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A collection of poetic "orphans." Poems that had fallen by the wayside because they didn't seem to be anything that anyone would want to have around (hence the "orphan"). The poetry in this collection hopscotches around encompassing the years 1993 to 2016. It represents the forgotten poems from four previous collections: Fire and Rain (Volumes 1 & 2), E/OR and the expurgated version, Living Among the Mangled. Remarkably, many of the poems are still relevant to the concerns that many of us have today. . . perhaps proving that RD is a savvy visionary or (more likely) that the story doesn't change, only the characters do.
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ISBN 9780999778432
Poetry Collection
Speak the Language of the Land is the first of what will be an annual showcase of talented poets, presented by the Lummox Press in conjunction with The LUMMOX Poetry Anthology and the Angela Consolo Mankiewicz Poetry Prize (courtesy of the estate of Angela C. Mankiewicz and her husband, Richard Mankiewicz). The winners of this year's contest are: Jeffrey Alfier (Torrance, CA), 1st place; Mike Mahoney (Wallingford, PA), 2nd place; and Vachine (Los Angeles, CA), 3rd place. New to the contest are these Honorable Mentions: Donna Snyder (El Paso, TX); William Taylor, Jr. (San Francisco, CA); James Deahl (Canada); and April Bulmer (Canada). -
ISBN 9780999778401 52 pgs. Perfect Bound
By Gil Hagen Hill
The past haunts these highly allusive poems, rich with thoughtful, precise images that convey “numinous ambiguities,” as in the title poem. A Circle of Bones is a welcome addition to 21st-century American poetry. — Clifton Snider
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ISBN 9780998458083 CHAPBOOK - 58 pages
By Jeannine M. Pitas
These poems are my grateful response to those who dream. To my own ancestors and family members, without whom I would not be alive to write these words. To the many women who, despite terrible circumstances, have refused to be silenced. To all those people who acknowledge the truth that political borders are nothing but imaginary lines drawn on a map. To those who feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and comfort the afflicted. Thank you so much. Now, more than ever, this world is needful of your compassion and hope. — Jeannine Pitas
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ISBN 9781929878789 40 pages
By RD Armstrong
Thomas K. Armstrong, my father, died in early January 2015, in his sleep of a heart attack. He had suffered, over the past six years, from Vascular Dementia (the lesser-known half of senility, Alzheimer's being the more widely known form). A month before, in Dec. of 2014, I had been to see him. This chapbook contains poems and blogs about that visit and his subsequent death. People deal with the death of a parent in many ways: denial, anger, guilt, bargaining, transference...it goes on and on. Grief has no timetable either so it may take years for that loss to resolve itself (or it may never happen). In my case, I turned to a projection of my dad as a black rabbit. Some might call this transference or an animal fetish; I dunno. -
ISBN 978-0-998458076 108 pages, Trade Paperback
By Alex Johnston
For me, writing poetry is like solving, and then creating a puzzle. I see or experience things I know I want to write about, we all do. Figuring out a way to put those experiences on paper, so as to make them readable, is how one solves the puzzle. Avoiding straightforwardness and balancing on a knife edge, between enigmatic and readability, is how one creates the puzzle. I spent nearly three years revisiting, rewriting and re-getting pissed off at, The October Horse. I reference this poem so much because it is also almost entirely autobiographical (as is most of the book). I trudged through problems with addictions, like so many other 20 somethings, and I was maybe one or two bad decisions away from writing this book in prison (lucky me). The poem is so important to me because even when I was in the total animal soup of time (Ginsberg again!), I knew I wanted to write about that chapter of my life. — Alex Johnston
Read a sampling of poems from this book here. Read an interview with Alex Johnston here. -
ISBN 978-0-9984580-5-2 6 X 9; 120 pages; Trade Paper
By Bill Gainer
Bill Gainer’s world is not a safe place, not for the old men, not for him. It’s a place of mysterious things, happenings, people, and times. It’s a place where the mysteries of old men are told, not with guilt, but as they happened. The Mysterious Book of Old Man Poems tells of a time mostly past, not forgotten, but hidden away in the hearts of old men, its magic intact.
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By Mary McGinnis
LUMMOX PRESS IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNER OF THE 2017 LUMMOX POETRY CONTEST...Mary McGinnis of Santa Fe, New Mexico!! Her winning poem was "No Father".
As part of her prize, Mary received 30 copies of this chapbook. She also is featured in the 6th edition of the Lummox Poetry Anthology and receives a small cash prize. -
ISBN 978-0-9984580-3-8 FORMAT: 5.5 X 8.5 inches; Perfect Bound 36 pgs
By Linda Lerner and Donna Joy Kerness
Between 1692—93 twenty people were accused of being witches and executed in Salem Massachusetts. Nineteen were hanged on Gallows Hill, and one elderly man was pressed to death by heavy stones after he wouldn’t enter a plea. Several others died in jail.
My purpose in this collection is not to retell what happened, which is widely known, or to give an account of Arthur Miller’s powerful, play, The Crucible. Instead, I’ve chosen to use his technique and blend characters together with people we know living among us.
What is going on now in this country makes it especially poignant for me, but to restrict it to that, is also too limiting. I see the situation as something ongoing, barely noticeable, until an accumulation of incidents makes it impossible to ignore, its darkness sweeps down on us, and we have no choice but to rise up and confront it.
400 years is next door, across the street, the place where you live and work; it is the distance between one neighbor and another. The village was called Salem then. Its villagers walk among us; they act like us. We do not recognize them. We prefer not to. — from Linda Lerner's introduction
Watch Linda read from this book here. -
ISBN 9780998458007 30 Pages
By Ron Lucas
"I have been writing all my life. As a child in rural KY, I wrote long, highly derivative, doubtlessly horrible novels and intuitively mailed them to the only address I knew: my hillbilly transplant grandparents in Indiana. As an adult, I've been publishing poetry in the small presses for decades. I also suffer from anxiety and depression... when the "Great Recession" hit, I lost my car, my job, my place, and... my mind. I became so deeply depressed I even stopped writing for the first time ever. Several years later, when I started again, I found myself writing about my childhood; a topic I'd virtually never covered. And I found it very cathartic. This book grew, rather organically, out of that. I chose the title and cover because that old architectural oddity of a market is such a powerfully evocative symbol of that time and place for me." — Ron Lucas -
By Rob Plath and Janne Karlsson
Text by Rob Plath and illustrations by Swedish artist, Janne Karlsson, seems like the work of two cadavers who refused to be dead and so they kicked their way out of their morgue drawers, beat the shit out of the grim reaper, danced on his bones, and then proceeded to scrawl poems and drawings on the cold, silent walls before escaping into the night. Don’t miss this chilling and humorous book filled with the mad graffiti of these two mortal bastards.
For samples go here. Read a review here or this other review -
ISBN 9781929878635
By Georgia Santa Maria
CONGRATULATIONS TO GEORGIA SANTA MARIA - RECIPIENT of the 3rd LUMMOX POETRY PRIZE...This book is part of the prize.
I was introduced to dowsing by a neighbor in the 1970’s in Miami, New Mexico. It is the ancient art of finding water underground by using two sticks, either green twigs or pieces of wire. In the book, I introduce him in the poem “Dowser”. I watched him use both green elm and unbent coat-hangars. He held them out straight in front of him, and when he was over water, the sticks crossed and bent downward. A person with this skill is called a “water-witch”. My friend had “dowsed” most of the wells in our community over his seventy odd years of living there. He taught me to do it as well, and I can’t explain it, but the sticks turned in my hands spontaneously over the same places they did for him, and I could feel the tug. — Georgia Santa Maria
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ISBN 9781929878550
By Judith R. Robinson
ABOUT THIS BOOKWhile "Carousel," contains new material, it is also the culmination of many years of work and publication. I am grateful to my publisher, Lummox Press, and its editor, RD Armstrong, for an opportunity to share this writing with an expanded audience. For me, reading and writing are the two sides of world-exploration. Poems and stories, at their best, are at once personal and universal, and as necessary to a fully realized life as food and drink---and more, a human pleasure. My hope is that this book will bring some measure of that to readers. — Judith R. Robinson "Judith Robinson is a poet of image and motion. She composes poems like songs with clarity and vision, trimmed with memory. She’ll take you along on the road she’s traveling, and it’s the least dangerous place you’ll ever be—filled with flowers and colors—sometimes sadness—but even that will endear – as she holds her mirror up to the world." — Grace Cavalieri, “The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress” Read some selections from Carousel.
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By Ann Curran
The poems in Ann Curran’s Knitting the Andy Warhol Bridge flash with a quiet brilliance. An adroit wordsmith, Curran turns clever on its head; her poems can become deadly at the least provocation, not to mention funny, dark, illuminating, and often, heartbreakingly sad. Her poems celebrate life in all its sullied glory. No subject escapes her critical gaze: weddings, sports stadiums, parolees sharing a moment, adoption, racism, war, rumors, love, death. Even the penis is fair game for her wit. These poems sparkle with specifics; they dig deep, nudge the reader toward tolerance. “The New Pastor” “urges the faithful/ to open their hearts to different people: the food co-op kid with rings in his nose,/ lips and eyebrows, the Latino next door,/ college students with raucous beer parties,/ even the half-black U.S. president./ Put down the iPod, the Wi-Fi-fed notebook. / See the live people. …Deal with the real.” This timely, remarkable collection deals with the real in a profound and brand new way. It is a considerable achievement and a terrific read. — Alexis Rhone Fancher, poetry editor of Cultural Weekly, author of State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies, and How I Lost My Virginity to Michael Cohen and other Heart Stab Poems
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ISBN 978-1-929878-53-6 162 pages, 6 X 9 inches, Trade Paper
By Alan Catlin
“Let’s ride the angels goodbye.” —Jack Micheline
Just before the bar war to end all bar wars, the girl with an unbreakable heart leaned over the bar, ripped the buttons off her shirt and said, “I don’t need no ink or silicone to prove I’m a 100% Grade A American Babe.” The way she said it seemed more like a statement of fact than an offer or a dare: regardless, no one was inclined to disagree. So the barman was thinking, momentarily distracted before the overhead rail lights were pulled down, long neck Buds hit the back bar bottles and wall to wall chaos ensued: a flash flood of violence taking out everything in its way. If this were an indie movie all these bodies in motion would be slowed to half speed, made into a grotesque ballet, a techno Rave with flickering lights momentarily revealing distorted faces, flexing muscles, a strange, almost beautiful, mise en scene only a 911 call could interrupt, could make complete, with police whistles, drawn truncheons, and Taser light shows; but it wasn’t a movie, only something like real life. Hours after, the blood dries on the hardwood floors, the click of the muted jukebox cycling most played songs, priming the invisible crowds, and an almost suffocating rush of forced wet air as the lifeless night turns into day. The last man standing behind the bar sips his bottomless pint, and cut glass shots, through a short straw, dulled pains slowly ebbing into an alcoholic daze. — Alan Catlin -
ISBN 9781929878611 36 pages
By Joris Soeding
In Between the Places Where Night Falls unveils the first years of a relationship. These free verse poems journey through rural Michigan and the Pacific Northwest, eventually leading to the urban backdrops of Chicago, Dubuque, London, Sarasota, and Vancouver. Beauty and grit revolve around two people through a unique voice. — Joris Soeding
Something Like Paris
the doe teeters from Rosehill Cemetery crossing Ravenswood Avenue seeming lost on Mother’s Day, 8:15 a.m. even fog and rain in the corner this scene from a movie except for the city as backdrop you’re asleep in 14E perhaps we’re above Roswell the sky a bit too blue babies silent since take-off the gentleman in 8F with a mustache, sunglasses atop his head, and blue shirt seems distracted, sore, or both the attendant hilarious flight 1156 to Las Vegas shifts for the first time and you awaken, fearful -
ISBN 978-1-929878-60-4 150 pages, 6 X 9 inches, Trade Paper
By James Deahl
Here is the definitive book of prose-poems, destined to be a classic of the genre on every reference shelf. A new adventure in the evolving presentation of Canadian poetry, a welcome innovation of compact vision, allowing many threads of existence to wind together on a brief, powerful page. The lyricism, the heart-tug of common human experience, is strongly present, just as the emotional highs we have come to expect of great poetry. James Deahl’s prose-poem form allows the freedom of disparate experiences to be gathered with meaningful connection into the paragraphs poetically linked. The form is not limited to a single insight, but has the sweeping vibrancy to allow geography, time, season, and circumstance to flow together, like a stony riverbed, ever changing, ever the same, as we imprint personal events onto the backdrop. A story unfolds and surprises inside each prose-poem here, enhanced by natural setting, a history straddling the tides of our memories and experiences in cities and towns that have watchfully witnessed our arrivals and departures. Unbroken Lines heralds a welcome new experience in poetic expression, leaves you hungry for more. The introductory poem, “Damp Stones,” encapsulates the hammer power of compact lines, shadowing myth, beauty, fear, desire, old yearnings caught in knots of the woods in all our subconscious minds. Deahl’s poem “The Meadow” expresses these revelations searingly: “only the realm of indestructible forms remains, a realm outside the tarnished world of matter, like a meadow of endless spring living in the imagination of a child.”
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WINNER OF THE SECOND LUMMOX POETRY PRIZE
ISBN 9781929878666 46 pages, 6 X 9 paperbackBy H. Marie Aragon
H. Marie Aragon of Santa Fe, New Mexico has won the 2015 Lummox Poetry Prize with her poem The Dark and Light Side of the Moon. The prize consists of a cash award of $250 and forty copies of a chapbook created by Lummox Press for the author. When Desert Willows Speak is the chapbook. It's 46 pages long and can be ordered from Lummox Press (see the ordering information below). Read a sample from the chapbook here. We hope you will enjoy it. -
ISBN 9781929878703 Perfect Bound 5.5 X 8.5
By Tim Peeler
The ghost town of Henry River is located in the southeast corner of Burke County in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. Built at the turn of the 20th Century, the village, as it is often called now, has been mostly deserted since the 1970’s when, soon after a change in ownership, the mill burned. The brick company store still stands along with twenty or so haggard rent houses that line State Road 1002 as it meanders uphill toward Interstate 40, a little over a mile away. In 2011, a film company chose Henry River as the location for the protagonist’s childhood home in the first Hunger Games movie. Interest in the site sky rocketed. Individuals and tour groups made the location a destination. What had been a popular spot for photographers and those with an interest in local and regional history now became a part of pop culture. The poems in this volume reflect on the historical Henry River with some reference to the intrusive forces of the film industry. Some are responses to photographs; others are based on stories that Henry River natives have shared with me, while some are sheer flights of fancy. All of them, however, share an empathy and reverence for those who lived and worked in Henry River. (continued below).
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252 pages Trade Paper 6 X 9 ISBN 978-1-929878-68-0
By Joseph Gardner
This book of poems was written for people who normally wouldn’t read poetry. Through these stories you are taken on a forty year journey that began during the height of the cold war and carries onto the new millennium; from one side of the country to the other. Nothing is hidden in these words, all the veneer is stripped away to show the beautiful vulgarity that is life and humanity. These poems read like the pink slip the foreman just handed you or the three day pay or quit notice tacked to the door of the apartment. It is the beeping of the repo-truck and the sudden surprise of the electricity being turned off. It is the first kiss, the first fight, and the first divorce. — Timothy Spencer Poems like “Paying Rent,” In the Shadow of the Bomb,” and “Bar Fighting with Mullets,” demonstrate both his matter of fact ethic and his combination of humor and pathos. Gardner can use the same 16-line poem to make you laugh and make you pause for a moment. The geography of Gardner’s imagination is the California of Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, Bukowski and Tom Waits. Family memories are recounted and childhood heroes populate the poems. The vocabulary is everyday life and Gardner’s objective is to show you the world through his eyes. — Mike “The Poet” Sonksen
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ISBN 9781929878079 302 pages 8.5 x 8.5 inches; Perfect Bound
By Ryan Guth
When the deaths of her ex-convict father and pedophile grandfather trigger a flood of repressed sex-abuse memories from her childhood, divorcee Cassandra Hart descends into alcoholism and destructive sexual relationships, until repeated DUI convictions finally land her in a court-ordered treatment facility. There she begins – reluctantly at first – the hard work of physical and psychological recovery. As she learns to trust her own spiritual inclinations and her capacity for self-reinvention, she is ultimately able to reclaim her life and achieve a long-delayed moral victory over her abusers. Within this narrative framework of verse, prose, and other hybrid forms, author Ryan Guth has interspersed other lyrics exploring the quintessentially southwestern mix of Hispanic, Anglo and Pueblo lore which informs Cassandra’s personal theology and sense of self.Featured Title at the 2015 Southern Festival of Books
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ISBN 978-1-929878-77-2 92 PAGES; 6 x 9; Trade Paper
By Lawrence Welsh and John Macker
I have waited a long time to publish these two poets. When I first broached the subject of publishing a collection of poetry by John Macker, I had no idea that it would also include the work of the gifted (and award winning) poet Lawrence Welsh. These two men, one from Santa Fe, New Mexico and one from El Paso, Texas, have been pivotal in creating a school of Southwestern Poetry which was inspired by the likes of Tony Scibella and Tony Moffeit. This is a solid, 50 poem collection. All stand alone poems, yet all linked to each other as if pointing out the intrinsic influence of both the people's and landscape that unites these two poets. New Mexico is aptly named "the land of enchantment" and it has served as a backdrop for this fantastic page turner! You won't be disappointed!"In this collaboration, you'll find two completely different ways to put words on the page. I was Larry's idea to join forces, so to speak, to present differing styles right next to each other, up close and personal, to communicate not just a vision, but an assemblage of visions. We realize that part of our job description is to, as Lorca explained, break open the pomegranite (the English language translation for Lorca's beloved Granada), and discover 'the blood of the wounded earth.' Its passions and mysteries." — from the Introduction by John Macker.
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ISBN 978-1-929878-75-8 60 pgs; 5.5 X 8.5 inches
By John Sweet
John Sweet of Endicott, New York is the winner of the first Lummox Poetry Prize - 2014. His poem, Hoarfrost Soliloquy, caught the eye of Judge RD Armstrong (while sifting through entries for LUMMOX 3 - A Poetry Anthology. Lummox Press congratulates John and the second and third place winners, William Taylor, Jr and Cristina Foskey, for their excellent writing skills. John received 50 copies of this chapbook as part of the prize. He also received a cash award of $200. For a closer look at The Century of Dreaming Monsters go to ISSUU -
ISBN 9781929878581 132 Pages, 7.5 X 9.25 inches, Trade Paper
By Ariana D. Den Bleyker
Bipolar Disorder is a homegrown tornado, a swarm of insects buzzing in your ear, a picture of an eye that winks back at you. Discover it in a way you never have before. Discover prosthesis. Discover in prosthesis mental illness, the human mind, human hope and fear, love and hate, dream and defeat. It is a place of struggle, planning and realization, willing and creating. Walk a journey unlike any other, meeting fellow travelers, obstacles and unexpected turns, a labyrinth of recovery that seems to suspend time and invite you to embody the experience of mental illness in completely new way. "Throughout prosthesis, the wisdom within this small community is remarkable and generously given. Den Bleyker has a beautiful way with words and the book is made strong through the use of metaphor….This is a book that people with bipolar disorder, and those who love them, can both learn from and take solace in. No one, not even a person in a place of darkest suffering, is utterly alone." —Leslie McGrath, author of By The Windpipe and Out From the Pleiadas Ariana D. Den Bleyker is a Pittsburgh native currently residing in Upstate New York, a wife and mother of two. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her family and every once in a while sleeps. She is the author of several poetry chapbooks and collections and the novelette Finger : Knuckle : Palm (LucidPlay Publishing, 2014). Ariana is the founder of ELJ Publications, a small press featuring a number of serials, series and contests, including Emerge Literary Journal and scissors & spackle. Ariana believes in words, what they have to say to the world, to the reader, to you. She hopes her words touch you and thanks you for your interest in prosthesis. Read from a sample of Prosthesis -
ISBN 978-1-929878-57-4 8.25 X 8.25; Perfect Bound
Poetry Collection
Edited by Judith Robinson and Michael WursterPittsburgh Poetry Exchange was founded in 1974 by five of us—Dieter Weslowski, Lloyd Johnson, Vic Coccimiglio, J. W. Jansen, and myself—as a voluntary association of local poets. Its purpose was to provide services to local poets, especially those outside the “university loop.” We offered workshops, produced readings and events,and created a network for information. The core component of PPE has probably always been the open poetry workshop held the first Monday of each month. Initially, it was conducted at Lion Walk Performing Arts Center. Over the years, as circumstances changed, we occupied a number of venues, including The Famous Rider Cultural Center, a conference room in the Joyce Building, and City Books. Since 2011, we have been comfortably ensconced at the Brentwood Public Library. Despite the fact that workshop members represent varying degrees of poetic expertise, we operate as equals. It’s a great place for poets from novice to master to get helpful comments and feedback on their work. In the last 40 years, dozens (hundreds?) of poets have passed through the workshop. Among those who became nationally known would be Joan E. Bauer, Mike James, Joseph Karasek, Joy Katz, and Arlene Weiner. An open workshop necessarily produces poems ranging from great to awful, but there has developed an agreement that the general level of poems has never been higher than now. This was acknowledged by Gene Hirsch a few months ago when he suggested we should publish an anthology. This, dear reader, is what you hold in your hands. Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange Brentwood is not a historical anthology, but a collection of poems from the workshop now, its current members. We hope you enjoy it as much as Judy Robinson and I enjoyed putting it together. —Michael Wurster (from the forward)
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210 pages; 6X9 size; Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-929878-96-3
By RD Armstrong
Volume one of a two-part set featuring selected poems from 1993 to 2007, including some of RD's 'signature' poems, like "Eyes Like Mingus", "Pueblo de las Putas" and "Corazon". These are poems you might hear him read at one of his many features in the Small Press poetry scene. All the poems in this two volume set were hand picked by RD as his personal favorites. -
156 pages; 6X9 size; Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-929878-97-0
By RD Armstrong
Volume two of a two-part set featuring selected poems from 1993 to 2007, including some of RD's 'signature' poems, like "Yardbird Burned", "Sanitized for Your Protection" and "Things I Notice 4". These are poems you might hear him read at one of his many features in the Small Press poetry scene. All the poems in this two volume set were hand picked by RD as his personal favorites. -
116 pages; 6X9 sized Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-929878-99-4
By RD Armstrong
Three poems written about road trips...the lure of the road, the frantic pace of mile upon mile, hour upon hour, the mad rush of the journey between Point A and Point B. Contained in this volume: A Journey Up the Coast; On/Off the Beaten Path; and RoadKill (RD's epic about a 3,000 mile romp undertaken right before Sept. 11, 2001; a 10,000 plus word monster). Ride shotgun with RD as he muses about poets, poetry, friendships forged on hot asphalt and things observed from inside the cockpit of a car hurtling down the interstate at 65 + MPH. -
120 pages; 6X9 sized Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-929878-98-7
By RD Armstrong
The stories in this slim volume, reflect the influence of Charles Bukowski, whom RD has read extensively. But as was noted by one of his fans, this collection of short stories "Out Bukowski's Bukowski!" These are tales of extraordinary madness. And while they might appear to be autobiographical, they are not, well not really. RD plays pretty fast and loose with the "facts". Better than a cold shower. — Andrea Kowalski
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189 pages; 6X9 sized Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-929878-30-7
By RD Armstrong
Near the end of 2008, RD wound up in an L. A. County hospital for 14 days. He nearly lost his right foot to an infection. It was during that time that he was diagnosed with Diabetes. It was a sobering experience (literally!). This collection of poetry and blog entries describes that time period, from the beginning of 2008 (the drunkard's lifestyle) to the end of 2010 (reformed and living right). It includes everything he wrote about that time...the good, the bad and the horribly ugly! A rough-and-tumble look at health-care for the poor and drunken and the questionable coping methods used to get by. -
132 pages: 6X9 sized Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-929878-90-1
By RD Armstrong
This is the leaner, meaner fighting weight version of E/OR. All the beautiful pieces with none of the fat. -
Edited by RD Armstrong 150 pages; 6X9 sized Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-929878-86-4 This is the reprised version, new and improved, and ready to take up the banner dropped by the old man so many years ago (we just celebrated Buk's 93rd birthday in Aug. of 2013). If you ever wondered what Bukowski spawned by his example, then you need to read this book, which contains poetry, fiction, essays and artwork all inspired by the old dog!
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Edited by RD Armstrong 178 pages; 6X9 sized Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-929878-93-2
By Todd Moore
This anthology deals with the passing of Small Press legend and Lummox Press favorite, Todd Moore, who passed away suddenly in March of 2010. Todd was a prolific poet who choose the gangster John Dillinger as his poetic persona. Many of Todd's pals are included in this volume which features poetry and essays about the Co-Founder of the Outlaw School of Poetry. There's also a near-complete bibliography of Todd's books, chapbooks and recordings included. Due to some bureaucratic BS, there is no poetry by Todd Moore in this book. But there are other books and chapbooks published by Lummox Press, most notably, The Riddle of the Wooden Gun which came out in 2009. That book concerns Dillinger's "mythic" escape from the Crown Point Jail in 1933, supposed using a gun that was carved out of wood... -
ISBN 9781929878543 180 pgs.
By Scott Wannberg
Edited by RD Armstrong Scott Wannberg was born in Santa Monica in February of 1953. A big man with an even bigger presence, he attended Venice High School and then went on to receive his master’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University. He was a poet’s poet and a human’s human who spent his life working as a sales clerk and book buyer for independent bookstores, most notably Dutton’s Books in Brentwood, where he held court and worked the stacks for almost 25 years. His book Nomads of Oblivion (Lummox Press) made the Los Angeles Times' bestseller list in 2000, and in the late 90s, Los Angeles Magazine named him one of the “Top 100 Coolest People” in L.A. In 2008, he relocated to Florence, Oregon, where he died too soon at the age of 58 in August of 2011.Special thanks to S.A. Griffin for Scott's bio (above) and other permissions and info.
This book concern's itself with Scott's involvement with an obscure outpost located in the far reaches of his sphere of influence...namely the Lummox Press. It chronicles Scott's involvement with all things Lummox: the Lummox Journal, including his interview; the two Little Red Books of his poetry (Equal Opportunity Sledgehammer and Nomads of Oblivion), and his contributions to Eyes Like Mingus (Little Red Book #9), Last Call (Anthology of poets influenced by Bukowski), and The Colorado River Song sequence (about Scott's mother's passing). Scott was named "Lummox of the Year" in 1999 and a drawing was commissioned to artist and long-time Lummox friend Michael Paul. This same drawing appears on the cover of the book. He was actively a part of Lummox for 10 years. Also included are remembrances by several of his friends...Doug Knott, Lynn Bronstein, Steve Goldman, Dona Mary Dirlam, Hank Beukema and Victor Infante. Scott was the kind of guy who made a good impression on those receptive to that sort of thing. He delighted in playing with language, linking metaphors together that quite often seemed unlikely and impossible but, in the end, worked out as if by magic! For a sampling of Scott's work, go here. Or listen to Scott read a poem here. To see other Scott related Merchandise, go here. A poem from the book as read by its author, Hank Beukema. -
ISBN 978-1929878642 152 pages
By James Deahl
I generally do not believe that books, especially poetry books, require an introduction. I make an exception here because there is a genuine break between the poetry I wrote from 1964 until 2007 and the poetry contained in this volume. My wife, Gilda Mekler, died on February 7, 2007. Four months later (on June 5th of that year) I wrote the firs poem collected here. When Gilda died very shortly after her fifty-third birthday, I thought I would also die. Readers will note that this feeling informs several of the poems that follow. A few months later, my grief entered its second phase. When it appeared that I was not going to die, I passionately wanted to die, I longed for my days of sorrow to end. Eventually, this led to a third and quite shocking phase of what might be called the death experience: the realization that I had, in fact, died with Gilda on February 7th. Our lives ended together. The Creator, however, had other plans for me, and the James Deahl who has written poetry and prose since that date, is a very different writer from the James Deahl who had written and published poetry for over four decades. I retain all the memories of that other poet, and I live in his body. And like him, I also labour in God’s vineyard, as Czesław Miłosz put it so well. Using the same name, I continue the work our Creator set out for us when that other writer was born following the close of World War II. But I truly have been born anew. So this collection opens with twenty-three poems written between June 5 and November 14, 2007. These were published as a limited edition chapbook by my friend and fellow poet, Allan Briesmaster, through his Aeolus House in 2008. This chapbook was my first writing since my death and rebirth. — From the Introduction by James Deahl, Sarnia, Ont. Canada, 2016
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112 pages; 6 X 9 Perfect Bound, Softcover ISBN 978-1-929878-50-5
By Rick Smith
Rick Smith's third book with Lummox Press represents a significant departure from his previous two titles, Hard Landing and The Wren Notebook. In those two books, Smith utilized the diminutive Wren as an archetypal character that represented both bird and human behavior. It was almost a spiritual journey at times...a wonder-filled travelogue with Wren. But things have taken a decidedly darker turn in this collection of poems...instead the wispy wren, fluttering around and having some feathery adventures, has been replaced by a mangy mutt prowling around the back alleys of a bad part of town looking to score some meth or chew on a leg...whichever comes first or seems the most interesting. While Whispering in a Mad Dog's Ear will surprise Smith fans with it's variety of subject matter; his mastery of the poem is still as strong and as true as it has ever been, in fact, in some cases his work is even stronger and more startling in its imagery and language. The only problem with this book is how he will top it in his next collection! Cover art by Llyn Foulkes, entitled Pop, 1985-1990 Layout design by Chris Yeseta -
ISBN 9781929878710 48 pages; 5.5 X 8.5 inches, Perfect Bound
Poetry Collection
In late September, 2013, Mike Adams died, a victim of Cancer. He was too young, only in his early sixties. I'd known him for four years, though he claimed we'd met back in '06 in Las Vegas, NM. I don't remember that, but I do remember hearing him on the Jane Crown Show in '09. I liked what I heard...it's not often that you can judge a man by his words alone, and the sound of his voice; these days especially. Mike struck me as being someone i could trust. Sadly, there haven't been too many people in the past twenty years that I could say that about. Unchainable Spirit is a tribute chapbook about Mike, filled with poems by some of his poetic best friends, all of whom are master poets themselves and all paying homage to their fallen friend. Their poems reflect the respect that Mike deserved; they don't stray into emotive, confessional poetry but speak to the heart of the matter including the devastation left in the wake of his passing. Here's who was involved in this project: RD Armstrong, Jared Smith, Phil Woods, Jerry Smaldone, Deborah Kelly, Padma Thornlyre, Judyth Hill, Linn G. Baker, Roseanna Frechette, John Macker, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Art Goodtimes, Claire Mearns, Stewart Warren, G. Murray Thomas, Lawrence Gladeview, Jim Bernath, James Taylor III and Mike Adams, whose presence in our lives, inspired this. Mike Adams was many things to many people. He was a skilled writer and poet, mountain climber, wonderful husband, Fire-Giggler, environmentalist, practicing Buddhist, teacher and most importantly, he was one helluva friend! This one's for you, Mike...RD Armstrong, Editor & Publisher Preview this chapbook on issuu.com -
By B. J. Buckley
ISBN 978-1-929878-74-1 100 pages; 6 X 9 inches; Trade Paperback Even a quick glance at YouTube will provide a number of videos demonstrating crows’ ability to solve problems, as well as crows’ ability to play. My favorite shows a crow sliding down a snowy roof, flying to the top again, and repeating the slide. The crow is clearly having a great time, clearly playing. There is no other purpose apparent in the activity. It is simply play. Recently wildlife biologists have begun to understand the inter-species cooperation that seems to exist between wolves and ravens. Ravens, it seems, will find a carcass and then lead wolves to it. The birds know that they cannot get through the tough skin of an elk, but that once the wolves have gotten through the skin, and eaten their fill, they will leave enough meat for the ravens. Biologists have seen ravens fly down into the middle of a litter of wolf pups playing outside their den. The raven will begin to play with the pups, throwing sticks for them or letting the pups chase him. This interaction demonstrates an intelligence and curiosity that extends well beyond instinctive, rote behavior for finding food and shelter. Beyond these specific examples, the Corvids, whether crows, ravens, or magpies, have all played significant roles in world folklore and myth. They are, by turns, bringers of wisdom, harbingers of both good and bad news, or tricksters who can aid a hero or unmask a villain. The rhyme at the beginning of this introduction is an Old English chant recited when seeing a flock of crows. The Norse god Odin had a raven as his companion, and the Haida of the American Pacific Northwest used ravens on their totem poles and created elaborate raven masks. B. J. Buckley’s poems in Corvidae allude to all these attributes and mythologies and more. These poems pay tribute to many of the ways the Corvids have interacted with humans. She uses chants, rhymes, poetic forms, and free verse to create mythology that is both old and familiar and, at the same time, stunningly original. Her poems speak to a reverence for not only the birds themselves but that which is numinous in human experience. Reading these poems changes how we see these beautiful birds, and changes how we see the mystical and spiritual in our lives. These poems should be savored. They should be read aloud to appreciate Buckley’s use of sound, and they could easily be part of personal spiritual practice, read by candlelight or read outdoors where our Corvid relatives may hear them, too, and both laugh in their mocking way and participate in the mystical as they fly across an open sky. An excerpt from the introduction by Jane Elkington Wohl, PhD. Look at a sample copy of Corvidae here -
By Linda Lerner
ISBN 978-1-929878-51-2 32 PAGES; TRADE PAPER Linda Lerner, a small press veteran of numerous years, has
put together a volume of "nursery rhymes" with a distinctly modern interpretation. Along with the drawings of her friend and artist, Donna Kerness, Lerner takes on such classics as London Bridge is Falling Down, Ring Around the Rosy, Jack Sprat, Rip Van Winkle and Humpty Dumpty.
"Poet Linda Lerner pens modern day nursery rhymes, playful but with well-placed poetic barbs, thrown at our everyday insular lives, and the injustices that are ignored by us or experienced by us. Lerner gives us rhyme for our time."
Doug Holder/ Lecturer in Creative Writing/Endicott College/Beverly, MA
CONTENTS
We
What Just happened
Catch Me If You can
The Sound of London Bridges Falling in NYC
Ring Around the Rosy: A Danse Macabre
The Mother Who Gives Birth to a Poem
Remember, remember the Fifth of November
Stumbling on Jack’s Road
An Old Wives Tale or a Rip Van Winkle Story
When Every Color Became Red
Humpty Dumpty
Linda Lerner's Takes Guts & Years Sometimes was published by NYQ Books, June, 2011; she’s previously published thirteen collections of poetry and been nominated twice for a pushcart prize. Her poems have recently been in New Verse News, Gutter Eloquence, The Brooklyn Voice, Danse Macabre, Two Bridges, Presa, Fall, 2011 (featured poet) Lummox, Home Planet News, Big Hammer, and The Mom Egg; her essay "Land Grab: Putting Down Stakes" appeared in The Brooklyn Voice, March, 2013. Her next collection, Yes, the Ducks Were Real, will be published by NYQ Books.
Donna Kerness has been producing Art of various mediums over the years. Her inspirations have emerged from her past... She was a Dancer at the Henry Street Playhouse with Alwin Nikolais, and Murray Louis, a casual fellow poet and friend of Linda Lerner, and an Underground Cinema Super Star, in the movies of the Kuchar Brothers, during the Sixties in New York.
After relocating to San Antonio and raising a family, now is working with Sketching, Drawing, Painting and Multimedia Art which has been exhibited at the Highwire Gallery, in San Antonio, Texas.
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ISBN 978-1-929878-72-7 154 pages; Perfect Bound; 6 X 9 inches
Poetry Collection
The quiet confiding voice of radio sees us through our commutes, educates, and amuses us. We feel that we know the hosts on such shows as All Things Considered, RadioLab, This American Life, Prairie Home Companion, Snap Judgment, and that they could be friends, sharing our interests and sensibilities. For its part, Public television becomes a trusted sanctuary from crass commercials, laugh tracks, unfunny comedies rising in volume as they grow more empty in content. We start with shows like Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow and continue on to Frontline, The Nightly News, and the many guilty pleasures of adult Anglophiles, such as Masterpiece Theater and Mystery. It shouldn’t surprise us then to see that so many have responded in kind, speaking back to the speakers, inspired by what they hear and see. What may be more surprising is that no one seems to have had the idea of gathering these works together into an anthology, though they have appeared here and there, in poetry collections and journals. For me, the greatest delight in receiving these pieces has been to recognize the stories I have heard on the radio, with the added dimension of another’s perception added in. This brings home the truth that each of us could start with the same raw material and yet produce finished products that resemble one another only in incidental ways. Our national tragedies and triumphs, the odd idiosyncratic stories of individuals, the stuff of our daily lives and explorations all appear here, care of the diligent reporters of our national media. It is wonderful to realize that in some sense we are all one, listening or watching alone in the dark, but part of a larger tribe. This may be the closest thing we can experience to unanimity and belonging in this fractured land. — Robbi Nester, editor (from the introduction)
This collection of poems by poets from all over the U.S. and from across the ocean was published by a new sub-division of the Lummox Press, Nine Toes Press, in April (National Poetry Month, btw). Featuring Poets: Martha O. Adams, RD Armstrong, Anne Baber, Sally Ball, Kris Bigalk, Lavina Blossom, Allen Braden, Kirstin Bratt, Julie Bruck, Mary Bullington, Sheryl Clough, Michael Colonnaise, Barbara Crooker, Donna Decker, Barbara Duffey, Blas Falconer, Jennifer Flescher, Rupert Fike, Deborah Gang,Howie Good, Rick Hamwi, Kenneth Hart, Juleigh Howard-Hobson, M.E. Hope, Kate Hutchinson, Luisa Igloria, Tim Kahl, Marie Kane, Deda Kavanagh, Elizabeth Kelikowske, Kathryn Kopple, Judy Kronenfeld, Jane Rosenberg LaForge, Ron Lavalette, Christina Lovin, Amy MacLennen, Joan Mazza, Kelly Nelson,Robbi Nester, Barbra Nightingale, Hal O’Leary, Susan Blackwell Ramsey, Penelope Schott, Brittney Scott, Patricia Scruggs, Martha Silano, M.E. Silverman, Susan Snowden, Nina Soifer, Onna Solomon, Robin Stratton, Lisa Stonestreet, Meryl Stratford, Marly Youmans, Kit Zak. View a sampler of poems on ISSUU.COM -
By Kyle Laws
ISBN 978-1-929878-73-4 106 pages; Perfect Bound; 6 X 9 inchesThese poems inhabit place—beginning on the Jersey shore; moving to southern Colorado, northern New Mexico, and the wild spaces between; returning to the fringes of seaside resorts by way of New Orleans—telling all the details; using words like paint; layering sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and finally touch; uniting ideas with lyricism to yield connections between past and present, ocean and desert, mountain and river, men and women; unafraid of the trouble and tangle to grow and thrive. “I too have memories of "the shore," so Wildwood brings a rush—like looking into someone else's old photo album— of vivid images, scents, and O, the sounds of voices. Watching the grownups, hearing the histories, and almost too quickly making one's own life story, Kyle Laws' poems move from the shore to other storied places: New Orleans, Taos, Pueblo, St. Augustine, and return full circle to the Cape May milieu she knows so well. They are a guided tour, not only of one family's personal struggle, but the universal quest for understanding how we grow and survive, with the grace to be alive to the world.” — Ruth Moon Kempher, Kings Estate Press
View a sampler of poems on ISSUU.COM Read an Interview with Kyle here. -
ISBN 978-1929878-39-0 140 pages, 6 X 9, Trade Paperback 5150: A Memoir is no ordinary collection. It is a mixture of poetry and prose that explores her own personal journeys inside and outside of the psych ward. Dealing with issues such as sexuality, self-mutilation, eating disorders, substance abuse, and mental health, her book addresses a lot of issues that are seldom talked about (but need to be). She is currently on her way to recovery, and she hopes that by sharing her story with the world, she can help others in difficult times find the light and confidence within themselves to succeed in this difficult and fast paced world that we live in. The term 5150 refers to the section of the California Penal Code which deals with subjects who are, or may be, a danger to themselves because of mental disturbance. It allows law enforcement to hold a person for 72 hours for observation , to determine if they require a further, longer stay in the hospital (5250). "As a reader, I treasure your work; as a writer, I greatly admire your creativity and skill; as someone who also endures the temptations of addiction, I empathize with your daily challenges but, most of all, I respect the determination with which you have successfully worked to control those demons." — James Greco, fan & writer 5150 Sampler
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ISBN 978-1-929878-80-2 128 pages, 6 X 9, Trade Paperback Normal
I first became aware of the poet normal through Lee Crabtree, then the Fug's keyboard man, in 1963 or '64, at the Peace Eye Bookstore on the Lower East Side. Thirty-five years later I became re-acquainted with his poems. I liked his honesty. I like the "jolt" of reality in these works, and the intensity of images such as the "devil hair of barbed wire',' and "diamonds of light beg forgiveness',' or "a parade of wrinkles." Go forth. normal.— Ed Sanders, poet, musician & activist "...normal is the voice of the homeless, the victimized, the disaffected and the disturbed. These are poems born of the street, of the vagabond heart, the true restless American spirit that Whitman spoke of when he heard America singing. Too often, now, we hear of singing like the dolphins in an Eliot poem, who do not sing for us. normal sings for us, that is, to the poet in us all and we should listen." — Alan Catlin
Hunger's Children Sampler -
ISBN 978-1-929878-40-6 128 pages, 6 X 9, Trade Paperback
"I wrote her to honor her (the pronoun, the ‘used to’ parts in me), to try and de-toggle something in me, to uphold a previous (yet very necessary) identity while making space in me for new pronouns, new identities. The future tense of the present houses the past in a sweet casing. I want to honor the her in me: the her in her stilettos and pencil skirts, the her who begins to become the land of the Australian outback (with dreadlocks and bare feet), the her that is less her and more something else with that shaved head and those boxers, pants sagging into a plethora of pronouns. All of these deserve honor because all of them are true: all of these are me." — j/j hastain "One of poetry's most bedeviling challenges is to render the ineffable into language.The bolder poets face the difficulty of not only writing about the complex subjects but of writing about those liminal spaces in topics where language does not yet exist. j/j hastain has succeeded here as few yet have in being able to give voice to the unfolding/enfolding complexities of gender and identity." — Eloise Klein Healy, poet & first Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, CA
her Sampler -
ISBN 978-1-929878-41-3 120 pages, 6 X 9, Trade Paperback
Songs of the Glue Machines is a collection of poetry detailing the working class within California’s San Joaquin Valley in the late Eighties and early Nineties. Nicholas Belardes’ raw lyricism offers a glimpse into the struggles of everyday blue-collar workers in a forgotten part of America. "Songs of the Glue Machines is part meditation, part lamentation, part gut-wrenching cry for a lost segment of humanity. Packing words drenched in sweat and blasted with furnace fury, Belardes' poems transform once invisible lives into true blood & bone beauty. Hard-worn and hopeless factory workers are elevated to saintly status." — RICH FERGUSON, author of 8th & Agony: Poems
Songs of the Glue Machines Sampler QUESTIONS?
