Showing posts with label Jesus Crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus Crisis. Show all posts

Thursday, December 25, 2014

#ThisIsCLE: An Anthology of the 2014 Best Cleveland Poem Competition (CC#63)

cover photo by Steven B. Smith
Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the publication of #ThisIsCLE: An Anthology of the 2014 Best Cleveland Poem Competition on 5 January 2015. 

The second annual Best Cleveland Poem Competition was held on Sunday, June 1, 2014 at the Willoughby Brewing Company.  #ThisIsCLE features contest highlights including poems by Geoffrey Landis, Theresa Göttl Brightman, Jeffrey Bowen, Mary Turzillo, JP Armstrong, Anita Herczog, Danya Eichhorn, Michael Murray, Steven B. Smith, Frannie Lograsso, S. Renay Sanders, two-time Best Cleveland Poem winner Dianne Borsenik and competition emcee Ray McNiece.

The book is 40 pages, perfect bound, 6x9" and a steal at only $10 from Crisis Chronicles Press,
535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.


Available now by mail and online — and soon from particular independent bookstores across the country!  Please join us for the official #ThisIsCLE release party on January 5th 2015 during Mondays at Mahall's Poetry and Prose series at Mahall's 20 Lanes, 13200 Madison Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio.  Meet and hear many of the contributors there. 

Project editor for #ThisIsCLE: Dianne Borsenik 

Executive editor: John Burroughs
ISBN:
978-1-940996-13-4
1st printing: 125 copies.

For more information about the annual Best Cleveland Poetry Competition sponsored by attorney Tim Misny, please click here.


https://www.facebook.com/events/570764059724426/

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Oct Tongue -1 (by Mary Weems, John Swain, Steven Smith, Lady K Smith, Shelley Chernin, John Burroughs and Steve Brightman) - CC#55

cover foto by Smith
Like seven 31-page chapbooks in one!

Published August 27th by Crisis Chronicles Press, Oct Tongue -1 is a collaborative book by Mary Weems, John Swain, Steven Smith, Lady [Kathy] Smith, Shelley Chernin, John Burroughs and Steve Brightman.  This book is our biggest yet, 300+ pages, featuring 217 poems (31 by each author), all written in response to the editor's October 2013 poem-a-day challenge.  [He borrowed the idea from a poem-a-day book called February 03 by Todd Colby, Alex Gildzen, Thurston Moore and Matthew Wascovich (published in 2003 by Slow Toe in Cleveland).]  Oct Tongue -1 is  a 6x9" paperback, ISBN 978-1-940996-08-0, available for $15 (now only $10) from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.  See October through the eyes of seven fine and quite different poets!


Please join us at these special launch events!

8/27/2014: Official Oct Tongue -1 Book Release at Mac's Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio
9/1/2014: Monday at Mahall's featuring Ray McNiece and Mary Weems in Lakewood, Ohio
...and perhaps more to be announced soon

About the authors:

Dr. Mary Weems is a poet, playwright, imagination-intellect theorist, social/cultural foundations scholar and former Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights. Weems is the author and/or editor of twelve books and five chapbooks, most notably white (Wick Poetry Chapbook Series) and Tampon Class (Pavement Saw Press). Two of her books were full collections of poetry: An Unmistakable Shade of Red and the Obama Chronicles (Bottom Dog Press, 2008) and For(e)closure (Main Street Rag Press, 2012), both finalists for Ohioana Book awards.

John Swain of Louisville, Kentucky, is the author of several acclaimed books including Rain and Gravestones (2013, Crisis Chronicles), White Vases (2012, Crisis Chronicles) and Prominences (2011, Flutter Press). His latest, Ring the Sycamore Sky, is forthcoming in the summer of 2014 from Red Paint Hill Publishing.

Steven B. Smith was born, is living, will die. He's been a poet 50 years, artist 49 years, the publisher of ArtCrimes, editor of AgentOfChaos.com, he blogs on WalkingThinIce.com, and sings at ReverbNation.com/MutantSmith. Smith & Lady published his bio Stations of the Lost & Found, a True Tale of Armed Robbery, Stolen Cars, Outsider Art, Mutant Poetry, Underground Publishing, Robbing the Cradle, and Leaving the Country in 2012 via The City Poetry Press.

Lady, a.k.a. Kathy Ireland Smith, is a poet, publisher, artist and surreal photographer from northeast Ohio. She and her husband Smith spent 31 months of traveling in 10 countries on 3 continents from 2006-9, and you can follow their ongoing adventures at WalkingThinIce.com. Kathy is also founder and editor of The City Poetry (thecitypoetry.com), a cutting edge art and poetry zine based in Cleveland.

Shelley Chernin is a freelance researcher, writer and editor of legal reference books and a ukulele enthusiast. Her poems have appeared in places like Great Lakes Review, Scrivener Creative Review, Rhapsoidia, Durable Goods, Big Bridge, and the Heights Observer. She was awarded 2nd Place in the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Contest.  Her chapbook, The Vigil, was published in 2012 by Crisis Chronicles.

Steve Brightman lives in Kent, Ohio. He firmly believes in two seasons: winter and baseball. His most recent chapbooks include 13 Ways of Looking at Lou Reed (2013, Crisis Chronicles Press), In Brilliant Explosions Alone (2013, NightBallet Press); Like Michelangelo Sorta Said (2013, The Poet’s Haven), Absent The (2013, Writing Knights Press) and Sometimes, Illinois (2011, NightBallet).

John Burroughs is the founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press and hosts the Monday at Mahall’s Poetry and Prose Series in Lakewood, Ohio.  He is the author of It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change (2013, The Poet’s Haven), The Eater of the Absurd (2012, NightBallet Press), Barry Merry Baloney (2012, Spare Change Press), Water Works (2012, recycled karma press), Electric Company (2011, Writing Knights) and more.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Songs in the Key of Cleveland: An Anthology of the 2013 Best Cleveland Poem Competition (CC#54)

cover photo by Michael Spear
Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the long-awaited publication of Songs in the Key of Cleveland: An Anthology of the 2013 Best Cleveland Poem Competition on 28 February 2014. 

The first annual Best Cleveland Poem Competition was held on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at the Willoughby Brewing Company.  Songs in the Key of Cleveland features the best poems shared that day, including work by area lit stars Catherine Criswell, Katie Daley, T.M. Göttl, Dianne Borsenik, Geoffrey Landis, Joshua Gage, Terry Provost, Jack McGuane, Ruth J. Coffey, Martin Snyder, Jeffrey Bowen, Mary A. Turzillo and competition emcee Ray McNiece.

The book is around 40 pages, perfect bound, 6x9" and a steal at only $10 from Crisis Chronicles Press,
535 Partkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

Dr. Claire McMahon says "This is a great collection...!"


Available now by mail and online — and soon from particular local independent bookstores across the country!  Please join us for the official Songs in the Key of Cleveland release party on March 3rd during Mondays at Mahall's Poetry & Prose series, hosted by Catherine Criswell at Mahall's 20 Lanes, 13200 Madison Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio.  Meet and hear many of the contributors there. PLUS... the evening will feature a reading by Cleveland lit superhero Brad Ricca, author of Super Boys.  Talk about a dynamic duo!

Project editor for Songs in the Cleveland: Dianne Borsenik 

Executive editor: John Burroughs
ISBN: 978-1-940996-07-3

Update: Now its second printing.  250 copies in print so far.


For more information about the annual Best Cleveland Poetry Competition sponsored by attorney Tim Misny, please click here.




Thursday, July 11, 2013

Crisis at Kindle

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the recent publication of several titles as e-books via Amazon Kindle.  They are:

Elyria: Point A in Ohio Triangle by Alex Gildzen -- Originally published as a chapbook (CC#4) in 2009. This new Kindle edition includes a couple of new poems and a bunch of added photos.

Blue Graffiti by Dianne Borsenik -- Originally published as chapbook  CC#11 in 2011.

This Is How She Fails by Lisa J. Cihlar -- Originally published as chapbook CC#23 in 2012.

White Vases by John Swain -- Originally published as chapbook CC#26 in 2012.

Angel by Sandy Sue Benitez -- Originally published as chapbook CC#33 in 2012.

Barry Merry Baloney by John Burroughs -- By Crisis Chronicles' founder, originally published as an extremely limited edition chapbook (30 copies) by Spare Change Press in 2012.  Because we weren't ready to see it go out of print so soon, we republished it on Kindle.


Friday, March 23, 2012

Lens - by John Burroughs (CC#20) - OUT OF PRINT

Composed and published 23 March 2012 in a limited edition of 30 hand-numbered copies, Lens is a handmade chapbook featuring a four-page dramatic poem (also called "Lens") by Crisis Chronicles Press publisher John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis. It was not for sale, but given away beginning at the 27 March Nia Coffeehouse event Poems of Power, Words of Life at St. Alban Episcopal Church, 3555 Euclid Heights Blvd. in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.   

Click here to see video of John performing "Lens" at that event, accompanied by Vince Robinson and the Jazz Poets.

Lens is inkjet printed in black and red ink on white recycled paper.  Its cover uses "metallics" card stock by Wassau Paper: Sparkling Merlot on the outside b/w Black Knight on the inside. John drew the title and eye glyph with a red Sharpie.  He didn't print more copies because he couldn't find matching card stock.  But you can find a copy at Amazon for an exorbitant price.

In December 2012, "Lens" was republished as part of John's first full length poetry collection, The Eater of the Absurd, by NightBallet Press, who nominated it for a Pushcart Prize. 

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Fuck Poetry - by 40 authors (CC#7) - OUT OF PRINT

I've called it an anthology, a periodical, and other less polite names, but I'm still not sure what it is exactly.  I do know, however, what's in it.  Fuck Poetry includes 70-some works by 40 poets from across the globe (with probably half of them from northern Ohio).  I'm very excited about it!  And it is finally available 15 March 2011 from Crisis Chronicles Press. 

I especially appreciate the patience of the contributors, at least one of whom submitted his poems as far back as 2008, when the project was barely a sperm cell in my mind sac.  Fuck Poetry features words by (in quasi-alphabetical order) Susan Amethyst, Sarah Black, Dianne Borsenik, Bree, Christina Brooks, Geri Lynne Burroughs, John Burroughs, Patricia Carragon, John Dorsey, DubbleX, Kevin Eberhardt, Mike Finley, Herb Fuerst, Maria Gornell, Sammy Greenspan, Charles Hice, Roxanne Hoffman, Colin James, Lady K, Joy Leftow, Yannis Livadas, David McLean, Jennifer Napier, Puma Perl, Jen Pezzo, Dan Provost, Misti Rainwater-Lites, rjs, Suzanne Savickas, Teleri Schakel, Heather Ann Schmidt, Helen Shepard, Dan Smith, Steven B. Smith, Willie Smith, Don Stabler, Cheryl Townsend, Lisa Vicious, Chocolate Waters, and Linnea Waters.

Fuck Poetry is approximately 50 pages, 8.5" x 11", inkjet printed on white paper and staple bound using yellow and black card stock and black duct tape.  Design, cover photo, inner collage and hand ink stamps by editor John Burroughs.  50 copies in print.  As of 24 May 2014 I only have one left (I was out until Mom died and I got her copy back). I'm not eager to part with it, but I will do so (and include a bunch of other other titles with it) to the next person who donates $300 to Crisis Chronicles Press (and helps us fund our next publication).


Thank you for supporting independent presses!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Identity Crisis - by Jesus Crisis, a.k.a. John Burroughs (CC#8)

self portrait by JC, February 2010
Identity Crisis is a 2010 revision and reprint of Jesus Crisis' longest poem. "Identity Crisis" was first published online in audio format as a part of the Poet's Haven's Episode #8 podcast (2008). It first appeared in print as part of the February 2009 Green Panda Press chapbook Identity Crises (a collaboration between Bree, Douglas Manson and Jesus Crisis).  That edition sold out within a year.

From the author: "When it went out of print, I tweaked the poem and printed it alone as a Crisis Chronicles Press edition to hand out free to everyone who attended my Brunswick Art Works reading on 11 February 2010.  I continued to distribute it for free for at least the next year."

Identity Crisis is 8 pages, 8.5" x 5.5", saddle staple bound using black card stock emblazoned with a hand inscribed name tag sticker.  Approximately 270 copies in print.  The earliest copies were inkjet printed and the latest laser printed on cheap white paper.  Design by the author/publisher.

A limited number of copies remain available, though we do not plan to reprint it.  Get yours for $5 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.  


Click here to read reviews of Identity Crisis at Goodreads.
Click here to read a review of JC's Brunswick Art Works reading of Identity Crisis at cleveland.com.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

6/9: Improvisations in Dependence - by Jesus Crisis, a.k.a. John Burroughs (CC#3)

6/9: Improvisations in Dependence is a chapbook by Jesus Crisis published on July 4th 2009 by Crisis Chronicles Press in a limited edition of 69 signed and numbered copies. It consists of poems and prose associated with June 2009, the fifth anniversary of the author's release from prison, and addresses the recent deaths of celebrities like Michael Jackson and David Carradine.  It also touches upon what it's like for a man who knows he poses no threat to society to have to register as a sex offender.

Jesus Crisis 6/9

After the initial print run, we printed a number of unnumbered copies on demand. Thus there are approximately 200 total copies in print.  As of May 2014, we still have three copies left for sale, and when they are gone we will not reprint it. UPDATE: This chapbook is now out of print.

6/9: Improvisations in Dependence
is 14 pages, 8.5" x 5.5", inkjet printed on white paper and saddle staple bound with pale blue card stock.  Design and cover photo by the author/publisher.

Contents include:
Karma Souptra
"One of the Most Illuminating"
Tol' Story
Met a Mat, a Door I Didn't Like
17 June 2009
Do Dew
Rough Love
Preacher Gunn
Tell a Vision
rip


Poet's biography (as of 2009, from the chapbook): 


Jesus Crisis, a.k.a. John B. Burroughs, is a playwright, pacifist, composer and seeker in Elyria, Ohio.  His work has appeared in dozens of print and online publications since 1983, and his first chapbook, Bloggerel, was published by Crisis Chronicles Press in June 2008.  His second, Identity Crises (with Doug Manson and Bree), was published by Green Panda Press in February 2009.  Founder of the Crisis Chronicles Online Library and co-host of the Lix and Kix poetry series in Cleveland, JC is in the process of writing a book about his 11 years in prison.  Discover more at www.crisischronicles.com.

Click here to read "Met a Mat, a Door I Didn't Like" from 6/9 at Other Voices International.
Click here to read reviews of 6/9: Improvisations in Dependence at Goodreads.
Click here to read reviews at Amazon.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Bloggerel - by Jesus Crisis, a.k.a. John Burroughs (CC#1)

This first poetry chapbook (2008) by John Burroughs, a.k.a. Jesus Crisis, features early versions of some of his most popular performance pieces at the time. This is the work that got Crisis Chronicles Press rolling. It includes poems that Burroughs wrote in and out of prison between 1992 and 2008 and subsequently published for distribution at local poetry events before he ever dreamed of becoming a "real" publisher. Highly collectible.

[The author says:] Bloggerel (Crisis Chronicles #1) was originally published in a home-printed, hand assembled edition of (if I remember correctly) 80 copies on 7/7/2008.  When they were gone, I began printing a 2nd edition (which included revised versions of two of the poems) on 8/15/2009.  Soon I decided that although many of the poems had evolved, the original version was a more accurate reflection of where I was at the time I created the chapbook and I wanted to keep that intact.  So a third edition, with contents indistinguishable from the first, was printed. 

As of 5/17/2014, only a few copies remain and we don't plan to reprint again.  UPDATE: This chapbook is out of print.

Contents include:

Peer through
Prison Scene
Oppressed
At Mass
Holier than Thou
Past Present Future Tense
Allen Ginsberg Wants You
John Cage Engaged and Uncaged
Lobal Warman
Rapists [titled "Bloodshot" in 2nd ed.]
Gas Hike Coup


14 pp. on white paper. Saddle staple bound with carnation red cardstock (a very small number of 3rd edition copies, maybe a dozen, use crimson instead). Design by the author. 8.5" x 5.5".


Click here to see Goodreads reviews of Bloggerel by Jesus Crisis.