Last night at the Gage Gallery…

By Kathleen | Published: November 29, 2011

…Christine Sneed and I read to this audience in the Roosevelt University Visiting Writers Series–to my delight, some of them got really into having their picture taken…

….and some of them got meta, taking a picture of me taking their picture:

You can’t tell from the photo below, but Christine read from her forthcoming novel Little Known Facts, and it was fantastic: Thanks to Scott Blackwood and Gabe Kalmuss-Katz and Timothy Moore for putting the event together, and thanks especially to Tim for being such an awesome blogger.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Purchase your own Louisiana Purchase.

By Kathleen | Published: November 22, 2011

The Louisiana Purchase by Jim Goar, that is, the latest title from Rose Metal Press, pictured here fresh out of the mail–note the French flaps:

“Gracefully athletic and soulfully centered, The Louisiana Purchase slides into us bearing an olive branch as its red bird Brock. Always open, ‘never locked,’ Goar’s season on earth contains all the wisdom of the ancient almanacs of the future; a unique, private cosmology founded on the soundest of poetic principles: conservation of what matters. The Louisiana Purchase signals a renewed project in poetry: to seek, perchance to find what is holy, and if not, make it so. This book is an instrument for being,” says Loren Goodman.

Add to cart, I say.

Posted in News | 2 Comments

Chicago Book Expo: Day One

By Kathleen | Published: November 19, 2011

So the inside of the former Borders location where fifty percent of this weekend’s Chicago Book Expo is taking place looks like an interior from post-apocalyptic zombie movie–if in such a movie the terrified populace raided chain bookstores instead of super-markets. See?

The difference between such a movie and real life, of course, is that there were no zombies, but there were lots of cool independent Chicago presses, lots of readers, and one Tim Jones-Yelvington, pictured here during his post-performance signing  of They Could No Longer Contain Themselves at the Rose Metal Press Table:

If you missed the Expo today, do not despair; it’s open tomorrow, too, from noon to 6:00 pm. Details here/see you there. Also? Thanks to the gentlemen of Anobium for splitting a table with RMP.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

The Chicago Book Expo…

By Kathleen | Published: November 16, 2011

…is happening this weekend in Uptown. The Preface Reading Series begins this Wednesday evening and the Expo itself will take place this Saturday the 19 and Sunday the 20 in the Goldblatt Building, the former location of Borders Books at 4720 N. Broadway. A full list of the over 40 Chicago-based publishers–including Rose Metal Press–who are participating can be found here, and additional information  about other events and programming can be found here.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Very Moody III

By Kathleen | Published: November 15, 2011

Yesterday the Reading Poetry presentations concluded, and they concluded with moodboards on The Hounds of No by Lara Glenum… ….and Blood Dazzler by Patricia Smith…

…and last but not least, The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees:

Thank you to everyone for doing such good work, and especially to the last presenters for teaching me that “Kees” means “Cheese” in Dutch. Who knew?

Posted in News | 3 Comments

The People Rule…

By Kathleen | Published: November 10, 2011

…is the state motto of Arkansas, and the people that Abby and I met at Hendrix College in Conway certainly did. We presented on Rose Metal Press and independent publishing in the Murphy House, whose lobby was pretty and had a sort of chandelier with metal birds perched all over it:

Please see the Rose Metal Press blog for a more substantive account of our visit. Thanks to Ty Jaeger and the students of Hendrix for having us!

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Very Moody Part II

By Kathleen | Published: November 7, 2011

The Reading Poetry presentations at DePaul continued today, and the moodboards continued to be excellent, including this one on The Dream Songs by John Berryman…

…this one on How to Build the Ghost in Your Attic by Peter Jay Shippy…

…this one on Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson…

…and this one on Nothing Happened and Besides I Wasn’t There by Mark Wallace…

…which consisted of not one, but two parts…

….as well as a pull-a-line-of-poetry-out-of-the-hat activity to comment on how Wallace structures his poems:

Let’s get a closer look at that hat:

Not to mention this one on Charles Bukowski…

…and last but not least, this one on A. R. (Archie Randolph!) Ammons:

Further moodiness is expected on Monday.

Posted in News | Leave a comment

The first five poems requested today…

By Kathleen | Published: November 6, 2011

…at Poems While You Wait at Dose Market…

….were “about”:

1. Freshness
2. Happy
3. Chocolate
4. Reading, and
5. School. And then we–


me, Eric Plattner, and Dave Landsberger (L-R), pictured here on our lunchbreak by the Chicago River–wrote 58 more poems after that. Thanks, Dose Market, for letting Poems While You Wait be today’s cause, and thank you, Chicagoans who enjoy–and provide inspiring topics for–custom-made poems!

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Very moody

By Kathleen | Published: November 2, 2011

It’s that magical time of the quarter again when students in my Reading Poetry class at DePaul demonstrate their appreciation and understanding of a contemporary poetry collection–in moodboard form. Today’s presentations included this one on Allen Ginsberg’s Howl:

…and this one on Charles Simic’s The Book of Gods and Devils, which was done entirely on Powerpoint–Powerpoint, people!

Not to mention this one on Derek Wolcott’s The Arkansas Testament, which featured not one, but two sides, one for the book’s sections “Here”…

…and “Elsewhere”:

And last but not least, this one on Exploding Chippewas by DePaul’s very own Mark Turcotte:

Thanks to everyone who presented today for the excellent work! Stay tuned for further moodiness.

Posted in News | 2 Comments

Dose…

By Kathleen | Published: October 31, 2011

…is, as their website says, “a year-round market featuring the finest selection of vendors under one roof: the modern, lofted halls of the River East Art Center.” See?

This Sunday, November 6th between 10 am and 4 pm, you should stop by because there will be many things to see and do and buy and eat…

….including…

…where Chicago poets Dave Landsberger, Eric Plattner,  me and our trusty vintage typewriters  will compose poetry on demand, all to benefit Rose Metal Press, an independent, non-profit publisher dedicated to hybrid genres of writing. We will write poems on any topic of the recipients’ choice. $5 donations are suggested, though pay-what-you-can is acceptable as well. The holidays are coming and what better way to tell someone “Hey, I really like you,” than a one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted poem?

Posted in News | Leave a comment

  • Categories