new from above/ground press: Wilkins, Maloukis, van Vliet, Cone/Lipschutz, Bach, Sparrow, Macdonald, Kennedy, Sparling, Burgoyne, Wells, Levy + Sharp, Touch the Donkey #48 + a bilingual anthol eds. O'Meara/Sylvain,

Towards A Poetry Of <something> Tentative / Notes from a stalled art project, Grant Wilkins $6 ; TWO, Rose Maloukis $6 ; inventions, Robert van Vliet $6 ; AN ACCELERATION & A CALM / A SHEAF BY THE LATE P. M. SAMSON / COMMENTARY BY BARNARD SWALLOW, A SHEAF BY THE LATE P. M. SAMSON, COMMENTARY BY BARNARD SWALLOW, devised by Jon Cone and K.Lipschutz $6 ; Touch the Donkey [a small poetry journal], forty-eighth issue $8 : Words and Image / Entre mots et images, eds./dir. David O’Meara and/et Véronique Sylvain, translations by/traductions de Myriam Legault-Beauregard $10 ; EVAD, Glenn Bach $6 ; SPECTACLE/SPECTATOR, Noah Sparrow $6 ; Weeds of Canada, Dawn Macdonald $6 ; LONG SPEECH FROM MY FATHER AS MY FATHER AS WU TAO TZU ET AL, Jake Kennedy $6 ; 310 Consecutive Life Sentences, Ken Sparling $6 ; AN ACCURATE CIGARETTE: Poetry & Prompts, Sarah Burgoyne $6 ; The Unknotter, Christina Wells $6 ; Vast Spaces, John Levy $6 ; Now When, A Poem, Travis Sharp $6 ;

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
January-March 2026
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy of each

To order, send cheques (add $2 for postage; in US, add $3; outside North America, add $7) 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 (above). See the prior list of recent titles here, scroll down here to see a further list of various backlist titles, or click on any of the extensive list of names on the sidebar (many, many things are still in print).

keep an eye on the above/ground press blog for author interviews, new writing, reviews, upcoming readings and tons of other material; and you know above/ground press has a substack now? sign up (for free!) for announcements, and even new features! catch recent/forthcoming interviews with ryan fitzpatrick, Travis Sharp, Shelly Harder, Sarah Burgoyne, John Levy, Misha Solomon, Guy Birchard, Rose Maloukis, Pearl Pirie, N.W. Lea, Guy Birchard, Jill Stengal, Lillian Nećakov, Cary Fagan, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Ken Norris, Michael Sikkema, Ben Ladouceur, Nathanael O'Reilly, Micah Ballard, Lydia Unsworth, Amanda Earl, Buck Downs, russell carisse etc.

With forthcoming chapbooks by: Dag T. Straumsvåg, Sarah Burgoyne and Clara Yeager, ryan fitzpatrick, Stuart Ross and Jason Camlot, Misha Solomon, Stephanie Bolster, Susan Rudy, Shelly Harder, rob mclennan, David Phillips, Mrityunjay Mohan and probably others! (yes: others,

as well as a new issue of The Peter F. Yacht Club, just in time for this month's 16th annual VERSeFest: Ottawa's International Poetry Festival!

AND 2026 SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE (but you probably already know that,

Touch the Donkey : new interviews with Levy, Brown, Wilkins, Moseman, carisse, Nash + Praamsma,

Anticipating the release next week of the forty-third issue of Touch the Donkey [a small poetry journal], why not check out the interviews that have appeared over the past few weeks with contributors to the forty-second issue: John Levy, Taylor Brown, Grant Wilkins, Lori Anderson Moseman, russell carisse, Ariana Nadia Nash and Wanda Praamsma.

Interviews with contributors to the first forty-one issues (more than two hundred and sixty interviews to date) remain online, including: Michael Harman, Terri Witek, Laynie Browne, Noah Berlatsky, Robyn Schelenz, Andy Weaver, Dessa Bayrock, Anselm Berrigan, Alana Solin, Michael Betancourt, Monty Reid, Heather Cadsby, R Kolewe, Samuel Amadon, Meghan Kemp-Gee, Miranda Mellis, kevin mcpherson eckhoff and Kimberley Dyck, Junie Désil, Micah Ballard, Devon Rae, Barbara Tomash, Ben Meyerson, Pam Brown, Shane Kowalski, Kathy Lou Schultz, Hilary Clark, Ted Byrne, Garrett Caples, Brenda Coultas, Sheila Murphy, Chris Turnbull and Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Stuart Ross, Leah Sandals, Tamara Best, Nathan Austin, Jade Wallace, Monica Mody, Barry McKinnon, Katie Naughton, Cecilia Stuart, Benjamin Niespodziany, Jérôme Melançon, Margo LaPierre, Sarah Pinder, Genevieve Kaplan, Maw Shein Win, Carrie Hunter, Lillian Nećakov, Nate Logan, Hugh Thomas, Emily Brandt, David Buuck, Jessi MacEachern, Sue Bracken, Melissa Eleftherion, Valerie Witte, Brandon Brown, Yoyo Comay, Stephen Brockwell, Jack Jung, Amanda Auerbach, IAN MARTIN, Paige Carabello, Emma Tilley, Dana Teen Lomax, Cat Tyc, Michael Turner, Sarah Alcaide-Escue, Colby Clair Stolson, Tom Prime, Bill Carty, Christina Vega-Westhoff, Robert Hogg, Simina Banu, MLA Chernoff, Geoffrey Olsen, Douglas Barbour, Hamish Ballantyne, JoAnna Novak, Allyson Paty, Lisa Fishman, Kate Feld, Isabel Sobral Campos, Jay MillAr, Lisa Samuels, Prathna Lor, George Bowering, natalie hanna, Jill Magi, Amelia Does, Orchid Tierney, katie o’brien, Lily Brown, Tessa Bolsover, émilie kneifel, Hasan Namir, Khashayar Mohammadi, Naomi Cohn, Tom Snarsky, Guy Birchard, Mark Cunningham, Lydia Unsworth, Zane Koss, Nicole Raziya Fong, Ben Robinson, Asher Ghaffar, Clara Daneri, Ava Hofmann, Robert R. Thurman, Alyse Knorr, Denise Newman, Shelly Harder, Franco Cortese, Dale Tracy, Biswamit Dwibedy, Emily Izsak, Aja Couchois Duncan, José Felipe Alvergue, Conyer Clayton, Roxanna Bennett, Julia Drescher, Michael Cavuto, Michael Sikkema, Bronwen Tate, Emilia Nielsen, Hailey Higdon, Trish Salah, Adam Strauss, Katy Lederer, Taryn Hubbard, Michael Boughn, David Dowker, Marie Larson, Lauren Haldeman, Kate Siklosi, robert majzels, Michael Robins, Rae Armantrout, Stephanie Strickland, Ken Hunt, Rob Manery, Ryan Eckes, Stephen Cain, Dani Spinosa, Samuel Ace, Howie Good, Rusty Morrison, Allison Cardon, Jon Boisvert, Laura Theobald, Suzanne Wise, Sean Braune, Dale Smith, Valerie Coulton, Phil Hall, Sarah MacDonell, Janet Kaplan, Kyle Flemmer, Julia Polyck-O’Neill, A.M. O’Malley, Catriona Strang, Anthony Etherin, Claire Lacey, Sacha Archer, Michael e. Casteels, Harold Abramowitz, Cindy Savett, Tessy Ward, Christine Stewart, David James Miller, Jonathan Ball, Cody-Rose Clevidence, mwpm, Andrew McEwan, Brynne Rebele-Henry, Joseph Mosconi, Douglas Barbour and Sheila Murphy, Oliver Cusimano, Sue Landers, Marthe Reed, Colin Smith, Nathaniel G. Moore, David Buuck, Kate Greenstreet, Kate Hargreaves, Shazia Hafiz Ramji, Erín Moure, Sarah Swan, Buck Downs, Kemeny Babineau, Ryan Murphy, Norma Cole, Lea Graham, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Oana Avasilichioaei, Meredith Quartermain, Amanda Earl, Luke Kennard, Shane Rhodes, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Sarah Cook, François Turcot, Gregory Betts, Eric Schmaltz, Paul Zits, Laura Sims, Stephen Collis, Mary Kasimor, Billy Mavreas, damian lopes, Pete Smith, Sonnet L’Abbé, Katie L. Price, a rawlings, Suzanne Zelazo, Helen Hajnoczky, Kathryn MacLeod, Shannon Maguire, Sarah Mangold, Amish Trivedi, Lola Lemire Tostevin, Aaron Tucker, Kayla Czaga, Jason Christie, Jennifer Kronovet, Jordan Abel, Deborah Poe, Edward Smallfield, ryan fitzpatrick, Elizabeth Robinson, nathan dueck, Paige Taggart, Christine McNair, Stan Rogal, Jessica Smith, Nikki Sheppy, Kirsten Kaschock, Lise Downe, Lisa Jarnot, Chris Turnbull, Gary Barwin, Susan Briante, derek beaulieu, Megan Kaminski, Roland Prevost, Emily Ursuliak, j/j hastain, Catherine Wagner, Susanne Dyckman, Susan Holbrook, Julie Carr, David Peter Clark, Pearl Pirie, Eric Baus, Pattie McCarthy, Camille Martin and Gil McElroy.

The forthcoming forty-third issue features new writing by: Lisa Samuels, Tom Jenks, Nate Logan, Henry Gould, Sandra Doller, Kit Roffey, Leesa Dean and Scott Inniss.

And of course, copies of the first forty-one issues are still very much available. Why not subscribe?

Included, as well, as part of the above/ground press annual subscription! Which you should get right now for 2025!

We even have our own Facebook group. It’s remarkably easy.

ongoing notes: the ottawa small press book fair (part one : Cameron Anstee + John Levy,

[see last fall’s similar notes here]

Ottawa ON/Kentville NS: It is good to see a new publication by Ottawa poet Cameron Anstee, who is famously working at his own pace, in his own time [see my review of his second collection here], and good to see a chapbook of his produced through Gaspereau Press: Sky Every Day (2024), produced as Devil’s Whim Chapbook No. 53. It is almost a surprise to think that Anstee hadn’t published with Gaspereau prior to this, as there does seem a similar aesthetic of tone, of production, between the two (remember Anstee’s work through his own Apt. 9 Press, for example). Across seventeen poems in this very lovely chapbook, Anstee extends his exploration of poems that take up the smallest space possible, yet each one packed with enormous resonance and scale. One can point to the work of the late Nelson Ball, titles by Mark Truscott or certain works by the late Toronto poet bpNichol, but Anstee is working something entirely evolving into his own direction with these pieces. There are echoes of Ball’s attentions to nature, but one that blends Nichol’s own attentions to pure language, somehow meeting in the middle, establishing the stretch of his own, ongoing space. Anstee’s poems are aware of physical space, of physical place and of a space of attention that wraps itself around all the above. There are enormous amounts that go into these poems, and one could spent hours, not lost, but comfortably settled into a suite of curiosities, within them.

AUBADE

sun
spilt

 

Jay MillAr of Bookhug Press, hiding underneath his table,

Cobourg ON/Tucson AZ: It is very nice to see a new chapbook by Arizona poet John Levy [see my review of his recent selected here] through Stuart Ross’ Proper Tales Press, Guest Book for People in my Dreams (2024). It is interesting in how Levy returns to composition-as-response, directly riffing off or responding to particular poets or particular lines, sentences or phrases, allowing for a wider opening of where it is his own lines might extend. “That’s something to look forward to,” the sprawling opening sentence of the prose poem “Sisyphus at Noon” begins, “no shadows, though it was marvellous before noon and afterwards, finding all sorts of colours in even the smallest shadows he rolled the boulder past—a pebble’s oblong shadow with blues and greys (a little yellow at one edge), or a dead bird’s longer wider shadow with a greenish-grey stroke close to the feathered rise of folded wings.” Each meditative poem begins with a line or a thought or a moment and then furthers, the poet working one step and then a further step, curious to see, it seems, where it all might end up, as eager to discover as the reader. Produced in an edition of 150 copies, you should certainly try to pick one up from Stuart Ross when next you see him.

Poem Beginning with a Sentence
by Elizabeth Robinson

The essence of nature is to be always borrowing.

I borrow my thoughts and rarely repay anyone or
anything, it’s part of my nature, is second nature

and third, and so on. Always, so on. There’s no Polonius

telling me what to do—or instructing nature
to stop lending nature more nature. Dust

lends dust to the dust

that is always borrowing and returning the dust.
Bats chase bugs at dusk, what isn’t

dust at the moment

is taking its time.

John Levy, 54 poems: selected & new

 

Kyoto

I’m at a temple. A young monk in black robes walks by, looks at me, stops. He points to my long hair. Brown. Then to my goatee. Red. He touches my armpit and looks puzzled. I point to my hair. He points to my crotch. I point to my hair. He invites me in for green tea.

The latest from Arizona poet John Levy, and the first title of his I’ve read, is the collection 54 poems: selected & new (Shearsman Books, 2023). 54 poems offers a selection of poems composed between 1972 and 2022, with pieces having previously appeared across an array of books, chapbooks and broadsides by publishers such as Longhouse, Half Day Moon Press, Figs, First Intensity Press, Sow’s Ear Press, The Haiku Foundation, Smallminded Books, the tel-let series, otata’s bookshelf, Convivo, Kater Murr’s Press, Quenencia Press and The Elizabeth Press. There is something timeless about Levy’s short missives assembled here that (without sections or earlier-publication acknowledgment throughout, simply set as a single, book-length assemblage of lyrics) don’t feel dated, given these are poems composed across a fifty year period. There’s such an interesting consistency to his lyric approach, even within the varieties and explorations on form and rhythm, moving through prose poems and more traditional poem-shapes. His lyrics are deceptively straightforward, and subtle; at times, even delicate.

My Wife

My wife is painting
the ocean. It,

the ocean, looks
real

sort of, on the
watercolor

paper
because

she (my
wife, not

the ocean)
is excellent.

I
can’t

judge

the ocean.

I’m intrigued by the short, sketched-out stretches of Levy’s lyric brevity, the meditative ways in which his poems offer elements of the hush and a halting slowness, holding far more than what might first appear. Levy is capable of some fantastic short threads, woven in that simultaneously sit as asides and part of the larger weave of the poem, each of which propel his short narratives: “The river sound behind me is traffic,” he writes, as part of “Letter to Paul Matthews / from a Parking Lot in Tucson,” “and an American flag hangs / in front of a barber shop’s / plate glass window; the flag’s / reflection resembles / wings.” Through that particular thread, he steps aside from the narrative and simply swirls this element in, allowing his story a further depth. Through the poems assembled here, Levy appears to favour variations on the epistolary form, composing poems directly to, around and through specific individuals, composing poems as postcards, elegies, letters and obituaries. It is almost as though he prefers the suggestion of a poem as something addressed to someone, which has an enduring charm. “Dear Bob,” the poem “Letter to Robert Lax” begins, “I like addressing you, though / you no longer live on Patmos / or in New York, or anywhere on Earth.”