three above/ground press titles--by Ben Robinson, Zane Koss + rob mclennan--longlisted for the 2024 Nelson Ball Prize!

Very cool to catch today's announcement of the longlist for this year's Nelson Ball Prize! Three above/ground press titles are on this year's longlist: A PANDEMIC INVENTORY, SPRING-SUMMER 2020, BROOKLYN NY by Zane Koss (2023), Between the Lakes by Ben Robinson (2023) and edgeless : letters, by rob mclennan (2023) (all three of which are still in print, by the by). And very cool to see above/ground press author Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi on there as well for their Pamenar title. Congrats to the whole list! Yay!

new from above/ground press: A PANDEMIC INVENTORY, SPRING-SUMMER 2020, BROOKLYN NY, by Zane Koss

A PANDEMIC INVENTORY, SPRING-SUMMER 2020, BROOKLYN NY
Zane Koss
$5

when we thought it would be over in a month or so.

when we thought it would be over by summer.

when we thought it would be over by the fall, surely.

when we thought probably by christmas we could travel again.

when we began planning travel for next summer.

when we pushed those plans to next winter.

when it was all going to be over soon.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
December 2023
as part of above/ground press’ thirtieth anniversary
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Zane Koss is a poet and translator, currently living in Guelph, Ontario. He is the author of harbour grids (Invisible, 2022) and co-translator of Hugo García Manríquez’s Commonplace with Gerónimo Sarmiento Cruz and Whitney DeVos. His poetry, translations, and essays can be found in various print and web publications, and a handful of chapbooks, including Invermere Grids and The Odes (Incomplete with above/ground press. His next book of poetry, Country Music, is forthcoming from Invisible Publishing in 2025.

This is Koss’ third above/ground press chapbook, after Invermere Grids (2019) and The Odes (Incomplete (2020).

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

2023 #AWP (unofficial) offsite (virtual) readings : day five of five: Koss, van Vliet + Arnott,

As it all winds down. Do you remember where you were? Here we are, already, on the final day of this stretch of virtual readings as an adjunct to this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual Conference and Bookfair. There are lots of other upcoming schemes, by the way, to help celebrate above/ground press’ thirtieth year. You’ll hear about them soon enough. After today, I think you’ve earned a few days off, yes? Well, before Ottawa’s VERSeFest begins next week, obviously.

Zane Koss is a poet, translator, teacher, and scholar from the East Kootenays, currently living in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author of Harbour Grids (Invisible, 2022) and co-translator of Commonplace by Hugo García Manríquez (Cardboard House, 2022), along with several poetry chapbooks, most recently Kitchen Table (Model, 2023).

Robert van Vliet is a poet and teacher who lives in St Paul, Minnesota. His above/ground chapbook is This Folded Path (2023), and his first book will be published by Unsolicited Press in 2024.

Mother of many, master of none, Joanne Arnott is a writer, editor, arts activist on the west coast. Reading a selection from A Night for the Lady (Ronsdale) and pandemic friendship (above/ground press). She’s published ten poetry books/chapbooks, among other titles, and edited a dozen volumes by others. Poetry Mentor (The Writers Studio), Poetry Editor (EVENT Magazine), and Shadbolt Fellow (2021-2).

Zane Koss' The Odes (Incomplete) (2020) shortlisted for The Nelson Ball Prize!

Yesterday, Stuart Ross announced the shortlist for The Nelson Ball Prize, which includes The Odes (Incomplete) (2020) by Zane Koss! Hooray! The shortlist also includes titles by patrick friesen, Julie Joosten, Chantal Neveu (translated by Erín Moure) and Matthew James Weigel. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors, translator, publishers and titles! For further information, check out the link here.

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.

new from above/ground press: The Odes (Incomplete), by Zane Koss

The Odes (Incomplete)
Zane Koss
$5

Afterword

When I write poetry, I almost always listen to music. Usually, I listen to rap music.

I wrote my second chapbook, job site, listening to two songs from Chance the Rapper’s 2016 album Coloring Book, “Summer Friends” and “Same Drugs,” repeating on a continuous loop. Something about those songs exactly captured the tone I wanted for that poem, and in my mind those songs left an indelible imprint on the poem. Following the completion of job site, I began to think about ways I could make the debt that I owe to the rap artists who have influenced and affected my work more obvious. Writing these poems as odes felt necessary.

There’s something strikingly visual – almost architectural – about the most compelling rap verses: a spatiality not unlike a gothic cathedral, both empty and intricate, thousands of tons of granite and marble seemingly suspended by air, imposing yet effervescent. The grid form I developed for these odes hopes to capture this synesthetic sense of spatiality. This grid form also cites the four-by-four, sixteen bar structure of the standard rap verse. The letters that constitute each grid were arrived at through repeated listenings of each song that the ode is rooted in. Some odes directly quote – or misquote – lines from the song to which they’re dedicated. Each ode was written with that song on repeat, drawing sonic textures, rhythms, tones, words, ideas, associations, and other materials from the artists that perform on each track.

At one point, my plan was to complete a full alphabet of songs. As I progressed the effort became more and more forced, as I tried to rush to completion. I started writing odes that were more about my personal history with each song rather than odes that attended to each song on its own terms. This initial method had allowed me to learn more about sound and rhythm in language than I had ever previously. At the same time, I grew more and more suspicious of the politics behind my motivation for this project, a suspicion I still hold. I am a white person with no connection to hip-hop culture other than as a consumer. I abandoned the project uncompleted. It remains so.

I offer this unfinished manuscript in partial recompense for the immense debt that I owe to the artists, works, and traditions of rap and hip-hop. This debt increases daily.

---

Any proceeds I receive from this project will be donated to the Bronx Defenders or Urban Words NYC.

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

Zane Koss is a resident alien currently living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He was raised on the unceded territories of the Ktunaxa and Secwépemc nations. His critical and creative work can be found in the Chicago Review, the /temz/ Review, CV2, Poetry is Dead, and elsewhere. He has published three other chapbooks of poetry, Invermere Grids (above/ground, 2019), job site (Blasted Tree, 2018) and Warehouse Zone (Publication Studio Guelph, 2015). Zane is a doctoral candidate in the English Department at New York University, where he researches Canadian, Mexican and U.S. poetry in the 1960s and 1970s. He would like to thank you for reading his work.

This is Koss’ second above/ground press chapbook, after Invermere Grids (2019).

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

some author activity: Koss, Sikkema, Spinosa, Radmore + Baus,

Zane Koss is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; Michael Sikkema has a new essay in the "On Writing" series at the ottawa poetry newsletter; Dani Spinosa is interviewed over at Train : a poetry journal; Claudia Coutu Radmore is interviewed via Chaudiere Books; and Eric Baus has a new essay in the Talking Poetics series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter.

some author activity: Koss, Earl + Barwin,

Did I mention that Zane Koss (left) was in town recently? It was nice to be able to hand him his new above/ground press title in person. We enjoyed drinks and a spot of food at my most favourite tavern. Also: Amanda Earl's "The Power of Poetry" essay is now up at The Poetry Question; and Gary Barwin is interviewed in the Wombwell Rainbow Interviews series (but you already knew all of that, right?)

new from above/ground press: Invermere Grids, by Zane Koss

Invermere Grids
Zane Koss
$5

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

Zane Koss is a non-resident alien currently living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He was raised on the unceded territories of the Ktunaxa and Secwépemc nations. His critical and creative work can be found in the Temz Review, Chicago Review, CV2, Poetry is Dead, and elsewhere. He has published three chapbooks of poetry, Invermere Grids (above/ground, 2019), job site (Blasted Tree, 2018), Warehouse Zone (Publication Studio Guelph, 2015), with one further chapbook forthcoming from above/ground press. Zane is a doctoral candidate in the English Department at New York University, where he researches Canadian, Mexican and U.S. poetry in the 1960s and 1970s. 

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: Rosenthal, Koss, Thomas, Robinson + Ross,

Sarah Rosenthal and Valerie Witte have a two-part piece up at many gendered mothers, on Yvonne Rainer and Simone Forti; Zane Koss has four poems in The Temz Review; Hugh Thomas has a new cento posted as part of the Proper Tales Press 40th anniversary essays series; Elizabeth Robinson has a new essay at my (small press) writing day; and Stuart Ross has work in SurVision magazine.

some author activity: mclennan, Syersak, Koss + Schmaltz,

rob mclennan writes of five favourite writers over at The Poetry Question, and has a new poem for Stuart Ross' birthday up at Train : a poetry journal; Jake Syersak has some new translations up at Folder magazine; forthcoming author Zane Koss has new work in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; and Eric Schmaltz has some new work up at Train : a poetry journal.

some author activity: Rogal, Harris, mclennan, Saklikar, Siklosi, Koss + Mavreas,

Stan Rogal has a new poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog for National Poetry Month, as do Sharon Harris, rob mclennan, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Kate Siklosi and forthcoming author Zane Koss; a video of Billy Mavreas reading at the New Dominion Reading Series in Vancouver on April 13, 2019 has been posted on YouTube; and rob mclennan also has a new poem up at Train : a poetry journal.