Jessica Smith
above/ground press
Ontario, Canada
(c)2013
Poetry presses and the poets who populate them are a small circle of dedicated (possibly crazed) wordsmiths - and fanatics, to be fair. Poets chisel words onto blank pieces of paper or blank computer screens the way sculptors find their voice in rock.
Small presses, due to the necessity of their obsession and the lack of finances (generally), tend to be the most inventive in presentation because they are dealing with 'tiny slivers of nothing' as it is - slide a thin chapbook between large anthology volumes by reputable and established publishers and you will see a thin space but have no idea from its spine, or absence of spine, what the book might be.
This is such a book. Kinkos white cover with a detailed drawing of a bird feather, courtesy of Alixandra Bamford, graces the front. Inside is a second cover, red, on the back is the publisher information and author bio. Inside is just the text ma'am; just the text. Jessica Smith's words, regrettably, deserve better than Kinkos quality paper. Hey, I have stories of our own press's humble beginnings. Ours intersected with an "off the books" Kinkos transaction that led to the termination of the entire night crew at a particular Philadelphia location. I am sure that this effort by Mr. Mclennan was above/ground(board) and the combination covers are both striking and original. Kudos, sir!
I appreciate the spacial quality of Ms. Smith's work. I wonder if she hesitates a significant
amount of time
between passages
since the spacing beckons one to do.
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