The Law of Almosts - by Mindi Kirchner (CC#106)

We are extremely happy to announce the publication of The Law of Almosts, the latest poetry collection by Mindi Kirchner, one of our favorite writers. Now available for only $10 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland Ohio 44143 USA.

Where are you?

United States $10.00 USD Elsewhere $13.00 USD

The Law of Almosts is 46 pages, perfect bound, 5.5 x 8.5". Contents include "The Law of Almosts"; "Globe-Spinning"; "X by X"; "Prize"; "Love Sonnet for a Perfectionist"; "High School Yearbook"; "Ray Ann Walker, Saint Rita Church Festival, 1971"; "The Good, The Bad, and The Ocean" "Remove Sunglasses"; "Desultory"; "The Duration of Events"; "Solving for Feeling"; "Dear Loneliness"; "Christmas Communion"; "The Last In-Flight Supper"; "Naming the Baby"; "Nomenclature"; "Not My Art"; "Split Ends" "The Sweet Spot" and "Fernweh." ISBN: 978-1-64092-976-0. Front cover image created by Steven B. Smith, who used Kathy Smith's Old Comb sculpture as his subject.

Mindi Kirchner’s first chapbook, Song of the Rest of Us, won The Wick Poetry Prize, judged by Jim Daniels, and was published in 2009. The chapbook was nominated for a Lantern Award and featured in an art exhibit, Penned by Penn Staters: Books by Alumni Authors, in University Park, Pennsylvania. Kirchner has also been a finalist in the Best of Ohio Writers contest and for the Whiskey Island Poetry Prize and the Robert Hare Award. Her poems can be found in the Wick Poetry Series anthology, The Next of Us is About to Be Born. Her work has also appeared in numerous independent journals. She spent 10 years teaching composition and developmental writing at Youngstown State University. She now lives with her husband and very delightful daughter in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and teaches at Albright College in Reading. 

Matilda's Battle Waltz - by Tracie Morell (CC#70) - Free E-Book

Matilda's Battle Waltz is a powerful new collection of poems by Tracie Morell, illustrated by Kris Risto, featuring wraparound cover art by Ken Paul Johnson. Perfect bound, 5.5" x 8.5", 89 pages, ISBN 978-1-940996-22-6.  $10. The paperback is currently out of print.

 

UPDATE: As of August 2021, we have reissued this collection as a free e-book. It is now available at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/matildas-battle-waltz-final-2021-ebook. 

 
“Tracie Morell’s work exhibits a lyrical acuity which illuminates and devastates. She leads us on a harrowing and electrifying journey through the life of Matilda, a being who dances on the brink of existence between what is marginalized and what has risen above to live in rarified air. Morell has no fear; our eyes blaze and dilate with Matilda, as we bear witness to our collective ruin. Morell’s poems celebrate the connections between the interior and exterior world and in doing so, take us closer to both.”

     —Kelly Boyker, Poetry Editor at Menacing Hedge 

“Tracie Morell is the patron saint of every woman that is tough, beautiful...and pissed off. The thing I admire about her the most is, she doesn't bitch about life's short comings, she resolves conflict with a love that is bulletproof. Matilda's Battle is her recent attempt at reminding the world that if you want to be happy...you better ask questions.”
     —Danny Klecko, author of Houdini in St. Paul

These are not to be read with eyes — it takes but a few lines before you feel her words writing themselves into you, burning the beauty and the pain on the insides of your eyelids and the long bones of your ribcage. Tracie's poems are scrimshaw and snowflakes: permanent, yet glittering."
     —Amanda Gowin, author of Radium Girls 

"Reading Matilda’s Battle Waltz is succumbing to a mesmerizing liturgy of literary moves that includes Matilda’s pontifications, navigations, poetic landscapes, work woes, and foreign loves. The reader travels the path of a most beautiful way of living that does not deny or distinguish between the glorious and the seedy, but sees each poem as a song, a part of the poetic whole. Indeed, the roots of Matilda’s experience grow with you upon every read and you find yourself tapping your foot to her poetic rhythms as the highs and lows pull you into her life’s dance."

     —Kathleen D. Gallagher, author of I See Things are Falling

Click here to read Ron Hayes' review of Matilda's Battle Waltz at Five Writers.
Click here to read Juliet Cook's review of Matilda's Battle Waltz at Menacing Hedge.
Click here to see ratings and reviews at Goodreads.

Tracie Morell — by Kris Risto

Tracie Morell was raised on the savannah by a pack of feral gazelles. At a young age, she learned to bend iron bars with naught but her teeth and sheer determination. During her school years, she consistently wowed her teachers and mentors with her ability to dodge skepticism while performing feats of whimsical magic. In adulthood, she has birthed miniscule acrobats who assist her in her day-to-day tasks of smashing the banality of various poverties. In her spare time, she enjoys semaphore, scrimshaw, collecting rejection letters, and working on cars for the love of artistry and craftsmanship, despite her loathing of vehicular landscapes and the smell of ethanol. She resides in a land beyond your reach. Only Ben Frasier knows how to find her.  

Join us for the official book launch for Matilda's Battle Waltz on Friday June 12th 2015 at 5:30 p.m. during Poets and Painters at PACA, 1505 State Street in Erie, Pennsylvania.  

The launch event will feature poetry readings by Marisa Moks-Unger (whose chapbook, Mud and Stars, will be released that night by NightBallet Press), Tracie Morell, Shawn King, Veronica Hopkins, Juliet Cook, Dianne Borsenik and John Burroughs - plus music by Rodger Montgomery and an exhibition of work by Kris Risto and Ken Paul Johnson.  Not to be missed!

My America (CC#42) & Bus Riders in the Storm (CC#43) by Cee Williams

Crisis Chronicles Press is happy to announce the publication of dual chapbooks by Erie poetry icon Cee Williams on 27 July 2013.  

My America features 9 poems on 20 pages in which Cee riffs on the state of our "Union" with passion, compassion, insight, an appropriate snarl when necessary and a keen sense of humor in the midst of it all to leaven the loaf perfectly.  Poems include "Troop Zero," "Yellow Ramparts We Play," "Parental Indiscretion," "Jerry's Kids," "You Picked a Fine Time to Spank Me Lucille" and more.  My America comes ready to eat and promises to satisfy the most ravenous poetic hunger.

Bus Riders in the Storm is quintessential Cee Williams, reimagining the lines between poetry and flash non-fiction with a 6 pack (on 20 pages) of full-bodied and thirst-slaking wordworks. Highlights include "Jesus Loves Ketchup," "Why Tony Hated Me" and the ROTFLMAO mock epic "I Am Lesbian."  Bus Riders in the Storm also features a cover image by camera queen Chandra Alderman.  Be sure to stay properly hydrated through the hot summer daze by ordering your copy today.

Click here to read "Parental Indiscretion" from My America: 9 Poems for Sister Lucille.
Click here to see ratings of My America at Goodreads.
Click here to see ratings of Bus Riders in the Storm at Goodreads.

My America and Bus Riders on the Storm were printed on ivory paper in Cee's hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, and were available for $6 apiece (includes postage) from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA. 

As of 2023, Bus Riders is sold out, but we still have a few copies of My America.  Get yours while supplies last.

 

Cee Williams is the founder of Poets' Hall – The International Fellowship of Poets and Spoken Word Artists, a community based venue for creative expression, which he operates in of Erie, Pennsylvania.

If you're in or passing through the lower Great Lakes region, please come to Poet's Hall on 27 July 2013 to help us celebrate this dual release at the Summer Special Double Feature with John Burroughs and Cee Williams.  A donation of $10 or more during this special event will get you copies of both new Cee Williams chapbooks PLUS a copy of John Burroughs' new Poet's Haven chapbook It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change.  That's an $18 value all together — and of course the night's entertainment and always fine Hall fellowship are free.  Chuck Joy will host.  We hope to see you there!

Cee photo by Chandra Alderman

P.S. If you haven't yet gotten one, we still have copies of Cee Williams' acclaimed 2012 Crisis Chronicles Press chapbook 12 Poems available as well.  Thanks again and again for your love and support!

12 Poems - by Cee Williams (CC#21)

Crisis Chronicles Press just released Pennsylvania living legend Cee Williams' new chapbook, 12 Poems, on 14 April 2012.

"12 Poems by Cee Williams (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2012) is a walk through the rhythms, worries, and lusts of a sensitive mind. Just when you think Williams might be wallowing in the deeper questions of life and love, "Strippers and Spilled Beer" bubbles to the surface, followed by the equally delightful "STFU." Short but jalapeño-sweet, 12 Poems is a must- read!"
          —Dianne Borsenik (editor, NightBallet Press)

12 Poems is 20 pages, black ink on cream paper, printed in the author's beloved Erie, Pennsylvania, with cover and design by Cee himself.  It's also dirt cheap.  To get your copy, send $5 to Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

Click here to read a review of 12 Poems by Jeremiah Walton.
Click here to read "Love Stinks" from 12 Poems in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to see reviews and ratings of 12 Poems at Goodreads.

Now in its second printing.  Approximately 150 total copies in print.

photo by Chandra Alderman

Poet's bio (as of 2012, from the chapbook):

Cee Williams is a poet and spoken word artist residing in Erie, Pennsylvania. His work has appeared in the poetry and visual art journal Bathtub Gin (Pathwise Press) and in the Dwelling in Possibilities anthology edited by Berwyn Moore. In 2010 Williams was named as a finalist for the Erie County Poet Laureate award. He is the founder and director of Poets’ Hall: the International Fellowship of Poets and Spoken Word Artists, for which he was the recipient of the EMBYP 2011 award for Business Innovation.