Friday, September 28, 2012

Little Richard the Second by Gregg Biglieri (2011)

Little Richard the Second
Gregg Biglieri
Ugly Duckling Presse
Brooklyn, NY
(c)2011

Ugly Duckling Press is quite capable of making extremely handsome and desirable chapbooks. This one is no exception. Letter-pressed and hand sown stitchery. A single poem, a beautiful thing. For collectors, this is one to get!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Annson Kenney follow-up

received this from Peter Bushyeager, who co-founded Hot Water Review : "Annson and I went to Temple U. together. He was a year ahead of me. He majored in music and I majored in communications. We sang together in the Mens Glee Club (!!) and several years after school reconnected through the Philly poetry/art/music scene. I think he participated in one of the Poetry and Art Fairs that were done in the 70s at the now-defunct YMHA Poetry Center on Broad St. He was a funny, courtly, sometimes outrageous guy who was also cerebral and welcoming to other artists. He had a relationship with Maralyn Polak, the poet and Inquirer columnist.

HIs works in Hot Water are actually performance pieces and he performed some of them. He was involved with Relache, a new-music group that was active in Philly in the 70s and 80s (maybe still active, I don't know)"

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Just a Little Piece of Heartburn by Tom Cheshire

Just a Little Piece of Heartburn
Tom Cheshire
Safety Third Enterprises
no publication date

The nicest thing about this chapbook is the cover. The rest of the book, the "guts" if you will, is intentionally primitive and hand-written. No part of the guts were typed. It's a schtick. It's a waste of a tree. SAVE A TREE!

Friday, September 14, 2012

The Faith of John Greenleaf Whittier (1957)



The Faith of John Greenleaf Whittier
An Essay by Rufus M Jones
A Tribute by Benjamin F Trueblood
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends
(c)1957

Nice supplemental booklet. 32 pages. A few B&W photos in book.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Sea Birds by Linda Parker (1981)




Sea Birds
Linda Parker
Fathom Press
(c)1981

Published by Robie Liscomb's Fathom Press using Michael Tarachow's Pentagram Press's equipment - as stated in back of book. Liscomb and Tarachow were friends and worked together on a number of projects in the early 1980s. I have exchanged a few emails with Michael Tarachow and learned additional details of the history of Pentagram Press and the intersections between their Presses. It's a wonderful example of a coordinated effort.

Cover art by Thorpe Feidt. Unpaginated. One of 250 copies. Nice book. Well worth the search.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Acting Problems by Judith Berke (1993)

Acting Problems
Judith Berke
Silverfish Review Press
Eugene, Oregon
(c)1993

This is a 30 page chapbook masquerading as a book with a spine. Ah, it IS a book with a spine. No, it's a 30 page chapbook pretending. In the words of Holden Caulfield, it's a phony. Phony bologna. It's acting like something it isn't. The title is apt. It has an acting problem.

The poetry is okay. It rounds out a multidisciplinary career for Judith Berke. I was not moved nor impressed with the work. Sorry, SAVE A TREE!