Stephanie Balzer
CUEeditions
Tucson, AZ
(c)2009
Prose poetry at its finest. (I know, but it's approaching midnight on a truly terrible year and I wanted to squeeze this in)
Balzer is an extremely talented writer. CUE is a overachieving journal/press. Great things hiding in generically plain covers. It's worth the read, seriously
J. Hope Stein
Hyacinth Girl Press
(c) 2012
Sometimes a chapbook is more than a fancy cover with a black ribbon, sometimes it is meant to be more and is in fact more. This is one of those times. [Mary] : is the 3rd installation of a mixed media project called “The Inventor’s Last Breath,” which includes a 10-minute film that premiered at the Henry Miller Library in 2011, and the chapbook [Talking Doll] : which was published Dancing Girl Press in 2012.
“The Inventor’s Last Breath” gets its title from Thomas Edison’s last breath, which was supposedly captured in a test tube and is on display at the Ford Museum in Michigan. A future installation of the Inventor’s Last Breath may or may not have taken place on her website, jhopestein.wordpress.com (almost 10 years ago now, and the traces of her film have disappeared from the Net).
It is fair to say that Ms. Stein has a highly creative mind as evidenced in her most reason book titled Occasionally, I remove your brain through your nose.
Guy Birchard
Pressed Wafer
Boston, MA
(c) 2003
tiny book of sizable words. The poet lives in Saskatchewan. Or did in 2003 when this collection came out. I like the way Grover on Sesame Street says Saskatchewan. The poems here are thin and tasty. Wherever Moose Jaw is.....
in case/this way two things fell
Beau Beausoleil
Potes & Poets Press
Hartford, CT
(c)1982
Potes & Poets Press has had a long and influential history (1972- 1998) From the University of Connecticut library archives page :
"Potes & Poets Press was a small press founded by poet and publisher Peter Ganick.
Peter Ganick was a private piano teacher, poet, publisher, artst and resident of West Hartford, Connecticut. He was born on December 14, 1946 in Boston, Massachusetts to parents William (an executive in advertising) and Virginia (a legal secretary and pianist). Ganick was raised in Needham, Massachusetts, twelve miles from Boston itself. He attributed his passion for the arts to his parents and to having grown up in the Boston area, where he had access to many exceptional art museums and venues.Beau Beausoleil is a poet and bookseller living in California. This chapbook is one of his earliest published collections. Published in a run of 300 copies in a famous Brooklyn print shop (The Print Center). Beau is best known now for being a founder of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition and the co-editor (along with Deema Shehabi) of the anthology Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here: Poets and Writers Respond to the March 5th, 2007, Bombing of Baghdad’s “Street of the Booksellers”
Merrill Gilfillan
Grand Rapids, MI
(c)2013
More interested in the history of this press than the words on the page with this one. Jen Tynes and crew are on a mission worth keeping track of.
Jennifer Campbell
dancing girl press & studio
Chicago, IL
(c)2021
Fairy tales meets 21st century media culture in this interesting blended collection.
Chelsea Biondolillo
Etchings Press
Indianapolis, IN
(c) 2015
Published in 2015 by the University of Indianapolis' Etching Press, this small collection of prose pieces is unique in size and scope. I didn't know, for example, not that I am worldly wise but I have been to and through Indianapolis, THAT there is a University of Indianapolis. Or that this University has a press. Or that this Press published Ms. Biondolillo. But it's a handsome book to be sure.
Amber Nelson
dancing girl press & studio
Chicago, IL
(c) 2013
I continue to filter through a packet of seconds from this small press. By that I mean books that should have been pulped because they were defective but instead were bundled like dead fish for the unsuspecting boob willing to fork over money for a set of 5 (defective) books.
I wonder how the poems were presented in Reb Livingston's No Tell Motel. They likely were presented better than this stinker. I have no faith in the quality of this press.
Kirsten Kaschock
Bloof Books
(c) 2012
At least for the 2012-2013 season Bloof Books printed a run of 100 numbered chapbooks and then released the text digitally.
The chapbook has a subtitle, actually, which is kind of novel in that most do not. The subtitle is "A Dance with Saints in Three Acts" which corresponds with the cover.
This collection is hand-sewn and has drawings throughout by Koen Kaschock-Marenda. Ms. Kaschock is a multidisciplinary artist who teaches at Drexel University in Philadelphia. The work here skirts the edges of many of those disciplines. It's a beautiful dance.
This is print #39 of 100 made.
Anna Vitale
Perfect Lovers Press
Cincinnati, OH
(c) 2013
The concept is not a new one, really. Poet writing about song tracks of a particular album by a particular band and full disclosure - I got to know the poet who in my estimation has done the best job of this construct is Daniel Nester (whom I know) in his books God Save My Queen (Soft Skull Press, 2003) and God Save My Queen II: The Show Must Go On (Soft Skull, 2004) which covers the entire discography of Queen. Song by song. Essay by essay.
Here - distortion to avoid copyright infringement is hardly worth it. I am more interested in the Xerox series of this unknown (to me) publisher than the work itself.
Buck Downs
self published
Washington, DC
Downs, the Mississippi transplant, the DC rebrand, the poet in the news currently in Washington, DC for his "poetry sticker" project made this hand sewn little chapbook more than a handful of years ago (I suspect). The paper reminds me of early computer paper.
Buck produced a lot of work from the time he landed in DC.
Julia Cohen
dancing girl press
Chicago, IL
(c)2008
Perhaps it's because I just wanted a documentary about post-punk music but I am looking at chapbooks like DIY singles or cassettes. Except that most poets do not produce their own chapbooks and that many publishers are not also poets.
dancing girl press, like a lot of indie record label is bootstrap tight on cash and start up floundering on recognition. This particular chapbook does no favors for the poet or the press (it feels like a copy that should have been pulped instead of added to a packet)
Andrew Schelling
Rocky Ledge Cottage Editions
Boulder, CO
(c) 1991
Andrew Schelling is a well known and established poet and translator who taught at the Naropa University outside of Boulder, CO which explains why "Rocky Ledge Cottage Editions" published this collection. The book was designed by Anne Waldman.
Catherine Daly
limited cycle press
Finland
(c) 2014
Never heard of the press before. The poem in 30 parts is an interesting "projection-analysis" of the world we live in. Frightening and accurate. Good read.
Update: I reached out to Ms. Daly and piece together the following information upgrade. I asked about the piece or pieces in the book and she said, "My original intent was to use this to control steering through texts (ex. jumping). Each section is from a different nintendo game (from about 15 years ago)."
I asked about the publisher (limited cycle press) and learned that it was "Jukka-Pekka Kervinen! I first met him though Peter Ganick @ blue lion, but he'd published some chapbooks of mine (Daly's) online."
Robert Fitterman
Counterpath
Denver, CO
(c) 2016
Full disclosure: I know Robert Fitterman. In fact he was the judge of one of our poetry chapbook contests years ago for Plan B Press, which I run. So when I saw this thin sliver of nothing in a second hand shop, I immediately recognized the name and added it to my stack. After I got the home, I contacted Robert and asked him about this particular venture and he informed me that it was that book is somewhat of a companion piece to No Wait. Yep. Definitely Still Hate Myself published by Ugly Duckling Press in 2014. Not many folks know about I Love Forever, No Matter--that chapbook series with Counterpath never really got off the ground. The chapbook is actually a chapter from a longer unpublished ms. called "The Emotion Wheel"
Buck Downs
self published
Buck Downs is in the news right now in Washington DC for a poetry sticker project that poetry haters are labeling "litter". Sad, really, that people who hate art so are quick to comment on things they don't understand. But it is in the cyber verse that we click in.
Among the items I received from the poetry ephemera "trove" from Iowa were a number of Buck Downs self published poetry chapbook/booklets. This tiny formatted one is the first I will mention. Of course, I choose to mention within context as well. Downs is an outsider, not a DC native, but as so he sees through the hubris that breeds in our nation's capital. Coming as he does, from Mississippi
the fin de siècle poems
Guy Birchard
Pressed Wafer Press
(c) 2003
Rob has written about the man, all I can say is that this thin sliver of nothing is worth the find.
Karen Weiser
Pressed Wafer
Boston, MA
(c)2002
Even with a digital trail sometimes it's best to imagine where the shadow of a poet lingers now. After books published by the likes of Ugly Duckling Presse, a poet like this one can claim a space on the Academy of American Poets website and then not provide any info whatsoever. If you will, a white ghost instead of the traditional black.
What I do know is that this chapbook by the now deceased and discontinued Pressed Wafer is on a table in front of me: half smiling. The booklet is divided into two sections, actually. "Out of the Body there are Planned Things" for Fanny Howe is first, a crash course for those (like me) unfamiliar with Ms. Weiser's work and then the somewhat misleading titled section "8 Positive Trees" taking it's name from a sculpture by Menashe Kadishman. (there are only 7 poems)
I love the brevity of her work here. It's refreshingly deep and subtly so. The words don't have to scream their message, the flow is more of a trickling creek - not the Mississippi River emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.
Theodore S. Boone
National Church Press
Albion, MI
This tiny (and I mean tiny) booklet is a reference booklet listing the accomplishments of Afro-American individuals through history. There were several editions and printings of this booklet. This particular copy has a pink inner page between the cover and the text. Maybe that's how they decided to tell the editions apart (?)
Midnight Antelopes
Darlene Gold
Pressed Wafer Press
(c) 2003
It's impossible to write about any book published by Pressed Wafer without mentioning William Corbett, the co-founder of the press who died in 2018. Pressed Wafer ended when he did. Sadly.
The cover image of this chapbook was provided by Brenda Iijima.
The torch has been passed, not extinguished.
Zack Haber
self published
undated
I actually have some history with this poet. I only found this particular "little sliver of nothing" in the Reston Used Bookshop in Reston, VA on 10/24/21 while I was was too early for a poetry reading that I was one of the features for. And there on the bottom shelf of the poetry section, blocked by two stacks of books on the floor in front of the bottom shelf and I recognized the name immediately. "Wait a minute!"
In 2008 I started a poetry series in a funky (but ultimately poorly managed) art space called the Soundry. The series was called "Poetry Lab". It ran for a few years. One of the earliest poets to read as part of that series was a young man named Zack Haber. He had a book out entitled To Carry You Being which was published locally by Jan Holton. The book was published in Reston. It was Haber's hometown. It stated that To Carry You Being was his first book. But this earlier, undated, little sliver of nothing seems to have that honor.
Shortly after reading in Vienna, Va for me at the Poetry Lab, Haber moved out to the Bay. He now teaches and lives in Oakland, CA.
Ross Priddle
oma darlin' press
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
(c) 2012
Mini-sized chapbook I had to write about because, com'on ! oma darlin' press? Huckleberry Hound? Clementine?
Ross Priddle has the Bentspoon Blog in Calgary. It's mini-mighty-fine indeed.
Norma Cole
a + bend press
Davis, CA
(c) 2009
It could be read as a single poem per page but since there are no titles nor a page count, it could also be read as a single poem with deliberate pauses between verses. It works as both, I believe. Intriguing all the same.
Joe Hall
Publishing Genius
Baltimore, MD
(c) 2012
Tiny booklet, interesting words.
Chris Martin
Coffee House Press
(c)2014
10 page staple bound single poem small sized chapbook. (try saying all that in one breath) Fairly unique and terribly rare.
I could not easily reproduce the name of this item, it's second "letter" is an upside down 'h'. Curiouser and curiouser.
Writings and Art from the Rio Abajo 2006-2007
University of New Mexico Valencia Campus
(c)2007
College students writing and art. Where are they now?
Heather Christle
this mini-sized staple bound chapbook has no publication history at all anywhere in it. It's like she doesn't exist..... but,
She does exist - at least on Tumblr
https://heatherchristle.tumblr.com
update : 10/18/21
I was going through the large packet of items I received from Iowa State and found an envelope from "Factory Hollow Press" which I promptly researched and in their catalogue from 2013 was - aha! - private party by Heather Christle.
editoriol horizonte
Medellin, Columbia
no stated year
Little sliver of nothing, printed in Columbia. In Spanish. Handsome staple-bound oddly sized number as well.
Pinball Publishing
Portland, OR
(c) 2003
David Harrison Horton is a Beijing-based writer, artist, editor, and curator. He is the author of the chapbooks Pete Hoffman Days (Pinball) and BeiHai (Nanjing Poetry). His poetry has recently appeared in In Parentheses, swifts & slows, Spittoon, and Otoliths.
This is one of the bios for the poet. I want to focus a bit more on the layout and design of the book itself though since it is uniquely sized with a open cover I have not seen before. So I want to acknowledge Laura Brian and Austin Whipple of Pinball for this design. Very well done.
Michael Nicoloff & Alli Warren
Abraham Lincoln Press
Ashland, OR
(c) 2011
Both of these poets have been achieving a "rep" :
ALLI WARREN’s first book, Here Come the Warm Jets, was published by City Lights. Previous chapbooks include Grindin’ (Lew Gallery), Acting Out (Editions Louis Wain), and Well-Meaning White Girl (Mitzvah Chaps). With Michael Nicoloff, she wrote Eunoia (Abraham Lincoln Press) and Bruised Dick. She edits the magazine Dreamboat, co-edits the Poetic Labor Project and formerly co-curated The (New) Reading Series at 21 Grand. Alli lives in Oakland.
MICHAEL NICOLOFF is the author of the chapbooks "Punks", Mixed Grill (Monologue Version), and I Hope You Die, as well as the CD "Punkses" (After Ketjak). With Alli Warren, he wrote Bruised Dick and Eunoia. Formerly a curator of the (New) Reading Series at 21 Grand and Artifact, he presently serves on the board of Small Press Traffic and is an organizer with the Bay Area Public School.
I found nothing about this apparently micro-press, Abraham Lincoln Press.
These two poets have merged their work so seamlessly in this collection I have no idea who's words are whose. If words have ownership, which they don't. Interesting chapbook.
Loren Walker
dancing girl press & studio
Chicago, IL
(c)2021
Kristy Bowen has created this press and puts on her Sisyphus skin every time she brings out a chapbook of a female artist (that's what dancing girl press does; work with female artists). I applaud her for that.
But as a publisher myself, I would have hoped that after nearly 20 years of doing this, it might have evolved out of the Xeroxed production era and this one hasn't. The cover image is good but the paper stock is very Xerox. I know this paper stock since I have used it myself. The words on the page are somewhat demeaned by the quality of the paper the words are printed on. As El Lissitzky wrote back in 1931, The book must be the unified work of the author and the designer. As long as this is not the case, splendid exteriors will constantly be produced for unimportant contents, and visa-versa.
Hot Whiskey Press
Boulder, CO
(c) 2006
My apologies to those involved with this anthology. I take it to be an anthology. It lists poets and states that some of the poems were previously published elsewhere. It is a unique item to be sure. I am apologizing for titling the collection "prime cuts" since that is what it appears to be showing in the cover image and it does not actually list a title that I have seen anywhere. I hope my temporary title will suffice in the moment.
This is indeed an interesting hand sewn anthology of work published by Hot Whiskey Press, a press I had not heard of before. A handful of the poets I have heard of and have read before : Linh Dinh, Elizabeth Robinson, Clayton Eshleman, Lisa Jarnot - but some were new to me. Wonderful mix.
Late Y. Subbaraya Sharma
Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashram
Bangalore, India
(c) 1992
One of only 1,000 copies printed. This is a chapbook in the sense that it is staple-bound and of the dimensions of a chapbook but it is also 102 pages, which means it NOT a chapbook and yet I am including it because the language is exquisite and the images as beautiful. It is a profoundly charming book.
Laura Goldstein
Horse Less Press
Grand Rapids, MI
(c)2013
Ms. Goldstein added another 'a' to her first name since I knew her in Philadelphia. Nice wraparound cover effect. Good writing. hand sewn booklet. Worth the read.
Reed Ruck
N&R Publishing
St. Thomas, PA
(c)2003
More accurately this title should include A Compliation of Articles from Gene Niswander's Historical Indian Newsletter of Franklin County and Surrounding Area. Franklin County, PA. Informative collection of articles about the Native Americans encounters and then forcibly relocated from their lands by the descendants of those chronicling these tales. 52 pages. The tales are well written and yet thoroughly heartbreaking when you realize the outcome that led to them. The book might as well have been titled "white men remember those they killed off to take their land from". Such a tragedy. Such a loss.
Keith Waldrop
duration press
(c) 1999
This one is special in the sense that it is duration press's first chapbook (stated on back as "duration.number.one.1999" and it one of only 200 printed. 31 pages of language gymnastics at its best.
Julia Vinograd
J/S Press
(c) 1985
Through the arc of her publishing career, with the visual effects of her changing body as shown with her annual book release with corresponding cover photo; a sort of Dorian Gray in real time with written work that continues to become more perfected while she wanes due to the toll she pays for the life she chose to live; all represented in this 1985 chapbook published 40 page blast by a mysterious publisher who left no trace - puff of smoke.
Hailey Higdon
Bloof Books
(c) 2012
This chapbook was well received and reviewed upon it's release in 2012. I remember reading with her at a rather bizarre event outside of Towson, Maryland a few years ago. It was a odd meddling of country fair with absurdist/difficult poetry being read in a building but it might as well have been a freak show tent to the blue hairs who wandered in. I remember Hailey reading well that day whereas some of the other poets attended seemed determined to "shock and awe".
This is #86 of the 100 numbered copies that were printed. Bloof has done good work presenting quality writing and this is an early example of that. I mean, I could quote heavily from one of those reviews but we are talking about a chapbook that is almost a decade old and has been digitalized for on-line consumption. But you can't feel the cover electronically, and I do enjoy holding a book that actually feels like something. Not slick plastic that makes me want to wash my hands afterward to remove the slickiness of the cover. Be that as it may, the writing is good here and the presentation is worthwhile and e-books are just texts, aren't they?
Concrete Meat
Julia Vinograd
Arc Press
Berkeley, CA
(c) 1981
Due to the nature of Ms. Vinograd's life and publishing history (a book a year for most of her life) we can to see the ever observant poet watching the world from street level while we also watch her age and wither year by year. At least until her sister began to provide the cover art for her annual missives. This is no exception. It is as she describes at the beginning of 'The Mirror's Edge' :
"We scare the monsters but not too far away"
no, indeed not. Otherwise, what would we write about?
Easter Sunday
Barbara Jane Reyes
ypolita press
(c) 2008
Back in 2015 I wrote a detailed accounting of this poet and her book printed the same year by Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs. Reyes had two books out the same year (Cherry). Pretty cool. This one came courtesy of a gentleman at Iowa State who was downsizing his massive chapbook collection (he works in that department and scores of items have ended up in his files over the years). Some of the pieces remind me of the work in Cherry , the chapbook printed by Brenda Iijima's press. Spatially, at least. It would not surprise me at all if the work in both of these 2008 chapbooks were merged in a book with a spine sometime later.
Good stuff !
Barrett Watten
TUUMBA 38
TUUMBA Press
(c) 1982
TUUMBA Press is one of those small presses that does not disappoint. Lyn Hejinian, who started the press in 1976, has done an incredible job creating a very distinctive series of poetry booklets. And this one just dazzles.
It definitely qualifies as a "no tree deserves this ending" item.
I haven't posted much, sorry. The pandemic has shifted my focus from one place to another and back and I just remembered that I have this platform to use (not abuse) and here I am - not ready to discuss any specific chapbook just yet but to thank those who have posted useful and informative comments - as in the case of Carl W who revealed the "mystery" of Jean Stair. Thank you, kind sir.
I don't know if any of you are aware of or have been published by dancing girl press out of Chicago but they are NOT on the up & up. I paid for a 5 chapbook bundle from them in June and never received anything. Not a thank you for your purchase, nothing. When I wrote the owner - I didn't even get crickets back. BE WARNED.
Firewater & Pixie Dust
Karen Lillis
Words Like Kudzu Press
Pittsburgh, PA
(c) 2013
There is a history here - both of a small "micro" press and the poet helmswoman in charge of it. 2 years before this item appeared, in a review of a previous book published by WLK, a reviewer mentioned Ms. Lillis's background and her time spent in Austin, Texas.
I will save those details for another time, should I have the opportunity to review Emergency Room Wrestling by The Dirty Poet.
I want to say that this story, illustrated by Nate McDonough, is quite something in its own write. The story was originally published in Trip City while Words Like Kudzu Press started in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC in 2000 to publish experimental work by women and "other outsiders".
