Hiromi Suzuki |
Simulacrum
press released its first publication in 2017. It was a box containing about 365
cards which made up a project of my own called Zoning Cycle. It set the
tone of the press, it said please, if you like this, submit.
I
began Simulacrum Press after discovering that Michael e. Casteels had continued
and expanded Puddles of Sky Press since the time that I had known him in
university. At the time that I was attending Trent University there were a
number of us who were making what I called at the time zines, but which I would
now call chapbooks. Michael, Andrew Nurse, Greg Frankland, myself and others.
These were simple photocopied pages sown or stapled, generally black and white.
For the most part circulated between just those of us who were making them and
not much farther, but it was a good way to share our work and to at least make
it feel like we were being published. Michael always branded his books with Puddles
of Sky Press. It was slightly funny at the time, of no consequence, but it
evidenced a vision.
Some
years later I was living in China and I actually did manage to get published in
a couple magazines. Truth be told I hadn't tried very hard until then, plus I
had never heard or seen the small or micro presses that would soon become very central
to my life. One day I got an email from Greg Frankland who informed me that
Michael was producing chapbooks through his puddles of sky press. I looked it
up on the internet and found his website. It was amazing to find what it had
grown into. It must have been around this time also that I read Derek Beaulieu's
manifesto-like writings which promoted self-publishing and just such micro
press endeavours. It just all seemed so easy, and as I remembered having so
much fun creating those little books back in university I decided I might as
well give it a try. So I created a website, thought of a name, and began
connecting with people via a social media. That was that, Simulacrum Press was
born. Submissions began to roll in and I was on my way.
I
just wanted a press and to be in control of a press where experimental voices
could find a home. That goal has not shifted from the beginning and I continue
to be proud and honoured to be able to publish such amazing authors/creators in
the capacity that I am able. Though my means are small, when it comes to a
press of this size it is all about the inventiveness of presentation. You've
given me your work, now what can I bring to the table? An object the author feels
elevates their work.
Simulacrum
Press has wended its way up to the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair three or four
times, I believe. Of course it is great to exhibit there as it gives the public
a chance to get up close and personal with the objects, the books—and yes more
are sold that way, but it is about being with, being within the community of
writers that make up the event. It's about going out for drinks and talking about
work, the good work, or not talking about the work and just shooting the shit.
It's about being around people with whom I can feel normal, kind of. I love the
Ottawa small press community, I love the drive up into Ottawa—it's probably the
only time in the year I have to be by myself. Also there is the Factory Reading
which is held the night before. I always look forward to that—it's a great way
to get into the mood of the fair and to hear some poems that you will encounter
on tables. So, good books, good people and drinks… an essential event.
Kyle Flemmer |
I
don't usually make things for the fair itself because in the past I was
producing fairly regularly. Though I imagine this year had their being the
opportunity to table I would have created something specifically for the event
because I have not been producing very much, not because of COVID-19, but
because I've been working a job that obliterates me and focussing as much as I
can on my own manuscripts. Unfortunately COVID-19 means no fair.
I
am person who produces a lot both in terms of my own poetics and publishing
others (though nothing compared to rob). But, lately I have been struggling in
both arenas though the desire, the urge remains as strong as ever—which I
suppose is the struggle. With a new child in the home and a full-time job it is
difficult to focus my mind. A change is coming, I am attempting to guide my
life into a place where I can resume those things, i.e. writing / publishing,
that is, those things outside of the job which sustained me (NOT in fiscal
terms).
The
pandemic has given me an opportunity to pause and step back from social media,
to some extent, and to focus on myself and my family (to some extent), but
being an essential worker there has been no rest. I’ve taken it as a sign to go
inside, to think out some things, to remove myself—a little.
Simulacrum
press's most recent publication is correctional sonnets, an absolutely
fabulous series of visual poems by Kyle Flemmer. Inspired by the work of
Catherine Vidler, Kyle's sonnets use as a medium correctional fluid, tape and
pen to create visual sonnets with what is usually the noise of an erasure poem.
The pieces seem like erasure poems where no words are left, but are in fact
brilliant works that discard the word for the texture of correction. There are
still copies available to order via the Simulacrum website: simulacrumpress.ca.
I
am currently on the brink of taking the final steps towards the production of a
chapbook by Hiromi Suzuki, a Japanese visual poet who is as versatile as she is
fascinating. The work has been printed, the form of the chapbook has been
decided and all that remains is to design the cover, print it, and assemble it
all. The chapbook is composed of typewriter poems, which is a new direction for
Hiromi. She has worked with collage, gifs and more traditional forms, so I am
excited to publish this branch of her work. True to her style not only are
these typewriter poems, but they are typewriter poems that have been
photographed, which gives them an interesting angle of presentation, a certain
mood which one doesn't usually find in a typewriter poem. These poems are
unmistakably Hiromi’s—there is a dream-like shadow to the content, something
you just can't completely capture, that eludes you.
Sacha Archer
lives in Burlington, Ontario with his wife and two daughters. He is the editor
of Simulacrum Press (simulacrumpress.ca). Archer’s latest chapbook is Inkwells:
An Event Poem (nOIR:Z, 2019) and his forthcoming chapbooks are Houses
(no press), Framing Poems and Mother’s Milk (both Timglaset) as
well as Lines of Sight (nOIR:Z). His concrete poetry has been exhibited
in the USA, Italy, and Canada. Find him on Facebook and Instagram @sachaarcher.
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