NightBallet Press is delighted to announce the publication of The Ugly Side of the Lake, by Jason Baldinger and John Dorsey!
I was approached by Jason Baldinger and John Dorsey after our reading together in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, last April and they asked if NightBallet Press would like to see a new, very short manuscript of poems. I love the poems that Baldinger and Dorsey write, and the idea of a collaboration intrigued me, so I said sure, why not? This book is a result.
The Ugly Side of the Lake is a wild road trip through the Midwestern rust belt, with memorable pit stops and epiphanies along the way. The poems by Baldinger and Dorsey are printed alternately, with the stories they tell opposite each other, so the reader can see the same scene through two different pairs of eyes. As I worked on the book, I felt like I was buckled in beside them, going along for the ride!
The Ugly Side of the Lake is twenty pages long and contains twelve poems (appearing Baldinger, then Dorsey):
Postcard from Belle Missouri
Linzi
Popeyze
At Popeyze Bar & Restaurant
J & J's
J & J's Café on a Sunday Afternoon
Oscar's Diner
At Oscar's Classic Diner
The Glory Hole
At the Glory Hole
Postcard from Rolla Missouri
What Happens in Baltimore
These poems are new and powerful, and except for the occasional post on Facebook, have not appeared elsewhere!
Doing this book for Baldinger and Dorsey also gave NBP the opportunity to showcase a new and gifted artist: Matt Borczon of Erie, Pennsylvania, who graciously allowed us to use his brilliant collage, "Hellbilly," for the cover.
John Dorsey is the author of around fifty books and chapbooks; two of his most recent are Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Press, 2017) and Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016). His work has appeared in more than two thousand magazines and anthologies around the world. From 2003 to 2012, he served as an Artist-in-Residence at the Collingwood Arts Center in Toledo, Ohio, and in 2015, was awarded a Visiting Artist Residency by the Osage Arts Community in Belle, Missouri, where he currently resides. In 2017, Dorsey was appointed Belle's Poet Laureate by Mayor Steve Vogt, and he has founded the city's first literary publication, Gasconade Review.
Jason Baldinger is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Recent publications include the chaplet Fumbles Relevations (Grackle and Crow), Unconditional Surrender: An Anthology of Love Poems (Low Ghost Press), Rusty Truck, The Dope Fiend Daily, Lilliput Review, Nerve Cowboy, Zombie Logic Press, The Ramingo's Porch, Blue Mountain Review, and Heartland! Poetry of Love, Solidarity and Resistance (online). Forthcoming is Fragments of a Rainy Season from Six Gallery Press in early 2019. You can hear Baldinger read some poems on recent and forthcoming releases by Theremonster and Sub Pop recording artists The Gotobeds, as well as at jasonbaldinger.bandcamp.com.
The printer was running hot yesterday with an initial print run of 120 copies, and The Ugly Side of the Lake is available for immediate mailing! NightBallet uses PayPal, the secure way to pay. Get your copy now for only $5 plus $3 shipping/handling!