some author activity: Mody, Berlatsky, Johnson, Rogal, Morton, Boyle + Kronovet,

Monica Mody has a substack now, and has work featured at Scroll India; five fleas has published a short poem by Noah Berlatsky; Chris Johnson is interviewed by Andrew French for the Page Fright Podcast; Stan Rogal, Colin Morton and Frances Boyle each have new work in the latest issue of Pinhole Poetry; and Jennifer Kronovet has new work up at Zocalo: Public Square.

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: Kronovet, Stewart, Johnson, Brockwell, Polyck-O'Neill + Nilson,

Jennifer Kronovet is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Fenn Stewart has a guest post up at The League of Canadian Poets blog for National Poetry Month; forthcoming author Chris Johnson has a poem up at the Chaudiere Books blog for National Poetry Month, as do Stephen Brockwell, Julia Polyck-O'Neill and Geoffrey Nilson.

some author activity: Cain, Eleftherion, Robinson + Kronovet,

Stephen Cain is currently being interviewed over at poetry mini interviews, as is Melissa Eleftherion; Elizabeth Robinson now has an author site and Jennifer Kronovet has a poem up in the Poem a Day series at poets.org.

Jennifer Kronovet on the Commonplace podcast

above/ground press author Jennifer Kronovet (right; an American currently in Germany) was interviewed recently as part of Episode #56 of Rachel Zucker's (left) podcast, Commonplace : Conversations with Poets (and Other People), and their interview is now live! Kronovet is the author of, among other titles, the chapbook CASE STUDY: WITH (2015) (which they even discuss!), copies of which are still very much available.

some author activity: Earl, Tucker, Betts, Archer + Kronovet,

The second issue of where is the river :: a poetry experiment features new work by Amanda Earl and Aaron Tucker; Gregory Betts has some new visual work up at Brave New Word; Sacha Archer is featured over at rob mclennan's monthly "Spotlight" series; and Jennifer Kronovet is interviewed via Podcast over at Public Radio International.

some author activity: mclennan, Pirie, Kronovet + Bök,

rob mclennan has two new poems up at his blog; Pearl Pirie is interviewed over at the ottawa poetry newsletter, and an excerpt of her new chapbook is also up at Sprung Poems; Jennifer Kronovet is featured on the Drunken Boat blog; and Christian Bök is one of five University of Calgary scholars named this week as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada.

some author activity: Earl, Christie, eckhoff + Kronovet,

Amanda Earl has new work up at h&; Jason Christie has some new work and a statement featured at Drunken Boat; kevin mcpherson eckhoff is interviewed over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; and parts of Jennifer Kronovet's above/ground press title are reprinted over at Carrie Etter's Sudden Prose.

Scott Bryson reviews Jennifer Kronovet’s CASE STUDY: WITH (2015) in Broken Pencil #69

Scott Bryson was good enough to review Jennifer Kronovet’s CASE STUDY: WITH (2015) in Broken Pencil #69. Thanks so much! This is actually the fourth review of Kronovet’s chapbook, after Ryan Pratt reviewed such over at the ottawa poetry newsletter, Pearl Pirie reviewed such in Arc Poetry Magazine, and Rebecca Anne Banks reviewed such over at Subterranean Blue Poetry.

The majority of the prose poems in this collection document – in a decidedly clinical tone – time spent observing a child: “With the Boy, in the House;” “With the Boy, Outside;” “With the Boy, Inside the Museum.” Only near the end of Case Study: With do we come to learn for certain that the boy is Jennifer Kronovet’s son.

            Ambiguity regarding the child’s identity is planted early. From page one, he’s referred to only as “The Boy,” and when Kronovet eventually calls him “my son,” it seems almost like a slip-up – as if the integrity of the case study has been compromised by Kronovet’s momentary inability to maintain an impartial distance as she studies her test subject.

            Case Study: With is more that simple observation; it take a stab at drawing insights from a complex natural system. Kronovet is critically examining a life spent with someone who’s perched on the cusp of grasping speech (“a reckoner of words”) She juxtaposes her anecdotes with explorations of clinical terminology and research into the study of language (including the famous case of a feral child in France) that illuminates the ways in which language develops in a person. Her case study is also sprinkled with poetic hypotheses that illustrate the ways in which our words define us and our relationships: “We use words like a tree uses light.”

            Kronovet, in adopting the role of scientist, necessarily comes off as detached and callous, and it’s commendable – given the subject matter – that she’s able to maintain that tone throughout her case study. Slipping into an expected voice might have ruined what is a consistently pensive and heady read.

some author activity: Kronovet, Poe, Baus, Landman + Cooley,

Jennifer Kronovet's second full-length poetry manuscript has been picked up by Ecco, as part of the National Poetry Series; Deborah Poe reviews and interviews Elizabeth Savage over at Jacket2; Eric Baus and Seth Landman have pieces in the "Insect Poetics" issue, guest-edited by Mathias Svalina, of Evening Will Come; and Monique Sherrett writes on Dennis Cooley for Brick Books' year-long Celebration of Canadian Poetry.

some author activity: Ball, Kronovet, mclennan, babineau + Barwin,

Nelson Ball has a new poem up at The Week Shall Inherit The Verse; Jennifer Kronovet is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; rob mclennan is interviewed over at The Town Crier; kemeny babineau participates in Amanda Earl's "One Thing"; and Gary Barwin has new work up at Our Teeth.

Ryan Pratt reviews Jennifer Kronovet's CASE STUDY: WITH (2015)

Ryan Pratt was good enough to provide the first review for Jennifer Kronovet's CASE STUDY: WITH (2015) over at the ottawa poetry newsletter. Thanks so much!

some author activity: Maguire, Abel, Pirie, Kronovet + mclennan,

Shannon Maguire has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series on the dusie blog; Jordan Abel is included on CBC Books' "Writers to Watch 2015" list; Pearl Pirie has a new poem posted at one sentence poems; Jennifer Kronovet has a new essay in the "On Writing" series over at the ottawa poetry newsletter; and rob mclennan has a new poem up at Empty Mirror.

Pearl Pirie reviews Jennifer Kronovet's CASE STUDY: WITH in Arc Poetry Magazine #77

Ottawa poet Pearl Pirie was good enough to review Jennifer Kronovet's CASE STUDY: WITH (2015) as part of a group chapbook review over in Arc Poetry Magazine #77. Thanks much! This is actually the second review of Kronovet's chapbook, after Rebecca Anne Banks' review over at Subterranean Blue Poetry.

[CASE STUDY: WITH] with Jennifer Kronovet (above/ground, 2015) comes at mommy poems from a linguistics background to examine the language engine. It is communicative deep level in the way non-anecdotal poems excel. She relates we map mommy eats, mime eating, an unnatural speech to bridge to fluid speech. To endless but why? how to explain? "Why assumes because is an equal sign. Cause and effect. Before and after. Conservation of energy. No. The why that addresses me makes me in in because, a place where every answer has an equal but opposite error."

some author activity: Kronovet, Pirie, Reid, mclennan, beaulieu + dueck,

Jennifer Kronovet has a new poem posted as part of the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog; Pearl Pirie is interviewed over at All Lit Up, and recommends, among others, recent titles by Monty Reid and rob mclennan; derek beaulieu has some new visual work up at The Account; there's an interview with Pearl Pirie over at Susan Gillis' Concrete and River; and nathan dueck is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey.

Rebecca Anne Banks reviews Jennifer Kronovet's Case Study: With (2015)

Rebecca Anne Banks was good enough to review Jennifer Kronovet's Case Study: With (2015) over at Subterranean Blue Poetry. Thanks, Rebecca! See the original review here.

Byline: Subterranean Blue Poetry
Title of Book: Case Study: With
Author: Jennifer Kronovet
Publisher: above/ground press
Date of Publication: 2015
Page Count: 24

“I was hit hard by the light so bright it burned
And all at once I knew she’d understand . . . “
- from Boy Inside the Man by Tom Cochrane

Case Study: With by Jennifer Kronovet is a brilliant turn on narrative discourse poetry. Poet Kronovet is published extensively in journals, including Aufgabe, Bomb, Review, Fence, Boston Review amongst others. She translates poetry and has taught at Washington University, Missouri; Columbia University and Beijing Normal University. She is also the Co-Editor of CIRCUMFERENCE: The Journal of Poetry in Translation and has published a book of poetry, Awayward (BOA Eitions, 2009).

This poetry exists in the realm of magic. The narrative poetry is enigmatic, with a certain Zen of understanding that weaves the esoteric with reality. The poetry is centered around “the boy”, as if the Poet is raising a young male child and this is her experience of her son from her view inside the world of culture.

“With the Boy, with Myself

He has thoughts he doesn’t think about. Birds might wake him, but they don’t. My thoughts feel like speech – how one animal makes nature – until I speak to him. We use words like a tree uses light: there is a process we don’t see but do.

A kid I don’t know hits another I don’t know. I say stop stop to myself. Speech will keep happening against me. The boy will wake to cry.”

“What the Boy Who Wants to See His Heart

He says the moon comes with us when we drive at night. He says in front of the trees behind the trees in front of the trees behind the trees. He says I have eyes. He says goodbye fish. He says the moon comes with us. The heart is a rumor inside your heart. He says a rumor is a man wearing a mask.”

The feminine mystique of wholeness and creationist mythologies are celebrated. At the essence, this poetry captures the grace of a lost world, a world of magic. The child is the catalyst for the magic of new beginnings, a life being introduced to the “machine.” As if all the hopes and dreams of possibility collide with the Poet’s understandings of the world.

“With the Boy, Inside the Museum

A painting of horses charging in a war. The war is subtle but the horses aren’t. Nouns, for the boy, live in the sounds nouns make. We don’t hear the horses, but the boy makes us. Our war is silent as horseflesh armoring distance. The boy’s future war makes a sound. We imitate that sound by accident.”

Case Study: With, is also protest poetry, perhaps a reflection of the violence of the N.A. war economy. “The fence that became incorporated into the bark. It’s resilient as I bash it against the stones. It fits us to the rules that rule what can fit as we rule them.” And, “The why that addresses me makes me live in because, a place where every answer has an equal but opposite error.”

Ms. Kronovet is a gifted Poet, with a new, forthcoming narrative style, a progression from the Postmodernist School. Such a brilliant poetry read for a Summer afternoon, Case Study: With by Jennifer Kronovet.

new from above/ground press: CASE STUDY: WITH, Jennifer Kronovet

CASE STUDY: WITH
Jennifer Kronovet
$4

With the Boy, System

The boy: my little organ made to cause feeling, like a nerve mated with a liver processing me to make feeling come back. I thought there would be more thought involved. Rather, I am the director of making time between things happening. After a meal and before learning to talk are the sounds of birds. I notice them, and he notices himself pointing.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
February 2015
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

cover image: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913)

Jennifer Kronovet is the author of the poetry collection Awayward. She co-translated The Acrobat, the selected poems of Yiddish writer Celia Dropkin. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in A Public Space, Aufgabe, Best Experimental Writing 2014 (Omnidawn), Bomb, Boston Review, Fence, the PEN Poetry Series, Privacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics (Black Ocean), and elsewhere. She has taught at Beijing Normal University, Columbia University, and Washington University in St. Louis. A native New Yorker, she currently lives in Guangzhou, China.

See her recent 12 or 20 questions interview here.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

Best American Experimental Writing 2014 : Armantrout, Greenstreet, Kronovet, Maguire, Reed + Robinson,

The first edition of the annual Best American Experimental Writing, guest edited by Cole Swensen, is now available from Omnidawn Publishing! It includes work by seventy-nine different contributors, including above/ground press authors Rae Armantrout, Kate Greenstreet, Jennifer Kronovet, Shannon Maguire, Marthe Reed and Elizabeth Robinson. Congrats to all!

"poem" broadside #330 : "Semantic Analysis: Ways" by Jennifer Kronovet

I

                                      alley     highway     path    street     trail      road

[way]                               +             +             +          +          +         +

[backs of buildings]         +              -            +/-         -           -           -

[government]                   -              +            +/-       +/-       +/-     +/-

[intersections]                 +/-           -              -           +          -         +/-

[wilderness]                      -            +/-          +/-         -          +        +/-

[made for cars]                +/-          +             -           +          -          +

[way]=the features these terms share: strips of land, width shorter than length, which one can travel upon.

II

English doesn’t like two words to mean the exact same thing. They become magnetized. Slowly repel each other across sentences in separate rooms in separate towns in the same tongue in different mouths. Then, they warp and alter—a fish growing to the size of its bowl. A fish changing sex when the local males have left. My path, my street, my road, my alley. I own nothing, and yet I own these sentences as traffic in my mind. They own themselves as separate via words’ talent for singularity. For being multiple as roads, alleys, highways, paths, streets, trails. This is how the language owns us: by being specific and general enough to trick us into choosing a way.

Semantic Analysis: Ways
by Jennifer Kronovet
above/ground press broadside #330

Jennifer Kronovet is the author of the poetry collection Awayward. She co-translated The Acrobat, the selected poems of Yiddish writer Celia Dropkin. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in A Public Space, Aufgabe, Best Experimental Writing 2014 (Omnidawn), Bomb, Boston Review, Fence, the PEN Poetry Series, Privacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics (Black Ocean), and elsewhere. She has taught at Beijing Normal University, Columbia University, and Washington University in St. Louis. A native New Yorker, she currently lives in Guangzhou, China.