Debut of Prayerbook Bouquet by Zachary Fishel!

This past weekend, the mega-event Snoetry Three and a Half rocked Erie, PA with two days and nights of poetic revelry.  Poets from various states gathered at the Poets' Hall, where emcee and cohost Cee Williams kept the poetry ball rolling with well over 50 features and open micers.  Lix & Kix (John Burroughs and Dianne Borsenik) cohosted with Cee, and an outstanding time was had by all!

And one of those moments that really stands out for this editor is the moment Zachary Fishel walked in the door of the Poets' Hall.  Beneath my seat was a box of chapbooks for Zach.  When a moment presented itself, we exchanged greetings and I presented him with his brand new chap, Prayerbook Bouquet, published that very day... 01-26-13!

Prayerbook Bouquet by Pennsylvanian/Ohioan Zach Fishel is a 24-page chapbook bristling with a bouquet of poetic gleanings.  Poet John Dorsey wrote an introduction - or, in the themed design of the book, an invocation - which states "These poems about love, disappointment and youthful abandon offer the reader tiny moments of joy and quiet revelations.  He is...making it a little safer to go into coffeeshops again...."

The front cover of Prayerbook Bouquet features a great photograph taken by Kathy Smith of her husband Steven B. Smith's hands. 

Fishel's fifteen short-but-exquisitely crafted poems are bracketed by Dorsey's invocation, and the photographical benediction taken by Chandra Alderman:

 

                                  

Alderman's photo features her daughter's hands, and as you move through the poems in the chap, you remember we were all children once upon a time, and that, in Zach Fishel's words from his poem "Telephone Calls About a Sandwich",

"we remember what breathing is...as we unlearn catastrophes"

Prayerbook Bouquet is printed on creamy ivory paper, with a white textured cardstock cover.  The heavy cardstock insert is a leather-textured chocolate brown.  The real beauty in this garden bursts forth from the poems; there are no weeds between the covers.  At only $5 plus $3 shipping/handling, how can you resist digging in? 

 

Hip Cat Femur Whack Give a Doc a Bone #1 in the New Year!

NightBallet Press is extremely pleased and honored to present the first publication of this New Year of  2013... Steven B. Smith's Hip Cat Femur Whack Give a Doc a Bone!

 

This 48-page, 40-poem chapbook contains some of Smith's finest work from recent years, including a poem from 1965, one from 2005, two from 2006, one from 2009, four from 2010, seventeen from 2011, and fourteen from 2012.  [Thank you, SBS, for those statistics!]  As he says himself in his blog, that's "47 years of poet Smith from age 19 through 66." 

Hip Cat Femur Whack Give a Doc a Bone (the title is taken from one of his poems) is loosely themed on picking up the threads of the years after his memoir Stations of the Lost and Found ended, and covers tales of Cleveland, the pain and recovery surrounding his bum hip and resultant surgery, and the peace he's found in the zen of his poetry and his life with his Lady.  Written with wry humor and penetrating pokes, this is a cannot-put-down-once-you-pick-it-up-must-read-it-straight-through-and-then-read-it-again book!

The cover cardstock is a textured pale blue, and the heavy cardstock insert is a deep forest green; the cover photo was taken by the editor last summer in Cleveland (on Carnegie, around E. 65th St.).  The text of the poems are printed on a heavy soft white cotton paper. 

Published today, January 13, 2013, this book is immediately available through PayPal on this website for only $5 plus $3 postage.  It will also be available on Amazon.  And Smith will certainly have copies for sale at upcoming Cleveland-local venues, and at the upcoming (Jan 25 and 26) Snoetry Three and a Half mega-event in Erie, Pennsylvania!

The cover title itself should give you some idea of the stunning punning and prime rhyme this poet employs throughout his work.  You'll want to hear him read his poetry aloud- catch him at a reading or listen at Mutant Smith... and get your copy of Hip Cat Femur Whack Give a Doc a Bone today!

POP, POP, BANG! A Happy New Year's Eve Publication!

One of NBP's Facebook friends, local (Cleveland) poet (and world traveler) Michael Salinger, noted "They're making the years shorter nowadays aren't they?"   That certainly seems to be the way of it here at the Press.  Just last week, we published Andrew Rihn's new chapbook of poems, The Hunger Dictionary.  All too soon, the days zipped by and 2012 passed into What Was... but, as promised, here's our twin end-of-the-year 2012 NBP treat, published 12-31-12:  Erren Geraud Kelly's first-ever chap, Disturbing the Peace!

 

Disturbing the Peace closes out the year 2012 and disturbs the peace with an M-80 BANG and dazzling mirror-ball scintillations!

Disturbing the Peace is a wonderfully autobiographical 56-page chap of poems by Erren Geraud Kelly.  Kelly, who has traveled extensively both in the US and abroad, was born in Louisiana and has lived in Maine, California, and New York.  Although he currently lives in Chicago, he's indicated to the Press that he's once again getting restless and may be relocating in the months ahead.

These 35 narrative poems are soul-baring slices of urban and family life; his Voice is powerful and true.  He's not afraid to let you know who he is, where he comes from, and how he feels about the world around him.  Check out these examples:

An excerpt from "Notorious":

days after roderick's death
i was cleaning out his closet
i found some novels one of them was
hemingway's the sun also rises
and a dvd of the movie juno
i smiled
maybe under that thug façade 
roderick was just
a
closet nerd
and didn't want anyone to find out


And the deliciously steamy poem, "A Southern Accent":


it's a red flag tied to a
2x4 on the back of a pickup truck
it's grits covered in butter (not sugar)
it strips one of any pretense
it's a hot summer afternoon
on a porch swing
it's a patsy cline song
during a slow dance with
someone
the vowels dragged out like
a sleek cat resting
it's the state trooper in your
rear view mirror
it's a clark kent disguise
when you want to be underestimated

it's your sexiness
which you'll never lose


Disturbing the Peace features a textured pale dove-gray cover with a dark gray textured cardstock insert, and a wonderful cover photograph by northern Ohio photographer Chandra Alderman.  Inside: you'll be treated to Kelly's unforgettable poetic Voice.  We assure you, once you've begun reading this chap, you won't be able to put it down.  Available through PayPay right here on the NBP page, it's only $5 plus $3 shipping!  Order your copy now!

Coming soon... Steven B. Smith's brand new chap and the first NBP publication of 2013:  Hip Cat Femur Whack Give a Doc a Bone!  Stay tuned!