above/ground press

founded July 1993 : CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF CONTINUOUS ACTIVITY IN 2023 + MORE THAN 1200 PUBLICATIONS TO DATE! Ottawa-based poetry chapbook + broadside publisher; publisher of The Peter F. Yacht Club (a writer's group magazine) + Touch the Donkey (a small poetry magazine) + G U E S T [a journal of guest editors] + periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics, as well as home of The Factory Reading Series (founded January 1993); edited/published/curated by rob mclennan

Showing posts with label Kyle Flemmer. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

new from above/ground press: Alternate histories, by Kyle Flemmer

Alternate histories
Kyle Flemmer
$5

Microlith >> Total war

/

Microlith
Weapon
Total war

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2024
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Kyle Flemmer is a writer, publisher, and digital media artist from Calgary in Treaty 7 territory. He founded The Blasted Tree Publishing Co. in 2014 and his first book, Barcode Poetry, was published in 2021. Kyle's first trade book of poetry, Supergiants, is forthcoming from Wolsak & Wynn in 2025. His most recent chapbooks include WikiPoems from 845 Press and Gourmand from Paper View Books.

This is Flemmer’s third chapbook with above/ground press, after ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) and Coronagraphic (2018).

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 rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

Saturday, November 13, 2021

some author activity: hanna, Tracy, Niespodziany, Betts, Beaulieu, Siklosi, Spinosa, Mavreas, Flemmer, Archer + Barwin,

natalie hanna has some new work up at where is the river; Dale Tracy participates in the Spotlight series; Benjamin Niespodziany has a new poem up at The Indianapolis Review; and Gregory Betts and Derek Beaulieu have co-edited a new short visual poetry anthology available as a free pdf, 14 Ways of Being Kinder to the Earth, with poems by fourteen visual poets, including Kate Siklosi, Dani Spinosa, Billy Mavreas, Kyle Flemmer, Sacha Archer and Gary Barwin.

Friday, December 7, 2018

Esther Chen reviews Kyle Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) and Stephen Collis' FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN (2017) online at PRISM International

Thanks to Kyle Flemmer catching such online yesterday through a random Google search, I've found out that Esther Chen reviewed two above/ground press titles this past summer over at PRISM International: Kyle Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) and Stephen Collis' FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN (2017). Thanks so much! You can see the original review here. This is actually the third review of Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (after Scott Bryson reviewed such over at Broken Pencil, and Greg Bem reviewed such via Yellow Rabbits) and the second review of Collis' chapbook (after Cary Fagan's generous review on his blog). And of course, copies of both titles (as well as their other above/ground press chapbooks) are still very much available.

ASTRAL PROJECTION by Kyle Flemmer
above/ground press

Defined, “astral projection” refers to the term used to describe a willful out-of-body experience during which the astral body leaves the physical body and travels to the astral plane. The poems in Flemmer’s newest chapbook follow suit. ASTRAL PROJECTION reads curiously, pushing the limits of form, leaving the traditional body of what we think of when we think “poetry” in favour of white space, splatters of text, and hanging brackets. Reading through each piece is an exercise in letting go of the concrete, of certainty. The lines break unexpectedly, jumping from left to right and back again, at times reading both left to right and top to bottom. Mentions of Greek mythology add to the sense of otherworldliness. It is tempting to try to find visual patterns in the spaces of text and blankness, to try to find some familiar form or stanza in which to ground yourself. Instead, Flemmer creates in this book a unique space for the reader to float through the pieces, light.

FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN by Stephen Collis
above/ground press

Stephen Collis’s chapbook FIRST SKETCH OF A POEM I WILL NOT HAVE WRITTEN is comprised of a single, long, twisting poem that oscillates between passionate and resigned, rambling yet brimming with a sure intention. The poem opens by cutting right to the chase, setting the scene of “a universe we / No longer have to search the limits of / the revolutionary subject lies elsewhere” and asks “can we revive?” The tone is restless, that of a racing, intelligent mind: “Late now. Sound of the furnace. Cathy out. Girls asleep. / Take apart all ideas plans and structures again and again.” There is a throughline of righteous anger: at contemporary culture, at the recursive loop pattern of living, at the corruption of art. Open brackets following open brackets and repeating loops of text add to the sense that the speaker is ruminating over these musings, spiralling deeper and deeper, opening box after box. Throughout the piece, Collis maintains a stream of consciousness that is the opposite of messy, the lines hold a straight-edged coherence, clean yet urgent. While a shorter book than other chapbooks out there, Collis’s is an important piece that drives one to question their own artistry (“what is poetry if money is information?”), to pick apart and think, to write and write and write. “Writing as problem solving…” Collis pens at one point, “…in the age of insoluble problems.”

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

above/ground press 25th anniversary essay: Kyle Flemmer

This is the thirty-fifth in a series of short essays/reminiscences by a variety of authors and friends of the press to help mark the quarter century mark of above/ground. See links to the whole series here.

I only met rob mclennan in person recently, but that is not to say we haven’t interacted since being put in touch by a mutual friend. Our relationship has been characterized by a steady exchange of emails, publications, and social media love. Never have I encountered a man with so many irons in the fire, nor someone so willing to collaborate or spread the good word. That he has been behind above/ground for a quarter century is both humbling and makes total sense. He gives off a contagiously conspiratorial, even brotherly, vibe, even in emails.

When rob mailed author copies of the first chapbook above/ground published on my behalf, he included dozens and dozens of chapbooks by a wildly diverse range of authors. Unpacking that box, I knew instinctively the unspeakable amount of work and care that must go into the press, the dedication and love which this trove of chapbooks represented.

Since then, rob has involved me in at least a half dozen other initiatives, some with above/ground, some not, including interviews, email blasts, anthologies, another chapbook, and more. He recommends calls for submission, asks me to consider and explain my projects in ways I hadn’t thought of yet, to review and engage with writing beyond my usual scope, sharpening me to the kind of discourse expected of poets and publishers. He shines a light on work which might otherwise be ignored, overlooked, or underserved, championing emerging writers in a way few publishers can claim, all while continuing to sustain established writers.

Incidentally, the magazine I edit is also celebrating its twenty fifth year in operation, so I think I know a little something about what rob has gone through to make above/ground so enduring … just kidding, I’ve only been a literary type for a few short years and am continually floored by the herculean feats of publishing he seems capable of performing with ease. While I make no claims to a full understanding of the history of the press, the couple of years I have been receiving above/ground publications have been about as deep an immersion in the literary currents of our time as I ever expect to find in an indie press.

Finally, I got to meet rob the weekend of the Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market in Toronto this November. Though I’ve tabled at several small press and zines fairs before, this was my first time traveling for a market, and unlike other markets in this vein, MtP has a distinct ‘family reunion’ vibe about it. Without surprise you will learn that rob was among both the welcoming and farewell gatherings, so I was able to get to know him a bit over the weekend, but the image I took away of the man behind above/ground was of him at the market, stationed across the aisle and a couple spots down from me, table loaded with a rainbow sea of chapbooks, him beaming and waving and in his element, and I could feel the contagious enthusiasm radiating off him all day.

Kyle Flemmer founded The Blasted Tree Publishing Company in 2014 as an outlet for his writing and to build a community of emerging Canadian artists. He is currently the Managing Editor of filling Station magazine, were he served as Associate Poetry Editor for two years. Kyle graduated from Concordia University with a double-major in Western Society & Culture and Creative Writing, where his poem White Dwarfs was a finalist for the 2016 Irving Layton Poetry Award. Kyle has released several recent poetry chapbooks, including Coronagraphic (2018) and ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) from above/ground press, and Lunar Flag Assembly Kit (2017) from no press.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

new from above/ground press: Coronagraphic, by Kyle Flemmer

Coronagraphic
Kyle Flemmer
$4

Coronagraphic is a suite of visual sonnets made from images copied out of the Uranometria 2000.0 star atlas. To select these images, ten interlocking sets of fourteen celestial coordinates were randomly generated by a computer. Star charts were scanned and the grid spaces containing each coordinate isolated. Poems have been arranged in loose grids from the resultant images, forming composite views of the night sky. Lines of sight therefore substitute for lines of text in each sonnet.

Stars are charted as they appear from Earth, which means our maps are essentially anthropocentric. That said, viewing every patch of sky included in a single poem is impossible from any one place on Earth. These poems are not tailored to or reflective of an individual’s experience. Instead, they attempt to pay homage to our place in the cosmos as a species. Visual poetry is a way to approach the ineffable, to capture a little of something words cannot manage on their own, and star-gazing is one of those most human of activities for which language, in my experience, is insufficient.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
September 2018
celebrating twenty-five years of above/ground press
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Kyle Flemmer founded The Blasted Tree Publishing Company in 2014 as a creative outlet and community for emerging Canadian artists. He is currently the Managing Editor of filling Station magazine, where he served as Associate Poetry Editor for two years. Kyle graduated from Concordia University with a double-major in 2016, and has released several other recent poetry chapbooks, including ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) from above/ground press, and Lunar Flag Assembly Kit (2017) from no press.

This is Flemmer’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017).

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

Saturday, February 3, 2018

some author activity: Dolman, Flemmer, Iijima + Gray,

Anita Dolman has a new essay up at my (small press) writing day; Kyle Flemmer is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; he also takes over from Nikki Sheppy as Managing Editor of filling Station magazine this April; Brenda Iijima and Wendy Burk have a conversation over at Entropy; and forthcoming above/ground press author, the Brooklyn poet and filmmaker Stephanie Gray, has a poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Scott Bryson reviews Kyle Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) in Broken Pencil

Scott Bryson was good enough to provide a second review of Kyle Flemmer's ASTRAL PROJECTION (2017) in Broken Pencil, after Greg Bem's review of the same over at Yellow Rabbits. Thanks so much! You can see the original review here.

Reading this collection tends to produce the sensation that you’re in the thick of that old Atari game, Asteroids. Stanzas — fragments, really — are spread around the page like tumbling space rocks.

While the disjointed text makes for a more entertaining read, it can also be difficult at times. It’s not always easy to tell which direction your eyes should be heading. The clunky formatting choices are obviously meant to mirror the subjects of Kyle Flemmer’s poems: 24 Themis, 87 Sylvia, 10 Hygiea and their brethren — the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

In addition to remarking on the asteroids’ location and makeup — “Note the / sublimated surface / ice” — Flemmer explores the origins of their names, in Greek mythology: “Rhea Silvia: / vestal virgin / mother of twins / (by a war god).” It brings the asteroids to life, and assigns motivation to their actions in space: “She has the brightest radar / albedo in the asteroid belt… & if anyone dared / become immortal / it would be she.”

The creativity in this collection lies more in the arrangement of the text than in the text itself — much of this is readily available information. The chapbook’s title doesn’t make an appearance until the very end, but the way Flemmer marries science with mythology is his way of carrying out a sort of astral projection. There’s more going on here than meets the eye.