some author activity: Robinson, Shea, Trivedi, Hyland, Greenstreet, Nilson, Gray, Iijima, Young + Martin,

Elizabeth Robinson, Michael Martin Shea, Amish Trivedi, MC Hyland, Kate Greenstreet and others all have new work in TYPO 34; Geoffrey Nilson, Stephanie Gray (a poem for Brenda Iijima) and Geoffrey Young each have new poems up at the Chaudiere Books blog as part of National Poetry Month; and Camille Martin has been working on a number of collages lately, over at her blog.

The Poetics of Space: Spotlight on the Super 8 Films of Steph Gray, Curated by Milada Kovacova

The Poetics of Space: Spotlight on the Super 8 Films of Steph Gray, Curated by Milada Kovacova

Available Everywhere Online and On-demand
August 5th to August 11th at the8fest.com

*Tune in for the live Artist Talk with Steph Gray in conversation with Milada Kováčová on Thursday August 11th at 7PM EDT! ASL and live closed captioning will be available.*

“Steph’s movies’ DIY spirit takes me back to the excitement of the 2000s when Will Munro and company were rocking Toronto. DIY was at its finest. Steph makes me lament what no longer is but what is so important to experience.” —Milada Kováčová

Steph Gray's Super 8 films have screened internationally, and in Canada, with screenings at Antimatter, Inside Out, CSIF $100 Film Fest, Cinemuerte and live performed at the8fest and Splice This! Usually edited-in-camera and sometimes hand-processed, Gray’s films are accompanied by live reading or experimental sound, while exploring the city symphonically or digging in the depths of pop culture and contemplating “what you thought you knew / what you knew you thought”. Gray’s last two poetry publications are on Ottawa-based above/ground press, including Words Are What You Get / You Do It For Real.

More details to come at the8fest.com

new from above/ground press: Words Are What You Get / You Do It For Real, poems and prose poems, by Stephanie Gray

Words Are What You Get / You Do It For Real
poems and prose poems
Stephanie Gray
$5

“I couldn’t think of what to say / words just vanished in a haze”  … Thompson Twins

Words are what you get

That’s what you get for wanting time to stand still. It’s like the mafia – even if you’re out, you’re in. They don’t do nothing. We are in the red every single month. There is a muscle memory to it. Don’t you remember? It’s when your mind breaks but your muscles don’t. Even if they’re sore you don’t notice like when the sky is sort of blue and sort of white, now that you look at it, but you’re not. You’re just noticing. And just noticing is not the same as knowing. And just knowing is not the same as feeling. And just feeling is not the same as realizing. And just realizing is not the same as understanding. And just understanding is not the same as really getting it. And just really getting it is not the same as living it. And just living it is not the same as having been through it. And just having been through it is not the same as you were there. And just that you were there doesn’t mean you really were. And just thinking you were really there doesn’t mean we think of you any differently. And because we don’t think of you any differently, you don’t matter. And because you don’t matter, we don’t listen to you. And because we don’t listen to you, you are annoyed. And because you are annoyed, you ignore us. And because you ignore us, we disappear.

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

Stephanie Gray is Stephanie Gray is the author of five poetry collections including two books, Shorthand and Electric Language Stars (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2015) and Heart Stoner Bingo (Straw Gate Books, 2007), and four chapbooks including A Country Road Going Back in Your Direction (Argos Books, 2015); Place Your Orders Now! (Belladonna, 2014) and I Thought You Said It Was Sound /How Does That Sound? (PPYYL, 2012). Her poetry publications include Brooklyn Rail, Boog City, EOAGH, The Recluse, and she often reads poetic texts live with her films, performing at the Poetry Project and Segue series, among others. Her critical work on poetics has been published in Jacket2, Reconstruction, Futurepost, and Coldfront. Her super 8 films have screened internationally at fests such as Oberhausen, Viennale and venues such as San Francisco Cinematheque, Microscope Gallery, and a retrospective at Anthology Film Archives.

This is Gray's second above/ground press title, after Go Under The Surface (2018).

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: Gray, Gurton-Wachter, Saklikar, Townsend + Beaulieu,

Stephanie Gray is featured in rob mclennan's Spotlight series over at Medium; Anna Gurton-Wachter has a poem online in the newly-posted archive of the 1981 Feminist Reading Group; Renée Sarojini Saklikar is interviewed for the blog of the Federation of BC Writers; Jamie Townsend has a new poem up at Sink Review; and Derek Beaulieu writes on the best gift he ever received.

new from above/ground press: Go Under The Surface, by Stephanie Gray

Go Under The Surface
Stephanie Gray
$5

Under which surface

As of now, I can’t confirm that, and I have no reason to. Which confirmation was in? Which out was confirmed? Whose Catholic confirmation was destroyed by the band? Who confirmed that Catholicism as cultural? Whose cultural was it? What confirmations did the city reveal? What part of the city confirmed? Who reasoned why not? Who reasoned why? Who did not reason? Who clarified the city’s confirmations? Whose confirmations were clarified? Who had no reasons? Whose reasons had none? What no were the confirms in?  Who knew that? Who confirmed the circuitry? Whose street hadn’t been confirmed to be plowed? What plow was confirmed? Who confirmed the plows? Which san men confirmed the snow? What snow confirmed the san man? Who said they have no reasons? Who said they have no confirmations? What city said we failed? What failure equaled what city? Who confirmed the lonely girl in South Detroit? Who confirmed the midnight train?  Who asked if you were talking to me?  Who said the fall out, I don’t know what it will be? Whose surface went under? What surface went where? Whose surface was which? Who confirmed the surface? Tell me again, under what surface.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
March 2018
celebrating twenty-five years of above/ground press
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Produced, in part, for the author’s appearance at the 2018 AWP Conference and Bookfair, Tampa FL, March 7-10, 2018.

In Under the Surface, Stephanie Gray's newest chapbook, the author plays (tears apart? dissects? deconstructs? sic) with the seemingly innocuous phrase "under the surface". In her poetic exploration of this phrase and others, Gray opens up what we think we see and know. Everyday occurrences sift through the minutiae of those momentary philosophical thoughts we have while gliding through our days. What makes us so sure we know what we know? Mostly in prose poems, the works incur a sort of internal rhythm that marches through the density, like the best air-conditioners when you are tired of the noise, but when you hear it long enough, you start to hear the music in the fuzz, despite your best efforts to shut it off.

Poet-filmmaker Stephanie Gray’s most recent book and chapbook are Shorthand and Electric Language Stars (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2015) and A Country Road Going Back in Your Direction (Argos Books, 2015). Her super 8 films and screened internationally. Recent flash fictionwork is in the May 2017 issue of the Brooklyn Rail.  Work also appeared in the anthology How Lovely the Ruins (Spiegel & Grau) in October 2017.

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

some author activity: Dolman, Flemmer, Iijima + Gray,

Anita Dolman has a new essay up at my (small press) writing day; Kyle Flemmer is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; he also takes over from Nikki Sheppy as Managing Editor of filling Station magazine this April; Brenda Iijima and Wendy Burk have a conversation over at Entropy; and forthcoming above/ground press author, the Brooklyn poet and filmmaker Stephanie Gray, has a poem up in the "Tuesday poem" series over at the dusie blog.