some author activity: Greenstreet, Price, beaulieu + lopes,

Kate Greenstreet has some new work up at Delirious Hem; Katie L. Price is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey; derek beaulieu is interview by Finn Harvor at his "Conversations in the Book Trade" blog; and damian lopes is part of a "how to get published" workshop in Barrie, Ontario, alongside Alana Wilcox and Bruce Meyer, on May 18, 2016.

Jeff Low reviews damian lopes' Yasser Arafat is Dead (2015) in Broken Pencil #70

Jeff Low was good enough to provide the first review of damian lopes' Yasser Arafat is Dead (2015) in Broken Pencil #70 (with the review itself online here). Thanks so much!

Yasser Arafat is Dead is a poetry chapbook published by the notable Ottawa press, above/ground, and it features the work of Damian Lopes, Barrie’s own Poet Laureate. It’s the first chapbook he’s published in 15 years and, understandably, there’s a lot of ground covered here: lost relationships, cultural heritage, bloodlines and borders. In terms of physical composition, there aren’t any frills. It’s simple, but clean looking: 16 poems printed on regular white paper, except for a page of blue for the title and back copyright pages. And save for the concrete poem on the front cover, there aren’t any illustrations. It’s a purist poetry chapbook, more or less. But in terms of convention, the poetry itself isn’t quite so pure. The first poem, “converse” is a 4-stanza, 21-line poem full of dense wordplay, stark imagery and enjambed thoughts: “clipped / consonants separated / by bakelite tie / tongues as teens / bash teeth”. The poem explores linear constructions of meaning and how those meanings are so often interrupted, undercut along a trajectory of complicated premises: everyday conversation, coming-of-age personal development, the written word in general. It’s pretty dense stuff. To give context to Lopes’ writing, it seems this chapbook is dedicated (albeit, critically) to his father, Anthony D. Lopes, who passed away in 2014. The concrete poem on the cover has the title text, “yasser arafat is dead” arranged in portrait – not of the prominent Palestinian leader, but of the late Anthony Lopes. It’s an interesting comparison. The poem, “remembrance day” further ties the two figures together: their shared “concealing smile / paths of resistance / navigated elusively / manipulated hand”, though of course, “a people likewise do not / pick their sire”. The next poem, “the call” bridges this sense of global conflict with domestic reality: “we have not spoken / since my sister’s wedding / my nephew is four”. But relationships are not lost by chance: “you evade my concern / but the mitosis / is slow”. Separation, like liberation, is not an easy process. Despite its critical perspective, the poems throughout Yasser Arafat is Dead form an act of recognition; the chapbook picks up the pieces of a broken relationship, not to put them back together, but to place them along a line of identification, no matter how arbitrary that placement might be. If this collection is any indication (and I think it is), Lopes’ future work is sure to be similarly thoughtful and expressive.

some author activity: Earl, mclennan, McCann + lopes,

Amanda Earl has a new poem up at h&; rob mclennan has posted a new poem on his blog; Marcus McCann writes on Stan Persky for Plenitude magazine; and damian lopes is interviewed over at Touch the Donkey.

The Factory Reading Series: Leyton, lopes + Moody-Corbett, December 2, 2015

span-o (the small press action network - ottawa) presents:

The Factory Reading Series presents:

Katherine Leyton (Ottawa)
damian lopes (Barrie ON)
+ Rod Moody-Corbett (Calgary)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm
Raw Sugar Cafe
692 Somerset St W, Ottawa

Katherine Leyton [pictured] is a poet and non-fiction writer whose work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Hazlitt, The Malahat Review and Bitch. All the Gold Hurts My Mouth, her first collection of poetry, will be published by Goose Lane in March 2016. She was the inaugural Writer-in-Residence at the Al & Euirthe Purdy A-Frame in the summer of 2014. She recently moved to Ottawa from Toronto.

Currently the Poet Laureate for the City of Barrie, damian lopes is the author of several books of poetry and a former editor at Coach House Books. His most recent publication, yasser arafat is dead, is a poetry chapbook published by Ottawa’s above/ground press. In addition to poetry, damian continues to work on his first novel.

See the recent profile on him at Jacket2, as part of rob mclennan's 'commentaries': http://jacket2.org/commentary/damian-lopes-three-new-poems

Rod Moody-Corbett holds an MA in creative writing from the University of New Brunswick, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Calgary. His short story, “Parse,” was a finalist for the 2013 CBC Short Story Prize, and winner of that prize’s People’s Choice Award. His work has appeared in numerous Canadian journals, and he was recently named a finalist in The Paris Review’s “Windows On the World” contest. His work is forthcoming in The Calgary Renaissance (Ottawa: Chaudiere Books, 2016).

new from above/ground press: yasser arafat is dead, by damian lopes

yasser arafat is dead
damian lopes
$4

converse

        clipped
consonants separated
by bakelite tie
tongues as teens
bash teeth

copper lines trace
silent impulses
electronic thought where
synapses flounder on
concurrent waves
confounding
confluence of
  influences restrained

over the net
three times my height
i lob & circle
to return my service

conversion if not
conversation tried
     tired
concession genuflected

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

Produced, in part, as a handout at the NYC/CUNY Chapbook Festival, April 2, 2015 at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Much thanks to Sampson Starkweather his help and support. http://chapbookfestival.org/

damian lopes is the current Poet Laureate for the City of Barrie, a position he will hold until 2018. After fifteen years of quiet bordering on silence, he resumed publishing in earnest at the beginning of 2015. He is currently completing a new collection of poetry entitled away home and his first novel, The Mango Stone. Several other projects are in the works as well. In 2008 he became involved with the local arts community, and helped found the Barrie Arts and Culture Council. In his previous career, he published three print books – clay lamps & fighter kites (The Mercury Press), sensory deprivation / dream poetics (Coach House Books) and towards the quiet (ECW Press) – and two online poetry-multimedia works. He is the former proprietor of the micro press fingerprinting inkoperated. www.damianlopes.com

See recent profiles on lopes on Open Book: Ontario and Jacket2.

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