The Song Cave
#57 of 100 printed. Signed by "Ben" who is also WIZ or not. This is the 22 book from the Song Cave. Hand printed, I mean, the entire book is written in the author's hand. I have not witnessed anything... well, I have actually but WOW. This is bizarre
Emily Murman
dancing girl press & studio
Chicago, IL
(c) 2021
Emily Murman is a poet & educator from Chicago. In April 2019, she was awarded the Gail DeHerder Memorial Prize in Creative Writing. She holds an MFA in poetry from National University. She is the author of two chapbooks, “SHRIVEL AND BLOOM" (Dancing Girl Press, June 2021) and “I want your emergency" (Selcouth Station Press, July 2021).
Some really good poems in this thin slice of heaven.
Since I started this divergence, this deep dive into the murky depths of small press publishing of staple bound (almost all of them) book of less than 50 pages, I have listed and mentioned and speculated about the poet and the press and the printer and the first recipient of each book.
Each is unique in its singularity. I have only the single one of each. There is a singular relationship that exists between us all (author/publisher/printer/reader) that, since they are chapbooks, are never really considered in the same way a novel by an established author from a prestigious publishing house is.
It began with a book written by a woman who had her daughter stolen at a concert in San Francisco during the 1960s. A tragedy she has never fully recovered from (and how could she, how could any mother?). Some of the books I have written about were by poets and writers who have become well known, sometimes deciding in their own biographies to "forget to mention" the chapbooks that came before their first official books. Their first literary prize. Their first teaching assignments at the major universities that they now hail from.
My mission or calling (if it is one) is different from the library in Brautigan's The Abortion. These books have all been published, some by the author themselves but all have seen the print of ink. All are physical objects because I do not consider e-texts to be proper books.
And there are many people to thank for the horde of chapbooks I have now, and someday will pass forward. Daniel Nester, another gentleman from upstate New York, a righteous dude from Iowa City, and others along the way. Along the time. Between the margins. As one will.
Mark Turner
(unknown/self published?)
(c) 1980
Every once in awhile I get a chapbook of poetry that as much mystery as any in a novel written by the best writer in their field. Not dramatic conclusion, I hope, but a mystery none the less.
There is no publisher info anywhere in the book. Nothing on the back cover. The booklet was not trimmed so it was unlikely to have been a professional printing. 21 pages, staple bound, white paper. White cover stock. A bit dirty closer to the fold. There is a Mark Turner (cognitive scientist) whose first book was published in 1987. And there is a fair amount of repetition in the writing. But I can not presume to know. So, until further information appears; a mystery it will remain.
dancing girl press
Chicago, IL
(c) 2011
I have to say this is one of the best books I have seen from dancing girl. It's a bit of a shame that Ms. Kaminski doesn't mention her chapbooks published prior to 2012. There is a lot of good poetry before.
Juliana Spahr
Belladonna
Brooklyn, NY
(c) 2012
Chaplet #144 was published to commemoration of her performance with T C Tolbert on April 3, 2012 at Dixon Place (NYC). 11 pages. I have a number of Belladonna chapbooks and printed material. I took in a reading of Ms. Spahr at Georgetown University in DC. She definitely has a style.
Lisa J. Cihlar
Crisis Chronicles Press
Cleveland, OH
(c) 2022
Technicalities aside (this is a chapbook with a spine), this chapbook is a great read written by a talented poet and published by an interesting press out of Cleveland, OH.
27 pages of cool prose poetry. Cover art by the poet herself as well.
Glad to have it. Glad to have read it.
If you know anything about Cleveland Ohio small press history, one name reverberated across the city and that name was d. a. levy. John Burroughs isn't exactly a replacement so much as someone who has picked up that baton and begun to carry it forward. Good for him. Good for publishing. Here's to Crisis Chronicles Press.
Ben Fama
Bloof Books
#37 of 100 printed. Good presentation. Feels like a "best of" without it be said as such.
M. A. Vizsolyi
Monk Books
New York, NY
(c) 2013
#9/200, good writing. Good presentation.
Elizabeth Robinson / Elaine Kahn
The Song Cave
(2012)
Sea Ranch is a quarterly journal. It publishes these journals through The Song Cave. There is a website. This booklet is a combo of poems by Ms. Robinson and Ms. Kahn. The booklet has a different cover image for each side, telling the reader whose work they are about to be reading.
Ms. Robinson is an established and award winning poet. Ms. Kahn is a LA-based poet, musician, and artist. The work here is a little slice of each poets' work. 'Nuff said.
or am i still standing here with my hair down
Steven Karl & Angela Veronica Wong
Lame House Press
Atlanta, GA
I just love this wrap around cover by Liz Wolf. This is #75 of 120 printed copies. Hand sewn. Presentation is excellent. In order to achieve the heft necessary for this book they single sided the poems which feels like a cheat to me, but what on earth do I know?
I have written about Ms. Wong before in a chapbook published by Flying Guillotine Press and Ms. Myers as well I mentioned two years ago about a chapbook she published in 2007.
Steven Karl is the author of Sisters (Noemi Press) and is the Editor of Sink Review.
Mary Biddinger
Black Lawrence Press
Pittsburgh, PA
(c)2011
Black Lawrence is a big deal, slick producing publisher of quality poetry in a chapbook sized format. Books with spines that have writing on them. Even if only 41 pages tiny. It's a wonderfully produced book. Of poems with a maniacally repetitious similar title scheme. Which, you might conclude, I did not favor.
Krystal Languell / Emily Skillings
Flying Object
Hadley, MA
(c) 2014
Unusually sized folding broadside. Amazingly, this piece is fantastically made.
Ross Runifola
University of Buffalo Press
(c) 2012
This is a special commemorative booklet in celebration of National Poetry Month in the US that the University of Buffalo has done for the previous 3 years. Celebrating poets living in Buffalo, NY. One of 300 printed.
Danniel Schoonebeek
Greying Ghost
(c) 2012
I guess that means 4 poems in two tiny tinies. #42 for those counting. Both are numbered 42.
Buck Downs
self published
Washington, DC
(c) 2010
extremely thin chapbook with an extremely clever title.
John Sakkis
Cy Gist Press Chapbook CGP11
Astoria, NY
(c) 2008
For the D&D crowd. You know who you are.
Lisel Mueller
Juniper Press
La Crosse, WI
(c)1977
This offering from Juniper Press is not as stellar as another in my collection (presentation-wise) but the words have borne fruit and are succulent. Lovely banquet.
Leigh Stein
dancing girl press
Chicago, IL
(c) 2008
It would not surprise me at all if the cover was meant to be torn as shown, but I think instead that it's analogous to the cheap production of the work presented by the press. I have previously stated how badly I feel for the poets who were published by dancing girl, and here is yet another example of the quality. Or lack thereof. I hope the poet has been published better elsewhere.
Megan Kaminski
little red leaves textual editions
Houston, TX
(c) 2012
This is a beautiful little object, Designed and hand sewn by Dawn Pendergast. Incredible work by the designer and incredible words by the poet. What a find!
Christopher Salerno
Horse Less Press
(c) 2010
The limited exposure I have had with this press has been favorable. This one is a dud.
created during the summer 2013
assembled & printed by Ashsmith, NB TX
covers Letterpresses by Michael Cross Oakland, CA
with Special Thanks to : Michelle Detorie & Kyle Schlesinger
in Memory of Tommy Martin & Ann Davis
This is an intentionally Xeroxed (style) book that technically is not a chapbook because it is 73 pages long but is staple-bound, so I am splitting the difference here.
The work of many people are captured here in Xerox artfulness and Chinese marker writing, but yet the cover is a mismatch with the near dispensable pages within.
A very odd collection in that regard. I am not familiar with many of the people who lovingly submitted their work but there are few names I know - cheers to them.
Matt Mason
New Michigan Press
Tuscaloosa, AL
(c) 2002
I first wrote about this press (briefly noted) in 2011 when I acknowledged Stephanie Anderson's chapbook In the Particular Particular which was the 2006 chapbook contest winner for this press.
I didn't write about the curiosity I had for a press with the name it has being located in Alabama, but since my writing in 2011 the press has moved to Arizona. Making additional sense (?)
I am going to paste here a longer review of this chapbook since the reviewer captures the essence of this book better than I : "…Mistranslating Neruda is Matt Mason’s homage to Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. Not only does Mason mimic the sequence in length, but he also tries duplicating the inventive use of language: Like angel hair pasta waving goodbye to the boiling water, / the sausages from the refrigerator fly into your hands. // Innumerable hearts of the sausage / fortify inside the rare silences of young love. Equally emblematic for the rest of the sequence, Mason writes, early on: Body of a woman, white as flour, as egg whites, / you break into the world with the immediacy of warm cookies. Lines like these make Mason’s chapbook a hoot to read. While he actively tries to mimic Neruda, to “mistranslate” him, Mason’s own sense of absurdity takes off, pulling the reader along. These poems also display the depths of Mason’s imagination, but do they stand up to the master inspiring them? No, but they weren’t intended to, either. In his preface, Mason claims everybody has read a horrible act of translation, be it in high school English texts or elsewhere, and this chapbook was to be a satire on “mistranslations.” That doesn’t change the joy of language Mason revels in, and to this collection, that’s a gift.” –Rich Ristow, from https://richristow.wordpress.com/tag/mistranslating-neruda/
East & West, Inc.
(c)1966
I found this volume at the unfortunately named "bookstore", The Avocado Pit, in Stauton, VA in March 2022. I would never recommend anyone going into that bookstore. It did have some (overpriced) gems like this one by a writer I never heard of before. Linked to his website above.
Like the presentation of this volume, always appreciate a cover that feels like something. One of 750 printed. Very nice indeed.
Carrie Etter
Oystercatcher Press
Norfolk, UK
(c) 2009
Oystercatcher is the brainchild of Peter Hughes who started this press in 2008. I am not familiar with the majority of the poets published by this press but if the presentation of this chap is any indication of the effort involved, I recommend a closer examination by anyone interested.
Amanda Montei
Bloof Books
somewhere in America
(c)2014
Bloof Books is a fascinating story of exploration and mystery. Their website features a police blotter of creative folks that the press has published throughout the years. This particular volume has a fuzzy bearskin rug on the front cover (no actual bear was harmed in the making of this cover) #32 of 100 printed.
Handsewn. Oddly sized. Screams UNIQUE.
Sunil Freeman
The Argonne Hotel Press
This is one of a printing of 500 copies made after the original publication of it in 1999. It's a reprint of a reprint. Pixelated as hell. Made on the fly, done cheaply but I have to respect the moxie behind the effort.
I wrote about this press 12 years ago now when writing about Bernadette Geyer's chapbook published by this same publisher. Geyer's was entitled "What Remains". It a worthwhile question even now. I respect the fact that this press published a number of Washington DC area poets. They collectively represent a snapshot in time and place.
CLICK
David Wilk
Truck Press
St. Paul, MN
(c) 1978
This is one of 500 copies printed by Karl Young of Membrane Press in Milwaukee, WI. 2nd printing. Beautifully produced book. Staple-bound.
Some of the poems in this collection are laid out in a way that I like, sort of haphazardly or random but in all likelihood intentional and with purpose, both visually and to allow the reader to "breathe" as the poet himself would.
I am not familiar with Mr. Wilk's work but this is really an overlooked gem.
Carrie Lorig
Magic Helicopter Press
Northampton, MA
(c) 2013
2nd printing
This is a pretty amazing chapbook. Visually, experimentally, a complete package. OMG yes!
Leopoldine Core
Perfect Lovers Press
Cincinatti, OH
(c) 2013
This press makes accidental covers on purpose. I mean, I wrote about a different book by the same press where they did the same thing with the cover. Like it's a thing. It's a thing, to be sure. A visually challenging thing.
"I'll die" : the last words of the last poem in this brief collection. Okay, well, see you!
Mark Wallace
Triangle Press
Buffalo, NY
(c) 1990
Mark Wallace is the author and editor of more than fifteen books and chapbooks of poetry, fiction, and essays. His most recent poetry collection is the book-length prose poem, Notes from the Center on Public Policy (Altered Scale Press, 2014). He lives in San Diego.
But this is early Mark. Experimental Mark. Interesting Mark.
Jared White
Bloof Books
(c) 2013
2nd chapbook created during the 2012-2013 season. Hand sewn. Oddly sized. It looks like a waitress's order sheet. #95 of 100 printed. Bloof does some unusual stuff, like the dimensions of this book and how after they have parted ways with all 100 copies of this book, for example, they digitalize it for future consumption. It's prose poetry. Kind of. Meh.
Pavement Saw Press
Columbus, OH
(c) 2007
Winner of the Pavement Saw chapbook contest in 2006. Great first step. Great early collection.
The Pedestrian Press
Oakland, CA
(c) 2013
This is the second book in a now much published career of Mr. Domini. Was not familiar with the press prior to and still have questions about its internet presence but the work here is interesting. And "interesting" is a plus.
Daniela Olszewska
dancing girl press
Chicago, IL
(c) 2008
Ms. Olszewska has gone on from this to being a professor at Loyola University and having a successful run of book publications.
The poetry here is good but my ongoing problem with this small press are just as pronounced as ever.
TERRIBLE presentation. I feel badly for anyone published by this press.
Dawn Lundy Martin
O'Clock Press
Philadelphia, PA
(c)2014
I happened across an interview of Ms. Martin after receiving this chapbook and it was revealing. Not only of her work as of 2016 and the tie-in with Split this Rock poetry festival which is held biannually in Washington, DC but also in her own involvement with 'Black Took Collective'.
Naturally, I am not surprised that O'Clock Press is located in two Ivy League town, Philadelphia and Providence, RI and that the Waldrops are involved.
This is great work. I need to read more of her poetry.
Boulder, CO
(c) 2006
This is an anthology featuring Edward Sanders, Anne Waldman, Susan Briante, Dodge Bellamy, Travis Macdonald, CA Conrad, Logan Ryan Smith, Michelle McMahon, James Bertolino, Adam Clay, Clayton Eshleman, Dale Smith, Ron Silliman.
Brandon Shimoda & Sommer Browning
greying ghost press
(c) 2010
#3 of 100 printed. Greying Ghost Press has a way about them. Distinctive. This blending works. Ms. Browning is the cofounder of Flying Guillotine Press. I have one of their t shirts.
Meow Press
(c) 1994
Another one by this short-lived publisher. I feel extremely blessed to have all these chapbooks from all these exciting small press (sands in the hourglass)
Like getting this chapbook by Pierre Joris, all white space wondrous word play the way so many others have attempt to present and it's all about the presentation of pages interrupted by words, without apologies even.
So worth the finding and so worth the reading. Apparently there is a different cover than this (this one might have been a demo/review copy)
The actual cover looks like this :
Jesse Nissim
Furniture Press
Towson University/Baltimore
(c)2013
Edited by Christophe Casamassima with cover art by Jodi Hoover, this chapbook is a Towson collaborative effort. The cover is stunning. The artwork of Ms. Hoover is worth investigating.
Meow Press
Buffalo, NY
(c)1998
The Poet met the press and they were joined. At least for this staple bound project. Here's what Meow had to say about themselves in the late 1990s :
Meow Press was established in August of 1993 as a response to the New Cost festival and also the rapid proliferation of electronic publishing. In the case of the former, there is the hope that by getting involved it might be possible to reopen the anthologizing-closure process set in motion by that fateful gathering; that it might be possible to exist in a state where the printing of a book of poems might be - in the tradition of printer-poets such as Lyn Hejinian - an extension of one's own activity of writing. In the case of the latter, the romance of making books by hand that utilized the hot carbon transfer process as ultimately temporal ephemera, yet palpable physical without too much nostalgia for the Book.
An obsessive typography startup kit.
This is one of 300 printed. I am so lucky.
Allen P. West
White Eagle Coffee Store Press
Fox River Grove, IL
(c)2002
This book confuses me. The poems are about grief and loss (of a spouse) and have nothing directly to do with the title of the collection or the image. None that I could glean.
I am mostly intrigued by the Press, to be honest. Such an unusual name. Even the town the Press is located in, distinctive. They have a website that appears to have been created at the dawn of the internet age. Most of the titles of their published works do not have links to them. Does this mean they are all out of print?
One of the poems is entitled "I am a Jar". Well, I am con-fused.
Elizabeth Willis
Shuffaloff books
Buffalo, NY
(c) 1992
Handsewn chapbook. #42 of 100 printed. A prime example of a "thin sliver of nothing".
Karen Propp
Spirit Mountain Press
Fairbanks, AK
(c) 1983
This is a beautiful chapbook with cover design by Toki Oshima. Handsewn binding. 21 pages, just a lovely collection.
Elizabeth Cantwell
(c) 2014
Check out their catalog on-site.
This particular volume seems a transitional phase (the cover isn't all that)
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.
