© 1986

67 pages. Staple-bound. Grey cover. Featuring established poets as well as a 30 page section of new poets. What I find fascinating is the range of poets within as well as the fact that none of the “new poets” are ones that, 23 years later, I have ever heard of. Those I have; David Ignatow,
Diane Wakoski, Duane Locke – their work is mostly very good. There are some interesting typos throughout and a few missing bios in the back of the book but as a timepiece, this collection is quite worthwhile.

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