Randall Jarrell by Karl Shapiro (1967)

 Randall Jarrell

Karl Shapiro

Library of Congress

Washington, DC 

(c)1967

This booklet is of a lecture given by Mr. Shapiro about Mr. Jarrell. 47 pages. Handsome insignia of the Library of Congress crest on back. Staple bound. 

Perfect Stranger by Earl McMurray (1997)

 Perfect Stranger

Earl McMurray

The Ledge Press

1997 Poetry Chapbook Contest Winner

Glendale, NY

(c)1997

Staple bound chapbook on slick cover stock. Photo of the poet inside back cover. Belated congrats for this contest winner (decades belated at this point). Have to say, (I) greatly appreciate that many of the poems in this winner book are absent of first person singular. 

The Nepal royal family booklets (1986)

 His Majesty King/ Her Majesty Queen

Department of Information

Ministry of Communication

HMG

Nepal

(c)1986

More information that I would ever need about the royal couple as of 1986. A royal family in the tradition of all single family rulers. Their heirs still run the country in 2024. No - this isn't poetry but they are chapbooks. Or booklets. Or historical documents. (a wink to Galaxy Quest). Okay, it's more nuanced than that. The Monarch was abolished in 2008. But the same family ruled the country since the mid-1700s and the same other family rules as prime minister even now. 

Dancing Back Strong the Nation by Maurice Kenny (1979)

Dancing Back Strong the Nation

Maurice Kenny 

The Blue Cloud Quarterly 

Marvin, SD

(c) 1979

Similar to the Joel Oppenheimer book I just wrote about this one also "defies" definition in that it isn't even mentioned on the Wikipedia page for the author. There is a listing on that page of a version of this book published in 1981 by White Pine Press (something about this press, I swear) with an introduction to the work by Paula Gunn Allen, who also wrote the introduction - likely word for word taken - for the 1979 book published by The Blue Cloud Quarterly. I suggest you click onto the link for the Blue Cloud Quarterly since it goes into much deeper detail about that publication. I personally am ambivalent about Catholic publications "work on behalf of" Native writers since the history of European religions contributing to the obliteration of Native religions is raw and without justification. 

And yet, if this publication had not brought out the work by a number of Native voices, would we even know of them? 

Or know the name of the artist, Rokwaho, who did the cover image?

I greatly value the writings of all "marginal" groups who are part of the American Experience since for most of the history of the United States that narrative has been controlled by white Christians of European descent.