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.

Cut Me Free - by Ben Heins (CC#53) - OUT OF PRINT

Cover photo by Steven B. Smith

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to cut loose this fine new chapbook by Ben Heins on 23 February 2014. Cut Me Free is a brave and rich, lovingly handmade eighteen-page chapbook, a tasty word stew seasoned with astute erasure, pregnant margin variation and other deftly applied spices/devices. 

Highlights include "Letter of Disaffiliation to Freedmans Lutheran Church," "Delivering the Eviction Notice, Christmas Eve," "Reconsidering the Single Father," "I've Got This Grin You'll See from Space When You Come Down" and "Songs from the Ruptured Amniotic Sac." Cut Me Free is in 8.5x11" format and sidestaple bound using high quality cream and burnt orange card stock and faux ivory parchment paper.

Get yours while supplies last. Limited edition of 100 copies. A steal for only $4 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Avenue, Parma, Ohio 44134 USA. This chapbook is currently out of print.

 

"Ben Heins' vivid, disturbing poems are full of passion, empathy, and rage. In Cut Me Free, the poems cry out for freedom in the voices of collapsed, 'soul-sucked' balloons, an eviction server on a slippery front step on Christmas Eve, and a single father estranged from his own father. The book begins with a 'Letter of Disaffiliation to Freedmans Lutheran Church,' but the church and the idea of God can't be so easily escaped. From first to last, the poems take on big issues: a 'collapsing country' where a man is freezing while the speaker in the poem locks his doors, a person who is dying despite pills and an IV drip, and a church greeter who can't forget a murderous mental patient who collapsed in front of a congregation 'screaming for God.' Heins writes skillfully in forms ranging from a terzanelle ('I've Got This Grin You'll See from Space When You Come Down') to poems such as 'Songs from the Ruptured Amniotic Sac' that are split open on the page by the intensity of the feelings they express."
— Barbara Daniels, author of Rose Fever: Poems, Black Sails, and Quinn and Marie 

"Very powerful stuff here. Excellent work....  Ben Heins does not mess around when he writes. These poems are very powerful and use language extremely well. It is some of the best new work I've read in quite awhile. Crisis Chronicles has published this book and I would like to encourage anyone who really cares about poetry and the written power of the word to order themselves a copy before they go away. This is what you've been wanting to read even if you didn't know it."

— D.R. Wagner, author of Breaking and Entering and Continuing Lecturer in Design at UC Davis.

"I like the look of [Cut Me Free], the size of it, and the layout of it.... Yes, it's unconventional—but it's arty and I think it fits the material well. The colors are great, and it's obvious the cardstock and paper are of high quality. I think the poems benefit from being isolated on one side of the page, and I also think it helps give the book physical heft."

— Dianne Borsenik, author of Fortune Cookie and publisher for NightBallet Press. 

"Yesterday's mail brought copies of Songs in the Key of Cleveland and Ben Heins' Cut Me Free. Heins was a good read, now onto Cleveland Keys."

— Steven B. Smith,  author of Zen Over Zero and publisher of ArtCrimes.

"Amazing work here!"
— Krysia Jopek, author of Maps and Shadows.

Click here to read selections from Cut Me Free in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.
Click here to view ratings of Cut Me Free at Goodreads.

Ben Heins is the author of Greatest Hits & B-Sides (Vagabondage Press, 2012). He graduated from Rosemont College in 2012 with an M.F.A. in poetry and from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 2008 with a B.A. in professional writing and a minor in English literature. He currently teaches at Rowan University and the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.  Find him at www.benheins.com.

ISBN: 978-1-940996-06-6

In Bold Blackness: Selections - by Jami Tillis (CC#52)

Front Cover

This chapbook, a selection of 14 poems from Jami Tillis' In Bold Blackness series, is 18 pages, 8.5 x 5.5", lovingly handbound with top quality off-cream card stock, black endpapers and white paper.  The cover art is a detail of an Edward McKnight Kauffer illustration in the Borzoi Poe, as photographed by Steven Smith.  Poems include "Couldn't Sleep," "This Is Gonna Hurt Me," "Cancer," I Should've Known Better," "Where's That Dress?," "If These Walls Could Talk," "Hotels," "Ode to Hip Hop" and more.  Laser printed.  ISBN: 978-1-940996-04-2.  Approximately 60 copies in print. Published 31 January 2014.

In Bold Blackness: Selections by Jami Tillis is available for $5 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.
 

 

Click here to see ratings of In Bold Blackness: Selections at Goodreads.

Jami Tillis

About the author:
My name is Jami Tillis. I am 24 years old. I graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in May 2012. My field of study is Secondary Education with a concentration in English and history. In college, I belonged to a variety of groups—Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc., Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society, and Pi Alpha Theta History Honors Society.

I have a 6 year old daughter named Chayse who is my current inspiration for writing. All of my poetry and other written works are derived from real life experiences that I have witnessed and survived before and after she came along.

I am currently living in Chicago and working as a 5th and 6th grade Reading and Writing teacher in Chicago Public Schools.

YES, but.... - by Martin Burke (CC#50)

YES, but.... [ISBN 978-1-940996-01-1] was originally conceived as the second part of Martin Burke's yet-to-be-published The Tao of Wittgenstein. But I liked it so much I wanted to publish it as is before even seeing what came before or after. It seems so as it should be. Meanwhile, life intervened and it took 16 months for Crisis Chronicles to print it. But it's well worth the wait, and I'm proud to present it now.

YES, but.... is 29 pages in 8.5 x 11" landscape format, lovingly handbound and sidestapled, published on 8 January 2014. The cover features black endpapers and high quality pale blue cardstock emblazoned with a photo taken by Steven Smith at Cleveland's Brandt Gallery. Poems on white pages. Approximately 60 copies in print. Available for $5 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA in the United States.

Where are you?

US orders $5.00 USD Other countries $8.00 USD

Click here to see ratings of YES, but.... at Goodreads.

Martin Burke (June 4, 1951 - April 26, 2017) was born in Ireland (Limerick) but spent much of his life in Flanders (the northern Flemish speaking area of Belgium).  He published a number of books in Ireland, the UK, USA, and Belgium.

13 Ways of Looking at Lou Reed - by Steve Brightman (CC#48)

When Steve Brightman began writing this book and when Crisis Chronicles Press decided to publish it, we had no idea that Lou Reed would be dead when it came out.  I was just happy to be offered a book of poems inspired by a personal hero.  Now we offer it to you.

Published on 3 December 2013, 13 Ways of Looking at Lou Reed consists of 13 poems, lovingly hand assembled and saddle staple bound with prime quality off-white cardstock, black endpapers and white pages.  I created the cover art by manipulating Lou's senior picture, swiped from the 1959 Freeport [New York] High School yearbook.

This chapbook is currently out of print.

 

Click here to read "There is Only One Lou Reed" from the chapbook at Lost in the Forest.
Click here to read "Vending Machine Profiteers" in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.
Click here to see reviews and ratings of 13 Ways of Looking at Lou Reed at Goodreads.

Brightman - photo by T.M. Göttl

Steve Brightman lives in Kent, Ohio. 2013 has been kinder to him than some years. 2014 is showing promise, too.

"Steve Brightman's poetry is both piquant and pithy. This short collection is an excellent homage to an iconic musician. It will grab you and not let go. In one poem, 'Everyone is 1973...Everyone is Lou Reed.' I'm there, man.
       —Dianne Borsenik, editor/publisher of NightBallet Press

"Multifaceted and quietly wise, 13 Ways of Looking at Lou Reed has me pondering the many ways in which famous and creative people enter our lives, as complete strangers and simultaneously as intimates. A fascinating Reed!"
      —Shelley Chernin, author of The Vigil

Read a recent interview with Steve Brightman at Poetry Matters.

Cheap and Easy Magazine, volume 1 - by various authors (CC#44)

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the late but worth-the wait publication of Cheap and Easy Magazine, volume 1 on 22 November 2013. This decidedly lo-fi, raw art over gloss production, edited by Hon. Jugborn Airbrush, features 42 pages of writing and images by William E. Berger, Dianne Borsenik, Julie-Marie Bristol, C.M. Brooks, Chansonette Buck, Shelley Chernin, Wanda Morrow Clevenger, Roxy Contin, C.O. Dauber, Lee Dish, John Dorsey, Giselle Force, Alex Gildzen, Michael Grover, Hermes F. Hernandez, Meribeth Hutto, Chuck Joy, Lady, Geoffrey A. Landis, Chris Mansel, Gail Mansel, MaryAnn McCarra-Fitzpatrick, Alex Nielsen, Jay Passer, Siddartha Beth Pierce, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Sparkplug O’Shea, Séan M. Poole, Dave Roskos, Heather Ann Schmidt, Steven B. Smith, Merritt Waldon, R.A. Washington, Kathleen Whelan, A.D. Winans and Beverly Zeimer. Get yours for the decidedly lo-ball price of $5 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44134 USA.

The critics speak (though they've not yet read it):

"This is prime masturbation fodder."
— William Shake Spear

"I'll force feed Cheap and Easy to George Bilgere if you pay me $500."
— Bill E. Collins

"I'd rather lick the sweat from Bukowski's balls than read this."
— Haight R. Poet

"I did not have sex with that book."
— President Bill Clinton

"Quit listening to the critics. Buy the book and make up your own mind."
— Hon. Jugborn Airbrush


Click here to rate Cheap and Easy at Goodreads.
Click here to like Cheap and Easy on Facebook.

Secret Letters - by j/j hastain (CC#47)

cover art (c) 2013 by Marnie Weber

Crisis Chronicles Press is pleased to announce the publication of Secret Letters by j/j hastain on 22 October 2013. Secret Letters is 30 pages, 5.5 x 8.5", lovingly hand assembled and saddle staple bound with white pages, gunmetal card stock end papers and a coral-gray card stock cover emblazoned with surreal art by Marnie Weber.  The chapbook is available for $7 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA or via PayPal:

Click here to read Juliet Cook's reaction to Secret Letters.
Click here to read Martin Willitts, Jr.'s review of Secret Letters.
Click here to read Linda Ashok's review of Secret Letters.
Click here to read a brief selection from Secret Letters in the Crisis Chronicles litmag.
Click here to see ratings of j/j hastain's Secret Letters at Goodreads.

j/j hastain

j/j hastain is a queer, mystic, seer, singer, photographer, lover, priest/ess, and writer. As artist and activist of the audible, j/j is the author of several cross-genre books and enjoys ceremonial performances in an ongoing project regarding gender, shamanism, eros and embodiments. That project is called: you make yourself your own tilted stage. 

j/j is the author of several cross-genre books including the trans-genre book libertine monk (Scrambler Press), anti-memoir a vigorous (Black Coffee Press/ Eight Ball Press) and The Xyr Trilogy: a Metaphysical Romance. j/j’s writing has most recently appeared in Caketrain, Trickhouse, The Collagist, Housefire, Bombay Gin, Aufgabe and Tarpaulin Sky. j/j has been a guest lecturer at Naropa University, University of Colorado and University of Denver.

Cleveland: Point B in Ohio Triangle - by Alex Gildzen (CC#46)

Cover photo: Terminal Tower by Steven B. Smith

Crisis Chronicles Press is ecstatic to announce the publication of Cleveland: Point B in Ohio Triangle by Alex Gildzen on 6 October 2013. Cleveland is hand assembled with love and includes many of my favorite Gildzen poems, including "All in the Eye," "Alone in Cleveland," "West Side Market," "Tracing the Places of d.a. levy," "Short Vincent," "Sergeant Gildzen," "Day after I Learnd Daniel Thompson Died" and "Dead Poets Day." This chapbook is currently out of print. But its contents are now available in Gildzen's full-length Ohio Triangle, published in 2015 by Crisis Chronicles Press.

Cleveland: Point B in Ohio Triangle is 14 pages, 8.5 x 5.5", inkjet printed and saddle staple bound.  The cover is a deluxe ivory card stock that was recommended for watercolor.  The endpapers are a thick, shiny, deep chocolate card stock. And the poem pages are a creamy faux parchment.

Click here to see and hear Gildzen read "Tracing the Places of d.a. levy" from Cleveland at Outlaw Poetry.
Click here to see and hear Gildzen read "All in the Eye" from Cleveland in the Crisis Chronicles litmag.
Click here to see ratings of Cleveland at Goodreads.

Gildzen with Hart Crane in Cleveland

Alex Gildzen never had a Cleveland address. But he’s enjoyed lasagna at Guarino’s and pierogies at Sokolowski’s. He’s danced at Traxx and listened to drag queens sing at Shaker Club. He’s purchased books at Kay’s and seen plays at the Hanna. Since being one of "11 Cleveland Poets" to appear in a special section of the British magazine Asylum in 1968, Gildzen has been identified with the city.

Cleveland is the middle section of Gildzen's work-in-progress Ohio Triangle. The first, Elyria, was published as a chapbook by Crisis Chronicles Press in 2009. We will publish the complete Ohio Triangle (including part three, Kent) as a perfect bound book in the spring of 2015.

Grand Slam - by Alan Kleiman (CC#37)

The première collection of Alan Kleiman's poetry, featuring many of his most popular works, was published in September 2013 by Crisis Chronicles Press. Grand Slam is one of the winners of our September 2011 chapbook contest and we are thrilled to finally have it released. This book is perfect bound, 40 pages, with front cover art by John Newsome and cover/book design by Lisa Hollander. Roughly 300 copies in print.

Get this acclaimed book for your very own for only $10 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.  Or click below to use PayPal.

The buzz about Grand Slam:

"I actually LIKE Alan Kleiman’s poems. They’re both grounded and glorious. And for somebody who traditionally reads poetry only if she happens to stub her toe on it, that’s saying a lot.”
—Jenna Blum, New York Times best-selling author of Those Who Save Us and The Stormchasers

“I lost track of the chuckles and caught-breath insights Alan Kleiman’s big-hearted collection triggered. He has a remarkable way of turning an ordinary little event into a didja-see-that surreal moment that makes you jump (for joy!). Enjoy these firecrackers!”
—Elinor Nauen, author of So Late into the Night and My Marriage A to Z

“It’s a pleasure to praise Alan Kleiman’s brave and strange poetry, with its various strands of innocent yearning and worldly resignation. 'The Emperor’s clothes Don’t fit anymore' Kleiman has found. The result is a whole new wardrobe, this time, without excuses.”
—Jeff Nunokawa, Princeton University

Click here to read "Dancing with Varese" from Grand Slam in Blue Fifth Review.
Click here to read "Centerfold" from Grand Slam in The Camel Saloon.
Click here to read "What Tales" from Grand Slam in Words Dance.
Click here to read "Tomorrow" from Grand Slam in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.
Click here to read Kate Campbell's remarks and "More."
Click here to read reviews of Grand Slam at Amazon.
Click here to view ratings of Grand Slam at Goodreads.

Alan Kleiman with Grand Slam proof

Alan S. Kleiman’s poetry has appeared in The Criterion, Verse Wisconsin, Right Hand Pointing, Blue Fifth Review, The Bicycle Review, Pyrta, Eskimo Pie, The Montucky Review, Kinship of Rivers, Stone Path Review and other journals. He lives in New York City and works as an attorney.

Rain and Gravestones - by John Swain (CC#45)

Cover photo by John Swain

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the publication of a new collection of poems by John Swain on 1 September 2013. Rain and Gravestones perfect bound, 32 pages, and full of the lush, perfectly grounded and yet transcendent depth and breadth of vision and language you've come to expect from Mr. Swain.  Roughly 130 copies in print.

Rain and Gravestones is available for $7 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

Click here to read Krysia Jopek's review of Rain and Gravestones.
Click here to view ratings of Rain and Gravestones at Goodreads.

Click here to read "Fire Once Lived" from Rain and Gravestones in Eunoia Review.
Click here to read the title poem from Rain and Gravestones in Bigger Stones.
Click here to read "Torch" from Rain and Gravestones in PressBoardPress.
Click here to read "At the Ceiling" from Rain and Gravestones in the Crisis Chronicles litmag.

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], Burnt Palmistry [Full of Crow], Handing the Cask [erbacce press], Fragments of Calendars [Thunderclap Press], and White Vases [Crisis Chronicles Press].  His newest book, Ring the Sycamore Sky, will be published in 2014 by Red Paint Hill.

The Everyday Parade / Alone With Turntable, Old Records - by Justin Hamm (CC#41) - OUT OF PRINT

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the release of The Everyday Parade / Alone With Turntable, Old Records, a dual poetry chapbook by Justin Hamm, on 22 August 2013.  According to the author, "the back cover is printed upside down...to approximate the experience of listening to a record. The reader will read to the middle and then stop, flip the book over, and read Side Two."

unfolded cover of The Everyday Parade / Alone With Turntable, Old Records by Justin Hamm

The Everyday Parade / Alone With Turntable, Old Records was chosen as one of The Best Chapbooks of 2013 by The Scrapper Poet and as one of The Best Chapbook Collections of 2013 by Karen J. Weyant.

Sandy Longhorn, author of Blood Almanac, says:

"With a wisdom beyond his years, Justin Hamm presents tributes, laments, and elegies for the everyday and the working class, influenced by the best tradition of American folk and country music. The ghosts of Elvis, Hank, Townes, and Dylan ride shotgun — 'the mangiest and most / loyal-looking mutts ever' — as Hamm exposes the 'underbellies of the last minstrels' and shines a perfectly wrecked light on 'the one period / in all of this long lie called history / without room for heroism or holiness.' And yet, that is exactly what these poems sing of, the heroic and the holy, and the choruses echoes on long after the last poem-track gives way to silence."

Norbert Krapf, former Indiana Poet Laureate, says:

"Put this poetry album on your turntable and listen as Justin Hamm spins you back into the origins of American song and the center of communal life. Share the voices he recovers and praise him for having the wisdom to savor 'the loveliness / of [his] wife’s hair tucked behind her ears / and the almost imperceptible music of [his] little daughter’s sneakers / swishing through the…backyard grass.' He knows what to sing!"

The Everyday Parade / Alone With Turntable, Old Records by Justin Hamm is approximately 40 pages, saddle staple bound and hand assembled, 5.33 x 7.9 ", laser printed on white cover stock, deep purple endpapers and white pages. 100 copies in print. $7 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Avenue, Parma, Ohio 44134 USA. CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT AND UNAVAILABLE.

More reviews:

Click here to read Kathleen Kirk's review of the chapbook in Prick of the Spindle.
Click here to read Michael Meyerhofer's review at Trouble with Hammers.
Click here to view ratings of this chapbook at Goodreads.

Sample poems:

Click here to read "The Everyday Parade" in Atticus Review.
Click here to read "Uncle Fat Elvis" in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.
Click here to read "To a Folksinger Just Arrived" in the Crisis Chronicles cyber litmag.

Interviews:

Click here to read a 2013 interview with Justin Hamm in Speaking of Marvels.
Click here to read a 2013 interview with Justin Hamm in Sakura Review.
Click here to read a 2012 interview with Justin Hamm in Midwestern Gothic.
 

Justin Hamm - photo by Mel Hamm

Poet's bio (as of 2013, from the chapbook):Originally from the flatlands of central Illinois, Justin Hamm now lives near Twain territory in Missouri. He is the the founding editor of the museum of americana and the author of the chapbook Illinois, My Apologies (RockSaw Press, 2011). His work has appeared, or will soon appear, in Nimrod, The New York Quarterly, Cream City Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Sugar House Review, and a host of other publications. Recent work has also won The Stanley Hanks Memorial Poetry Award from the St. Louis Poetry Center, been featured on the Indiefeed: Performance Poetry channel, and been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and the Pushcart Prize. Justin earned his MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2005.

Update:  Justin Hamm's first full-length collection of poems, Lessons in Ruin, will be published by Aldrich Press in 2014 and is now available for pre-order from justinhamm.net.