Most Prolific KSE Authors in our first 100 chapbooks

With poetic prodigal son Stuart Crutchfield coming back into the KSE fold, I thought it would be a good idea to let people who’ve recently discovered KSE know which poets have put out the most chapbooks (besides me, of course). So, from our first 100 chapbooks, here are those who have done more than one book for us:

STUART CRUTCHFIELD     9

DOUG DRAIME    5

DAVID KEENAN   4

LUIS CUAUHTEMOC BERRIOZABAL   3

K. M. DERSLEY    3

MISTI RAINWATER-LITES    2

ADRIAN MANNING    2

ZACHARY C. BUSH   2

THOMAS MICHAEL McDADE    2

BRAD KOHLER    2

HOSHO McCREESH    2

MK Chavez, Michael Layne Heath, Ronald Baatz, Christopher Cunningham, and Aleathia Drehmer will be joining the more-than-one club in the next year. Thanks also to those I haven’t yet mentioned who did one book, each of which was brilliant IMHO: Michael Casey, Mark Weber, Byron Coley, Michael Ceraolo, Caleb Puckett, Glenn W. Cooper, and Jim D. Deuchars. And to Debbie Kirk and John Sweet who will be joining the KSE fold soon…

I’m certainly biased, but I feel that this is an incomparable line-up, all creating brand-new work expressly for KSE, not dumping the same old s**t that couldn’t be placed elsewhere as so many other presses and online poetry sites publish. The few, the proud, the KSE Poetry Team!

chapbook titles running low…order now!

Thanks for all the positive feedback on the KSE POETRY YEAR 2009 project (scroll down for info)!

I just sent out a massive order, and checking our stock I noticed that a number of chapbooks are running low (10 or fewer copies left, as few as 3 on some), so if you want any of these, you should act soon, or you’ll be out of luck… I’d guess all will be out of print in 2-3 weeks.

#89, McCreesh/Puckett, NEXT EXIT: EIGHT;

#88, Shute, LUNA AMERICANA;

#87, Draime, LAST MAY (1968);

#83, Cooper, RIMBAUD IN THE CITY;

#80, Dersley/Manning, NEXT EXIT: SIX;

#59, Berriozabal, WITHOUT PEACE.

See “available KSE poetry chapbooks” page to the right for ordering info. Remember, in the US you can get 3 different chaps for $10 postpaid or 7 different chaps for $20 postpaid. Outside the US, $5 each postpaid via paypal.  Domestically, check made payable to William Shute. Thanks!

KSE POETRY YEAR 2009 Project—-Line-Up

I’ve spent about three months putting together a massive 12-poet, 12-chapbook project for next year, tentatively called KSE POETRY YEAR 2009. In some ways, it’s a natural follow-up to the NEXT EXIT series, which will be ending in December 2008 with volume 10 from Misti Rainwater-Lites. This time, however, instead of juxtaposing pairs of poets (except for the  Christopher Cunningham and Misti solo efforts, placed strategically at #5 and #10 in the series), each poet will have a solo chapbook.

A few years back, I discovered a 12-part electronic music piece called A SOUND YEAR, by the Danish composer GUNNER MOLLER PEDERSEN. It consisted of 12 “sound installations”, one for each month of the year. It then dawned on me that such a project would lend itself well to poetry. A series of 12 chapbooks from 12 different poets, each interpreting a particular month, chosen by the poet, in whatever way he or she chooses.

Next was putting together a “dream team” of contemporary poetry, starting with Doug Draime. Just last night the final poet was put into place, so here is the line-up for KSE POETRY YEAR 2009:

JANUARY—-MK CHAVEZ  (california);

FEBRUARY—-DEBBIE KIRK  (california);

MARCH—-CHRISTOPHER CUNNINGHAM  (georgia);

APRIL—-RONALD BAATZ  (new york);

MAY—-BILL SHUTE  (texas);

JUNE—-LUIS CUAUHTEMOC BERRIOZABAL  (california);

JULY—-MISTI RAINWATER-LITES  (texas);

AUGUST—-BRAD KOHLER  (pennsylvania);

SEPTEMBER—-K.M. DERSLEY  (england);

OCTOBER—-ADRIAN MANNING  (england);

NOVEMBER—-ALEATHIA DREHMER  (new york);

DECEMBER—-DOUG DRAIME  (oregon).

Each chapbook will appear in the respective month of 2009, beginning with MK Chavez in January.

AND, to give everyone an early taste of the series and to kick it off along with this announcement, KSE is publishing a new chapbook from Aleathia Drehmer called THICKETS OF MAYAPPLE: LETTERS FOR EDWARD (KSE #99), which is an “advance” volume in the series set in the month of MAY 2009 and composed especially for this project by Aleathia (she will also have another chap in the regular series in 2009). I’ll whip out a post about THICKETS OF MAYAPPLE soon, but it’s available right now for ordering, so don’t wait!

This KSE POETRY YEAR 2009 Project should be an exciting series, and I hope it will make a significant mark on the contemporary poetry scene. There will be a lot of diversity in style, attitude, content, region, lifestyle, and poetic aesthetic among the 12 poets. Check the blog for details as they emerge. For now, however, get a copy of Aleathia’s THICKETS OF MAYAPPLE and while writing that check, why not score copies of the other recent chapbooks:

#98  ADRIAN MANNING, wide asleep, fast awake;

#96  JIM D. DEUCHARS, pieces of eight;

#94  DOUG DRAIME, love & blues in oregon;

#92  BILL SHUTE, shore access;

#90  MK CHAVEZ, visitation;

#89  HOSHO McCREESH/CALEB PUCKETT, next exit: eight;

#88  BILL SHUTE, luna americana;

#87  DOUG DRAIME, last may (1968);

#83  GLENN W. COOPER, rimbaud in the city.

See “available KSE poetry chapbooks” page to your right for ordering information.

And remember, our 100th poetry chapbook (!!!!) will be appearing in July,

KSE #100, RONALD BAATZ / LUIS CUAUHTEMOC BERRIOZABAL, NEXT EXIT: SEVEN         (available 7/15/08).

“Misinformation” by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal

Mind-blowing new prose piece from Luis at Craig Snyder’s RUMBLE online magazine:

http://rumble.sy2.com/stories/misinformation_berriozabal.html

Don’t forget, Luis will be back at KSE for a THIRD chapbook in July, our 100th poetry chapbook, NEXT EXIT: SEVEN, co-written with Ronald Baatz.

KSE Promotional Video, “Loss of Wonder”

Well, here’s a first: a KSE promotional video featuring Jim D. Deuchars reading “Loss of Wonder” from his new chapbook PIECES OF EIGHT. Check it out:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129872104&blogID=388388945

TRANSPARENCY (KSE #93) now available

Adrian Manning’s WIDE ASLEEP, FAST AWAKE (a Sound Library volume inspired by the Sonic Youth album Daydream Nation) is now available for order, and I’ll be writing about it here soon, but for now let me announce that my own TRANSPARENCY (KSE #93, and volume 32 in the Sound Library Series) is now available.

For those who, like me, do not seek out any special attention in daily life and who prefer to keep a low profile, being a poet allows you a lot of anonymity. People who know me in my neighborhood or at my workplace know what I do, and with a few important (and very much appreciated!) exceptions, could not care less about it. If I had a band, they’d hear us practicing in the garage all the time; if I were a film-maker, they’d see me with a videocam all the time. However, as a poet, I have no visible identifying item (most don’t notice the moleskine notebook in my shirt pocket), so I’m left alone and I can remain transparent. This allows me to be right in the thick of life-as-it-as-lived, and daily life is my greatest inspiration.

Transparency. Too much garlic in the salsa. Unused soccer fields. Straightening tablecloths and pouring coffee at the Notaries’ Convention. Crickets and chainsaws and gasoline. Poet, seek alliances, not followers!

For $4.00 ($5.00 outside the US), YOU ARE THERE alongside the poet. Anonymous. Transparent. Deep in the heart of Texas.

13 more KSE chapbooks out-of-print as of 4/25/08

We’re now sold out of many recent KSE chapbooks, so the following books are no longer available for order:

#86, Shute, Slash & Burn;

#85, McCreesh, 37 Psalms from the Badlands;

#84, Shute, Pulses of Time;

#81, Shute, Still;

#79, Shute, 44 Harmonies;

#78, Heath,  Sacred Grounds;

#77, Shute,  Red Diptych;

#76, Bush/Shute,  Intervals;

#74, Shute,  Don’t Look Back;

#73, Shute, Bridge to Nowhere;

#67, Shute, Norwich Unveiled;

#64, Draime/Rainwater-Lites, Next Exit: Three;

#63, Crutchfield/Shute, Telesma Charging.

Hope you got the ones you wanted while they were available.

watch Jim D. Deuchars read “Dinosaurs are Organizing Things”

Jim D. Deuchars, author of KSE’s newest release, PIECES OF EIGHT, reads his poem “Dinosaurs are Organizing Things” on a myspace video. Check it out! Jim’s already got two videos up at his blog—-let’s hope he posts more. And don’t forget to check him out Thursday, June 5, at the Connecticut Beat Poetry Festival. Here’s the link:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129872104&blogID=382294174

KSE discussed in LE BATHYSCAPHE magazine (Quebec)

The December 2007 issue of the bilingual Quebec newsprint magazine LE BATHYSCAPHE contains a fine article called BLABBERMOUTH LOCKJAW (OF THE SOUL), discussing the work of visionary deconstructors of the word such as Vito Acconci, Aram Saroyan (his late 60s/early 70s period, documented in the recent COMPLETE MINIMAL POEMS), and Wallace Berman. Imagine my surprise when, after discussing the greatness of Wallace Berman, the next paragraph begins,

Also great is the work of Bill Shute and the press he runs, Kendra Steiner Editions. Bill is a guy who has been around since the early 80s, doing music fanzines, putting on shows, and delving into various literary enterprises. He was quiet for a good bit of the 90s, but he has returned in a huge way in the first light of the new millenium. Kendra Steiner Editions has been responsible for 50 poetry booklets over the last couple of years that are wonderful examples of DIY art. Printed in editions of less than 100, the books arrive like presents, delivering one mouthful at a time of delicious words. Many of the titles showcase Shute’s own fine work. There are various series written in response to music that are particularly evocative. Whether free-associating to the latest Creel Pone avant-garde reissues or biting deeply into the piano style of Lennie Tristano, Bill really manages to capture the flow and rhythm of his chosen soundtrack, nailing essential points with swift strokes, and eyes keen to detail. Bill has also published such poets as Glaswegians Stuart Crutchfield and David Keenan (including a lovely tribute to David Meltzer); Thomas Michael McDade (whose genius lies in manifestations of the deified motorhead); Brad Kohler (a reborn Meat Poet), and great gawps of other worthy stuff.

Bill is also the author of POINT LOMA PURPLE (Word Mechanics, 2007), a long verse biography of Katherine Tingley, a utopian Theosophist of the early 20th Century. It’s rich material for Shute to explore, and he does so in a style reminiscent of Ed Sanders’ great histories of the 20th Century sequence. A couple of early Kendra Steiner volumes are appended to POINT LOMA, making it a very cool introduction to Shute’s work. I highly suggest, however, that you take the full plunge, contacting Bill and ordering a random selection of these lovely books. They’re all extremely rewarding and provide intimate examples of viral-word dissemination at its best.

Beaucoup grâce à M. Byron et M. Thurston pour l’article gentil.

SHORE ACCESS (KSE #92) now available

My chapbook SHORE ACCESS (KSE #92), the 31st volume in the Sound Library Series, is now available.

Many of you will remember the controversy a few years back when media mogul David Geffen spent hundreds of thousand of dollars in legal fees and over a decade in court to deny the people of California access to a strip of public beach bordering his property in Malibu. At the time, this story seemed to me the perfect symbol for present-day America, and I filed it away in my long-term memory. Then in March 2008, when my wife Mary Anne and I took a romantic trip through the Texas Hill Country for a few days, we stayed in Marble Falls, Texas, home of the beautiful Lake Marble Falls. Of course, we wanted to go down by the shore and spend a little time, so we circled the lake for miles, and every inch seemed to be privately owned and fenced off, even if it wasn’t being used for anything right now. FINALLY, we found a strip of shore about as long as the average driveway that had a small public boat landing, a concrete wall from which one could fish, and a few picnic tables. Sitting there and taking in the scenery, I looked at the other 99% of the shore that we did not have access to and saw an upscale restaurant looking over the water, seeming to cater to tourists and to affluent locals. I remembered the Geffen incident, and started creating a fictional scenario about this restaurant, some of its employees, life in Marble Falls, and the state of society today. The result is the suite of poems SHORE ACCESS.

This chapbook took me about six weeks to write, and like GROUND or RED DIPTYCH or SAN ANTONIO GOOD FRIDAY, it is character-driven…but it puts those characters in a larger context. I also did something during the writing of this piece that I rarely do, and that is discuss the writing of it with others as I was doing it. Some of the regular KSE readers/customers write to give me feedback on past chapbooks and ask me what I’m presently working on, and usually I’ll just mention a name, but this time I actually sent a draft of completed sections and engaged in dialogue with readers. The experience was refreshing, and it provided a unique feeling to have people outside my family and closest associates waiting for SHORE ACCESS to reach completion! I’m reminded of the classic remark attributed to film director William Beaudine, who helmed many great horror/action/Bowery Boys b-movies, “you mean someone out there is actually waiting to see this?”

Feel what it’s like to have an enlarged prostate; get a consciousness-splitting rush from Salvia while it’s still legal; taste the grilled salmon with chipotle cream sauce; sit through a tedious prom date while looking out the restaurant’s window onto the shimmering lake; hear Tish Hinojosa’s haunting Brazilian rosewood guitar (note: I don’t know if Ms. Hinojosa, a legendary Texas singer-songwriter, actually owns such an instrument, but I bet she’d love to, and through the magic of literature, I’ve given her one, at least in this poem–TH also recorded one of the great holiday albums of all time, Memorabilia Navidena, spinning regularly at the Shute-Bernal home every Nov. and Dec.); pay for the occupation of Iraq even though you have no health insurance; rush a cigarette or two while on your break; dream about getting out of deadly small town life so you can face an all-new set of problems in the city! All this for $4 US/$5 elsewhere, the price of renting the DVD of some shi**y movie you didn’t think was worth seeing even at matinee prices when it played theatrically.

I feel that SHORE ACCESS will have a wider appeal than some of my chapbooks do (I’m thus giving it a larger print run), so if you have not tried one before, this might be a good starting point. If you want a “Taste of Texas” circa 2008, this will surely give it to you. Check the “available KSE poetry chapbooks” page to the right of this entry for ordering information. And don’t forget our 3-for-$10 deal, postpaid in the US.