Telephone Company Repairman Poems by Barbara Moraff (1983)

Telephone Company Repairman Poems
Barbara Moraff
Toothpaste Press
Iowa
(c) 1983

#294 of 400 printed. Signed by poet. Another incredibly handsome book by this inventive and influential press. Unpaginated. Letter pressed. Hand sewn.

One can see the effort and can imagine the frustration at the same time. Frustration in the sense that these delicate books were never going to make their way onto a bookstore shelf and be properly displayed. This book is thick enough to have a spine with text but doesn't because it was hand sewn without any spine cover at all. So beautiful, so delicate. It's not surprising that the following year, 1984, is when Toothpaste transitioned into Coffee House Press. Ironically, on the CHP website there is no mention of Toothpaste Press whatsoever. Even though they say the press started in 1972 in Iowa as a letterpress operation. Well, yes, that is true. To a point. But give credit where it was due. Coffee House began in Iowa AS Toothpaste Press. They moved to the Twin Cities and rebooted as Coffee House Press to make books with spines that could get onto book shelves across the country! At least be honest about it!!

I happen to like the efforts of Toothpaste much more than Coffee House. While I do understand who Allan Kornblum made the decision that he did, I still mourn the loss of the special quality that the chapbooks lost in the transition to perfect bound books. sigh

Stanzas in Imitations by Gina Myers (2007)

Stanzas in Imitations
Gina Myers
New School Chapbook Series
New York, NY
(c) 2007

It's always a treat to read someone's earlier or earliest published work. This booklet was the 2005 competition winner for the New School chapbook contest as selected by Olena Kalytiak Davis. 21 pages. A slight "boo-boo" on cover, the "s" at the end of Stanza(s) was added in pen since it was missed in printing.

Robert Hawley (oyez press) 1929 - 2017

A decade ago now I posted a piece about a chapbook of Josephine Miles work that was published by Oyez Press. Sometime later a gentleman named Curtis sent me a comment about my posting, it read :

"Hawley's little bookshop moved from Albany to a place on Shattuck Avenue for a while, but Bob became very ill (the rumor was lung cancer), and he closed it soon after, the elegant bookcases ending up at another ill-fated bookshop ("Books by Jerome"), which also closed within a couple of years. I don't know what happened to those magnificent cases!

"I've seen Hawley and his wife three times in the last year over at the El Cerrito Re-Cycling Center by the dumpsters beside the book turn-around. I mentioned to him that he should consider placing his publisher's archive somewhere, but he seemed oblivious. I think he must be in his late 80's."

well, I missed his passing. Sorry to see someone of renown in our little world go into the reeds.

Eleven : Eleven by Liz Worth (2008)

Eleven : Eleven
Liz Worth
Trainwreck Press
Gulf Islands, BC, Canada
(c)2008

In the summer of 2018 I found myself in Toronto and, having never been there before, tried to make a mad dash around town taking in as much bookstores and record shops as one can on a family vacation. One of the items I picked up was Amphetamine Heart by Liz Worth. I liked what I read on the flight home (I was returning with about a dozen books from Toronto) and decided to write Ms. Worth who graciously sent me a copy of each of her chapbooks. She's known these days in Toronto as a Tarot card reader but she's probably best known for her Treat Me Like Dirt book which is an oral history of the punk scene in Toronto (and elsewhere) dealing with the years 1977-1981.

The earliest of Ms. Worth's published work was the 2008 Eleven : Eleven which was published by Trainwreck Press. The current website does not list her book but that's likely because the Press rebooted a few years ago. Eleven : Eleven is a 24 page short fiction book of extremely well written prose which might be consider a series of prose poems or just damn good writing. I was reading it today while listening to a mix tape of unknown origin that I inherited along the way. A cassette mix tape, mind you, not exactly punk music but period for the time frame I imagine this book covers. It made the reading experience more relevant, I thought.

I don't suspect that this would be easy to find in the States and could be extremely difficult to find - period - but it clearly shows the talent that was later highlighted in Amphetamine Heart. There are references to Tarot cards and related themes in Eleven : Eleven so it shouldn't surprise one that she went back to her first love when she wrote herself out (if in fact that is what she did)

I highly recommend reading her.

Ignoble Daydreams for the Impudent Minds by Randy Boone (2005)

Ignoble Daydreams for the Impudent Minds
Randy Boone
self-published
(c) 2005

One should never self-publish when angry. Not that the author didn't have a right to be angry but that one tends to only see things through the prism of anger. So, Mr. Boone had a bad experience with a publisher who reneged on a contract to publish Mr. Boone's book of poems. The result was a rather defiant middle finger to publishers and contracts and all. The name of his self-publishing "company" was I'm-More-Violent-Than-You-Think-and-if-You-Steal-My-Ideas-I'll-Smash-Your-Face-Up=With-a-Hammer Publishing. Just saying, a little defiant and tad bit angry.

A Wreath of Christmas Poems New Directions (1972)

A Wreath of Christmas Poems
A New Directions Book
(c) 1972

Edited by by Albert M. Hayes and James Laughlin. Illustrated by Jose Erasto. A quaint seasonal chapbook. Handsomely presented.

writing during the season of death : a global pandemic to be observed, witnessed

This is where we are - just noting it - me and my family are sheltering in place here in Northern VA

Upheaval and staying healthy, home schooling and trying to absorb "the new normal" which won't ever feel normal.

and so, now we continue....... be damn skippy already!

At Least A Glint by Harry D. Eshleman (1996)

At Least A Glint
Harry D. Eshleman
Eshleday Specialday Press
Kutztown, PA
© 1996

In 2019, while on the way to a quick weekend vacation in Ocean City, MD, I made a quick stop in Trappe, MD (a small truck-stop of a town) at the incredible Unicorn Book Shop and there found this book which definitely belonged in Berks County, PA.

Having moved to the DC area in 2004, I was unaware of his passing until I did some researching after bringing this book home. I have done a slight edit on his obit, but wanted to present it for those who didn’t / couldn't have known him :

“Harry David Eshleman, 85, died peacefully surrounded by his loving family May 10, 2015, in the Kutztown Manor. Born in Chicago, IL, to Paul and Selina Eshleman on October 4, 1929, he was raised in Lititz, PA. He was a graduate of the University of Chicago and received his Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Veteran of the Army, having served in Korea.  He was a member of St. John’s UCC, Kutztown. He retired from Kutztown University in 1989 following 25 years of teaching.  He taught communication courses and was also a professor of journalism and served as advisor for the school newspaper and yearbook.  In addition to writing poetry, he was actively involved in promoting poetry.  He served on the board of the Wallace Stevens Poetry Society and was President from 1995-1999.  He hosted “Poet’s Pause” on BCTV for many years.  He served as editor of Bookends, the publication for the Berks County Library Association.  He published a large number of works ranging from poetry to essays.”

What was missing from the obit was that he had his own imprint : Eshleday Specialday Press. I haven’t found anything on the Net about the press but I suspect that he published a few other folks as well as his own work after retiring from Kutztown University.

I got to know him at the time he was President of the Wallace Stevens Chapter of the Pennsylvania Poetry Society and I was making noise leading up to the formation of the Berks Bards and the BerksBardfest poetry festival. I was on his poetry program a few times as well. Always well dressed and a bow tie.

Poetically, we are definitely from different generations but because of Eshleman, and poet Harry Humes, Berks County did have poetry flowing through the trees decades before Bardfest came along.

Holding Up the Wall by Julia Vinograd (1987)

Holding Up the Wall
Julia Vinograd
Cal-Syl Press
Oakland, CA
(c)1987

Never heard of or found anything about Cal-Syl Press, maybe it was a print shop? Another in the annual output of Julia Vinograd. Photo by Harold Parish. 42 pages.

Street Spices by Julia Vinograd (1973)

Street Spices
Julia Vinograd
Thorp Springs Press
Berkeley, CA
© 1973

Thorp Springs Press was the publishing child of Paul Foreman who named the press for a location in his native Texas west of Fort Worth. He started the press while studying at Berkeley and published a few of Julia Vinograd’s early chapbooks.

This is one of those. It was published in 1973. Unpaginated. Staple-bound. Filled with her street level observations and witticisms. Cover photo by David Soffa.

Lot of My Sister by Alison Stine (2001)

Lot of My Sister
Alison Stine
The Kent State University Press
Wick Poetry Chapbook Series Two
Kent, OH
(c)2001

This is the tenth chapbook in the 2nd series. Ms. Stine's chapbook was the Wick Student Prize winner of that year. The Wick Poetry series was really something in the early "Aughts". 25 pages of incredibly rich poetry.

We Are Gentlemen of Leisure by Dense Lens, Brian Marley and Asa Beneveniste (1975)

We Are Gentlemen of Leisure
Dense Lens, Brian Marley and Asa Beneveniste
Trigram Press
London, UK
(c)1975

I read a story online about a famous bookstore in Salt Lake City that was going to be forced to close within the year due to some downtown renovation project which happens all too often when a bookstore doesn't know the space they operate in, and so I did a bit of research and found that the bookstore, Ken Sanders Rare Books, had an inventory so I went through it, especially the poetry listing, and saw this item. Now, I have had a different item by Asa Beneveniste that I traded to a fellow poet for a book of poetry bumperstickers. Yeah, I am thinking about the cow and magic beans too. But at the time I felt like I should since I felt like I got that item under false pretenses. The seller had misspelled Asa's name..... and I scored the purchase for .99 cents. Anyway, I was familiar with Trigram and actually met Tom Raworth in Washington DC not longer before he passed away.

It's a great booklet. Unpaginated. The 3 poets wrote all the poems in this collection within 6 months of the publication of the book. Glassine dust wrapper. This is one of only 500 printed.

I suggest that you might want to check out Ken Sanders' online inventory before he's forced out of his foothold in the city.

the Bay area takes another loss

Chris Trian, who illustrated many of Julia Vinograd's books, died the other day. Another loss to the Bay area literary and art community. And so it goes.

Canciones by Antonio Machado (translated by Robert Bly) 1980

Canciones
Antonio Machado
translated by Robert Bly
Toothpaste Press
West Branch, Iowa
© 1980

What was it about Robert Bly? I mean, really? He seems to have been the translator of first approach. I love the books created by Allan Kornblum which is why I got this beautiful item. But I am ambivalent about Bly.

The work here is by Antonio Machado who published these poems in 1930 in a large collection entitled Nuevas Canciones which was published in Spanish.

Love the presentation of the work and yet, I can see how Allan was willing to transform Toothpaste into a different press making perfect bound books (Coffee House Press). A tiny item like this gets lost onto standard bookshelves. Slivers of nothing indeed.

updating Jean Stair

I was going through my bins of chapbooks and re-discovered the two books by Jean Stair which re-sparked my curiosity about her so I posted something on Facebook and someone posted a link to the piece I wrote here in January of 2016 about her originally - only while looking at it, did I see that someone had posted additional information. It seems that "Jean Stair" was really Mrs. Grace Stair, who was a painter and poet, and wife of Professor Bird Stair who taught at CCNY for many years and died in 1957.

The two books I have were published in 1955 and printed in Connecticut. I haven't found out anything else about Grace. No images of any of her paintings. These might have been the only books that were ever published of her poetry. She was not part of the Beat generation of the New York School. The obituary for her husband was a bit dismissive of her. After all, she was only his wife.

I will keep searching.

Pam's Chapbook by Pam Coulter Blehert (1999)

Pam's Chapbook
Pam Coulter Blehert
self published
(c)1999

Primarily known as a painter, and married to a poet, Ms. Blehert thin chapbook is a pleasant reminder of the early days of online printing. Although technically published by Words & Pictures East Coast LLC, this is a nice compliment to her other artistic endeavors. Another tiny gem from the Northern Virginia literary community which is constantley surprising me.

3:33 Infinity Heart by Stacy Blint (2019)

3:33 / Infinity Heart
Stacy Blint
adjunct press
Milwaukee, WI
(c)2019

There's a new player in the small press community of Milwaukee. A husband wife and cat team known as "adjunct" press. They aren't entirely familiar with the history of the small presses of Milwaukee past but they aren't completely ignorant of them either. And they are making a splash all the same. The one I chose to read and perhaps mention was this one : Stacy's Blint's 3:33 Infinity Heart. I like her usage of the language and the flow of her work. The production is minimal which does not subtract from the quality of the word. It allows for the poems to be the focus. And it that sense, it's perfectly presented. I expect we will be hearing a good deal more from adjunct press in the future. I certainly hope so, at least.

Selected Poems by Gil Orlovitz (1960)

Selected Poems
Gil Orlovitz
Inferno Press Editions
(c)1960

When I first arrived in Philly and found myself in the folds and aisles of Robin's Bookstore on 13th Street, and got to know and learn the history of literary Philadelphia from the one and very only Larry Robin himself, one of the stories he shared with me was that of Gil Orlovitz. Apparently, Gil was part of a writer's community that hung out at Horn and Hardart in Philly. Larry's father knew Gil and the other writers of that group. Gil, legend had it, died on a street in New York City in 1973. I became familiar with his work without ever purchasing any of it. His novels were out of print (and the few copies that were listed on the internet were pricey). I was less familiar with his poetry. Adn then years later, I see this one - floating on the internet. 50 pages.

The seller and I haggled a bit; not on price but whether or not it was a "pamphlet", which it isn't. But I am extremely happy to have it. Mostly sonnets. I do have one other piece of writing of his, actually, that I found in an publication called 'Circle' and the particular issue was #7-8 published in 1946. Circle was published in Berkeley, CA and this volume also contained work by Bern Porter, Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen, Anais Nin, Robert Duncan and others.

ho! watchman of the night ho! by lee ver duft (1944)

ho! watchman of the night ho!
lee ver duft
Gemor Press
New York City
(c)1944

On a recent trip to Ocean City, Maryland along rt. 50 I had the pleasure of spending a good 45 minutes at Unicorn Bookshop in the small "town" of Trappe. There really isn't a town as I think of such places but a number of buildings lining the main road (rt. 50) in a mostly rural region of the state but boy - this was a bookstore to make sellers and collectors salivate. Tens of thousands, if I could guess, of books and maps and all sort of ephemera. I found 4 items (had to limit myself) and one of them was this beat up copy of ho! watchman of the night ho! which was written by someone I never heard of and published by a press I never heard of. It turns out that the Press is the one that Anais Nin ran from 1942 - 1947. Now, I knew that name and vaguely was aware that she had a press since I recall a photo of her operating a printing press while wearing heels. (can't locate the image right now)

I also had no idea who this lee ver duft was until I started researching, and was surprised to find out that he was an artist who switched from paints to words. It was only after finding out more about him that I sat down and read the poems in this collection, and to be honest, some of the phrases he used in these pieces written during 1943 were VERY pre-Beat. I was like "wow". Serious WOW. I have to read the other books that I wrote. There's some great stuff here.

The book itself is in rough shape. Unlikely to ever sell it. Only 300 copies were printed by Anais Nin's press and the 'history' of ver duft on the page I have linked here is inaccurate as it pertains to this book. They have different dates for the release of it. But it clearly states 1944 in the Gemor book I am holding. There are only 30 pages in the book but it has a spine. So it is truly a chapbook or not?

It's a great read, and that's what matters in the end.

In the Beginning and the End by Siddharta Beth Pierce (2012)

In the Beginning and the End
Siddharta Beth Pierce
Writing Knights Press
Cleveland, OH
(c)2012

Trees were cut down and turned into paper to make this chapbook, and it was not worth it. Not at all worth it.

Her BMW and Other Poems by Neva Herrington (2008)

Her BMW and Other Poems
Neva Herrington
Pudding House Publications
Columbus, OH
(c)2008

Updated 2/17/24

I was too harsh. Mrs. Herrington  was an educator and a poet whose work was not well represented in this chapbook. Sadly, as happens all too often with people, particularly creative souls, her entire poetry library was donated to a local library - one I happen to be the book sale coordinator for - and I managed to secure three boxes of her personal library (I only managed to secure two boxes of Norman Pritchard's stuff but that was long ago and far away)

Diana Press / Lee Lally controversy

I was researching Lesbian presses of the early 1970s for a different subject and found this - 1971 ad promoting the sale of the bootlegged version of Lee Lally's book These Days. It still grinds my socks.

The Fish / The Virgin / and The Lion by Jennie Orvino (1972)

The Fish / The Virgin / and The Lion
Jennie Orvino
Milwaukee, WI
(c) 1972

IN the many years now that I have been writing about chapbooks I have never before seen on that spun on itself like a whirling top quite like this one from 1972. First of all, I never heard of the poet nor of the Press she and her husband were associated with in Milwaukee. Second of all, I never had an appreciation that Milwaukee HAD a literary community at all - let alone a small press community. Thirdly, I never held and read a book that changed as I read it in quite the same way as this before. It is a condensed history of a transformation from a heterosexual woman to a liberated gay woman - while also giving birth to a daughter and starting out as a dutiful wife. It's more like a bullet ride than a rollercoaster. The life that this condensed book covers in all likelihood doesn't do justice for what the poet was thinking/feeling for most of her life. I don't mean to read too much into her verse, but there are also 3 photographs in the book, one in the front and two at the end which emphasize the transformation that occurs through the book. It's just astounding.

It's all in a new year - 2019

So, how did that happen? Where did that time go? 13 years now since I started to blog about chapbooks. People, publishers, Presses, and the poetry itself. And I feel like I have only scratched the surface. Hardly gotten a handle on any of it. Every city of size had more than one small press operating and I don't have more than the tiniest percentage of any of those.

What has come of it mostly is the reenforcement of the idea that in this market economy that we live in in the United States, that art (however broadly defined) is a "commodity". People tend not to consider the work involved in creating the work, but just how much "it's worth". That's disheartening for the artist and for the publisher (or gallery; whomever else is involved in the artistic endeavor that is being measured strictly in monetary terms)

I have been working on a book dealing with what artists in this country have to deal with, and I will be spending a good deal of time with those practitioners of the chapbook form for their contribution to the overall "success" of certain poets and writers.

You Gave Me Your Shadow by David Iribarne (2013)

You Gave Me Your Shadow
David Iribarne
self published
(c)2013

Unpaginated self published book of poetry. The cover image is the strongest thing about this book. It's a deeply personal collection which feels like a missive from the author to one specific person and not really meant for public consumption. That's probably how it should have been handled.

Ghost Soldiers of Volcano and other poems by Arthur Webb (1968)

Ghost Soldiers of Volcano and other poems
Arthur Webb
Mother Lode Publishing Co.
Fresno, CA
(c)1968

I like the cover stock.

Three Grange Halls by Jordan Smith (2002)

Three Grange Halls
Jordan Smith
Swan Scythe Press
Davis, CA
(c) 2002

There are reproductions of sketches from Edward Hopper's notebook sprinkled around this chapbook, very handsomely presented. In fact, I think the poems are sprinkled about as well. Tumbleweed. Milkweed in autumn breeze. Dandelion "helicopters" floating on a summer's day.

And I think that's my problem with poetry like this. The breeziness. The lack of depth. It's 2002 and the poetry in this collection like so many other collections anticipate the surface emptiness of "Instagram Poetry" perfectly. It's singy-songy nothingness. I read the whole book feeling like my hand was out of a window on a hot summer day, feeling air. Feeling air because there was nothing there. Nothing I would remember tomorrow. Chinese food for the soul.

Rattlesnake Press

a full house of Rattlesnake Press books, all of them defanged.

Spiral by Kate Wells (2007)

Spiral
Kate Wells
Rattlesnake Press
Pollock Pines, CA
(c)2007

Chapbooks like this one become journies into new and different threads that are the tapestry of small press history in this country. This chapbook was part of a lot that I found & bought online and I mostly got it because I didn't know any of the poets nor any of the publishers. Like Rattlesnake, which seems to be a big-deal West Coast regional press. Poetry with fangs, or something. That's what the website says. "Poetry with fangs."

Kate Wells' poetry is fangless. But it exists and I am acknowledging it. So, there. Next!

Julia Vinograd 1943-2018

Sometimes it's worth noting.

You should read her, now that she has left our dimension.

Pit Stop by Pat Parker (1975)

Pit Stop
Pat Parker, editor
the women's press collective
Oakland, CA
(c)1975

I bought a small press lot of books from a seller in California who was highlighting this book in particular, but I bought the lot anyway because of the variety of authors and presses I have never heard of before. It wasn't until it arrived and I looked through the books that I started to feel uneasy about this one - this Pit Stop left me a bit cold and it took me a few extra minutes to work through my brain why that might be and it wasn't until after I read over the publisher information that it dawned on me that I had seen "the women's press collective" before, and that it was in an unsavory context.

I quickly looked through my own blog and also typed in "Lesbian Poetry" for the name of this publisher and found that it was linked to Diana Press out of Baltimore. Ah, that's right - Diana Press out of Baltimore. Lee Lally's book that they stole. Lee Lally's book that they published without permission and never gave a dime to the original publisher, Some Of Us Press. Yes, scumbags. Yes, dirtballs. Yes, uprooting themselves from Baltimore to merge with/become the women's press collective. And that name : Pat Parker. Her name was involved with both Diana and the Oakland re-grouping.

Lee Lally passed away years ago now and my own involved with any of this was a stillborn effort on my part to publish an inclusive "Some of Us Press" anthology. While it didn't come to bear, it did enlighten me about this unethical action by Diana Press. I found it interesting that in the Lesbian Poetry Archives listing of the books published BY Diana Press that there was no mention of the pirated publication, These Days, but I just looked through my copy of the book and it clearly states that it was printed BY Diana Press. Someone is attempting to airbrush history a bit.

Since this is now the second time this incident has come across my screen, I will now have to research a bit more. I do want to get to the bottom of this sorted affair simply because whoever made this underhanded decision should not go unpunished.

Drinking the Light by Laverne Frith (2007)

Drinking the Light
Laverne Frith
Finishing Line Press
Georgetown, KY
(c)2007

Laverne Frith is a widely published, award-winning poet and a nationally published reviewer of literary journals and magazines. Laverne is on the reviewer panel of the New York Journal of Books. He is the proprietor of Frith Press and co-editor of Ekphrasis. He is the author of a handful of chapbooks including this one. However, this one is from Finishing Line Press and I do not much like Finishing Line Press. At all.

Black Sparrow chapbooks?

I have been writing this blog for a number of years now (12) and admittedly several of the postings have been pretty "surface". I haven't dug into either the subject nor the work terribly hard. But then - well : I have a new query – I bought a chapbook printed in 1967 by BLACK SPARROW PRESS. Now I always thought that Black Sparrow only did full books with spines and that it started out to publish Bukowski but this chapbook undercuts that narrative. Because it’s a chapbook of James Purdy’s work and it’s a signed copy. So, if the Press WAS formed in 1966, as the history on Wikipedia states, then this is a first year project that predates Bukowski (?). The evidence I have so far found online suggests that the Press was created for Martin, the publisher, to promote Bukowski, “the new Whitman“ (Martin’s words – not mine). And here is a chapbook that is an outlier. Purdy is as underappreciated as Bukowski once was. So Black Sparrow worked with other unknown authors before striking the chord with Charles.

In later interviews Martin does seem to gloss over his own history a bit and told people what they wanted to hear or what made them cream their jeans : that in fact the Press was formed to promote Bukowski and while it’s true that he wasn’t the only successful relationship that Black Sparrow formed with authors, they also brought out work by Paul Bowles and John Fante, in our media culture narrative we associate Black Sparrow SOLELY with Bukowski. So, what am I to make with this chapbook I am holding?

That Bird Your Heart by Tasha Cotter (2013)

That Bird Your Heart
Tasha Cotter
Finishing Line Press
Georgetown, KY
(c)2013

Tasha Cotter has been quite productive since 2013. In addition to this book, there 4 other books published in the same time frame and one of them, Some Churches takes its name from the first poem in this collection. The poetry itself is quite good. My only issue with it is that I am not a fan of Finishing Line Press.

Tracing Silver by Deborah Ryder (1999)

Tracing Silver
Deborah Ryder
Cross-Town Publishing
Harrisburg, PA
(c)1999

Another time capsule from the Central PA environs. Ryder has been a poet in the area for a number of years and this is one of her earlier chapbooks. One of the poems was published previously in Experimental Forest which was a mid-state journal that I loved reading back in the day. Mid-1990s. The poetry is good. Worth collecting.

Fledgling Rag #4 (2007)

Fledgling Rag
Le Hinton
Featuring Jack Veasey
Issue Four
Iris G. Press
Wrightsville, PA
(c)2007

Iris G Press & Fledgling Rag are the brainchildren of Le Hinton who has become a regional poetry superstar. This issue features many of the region's finer poets and that region is Central PA to Washington DC but that came later. In the beginning and this is closer to the beginning as FR only began in 2006, Le asked poets he knew or heard while visiting the Harrisburg to Allentown area. I contributed to one of his issues as well, but not this one. Susan Norris acted as his technical assistant and layout specialist. They worked together for many issues. It's a Heroic effort that deserves attention for both of them.

Standing in the Chaos by Steven G. Concert (2006)

Standing in the Chaos
Steven G. Concert
self published
Harveys Lake, PA
(c) 2006

Concert is a mover and shaker in the poetic world of NE Pennsylvania. He has been actively involved in the Pennsylvania Poetry Society for a number of years and have at least one other book out. This one is thin. A mere 13 pages of verse. I am mentioning the book to talk more about the poet and the fact that poetry thrives all across the state. I am glad to have gotten to know or read a good number of poets from all over PA and hope to spread the wildfire of poetry wherever I roam. They have all inspired me. So, thanks, Steven. Thanks!

Third Book of Poetry by Noah J. Augarten (2006)

Third Book of Poetry
Noah J. Augarten
self published
© 2006


Spiral bound chapbook. Plain paper. Unpaginated and yet there’s a table of contents with page count. I mean, unpaginated means no page numbers and there’s a TOC with numbers. Um, yeah, okay: I give up.

It is way too often true that just because someone can doesn’t mean someone should and that’s is especially true of self-publishing books. To friends and family this might be welcomed. But to someone reading it who doesn’t know the writer except for the words on the page, this effort really should have been suppressed.

To be Santa you have to be tested by Joe Donohoe (2002)

To be Santa you have to be tested
Joe Donohoe
little vanity press
San Francisco, CA
(c)2002

When I was in Toronto over the summer I happened across books by Canadian writers Liz Worth and John L'ecuyer dealing with "cool fringe" culture : drugs and music, but mostly drugs. So when I found this tiny sliver of nothing, the chapbook by Joe Donohoe, I thought of the cool Canadians. This one though wasn't quite the others. Reminds me of that Sesame Street tone "One of these things is not like the other". Indeed. Not that the writing is terrible because it does fit what the Canadian writers were portraying. It's that the presentation was god-awful.

So, I found Donohoe's chapbook on a shelf behind a front row of books, and it didn't stand out so much as I was intrigued by the thinness of it. I recognize a chapbook when I see it. This staple bound effort is completely slap-dash in the most kind was of saying it. There are illustrations in the book but they didn't distract from the absolute primitiveness of the book's appearance. They actually make it more blatant since the illustrations look like they were photocopied poorly and simply put in as pixelated and gray and dirty as they were. Plus each illustration has the title of the book above the image. Like I would be confused or something? I am holding a wreck of a chapbook, I know what I am holding. I half expect it to vomit on me at each turn of the page. Like a chapbook form of a bad punk music show where a speaker falls on a teenage girl and splits her head open. Gushing blood and puke and boy did you see that, dude, that was awesome! (except it wasn't) And neither is this chapbook but not everyone feels like way about his work! A different chapbook by Donohoe was actually distributed by Last Gasp. He's a niche artist, it seems. Not my niche, sorry.

Anticipating You by Julia Tilley (2002)

Anticipating You
Julia Tilley
Joyryder Enterprises
Harrisburg, PA
(c)2002
Jumping into the time machine for a second time to deal with the previous published work by Julia Tilley, we come upon her 2002 book, Anticipating You, which was published by Jennifer Ryder. Or rather "a" Jennifer Ryder since I was about to snap-assume that the publisher of this book was also related to Debbie Ryder, a Harrisburg-area poet, but the website given at the back of the book goes to an Australian writer of best-selling romance novels. Not sure I can square that circle.

Regardless, this book is much better made than the 2009 effort. The poems are tighter, the presentation is more professional; it's just better. Joyryder Enterprises has disappeared into the ether of time. No electronic footprint left to follow. And to be fair to all concerned parties, I had by 2002 moved to downtown Philadelphia and was trying to lay siege to that fine city. Harrisburg, in case some of you don't know, is the state Capital of Pennsylvania and like some other state capitals is much less interesting than the largest city in the state and in the case of Pennsylvania - that means less interested than TWO cities : Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But it did have a poetry community in Harrisburg that was tighter and more buoyant than most other communities in the state. I tip my hat to them! Uptown Poetry Cartel, et al.

Julia Tilley is still quite active in the arts - she has done a one person show as Emily Dickinson recently and is part of the Flying Marmottes Performance Troupe. Good on her!

Cheez Whizz and Other Processed Poems by Julia Tilley (2009)

Cheez Whizz and Other Processed Poems
Julia Tilley
T+T Press
a Division of Thiaw & Tilley Enterprise
Harrisburg, PA
(c)2009

It doesn't help that I know one of the principals in this endeavor. Back in the day, before I left for Philadelphia, I participated in the poetic scene from Allentown to Harrisburg so I know a good number of the active poets in the region. So it does pain me to say that this chapbook coming out in 2009 with such a horribly pixelated cover image is simply not good. These are 24 pages of unremarkable poetry as well. Unfortunate, especially in light of her previous work (the 2002 chapbook Anticipating You). I will discuss that one next.

Peripheral Debris by Carl S. Kaucher

Peripheral Debris
Carl S. Kaucher
self published

This is the other self published chapbook that Carl made earlier this century. He seems to have a new book out. Congrats on this leap, Carl!

Just Universes by Diana Smith Bolton (2016)

Just Universes
Diana Smith Bolton
L+S Press
Washington, DC
(c)2016

Diana Bolton is the founding editor of District Lit. Her work has been featured in numerous publications. This is her first chapbook. The poems within are good and the visuality of the physical book is adequate but it overall lacks something.

Off-Ramp Omniscience by Carl S. Kaucher

Off-Ramp Omniscience
Carl S. Kaucher
self published

The image is that of a cloverleaf where the by-pass and roads leading into Reading and West Reading, PA convene. This self published chapbook with the quite pixelated photo on front and similar photos throughout is the work of Carl Kaucher, who along with her sister, Candace, were among the local talent around at the time that the poetry scene in Berks County, PA was coming together in the mid to late 1990s as I remember it. See, I was a catalyst of that particular shift in poetic happenings there in Berks County which led to the Berks Bards and the poetry festival that they present annually, Berks Bard Fest. The first year of that festival was 1999 and this chapbook was either created that year or possibly in 2000. I don't recall and since there is no publication information it's impossible to be sure. I do remember seeing it around before I moved to Philadelphia in 2001.

Fast forward to my last trip to Berks County, PA and I visited the same place that I found books from Norman Pritchard's library in 2001 and in a trailer where books are dumped, I found a handful of chapbooks of which this was one. There's a certain amount of symmetry in discovering chapbooks from that period now. The poetry festival is 20 years old now and those poets and artists who made up the first core of the poetry readings across the county from 1995-1998 are now themselves 20 years older. I look that the chapbooks as historical documents, not for the poetry in them per se, but for the time period and the fact that many of them were complete DIY efforts.

Thanks for the memories, Carl. I hope you are well.

A Week With Bejing by Meg Eden (2015)

A Week With Bejing
Meg Eden
Neon Books
United Kingdom
(c)2015

I enjoy the work of Meg Eden. Now, I have to say that I am limiting these comments to the one book of hers that I have - this one, but this one is good. Just sayin'. I got to hear her read in Arlington several months ago. It was a worthwhile experience. All the poems in this collection have to do with a person or city or State that may or may not answer to the name Bejing. Short poems with a zip in each one. Very cool.

Poems Cradled in the Horn by Edel Ahmed (2017)

Poems Cradled in the Horn
Edel Ahmed
self published
(c)2017

I am writing to acknowledge this book. Perhaps the translation fails to bring forth the color of the original language, but I see a dull palate here. The downside of self publishing is that there is no one to suggest that an author not move forward with a project. Perhaps too this does speak to people from the Horn and I am simply missing the context that informs the pieces. Perhaps, maybe, but

The Metaphysical Salvage & Scrap Language Yard by Kenneth DiMaggio (2007)

The Metaphysical Salvage & Scrap Language Yard
Kenneth DiMaggio
Plan B Press
Alexandria, VA
(c)2007

I am wearing a t-shirt right now that has the slogans “Made in America Store” on the front and “Because China Is A Long Drive to Work!” on the back that was made by the Save Our Country First.com (company). At the time I bought the shirt, it reflected a knee jerk reaction on my part about how everything that we used to make in this country was no longer made in this country but was being produced EVERYWHERE ELSE. Now the store still exists, in Elma, NY and they still have a website but I remember feeling cheated about a store that proclaimed its “Made-in-America”-ness that basically was selling bobbles. Kitch. Grab bag stuff, nothing substantial or essential to my life in America was being sold in this store. But I bought a t-shirt to express my outright at – globalization? In this context all “globalization” means is that corporations and companies make deals to produce good in foreign countries to screw American workers out of decent paychecks to improve the bottom line for CEOs and shareholders. And, I fell for it.

But that knee-jerk reaction, that Nativistic impulse to flip someone off, that comes from somewhere in this country’s experience too. As the head of Plan B Press, I realize that I in fact published a chapbook that dealt with that “somewhere” when we published Kenneth DiMaggio’s 2007 The Metaphysical Salvage & Scrap Language Yard.

DiMaggio is an educator and he wedged these poems together out of left over bits of unfinished and unpolished pieces that in hindsight presented a lead up to the current “know-nothingness” of the Donald Trump supporter. It starts right away with the first poem : PROPAGANDA which contains the lines

Oh don’t tell me your
ideology or your religious
affiliation just quit your
job and let someone else
clean up the mess


the future is not our responsibility


the future is our ongoing art project
titled Anarchy


In the poem INSOMNIA DiMaggio wonders

where did your education disappear
but into an electric TV-screen
of quicksand


And as sharply as the pointed tip of the reality we are living through right now, he presented us this Polaroid image of the future in his poem THE LAST CLASSROOM CHALKBOARD:

Johnny may not be able
to read or write
but so long as he knows how
to salvage pieces of the Emancipation
Proclamation and the First
Amendment into marijuana pipes
and Kalashnikov rifles illegally made
in metal shop then he will still
have learned his lessons

DiMaggio leads us “astray” through the lens of an educator who is being outflanked on all sides by forces indifferent to values and principles that made this country the envy of the world – once – asking at the end of the last poem in the collection, WHERE IS PARADISE?


so don’t we need
to embalm

what was once vital and alive

Robert Lawson / Blue Bathtub Books

Robert Lawson
Blue Bathtub Books

I don't recall exactly when I met Robert Lawson electronically because I never met him in person but I met him a handful of years ago when he was just starting his Blue Bathtub experiment of creating a book of poems a month for something like 3 years. (Correct me if I am wrong, Robert). Lawson is a teacher of English in Spain. A Brit. A man of boundless energy and a bit of Brautigan/Bukowski in his soul. The books he created and sent me in the mail monthly were both explosive and more than occasionally written on a typewriter with drunken fingers.

The covers began humbly but over time became more distinctive and dare I say it - professional looking. The poems were mixed but definitely immediate. I completely enjoyed Robert's experiment and results thereof.

Once his project was completed, he went silent. Onto his next endeavor. Whatever that might be. It will be nearly impossible to find any of these chapbooks since he didn't mass produce any of them. What was most important was immediacy and that he accomplished.

Rough Cut : Independent Japanese Animation by Stephanie Weissberg (2017)

Rough Cut: Independent Japanese Animation
Stephanie Weissberg
Pulitzer Arts Foundation
St. Louis, MO
(c)2017

This thin pink booklet is an exhibition guide to show by the same name held in St. Louis. The booklet is tiny thin since it online deals with 3 animations and some additional words which to a non-film maker read like "blah blah blah".

The Life Story of Charles Dickens 1812-1870 by Walter Dexter (1937)

the life story of Charles Dickens
1812-1870
Walter Dexter
The Dickens House
London, England
(c)1937

A staple-bound biography of Dickens with B&W images. Very informative booklet. 85 pages. 

cunt. bomb. by Jessica Helen Lopez (2015)

cunt. bomb.
Jessica Helen Lopez
Swimming with Elephants Productions
(c)2014

Slam Poetry has created in 1990 by Marc Smith of Chicago who lamented that no publication would print his work. So, he "invented" a poetic form in a competitive format where money could be made via the performance of one's "work". I am oversimplifying, perhaps, but I am also not a fan of slam poetry. No one who has come up through Slam has been successful on the page. This particular chapbook is typical of the chasm between poetry on the page and poetry from the stage. The most shocking words in the entire book are the two on the front page: the title words CUNT BOMB. Those are some words alright, surprised that WHORE wasn't scribbled across the back cover for good measure.

Even as recited work, slam poetry is shallow. It's performance but there are rules about what qualifies as performance (no props, no visuals) so really it's a performer, com'on really that's what they are - they aren't poets, the language is in no means "poetic", a performer who can recite his/her work. And if they stumble, if they forget a line they tend to attempt a reset; they start over. What does or does not work on the stage does not at all translate to the page. Nearly even. Perhaps Saul Williams bridges that divide, depending. But for the most part no. And I speak as someone who has slammed and come up during the early years of slam when the film came out and the movement was fresh but even then I felt and sensed and knew that what was on the page was empty bullshit and what was on the stage was written for performance and did not come from the page. And these slam'vocates who proclaim they are heirs to the Beats are delusional. Yes, they all were outsiders. All were derided by the establishment, however one defined it, but not all Beat poets read their work well in public whereas the very existence of SLAM is performing in public.

I have been saying since the mid-1990s that a slam artist should release a CD of their work SPOKEN and not a book. Never a book. Because it does not translate and I maintain that to this day. I have repeated told poets who have sent me their manuscripts that aren't at all manuscripts but skits, pieces to be performed on stage that they need to present their work in some electronic way since I (as Plan B Press) would not publish their work as a book. This book reenforces my view entirely. Perhaps Ms. Lopez's stage presence is awesome; but her book is extremely lame.

2 booklets by Tilak (1991)

Sumithrayo organization published a series of staple-bound booklets in 1991 to promote the "teachings" of this fellow named Tilak. Not much to see here, really. Breaking Reality is 12 pages. Inner Visions is 10. Not a perfect 10 but a mere 10. And without the space is the title of one of Stevie Wonders greatest albums.

Just acknowledging them before pulping. Pulped. Move along.

Hawk High by John McKenzie (1974)

Hawk High
John McKenzie
self published
(c)1974

This is a dated chapbook. Yes, 1974 but also dated in that it's really not poetry as much as its song lyrics. I guess, I guess it's song lyrics because as poetry on the page it really isn't good. The singer-songwriter/poet is still with us. Living in Florida. There are some illustrations throughout the book and the copy I have was signed at some point by the author. But..... save a tree! (like the one drawn on the front cover!)

six-minute poems by George Hitchcock (2012)

six-minute poems
George Hitchcock
tavern books
Portland, OR
(c)2012

George Hitchcock was an influential publisher and writer for several decades before his death in 2010. His magazine, kayak, along with the books published under that impress touted some of the most significant writers of his generation. His own work was highly praised as well. These were among his final poems, collected here by tavern books, a non-profit publisher out of Portland, Oregon. Hand-sewn. Handsomely done.

This work would not have been possible without the assistance of Hitchcock's partner, Marjorie Simon. These 15 poems were selected from nearly 100 "final poems". Most poets do not know their final "final" so whatever is produced before last breath is determined by the living. The poet merely writes. It's what we all do. Hitchcock's poems written toward the end of his life reflect the humorous observations of this surrealist pen's man. Life is absurd as well as bitter as a scorpion's bite. He knew it, and wrote it. And we are collectively better for it. This collection is a fine tribute to a great American poet.