Monday, March 7, 2011

the silver book by Jen Bervin

 
the silver book by Jen Bervin. Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010. Sewn chapbook.


the silver book, typed on an Olympia De Luxe typewriter, holds the emphasis, or urging, of a slightly curled italic font. Breaths marked by dashes; writing conquers problems of time.

-Phoebe Wayne

Some author/press links:
www.jenbervin.com
www.uglyducklingpresse.org
 

Friday, March 4, 2011

Peaches and Bats Issue 4


Peaches and Bats Issue 4. Portland, 2009.

Peaches and Bats makes me want to visit Portland. Peaches and Bats makes me want to read David Shapiro. Peaches and Bats makes me visit Portland and read David Shapiro.

Some author/press links:
David Shapiro.
Tom Blood.
Laynie Brown.
Marcella Durand.
Sam Lohmann.
Jesse Morse. 
Mickey O'Connor.
Elena Rivera.
Zachary Schomburg.
Andrei Sen-Senkov.
Phoebe Wayne.
Peaches and Bats.

Model Homes Issue 3


Model Homes Issue 3. Detroit, 2008. A Lil' Norton Production.

Douglas Kearney's 'post-Katrina' Floodsongs a heavy wow: "you / wanted me / to understand you with / : ...  / : my teeth." Also: Vitale's violence, Williams's "space junk." Permeating.

Some author/press links:
Douglas Kearney.
Anna Vitale. 
Tyrone Williams. 
Hung Q Tu.
Donato Mancini.
Steven Zultanski.
Kim Rosenfield. 
Kristin Gallagher. 
Tommy Buck. —donno...?
Jean Day.
Model Homes.

Eyechart Poems by Geof Huth


Eyechart Poems by Geof Huth. P-Queue Books, 2009, letterpressed and stitched chapbook.

All begin with E in myriad forms. Like walking backwards away from a funhouse eye exam, tripping over soccer balls, sunglasses, airplanes, trophies, clocks, squiggles, typesetters, presses, language, the world.

Some author/press links:
Geof Huth.
P-Queue Books.

Keenan by Lauren Levin


Keenan by Lauren Levin. Lame House Press, 2011, stapled chapbook.

Time & "pervy memory." "[T]he bronze eyes in me become part of myself." Keenan for an audience, Keenan to click our own banners & arrive mid-speech, Keenan for the visible/present.

Some author/press links:
Lauren Levin.
Lame House Press.

Glassscape by Andrew Zawacki


Glassscape by Andrew Zawacki. Projective Industries, 2010, stitched chapbook.

Nate Mackey: "the poems accent lexical disquiet and concatenation"; I love the "tendons & tensions" of the line/break, Zawacki's attention to "global capital                     's local / cater- / waul." Righteous.

Some author/press links:
Andrew Zawacki.
Projective Industries.

Broadside by Julia Bloch and Andrew Rippeon



What's that center thistle? A flower I should recognize but don't. Directions/prepositions attempt to define space across the two short poems; nearness & upon-ness descend & hover. A "name adrift."

Some author links:
Julia Bloch.
Andrew Rippeon.

Poet Trading Cards by Fact-Simile



(Not pictured of the set I got: Peter Gizzi, Linh Dinh.)

Featuring poems on the reverse. If you un-digitized Facebook, it would (not) look like this. Still those stare-y pictures are a little disconcerting. Rae Armantrout's shouts "Get plausible!," as if.

Some author/press links:
Rae Armantrout.
Peter Gizzi.
Christian Bok.
Linh Dinh. 
Anne Waldman.
Ron Silliman.
Fact-Simile.

The Rose Concordance by Angela Carr


The Rose Concordance by Angela Carr. BookThug, 2009, perfectbound.

Like an “antique postcard” from a mall that was an arcade that was an aqueduct that was flowering & blooming & the history of our moment. “[S]tep into the current.”

Some author/press links:
Angela Carr.
BookThug. Gotta love that tagline—publishing the future of literature. Double true.

Bone Light by Orlando White


Bone Light by Orlando White. Red Hen Press, 2009. Perfect bound.

Bones and skeletons, letters and words, peeled and pulled. "This is not the end of language." Other times, electricity. Relationship with the page, with coffin. Relationship of 'i' and 'j'.

-Gina Caciolo



Some author/press links:
Orlando White
Red Hen Press

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

To Anacreon in Heaven by Graham Foust


 
To Anacreon in Heaven by Graham Foust. Minus A Press, 2010, perfectbound in an edition of 200 copies.

"Oh say it's just before brunch in America," can you see it? Mimosas maybe. We are loving music, our shiny loving empire of music. Who knew Foust had such range?


Some author/press links:
Graham Foust.
Minus A Press.
(No website that I know of for Barbara Freeman's Press; this links to Michael Cross's blog, which has a [smart] note on the book and the press.)
Designed by Jeff Clark aka Quemadura.

heart badly buried by five shovels by Hugh Thomas


heart badly buried by five shovels by Hugh Thomas. Supernova Tadpole Editions, 2009, 4"x4" stapled chapbook.

Reminds me of White Night Wedding—Iceland, birds, "smoked fish"—plus Mlinko's breezy internationalism, & romance ("Laura monotonous, / Laura like water"). But mostly I see white wet islands. Arresting.

Some author/press links:
Hugh Thomas.
Supernova Tadpole Editions.
which is a project of
Paper Kite Press.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

My Oakland by Charles Legere


My Oakland by Charles Legere. Deep Oakland Editions, 2009 (and ongoing), e-chapbook.

[Review culled from my introduction for Charlie @ last week's Holloway Reading.]

The problem is perspective
broken surfaces

“a plaster statue / of myself,"

gradations of represent

of place of people of numbers
within numbers of language

a Frankenstein’s demography
impossible poetry.


Some author/press links:
Charles Legere.
Deep Oakland Editions.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Goodnight Voice by Dana Ward



Goodnight Voice by Dana Ward. House Press, 2008, stitched chapbook.

Three words I need: community, rap, emotion. “I can’t feel my face / but would have you still feel it.” Dana Weezy’s feeling feeling, dares enough to care about us.

Some author/press links:

X (Angel City) by Joseph Lease



X (Angel City) by Joseph Lease. Sacrifice Press, 2010, stapled chapbook with turkey factory.

“Try this: property is death,” we try & yell together; “Dear You,” have a reason to try; so much “Raw // Dawn” in thin pages; “Try this: / Try anything:”

Some author/press links:
Joseph Lease.
Sacrifice Press. I'll say this once: don't front on Sacrifice.