Judas-hole or the Poet's Betrayal

Judas-hole

Judas-hole

It's wrong to say Tangerine Press has become a beast, because it absolutely started out as one, and has only gotten stronger. A quick flip through their back catalog, and you can quickly see what they've been doing, and glimpse just how high they're aiming in the future. So it goes without saying, when I see a call for submissions, I gather up some of my best.

And I was recently lucky enough to place a poem in Judas-Hole, or the Poet's Betrayal -- a glorious project available now. It's touted as a "chapbook journal of new writing" -- issue four in an ongoing series that includes Counterfeit Crank, Quincunx, Turpin's Cave. As with most of my favorite things, this is a limited edition -- only 53 numbered copies made -- hand-sewn by editor/publisher/designer Michael Curran.

And the contributors? Claudia Bierschenk, Billy Childish, Ford Dagenham, John Dorsey, Howie Good, Geoff Hattersley, Lyn Lifshin, Hosho McCreesh, Adrian Manning, Marc Olmsted, Joan Jobe Smith, and Fred Voss. Now, I don't know about that McCreesh fellow, but there rest of these folks really know how to string a sentence together.

So if you are a collector of rare and beautiful things, need a few good, hard, and true lines to get you through, or just have a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket, give it a look. I doubt you'll regret it.

Small Press Day in Ireland & the UK...

In New Mexico, it's too hot.

I'm at work all the time (instead of having the summer off, like they taught me to expect as a kid!).

So, it's fair to say I'm in something of a rut. Hence the radio silence this past month or so. "If you don't have anything nice to say..." as the old adage goes...

However, the small press ain't in no rut! Happy small press day to my friends over the pond! I love discovering new books, the kind of thing that would never find a handhold in commercial publishing...just great books and voices all around, taking chances with either form and content. So, in that spirit, here are a few recent books and presses I think are worth a look. Only a couple are UK presses...but small presses everywhere need the love!

Two Dollar Radio's the Incantations of Daniel Johnston by Scott McClanahan and Ricardo Cavolo

Tyrant Books' Bad Sex by Clancy Martin

To Break the Heart of the Sun by William Taylor, Jr. from Words Dance

Lori Jakiela's Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe from Atticus Books

Ben Tanzer's Sex and Death from sunnyoutside

Russ Litten's Kingdom from Wrecking Ball Press

The People of the Abyss by Jack London from Tangerine Press

Wide Asleep/Fast Awake by Adrian Manning & Janne Karlson from Bottle of Smoke