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« New & Forthcoming Titles »
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Over the 25 years of BBP's publishing history, we have tried to share with readers the work of the most exciting writers and artists we could find. Without consideration of how well their books or art might or might not sell. Here are a few recent examples of this continuing search: some of these books are already in print, and some are in production or in our publication plans.
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"Poetry is simply literature reduced to the essence of its active principle. It is purged of idols of every kind, of realistic illusions, of any conceivable equivocation between the language of 'truth' and the language of 'creation.'" -- Paul Valery
"Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness..."--Willa Sibert Cather
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≈New≈
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THE ALCHEMY OF WORDS by Edward Francisco.
In this exquisite collection of poetry, the poet-alchemist
casts his keen eye and ear over a broad palette of human
experience in search of the precise words to transmute
everyday life into the golden language of understanding
and compassion: from the terrifying kudzu vine to John
the Baptist waiting for Christ to sitting in the gaze of the
Man of Tao to reading Shelley with Gabriel to observing
William Blake's chimney sweep to the wonderful irony
inherent in sending a Valentine's card to Emily Dickinson.
56 pages. Printed from 12 pt. metal Goudy Lite type on
antique presses with Mohawk Vellum. Letterpress soft
cover: $13. ISBN: 978-0-9789974-1-0.
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WOODSTOVES & RAVENS, by Robert Farmer.
A wild-land sojourn with woodstoves and ravens in the boreal forest on
the Canadian north shore of Lake Superior, near Thunder Bay. The
author, a forest-ecologist, distills two decades of back-country living
into tight, lyrical poems--on wildness, the mind's seasonal darkness,
relationships with plants, animals and, occasionally, people.
Grounded in Tang Dynasty poetry and Buddhist philosophy, his work
moves beyond description to focus on the irony and agony of self-
awareness. These poems reflect the author's deep fondness for northern
wild lands and life in remote regions. Seven original artworks by
Alanna Marohnic, a resident of Ontario. "Farmer's meditative poetry on
some twenty years of life on a homestead near Ferguson Creek is like an
extended visit with the best of tour guides--one who knows when to tell
you about some feature you might have missed; and one who knows
when to shut up and let you simply take it all in...."--Peter Fergus-Moore,
THUNDER BAY CHRONICLE-JOURNAL. Letterpress softcover: $16. (U.S.)
$20. (Canada) 88 pages. ISBN: 978-0-9789974-0-3.
Ship/pack: $4.50 (U.S.) $6.00 (Canada).
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IN THE GARDEN OF DETRITUS, by Stanley Nelson.
A handset, handbound letterpress-printed chapbook
from the author of 15 previous books of poetry, including
the brilliant four-volume epic poem, IMMIGRANT, also
published by Birch Brook Press. Through staggered lines
and rhythms and internal rhymes In the Garden of Detritus
wanders through the nature of and relationship between
dreams and memory, unveiling "vapors" of reality in a
garden of statues and artificers. Original cover wood
engraving by Frank C. Eckmair. $12. Ship/pack: $4.50
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WIND & WATER, by Osmond Beckwith
An engaging collection of poetry which invokes classical
allusions while immersing itself in the land the poet loves,
echoing early days in Michigan growing up on a farm, or
listening to the wind soughing the pines through a screen
door in Maine, or even as he absords the tableau of Manhattan's
streets. But no matter where the poet observes human and
natural life, his ambition remains the same: to become one
with the wind, to remember the rain. Original wood engraving
by Michael McCurdy. $15. + $4.50 shipping/packing. 56 pages.
ISBN: 978-7-913559-92-4 |
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≈Forthcoming≈
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WHERE THINGS ARE WHEN YOU LOSE THEM, by Martin Golan.
This tightly written collection of twelve short stories by a veteran
journalist confronts contemporary issues in relationships, and the
nature of loss, with the keen eye of a reporter, a poet's ear for language,
and the insights of one who has "been there." As Golan leads us through
a landscape of loss, he doesn't merely illuminate these moments but
seems to celebrate them: "Loss," he says, "comes with being human,
with any life lived fully and well." Stories include these intriuging titles:
"The Shape of Water," "The Loneliness of Men," "Intimacy," "The Cicadas
are throbbing," "Nora, Standing Naked," "The Perfect Woman." Due to be
published in a trade paperback edition in winter, 2007/2008.
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THE SEA-CROSSING OF ST. BRENDAN, by Matthew Brennan
A classic of Irish literature: a sparkling new verse version of this great sea adventure:
"Amid whitecaps and waves/starlight was winking/and when the moon anchored/
like a kite in the sky/I'd nap on my back,/nervously bracing/for wind and for rain/
to wrack the night..." The tale centers around St. Brendan the Navigator's seven-
year search for the isle known as the "Land of Saints," and in the course of which
a giant fish lifts his ship on its back. To be published in summer of 2008 in a
letterpress edition.
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THE BELLS OF MOSES HENRY, by Peter Skinner
By the author of the widely admired novel, White Buffalo (published earlier by
Birch Brook Press), Skinner's latest novel is rich with insight and humor and is
peopled by a lively cast of credible characters whom he follows from whore
houses to railroad boxcars to the homes of plain southern folk as they search
for security, redemption, undwerstanding, and love. Due to be published in
quality hardcover and trade paperback editions late in 2008.
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