The Magdalene Syndrome Gazette Number Three (1967)

The Magdalene Syndrome Gazette Number Three
The Magdalene Syndrome Press
David Tammer & Nick Chavin, ed.
San Francisco, CA
(c)1967

This gem contains work by Clifford Burke, Eugene Lesser, Ho Chi Minh (hey it was 1967), Keith Wilson, Charles Potts and a slew of others. With some B&W photos. Blurred images. Staple-bound. Unpaginated. Great find. Complete with ads at the end of the book. One for Eugene Lesser's first mimeo-chapbook, Poems of an Acrophobic Steeplejack, another for the I/Thou Coffeehouse in the Haight, and two from other small presses.

Whetstone Almanac by Charles Tilder (1975)

Whetstone Almanac
Charles Tilder
Pulp Press
Vancouver, British Columbia
(c)1975

This is the other chapbook that I know of by Charles Tilder. It was published in 1975 in Vancouver. There are 12 poems here. Similar in theme and content as the earlier chapbook. Very good poems. The story here in the small Vancouver Press, Pulp. It seems that this press evolved into Arsenal Pulp Press in the 1980s although there is no trace of Tilder on the Wikipage. It was the 11th thing they published. I especially liked the 8th thing they published: a chapbook entitled Crimes, or I'm Sorry but We Do Not Sell Handguns to Junkies. The title alone makes me want to read it.

Straw Things by Charles Tidler (1972)

Straw Things
Charles Tilder
The Crossing Press
Trumansburg, NY
(c)1972

I had previously THOUGHT that I had written about The Crossing Press - but actually had not. The Crossing Press was located in Trumansburg, NY from the early 1970s until about 1980 or so. A press called Crossing Press came into existence on the west coast and published feminist literature from the 1980s on. One of the books that was published by THE Crossing Press was a book by Harold Norse.

This staple-bound chapbook was by an ex-pat hiding out in British Columbia instead of dying in the rice fields of Vietnam. I enjoy the naturalist tone of the work here. A poet in nature. The beauty of that experience. Very fine writing here. I know that Tilder had another chapbook out; maybe that's all he was able to get out. Pity if that were true.

Poems of an Acrophobic Steeplejack by Eugene Lesser (1967)

Poems of an Acrophobic Steeplejack
Eugene Lesser
The Magdalene Syndrome Press
San Francisco, CA
(c)1967

mimeo! I love mimeos. This is a great example of the form. The only copies of this particular item that I found on the net were in institutional collections. The poetry in this mimeo is quite GOOD. I am impressed. He has not published much. The does have a new collection out of his work entitled The Eugene Lesser or current resident Story: Poems 1976-2015, San Francisco, Marin, Los Angeles and if it's anything like this first published work of his, it's got to be marvelous. (will be ordering a copy as soon as I post this entry) The Magdalene Syndrome Press deserves further investigation - so stay tuned! But, YES, read Eugene Lesser!!!

Dump Truck by Keith Abbott (1967)

Dump Truck
Keith Abbott
Polygon Paperbounds
Monterey, CA
(c)1967

The most important thing to know about this chapbook is that Clifford Burke designed and printed it. Burke was involved in the San Francisco area publishing community immediately after the Beat Generation explosion through his Cranium Press. He is a well known and established writer and printer. Currently he runs Desert Rose Press out of San Jose, NM.

There is a bit of confusion about this publication history, according to Abbott this first published work of his was published by Cranium. According to the chapbook I am holding, it was published by Polygon Paperbounds which could have been one of Burke's imprints. One of 500 printed.
The writing shows great promise which has, over the decades, become fulfilled by many published works. As this is Abbott's first book, it is both rare and valuable. Worth finding. Worth reading. Worth having.

Poems from My Mother's Womb by Preston Webster (1967)

Poems from the Womb
Preston Webster
The Willow Press
Sausalito, CA
(c)1967

Cover image by Ann-Marie Webster, and quite a cover it is! With additional images throughout. 32 pages. Staple-bound. Commenting primarily on the fact of this book's existence since I don't favor the work. It exists! There was a press once in Sausalito - I am sure that there have been many, actually. Hurrah and all that.

The Wedding and other poems of war by Carolyn S. Scarr (1991)

The Wedding and other poems of war
Carolyn S. Scarr
self-published
Berkeley, CA
(c) 1991

This is an even thinner than a typical chapbook. Self published affair. 6 poems.

The poet has a number of small chapbooks self-published over the years. These days she can be found on Twitter.

grundig : a zine

Another space loop back through the DIY sphere; this one leading to Portland, Oregon. To a store called "Q is for choir" and a time distant enough past that the dust only appears on the hand of the holder and not the pages themselves. Michael, whoever Michael was, made this zine happen. This is #2. At the beginning of this grand adventure. Into collage and zinedom. Into traveling and consequences. The world is a roadmap, a compass to follow, a north star to find. Zines like these need an archive too. Need to be collected. Replaced in the 21st century with blogs and twitter and "every-which-kinda-next-new-format-mattcha-you" but zines like these, staple-bound physical somethings are going quick into the heap of time. Like wall posters in busy city make overs. One week there and the next plastered over or stripped bare and painted over.All the same, "over" they are. Whatever was inside is forgotten by the end of the next news cycle. Our attention spans shrink to nothing. A zine like this, gone without notice. Someone lands a stash - posts on ebay - and a dunderhead like me decides to collect more relics of the past. 1980's - 2000's. Like I collect mimeos. Like I collect mix tape cassettes. Like I collect Punk/grunge era zines.

Letters to Proust by Barry Gifford (1976)

Letters to Proust
Barry Gifford
White Pine Press
Buffalo, NY
(c)1976

I have written before about White Pine via the trove of material I received from poet Steve Lewandowski. The Press had been in Buffalo and then moved. It's interesting to me that while most of the country thinks of Buffalo as a frozen waste, because of the college there - it really is the opposite of a wasteland for literary types. A number of small presses and well known poets have spent time there. Robert Creeley and then Charles Bernstein were there as teachers. Influential in their own ways.

This particular item was illustrated by Mike Neff. It's the 4th chapbook that White Pine put out. Unpaginated. Handsome little "sliver of nothing". Now it's quite possible that the name Barry Gifford is not unknown to you - he's a screenwriter and novelist. He wrote David Lynch's 'Wild at Heart' as well as the Sailor and Lula novels. This had to be an early work of his. Highly collectible.

Deeper Into Woody Chaos by Walt McLaughlin (1997)

Deeper into Woody Chaos
Walt McLaughlin
Wood Thrust Books
Burlington, VT
(c)1997

This 24 page chapbook by the guru of Wood Thrush, Walt McLaughin, shows all the promise of this small press. Glad to know that they are still around and doing great work. It's refreshing to write about a book so dedicated to the earth on Earth Day!

Life is a Joke by Joe Franke

Recently I noticed a listing on ebay for some punk zines and to me that's about as cool as it gets because the entire realm of punk zines is entirely DIY and the DIY universe is extremely awesome. This cat, Joe Franke, started his zine in 1989 while living in Northern California. He was in a punk band (he still is) and he formed Axis Records. He moved from Northern California to San Francisco to Southern Maryland to Las Vegas. Now, Punks in Vegas to me is just weird but hey - he made at least 10 issues of Life is a Joke, plus other one-timers or knock-offs.

Zines, especially the work of an individual. The lay-out, the content, the name and images are all the work of one person. Twisted, illogical, awesome or scary: one person! These are the work of one person who delved in black humor. What writer of punk songs doesn't delve into black humor, I ask you? Well, Mr. Franke certainly does. Keep on keepin' on, Joe Franke. Kewl that.

Mountain Walks by Richard Hartigan (1979)

Mountain Walks
(images)
Richard Hartigan
Rootdrinker
Canton, NY
(c) 1979

A small chapbook of images of mountain terrane with haiku-like text(poems?) on opposite page. Beautiful little book.

Dragons of Mist and Torrent by Teo Savory (1974)

Dragons of Mist and Torrent
Teo Savory
Unicorn Press
Greenboro, NC
(c)1974

Unicorn Press has a storied past which I have to admit not being aware of until I went through a trove of chapbooks that I got last year and just am now researching. Any small press that began 60 years ago and is still going gets the tip of my hat, for certain. Al Brilliant and Teo Savory were the linchpins to this operation which began in Santa Barbara before moving to Greensboro, NC in 1972. What an incredible run of stellar work this tiny press has presented to the world! (Including work by Raymond Queneau!)

This chapbook is no exception. Japanese binding. Should be subtitled "The Canons of Hsieh Ho". Unpaginated. #278 of 450 pages (without signature). Beautiful chapbook.

3 books that got away (from Plan B Press)

I want to look like Henry Bataille
Michael K. Gause
Little Poem Press
Falls Church, VA
(c) 2006

I mentioned on the Facebook webpage that is associated with this blog that in addition to blogging ABOUT chapbooks, I run Plan B Press and in that capacity we read a lot of manuscripts. Some are incredibly good and some of are simply terrible. And some simply get away from us. We pass on them even though they are good or the poet has submitted to other presses as well as ours and someone else agreed to publish them before we even read the work - ah, simultaneous submissions! Here are three examples of some that got away from us.

First, I want to look like Henry Bataille which was published in 2006 by Little Poem Press. Apparently that press is now "misappeared" as my daughter would say. While I am happy that Michael Gause found a publisher for his book, I am disappointed with the appearance of it. The cover image is a pixelated mess. It has the feel of a Print-on-demand job which I can not find rewarding at all. And, as a publisher myself, having 15 completely empty pages at the end of the books is really unforgivable. So now the book is not a chapbook, per se, because it has a "spine". But there is no writing ON the spine, so why exactly did you create one? It's a little thicker "sliver of nothing".

The writing I liked very much. I still do. But the "it" of it? We could have done better.

Freaking Out the Neighborhood
Benjamin DeVos
Flutter Press
(c)2015

Okay, this one is more my fault since I didn't leap on the mss. the second I got it from Temple-grad Ben DeVos; my bad. He's a Philly boy and this book reeks of the city. Not in a bad way either. Just a great slice of the city. Like any book by Ryan Eckes or A Whole Armada of Loss by Blaine Martin, for instance. And there's the first line from his poem, The Painter, "A neighbor is not a nearby friend, but bystander" which is so deadly accurate to anyone who lives in a city (or for that matter in the burbs as well) Yet here again, the book is just wrong. The cover images does not reflect the book title or the work inside. It's another slick POD production (the cover is already curling and the book was printed in 2015) STILL, I can't complain because I am happy that he found a publisher right out of the shoot and, well, his second collection will be published by Plan B Press this season. If we screw it up, he has permission to kick my ass! I will have deserved nothing less.

Honey & Bandages
Katie Longofono & Mary Stone
Folded Word
Meredith, NH
(c)2015

This is a handsome chapbook that Plan B Press did not act on in a timely manner and the authors, a number of years later, found a better home for it at Folded Words. The work is very good. The presentation is lovely. My only observation is that the chapbook size was reduced to bulk it out a bit in order to justify a spine. Of course it is a spine with no text on it. Book title does not appear on the spine. But that's a minor grievance for a wonderful little chapbook. Something that only a publisher might note. It's a great little book.

A Puncher's Pen by Bill May (1995)

A Puncher's Pen
full of Poetry, Prose and Cow Ponies
Bill May
self published
Colorado (?)
1995

I got this one because his last name is my last name. I come from a family that had 8 generations of William May's. This guy ain't any of those guys. 89 pages of yellow paper. Illustrated by family members. This Bill May has two other volumes of his work. All the pieces here are hand-written.

It's sumptin.

Making Something With the Stars (1975)

Making Something With the Stars
Poems
Santa Fe Public Schools
1974-1975
Santa Fe, NM

Clever book for getting young teens interested in poetry, language, and visual arts. Even concrete poetry is represented here! 42 pages. I don't recognize any famous poets or artists within but that isn't what that was about. It was about turning on students to language arts. It's a noble effort.

The elusive Jean Stair

Sometimes the find are so unique that the internets provide no useful information whatsoever.

Like these two - I got them from a Bookstore in Amherst, MA. The listing suggested they were Beat or New York School. I somehow doubt that. There is no publisher information which suggests to me that they were self-published. The Printer was located in Connecticut. They were both published in 1955. Whoever the poet Jean Stair was remains a mystery. There is no information about the elusive author here. This a mystery I will be attempting to uncovering for a long time.

the mystery of life and death (amongst old publishers and Presses)

everyone is getting up there in years. Since I started my chapbook blog in 2006, a handful of well known and established publishers have past into the reeds. Judson Crews, Allan Kornblum (toothpaste press), Bob Grumman (Runaway Spoon Press), Paul Foreman (Thorp Springs Press) and others. A few of them had actually written me notes on the blog, thanking me for remembering them and their presses. I think it's important for where we are to remember where we all came from. It's why I do this, I am part of the history and I am trying to both collect the history as well as contribute to it. Learning about the past and presenting works for the future. Thanks to all who have published, to all who are publishers, to all who were publishers.

Kowboy Poems by Stuart Z. Perkoff (1973)

Kowboy Poems
Stuart Z. Perkoff
The Croupier Press
Golden, CO
© 1973

I first learned of Stuart Perkoff by reading Venice West: The Beat Generation in Southern California by John Maynard, published in 1991 by Rutgers University Press. Even though I lived in Southern California in the 1970’s, I was unaware of the whole “West Coast Beat” scene. (I was in the Air Force, my mind was elsewhere at the time). I was intrigued about this voice, this Beat Generation voice, that I had not heard before.

As luck would have it, sometime after reading the Maynard book, I won a lot of poetry books on Ebay and among those books was Specimen 73 edited by Paul Vangelisti and published by the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art in 1973. In addition to poems by Perkoff are work by Bukowski, Jack Hirschman, Charles Wright, and others.

There are 7 poems in the staple-bound chapbook. The work was written in 1959-1960. It was one of 3 slim volumes to appear in 1973. He was gone by the end of July 1974. Puff of smoke gone. Living too hard for his body to take. Died of Cancer.

Cover drawing by John Fish. Photo on back by Eloy Hernandez. Quite collectible.

her cold martini: haiku by Marsh Muirhead (2013)

her cold martini
(haiku)
Marsh Muirhead
Arrow Publishing Co.
Bemidji, MN
(c)2013

45 pages of haiku. Slick cover. The poet was inspired from a Billy Collins reading in his town. It's a nice story. Better than the haiku that resulted. I can take haiku collections as well as I can take an entire album of steel drum playing - good in small doses. Beyond that - my eyes glaze over, my ears are screaming for me to leave the room. Happy to know that this book came out and am happy for the author. But I am not a fan. Sorry.