My poetry publisher has also shifted to no distribution and print on demand, which makes good sense for them, but also makes it more challenging to keep the titles visible for folks to discover if they don't already know who I am. (or think i'm 'the other Heidi Barr' which is another matter entirely lol)
Anyway, happy poetry month! May we all embrace our inner poet in the ways that work best.
The other two are called Cold Spring Hallelujah and Slouching Toward Radiance, and they can also be acquired at the website the link above will take you to. And if buying more books isn't in the cards right now, you can always request your local library purchase a copy!
I’m a poet! I’m a poet! I’m a poet, damnit! Though my debut anthology, entitled Echoes, remains unpublished in my google drive, I’m finally putting together a manuscript that I’m hoping to self publish (after many rejections from the “big fish” as you say, Chris) this summer! Fingers crossed I have some more substantial updates by the end of the month, though I would very much appreciate any advice or nods of encouragement!
Thank God for book-loving girlfriends. In deep rural Tennessee in the late 1980s, Marny introduced me to James Lee Burke, Cormac McCarthy and Jim Harrison. I did my part by building three floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in her living room, attached to walls of 1x16 poplar planks in a cabin built in 1900. Marny was not only my librarian, she was a comedian... "What happens when you play country music backwards? You get your job back, you get your wife back, you stop drinking and it stops raining."
Since this is a call for grassroots publishing, shout out to small literary magazines, too. (Missoula's own student-run CutBank, Camas, and The Oval especially!)
I might be singing gospel to the choir, but I wanna put on record how important lit mags are to creating homes for fledgling poets — and writers of all stripes — on the path to publishing a first book (or even just for the joy of seeing their writing in print). They offer megaphones to renegade and underrepresented writing that might otherwise go unpublished. Many are edited, designed, printed, and distributed by tiny, volunteer crews. The university-based outfits are vital for connecting students to the wider literary community.
Hugely recommend that anyone looking for fresh voices and an antidote to literary monoliths seek out a few lit mags and toss some bucks their direction to support the work. And I'm happy to supply a laundry list of titles to anyone who'd like ideas.
Wow. I had no idea SPD had closed down! They distribute(d) the only book I may ever publish (I mean, who knows, I may find the energy to compile another manuscript and find a publisher and.. oh that's exhausting already): One Last Ditch, from atelos press.
Although atelos can be found at https://www.atelos.org/, at the moment it still directs orders to SPD. I need to talk to Lyn to see what, if anything, she is planning on doing. She's in her 80s but last I heard still had more energy than I do, so there may be some way to retrieve some copies. I don't have a website for the book anymore but I have a .pdf version of the manuscript that I email for free to anyone who is interested. The exact same words in the exact same order, but without the pretty cover.
I have no idea how to characterize my writing in this particular collection. Sometimes it is abstract and "academic" (though I did not learn to write in an MFA program; I just lean toward obscurity for reasons I cannot explain), and sometimes it is an odd story about scoring something illicit on a grimy corner.
So yeah.
Hi Chris! I watched the snow levels between here and Iowa all winter and tried not to worry. I failed at that, but spring has its charms that also soothe the existential dread. And yes, poetry and poets are absolutely dreamy; without them I am not sure I would still carry around this completely unfounded degree of hope for something better.
I didn't know about that Jim Harrison poem! What a beauty! Those last lines:
the fluttering unknown gods that I nearly see
from the left corner of my blind eye, struggling
to stay alive in a world that grinds them underfoot.
Perfect.
I feel like all the poets I read may be too obvious, when Wendy Cope is your wild card, you may not be venturing far.
My grad school roommate and friend, Suzette Bishop, has published poems I really like. Utah State University Press published She Took Off Her Wings and Shoes. She also published Horse Minded and Hive-Mind, the latter by Stockport Flats, which seem to be unavailable.
Thank you so much for this. And for your work. I appreciate the vertically-integrated comment!
That’s why my local book shop can’t get One Sentence! I was wondering what was taking so long 😅 it is so discouraging to see print becoming harder and harder to get. But I’ll keep reading print and sharing and buying local and visiting the library - and I’m raising 3 kids to do the same. 💗
Hope to meet this Chris La Tray someday who I can tell is hands down one helluva guy and fabulous writer. Thanks, Chris, for opening this up to allow folk to post about their work. I'm a writer who has written a few books - including a book of poems "Goodbye Yellowstone Road" about nostalgia and finding your way home; a book of short stories "The Broken World" and a crime noir book "A Killer Story" that takes place in Montana, Portland, and New Orleans. The poetry and short story collections were both finalists in the High Plains Book Awards (2023, 2022). They are available at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and the behemoth that begins with A that we all know. I self-published them and then started my own label - Tiny Road Books - since many writing contests no longer accept self-published books. Lastly, I'm a big Jim Harrison fan (and James Lee Burke and A.B. Guthrie too). Harrison's poems and essays are so damn fantastic, smart and hilarious. What a hoot and ornery-lookin' cuss that guy was! Thank you for bringing him up, Sir Poet Laureate La Tray!
Small press distribution and sales have plummeted across the board. My own are less than 10% of what they were in 2017. Not 10% less... 1/10 of what they were. I sell mine by hand now. And I'm thankful for the day job. I pre-ordered Becoming Little Shell from F&F and I'm glad your publisher is doing some of the work.
My poetry publisher has also shifted to no distribution and print on demand, which makes good sense for them, but also makes it more challenging to keep the titles visible for folks to discover if they don't already know who I am. (or think i'm 'the other Heidi Barr' which is another matter entirely lol)
Anyway, happy poetry month! May we all embrace our inner poet in the ways that work best.
My latest collection's release is on this very day, and it's called Just Wild Enough. Here's the direct from the publisher link: https://homeboundpublications.square.site/product/Just-wild-enough/187?cs=true&cst=custom
The other two are called Cold Spring Hallelujah and Slouching Toward Radiance, and they can also be acquired at the website the link above will take you to. And if buying more books isn't in the cards right now, you can always request your local library purchase a copy!
I’m a poet! I’m a poet! I’m a poet, damnit! Though my debut anthology, entitled Echoes, remains unpublished in my google drive, I’m finally putting together a manuscript that I’m hoping to self publish (after many rejections from the “big fish” as you say, Chris) this summer! Fingers crossed I have some more substantial updates by the end of the month, though I would very much appreciate any advice or nods of encouragement!
Thank God for book-loving girlfriends. In deep rural Tennessee in the late 1980s, Marny introduced me to James Lee Burke, Cormac McCarthy and Jim Harrison. I did my part by building three floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in her living room, attached to walls of 1x16 poplar planks in a cabin built in 1900. Marny was not only my librarian, she was a comedian... "What happens when you play country music backwards? You get your job back, you get your wife back, you stop drinking and it stops raining."
Recently picked up "In Gravity National Park," by C.L. Rawlins, a collection of poems about the wild places of the American West.
https://www.abebooks.com/9780874173222/Gravity-National-Park-Poems-Western-0874173221/plp
Since this is a call for grassroots publishing, shout out to small literary magazines, too. (Missoula's own student-run CutBank, Camas, and The Oval especially!)
I might be singing gospel to the choir, but I wanna put on record how important lit mags are to creating homes for fledgling poets — and writers of all stripes — on the path to publishing a first book (or even just for the joy of seeing their writing in print). They offer megaphones to renegade and underrepresented writing that might otherwise go unpublished. Many are edited, designed, printed, and distributed by tiny, volunteer crews. The university-based outfits are vital for connecting students to the wider literary community.
Hugely recommend that anyone looking for fresh voices and an antidote to literary monoliths seek out a few lit mags and toss some bucks their direction to support the work. And I'm happy to supply a laundry list of titles to anyone who'd like ideas.
Wow. I had no idea SPD had closed down! They distribute(d) the only book I may ever publish (I mean, who knows, I may find the energy to compile another manuscript and find a publisher and.. oh that's exhausting already): One Last Ditch, from atelos press.
Although atelos can be found at https://www.atelos.org/, at the moment it still directs orders to SPD. I need to talk to Lyn to see what, if anything, she is planning on doing. She's in her 80s but last I heard still had more energy than I do, so there may be some way to retrieve some copies. I don't have a website for the book anymore but I have a .pdf version of the manuscript that I email for free to anyone who is interested. The exact same words in the exact same order, but without the pretty cover.
I have no idea how to characterize my writing in this particular collection. Sometimes it is abstract and "academic" (though I did not learn to write in an MFA program; I just lean toward obscurity for reasons I cannot explain), and sometimes it is an odd story about scoring something illicit on a grimy corner.
So yeah.
Hi Chris! I watched the snow levels between here and Iowa all winter and tried not to worry. I failed at that, but spring has its charms that also soothe the existential dread. And yes, poetry and poets are absolutely dreamy; without them I am not sure I would still carry around this completely unfounded degree of hope for something better.
I didn't know about that Jim Harrison poem! What a beauty! Those last lines:
the fluttering unknown gods that I nearly see
from the left corner of my blind eye, struggling
to stay alive in a world that grinds them underfoot.
Perfect.
I feel like all the poets I read may be too obvious, when Wendy Cope is your wild card, you may not be venturing far.
My grad school roommate and friend, Suzette Bishop, has published poems I really like. Utah State University Press published She Took Off Her Wings and Shoes. She also published Horse Minded and Hive-Mind, the latter by Stockport Flats, which seem to be unavailable.
Thank you so much for this. And for your work. I appreciate the vertically-integrated comment!
That’s why my local book shop can’t get One Sentence! I was wondering what was taking so long 😅 it is so discouraging to see print becoming harder and harder to get. But I’ll keep reading print and sharing and buying local and visiting the library - and I’m raising 3 kids to do the same. 💗
Sharing a friend's poem. Her book of poetry, Trail to the Spring, may be found at Shanti Arts Publishing.
https://www.shantiarts.co/uploads/files/stu/SMITH_TRAIL.html
Drop Everything, Stacie Smith
Drop everything.
Something wants to be born.
For one undaunted moment
let the midwife that you are
take charge.
The world is fraught
with cruelty and fear but
something better wants to be.
No time to lose.
Move quickly now
toward the beautiful and right.
You know its name.
Let the midwife that you are
move us all a little toward the light.
I like this stanza from Harrison's "In Interims: Outlyer:"
What will I die with in my hand?
A paintbrush (for houses), an M15
a hammer or ax, a book a gavel,
a candlestick
tiptoeing upstairs.
What will I hold or will I
be caught with this usual thing
that I want to be my heart but
it is my brain and I turn it
over and over and over.
Poet Fucking Laureate! Amazing post to kick off poetry month. 🤜🏼
Hope to meet this Chris La Tray someday who I can tell is hands down one helluva guy and fabulous writer. Thanks, Chris, for opening this up to allow folk to post about their work. I'm a writer who has written a few books - including a book of poems "Goodbye Yellowstone Road" about nostalgia and finding your way home; a book of short stories "The Broken World" and a crime noir book "A Killer Story" that takes place in Montana, Portland, and New Orleans. The poetry and short story collections were both finalists in the High Plains Book Awards (2023, 2022). They are available at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and the behemoth that begins with A that we all know. I self-published them and then started my own label - Tiny Road Books - since many writing contests no longer accept self-published books. Lastly, I'm a big Jim Harrison fan (and James Lee Burke and A.B. Guthrie too). Harrison's poems and essays are so damn fantastic, smart and hilarious. What a hoot and ornery-lookin' cuss that guy was! Thank you for bringing him up, Sir Poet Laureate La Tray!
My books can be found here: https://bookshop.org/contributors/tom-vandel
"And if you’re one of those people who claims to know, get a grip on yourself. You don’t." AHAHAHAHAHAAHA. This is poetry too
Small press distribution and sales have plummeted across the board. My own are less than 10% of what they were in 2017. Not 10% less... 1/10 of what they were. I sell mine by hand now. And I'm thankful for the day job. I pre-ordered Becoming Little Shell from F&F and I'm glad your publisher is doing some of the work.
What a delight that I unwittingly posted my first poem here on Substack yesterday, not knowing it was the start of Poetry Month 🖤
Great appreciation of Jim Harrison. He was inspiring in all his different forms of writing and lived life big.