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.
