The Anarchist's Blac Book of Poetry - by Frankie Metro (CC#25)

cover image: a Steven Smith photo of a
collage/sculpture by Mother Dwarf Smith

Crisis Chronicles Press is pleased to announce the publication of Frankie Metro's The Anarchist's Blac Book of Poetry on 1 June 2012.  This 40-page chapbook is 8.5 x 5.5", hand assembled, saddle staple bound, with black endpapers and a black glossy card stock cover.  Wrapped in black and yellow police tape that doubles as a bookmark, The Anarchist's Blac Book of Poetry also includes several illustrations by the author.  Only 50 copies in print.  It's available for $7 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Ohio 44143 USA.

 

 

 

 

 

Poems:

Click here to read "Death Before Drawing" from the Blac Book in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to read "Streets of the Pan Americano Nightmare III" in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to see video of Frankie Metro reading from the book at Viracocha in San Francisco.

Reviews:

Click here to read Lynn Alexander's essay on the book at Crow Reviews.
Click here to read a review of the book by Luis Rivas at Peace is Illegal.
Click here to read part of a review by Doc Sigerson.
Click here to see ratings/reviews at Goodreads.

Interviews:

Click here to read an interview with Frankie Metro at Mik Everett's blog.
Click here to read an interview with the author on Bud Smith's blog.

Frankie Metro — photo courtesy of FM

Poet's bio (as of 2012, from the book):
Frankie Metro is the Head Non-Fiction and Associate Fiction editor at Red Fez Publications, where his column "The Left Handed Smoker" runs monthy. He is also The Chemist at the online lit journal The Meth Lab and holds no affiliation with Black Bloc Anarchists.

White Vases - by John Swain (CC#26)

cover foto by Cleveland artist Steven B. Smith

Crisis Chronicles Press is pleased to announce the publication of White Vases, a 21-page poetry chapbook featuring 18 works by John Swain. 8.5 x 5.5", inkjet printed on white paper. Hand assembled and saddle staple bound using white cover stock over thick blue cloud card stock.  Around 150 copies in print.

Released June 1st 2012, the chapbook edition of White Vases is currently sold out and out of print. 

 

However the e-book edition of White Vases is still available for $2.99 via Amazon Kindle.

 

 

 

 

Poems:

Click here to read "Arisen" from White Vases in the Crisis Chronicles litmag.
Click here to read "Promise of Rivers" from White Vases in Up the Staircase.

Click here to read "Fables" from White Vases in Clockwise Cat.
Click here to read "Blue Tapestries" from White Vases in Blue Lake Review.
Click here to read Spanish translations of some the poems in White Vases.

Interview:

Click here to read a Q&A with John Swain about the book at Effits Undy.

Reviews:

Click here to read a review on Mik Everett's blog.

Click here to read Lynn Alexander's essay on the book at Crow Reviews.

Click here to read a review in newmiragejournal. 
Click here to see ratings and reviews of White Vases at Goodreads.

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

John Swain lives in Louisville, Kentucky. His previous chapbooks include: Prominences and Sinking of the Cloth (Flutter Press); Set Apart Before the World Was Made (Calliope Nerve Media); The Feathered Masks and Burnt Palmistry (Full of Crow); Handing the Cask (erbacce press); and Fragments of Calendars (Thunderclap Press). His work has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best of the Web.

The Vigil - by Shelley Chernin (CC#24)

cover from a graphite drawing by Jessie Herzfeld

Crisis Chronicles Press is ecstatic to announce the publication of Shelley Chernin's The Vigil, a chapbook featuring her seven part poem of the same name. Probing and powerful, Chernin's work digs deep, brings dark to light and is highly flammable.  Published 24 May 2012, The Vigil is now available for $5 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

"It's an astounding work. I knew as soon as I started reading it that I wasn't going to put it down, and that's pretty rare for me. It is just good on so many levels. Regardless of what one's faith relationship is, the work says something about faith that is irrefutable. Rather the metaphor, the mining and its inherent disasters and conditions, was so powerfully drawn that one walks away, whether one wants to or not, with a new reality concerning faith. I'm not a great judge and I don't keep up with award winning and prize winning, grant winning poetry standards, but I could see this book grabbing a big one. Remarkable....  It was like reading a sinking hole.  The book collapses right in your hands." - Cat Listening.

Click here to read Barbara Sabol's review of The Vigil and interview with the author at Poetry Matters.
Click here to read Michael Dennis' review of The Vigil at Today's Book of Poetry.
Click here to read The Vigil for free online in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.
Click here to view ratings of The Vigil at Goodreads.

The Vigil is 8.5 x 5.5", hand assembled and saddle staple bound using white cover stock, textured gray-cream endpapers and white pages.  Early copies were inkjet printed; later copies, laser printed.  2nd edition released in January 2020. Approximately 240 copies exist.

Shelley Chernin, 2012 - photo by JB

Poet's bio (from the first edition):

Shelley Chernin is a 57-year-old freelance researcher, writer, and editor of legal reference books. She lives in Russell, Ohio (aka Novelty, proving that the US Postal Service once had a sense of irony). Her poems have appeared in Scrivener Creative Review, Rhapsoidia, What I Knew Before I Knew: Poems from the Pudding House Salon-Cleveland, the Heights Observer, the 2010 through 2012 Hessler Street Fair poetry anthologies and the Cuyahoga Burning edition of Big Bridge. She received the 2nd Place award in the 2011 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Contest and Honorable Mentions in the Akron Art Museum's New Words Poetry Contest in 2009 and 2010. Yes, of course, she plays the ukulele. Who doesn't?

This is How She Fails - by Lisa J. Cihlar (CC#23)

Our latest Crisis Chronicles Press chapbook, This Is How She Fails by Lisa J. Cihlar, is a cycle of more than two dozen prose poems - often haunting, always gorgeous - comprising 26 pages, 8.5 x 5.5", hand assembled and saddle staple bound, featuring a white and dual blue cardstock cover with cover art by Lisa Marie Peaslee.  Published on 8 May 2012, I imagine you'll love it every bit as much as I do.

This Is How She Fails is available for $7 US (includes shipping) to Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA. Approximately 150 copies in print.  One reader writes, "WARNING: Do not read before bedtime. [This book] will follow you into your dreams."

If you prefer an electronic format, please click here to buy the Kindle edition for $2.99.

Click here to read "Damage" from This Is How She Fails in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to read "The Wind Lass" from This Is How She Fails in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to see a Swoon film of "Sunday Service" from This Is How She Fails.
Click here to read an interview with the author at r.k.v.r.y. quarterly.
Click here to read reviews of This Is How She Fails at Goodreads.

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

Lisa J. Cihlar's poems have been published in South Dakota Review, Green Mountains Review, In Posse Review, Bluestem, and The Prose-Poem Project. One of her poems was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first chapbook, The Insomniac’s House, is available from Dancing Girl Press. She lives in rural southern Wisconsin.

desire lines - by Chansonette Buck (CC#22)

cover photo by Steven B. Smith in Oaxaca

Crisis Chronicles Press published desire lines by Chansonette Buck on 22 April 2012 (also the author's birthday).  One of our finest chapbooks yet, desire lines features 17 poems on high quality ivory paper, quirkily hand assembled and saddle staple bound using white and ashen orange card stocks.  9 x 7".  Approximately 150 total copies in print.  2nd edition published 28 June 2013.  desire lines is available for $6 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

 
 

 

Poems/interview:

Click here to read "science project, pocatello" from desire lines in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to read the bath poem "moon train" from desire lines in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to hear an interview with the author and reading from desire lines, originally broadcast by KRFP, Radio Free Moscow.

Reviews:

Click here to read a review of desire lines at Amazon.
Click here to see reviews and ratings of desire lines at Goodreads.

Buck in Lorain, Ohio - photo by Dianne Borsenik

Poet's bio (as of 2012, from the chapbook):
Chansonette Buck spent her childhood “on the road” as stepdaughter of a Black Mountain poet, living all over the American West, in England, and in Spain. She holds the PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley, where she concentrated on 20th-century poetry and poetics and wrote a dissertation on childhood trauma as the source of William Carlos Williams's poetic obsessions. She has a BFA in painting from Massachusetts College of Art, and has won awards for her visual art, her poetry, and her teaching. Chapters of her memoir Unnecessary Turns: Growing Up Beat have appeared in Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horses in Their Lives (Seal Press, May 2010) and Polarity eMagazine (Fall 2010). Her poems have appeared online and in print, including a feature in the journal tinfoildresses 2012. Her first chapbook, blood oranges (NightBallet Press, 2011), was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Berkeley with her family, her boa constrictor, and way too many cats and dogs.

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.

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. 

Primer for the Vanguard Youth - by RA Washington (CC#19)

cover photo by Steven B. Smith

Primer for the Vanguard Youth, published 8 March 2012, features new poetic works by multi-dimensional Ohio artist RA Washington.  This 24-page chapbook is hand assembled and saddle staple bound using high quality gray and dark blue card stock with white pages.  8.5 x 5.5". Earliest copies were inkjet printed.  Latest are laser. Available for only $6 US from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

Click here to read "Moloch, Moloch" from Primer for the Vanguard Youth in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.

Click here to see reviews and ratings at Goodreads.
Click here to read a review by David Egbert at Amazon.

RA Washington at The Lit in Cleveland — photo by JB

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

RA Washington is the author of 16 books, most recently the novella, The Further Adventures of Gentleman Richards. He is a member of the soul punk duo, Crave, and has released ten albums under various monikers. For more, see clevelandtapes.com or stalk him on Facebook.

Only Human by Definition - by Jay Passer (CC#18)

Only Human by Definition is a collection of 18 poems by Jay Passer.  This 20-page chapbook is hand-assembled and saddle staple bound using high quality mauve card stock, gray endpapers, inkjet printed on white pages.  8.5 x 5.5". Published on 6 February 2012.  Around 100 copies in print.  Cover foto by Steven B. Smith, manipulated by John Burroughs. Available for $6 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

"Jay Passer has been writing poems and fiction for the littles for twenty four years. This is his seventh chapbook of work about cohabitation with bums, whores and addicts in cities up and down the west coast. Startling, perverse, and absolutely original, Jay's work will entertain a wide array of readers and deep thinkers. Jay currently resides in a spartan shithole in Sacramento."  —Brian Pinsker

"I love my friend [Brian] but I think this is a bit overstated, a bit raw, a bit inaccurate, and a whole lot inappropriate. Perhaps he was too far on the box wine."  —Jay Passer

"Passer's poetry is the wine.  I'm passing it around at my next last supper." —Jesus Crisis
 
Sample poems/reviews:

Click here to read "Chorus Line Up" from Only Human by Definition in the Crisis Chronicles litmag.
Click here to read "The Paving of the Garden" from Only Human by Definition in the litmag.
Click here to read a review of Only Human by Definition at Poet Hound.
Click here to see ratings of Only Human by Definition at Goodreads.

Poet's bio (from the chapbook):

A cook by trade, poet by nature and vagabond at heart, Jay Passer doesn't own a car but enjoys driving fast.  Born in San Francisco in 1965.  Loves cats but is allergic to them. His first 3 chapbooks were published by the now defunct OuterDark Press in Seattle, his 4th by Piss Pour Press. His 5th and 6th are e-chaps, available at Poetry Superhighway and Ten Pages Press.

Click here to contact Mr. Passer.

Rapid Eye Movement - by J.E. Stanley (CC#17)

cover image: Looking Up by Steven B. Smith

Rapid Eye Movement is a collection of 17 poems by Ohio's own J.E. Stanley. Four of the poems were nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award and two were nominated for the SFPA's Dwarf Stars Award.  This 20-page chapbook is saddle stitched and lovingly hand assembled using high quality white and black cardstock, inkjet printed with the poems on cream pages. 8.5 x 5.5".  Originally published on 8 December 2011, with a second printing on 27 April 2016. Available for only $6 US from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143.  Approximately 130 copies in print.

Click here to read "City of Bridges" and here to read "Eleven Minutes" from Rapid Eye Movement in the Crisis Chronicles.
Click here to read a review by Greg Schwartz.

Click here to read a review by Scott E. Green. 

Click here to see ratings of Rapid Eye Movement at Goodreads.

JE Stanley at Jim's Coffeehouse in Elyria, Ohio
photo by John Burroughs

Poet's bio (as of 2011, from the chapbook):

J.E. Stanley is an accountant and on again/off again guitarist from the grayscale suburban wilderness of Northeastern Ohio where he is lucky enough to hang out with the Deep Cleveland Poets and the Cleveland Speculators. He is the author of Dark Intervals (vanZeno Press), Dissonance (Deep Cleveland Press) and co-author, with Joshua Gage, of Intrinsic Night (Sam’s Dot Publishing). His work has appeared in Amaze, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Cinema Spec, the Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle, Paper Crow, The Rhysling Anthology, Scifaikuest, Sein und Werden, Star*Line, Sybil’s Garage and numerous other mainstream and genre publications. He continues to assert that, winged or not, Man was always meant to fly; the moon and stars were just put there as incentives.

Click here to contact the author.

Grace, You Let the Screen Door Slam - by William Merricle (CC#16)

cover foto/collage: Downstairs by Steven B. Smith

Grace, You Let the Screen Door Slam is a 16 page poetic knock out by one of Ohio's own, the unboxable William Merricle.  Published 1 November 2011.

Grace, You Let the Screen Door Slam is 8.5 x 5.5", handbound, saddle stapled and inkjet printed on white cover stock and ivory pages with burnt orange endpapers.  Approximately 75 copies in print.

 

The chapbook is currently out of print, but its content appears (in a newly revised form) in Merricle's Contempt of Gravity: The Complete Published Poems, 1981–2020.

Click here to see ratings of Grace, You Let the Screen Door Slam on Goodreads.

Poet's bio (as of 2011, from the chapbook): 

William Merricle is a poet living in Lima, Ohio. His chapbook, Heimlich The Donut, was published in 2010 by Pudding House Publications. He also published several chapbooks, including Love & Food By-Products, Why Should I Suffer Alone?, and Slubberdegullion Blues in a previous century.