Telephone Company Repairman Poems by Barbara Moraff (1983)

Telephone Company Repairman Poems
Barbara Moraff
Toothpaste Press
Iowa
(c) 1983

#294 of 400 printed. Signed by poet. Another incredibly handsome book by this inventive and influential press. Unpaginated. Letter pressed. Hand sewn.

One can see the effort and can imagine the frustration at the same time. Frustration in the sense that these delicate books were never going to make their way onto a bookstore shelf and be properly displayed. This book is thick enough to have a spine with text but doesn't because it was hand sewn without any spine cover at all. So beautiful, so delicate. It's not surprising that the following year, 1984, is when Toothpaste transitioned into Coffee House Press. Ironically, on the CHP website there is no mention of Toothpaste Press whatsoever. Even though they say the press started in 1972 in Iowa as a letterpress operation. Well, yes, that is true. To a point. But give credit where it was due. Coffee House began in Iowa AS Toothpaste Press. They moved to the Twin Cities and rebooted as Coffee House Press to make books with spines that could get onto book shelves across the country! At least be honest about it!!

I happen to like the efforts of Toothpaste much more than Coffee House. While I do understand who Allan Kornblum made the decision that he did, I still mourn the loss of the special quality that the chapbooks lost in the transition to perfect bound books. sigh

Stanzas in Imitations by Gina Myers (2007)

Stanzas in Imitations
Gina Myers
New School Chapbook Series
New York, NY
(c) 2007

It's always a treat to read someone's earlier or earliest published work. This booklet was the 2005 competition winner for the New School chapbook contest as selected by Olena Kalytiak Davis. 21 pages. A slight "boo-boo" on cover, the "s" at the end of Stanza(s) was added in pen since it was missed in printing.

Robert Hawley (oyez press) 1929 - 2017

A decade ago now I posted a piece about a chapbook of Josephine Miles work that was published by Oyez Press. Sometime later a gentleman named Curtis sent me a comment about my posting, it read :

"Hawley's little bookshop moved from Albany to a place on Shattuck Avenue for a while, but Bob became very ill (the rumor was lung cancer), and he closed it soon after, the elegant bookcases ending up at another ill-fated bookshop ("Books by Jerome"), which also closed within a couple of years. I don't know what happened to those magnificent cases!

"I've seen Hawley and his wife three times in the last year over at the El Cerrito Re-Cycling Center by the dumpsters beside the book turn-around. I mentioned to him that he should consider placing his publisher's archive somewhere, but he seemed oblivious. I think he must be in his late 80's."

well, I missed his passing. Sorry to see someone of renown in our little world go into the reeds.

Eleven : Eleven by Liz Worth (2008)

Eleven : Eleven
Liz Worth
Trainwreck Press
Gulf Islands, BC, Canada
(c)2008

In the summer of 2018 I found myself in Toronto and, having never been there before, tried to make a mad dash around town taking in as much bookstores and record shops as one can on a family vacation. One of the items I picked up was Amphetamine Heart by Liz Worth. I liked what I read on the flight home (I was returning with about a dozen books from Toronto) and decided to write Ms. Worth who graciously sent me a copy of each of her chapbooks. She's known these days in Toronto as a Tarot card reader but she's probably best known for her Treat Me Like Dirt book which is an oral history of the punk scene in Toronto (and elsewhere) dealing with the years 1977-1981.

The earliest of Ms. Worth's published work was the 2008 Eleven : Eleven which was published by Trainwreck Press. The current website does not list her book but that's likely because the Press rebooted a few years ago. Eleven : Eleven is a 24 page short fiction book of extremely well written prose which might be consider a series of prose poems or just damn good writing. I was reading it today while listening to a mix tape of unknown origin that I inherited along the way. A cassette mix tape, mind you, not exactly punk music but period for the time frame I imagine this book covers. It made the reading experience more relevant, I thought.

I don't suspect that this would be easy to find in the States and could be extremely difficult to find - period - but it clearly shows the talent that was later highlighted in Amphetamine Heart. There are references to Tarot cards and related themes in Eleven : Eleven so it shouldn't surprise one that she went back to her first love when she wrote herself out (if in fact that is what she did)

I highly recommend reading her.

Ignoble Daydreams for the Impudent Minds by Randy Boone (2005)

Ignoble Daydreams for the Impudent Minds
Randy Boone
self-published
(c) 2005

One should never self-publish when angry. Not that the author didn't have a right to be angry but that one tends to only see things through the prism of anger. So, Mr. Boone had a bad experience with a publisher who reneged on a contract to publish Mr. Boone's book of poems. The result was a rather defiant middle finger to publishers and contracts and all. The name of his self-publishing "company" was I'm-More-Violent-Than-You-Think-and-if-You-Steal-My-Ideas-I'll-Smash-Your-Face-Up=With-a-Hammer Publishing. Just saying, a little defiant and tad bit angry.