*
Welcome to Longhouse's bibliography, covering 42 years (now 2013) of steady publications. The press was created by Bob Arnold in 1971, the year he was drafted by the Army and stationed with Consci-entious Objector status in southern Vermont during the last gruesome stages of the Vietnam War. Bob was heading there anyway ... being employed by a brotherly minister of the local Episcopal church, and therein was found the key to Longhouse's future: the church offices held an AB Dick mimeograph machine, & the rest is history.
Bob Arnold edited & printed each title entry below. Publishing, printing and believing would be greatly enhanced by Susan Arnold from 1974 onwards. All has been published & continued without a cent of financial assistance in the way of grants, fellowships, subscription and especially government or corporate funding. The dear "individuals" infusing the list of guardian angels, supporters and heart-felt benefactors are now legendary in the editor's mind. In the 1980s, a bookshop was established. Being too rural in location for the occasional visitor, Longhouse went online as a bookstore, and to this day the website supplements the necessary income to keep the press afloat. Gracias.
The following anecdotes were taken as self-interviews 'speaking' into the computer screen, a dizzy art-form in itself. Where the reader feels the "I" and "we" of the speaker are confusing (and it may be), just imagine a very old-fashioned cohabitated marriage (Susan & Bob) - where one is often both - and in this regard, as it should be.
The format has been purposely
designed to act as a chalk board where the editor is certain
folks will come forth with corrections as they read along, and
remind the poor editor of his possible shoddy memory. Be inclined.
The editor will also practice his own revisions, so these pages
will be active with wings. New capsule portraits will begin at
the start of 2007 since the Show must go on ~
2007 Finlay, Alec. Hand Stamp. Three color fold out booklet with wrap around band. Back Road Caller 16
:quite
the start of a new year. No snow on the ground anywhere in Vermont,
whereas friends in Colorado write and tell tall tales of one
blizzard after another. This morning the titmouse had her spring
call at the feeder. The river is running like early April. Sunlight
on the hemlock & pine boughs is youthful, not the ordinary
winter leanness. I just opened the mail and read a very intelligent
poem by Duncan McNaughton. Starting up a new year making a booklet
for Alec (Eck) Finlay. I asked Eck for something for Longhouse
& Origin and he immediately sent over from Scotland six hand
stamp poem designs. We went and bought a new stamp pad and started
to go to work on it. First we made a postcard to run one of the
stamps in the Love Thy Poet series (2006) and liking that, but
not quite satisfied, decided to do the whole series as one of
our foldout booklets. I made a bunch in November and dated them
2007, hid them away. Today we pulled out the works again and
printed another 50 on one side, then hand stamped down in the
living room by the woodfire on a old plank lap board. Did it
while watching and listening to Werner Herzog prepare the commentary
for "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" (nice to see this
again). I did all the st amping, antique blue ink; Susan moved
pages to & fro from my working hand. For the past twenty
years Eck has been a marvel throughout Scotland with ongoing
events, poetry fests, anthologies, booklets and a never to quit
Renga celebration with authors worldwide.
2007. Clausen, Andy. Design. Three color fold out booklet with
wrap around band.
: although I know Andy, it
was Eliot Katz who came through for me on this work. Again, browsing
the range for new work , I knew Andy was good friends with Eliot
and Eliot might have some of Andy's poems kicking around the
house. A request in and a whole manuscript came through the mail
which I read in one sitting, sifting out at least two long poems.
Both were circulated around important women to Andy: his mother,
and I took that poem for Origin. The second poem "Design",
a beauty of roving the landscape with Andy's companion Janine
Pommy Vega in mind, and we kept that one for Longhouse. Some
unique language and delicacy with heft makes this one of my favorite
poems by Andy. Extra thanks to Eliot for some fact checking for
us and being a royal good guy.
2007. Hyner, Stefan. The Desert Wastes of Civilization. Three color fold out booklet with wrap around band. Back Road Caller 17
:
way long overdue, for how long I have known Stefan, to get a
booklet of his poems out and around. German poet quite comfortable
and known in the USA and other parts Europe. Carpenter and Chinese
scholar by trade and pursuits, editor and sometimes translator
of Jaime de Angulo, Ed Dorn, James Koller and others. I edited
these poems from a much longer new manuscript, taking helpings
for this booklet and into the Origin series for spring 2007.
There is fine sweep between the short travelouge poem, reverie,
near nonesense anarchy quips/thought, to longer and developed
portraits of Che Guevara and the headstone of old Europe.
2007. Moraff, Barbara. Footprint. Three color fold out booklet with wrap around band. Back Road Caller 18
: Barbara and I hadn't been
in touch for some years, after other years of very active publishing
her work from Longhouse. One of our strong hitters out of Vermont,
with a ton of fine poems stretching all the way back to the second
series of Cid Corman's Origin (early 60s) and certainly wide
grained through Longhouse. It was time for connecting up again
and a hour phone call did it - f amily news, neighborhood news
and a sketch of what poems to send. There are a handful of poets
I've worked with on both Longhouse & Origin editing without
computers, and Barbara is one. So her poems arrived in a regular
large manila envelope, plenty to make trouble with, and I had
a cache to fulfill all needs. I even tried to squeeze poems into
a footprint design to justify in my head why I couldn't resist
taking so many for such a narrow page, and then allowing plenty
of space and breathing room on the reverse side. As with the
Finlay, Clausem, Hyner booklets, we designed these up on the
spot, two chairs clumped before a screen for about a half-hour
tops. Wrap bands for this one and the Finlay on Tibetan rough
/ the Clausen & Hyner took well to paper in the shop. All
covers were donated by Greg Joly from floor scraps on his recent
travels to a print shop or two. Quite the scraps.
2007. McNaughton, Duncan. Insistence. Love Thy Poet #57. Three color postcard poem.
:
I had long read Duncan's work and wanted some of his poems for
both the Origin sixth series & Longhouse. Stefan Hyner was
hosting Duncan as his guest on some reading junkets in Germany
and so I dropped a note first there, and later when Duncan was
home again in California. We exchanged our own books, some letters,
and then a clutch of poems arrived ideal for all purposes. I
thought to sneak this one out before the Origin showed as a Longhouse
postcard. It didn't fit as a usual sideways card, so we flipped
it before suppertime, liked the color and called it done.
2007. Massey, Joseph. November Graph. Three color fold out booklet with wrap around band
 |
 |
: I've had many poems in the mail from Joe over the years and during the last few years enjoyed hearing reports from others about his very robust blog reportage - he sends up candid field notes and activist poetry news by the day. These poems came after many months of our back 'n forth correspondence wanting poems for both Origin & Longhouse. Patience pays off. Same gold sparkle cover stock as used on the Finlay with Tibetan paper band, colored shades for titles and name, but the Creeley back cover quote in dead-eye black.
2007. Byrd, Bobby. Is This What Love Is? Three color fold out booklet with
wrap around band
 |
 |
: it's nearing on middle winter - we've all had bad colds, bad coughs, a bad back, then a wicked ice-storm wiped out things for a pile of days. I guess it was time to cheer up and no better than preparing a booklet of poems by El Paso's best Bobby Byrd. Bobby would list a whole bunch of poets from El Paso before himself, and he publishes some of those from his Cincos Puentos Press along with Lee Byrd and I believe a family of younger Byrds. Bobby has a long time been with our press. He sends us all sorts of great work every few years whenever I ask, and get this people, we have yet to meet. That's a friendship. While I had the chance I took everything off Bobby's hands. Some poems went into this booklet I edited up over the Fall 2006, and a whole other sack of gold is going into the Origin for Spring 2007. We snuck in a postcard when no one was looking for the Love Thy Poet series.
2007. Lars Amund Vaage, The Sheep Farmer
Poems, translated by
Hanne Bramness. Three color fold out booklet with wrap around
band.
:
Lars Amund just gave me a fine half hour phone call from Norway
after receiving a few copies of this booklet to hold in hand.
He's very pleased. Hanne & Lars Amund live, write, translate
one to the other and because Hanne shared poems by Lars with
Thomas A. Clark and Tom one Sunday in our correspondence shared
all of these poems with me, I can share them now. This is the
best side of the poetry world. Lars Amund Vaage is a novelist
and poet translated into English, German, Polish & Russian.
Born in Sunde, Western Norway, his father was a farmer, who also
wrote books about local history. Trained as a classical pianist
at the Conservatory in Bergen, Lars Amund also studied Norwegian
and international literature. He made his debut in 1979 with
a novel and has since published nine novels, two books for children,
one collection of short stories, a play and two volumes of poetry.
These sheep farmer poems are from "Det andre rommet"
("The orther room") In the fall, 2006, he published
his second volume of poetry, called "Utanfor institusjonen"
("Outside the institution"). Deeply drawn to American
life he has translated some of the works of Lorine Niedecker
and Joy Harjo, and for the time being is translating "Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof" for the Norwegian Theatre.
2007. Miyazawa Kenji. Blue Haze, Translated by Kenji Okuhira &
Gerald Hausman. Gold sparkle wrap cover with Lokta band. Regular
& signed edition by the translator Gerald Hausman. Back
Road Caller 19
:
single sheet fan fold-out of five poems translated by the poet
Gerald Hausman and Japanese companion Kenji Okuhira make an exquisite
edition to this luminous poet's world. Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933)
was a devout Buddhist with a life long activist's passion for
the peasant life of the Iwate region, better known as the Tibet
of Japan. This was a wonderful reunion of a sort after a decade
apart from Gerry. We had been in pretty constant contact since
the early 70s when Gerry was still living with his family, in
closeby to Vermont, Berkshire hills. Since I was born and raised
in those hills, contact seemed inevitable. Though we wouldn't
meet face to face for decades; not until October 2007, and it
was well worth the wait. He and wife Lorry arrived, all smiles
in our dooryard, and handed me a lovely balanced hatchet as a
gift. We fed them a big dinner. Sat in the sunshine. Miyazawa
Kenji is probably my most favorite poet from Japan of the 20th
c. First introduced to me, of course, and I would guess with
Gerry, through Gary Snyder. The little booklet is like finding
a nest in a tree.
2007. Robert
Sund. from Taos Mountain.
In heavy decorative leaf cloth wrap with Lokta band. An exquisite
little gem. Back Road Caller 20
:
Robert Sund was a quiet legend of the Pacific Northwest. This
selection of poems is from the poet's newest book Taos Mountain,
Poet's House Press, and is published with gracious permission
and unity with the Robert Sund Poet's House Trust - www.poetshousetrust.org.
The folks at Poet's House, Tim McNulty amongst them and an old
friend to Longhouse, made this booklet possible when I went asking
for Sund's poetry. A deep favorite of mine since I was a youngster
reading his first book Bunch Grass the year it was published.
I much wanted Sund in the first issue of Origin and everybody
worked together to make this possible. To extend the gift of
this sequence we took it further and made a booklet of the poems,
wrapped it in handmade papers. The Boda leaf takes some time
tracking down but its much worth it.
2007. Kent Johnson. I Once Met. Kent Johnson.
I Once Met. One of
75. Signed edition only/regular edition long gone.
:
Our largest and tallest booklet yet! from the world-wide traveling
mind of grand adventures and some mishaps by Kent Johnson. In
tall gold sparkle wrap with sky blue endpapers and gold thread
sewn. Very limited numbers, some of which are signed by the author.
Catch it while it's hot. I can think of only one person I've
met in the past year of adventures where I would situate myself
at a make shift table in the living room, close to the fire,
cinema films rolling, and crank out on portable photocopy machine
all the copies for this book. It was 10 pages in and 10 pages
turned over and printed again, all by hand. Over and over. Watch
carefully for mistakes. Pray the ink doesn't run dry midway.
Kent was worth it, this book was worth it, I loved it all. An
editor gets lucky along the way, so when I began the exploration
for the Origin sixth series, I contacted Kent who just happened
to have this big and gorgeous poetic memoir in hand and he barely
hesitated a moment before sending it to the woodlands...when
he could have stayed in the big city, you know, bright lights
and all. We got along famously, and when that happens all sorts
of things are shared. Kent sent many of his friends to Longhouse
and I built bunkbeds as fast as they arrived and set them each
into the Origin issues. If I didn't have a life, I would have
probably then made individual booklets of all their work. Susan,
carpentry, woods chores and going out to look at the stars helped
me draw the line.
2007. Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, A long absence
and poems of apprehension.
For Cid In royal blue Lokta wraps with band. Back Road Caller
21
:
new poems by this Tibetan poet which grace the debut issue of
Origin Sixth Series. These poems are for Cid Corman written by
the poet after long travels in 2006 through her homeland of Tibet
and now resettled in San Francisco. I knew that Cid had sketched
out definitely four poets he wanted featured for the opening
issues of this series...three could come through, and did, but
the fourth dropped out and in Cid's notes Tsering was forever
a prominent candidate. He loved her work, as I did. I was immediately
in touch with Tsering as she traveled in Tibet (the Internet
dives around mountains) and we were close at scheduling her poems
for issue 4. Health concerns and other privacies took president
so we couldn't quite build a feature from Tsering. Happily we
received this quixotic bundle of poems, all for Cid, all from
the heart, and I set them closeby to Cid's own work in the first
issue. As always, to share the wealth, we built a booklet with
papers made from Tsering's homeland.
2007. Mike O' Connor, translator, Five Poems
of the Hermit-Sage Tradition, T'ang Dynasty. Translated from the Ch'uan T'ang shih and the
Zhongguo Fodao shige zonghui. Back Road Caller 22
:
more of Mike O'Connor's wild-rooted and mountain high translations
from the Pacific Northwest meets China. In rooster-comb red sparkle
wraps with Lokta band. These are five poems cut deep from the
T'ang Dynasty. Despite the Internet, cell phones, coveting thy
neighbor's wife, and having your file in with the FBI, there
are still some lovely secrets out there and many of the poems
and poets I have found from the Pacific Northwest remain high
on the list. Maybe Morris Graves started this for me as a boy...but
the poetry and books and yarns always come off some totempole,
out of some rainy forest, dragged in with the cat. Mike O' Connor
continues to be one of the best of these critters and I can't
recommend his book of poems The Rainshadow high enough. Poems
written when the poet was a younger man, a farmer, a scavenger,
and he has gone on to continue with his poetry, history, the
bounty of Chinese translations which he now makes like a master
thief. This is a skinny-assed booklet of a few. Find his books.
Invite him to your college town.
2007. David Hinton, translator, Wei Ying-wu. Printed on Van Gogh fields yellow
cover wrap with Lokta band. Three color text, illustrated. Back
Road Caller 23
:heralding
the transition into the second phase of T'ang Dynasty poetry
- which is known for its introspective and experimental poetries
- noted translator David Hinton selects a half dozen poems and
a revelatory introduction to the poetry, times, and life of this
rivers-and-mountains poet. Extracted from a large anthology of
classical Chinese Poetry that will be issued from FSG in 2008.
A well packed illuminated one! Covering from Shih Ching (@1500BCE)
to the end of the Sung Dynasty (1200 CE). These poems finally
got into my hands one day when David & family were residing
in Fr ance and I tried him out for the Origin sixth series. David
had visited with us a year or so earlier, after a tiny and informal
reading os his own poems at Marlboro College. That's an easy
evening drive for us in the springtime, so we went over and finally
met. The next day David came much wanting to poke around at my
stone work, walls, and stone hut I built once upon a time. We
actually met up through David's phoning me on his own interest
about stonework and could I help him figure out an estimation
on a stonewall he planned to build for someone. For once, it
wasn't poetry that brought two poets together, or even the love
for Asian figures, but stone. Good ol'stone.
2007. David Budbill. Nine Taoist Poems. Gold sparkle wrap cover with Lokta
band. Two Vermont poets put their heads together as Bob Arnold
edits up nine Taoist poems written by David Budbill from his
mountain recluse home. Three color single sheet fan fold-out
of poems that just empty the way. Regular & signed edition
by the poet. Back Road Caller 24
:
David has been friends with Longhouse since our earliest days
publishing, having released a few booklets back in the 70s in
our old style of folded mimeo sheets between construction paper
and away they went. We've stayed in touch, often comparing weather
conditions between the lower Green Mountains and the region catching
snow blown off Stowe. This little booklet happened when I came
asking for poems, again, for the Origin sixth series and David
quickly gathered up a bundle of recent poems, maybe twice the
final amount, and I went ahead dwindling down to what I considered
primo stuff: all woods oriented - activity with a chain saw,
maybe the last of the garden, a companion dog. Taoist related
but nothing strictly practicing, a poet at his living. We made
a fine collection and it has gone on to surpass our usual small
print run of 50 copies.
2007. Cid Corman. from A
Short Guide to Human Being.
18 poems in Nepalese decorative cover stock with three color
fold out text.
:
this is a collection of poems composed/revised mainly in the
mid90s by Cid Corman culling work from earlier times (70s-80s-90s)
and shaping a book of well over 200 finished poems. While reading
& gathering extensively over the winter of 2007 for Cid's
proposed 'selected poems' (with Ce Rosenow), I came upon this
manuscript and started to sift eagerly. The bulk of loose pages
jammed just barely into its tight binder. A rejection letter
from Farrar, Straus & Giroux pinned in with it all. This
is but a portion of what they rejected. And it has since gone
into the spring house new edition of his selected poems edited
by Ce Rosenow & Bob Arnold: The Next One Thousand Years
(Longhouse)
2007. Laurie Clark. How
Many?. In Nepalese
decorative cover stock. How many different items can you fit
in a matchbox?
:
from Scotland, Laurie Clark reveals fifty items can be admitted.
Six panel fold out art work with three color text, folded up
into this shirt pocket-size booklet. American by birth, Scottish
as the bird flies, Laurie has been one more of those quiet as
a mouse artists etching illustrations, engravings and whole dimensions
all her own in UK, European and American presses. Long time marriage
and working relationship with Thomas A. Clark has resulted in
hidden drifts of poetry exquisitely printed and published from
their Moschatel Press and other press signatures. When I had
a tool book to be illutrated it was no contest between having
my own photographs of many tools to use, or else having Laurie
offer her guidance and goodwill to take those photographs and
draw her own illustrations for the book. This she did. Gifted
them to me. The quality of these tools: peavy or chimney sweep
brush is likewise caught in this small booklet of things set
out on Laurie's desk, drawn one at a time.
2007. George Evans. Everyone
A Soldier for Something.
In deep turquoise wrap, with Lokta band.
: designed just for this showcase,
a new style booklet out of the Longhouse from the veteran and
seasoned poet George Evans who puts an old soldier's eye to things.
From Vietnam to burning Iraq, George Evans once again shows us
what it is to be a patriot. I waited a long time to get ahold
of this much work from George,and it finally happened. After
he made sure I received poems from other poets he marveled over,
and I agreed. He was a foot soldier in the Vietnam War and visited
Cid Corman in Kyoto. Cid brought us together and every chance
we can get we try to stay in touch, sometimes even a phone call
across the country, the sharing of poems. I much like this booklet
for the eye it gives to present New World Order times: post 9/11,
fraudulent war in Iraq, the drowning of New Orleans, the fleecing
of the amber waves of grain. Another poet whose work should be
raised high to the roof beams carpenter.
2007. Austin Smith. Wheat
and Distance. Blue
sky wrap cover with Lokta band and back side poem attached.
: this single sheet fan fold-out
of haiku by a young Midwestern master in three color text, and
twenty poems, makes for a rightful companion. Some of the most
attractive and quickly likeable haiku I have come across in quite
some time; it reminded me of when I found Gary Hotham's work
oh so long ago...sharp, smart and quietly unique. Very everyday.
No literary patchwork or old Orient homages. I found out, in
time, Austin Smith was the son of the midwest poet and farmer
Daniel Smith. Quite a family. It was the generous and warm-hearted
counselor of 'Camp Poetry', Kent Johnson, who sent Austin my
way. Nothing like a guiding light.
2007. Daisy Zamora. A Diego
Rivera On Valencia Street.
Bull-charging red Lokta wrap and band, quite a charge! With three
color two-sheet fan fold-out text of six poems written in English
and Spanish, translated by George Evans & Daisy Zamora.
:
thanks to George Evans, Daisy Zamora finally got with Longhouse
as has long been my intentions. This selection are some of the
poems by DZ that were showcased in the Origin sixth series, edited
down to its own booklet offering. I recall friendly notes and
letters back and forth with George as we built up a steerage
of her poems. Thanks to those who do good work for others. George
made this booklet all possible and even sent a photograph of
the two of them out in the wilds of some Central America plain.
We couldn't reproduce the photograph quite for Daisy's booklets,
so we set it straight in the Origin.
2007. Patricia Smith. Almost. Darkness crepe wrap cover stock with
Lokta band:
: A single poem and sheet fan
fold-out dedicated to Cindy Sheehan ~ mother to mother, so to
speak. It was reading Ed Sanders strong endorsement for Patricia
Smith's " "that took me after the book. I do believe
in what some people say , or maybe I watch or listen how they
say it. This blurb sold me. I ended up writing my own review
of the book, and then continued on track and wrote Patricia Smith,
personally, my sense of the book and one thing led to another
where I soon had poems for the Origin, a photograph or two of
the poet, and some extra poems to fiddle with and see about as
a booklet. I've never seen cover stock quite like what we stumbled
upon when searching for something right for this publication.
It took serious glue to adhere paper with whatever this cover
is. Smith's poems are controversial, tender, tough hitting and
steering after a truth.
2007. Edward Sanders. Persephone's Mouth. Mossy by the creek Lokta wrap with paper cloud band, you can just feel Spring!
 |
 |
: with three color two sheet fan fold-out text of five poems spanning personal, domestic and political of this far-ranging rover. Plus art work by the poet! The fountain is still there. Ed Sanders and I met once upon a Woodstock evening after a reading by Carolyn Forche and we were in town. Ed introduced Forche, elegantly, by playing some music and reading a bit of his own work, and Sappho, it had a living room visit quality to it all that reading, even if it was in a big bar. After the reading Andy Clauson made sure we met. Shiv Mirabito took a photograph of us all and I've kept it up in one of the rooms where we work at home. When it came time for the Origin sixth series, Ed Sanders had to be involved. There's a dangling history of 'dangerous' publications, (danger meaning: good for you) like Cid Corman's Origin, and Ed's Fuck You, and James Koller's Coyote's Journal that I raised myself on stating in the 1960s...so it was only natural to get them all into Origin best I could. Ed complied with poems and some drawings which I wanted particularly for the little booklet. It's a foldout mild-mannered menace.
2007. Alex Caldiero. Islander. Four page accordion style fold out.
Three color. An attractive wrap around band
:
I know of no other poet, in America at least, who writes with
a similar magic like Calvino. Maybe because Alex's family hails
from Sicily? and that fluid tease and honor flows in the blood.
Funny story about Alex: we printed these up, folded them, glued
them, wrapped them and mailed them out and never heard that much
again from Alex, except he seemed to like the booklets. He said
that much. In fact, someone just ordered a copy today; they said
they came via Alex. Good poems. Laugh out loud good.
2007. Cralan Kelder. City
Boy. Four page accordion-style
fold out in children's wrapping paper cover. Three color. An
attractive wrap around band.
 |
: I found the paper wrapper for this booklet before I even had the poems in hand from Cralan. I just knew he'd meet the paper design by knowing and enjoying his work as much as I do. And it all worked out. Poems arrived in a big bundle from Amsterdam where I could select a large swath for the Origin, and then some of the same and some different into this booklet. Around the same time we were organizing this booklet, Cralan and his wife Toby had become new parents - so even more reason for the child's wrapping paper cover. Unlike many other humorous, but often sassy mouthed poets now at work, Cralan's poetry is playful, inventive, infectious and nicely wondering.
2007. Jane Wodening. Following
Frogs. Two stories
in fold out accordion style booklet. Three color with decorative
wrap around band. Back Road Caller 25
:
in past Longhouse publications Jane Wodening (her maiden name)
was Jane Brakhage when married to the filmmaker Stan Brakhage.
Their history in the high mountains of Colorado is a biography
in the making, and Jane continues there with her own special
brand of storytelling, tales, poems and wisdom. I'd publish her
tales a few times each week if I was the editor of a daily newspaper.
The Dorn family's Rolling Stock was once a publication that tried
their best at doing just that. If you dig around you can locate
at least two of Jane's books that are musts for every library.
Longhouse published a sheaf of her stories. For the Origin, since
Jane was friends with Cid Corman. I invited Jane to send work
and within a blink it was in my hands. That's country custom.
2007. J. D. Whitney. Cousins. A dozen short poems on fold out accordion
style booklet. Three color with attractive wrap around band.
Back Road Caller 26
:
a good friend read this lovely little booklet of poems by J.D.
Whitney and said how perfect it would be as a children's book.
JD, if you're listening! I've long been a fan of this poet's
work heading all the way back to Elizabeth Press books and other
books I've held close for decades. Once again, when it was time
to cultivate work for the Origin sixth series, as with every
other booklet in the Longhouse 2007 cycle, I asked JD for work.
He was quick to respond, and between us both, we got the booklets
off to a wide array of readers.
2007. Jeffery Beam. Gospel
Earth II . A dozen
poems continuing the cycle from the poet's earlier Longhouse
publication Gospel Earth. Three color fold out accordion style
booklet in Lokta texture wrap around band with an extra poem
on the back of the band. Regular and limited, signed editions.
: Jeffery is always a joy to work with. A librarian, skilled in the fine arts of poetry presses, botany and the whole art of love. After putting together from a much longer manuscript titled "Gospel Earth" a small selection of poems for a Gospel Earth I, it made sense to draw more for Gospel Earth II and get these into the Origin series. Easily done, jut ask JB. His network of readers is dynamic and devoted, circling from his own North Carolina hutch, as well as poesy pockets in UK and elsewhere. The poems shimmer on a simple one-page foldout, minting a dozen that way, and each poem would be exclusive to a page itself. There's a lot of gimmie and soul in these booklets.
2007. Elizabeth Robinson.
from Blue Heron. Three
color fold out accordion booklet in indigo wraps with floating
cloud band. Unsigned and very limited, signed edition.
:
I only learned afterwards from Elizabeth that a loved one had
passed away and much of the reason for the poems she sent here
as Blue Heron. Elegant work. The poems went immediately into
the Origin series and were one more example of a great thing
meant to share further. Gladly. It turns out Elizabeth and I
had shared the stage with Cid Corman, Theodore Enslin and others
in Fort Atkinson, WI. one evening at Lorine Niedecker's old high-choool.
We were there to read for Lorine.
2007. Leslie Scalapino. No. Three color 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 decorative
card. Unsigned and very limited signed by the poet.
:
I've always been drawn to all Scalapino books and her own O Press
publications. So it was natural to go requesting work from her
for the Origin, and what poem might fit onto a Longhouse postcard,
the more the merrier. It all came to be. It all happened during
a week or two of drawing poems from Rae Armantrout, Lisa Jarnot,
Ursula K. Le Guin, Elizabeth Robinson and a few others. For some
lovely reason all women poets were right on the point at returning
a reply and poems and keeping the network flowing.
2007. Rae Armantrout. Concentrate Three color fold out accordion style
booklet of new poems in texture wrap, with cloud pattern wrap
around band. Regular and very limited signed editions.
:
Rae and I had met briefly at the Lorine Niedecker centenary in
Milwaukee put on by Woodland Pattern and other poetry lovers
of that blustery city. She was one of many I wanted in the Origin
sixth series and it was simple as pie to make contact via email,
exchange greetings, draw out poems, and fit them into place.
The work all arrived solid. No fussing. And they were an ideal
sequence to want to share into a booklet , something to print
and leave under the saucer on some kitchen shelf. Truly thoughtful,
concentrated poetry. What better?
2007. Ursula K. Le Guin.
Four Different Poems.
Three color fold out accordion style booklet of four new poems
by this west coast and planetary legend in the poetries and science
fiction fields. Lokta texture wrap around band. Regular and very
limited signed editions.
: this all became possible
through my friend Sandy Seaton. He was kind enough to contact
Ursula K. Le Guin for me and then I followed up with a greeting
and request for work for the Origin, and so fine it was, I took
it further into a booklet all its own. Ursula was very kind to
sign copies for us and announce the piece on her own website
- a galaxied place of sci-fi, poetry, prose, fictions and what's
new in the world of Le Guin. I worked the cover stock off German
papers we bought from Ed Rayher at his Northfield, Ma., shop
one winter afternoon. We got so much chop that day it went into
booklet after booklet where that gold sparkle asked for it: the
Kenji, Budbill, Le Guin, Jeffrey Beam booklets so far.
2007. Joanne Kyger. All Over
The Place. Three color
fold out accordion style booklet of a one poem tribute to Cid
Corman. Lokta leaf wrapper with like texture. Regular and very
limited signed editions
:while gathering and editing
the Origin sixth series I went after specific folks who either
knew Cid Corman or had some unique dealings with Cid from long
ago. Joanne Kyger was one. She had traveled over to Japan and
India once upon a time with then husband Gary Snyder and others,
plus Cid had traveled over from Japan to California and in both
places Joanne and Cid saw one another. No one else wrote something
specifically about Cid Corman on my request for Origin sixth
series, but Joanne did. It was so immediate and Joanne-right
that I set it into the first issue, close to Cid's work and then
followed it up some months later as a booklet. Done up in delicate
paper.
2007. Omar Perez. Fleet Star. Translated by Kristin Dykstra and
Nick Lawrence. Three color fold out accordion style booklet of
many new poems by this Cuban poet. Prepared exclusively with
Longhouse by the translator Kristin Dykstra. Revolution red wraps
with cloud band. Bilingual edition. Regular & signed edition
:
I was in touch for this booklet through one of the translators
Kristin Dykstra, who couldn't have been more friendly and accomodating
every step of the way. Like many we published in 2007, Kristin
came via soliciting for the Origin sixth series and mostso she
came via Kent Johnson's good wishes. One or two had mentioned
to me that Omar Perez was the son of Che Guevara, a fine poet
indeed and it turned out to be a many network thread obtaining
poems, permission and small details between Havana, Kristin's
midwest abode, and Vermont.. Chalk it up to how the Internet
can work miracles if you put your heart into it.. Kristin and
Nick Lawrence have gone great guns translating and introducing
Omar's work, poetry & prose, around the world. I grabbed
as much as we could handle for both Longhouse and Origin and
remain ever thankful.
2007. John Taggart. Precise
Notation. Three color
fold out accordion style booklet of poems, large sheet edition.
In turned leaf foliage cover with floating cloud wrap around
band. Regular and Signed edition
:
John Taggart was yet another poet I had always wanted to publish,
and with the Origin sixth series in full flow through the year
2007 I was able to tap this poem from John for the Origin and
double duty it into a Longhouse booklet. The size and width of
the piece is tricky for our narrow margin text, so we printed
a full page and folded it all together and still retained the
shape and integrity of the Longhouse booklets.. Greg Joly had
just been up for a visit from the print shop and had some chop
cover stock in a box for us. The orange was just right for John.
2007. Cid Corman. New Proverbs. Snow white slip card. Three color.
:I
came across these sequence of poems by Cid while reading through
his unpublished manuscript Of volume 4-5. I came back for another
full reading, about 750 pages, when reading and selecting for
Cid's selected poems "The Next One Thousand Years"
which I was working over the past year with co-editor Ce Rosenow.
These poems jumped out, fresh, for the selected. It jumped again
onto a small Longhouse leaflet.
2007. Rumi / Cid Corman, translator. "What can I do - friends?" Golden speckled slip card. Three color.
: the Rumi poem also came up while panning for gold in Of volume 4-5. Impossible not to do more with this poem hidden in the brush. Ce and I worked into the Corman selected poems and further onto this leaflet. Like all the leaflets, or slips, these are ideal for tucking into correspondence or while passing through on visits with friends...leaving one or two of these behind.
2007. Bob Arnold. Make Do Postcard poem. 4-1/4 x 5-1/2. Three
color. The last card in the Love Thy Poet series, this being
#60. Signed by the poet
: a recent autumn poem that started
off a new manuscript. I wanted to share it with some friends.
We were also at what felt like a fine impasse for the "Love
Thy Poet" postcard series and ended the series with this
poem.
2007. Bob Arnold. "every tower teeters" Postcard poem. 4-1/4 x 5-1/2. Three color. The premier card in the Love Thy Poet More! series. Signed by the poet.
: only to start up a new series
of postcards from Longhouse with this poem/card. Now it would
be called "Love Thy Poet More!" for the first card,
the next card (Cid Corman) would have an added "More"
More" and so on. This is one of my concrete or visual poems.
I do a few every year.
2007. Bob Arnold. Another
one of those true stories from poetry land. Three color fold out accordion style booklet
of prose. In gold twinkle cover with Lokta paper wrap around
band. Signed edition
:
one of those things that just happened. Somehow we found out
a poet was reading basically to an all school assembly, but the
public was welcome. A few of us showed up from the outside. No
matter who the poet was - it could be any one of us, I've done
my share of all-school readings - but it raised the question
of how we learn. Whether teacher/student. As often happens with
most of my short prose, this started out as a report to a correspondent,
which then fell into the hands of printer & publisher and
there was no stopping a small booklet to share.
2007. Cid Corman, NY 1934, Postcard poem. 4-1/4 x 5-1/2. Two color. Love Thy Poet More & More! series.
:
one more poem culled easily from Cid Corman's unpublished Of,
volume 4 & 5. Until we find a wealthy donor, pot of gold,
a little more magic, this is one way to showcase what is part
of the enriched last volumes to Cid's opus. This poem will also
show up, with many others from the final Of volumes, in the selected
poems of Cid Corman issued from Longhouse in 2008: "The
Next One Thousand Years".
2007. Thomas A. Clark, Grey. Three color fold-out accordion style
booklet in gray/blue by the sea cover and wrap around band. Regular
& signed editions. Back Road Caller 27
:
ever since Thomas Clark and I met some years ago at the centinneal
celebration for Lorine Niedecker in Milwaukee we have remained
in touch about weekly betwen Scotland & Vermont, and holding
to a promise we made to one another: he would try to send me
a booklet to print each year from Longhouse and each year we're
holding to it. Grey is the latest. Tom asked for a certain grey
to be part of the production and we tried our best at fading
from a strong grey tone to a more ghosted coloring on the title
page. The poems, as always with Tom, walk with you.
Gerald Hausman,
Deep South Airport Blues,
Love Thy Poet More & More & More
:
well, I plan to surprise Gerry with taking this poem from Origin
1 and making a holiday present to him of the postcard poem. If
you've ever traveled in the American south you might know exactly
this poem. That's what makes good poetry: recognition, even one
you're not sure of. This poem came to me when I put out a request
for poems for Origin, sixth series. Gerry and I had just rehooked
our sleds after being apart, somehow, a full decade from correspondence....one
that started in 1974 and was continuous, and yet we had never
met. Still hadn't when he sent me this poem and we got back to
corresponding again, and the letters to & fro showed clearly
we had never been apart. Two months ago we finally met, in Vermont,
most of our families all around us both.
Anne Waldman,
The Mammalian. Three
color fold-out accordion style booklet in pink-to-be-seen-Loka
cover & a wrap around band. Regular & signed editions.
:
Anne has always been a friend to help out on contacts with other
poets and coming through with work of her own. The ultimate big-tent
ringleader either for putting a mash of poets together for a
reading, or introducing poets round and round in person. She's
a master mechanic. One day she wanted some answers on Basho poems
and that was easy enough and there was a gifted book in the mail
from Anne a few days later for taking the time. I can't tell
you how much this is the secret pathway into making poetry poetry.
Out of the blue she wanted to try these poems on me and I saw
immediately they would work (as I believe she presumed) for a
Longhouse booklet. I liked them since they are quite different
from her longer poems, but retain a similar intensity and care.
Susan and I just today went to look for paper stock while in
town and coming to the rack there was the pink Loka paper, a
little outlandish and calling.
Cid Corman,
Karmal Fudge or: Just Plain Sludge. Three color fold-out accordion style booklet
in red-rover red-rover wraps & cloud ripple band. Edited
by Bob Arnold from the unpublished "Of" volume 4/5.
Back Road Caller 28
:
slowly and surely I have been publishing poems from the unpublished
"Of" volume 4/5 that Cid Corman left at his passing.
Like the earlier volumes, which are published and magnificently,
this is a teaming collection of poetry gathered by Cid generally
over the latter part of the 90s. There were other manuscripts
he left behind, but nothing quite like the final connective tissue
that brings the five volume opus together. I plucked cautiously
from these last two volumes and added exactly 63 poems to the
selected poems of Cid Corman: "The Next One Thousand Years"
edited by Bob Arnold and Ce Rosenow and published from Longhouse.
Coming upon just the title "Karmal Fudge.." for starters
I knew we were in one of Cid's playful and twisting language
meets philosophy strongholds. It was a must for the selected
poems volume, and it would be ideal for a booklet to pass around
over one winter to spring.
In late 2003 Cid Corman, the founder and editor of Origin magazine Series One-Five dating from the early 1950s, with a revitalized spirit gained from his recent Milwaukee and Lorine Niedecker Centenary USA visit, conceived the idea of Origin's Sixth Series to be an online and printed edition. With the typical Cid energy and expansiveness, issues were planned in collaborative assistance with Chuck Sandy, a newly found friend and educator who also resided in Japan.
Unfortunately, Cid only sketched out brief notes, recommendations and plans for the featured poets for the first four issues. Before Cid's hospitalization and passing in March 2004, Issue 1 was partially established with the feature poet, some solicited manuscript and art work formation, and the go ahead given by Cid to get this published. Onward!
During the summer of 2006, Chuck Sandy having hoped to publish Origin shipped from Japan the Cid's Origin notes, manuscripts and skeletal framework to Bob Arnold, Cid Corman's literary executor, here in Vermont.
Now, how best to evolve this 'wunderkind' into a 2007 festive tribute by editor Bob Arnold with contributing editorial work from one of Bob's close friends John Martone. Following Cid's notes, and after working years together editing and publishing, Bob has taken this Origin conception and elaborated upon it as a working collaboration with Cid's & John's editorial spirit. No stone left unturned. We couldn't make an official Origin without Cid at the helm, but we sure could make a festival and tribute to Cid from it all.
The new Origin is inclusive of old & new and as a tribute to Cid's Origin legacy. Herein will be gathered some of the feature poets as Cid had hoped, together with much new art work, photography, many new poets, translators, and essayists gathered up by Bob and representing what were known to Cid, and more importantly what should be or might have been known by Cid. Certainly work he would have welcomed, or at least been intrigued by. There are no guarantees, but regions of taking risks and making discoveries.
The first three Sixth Series Origin issues had definitive plans for feature poets with contributions by other poets and artists based on Cid's notes. The featured poets for these three issues are true to Cid's intentions : Bob Arnold (Issue 1); Charlie Mehrhoff (Issue 2); and John Martone (Issue 3). The original fourth issue featured poet per Cid's notes dropped away for personal reasons ... since then, we have chosen and received with wonderful enthusiastic response the works of the new 4th issue featured poets : Dale Smith and Hoa Nguyen.
There are no absolutes with morphing this Origin anthology. It's a re-creation, not a clone. Liberties and license? Of course! If staying the course with Cid's 2003 draft and notes exclusively, Origin would be static & staid. It was just a start on Cid's part; he would no doubt have re-edited the issues, and now we are gathering this series as a vast tribute to Cid & poetry (often the same in this poet's mind and living) combining the past with the present.
It's not about being a mirror image of Cid's conception. Rather, it's a reflection becomes a tribute becomes a festival. All issues are to be published online as web pages and available for download as PDF files. These issues will include unpublished essays by Cid Corman, as well as prose, poetry, translations and art work gathered by the editors. Longhouse plans to further publish a selection of the contributions from its booklet and postcard series, and these will be available in print as limited editions throughout the year.
And with this - many, many thanks and kudos to the contributors who have not only submitted their own work -- and to friends with financial donations -- but to those who also suggested others that should be, might be and are now a part of Origin.
The online issues will begin to appear on March 12th, 2007 (Issue 1) the day of Cid's passing. To be continued each month following, with the last issue (Issue 4) appearing on Cid Corman's birthday at the end of June 07.
