Since 2017, Andrew McEwan has only written one poem, but has re-written it many times. Recoveringly discusses hospitalization and the ongoingness of repeated recovery from acute periods of mental disability, first in a poem, then in a poetic essay/coda that meditates on repetition, ideation, and the language of sanity and insanity. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty 5.5” x 8.5” chapbooks bound into a series of coloured covers torn to reveal the layers beneath.
Poetry Photo Set - from So went the hour in its makeshift dress by Michelle Lynne Dyrness
Two hybrid poems from So went the hour in its makeshift dress by Michelle Lynn Dyrness, a series combining typewritten text with minimal collage, created in an automatic, intuitive manner. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty 5” x 7” photo sets presented in white paper sleeves, each with a slightly-different collage element. Our selection from So went the hour in its makeshift dress can be viewed following the link below, and print copies are available now from The Blasted Tree’s online store.
View From So went the hour in its makeshift dress
Poetry booklet - from GRAMTAN by Jason Ly
Four visual poems from GRAMTAN by Jason Ly, a series that explores new and old solutions to the classic tangram puzzle by allowing pieces to intersect and overlap. Ly uses the triangular tangram pieces to create familiar objects and abstract shapes by circumventing the traditional limitations on their arrangement. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty 4” x 4” booklets hand-bound into grey cardstock covers with black thread. Copies of from GRAMTAN are available from The Blasted Tree’s online store, and you can view our selection from the series following the link below.
View From GRAMTAN
Poetry Chapbook - Ditto by Nick Montfort
Ditto by Nick Montfort is a short poetry collection consisting of three poems all composed using a similar method (something akin to transcription) whereby text is meticulously copied from a hyper-specific locale or context. From the kitchen to the public urinal, Ditto combines a keen eye for text with a wry appreciation for its many mundane uses. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of sixty 5” x 3.5” chapbooks, each bound into black cover stock with an iridescent film flyleaf. You can read the collection online following the link below, and copies of the chapbook are available now in our online store.
Read Ditto
Poetry Chapbook - Translating the Westron Wynde by David Martin
Westron Wynde is a 16th-century song that has been adapted, distorted, or simplified into many derivative versions. In Translating the Westron Wynde, poet David Martin compiles and expands upon these derivations, adding new translations of the original lyrics in many different languages, ciphers, and systems of notation. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of sixty 4.25” x 5.5” chapbooks printed in colour and bound into handmade paper covers in tobacco brown. Copies of the chapbook are available now from The Blasted Tree’s store, and the series can be read online following the link below.
Read Translating the Westron Wynde
Poetry Leaflet - Caribou by Allison LaSorda
Caribou is a poem about navigating, naming, and relationships. Using natural imagery to comfort and confront, Allison LaSorda teases out the push and pull of the smallest gestures of our bodies within an ecology of significance. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of sixty 7” x 5.5” folded leaflets printed on blue parchment paper, available for purchase in our online store. Caribou can be read online following the link below.
Read Caribou
Visual Poetry Chapbook - two ten six by katie o'brien
A new series of visual poems by repeat Blasted Tree contributor katie o’brien, two ten six was made by applying the zalgo or “cursed text” effect to existing poems. Zalgo text generation involves combining numerous typographic characters with Unicode symbols to add diacritical marks above and below letters. Using this technique, o’brien has overwritten their earliest poetry manuscript to create something entirely new. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of sixty 7” x 7” chapbooks hand-bound with black thread into purple covers, available now from our online store.
View two ten six
Poetry Booklet - Canadian Poem (for Stuart Ross, by rob mclennan
A poem by small press darling rob mclennan, Canadian Poem (for Stuart Ross, pays homage to a community of characters, each of whom have contributed to Canadian literary culture in unique ways. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of seventy-five 5.5” x 2” booklets bound with brass paper fasteners into red construction paper, available now from our online store. The booklets feature four slightly different designs that stack together to form a larger image, a nod toward the way many people come together to form a literary community.
Read Canadian Poem (for Stuart Ross,
Poetry Chapbook - RAPE by Charlotte Jung
With this short series of visual/found text poems, Charlotte Jung shines a light on the disturbing frequency of rape and the near-banality of its prevalence. RAPE is a feminist script exploring the phenomenon of rape through a clinical engagement with the term itself, evoking the numbness we feel in place of the horror we should feel when confronted with the truth about rape culture. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 copies of RAPE, each bound with red thread into light grey high-cotton covers with the title debossed in. Copies of the chapbook are available now from The Blasted Tree’s store, and the series can be read online following the link below.
read RAPE
Poetry Chapbook - The Republic of Home by Leslie Joy Ahenda
The Republic of Home is a chapbook-length poem written after Dionne Brand’s Inventory. Each of the 11 parts represents one month of 2021 (ending in November) and catalogues the reported COVID deaths at the beginning and end of each month. Otherwise, the poem does not reference the pandemic. Instead, pulling quotes from Inventory, Leslie Joy Ahenda examines ideas of self-hood and relationship, methods of living in the world amid disaster, and the impossible staying power of hope. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 copies of The Republic of Home, each bound into Italian high-cotton paper in dark grey with a pastel green flyleaf. Copies of the chapbook are available now from The Blasted Tree’s store, and the entire poem can be read online following the link below.