Bootstrap News

Bootstrap Blog Migration

2011-03-29T15:39:00.002-04:00

The Bootstrap Blog has moved to its new home at the bootstrap website.

Please update your bookmarks.

See you after the jump.

UVAS @ The Kerouac Literary Festival

2010-09-14T21:03:00.002-04:00

FREE SHOW!
Friday (night in the universe) October 1st, 2010

UVAS Poster for Kerouac Fest 10.1.10

Free E-Book of A NEW BOOK FROM ROME & The Bootstrap Summer Fire Sale

2010-05-27T20:56:00.009-04:00

Here at bootstrap, we love the work of John Wieners. So much so, that we (Jim, Ryan, and Derek) spent countless hours turning his journal into a physical object. We would like nothing more than for you to read his words.

In fact, if you would like to read this book, here it is, for free--in its entirety:

A New E-book From Rome - John Wieners

If you would like to own the physical object, a 168-page, Scarlett hardcover with gilded design, which also includes ephemera, you can still buy it:

Now In-Stock: A NEW BOOK FROM ROME by John Wieners

2010-03-08T15:07:00.006-05:00

Pre-orders shipped over the weekend.
Half of the 258 have already sold, thank-you!
Order your copy today via paypal links below.

Supplication - John Wieners - 2.21.02

2010-01-30T20:44:00.006-05:00

Note: Video footage was captured by Bill Perrault.
The reading was sponsored by Jack Powers and Stone Soup.

A NEW BOOK FROM ROME - John Wieners

Place your order while supplies last:

United States Orders

International Orders

International Orders for A NEW BOOK FROM ROME

2010-01-04T22:01:00.004-05:00

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS ONLY:
(for US orders see post below)

A NEW BOOK FROM ROME by John Wieners
INTERNATIONAL ORDERS:

Announcing A NEW BOOK FROM ROME by John Wieners

2009-12-10T21:32:00.012-05:00

Rome Release - John Wieners

This Friday Night!

2009-10-13T18:14:00.000-04:00

UVAS Mass Poetry

Recommended: eXchanges is the University of Iowa’s literary e-journal

2009-07-03T10:09:00.004-04:00

Letter from the Editors

Does translating a text provide a mirror image of the original – even if that image is reversed or otherwise distorted – or does it mask the original behind the unfamiliar lexical and syntactical trappings of an alien language? Like any metaphor for translation, the mirror and the mask are both inadequate to capture the nuances of the process, yet both also point toward provocative discussions of the role of translation and its effects on a text. Do different layers of language and culture inform a translation and become reflected in it, or are they obscured? While as translators we aspire to overcoming mutual incomprehension, the study of translation is also inevitably a study of what is missing, of what has not been communicated, or of what has been communicated instead... read more.

"Where Eagles Dare" (Misfits) By Pajo

2009-06-03T19:00:00.005-04:00

Just got my copy of SCREAM WITH ME by Pajo. As far as Misfits cover albums, Pajo's is the best. Get your limited edition from Black Tent Press

Application and Rubric for Small Press Fair

2009-05-27T22:01:00.000-04:00

Saturday, October 17th 2009

Application and Rubric for Small Press Fair Application and Rubric for Small Press Fair bootstrapproductions4450

Publish at Scribd or explore others: poetry revolution

Trip to the Grotto in Lowell, MA with Jim Dunn

2009-05-13T01:41:00.006-04:00

Late one March evening, Jim Dunn and I set out for the Grotto, to visit Dr. Sax. Here is a peak.

"I went along home by the ding dong bells and daisies, I put a rose in my hair. I passed the Grotto again and saw the cross on top of that hump of rocks, saw some old French Canadian ladies praying step by step on their knees. I found another rose, and put another rose in my hair, and went home.

By God."

Jack Kerouac, DR SAX

ATTENTION NYC!

2009-05-06T17:24:00.000-04:00

Put on your spring finery
and come celebrate
with the best small presses in NYC!

Annual Books Party
Thursday, May 7, 2009
6-8pm
Jack Shainman Gallery
513 W. 20th, NYC
For further information contact: seguefoundation@verizon.net

Featuring
Belladonna • BootStrap • The Figures • Granary • Roof
Talisman • Ugly Duckling • United Artists • Portable Press at Yo-yo Labs

Belladonna
Area by Marcella Durand
mauve sea-orchids by Lila Zemborain
Open Box by Carla Harryman
The Elders Series

The Figures
Space by Clark Coolidge
No. 111 by Kenneth Goldsmith
Ted by Ron Padgett
Mon Canard by Stephen Rodefer

BootStrap
Rancho Weirdo by Laura Chester
I No Longer Believe in the Sun:
Love Letters to Katie Couric by Derek Fenner
Parish Krewes by Micah Ballard
Riot Act by Geoffrey Young

Granary
Faster Than Birds Can Fly by John Ashbery & Trevor Winkfield.
Nine Nights Meditation by Anne Waldman & Donna Dennis
Oaths? Questions? by Marjorie Welish & James Siena
The Square by Emily McVarish

Roof
Styrofoam by Evelyn Reilly
Rob the Plagiarist by Rob Fitterman
Public Domain by Monica de la Torre
Quadragene by Larry Price

Talisman
Eschaton by Michael Heller
Bending the Mind Around the Dream’s Blown Fuse by Timothy Liu,
Hearth by Simon Pettet
Petals of Zero Petals of One by Andrew Zawacki

Ugly Duckling
Classification of a Spit Stain by Ellie Ga
Notes on Conceptualisms by Vanessa Place and Rob Fitterman
The Russian Version by Elena Fanailova
(translated by Genya Turovskaya and Stephanie Sandler)
A Plate of Chicken by Matthew Rohrer

Portable Press at Yo-yo Labs
Shaved Code by Frances Richard
Materialisms by Miranda Mellis
Generic Whistle-Stop by Thomas Fink
The Book Called Spring by David Brazil

United Artists
Absolutely Eden by Bobbie Louise Hawkins
My Autobiography by Barbara Henning
The Influence of Paintings Hung in Bedrooms by Phyllis Wat
Join the Planets by Reed Bye

For further information contact: seguefoundation@verizon.net

Bootstrap on the road... to Colby-Sawyer College

2009-04-07T19:31:00.002-04:00

DF's Pics from CO CA 2009

2009-03-17T00:33:00.005-04:00

The following photographs were taken with Col. DF's camera during the Bootstrap Bailout Tour of 2009 in Colorado and California.

Pictured therein:
The Sundown Saloon in Boulder, CO / Col. Jeff Chester / Sweet Narissa & Col. DF / Wild Turkey / The PI (Pioneer Inn) in Nederland, CO / The Caboose in Nederland, CO / Vine Street Pub in Denver, CO / The Monk's Kettle in San Francisco, CA / Nat and Xtian, owners of the the Monk's Kettle / Ryan, Micah, Col. DF / Julien / Shrine to Katie Couric's red thong at Books and Bookshelves in San Francisco / Proof that Sunnylyn is from another dimension and only photographs as a blur of energy / Evidence of Micah and Col. DF's gang affiliation / another brother from another mother, Patrick / Big Bell's Jason / Dunns and Roses / Magickal Mardi Gras Cape / Micah and Col. DF passing spirits

Soundtrack written by Hank Performed by THE THE

Thank you friends and family, we saw the light you shined...

Back when boots were boots. . .

2009-02-28T09:56:00.021-05:00

and straps were straps and a nickel was
a nickel and a dime was (two times that.)

Found two videos from the archives of Derek's cousin, Derek Fener (with one N,) who ran our live auction and drank twelve bourbons (Kentucky Sunshine) on stage in about 40 minutes.

"Daisy Duke's my girlfriend":

"Sold for $120.00":*

Y'all remember when the economy was a big bubble?

* * * * * * *

Remind us again why the credit card companies get a bailout?
_______________________________

REPEAT AFTER ME:
BOOTSTRAP BE / SHOVEL-READY.
BOOTSTRAP BE / SHOVEL-READY.

______________________________

"Fourier's concept of a secret society paving the way for a Utopian 'uprising' deserves some serious consideration." (Peter Lamborn Wison Escape from the Nineteenth Century "Fourier--Or, The Utopian Poetics 34)

Anyway,
Stay radical*, bootstrappers.

*the amount we owe this month (but can not pay) between storage and credit card interest.
*Radices: the roots of human existence.

THE BOOTSTRAP WESTERN REGIONS BAILOUT TOUR 2009

2009-02-12T00:15:00.004-05:00

The shovel ready proprietors of Bootstrap Press are hitting the road.

They will be in Boulder, Colorado February 15-18 and in San Francisco, California February 18-21.

No readings are scheduled in Colorado and information on the readings in California is below. If you are in either place and want to meet up give them a ring. Their phone numbers are on the bootstrap site.

Support small press authors.

February 19, 2009
4:30 p.m.

Derek Fenner & Ryan Gallagher
@ The Poetry Center

512 Humanities
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132

Derek Fenner is an artist/writer and the author of MY FAVORITE COLOR IS RED and his recently published his first assemblage novel, I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN THE SUN: LOVE LETTERS TO KATIE COURIC. He is one of the founders of Bootstrap Press.

Ryan Gallagher lives in Lowell, MA with his wife and daughter. He is co-founder of Bootstrap Press and is the author of PLUM SMASH AND OTHER FLASHBULBS published in 2005 and THE COMPLETE POEMS OF GAUIS VALERIUS CATULLUS published in 2008.

February 19, 2009
7:30 p.m.

Derek Fenner, Ryan Gallagher, & Julien Poirier
@ Books & Bookshelves

99 Sanchez (at 14th Street)
San Francisco
(415) 621-3761

DEREK FENNER is an artist/writer and the author of MY FAVORITE COLOR IS RED and his recently published his first assemblage novel, I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN THE SUN: LOVE LETTERS TO KATIE COURIC. He is one of the founders of Bootstrap Press.

RYAN GALLAGHER lives in Lowell, MA with his wife and daughter. He is co-founder of Bootstrap Press and is the author of PLUM SMASH AND OTHER FLASHBULBS published in 2005 and THE COMPLETE POEMS OF GAUIS VALERIUS CATULLUS published in 2008.

JULIEN POIRIER was a founding member of the Presse, where he edited NEW YORK NIGHTS newspaper from 2001-2006. He now edits Gneiss Press. He is the author of ABSURD GOOD NEWS.
---------------------------------------

Katie Couric and Lil Wayne---You heard it here first!

2009-01-30T19:53:00.002-05:00

Katie Couric Interview Lil Wayne

Katie must be reading this blog. Wonder where she got the idea...

Dear Katie Couric---Canto 1

2009-01-19T21:37:00.003-05:00

Bye bye, Bushie, Goodbye.

2009-01-16T21:23:00.004-05:00

Keith Olbermann's "Bush presidency:eight years in eight minutes"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

From Cupid's arrow with speed.

2009-01-12T17:50:00.003-05:00

Derek Fenner (the protagonist)
Taking in the air of room #731.

Not sure why the fools at Bootstrap want me up on here, but I’ve never turned down a soapbox before. The world is terrible and I’m in it. I guess you can say things have been pretty bad for me lately. I’m outgrowing the motel room I’m living in and I’m not ready to. The time isn’t right. I’m in love with a lover who won’t love me. Not yet. (Oh Katie won’t you tell me straight, how much longer do I have to wait?) So when the publishers of, I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN THE SUN: LOVE LETTERS TO KATIE COURIC, got in touch with me, I knew it was a sign that the world is ready to listen to the cries I have been screaming from rooftops and alleys. I’ll write when I get a spare moment from all the praying and planning.

In the meantime, I’m here to answer any questions you may have or to offer you spiritual advice. Pawpaw always said I’d be a healer or was it a peeler? Ehhh, either way I’m working on getting another track phone and when I do you’ll be able to give me a buzz and we can talk in person. For now though you can reach me at derekfennertheprotagonist@gmail.com or through the publishers.

Let’s celebrate this strange triumph with auspicious, proud and elaborate pomp, with inconceivable joy and voluptuous amusement, until we feel the pricking darts painfully sticking into our scarred hearts, the target of Cupid’s frequent arrows.

I am without in room #731.

Derek Fenner (the protagonist)

This post is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are imaginary. If the names seem to correspond to real people, places, or things, be assured they do not. They are fictitious. Any and all resemblances are coincidental, and where the names or actions of real people, places or things seem to occur, you can rest assured they have been used in imaginary ways, which is to say they are not real, even though in your heart of hearts, you think they are. But they are not real. It is fiction. Every last bit. Only the red thong is real.

Wartime Reading Notes--January 2009

2009-01-09T16:32:00.004-05:00

GET YA SOME!!!!

“Lie dead Hector.
I will face my own fate
When Zeus and all the other gods
Show up to bring it on.”

ILIAD Book XXII trans. Lisa Jarnot

Not since Herzog’s Cobra Verde has action been so great as in Lisa Jarnot’s fantastic translation of THE ILIAD Book XXII. You can find her wonderful version of this wartime staple up North at Book Thug. While you are there pick up her book of poems, REPTILE HOUSE, filled to the brim with pleasure and delight. And if you just can’t get enough of Homer, you should head on over to North Atlantic Books and snap up Charles Stein’s complete translation of the ODYSSEY. Why not complete the roundhouse kick and buy Ryan Gallagher’s translation of CATULLUS from us at the strap.

SECRET DEAL: Get a brand new copy of George Herms’ THE SECRET ARCHIVES for less than half price. I’m surprised there are still copies available since I’ve purchase at least four over the last couple of years. It’s a catalog of his 1992 exhibition at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and contains loads of ephemera (23 separate objects) in a white cardboard portfolio with a string-and-button tie. I have one on the shelf and one to use in correspondence and for decoration of the home. Herms is an assemblage beast, of whom D. Meltzer said, “ The song is you / dark optimism / retrieving the ruined, the cast-aways (the cast of thousands) / multiplying in trash heaps and dumps), the refuse (the refused, / the exiled)”

THE CHANSONNIERS by Patrick Dunagan arrived via post two days ago and the bell of existence rings deep in its poems. Mr. Dunagan really stole some fire from heaven in these poems of earthly life that swells and breaks. I’m sure you can dig it up over at the ever-badass Blue Press.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t send you to get a copy of Baudelaire’s LITTLE POEMS IN PROSE, still available in a fine edition at Weiser Antiquarian Books. This book is “sure to break the chaos of mud and snow.”

Also reading this week, AGE OF SINATRA (Ohle), SERPENT BOX (Carrella), PORTRAITS/JEFFERSON'S BIRTHDAY (Higgins), & THE VISIONARY STATE (Davis).

Listening to The Gonzo Tapes, Is it the Sea?, Tell Tale Signs, Henry's Dream, and Two Steps from the Blues.

---------------------------------

The new John Wieners ms. is coming along nicely. We are in a semi-lengthy pre-press process for this tome, entitled A NEW BOOK FROM ROME. Bootstrap is deep in the red right now, so we’ve slowed production on all titles in queue. One could hope to see this journal out by the spring thaw if sales pick up or another angel swoops in. We’ll get some sneak peaks up here as time permits.

In other news, Bootstrap is hitting the road in February with a visit to Boulder, CO (arriving 2/15 & departing 2/18) and San Francisco, CA (arriving 2/18 & departing 2/21). Give us a shout if you want to shoot a beer or something. We’ll let you know our reading/lecture plans if and when they develop.

-----------------------------

"When I think of the dreams
I had as a youth
failed
for the instant’s easy promises

led to wasted effort
and the dream died

What good is there in going on
still the hope remains
that love might come

and memory stays on
to dull the wounds

of time’s easy stabs."

John Wieners (from forthcoming, A NEW BOOK FROM ROME)

Happy belated winter ya’ll…

Colonel DF

The Morning by Roger Snell

2008-11-02T15:51:00.003-05:00

Plein Air Editions (A Bootstrap series edited by Tom Morgan and Tyler Doherty) is pleased to announce the publication of The Morning by Roger Snell

Light torn spathe

caught the up-

ward drift

of sun splay--

a blue flux

in the eye

$12.00. Available from Bootstrap Press.

11/15/08 Bootstrap Book Release Party

2008-10-25T10:49:00.003-04:00

November 15, 2008
P.A. 's Lounge
Doors @ 9:00 pm

Coming Soon---I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN THE SUN: Love Letters to Katie Couric

2008-10-25T10:46:00.003-04:00

I NO LONGER BELIEVE IN THE SUN
Love Letters to Katie Couric

Derek Fenner

November 2008

Coming Soon---PARISH KREWES by Micah Ballard

2008-10-19T11:38:00.003-04:00

PARISH KREWES
Micah Ballard

November 2008

Cover Art by David Meltzer

Join us in Lowell this weekend...

2008-10-08T20:01:00.006-04:00

for THE MASSACHUSETTS POETRY FESTIVAL (click here for website.)

Here is where Bootstrap will be:

SMALL PRESS FAIR

(curated by Ryan Gallagher and Derek Fenner of Bootstrap Productions)

10 − 5 PM

ALL Arts Gallery

246 Market Street

Meet the editors and publishers of 30 different presses and magazines, purchase their books and journals and “talk shop”. Many of the presses will be offering discounts and deals.

SMALL PRESS PANEL

(curated by Ryan Gallagher and Derek Fenner of Bootstrap Productions)

11 AM − 12 Noon

ALL Arts Gallery

246 Market Street

The Small Press panel will examine the following two areas:

1. Investigating histories and lineages in the small press world.

2. The future of Small Press Publishing in the 21st Century.

Panelists to include: Ed Sanders (Blake Route, and many other past ventures) Geoffrey Young (The Figures), Anna Moschovakis (Ugly Duckling Presse), Rebecca Wolff (Fence Books), Kyle Schlesinger (Cuneiform Press). Moderated by Joseph Torra (Pressed Wafer).

Marjorie Agosín & Ed Sanders

Emceed by Ryan Gallagher

Saturday, October 11

1:30 – 2:30 PM

Lowell High School Freshman Academy

43 French Street (please use John Street side entrance)

Urban Village Arts Series (UVAS): MUSIC & POETRY

featuring Joe Torra, Eileen Myles & music by Frank Morey

Emceed by Derek Fenner and David Robinson

Saturday, October 11

4 − 5:30 PM

Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center Theater

246 Market Street

There are some other gems in the schedule--details below:

Mass Poe Fest Bios and Schedule Web - Upload a Document to Scribd

Bootstrap Founders Yearbook Photos Found

2008-10-03T11:52:00.004-04:00

Ryan six-pack

Derek six-pack

from "Consider the Lobster"

2008-09-14T15:11:00.002-04:00

February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008

And The Gods Make Love; sketchbook page #4

2008-09-07T12:40:00.001-04:00

"Sketch; Dr. Dre" by Ryan Gallagher

2008-08-11T20:55:00.005-04:00

"Sketch; Dr. Dre". graphite and ink on paper. 6.5 x 7'. 2008. Ryan Gallagher.

On Lullaby: Speculations on the First Active Sense with text by Christine Hume and music by James Marks

2008-07-30T21:58:00.002-04:00

“Uncle Charles and Dante clapped. They were older than his father and mother but uncle Charles was older than Dante.” (Joyce)

When I was a senior at Boston College, knowing that writing (specifically poetry) was as much my life as any of my other loves, and after having devoured Kerouac in high school while living in Lowell (where I was born) and after a detailed study of canonical English, Irish, and American Literature (and also plenty of School of Quietude contemporary poets,) I went to hear Robert Pinsky give a reading and a talk after he had been nominated to be the Poet Laureate. This was also the year, or roughly the same time (If my memory serves me correctly) that Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize in Literature and gave a reading in Saint Ignatius Church on campus, escorted in by three or four bagpipers. There had to be close to a thousand people there to listen to him read, which he did for quite some time. I was moved by how quiet and forgettable it all seemed. I thought time actually slowed down. Though this is an interesting effect that language can have on human experience, I was bored by it. I like when my mind races and wants to devour. On a side note, I was married in that church in 2004.

Pinsky talked a bit about his process and reasons for translating Dante, most of which were about his attempt to try and fit Dante’s Italian into slant rhyme—his way, I assume, of making Dante’s language more like his own than learning from the intricate rhyme patterns and grammatical constructions of this Romance Language to rejuvenate and experiment with his own linguistic experience.[1] (Fortunately, a few years later, I was able to sit under the tent on the Naropa lawn (when they still had a tent during the Summer Program and Naropa was still an Institute, not a University) and listen to Robin Blazer’s lecture “Where’s Hell…?” on Dante on 6.29.99 and experience this opera of human imagination as antidote.) Pinsky also made a snide remark to a student’s question about his taste for Dylan Thomas, to which Pinsky replied something to the effect (I’m paraphrasing here, of course) that Thomas has great lines, but none of his writing was able to come together in any cohesive way to make a unified poem. This was the moment that I decided I needed to leave East Coast Academia and see what was out there in another world (any other world) of Contemporary Writing. I knew there had to be more writing after the Modernists that I liked and the Beats and the New York School of the 50s and 60s (literature that could only be taught at Boston College under the guise of “The Whitman Tradition”—which was a course that probably would not have even been approved a decade before I took it.) Eventually I found my way to the writers who were working at Naropa at the time and made my way out there. (I keep meaning to catalog who was there at the time and what classes were being taught by whom, because I think it was such an interesting collection of minds—.) I don’t mean to disparage this “classical” education though—I enjoyed it, actually, and felt quite humbled to be there, but was ready to move on.

This is a rather long and personal way of getting around to the pleasure of my Ugly Duckling subscription (the best and most pleasurable deal going right now)[2] and my amusement in reading and listening to Lullaby: Speculations on the First Active Sense with text by Christine Hume and an accompanying CD of ethereal music by James Marks. The book is beautiful, as many of the UDP books are—hand made and “printed with love on Fabrino paper” as it states about the cover in the colophon which includes a CD placed inside the front flap. It is hand-stitched with transparent fly leafs and has a text design that is crisp and flows down the tall page-size of the book. But on to the text, of which this is mainly about and which is a delight to read with the music behind it—

It is precisely because there is great line after great line, any and all of which are quotable, that Christine Hume’s writing (which I read for the first time tonight) immediately interests me. She doesn’t try to come to any “cohesion.” Cohesion in poetry too often creates entropy, which stops motion (and also stifles emotion,) rather than offers up eternal possibility within structure. When the book ends, there is a feeling that the language is still changing, shifting, searching for connections. I’d much prefer this as a reader of poetry than to be left with a thing or an idea that can be explained or described afterwards as a “cohesive” unit. So, thank you Robert Pinsky, I guess…

I’m reminded of the opening of Joyce’s A Portrait…, where Stephen hides under the table and hears the lullabies of the “moocow” and the “tralalas” and the loaded “Pull out his eyes, / Apologise, / Apologise, / Pull out his eyes.” The connection of language to experience and the experience of language as chance within structure (both time and the page) is so immediate and intoxicating to me when I come across it as a reader. Hume’s opening lines, which are each their own stanzas and mostly continue this way for the full eleven pages, begin “Affection of your waking hours breaks into rhythmic blinks // Breathing is the shock of your initiation here // Is and is and is, pulse is prehistory // Even before you listen your body hears itself”(1-4, p.1).

The poem begins with the noun “affection”, which as a verb denotes active change, but as an idea describes a feeling or a sentiment which can really only be experienced as something that is in constant becoming. The next two words are part of a prepositional phrase which asks the reader to be an active participant in the making of the poem, and which also generalizes the experience for all humans because of the malleability of the second person in English. The “your” also acts as an adjective to time personified, which is also “waking up” with and because of language. Affection then “breaks,” showing that possibility is also created through discord, since discord also needs at least two entities to create a relationship. (Discord also threw the Golden Apple in Greek mythology.) The last prepositional phrase returns to rhythm—rhythm experienced visually as “blinks” (language is also visual) as well as completes the near iambic beats that end the line.

The music makes the line stop, or the breath stop, and without punctuation Hume moves the second line to the body, which experiences language as much as the mind does, with the word “[b]reathing” and then makes a metaphor out of it, preceded by a definite article, making the metaphor even less tangible than the noun “shock.” The rhythm of line two is abruptly more jazz-like, with four quick beats before the “shock” hits and is followed by an inviting and eerie “of your initiation” and then an italicized and an uncertain “here”. The italicized adverb leaves the reader with the question of whether the effect of the “here” is to make the reader aware of the experience of reading in the space of the poem, or to pun on the word “hear”, or to force an enjambment with the beginning of the third line which consists of a linking verb and a conjunction, “Is and is and is,” showing that there is a connection between everything. This short phrase could just as easily have been written “To be is to be is to be,” since the function of the linking verb and the conjunction is essentially the same thing.

To exist is to be in relation.

And then comes the comma in the middle of the third line.

The middle of the third line returns to the body with “pulse”, and like the beginning of the second line, connects the physical experience of language to rhythm, a seemingly transient quality that is continually becoming, which Hume then metaphorically connects to “prehistory”, or a time that all humans both share and experience, but can not remember because it is not recorded with language—language being both a way to universalize and individualize experience. The beginning of fourth line “[e]ven” forces another enjambment and then continues “before you listen your body hears itself”, stressing the pun on “here”, or even “hair”—a sign of the body both maturing and perishing. The word “Even”, besides forcing an enjambment, simultaneously implies both possibility and balance. And like the opening of Joyce’s A Portrait…, Hume uses language to invite the reader to experience the language as well as to experience with language. Or, in Hume’s fifth line and stanza, indented and in parentheticals for an extra pause in breath, she writes “(Rhythm is an intelligence activated by being)”.

At this point in the poem, again like Joyce’s opening but with more staccato, Hume has repeated “rhythm” twice, “you(r)” four times, strings lines together with the consonance of “b”s and “p”s, the assonance of “s”s, and the guttural bass of the second person. She also puns on “here”, all creating connections, not through the logic or comprehension offered in sentences that construct definite meaning, but with a lyric grace that understands emotion and the immediacy of experience through language.

Besides the technical deftness that Hume exhibits in the poem, I am also interested in the fact that this poem is not a fixed entity—it does not exist in a vacuum separate from life. Maybe because she weaves in the sense of lullaby with meta-cognitive thought and beautiful language, I was given permission to notice what my mind was noticing and be aware of it—sometimes this was my reaction to the language and other times I was struck with memory. Never were these experiences happening separate from the poem; they were part of my experience of the poem and what also made me want to write during and after reading the poem—hence, my overindulgence with the personal to preface my impressions of Hume’s craft.

“Dante had two brushes in her press. The brush with the maroon velvet back was for Michael Davitt and the brush with the green velvet back was for Parnell. Dante gave him a cachou every time he brought her a piece of tissue paper.” (Joyce)

[1] Heaney’s Beowulf, on the other hand, seems completely successful at producing a lyric and readable translation.

[2] And probably worthy of a separate post…

Ryan Gallagher

Bootscription 2008

2008-07-19T14:25:00.001-04:00

Bootscription - Upload a Document to Scribd

If you would like to print these double sided and have them be aligned correctly use the PDF you can find here.

On the 5:10 to Dreamland---R.I.P. Bruce Conner

2008-07-08T12:29:00.004-04:00

"A rewarding experience for me is a narrative structure where you are not told what to think and what to do. Otherwise, that's what you get in jail. That's what you get with government. And when you get it in art, it can put you to sleep."

Bruce Conner
1933-2008

see you on the other side . . .

Summer Reading

2008-07-04T18:37:00.001-04:00

Lisa Jarnot's NIGHT SCENES

2008-06-29T10:00:00.006-04:00

It may be no surprise to our readers that our dear friend, Lisa Jarnot, has written yet another remarkable book NIGHT SCENES. Our feelings can best be described as reverential jealousy—jealous in how tight, beautiful and sincere these poems are. We are also jealous at how gorgeous the book is—Flood Editions has produced its second beautiful book of poems by Lisa and should also be lauded for its craftsmanship.

Make sure you get a first edition of this one.

Bootstrap Owns the Sky

2008-06-28T08:08:00.003-04:00

Bootstrap's favorite band (and very good friends) wiseblood has a new album out and you should buy it. It is a must have, people. They (Ashby Pate and Shawn Avery) just did an interview on their local NPR station down in Birmingham, Alabama. You can listen to the entire show here. (The link will change after this week to the archives.)

or, you can listen to the:

(AUDIO MONTAGE)

of the show from their segment and get a taste of their music. Ashby is also kind enough to give Bootstrap a nice plug. Who's going to be the first bootstrapper to write a kick ass review on iTunes or digstation? We'll happily offer up some Bootstrap goodies for any attempts to put them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Here is the website for We Own The Sky, their record label--GO SUPPORT DIY!

Found Art / Belgian Chair

2008-06-24T14:18:00.002-04:00

Belgian Chair
by Deep Ellum Barback

from Your Belgian Things
by The Mountain Goats

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll store them for you in an airplane hangar
There's guys in biohazard suits
Mud kicking on their rubber boots
They've come to keep your pretty things from danger

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll spend the whole day hauling them downstairs
I shot a roll of thirty-two exposures
My camera groans beneath the weight it bears

I can see you in my sleep
Playing the points for all you're worth
Walking gingerly across the bruised earth

Who was Catullus, anyway?

2008-06-23T11:37:00.002-04:00

Catullus was born in 84 B.C. in Verona, said to have moved to Rome around 62 B.C. and probably died around 54 B.C. The manuscript that I translated, known now as The Complete Poems of Catullus was rediscovered in Catullus’ hometown around the 14th century. There is even a myth that the manuscript was found in an empty wine cask—after centuries of soaking up the spirits. In just three decades, Catullus fondled Venus herself, licked the sweat off the upper lip of Bacchus, and gave birth to a blues lyric that has battled time.

Catullus was a young, brash, salacious, and semi-famous celebrity at a time when most poetry was probably performed. Think Shelley mixed with Eminem (at his most vulgar moments) as well as political and mythological and sometimes absurd. In a great little prefatory description, Rabinowitz asks us to imagine Catullus as a “playboy in the midst of a collapsing republic—roughly the Roman equivalent of a rockstar. He could terrify a general or win a woman (or boy) just by inviting him to be the hero of a poem. Caesar begged for his friendship, and, what’s even more remarkable, Cicero shut up when he spoke.”

Catullus wrote many love poems, and he wrote many hate poems. He wrote mythology. He translated Greek poets like Sappho and Callimachus. He has a short, absurd play with two characters, one of which is the front door to a house, who tells us that the father-in-law knocked up his son’s wife in a famous political family because his son is impotent. He writes heart-wrenching poems about his brother’s death, and people that have died at war. He belittles men (mostly ex-friends and politicians) for the small size of their—well, manhood. He has poems about waking up with prostitutes and many more poems about the tumultuous relationship with his lover, or his main lover, who he names Lesbia, but is known to be the historical character Clodia, who just so happens to be the wife of a conservative consul.

THE LONG EMERGENCY

2008-06-19T18:20:00.007-04:00

PEAK OIL FLAT
Karen Hagen

Haven't been this engaged since the SHOCK DOCTRINE. Behold the Long Emergency. Hard to believe LE has been out since 2005. Currently tackling PEAK EVERYTHING by Richard Heinberg. Check out him out below.

Tyler Doherty

2008-06-18T07:21:00.002-04:00

Bootstrap is proud to announce the addition of Tyler Doherty to our posting team here on the blog. We think that Tyler is one of the greatest living poets around. We are also going to print a new book of poems by Tyler (we also published his first book--Bodhidharma Never Came to Hatboro (of which we only have about 30 copies left.)) We would love to print all 1,000 pages of his various manuscripts. But, we imagine it would cost about $10,000. We would be happy to accept a donation to do this--are you an angel? Until then, you are going to have to wait for his book and read his blog posts here--poetic haibun spontaneous Buddhist improvisational jazz Philly poems...everything he writes is gold.

Peace people.

Ryan's collarbone is not connected to his...

2008-06-06T10:49:00.006-04:00

...scapula

A Separated Shoulder XRay modified to easily show bones. Notice the separation between the end of the collarbone and the scapula. This is what my x-ray looked like.

Type III

In a Type III AC separation both acromioclavicular and coracoclavicular ligaments are torn. A significant bump is formed by the lateral end of the clavicle. This bump is permanent. The clavicle can be moved in and out of place on the shoulder. It may take 12 weeks to heal, and physical therapy can be beneficial. It may take even longer for the shoulder strength to approach feeling normal. The injured shoulder may not be able to take the abuse that it could previously, but for most purposes it will be quite usable and sufficient. However, there still is controversy as to whether or not surgery may be necessary for optimal shoulder use in sport. (photo of x-ray and info from Wikipedia)

What does this mean? It means it hurts like hell--much more than when I broke my left clavicle in high school (playing hockey). I am eating pain pills like skittles. I think I'll be able to type with two hands pretty soon (as long as I stand with the keyboard properly positioned)--but no painting. And when I stop taking pills, I'll probably be able to read more effectively.

How did this happen? I forgot I was 32, terribly out-of-shape, and as I dove for a basketball and landed awkwardly, my body fell apart. This solidifies my platonic leanings that my body is a prison.

Peace People.

Visiting d.a. levy

2008-05-29T09:45:00.007-04:00

Memorial Day 2008

d.a. levy's grave

Whitehaven Cemetery

Mayfield Heights, OH

from CLEVELAND: THE RECTAL EYE VISIONS

d.a. levy

R. E. Vision #8 / part II - for art kleps


an exodus in autumn/the white tiger has returned
the thunder & lightening is a shock for 100 miles
GOOD FORTUNE

AK of the AdriondAKs : the SPINing concepts frighten me
it is sad to be a dreamer,unable to dream
                a lover unable to love
                a builder denied materials
ALL Three rowed out to sea in a seive
gone,gone,gone to the other shore/
landed on the other shore, SVAHA!

GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BOHDI SVAHA!

oh well/ if the government wants to live on a war economy
i guess we can give them a war---------i feel a dream
death approaching, the anxiety is a bitch.
                   -(*)-
             AMERICA WAKE UP!
    GOD DOESNT WANT YOU TO KILL HIS ANGELS         a
if you knew the price you will pay for this    small
WAR ECONOMY                NATION OF DEATH     prophecy
STOP THE KARMIC MURDER PIE             NOW
Worse than worshiping the golden calf you
are killing for it
                  consider the weight of yr possessions
                  america, twice this weight you will
                  carry when you die
for the innocent and pure of heart
i am raising the flags/ a warning of storms
Be Prepared to GO HOME LAMBS

i do not have the courage to say
this may be your last sacrifice

they will not weep on wall street
until it is too late & the tears have no meaning

there is no reason to play with death
this is not your country
when i smelled love burning/ i cried
& NOW i smell the horse of the Angel of Death

go home lambs

you are trying to build
a temple in a graveyard
YOU/have years to plan,   my days are numbered
LAUGH at my fears and ignore my love
yet love & fear are the only wings to move on

when you have visited your own death
everyday is the last
                  GO HOME LAMBS
let yr children be born in the sun
"this country is insane"
                  GO HOME LAMBS
in the world of the spirit one does not
lose what he has gained.

5.27.08 Bill Berkson & Bill Corbett

2008-05-20T20:25:00.005-04:00

Don't miss this event!

Bill Berkson

Bill Corbett

Tuesday, May 27
7 pm
Pierre Menard Gallery
10 Arrow Street
Harvard Square
Cambridge. MA

Non-traditional Thangka Painting by Ryan Gallagher

2008-05-16T09:59:00.002-04:00

May 15, 2008, at Max Protetch Gallery, 511 W. 22nd, NYC, from 6-8 PM

2008-05-13T21:30:00.003-04:00

United Artists, Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, Granary, Roof,
Cuneiform, Bootstrap, The Figures & Ugly Duckling invite you
to a small press party, May 15, 2008, at Max Protetch
Gallery, 511 W. 22nd, NYC, from 6-8 PM, to celebrate the

publication of the following books:

Phyllis Wat, The Influence of Paintings Hung in Bedrooms
Barbara Henning, My Autobiography
Gloria Frym, Solution Simulacra
Reed Bye, Join the Planets
Barbara Jane Reyes, Cherry
Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Mental Commitment Robots
Julie Patton, Notes for Some (Nominally) Awake

Jennifer Firestone, Waves
Geoffrey Young, The Riot Act & Pockets of Wheat
Catullus, The Complete Poems (trans. Ryan Gallagher)
John Wieners, A Book of Prophecies
Tom Morgan, On Going
Jen Bervin, The Desert
Lewis Warsh, Inseparable : Poems 1995-2005

Francesco Clemente & Vincent Katz, Alcuni Telefonini
Clark Coolidge, Space & The Book of During
Bill Berkson, Sudden Address
Ted Greenwald, Two Wrongs
Dan Featherston, The Clock Maker's Memoir
Mimeo Mimeo, edited by Jed Birmingham & Kyle Schlesinger
Nada Gordon, Folly

The Consequence of Innovation: 21st. C. Poetics, ed. Craig Dworkin
Marc Nasdor, Sonnetailia
Gary Sullivan, PPL in a Depot
Christine Hume, Lullaby
Sam Truitt, Vertical Elegies
Jack Micheline, One of a Kind
Aleksandr Skidan, Red Shifting

The Death of Ophelia # 2: Ryan Gallagher

2008-05-12T18:54:00.001-04:00

Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 in., "The Death of Ophelia # 2"

5.10.08 Matt Hart / Amanda Nadelberg & Nora Almeida / Kate Jaeger

2008-05-08T15:47:00.007-04:00

reading starts at 6:00. come early for a drink at the bar if you want. readings occasionally start on time.

from Forklift Ohio: MATT HART

from Isa the Truck Named Isadore: Amanda Nadelberg

from Bootstrap's favorite magazine They Are Flying Planes:

Nora Almeida & Kate Jaeger

Ryan Gallagher reads from his Catullus translations

2008-05-02T09:46:00.005-04:00

@ the Revolving Museum on 22 Shattuck Street in downtown Lowell on Thursday, May 8th, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Click here for Map. Click here for directions.

The Urban Village Arts Series (UVAS) will celebrate the release of its first CD, "The Best of UVAS," with a free party. The double CD features live recordings of poets, musicians, authors, singers and other artists of varying specialties who have performed at UVAS over the last year and will be available for $10. All proceeds will go toward funding the UVAS 2008-2009 season. We will be celebrating the event which has grown into a community with free food from a local restaurant and entertainment from Lowell poet, Ryan Gallagher, and local UVAS veterans, Hot Day at the Zoo.

Admission is free, and we hope you'll join us to celebrate the talent of these wonderful local and regional artists as well as the hard work of the UMass Lowell students from the English, Art, and Sound Recording Technology programs who spent the last several months producing the CD.

Derek Fenner @ Poetry Project

2008-04-26T20:48:00.006-04:00

April 28, 2008
8:00 p.m.

Derek Fenner

Ara Shirinyan

The Poetry Project at St. Marks Church

131 E. 10th St. New York NY 10003

Non-traditional Thangka Painting by Ryan Gallagher

2008-04-19T10:35:00.003-04:00

"Western Buddha with letter to Bernadette and a page from a pocket Walden." Mixed media on paper. 2005. Cared for by Andrew Schelling.

Thoughts on "Small Press Publishing": from the Archives

2008-04-19T10:02:00.009-04:00

Interview with Denny Ludvino (circa 2006?)

DL: I personally love the freedom that independent organizations bring to the world of print. Publishing companies can be so predictable because it’s safe to be predictable, independent companies don’t care about safe, it’s like the exact opposite of what we’re trying to do. I guess in a round about way, what I’m trying to get to is this: since you both run and operate Bootstrap Productions, do either of you feel that there is a certain role the small press plays in the broad scheme of the publishing industry?

Well, we secretly have always desired world domination, or at least a coup of American culture, but we are also realistic—experimental writing and art and music seems most intriguing when it’s hermetic, a little hard to find, something that makes you feel like you have discovered something that not everyone else has caught up to yet—music has always done a better job at this that writing. Or maybe that’s just a creative way of saying that very few people actually read poetry anyway. We just publish what we love, which isn’t limited to poetry—we try not to concern ourselves too much past that.

We do have our mission, which we guess is worth stating, but it reads like a mission. It’s not the most inspirational writing we’ve ever done,

Bootstrap Productions is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit publishing company that promotes the integration of multi-dimensional art forms and experiments into fine press publishing.

The organization seeks to introduce the general public to experimental and contemporary art and writing; to stimulate public interest in the work of new, struggling and relatively unknown artists; and to benefit the community generally by promoting the appreciation of contemporary art and writing.

The organization’s goal is to provide a venue that affords the benefits and aesthetics of a quality small press to committed and brilliant writers, visual artists, and musicians who may not otherwise have the opportunity and freedom to display their work as they envision it.

The organization creates the opportunity for the public to experience and learn about such art and writing that might otherwise never have a public forum.

So yes. In one sense, we’d be pretty psyched if some of our authors and artists find publishers who will pay them money for their art. We never got the “I will never sell out” manifestos from artists and writers. We’ve been trying to sell out for years—who wouldn’t want to make his or her livelihood from a daily artistic practice. (We realize this is an unfairly simplistic criticism).

As far as the “freedoms” we have because of our independence from any sort of major corporate influence—well, we’d love the press to experience some discretionary income, see how it feels to quit our day jobs. Send our writer and artist friends cash to go to the Kentucky Derby or quit their jobs and write books to “rid the world of illiteracy, soporific poetry, and sentimental art”—our unofficial mission.

DL: I know from my own experience running an independent literary journal that the challenges awaiting any independent publisher are numerous. Have there been any areas that have been particularly trying for you guys?

One thing to note before getting to the issue of obstacles is that it is far easier today to keep a small-press afloat than it ever has been. Technology makes it easier each day on a number of fronts. Typesetting can be done on computers, (though letterpress is a beautiful art and should never die.) It’s also easier to locate hard-to-find books through the internet. And generally there are connections happening between artistic/literary communities with common aesthetic principles.

We faced many obstacles when we first started Bootstrap fresh out of grad school. We made a lot of mistakes along the way, from typos to getting gouged by printers who knew we were green. Even when we started in 2001, how to make and print a book was almost this sacred Gnostic process that only a few people knew well. We don’t think that’s fair—that’s one of the reasons we started to take on imprints at Bootstrap, so other people going through the painstaking process of printing books could have some kind of resource.

That said, the avant-garde literature circle is a small community, largely existing outside of the Academy and Universities (where it always has and should remain), and is about these little hidden niches. We recently published Gavin Pate’s first novel, The Way to Get Here, and we sort of cherish his farcical description of us, “when I say small press I mean extra bedrooms, oompa-loompas on leave from Wonka, guys who sweat too much, have tongues covered in postal glue. . . . but you can get it straight from the publisher with paypal. . . . they're at least that high tech (but I still think, somehow, there is an old fashion cash register or abacus involved and a guy with a green visor in the back personally checking things off).” We’re okay with that perception— the word bootstrap has connotations of making something out of nothing, a little modern-day alchemy.

The biggest obstacle always was and is money, in some form or another, whether it’s the money to print a book or store it (almost $100 a month now that we have over ten thousand copies books)—things cost a lot. And sure, being a non-profit helps, but that was a lengthy process to go through to print some books—it was three years of legal paperwork. It has, however, allowed us to accept donations from people we deem saints (and who can receive tax breaks for their contributions). Our profits from book sales take care of our operating costs, but we still have to raise money every time we print a book. We also have been selling our art (we’re both visual artists) and give all that money to the press. We’re waiting for our own version of Ruth Lily, the woman who gave Poetry Magazine 100 million dollars, or for someone to hand us the keys to a Lowell mill and say, “have at it.” Can you imagine what 100 presses could have done with a million dollars each—that seems like it would have been a healthier investment in American culture.

Anyway, this is a long-winded way of getting to something that Bob Creeley said when he taught one summer at our grad school, “Poetry is a team sport.” We firmly believe that team would not be the Yankees.

DL: You guys said, tongue in cheek, that you secretly seek world domination, it seems a good way to begin going about that is by acquiring imprints, which you also touched upon. It seems there is a symbiotic relationship between the imprint and the larger publishing company. The benefits to the smaller publisher seem obvious (greater visibility, nonprofit status under your umbrella, and a wealth of knowledge at their disposal), but in what ways do you see Bootstrap benefiting from this type of relationship? I'd also like to know what do you look for when considering someone or some organization to partner with Bootstrap?

Actually, this is more of a genuine effort at being altruistic. There are so many manuscripts that deserve to be in print, but we are only human. We also get some exposure from a new community and take a small percentage of sales so that we break even distributing, acquiring ISBN numbers, helping with the printing, etc. This is part of our non-profit mission that we do because we believe it is the right thing to do, just as we plan to establish outreach programs for at-risk youth in the near future. We don’t really see art and literature as being separate from life. This is why we spent three years filling out 80 pages of legal paperwork to become a 501(c)3 not-for-profit. Because people can give us donations and receive tax-breaks for their contributions, we also have a duty, legally and morally, to help the community somehow.

DL: I read on the Peregrine (a literary journal out of Western Mass) Web site that their name, stemming from an endangered species of bird, came about because of the transitory nature of literary publications. They said publications lasted on the average of 3 years. As a production company that publishes experimental work in both literature and art, I'd imagine that your survival is continually threatened (we know ours is). As you say that you'd like to have some money to quit your day job and focus on Bootstrap, does this sword of Damocles fuel you guys in any way?

It is not uncommon for us to receive more manuscript submissions in a month than orders for books. Well, I guess that doesn’t happen so much anymore now that we have built up a catalogue and have a distributor and can sell with Paypal on our website, but three or four years ago, it was certainly true. We’re going on our sixth year, projecting it to be our most productive yet—this is partly due to the fact that our books are selling a bit and being reviewed. But the fact that people are realizing that they can give us large sums of money and “write-it-off” on their taxes helps tremendously. Personally, our visual art has been getting some attention as well, and when that sells, we donate the money to the press. The donations and art sales are what have been really keeping the press afloat; I’m not sure we’d still be in it if we were relying solely on book sales.

I’m also not so sure we see it as the sword of Damocles; we’d be loafing around under the psychedelic sky during some ancient psilocybin pagan festival while the suits and slugs sit around the table staring at each other. We’re artist first. We live by Wallace Berman’s “Art is Love is God.” If we were ever invited to the table, it would be because the table walked up to us and formed into a fantastic Beckett novella.

DL: How old are you guys?

Ryan: I was born in Lowell, MA on April 29th, 1976. That makes me 30, a bicentennial baby and a Taurus. Roger Clemens hurled 20 strikeouts on my tenth birthday.
Derek: I’m two years older than Ryan. I’m from Kentucky, then Ohio. I like getting gifts.

DL: How old were you when you started?

Started Bootstrap? It was 2001, though we experimented a bit before that on some projects for a year or two before.

DL: I know you said that you have 10,000 books in storage, but how many individual books have you published in total?

Our first perfect bound full length book was LOVELAND by Steven Taylor. We printed 300 copies and have sold out. Since then, we usually print in runs of 1,000. The rest of our books are on the website. If you include ORGANIC FURNITURE CELLAR: WORKS ON PAPER 2002-2004 by Jessica Smith from our Imprint Press Outside Voices, we’ve published 8 full-length perfect bound books and 2 anthologies: the @tched documents 1 & 2. We also have a few copies of the five staple-bound chapbooks we did way back in the day and enough manuscript submissions to fill a small Uhaul truck. Our distributor in Berkeley, CA Small Press Distribution, stores a box or two of each title.

§ §

Since this interview, we have published For The Time Being: The Bootstrap Book of Poetic Journals edited by Tom Morgan and Tyler Doherty, Tom Morgan's On Going, Michele Naka Pierce's Beloved Integer (imprint book with Pub Lush), John Wiener's A Book of Prophecies, Geoffrey Young's Riot Act, Ryan Gallagher's The Complete Poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus (translations from the Latin). That brings us to 14 full length books (3 of which are anthologies of sorts) and two more imprint books. We have a bunch of projects on the way.

Available Now !

2008-04-10T11:36:00.004-04:00

The Complete Poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus

Available now from Bootstrap Press: Translated from the Latin by Ryan Gallagher: a bluesy, contemporary, fun and salacious version of this ancient lyric poet-it is blues from ancient Rome. Latin and essays included.

Gaius Valerius Catullus is distinguished from all the other writers of antiquity by his vulnerability. He is the most personal of Latin poets, and more personal than any Greek poet including Sappho.... if his love poems could only be duplicated in English they would be popular at every level of society and might be sung in night clubs or by rock groups.

Kenneth Rexroth

Purchase here or here.

William T. Vollmann--RIDING TOWARD EVERYWHERE

2008-04-05T15:55:00.003-04:00

Hamlet Act 4 Scene 4 Soliloquy (1996)

2008-03-31T21:24:00.001-04:00

Assemblage Sketch by Ryan Gallagher: Ska With Ham

2008-03-29T16:51:00.004-04:00

Ska With Ham
for Scott Pierce

highway
pipe
There
about us—
elbows. The
door, no
clearing

some
forest, for
men

and

into stones, lined up
multitextured dwelling
art with the authority
riotous despair

EYE
CON
TACT

on me
they count
their bones,

Mercutio

Jeffrey Lewis "Anti Folk Complete History of Punk Rock"

2008-03-29T00:46:00.003-04:00

Derek's cousin "Derek Fener"

2008-03-21T12:42:00.010-04:00

from our first Boston "fun"draiser. Derek's cousin spells his name with one n because it's easier.

This was before we started digitally archiving our art. Many of the projects from 2006-2007 were funded from this live auction. This 1 of 7 bourbons Kentucky Derek drank on stage over 35 minutes. He was asked to leave later that night after the auction.

Paintings 5, 6, 9 and the Buddha are Ryan's. The Dali over shoulder is Derek's and there is just a glimpse of Derek's painting of Varitek punching A-Rod (better image below).

The photo in center is the work of Zippy Corning and below it is a photo-collage from Ariana Krantzite.

First Bootstrap Logo

2008-03-10T18:53:00.004-04:00

This image was created late at night fueled by coffee, Tecate, and Wild Turkey in the Winter of 1999. We think.

From the Archives--The Night Bootstrap Was Born

2008-03-08T12:40:00.006-05:00

This was the night Bootstrap was born. Pictured Colonel Chester (with Tecate) and Colonel Fenner (with Turkey). Boulder, CO 1999.

2008-03-08T10:19:00.003-05:00

Kid Koala - Moon River Remix Live (Boston)

3.8.08 Pierre Joris & Christopher Rizzo

2008-03-05T14:55:00.002-05:00

reading starts at 6:00. come early for a drink at the bar if you want. readings occasionally start on time.

Painting by Derek Fenner & Ryan Gallagher

2008-03-02T13:56:00.003-05:00

a collaboration called "Duchamp & Picabia" 2006

COMING SOON---The Complete Poems of Catullus

2008-02-07T13:06:00.001-05:00

Bootstrap Press is proud to announce the imminent arrival of THE COMPLETE POEMS OF GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, translated by our very own Ryan Gallagher. Here's what the critics are already saying:

Gaius Valerius Catullus is distinguished from all the other writers of antiquity by his vulnerability. He is the most personal of Latin poets, and more personal than any Greek poet including Sappho... if his love poems could only be duplicated in English they would be popular at every level of society and might be sung in night clubs or by rock groups.

KENNETH REXROTH

I would much rather lie on what is left of Catullus’ parlour floor and speculate the azure beneath it and the hills off to Salo and Riva with their forgotten gods moving unhindered amongst them, than discuss any processes and theories of art whatsoever. I would rather play tennis. I shall not argue.

EZRA POUND

Catullus scarcely has a decent poem.

LORD BYRON

I pothered but
you’ll have bothered
Catullus played Bach.

LOUIS ZUKOFSKY

Lord, what would they say
Did their Catullus walk
that way?

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

They Are Flying Planes Launch---February 16, 2008

2008-02-07T12:57:00.000-05:00

We understand that the amazing Arlo Quint has been added to the lineup
and we can't wait to get to Brooklyn!

Gil-Scott Heron "The Revolution will not..."

2008-02-06T22:01:00.001-05:00

2 non-traditional Thangka Paintings by Ryan Gallagher

2008-01-21T11:24:00.000-05:00

Buddha with Tigse

Maitreya in a Thought Bubble

Recommended: They are Flying Planes & The Shock Doctrine

2008-01-19T16:14:00.000-05:00

They are Flying Planes 1, Winter 2007 / 2008

Editors: Nora Almeida, Kate Jaeger, Joe Robitaille, Will Sanders

email them at: theyareflyingplanesATgmail.com

Here's what Lisa Jarnot thinks:

We'll start with flying planes. Joe, Kate, Nora, and Will (that's Robitaille, Jaeger, Almeida, and Sanders) have just published the first issue of their new magazine They Are Flying Planes. It's a beautiful production, based in form partly on the good old Angel Hair magazine edited by the Warsh/Waldman team, with a little bit of J or Open Space from that good old San Francisco Spicer scene. This is even a little bit more ambitious than Angel Hair in that you will find ephemera popping out of the pages as you open the issue up.

Writers and artists contributing to issue one include the editors, L. S. Asekoff, Andrew Hughes, Whit Griffin, Evan Kennedy, Sara Wintz, Ryan Gallagher, Derek Fenner, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Sean Mullin, LJ of Lisablog, Clint Krute, Scott Gallagher, Clark Jaeger, Matt Reeck, Andrew Bourne, Vincent Zompa, Carol Ann Davis, and Mary Millsap.

Let me say right now that the fluidity of this magazine and the attention to coterie poetics (in the best sense of coterie— as in the Round Table and its Knights) is amazing. There are a bunch of fabulous (and some very young) writers gathered here. Did we mention that it comes with a CD of poets and musicians and that there was an awful lot of hand sewing that went into this project? Did we mention that it's already a collectors item? (200 copies were made). Here's how you can get ahold of the good editors of They Are Flying Planes: 570 45th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11220. Three cheers for Joe, Kate, Nora, and Will. It's not a magazine; it's a movement.

We agree. Write them asap.

* * * * * *

Also, before you vote or before you have another political thought, please read this book by Naomi Klein. Though her other books are fabulous, this may be the smartest book ever. Then watch all her video clips on youtube.

Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine

Two Paintings in Progress by Derek Fenner

2007-12-12T16:22:00.001-05:00

Untitled (Self-Portrait Series), 2007 by Derek Fenner

Untitled (Spare Series), 2007 by Derek Fenner

THE RIOT ACT EVENT POSTER

2007-11-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

Everyone who attends will receive a free copy of THE RIOT ACT.

Geoffrey Young’s THE RIOT ACT: book release and reading

2007-11-23T13:59:00.001-05:00

Saturday December 1^st, 2007
3:00 p.m.
National Park Visitor Center
246 Market Street
Lowell, MA 01852

sponsored in part through the Lowell Cultural Council

BOOTSTRAP PRESS is proud to announce the publication of THE RIOT ACT, a new book of poetry and prose by Geoffrey Young. Handsomely designed, and with a cover painting by Eric Fischl, THE RIOT ACT is divided into three sections. Lyric wit, sober narrative, impatient critique and generous insight flow through the course of this book’s 106 pages like a broken-field runner on a lop-sided playing field. Perfect bound, in an edition of 1000 copies, each copy is exactly the same as its neighbor in the box.

Comprised of “Why I Don’t Write Novels” (34 faux sonnets), “Conversion” (short prose), and “Up the Wazoo” (occasional poems), THE RIOT ACT continues this writer’s compelling engagement with language, history, and personal life in a range of forms, inviting each reader to take refuge in freshly conceived spaces, between the lines.

GEOFFREY YOUNG grew up in San Diego on flat streets under Queen palms. Before settling in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1982, he spent years in Santa Barbara (UCSB), Albuquerque (UNM), Paris (a Fulbright year followed by six months at La Galerie Sonnabend), and Berkeley (two sons born). He has taught at SF State University, UC Berkeley, Columbia, and Vassar.

His small press, The Figures (since 1975), has published more than 125 books of poetry, fiction, and art writing.

His own recent books of poetry include Admiral Fever (with drawings by Philip Knoll), Pockets of Wheat (drawings by James Siena), Cerulean Embankments (drawings by Carroll Dunham), Lights Out (drawings by James Siena), and Fickle Sonnets (drawings by Donald Baechler).

In 1992 Young opened a gallery in Great Barrington, where he continues to curate exhibitions of contemporary art. In the spring he teaches a class in Art Criticism at the University at Albany.

Over the last thirteen years he has curated 40 shows for his contemporary art gallery, as well as written catalog essays for a dozen artists.

11/17 - Buck Downs & Eileen Myles

2007-11-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

reading starts at 6:00. come early for a drink at the bar if you want. readings occasionally start on time.

Buck Downs

Eileen Myles

10/27 - John Wieners A BOOK OF PROPHECIES celebration

2007-10-20T15:33:00.000-04:00

reading starts at 6:00. come early for a drink at the bar if you want. readings occasionally start on time.

This is a Union Square Poetry Series celebration of A BOOK OF PROPHECIES, a notebook by John Wieners written in 1971. Michael Carr, editor of the manuscript, will kick off celebration with some introductory remarks. Local poet-regulars of the reading series will read the poems in the book straight through.

There will be extra copies of the book if you forget to bring your own.

10/13 - Amanda Cook & Jim Dunn

2007-10-08T16:15:00.000-04:00

reading starts at 6:00. come early for a drink at the bar if you want. readings occasionally start on time.

Amanda Cook

vs.

Jim Dunn

battling for bragging rights of the North Shore. There will be the drinking of liquor and loquaciousness (which is also the art of poetry--the attempt to seduce others and then overthrow the multi-national imperialist structures of globalism.)
Word on the street is that there is a party after.

Painting by Ryan Gallagher: Ted Berrigan

2007-10-08T16:12:00.000-04:00

Ted Berrigan, Red Shift and the Emperor Wu

USPS Fall 2007

2007-10-08T15:37:00.001-04:00

9/29 Tom Morgan & Ed Barrett

2007-09-18T21:16:00.000-04:00

reading starts at 6:00. come early for a drink at the bar if you want. readings occasionally start on time.

This is Ed Barrett the fisherman, not Ed Barrett the poet.
Ed Barrett the poet is the author of Kevin White.
I don't know if he, Ed Barrett the poet, is a fisherman.
Ed Barrett the poet is really fantastic. This is what
Ron says about Kevin. There is also a picture of Ed
Barrett the poet here who is standing next to Bill.

Tom Morgan is the author of:

ON/GOING : a collection of poems, sketches, and writings from a notebook between 2002-2005. During this time, Tom Morgan traveled extensively across the United States, back and forth across the U.S. / Mexican border, and abroad to Thailand and India. These writings embrace a tradition of sketch-writing in daily practice, riff of Buddhist koans, race across the universe with Beat babble flow embracing everything. Tom Morgan's poems move under the moon-which Kerouac has noticed is "a piece of tea -- (Under the empty blue sky, vertebrate zoology.)"-with the grace and rhythm of panacea separating. They carve into the sluice of eternity and bump through America's landscape, shuffle abroad, over mountains, rivers, and geological shifts; they whip through highways under strata; flora dots the page like punctuation, like litter, like human life under immensity, like the quick wit and smile of a girl you should marry-all things the mind could muddle or notice with clarity and care.