New Book by Lyn Lifshin! Tangled as the Alphabet—The Istanbul Poems

 NightBallet Press is enormously pleased to announce the publication of Lyn Lifshin's new book, Tangled as the Alphabet—The Istanbul Poems.

                                               cover photo by Chansonette Buck, used with permission
  
Tangled as the Alphabet—The Istanbul Poems is a 68-page collection poems written during and about her trip to Turkey last year.  Haunting, lovely, and at times surreal, her journey through the city of Istanbul and the Cappadocian landscape will introduce you to blue-tiled mosques, mornings scented with incense and exotic flowers, a grandmother's protection against the evil eye, fairy chimney rock formations, and a people immersed in history.  As a special treat, the book contains 10 color photos taken by Lifshin and her friend Jordan during their trip! 

                                                     bio photo by Jordan, used with permission

The cover of Tangled as the Alphabet—The Istanbul Poems is a textured brilliant white with a chartreuse cardstock insert and boasts a stunning color photograph by Chansonette Buck.  The text is printed on thick, soft, snow-white paper.  In the book's 57 poems, Lifshin takes you by the hand, opens her heart, and whispers to you of a land that's foreign yet welcoming, alien yet familiar.  NBP promises you won't be able to put aside Tangled as the Alphabet—The Istanbul Poems once you've begun reading it!

(Another one of Lifshin's poems written during her trip to Turkey, "Dust Pink Tuff", appears in  Lipsmack!  A Sampler Platter of Poets from NightBallet Press Year Two 2013, also available on this website.  "Dust Pink Tuff' does not appear in Tangled as the Alphabet.)

The lovely and legendary Lyn Lifshin has written more than 125 books and chapbooks and has appeared in most of the poetry and literary magazines in the United States.  Her work has been praised by Robert Frost and Ken Kesey, and she is the subject of the award-winning documentary film  Not Made of Glass.  In 2012, NightBallet Press published her book-length collection of poems about her passion for dance, Knife Edge and Absinthe—The Tango Poems.  You can learn more about Lyn Lifshin on her website.

Tangled as the Alphabet—The Istanbul Poems is only $10 plus $4 shipping/handling, and is available beginning today, October 19, 2013!  Please see the link on this page. (For orders outside the United States, please contact the publisher at nightballetpress@gmail.com.)

Hungry for good poetry? Smack your lips for LIPSMACK 2!

 As incredible as it seems, NightBallet Press has just celebrated its second anniversary, and is delighted to announce the publication of Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NBP Year Two 2013!

 

 

                                                      

This second Lipsmack! anthology is forty pages long and celebrates the twenty-one poets who’ve had collections published this past season (September to September) by NBP.  With new poems by Joey Nicoletti, John Burroughs, Andrew Rihn, Erren Geraud Kelly, Steven B. Smith, Zachary Fishel, J. E. Stanley, Jean Brandt, Kevin Eberhardt, Christopher Franke, Chansonette Buck, William Merricle, Alex Gildzen, Margie Shaheed, John Dorsey, Laraine Seidl, George Wallace, Steve Brightman, Mike Finley, Jack McGuane, and Lyn Lifshin, there's something to satisfy every poetic palate!

Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NBP Year Two 2013 represents the high quality of writing and sincere dedication to the craft of poetry that characterizes NBP poets.  It has been my distinct pleasure to work with these poets and their heart wrenching, breathtaking, humorous, profound, magical words.  NBP is also pleased to feature the work of several outstanding photographers and artists on its covers and as illustrations inside the books.   Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NBP Year Two 2013 features a gorgeous cover photo by Kathy "Lady" Smith.  

 

 

                                                     

Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NBP Year Two 2013 is available beginning today, Sunday September 29, 2013, for only $5 plus $3 shipping/handling through PayPal on this website.  If you live in or near Cleveland, copies will soon be available at Mac's Backs, Guide to Kulchur, and Visible Voice Books, and at the Words Dance event at Mahall's next Saturday, October 5th (see Facebook or contact us at nightballetpress@gmail.com for details).

(Contributors, you will be receiving your copies in the coming week.)

 

The cover of Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NBP Year Two 2013 is printed on confettied white cardstock with a heavy candy-apple red cardstock insert.  The text is printed on a creamy white cotton paper.  And the 21 poems within...the 21 poems within are simply scrumptious!  Take a bite of this apple, and you'll want the whole tree!  Hell, you're going to want the whole orchard!

Sink your teeth into Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NBP Year Two 2013 today!

Omigosh! Jack McGuane's new chap has been published UNFINISHED!

NightBallet Press is astonished to discover the latest chapbook we've published is...UNFINISHED!

 

 

That's right, NBP has just published Lakewood, Ohio poet Jack McGuane's chapbook Unfinished.  But don't worry; you won't miss a thing, because although the first poem in the book is titled "Unfinished Poems", all the poems are finished!

Unfinished is 28 pages long and contains 18 poems that explore an 86-year-old's philosophical questions and topics from the smell of elephants to the predictability of a potluck, from rebirth to relevance to "arriving in Cleveland from the east coast".

Featuring a stunning photo taken by Cleveland photographer Michael Spear, the cover is an ivory cardstock with a royal purple cardstock insert.  The text is printed on a thick, creamy white paper.  With additional photos taken by Ohioan Shelly Brewster, the chap is both visually pleasing and intellectually stimulating. 

Jack McGuane, a treasure among the Ohio poets, has been a resident of Lakewood, Ohio since 1974, when he moved there from New York's Long Island.  He served for three years as poetry editor of Whiskey Island Magazine, won the Haiku Death Match (sponsored by Cleveland Heights Arts), and was named Poet Laureate of Lakewood 2006-2007 by a board of judges and by proclamation of the Mayor.  His poems have appeared in various journals and anthologies, and his collection of poems Chickenhawk was the first-ever chapbook to be published by NightBallet Press.

Unfinished is available on Amazon-  or get your copy, here, now!

We Are Killing the Fatted Calf for Mike Finley!

The Prodigal Son returns, and we are killing the metaphorical fatted calf in celebration of his first reading in the Cleveland area in 30 years!  Originally from Amherst, Ohio and now living in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mike Finley, award-winning writer, poet, and videographer, will be visiting northeast Ohio...and on Sunday, August 18, 2013, will present a very special reading of his poetry right here in Cleveland!

poster by John Burroughs of Crisis Chronicles Press

And when we say "award-winning", we ain't kiddin'.  Mike Finley is one of only two Lorain County poets, and one of only three Cleveland-area poets, who's won the prestigious Pushcart Prize in poetry!  He's also written for the Rolling Stone, and in the Rock and Roll city of Cleveland, that's no small thing to note!

John Burroughs of Crisis Chronicles Press will be the host for Finley's reading in the basement party room at the Old Angle Tavern in the historic West Side Market area of Cleveland.  NightBallet Press editor/publisher Dianne Borsenik will be there to aid and abet.  All are welcome, it's free to get in, there's a full menu available if you're hungry, and yes, there will be an open mic as well!  From all accounts, Finley is an excellent and entertaining speaker, so you will not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime event!



In honor of the occasion of his return to this area, NightBallet Press is pleased as punch to present Finley's brand new chap of poetry, For the Young Poets of Cleveland.  For the Young Poets of Cleveland is a short-but-sweet, limited-edition collection especially assembled for this weekend's reading:

For the Young Poets of Cleveland is a twenty-paged chapbook containing eleven of Finley's delightful poems, with illustrating photographs by Chandra Alderman, Chansonette Buck, Lady Smith, Steve Brightman, and the editor.  The cover shot of downtown Cleveand at dusk is by John Burroughs, and is printed on a textured white cardstock.  At only $5, it's a steal...and if you order a copy of For the Young Poets of Cleveland right now, NBP will send it to you free of postage costs.Please join us this weekend for this very special reading by a very special person, and meet the one and only Mike Finley in person!  The party begins at 5pm.  And if you smile at Finley reeeeeallllly niiiiiiiiice, he might sign your copy of  For the Young Poets of Cleveland.  ;)

Brightman Has Balls, and NightBallet Can Prove It!

Steve Brightman has balls, and NightBallet Press can prove it!  BASEballs, that is! (Whatever did you think we meant?)

 

 

NightBallet Press is honored and absolutely delighted to present Brightman's newest chapbook, In Brilliant Explosions Alone!  In Brilliant Explosions Alone is a special treat, blending his love of poetry with his passion for baseball.  In Brightman's own words,

"This chap is a breakdown of the 2008 season of former Cleveland Indians pitcher Jeremy Sowers.  Each poem represents, in chronological order, one of the games in which he pitched.  It is, however, not merely a baseball chapbook.  It is a chapbook about individual struggle with expectation, the desire for success in the field in which you show talent, and about how others perceive you in that struggle.  It is, perhaps, best summed up by the epigraph which I use (from the Gaslight Anthem song "Biloxi Parish"): All of our heroes are failures or ghosts, burned up in brilliant explosions alone..."

In Brilliant Explosions Alone boasts a cover photo taken by Steve Brightman himself, and is printed on a brilliant white textured cardstock, with a bright red-and-black cardstock insert.  The 32 pages of poetry are printed on a bright white cotton paper, and include a Statistics Chart from the 2008 season.

Brightman, an accomplished poet, skillfully interweaves baseball references with soulful reflection and childlike excitement.  With the Cleveland Indians giving us another roller-coaster ride this season, now is the perfect time to pick up a copy of In Brilliant Explosions Alone!  It's sure to appeal to poetry lovers and sports lovers alike!

Available TODAY Friday August 9, 2013, a single copy is only $5 plus $3 shipping and handling.  Order through PayPal right here on this website. 

George Wallace is bustin' out with Belt Buckles & Bibles!

Watch out, world...George Wallace is bustin' out with Belt Buckles & Bibles!

 

 

    

 

Yeah, baby!  George Wallace has a brand new chap of poems telling the tales of life Out West, in the way that only George Wallace can—with help from such characters as Sally Mae Thundercloud, Little Miss Shit Storm, Old Gene Hill, a Juke House Girl, a couple of dispirited waitresses, and a denim-clad angel!

Here's what others have said about Belt Buckles & Bibles!

“George Wallace’s poetry rolls onto the page like a Kansas thunderstorm, broad and bold and flashing lightning. Belt Buckles & Bibles travels the Midwest from Arkansas to Iowa, from the Flint Hills of central Kansas to the blue rooms of Kansas City, an excursion of ‘hip talk, loose dreams, songs sung in parking lots.’ The characters we meet are tough ‘like clay baked in a ferocious oven’ and plaintive with ‘faces, lonely as flower pots.’ Wallace takes us on a journey through the heart, as well as the Heartland.”—Al Ortolani, co-editor of The Little Balkans Review, Frontenac, Kansas

"In Belt Buckles & Bibles New York Poet George Wallace enters into the soul and the language of place. When he talks about the ‘pig kissing competition’ and ‘a muskrat out of water,’ you believe him. Wallace is not some New York poet come to meddle in the Southern Plains. He’s done his time, and is an honored instigator and ongoing host of our annual Woody Poets poetry gathering every year at the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma. He’s earned it."—Nathan Brown, Oklahoma Poet Laureate 2013-2014

Belt Buckles & Bibles is 32 pages packed with poems and photos by George Wallace .  The cover is a textured white cardstock with a charcoal gray textured cardstock insert; the cover photo is also by Wallace.  Belt Buckles & Bibles is  now available for mailing...ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!  Just use the convenient PayPal button at the top of the right column of this website, and you will be among the first to receive your copy of the bold, brash, brimming with beauty Belt Buckles & Bibles!

How much outside the US?

United States $5.00 USD Outside the US $9.00 USD

Laraine Seidl is (gasp!) Stitched Together!

O my gosh, NightBallet Press has learned that Laraine Seidl is Stitched Together!

Noooo, she didn't have an accident...she had a chapbook!  That's right, NightBallet Press is enormously pleased to present Stitched Together, poems by Laraine Seidl! 

Stitched Together is a 20 page chap of 15 poems detailing the arc, angst, anticipation, agony, and amor of a relationship in the way that only Seidl can do it—with wry, self-deprecating humor, and a wink at the world.  Her observations are consistently right on target, and you will feel yourself inexorably drawn into her world of Bukowski tattoos, text messages, and hippie iced tea; you'll find yourself immersed in the lives of an "adorable temptress" and "the reincarnation of Jack Kerouac".

 

Stitched Together features an ice-white cardstock cover with an olive cardstock insert.  The stark, stunning feather photo is by Ohio photographer/visual artist Chandra Alderman (a.k.a. Peggy Honeydew on Facebook).  The text is printed on white cotton paper...but the true treasure is found in the lines of the text; each poem by Seidl is a glistening gem.  Stitched Together is available beginning today, June 30, 2013, through PayPal right on this website for only $5 plus $3 postage!

Of course, if you are truly fortunate, you'll catch Laraine Seidl at a local poetry reading and buy it directly from the poet...be sure to have her sign it for you!

Laraine Seidl was born in Cleveland and grew up in Parma, Ohio.  She spent five years living in Columbus with her cat Zoe, and they are currently in the process of relocating.  Seidl has a BA in Psychology and a BA in Political Science from Ohio State University.  Previous publications include her chapbook The History of Chickpeas (The Poet's Haven, 2010).  She also enjoys expressing herself via photography, and spends her free time obsessively listening to music, reading, and collecting vintage glassware, clothing, and jewelry.  She is a welcomed guest at many featured readings and open mics; if you get a chance to meet her and hear her read, you don't want to miss it!

John Dorsey Is Responsible for the Fall of the Ramen Empire!

It's true, I tell you!  NightBallet Press has learned that John Dorsey is responsible for the Fall of the Ramen Empire!

 

...and what a resounding fall it is!  Fall of the Ramen Empire is the latest chapbook by the one and only John Dorsey. His fourteen poems of longing and remembrance, of wonder and wisdom, fill this 20 page chapbook with a haunting beauty. 

S. A. Griffin, co-editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and contributing writer for The Underground Guide to Los Angeles says of John Dorsey and Fall of the Ramen Empire:

 "John Dorsey is simply one of the best wordslingers on the scene, a small press legend in the making. In his ghost world of the Ramen Empire, lovers pray to Godzilla under crumbling drive in signs for clean sheets as the moon shines down upon the beautiful madness that is John's poetry.”

With a warm dove-gray cardstock cover and a textured turquoise cardstock insert, Fall of the Ramen Empire boasts a simply gorgeous illustration by artist Elizabeth Soroka.  The text is printed on soft-white cotton paper. Published Monday June 24 2013, Fall of the Ramen Empire is immediately available to order for $5 plus $3 postage. You may order Fall of the Ramen Empire directly through PayPal on this website, or you can get your very own signed copy from the poet himself.  John Dorsey's books are much sought after and always go quickly, so get your copy today! 

 

                                                             
John Dorsey holds a BFA in Writing for Film & Television from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  His short "Buffalo Diamonds" was made into a full feature independent film by producer/director Chris Lance of Paladin Knight Pictures.  He is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw's Prayer (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Leaves of Ass (Unadorned Press, 2011), Street Maps for Lost Souls (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2012), and White Girl Problems (NBP, 2012).  His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. 

Dive into a MOSAIC of Beauty and Truth!

 

NightBallet Press is enormously pleased to present a brand new chapbook:  Mosaic by Margie Shaheed!



Mosaic is filled with storytelling poetry about the glory, the mystery, the promise, and the pain of being a Black woman.  Shaheed's poetic Voice is strong and clear, and she offers unflinching glimpses of her struggles, her dreams, and her treasured memories.

Mosaic—packaged between double cardstock covers of ivory and rust, and with soft ivory paper—contains 11 poems on 24 pages.  The cover boasts a beautiful photo by Clevelander John Burroughs (www.crisischronicles.com).  You may obtain a copy from NBP for only $10 plus $3 postage right here on this site...simply look in the right column and click on the PayPal button.  Don't wait until they're all sold out—get your copy today!

For those of you in the Memphis, Tennessee area, Mosaic's official book release and reading will be held this coming Tuesday,  June 18, 2013:


                

 Margie Shaheed is a community poet, writer, and performance artist who conducts creative writing workshops for children and adults in a variety of settings, including traditional classrooms, libraries, theatres, community arts centers, mental health centers, and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs.  Her poems have appeared in Essence Magazine, Black Magnolias, the Mom Egg Review, Blackberry: A Magazine, and Femficatio.  Her work can also be found in Liberation Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Tontongi and Jill Netchinsky (Trilingual Press, 2011) and Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NightBallet Press Year Two 2013.  She currently works in Memphis, but returns frequently to Cleveland.

(Bio photo photo by Coco, used with permission)

This Just In! Video by Alex Gildzen!

Alex Gildzen, who turned 70 on his birthday April 25, made this wonderful film!  In it, we celebrate his birthday, his visit to Elyria, Ohio, and the release of his new book Blossoms-a collection of poems (1955 to 2013) in celebration of the poet's 70th birthday!  Thank you and congratulations, Alex! 

Join Alex in his ongoing celebration of life and growing- growing up, growing older, growing on, blossoming at 70!  You can purchase your very own copy of Blossoms right here on this website- see the sidebar to the right of this blog...or better yet, order directly from the poet at http://www.arroyochamisa.blogspot.com/!