some author activity: Iijima, O'Reilly, Niespodziany, Banu + Joseph,

Brenda Iijima has new work in the second issue of Counter Poetry; Nathanael O'Reilly has some new work up at PARENTHESIS: NEW MODERNISM; forthcoming author Benjamin Niespodziany has some new work at X-RAY; Simina Banu is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; and Alexander Joseph is being interviewed over at poetry mini interviews.

Gary Barwin : Recommended Reading : Simina Banu + Margaret Christakos

Our pal (and above/ground press author) Gary Barwin was good enough to mention a couple of above/ground press titles--Simina Banu's Tomorrow, adagio (2019) and Margaret Christakos' Retreat Diary 2019 (2019)--as part of a list of "Recommended Reading" over at The Fiddlehead; thanks so much! You can see his original post and list here (including titles by Derek Beaulieu, Anthony Etherin, Gregory Betts, Mark Laba and Tanis MacDonald). As he writes:

Simina Banu: Tomorrow, adagio (above/ground press)

Mesmerizingly preternatural, strange and in the uncanny valley between senselessness music and touchingly lyric, Banu’s chapbook is a series of phonic, visual, and sometimes literal translations of Mihai Eminescu’s poetry. Set in the present and in an oblique literary past, these poems are resonant, surprising, and inventive.

Margaret Christakos: Retreat Diary 2019 (above/ground press)

This suite of poems pulsates with the vibrant intelligence, music, tactility and sense of being-in-the-world that is characteristic Christakos. The lines are energized and self-aware. We are always/already writing/reading/poeming, retreating and advancing through language. And we communicate and wrestle and dance with communication and the problem/possibility of communication through (social) media, language, received notions of self, our culture and the world.  

Joel William Vaughan reviews Simina Banu’s Tomorrow, adagio (2019) in Broken Pencil #88

Joel William Vaughan was good enough to provide the first review of Simina Banu’s Tomorrow, adagio (2019) over at Broken Pencil. Thanks so much!

Banu, or her designer, has appropriately flipped a scribbled bust of 19-century Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu on its head. “The pieces in this chapbook are phonetic, visual and (at times) literal ‘translations’ of the following poems,” reads her paratext, listing nine of Eminescu’s originals. Tomorrow, adagio calls into question the purpose of translation – a process whose limitations have plagued and inspired writers as long as there’s been more than one spoken tongue. Banu’s subtitle pulls no punches in its loose approach to translation: these are original poems, “inspired by the work of Mihai Eminescu.”

            I love the concept, but gestural translations gets away from me. Without an understanding of the Romanian originals, one cannot know when the text is phonetic, visual, or literal translation. The experience can be hard to follow: “A Russian yes, fierce data,” reads “From the strainer,” “O native land: my, my, / Some pot, to cook in, smoke, / bang, riot.” The title poem, “Tomorrow, adagio,” is similarly irreverent: “Tomorrow clips toes into the rice,” it reads, “evolution having decided we don’t need that filth. / I drink it anyway, wear old jeans and don’t / order the cabbage rolls.” I appreciate the exercise, and am interested in Banu’s exploring the bounds and motivations of literary translations – but on the ground, rhyme and reason go a long way. Without that, I fear one line lacks any impact on the one that comes after it.

some author activity: Tracy, Kronovet, Banu, Beaulieu + Notley,

Dale Tracy has an essay in the "Talking Poetics" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Jennifer Kronovet has a new poem in The New York Times; Simina Banu has new work and a statement up in the Spotlight series; Derek Beaulieu has a new visual poem up at Train : a poetry journal; and Alice Notley has a new poem in the "Tuesday poem" series via the dusie blog.

some author activity: Aigen, Siklosi, Campanello, mclennan, Archer + Banu,

forthcoming author Razielle Aigen is being interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Kate Siklosi is interviewed in the new issue of talking about strawberries all of the time, as is Kimberly Campanello, and where rob mclennan also has a new poem, and Sacha Archer also has some new work; and Simina Banu has some new work up at pioneertown.

new from above/ground press: Tomorrow, adagio, poems inspired by the work of Mihai Eminescu, by Simina Banu (item #1000

Tomorrow, adagio
poems inspired by the work of Mihai Eminescu
Simina Banu
$5

Un singur dor

I have a singer’s door.

Afloat, let me be

moored in margarine.

I mean, on the edge

of the sea. This one:

Cer senin. Relax,

I knitted a bed

from young branches.

Ten thousand

trees fall

in my throat:

do they make

or break?

Simon Cowell

covers his ears

at the thought of my heart.

I know we all groan

when the sea sings.

I will be earth

in my solitude.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
as above/ground press' 1000th publication
October 2019
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

cover illustration and design by the author

Simina Banu enjoys investigating the way meaning falls into the crevices—between people and across languages. She’s propelled by a fascination with pop music, consumerism and advertising. Her poetry has appeared in magazines including The Feathertale Review, untethered and In/Words. POP—her first full length collection of poetry—is forthcoming with Coach House Books. She lives in Montreal.

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: Pirie, Prevost, Robinson, Dyckman, Coulton, Smallfield, Wilkinson + Banu,

there is new collaborative work in the tenth issue of where is the river by above/ground press authors Pearl Pirie and Roland Prevost, Elizabeth Robinson and Susanne Dyckman, and Valerie Coulton and Edward Smallfield; Joshua Marie Wilkinson has a poem online via the Poetry Foundation; and forthcoming author Simina Banu has an essay in the "On Writing" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter.

Nicole Markotić chapbook launch, September 27, 2015 (Windsor ON

Nicole Markotić launches her chapbook Ins & Outs (2015) in Windsor, Ontario as part of The Windsor Thrill: Triple Chapbook Launch | Sunday 27 Sept | 1:00 PM | Common Ground, alongside Simina Banu (launching where art) and Melanie Janisse (launching Scrim Poems)‏. If you can't make it, you can always order a copy of Markotić's title here.