some author activity: Boyle, Kratz, Joseph, Johnson, Eleftherion, Koss, Cortese, Kaplan + Betts,

Frances Boyle has a new poem up at Literary Mama, three at Anti-Heroin Chic, and further in issue #11 of CP Quarterly; Al Kratz has a new essay over at my (small press) writing day; Alexander Joseph's above/ground press debut is written up in an article for The Mountain Ear, and he was interviewed as part of The Mountain Ear Podcast; Chris Johnson has a new poem posted as part of National Poetry Month at the Chaudiere Books blog, as do Melissa Eleftherion and Frances Boyle and Zane Koss and Franco Cortese and Genevieve Kaplan; and Gregory Betts has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series.

some author activity: Cortese, mclennan, Vaughan, Cooley, Saklikar + Turnbull

Franco Cortese answers the "12 or 20 questions"; rob mclennan recently posted a poem for the late RM Vaughan; Dennis Cooley has a poem in the "poetry pause" series via The League of Canadian Poets; Renée Sarojini Saklikar has helped launch "Poetry Phone" through the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, providing "Vancouver's first free poetry hotline," and featuring readings by Vancouver poets; and Chris Turnbull has some new work up at The Pi Review.

new from above/ground press: Bark Ode, by Franco Cortese

Bark Ode
Franco Cortese
$5

Falliure

1oi3jioj1o23
1oi3jioj1o23
o23

1 and it shall be destroyed
and there is one thing
I fall

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
September 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Franco Cortese is an experimental poet living in Thorold, Ontario. His poetry won the 2020 UNESCO / Brock University Sustainability Poetry Prize, was longlisted for the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize and has appeared in Literary Review of Canada, The Malahat Review, Canadian Literature, The Capilano Review, filling Station, ditch, and others. He has chapbooks out through No Press, nOIR:Z, Simulacrum Press, Trainwreck Press, Gap Riot Press and The Blasted Tree, with others forthcoming from Anstruther Press, Timglaset, Hesterglock Press, Serif of Nottingham and others, and various other ephemera out through .Spacecraft Press and Penteract Press.

This is Cortese’s second above/ground press chapbook, after uoiea (2019). Further are forthcoming.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

some author activity: McElroy, Nilson, Cortese + Townsend,

Gil McElroy has a new essay in the "Talking Poetics" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Geoffrey Nilson reviews Sonnet L'Abbé's Sonnet's Shakespeare over at the Hamilton Review of Books; Franco Cortese is interviewed at Touch the Donkey; and Jamie Townsend is interviewed on Steve Abbott over at FULL STOP.

some author activity: Hogg, Earl, Barwin, Clayton + Cortese,

Robert Hogg has some new poems up at Empty Mirror; Amanda Earl has a new essay in the "Talking Poetics" series at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Gary Barwin writes on the "&" for Macleans magazine; Conyer Clayton has two poems up at The /tƐmz/ Review here and here; and Franco Cortese has new work up in the Tuesday poem series over at the dusie blog.

the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize longlist: Stephanie Bolster + Franco Cortese,

above/ground press authors Stephanie Bolster and Franco Cortese are among the thirty-three writers included in the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize longlist! Hooray! Stephanie Bolster is the author of the above/ground press chapbooks Three Bloody Words (1996), Biodome (2006), Three Bloody Words: Twentieth Anniversary Edition (2016) and Ghosts (2017), and was also included in the 2012 shortlist and the 2017 longlist! Franco Cortese is the author of, among other items, the 2019 above/grond press chapbook uoiea. Congratulations to all! And good luck!

some author activity: Campos, Cortese, Earl, Mangold, fitzpatrick + Etherin,

forthcoming above/ground press author Isabel Sobral Campos has an essay up at my (small press) writing day; Franco Cortese has new poems and a statement as part of rob mclennan's Spotlight series; Amanda Earl has new work in talking about strawberries all of the time, as do Sarah Mangold and ryan fitzpatrick, where Anthony Etherin is also interviewed.

some author activity: Bolster, Paige, Cortese, Downs + Ackerson-Kiely,

Stephanie Bolster has a new essay up at my (small press) writing day; Abby Paige has a poem included in the Poetry Pause series via The League of Canadian Poets; Franco Cortese has a poem and short interview online at Canadian Literature; Buck Downs is interviewed at DCPL Radio; and Paige Ackerson-Kiely has a poem up at The Millions.

new from above/ground press: uoiea, by Franco Cortese

uoiea
Franco Cortese
$5

 aûa

 ai

aau,

aai ua

 ûa;

ûaûa

uéué,

ûaûa

 ui;

 ua,

éoéo,

 ao

 eo,

au au,

au au,

au ui

auau,

ea, ea,

uáuá,

 oi,

ôiôi

ao, ûa;

éoéo.

ring

to copulate
contagion,
whose cause
the rain;
tendons
to flutter,
tendons
to ask;
ceremonial staff
ashes,
nightfall
a fragrance,
smoke dew,
bile current,
I ask
to shout in pain,
to rise, get up,
to reside,
to move away,
to stir and stir
nightfall, the rain;
ashes.

 published in Ottawa by above/ground press
February 2019
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Cover images/design: Sacha Archer

Franco Cortese is an experimental poet living in Thorold, Ontario. His previous work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Capilano Review, Canadian Literature, filling Station, ditch, The Operating System, Eunoia Review and others. He has had chapbooks, leaflets, booklets, nanopamphlets and other poetic ephemera published by or forthcoming through nopress, The Blasted Tree, Spacecraft Press, Penteract Press and Simulacrum Press, and his poetry has appeared in the anthology Concrete and Constraint (Penteract Press 2018). uoiea is his third chapbook.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com