Often considered portents of doom, three crows can also signal change, transformation, and rebirth. These three poems (a murder of sorts) transition from one constraint to another; a palindrome, a monometer sonnet, and a perfect anagram by line. The Crows is Anthony Etherin's second outing with The Blasted Tree, and we've produced a limited edition of 50 leaflets to mark the occasion. Read the trio online, then stop by our Store for your copy of the 4" x 9" leaflet, printed black on black with a bright yellow interior.
Poetry Booklet - Sovereignty by Franco Cortese
"Sovereignty" is one of those magic words packed full of anagrammatic possibility. Each of the poems in this six-part series by Franco Cortese are line-by-line anagrams of the titular noun. All six are also subject to additional constraints: they must begin in the form of "ye ___ ___", and refer at least once to each of the following topics/themes: sex, death/decay, vegetation and language/text, in one form or another. Sixty 3" x 4" purple and gold booklets featuring the series have been produced, available now from The Blasted Tree Store.
Read Sovereignty
Poetry Chapbook/Art Book - Contemporary Meat by Sacha Archer
Sacha Archer's third outing with The Blasted Tree, Contemporary Meat, is an erasure poem redacting the proper nouns from a litany of author bios. By removing the proper nouns, Archer reveals how name dropping has become the cultural currency of the literary community; we are only recognizable by virtue of those who recognize us. To emphasize the depersonalized content of the work, Contemporary Meat comes in a stack of 3.5" x 3.5" cut sheets tied up in butcher twine, then packaged in styrofoam and plastic wrap, much like a filet mignon. A limited edition of 40 chapbooks/art books featuring this unusual presentation and binding have been produced, available now from our online store.
READ Contemporary Meat
Poetry Broadside - Surround Sound by Nathan Austin
A suite of glitch poems by Nathan Austin sampling bits of failed optical character recognition from Google’s search results. OCR is meant to identify printed characters using a scanner and computer software, which proves more difficult in practice than in principle. The poems that comprise “Surround Sound” come from an article about composer Eliane Radigue, originally published in frieze magazine in 2011. The suite as presented by the author appears in the online gallery, and a limited edition of 11" x 17" broadsides featuring the series can be purchased from The Blasted Tree's store.
READ SURROUND SOUND
FLASH HAIKU - Amanda Earl
The winner of The Blasted Tree's third flash haiku contest, held on Facebook last Sunday, is Amanda Earl! We've published her haiku into 2.5" x 2.5" mini-leaflets in a limited run of 80 copies. Amanda's poem was selected for its elegiac tone, multivalent natural imagery, and deeply moving turn. (It's another trick entirely to land an earnest "fuck" in a poem, let alone haiku; bonus points awarded.) We loved so many of the entries this round, thanks to everyone who participated in the contest! Copies of the haiku are available from The Blasted Tree Store on metallic grey paper.
BUY FLASH HAIKU: AMANDA EARL MINI-LEAFLET
Poetry Leaflet - University of the Air by Billy Mavreas
University of the Air is an asemic exploration of rubber stamps of the Varsity typeface primarily. The initial message encoded has now been forgotten, as per sigil work. Three images from Billy Mavreas' exploration can be viewed on The Blasted Tree, and we've made a limited edition of folded leaflets from his triptych of visual poetry. Each of the fifty leaflets comes in a decorative envelopewith a descriptive card, available now from The Blasted Tree's Store.
View University of the Air
Poetry Chapbook - job site by Zane Koss
A long poem simulating the tear-out and replacement of an old deck, or a celebration of manual labour, process, and materials. Zane Koss' verse demands work on behalf of his readers, requiring they repair his disjointed lines as they move through the poem, and rewarding us with satisfaction in a job well done. Filled with the language of labour, job site has been made to look like the invoices and packing slips which accumulate on a foreman's clipboard, all bound in familiar construction site materials like vapour barrier, sheathing tape, and house paint. A limited edition of forty numbered chapbooks is available for purchase from The Blasted Tree Store.
READ JOB SITE
Poetry Leaflet - Spoiled Milk + Wet Specimen by Erin Emily Ann Vance
Two witchy poems by Calgary-based author Erin Emily Ann Vance. Spellbinding, incantatory, and downright creepy, these poems invoke candlelit rituals read in the dead of night, "blossoming / worship at the alter of your own skin." Vance's work can be read online (if you dare), and 4" x 6.25" fold-out leaflets featuring the pair of poems have been produced in a limited run of 50, available now from The Blasted Tree's Store.
READ SPOILED MILK + WET SPECIMEN
Poetry Chapbook - con/tig/u/us by Kevin Heslop
Selected from a series of brief poems well over one hundred parts long, con/tig/u/us strings together ephemeral, non sequitur thoughts into a fragmentary and ever-shifting stream of poetic consciousness. With only a handful of words, Kevin Heslop writes tiny poems opening upon a world of possibility, and with that in mind we've produced a limited edition of tiny hand-bound chapbooks, a mere 2" by 5.25", opening a window into Helsop's larger poetic practice. Fifty copies of con/tig/u/us have been published, now available from The Blasted Tree Store, and you can preview the collection in the online gallery.
READ CON/TIG/U/US
Spoken Word - Complete Verbal Vol. 1 Anthology
The Blasted Tree's first foray into the publication of spoken word recordings, Verbal Vol. 1, is complete! Each of the eight tracks can be listened to and read on our website, plus now you can download the entire anthology from our Bandcamp. Thanks for listening, and thanks especially to the poets, musicians, and recording experts who contributed to putting this thing together: Audrey Lane Cockett, Anthony J. Gavin, Ilona Martonfi, Laine Pineo, Prairie Chola Ayatollah, Ian San Agustin, Adrien Smart, Michael Smilovitch, Alec Panikian, SHIGETO, and Josh Cunningham.