Why Not by Joel Oppenheimer (1987)

 Why Not

Joel Oppenheimer

White Pine Press

Fredonia, NY

(c) 1987

This is the second book published by White Pine Press of poetry by Joel Oppenheimer that has intrigued me. This time because this is actually a reprint of a book that was published, according to the Wikipedia page for Mr. Oppenheimer, just two years prior by Press of the Good Mountain - which after doing a quick bit of research online I found to be an actual publisher located in Rochester, NY. The Press was created at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1950. The instructor of Typography at the college, Alexander Lawson, was the supervisor of the Press. 

Thirty-five years later, the Press of the Good Mountain published Why Not and then 2 years later, White Pine Press brought out their own version of the same book. Contractual issues? One can only speculate as those involved have all gone into the reeds at this point. However, on the printer's page there is an acknowledgment that the book is an expanded version of the "limited letterpress edition" which had been made by a David Lorczak at the Press of the Good Mountain. The cover illustration is by Joel Oppenheimer. 

I wonder how few copies exist of that original 1985 letterpress edition. Apparently the 1985 edition had 100 copies printed. I have seen the cover online. Copies are not cheap online then again, they all seem to be signed by either Joel or David. 

This Hunger by Carol Cullar (1993)

 This Hunger  

Carol Cullar  

The Maverick Press

Eagle Press, TX

(c)1993

Inscribed and signed inside front. Printed on recycled paper. One of 150 copies printed. Signed on back pages. Unpaginated. 

Ms. Cullar was an artist as well as the editor of a literary publication called "The Maverick Press" in that part of Texas. The cover image was created by Ms. Cullar. Hand sewn. Beautiful book. Well crafted poems. 

Writers' Work from Northern Virginia Community College (1986)

 Writer's Work 

Northern Virginia Community College (Alexandria Campus)

(c)1986

Recently a poet's personal library was "donated" to a local library that I am involved with. The poet's collection was rather unceremoniously released as the poet had died a few weeks prior and apparently their books were not designated to be placed anywhere. So...

The poet had also taught English and creative writing at the NOVA (as it is commonly referred to in the region) as well as other colleges through their life. 

Typical college student fare. Nothing remarkable. But it was captured and collected and preserved. Noted. 

playing with power tools at the alter of venus by r. julius fildes (1993)

playing with power tools at the alter of Venus

r. julius fildes

Screaming Ego Press

(c)1993

A time piece of cyberpunk anarchist future. #10 of 200 printed. Drawing throughout by author as well. Interested bit of unexploded napalm. 

arcana by Ian Samuels (2002)

 Arcana

Ian Samuels

housepress

Calgary, CA

(c)2002

This is a handsome little book. This one is #17 of 60 printed. What I find most fascinating and telling is how an author can "forget" a publication like this when only two years later they publish a bigger book, one entitled The Ubiquitous Big which came out in 2004 on Coach House Books. I am going to add the bio that was offered at that time (see if you can find what's missing) :

"Ian Samuels is a former editor of filling Station magazine and currently works at WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival. He is the author of one previous collection of poetry titled Cabra (Red Deer Press, 2000). He lives in his hometown of Calgary, where he is currently working on a mythic history of once-famous blues venue the King Edward Hotel."

Yeah, pretty incredible. 

write a poem about a tomato (??)

 write a poem about a tomato

wrote the seller : "a tomato art zine from ARTspace Chatham. Cute little zine collecting poems, illustrations and more about tomatoes, contributed by Chatham citizens."

wrote me, upon receiving it : 

I have not held a chapbook of such poor quality in a long time. JesusHChrist trees were killed to make this piece of trash. 

The concept could have been - but wasn't. I have to pulp it. It's terrible. Just NO

A Net to Catch My Body in its Weaving by Katie Farris (2021)

 A Net to Catch My Body in its Weaving

Katie Farris

Winner of the 2021 Chad Walsh Chapbook Prize

Beloit Poetry Journal 

Katie Farris is an award winning poet who attracted serious attention with her hybrid-form text boygirls which was released in 2011. 39 pages of pure brilliance. Not "joy" since the subject matter is not cotton candy sweetness but extremely good poetry here. 

Famous Recipes by Famous People (2004)

Famous Recipes by Famous People

Hotel Del-Monte

American Association of Gourmets

(c)2004

This is a reprint of 1936 edition. Nice cover stock. It feels like something. 

Fridge Haikus by Sophia M. Giudici (unknown)

 Fridge Haikus

Sophia M. Giudici

self published

(c) unknown

This hand sewn booklet is the physical representation of the author's time creating haiku and "publishing" them on Instagram. 

However, there is none of that information in the book. I gleaned it from the Net. Not sure what the point of the book is since they were all posted virtually to begin with. The author is more a student of Insta-poets than of haiku. All the piece are surface - lacking depth. As a poet friend of mine said in the 1990s "it's just words". 

Supposedly the haiku are meant to represent her live during the COVID years, which is fine and it's what countless others have also done - albeit not in haiku form, but

A history is not THE history

 I am a big William S Burroughs fan and one of the manifestations of being a fan of his writings is also to note his words and his meanings, as best as one can, and one of the things he wrote, almost in passing, is how ridiculous Western Thinkers and in particular Americans are with their overuse of the word THE as though using THE something or another means the definitive. Burroughs saw this as lazy and near sighted self congratulatory nonsense when it came to a scientific or historical subject. THE meaning "the one and only" whereas, Burroughs argued, A is nearly always more appropriate to use in these scenarios. 

So, I want to say that I am working on A history of poetry chapbooks and would never say I am working on THE history.... because the history of poetry chapbooks is as fluid and dare I say as plastic as the English language itself is. 

This blog - moving forward - is now a template for the book since I have been, unintentionally and semiconsciously, writing it since 2006. 

So many of the posting I have done have been thumbnail mentions instead of in-depth searches but with Carnglass and moving forward and backward simultaneously I will be fleshing out my subjects better so that I have a fuller appreciation of the subjects and so I might gauge what readers might gleam from my research. 

Carnglass Press = Jim Zimmermann of Newark, NJ

 I am going to play this out detective style here - each of the gentlemen I have communicated with about Carnglass Press have mentioned a linchpin, a spider at the middle of the web, and that person was named Jim Zimmermann who ran the Press from the basement of this house. The mystery is a little less dense but still exists. 

Updating the Carnglass Press mystery

 Indeed I have been blogging about chapbooks since 2006. 

Somewhere along the way I have also been sketching elements within my subject matter for expansion because to paraphrase Rod Stewart every chapbook tells a story. So, I will start with the one I am in currently in an see where the ripples go. 

Carnglass Press was a publishing concern in Newark, NJ at the beginning of the 1970s. Michael Redmond was one of the translators of the two chapbooks that I have. I got the chapbooks from an artist named Harry Bartnick. Bartnick did some cover illustration work for the Press and they paid him in chapbooks, these two. Neither of these gentlemen know each other. 

It seems that the bubbling poetic activities from Greenwich Village had traveled the 12 miles (in this case) to Newark. Michael was at Rutgers/Newark and Harry was working at the Newark library. Apparently there was a guy who was so into printing that he had a printing operation in the basement of his house that that was the hub for all these young dudes to be creatively crazy. Both men believe that Carnglass was a short term project. Neither believed that it produced more than these two books, maybe others they weren't sure of ever having been printed, like the project that Harry's cover art was meant for - A Single Shot to Kill a Bear - reenforcing the reality that not every project does come to fruition.