Haniel Long
Rootdrinker Institute
Naples, NY
(c)2013
Such a tiny little chapbook provoking such a big ripple.
The ripple is not from the work itself. This unpaginated staple-bound collection is what it is: a decision by the publisher to bring this forward. Objectivity versus subjectivity. Did the publisher have a personal relationship with the author? Rootdrinker and Benevolent Bird Press are intertwined, and this is the grape of that binding.
What motivates a publisher? What criteria does one follow? This poet, Mr. Long, died in 1956. This tiny collection was published in 2013. Was it published because the work had to do with "place"? Which place then - he died in Sante Fe, New Mexico. The publisher is in upstate New York. Ah, there is a connection to place after all; Mr. Long wrote about the Finger Lakes. He came from the region. Some of his poetry sings of that earth - praises that land. The Finger Lakes. Okay, that makes sense.
That this tiny collection was published for a specific presentation also makes sense. Regional interest. One of their own. As such it is worth finding and reading. It is slight, though. Both is size and in scope. Tiny poems in a tiny book. All too easily overlooked.
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