There Ain't No Flies on the Lamb of God
Morgan Press
Milwaukee, WI
(c) 1974
Unique book comprised of poems by poems and images of artists associated with or chosen by publisher Ed Burton. Plywood back cover. One of only 50 copies made. Hand printed with teak and hand woven wool cover. Jim Sorcic is among those presented in this collection. Jim Gibbons, Lyn Lifshin, Paul Grillo, and others round out this handsome and extremely rare book.
Jim Sorcic
Morgan Press
(c) 1991
Published the same year as his large book, This Could Lead to Dancing, this small unpaginated book used the same cover stock for both books. This book is dedicated to Rachel Orvino. Short prose pieces, basically about single parenting his daughter. Something I can relate to - differently.
The tale and the trail of this family through literary collapse continued for a time beyond This Could Lead to Dancing with the 1992 Morgan Press version of Jim's 1972 book one day, one long day... and his 1994 book Small Handbook for the Heart: The Adoption Poems because Jim adopted a (or two) young Vietnamese boys.
Two other things I would like to add here about Morgan Press. Morgan Press was Ed Burton and Jennifer Roanhouse and possibly others. It existed from the early 1970s into the 1990s. It began in Ed's basement in Milwaukee where he had an old letterpress and he made chapbooks, postcards and posters. According to Jim Gibbons. Gibbons' first book, Prime the Pump, was the first book printed by Morgan Press in 1970. Ed Burton had a wife, Vickie.
I know that jennie orvino moved to California. I don't know what became of Rachel Orvino. I hope she is happy and is doing well.
Jim Sorcic
Morgan Press
Milwaukee, WI
(c) 1980
A short story with some shadowing of the author's real life, imaged perhaps, or fictionalized to a degree but all the same : Sorcic has dropped any hint of the "orvino" part of his life.
Jim Orvino-Sorcic
Morgan Press
Milwaukee, WI
(c)1974
Within the saga of this marriage coming apart while raising a daughter separately/together, in 1974 Jim was still publishing as "Orvino-Sorcic" even though this chapbook is dedicated to a different woman. It is an oddly sized book to be sure. The poems tell of the upheaval and disintegration of a relationship found to be "faked" with bitter consequences as must be lived. It's heart-wrenching and truthful. As good writing needs to be.
