the ottawa small press book fair : home edition #3 : Simulacrum Press,

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.

On Writing #129 : Kyle Flemmer

On Writing about Reading

Kyle Flemmer

How do I write about writing without writing about reading?

So much good writing consists not of writing at all, but of good reading. Language is, of course, communicative by design, and is therefore a social tool, so writing cannot possibly exist in a vacuum as communion involves multiple parties. Given this unavoidable truth, the best writing, in my opinion, is built upon a conscious integration of judiciously selected source material. Take, for instance, writers like Jacques Derrida, or Anne Carson, powerful readers who weave together threads from a seemingly infinite number of reference texts, never concealing their sources while crafting something totally unique. Their writing thrums with ancestral energy channeled in a new way. Is this not the prime directive of all creative writing?

Reading is at the heart of my desire to write in the first place. How can a child grow up surrounded by the influence of written words and not wish to exert their own influence upon and through language? It’s like watching an older sibling jump off the high dive every summer at the pool – how can you not want to try that? Similarly, the more I read, the more keenly I feel the need to participate in the exchange. There is a saying that you must write down one-hundred ideas to get one good one; I argue that you must read one-hundred ideas before you can have an original one of your own. Reading is the heavy lifting a writer does to train for their craft, the base of a writer’s pyramid, and the bones of their practice.

Many of my poems begin with an epigraph. An epigraph is a keyhole view into another room in the house of our culture. Though it is only a glimpse, an epigraph draws an explicit connection between that other room and the one I am about to construct around you. It’s a way of building dialogue, history, subtext, and drama, and this influence should be felt whether readers have encountered the source text or not. Like the tip of an iceberg, an epigraph signals that there is important material outside the confines of my specific piece, which, as mentioned, there must always be. That said, under no circumstance must an epigraph or reference be made to do the labor of writing.

An experienced reader who is not also an experienced writer is commonplace, though perhaps not as common as I should hope. On the other hand, an experienced writer who is not an experienced reader is something conspicuous and a little detestable, like a chef who does not sample the dishes of other chefs to know where their tastes lie in comparison. As a writer, reading the work of others does not constitute approval of or complicity in their ideas, but a baseline against which one measures their own work. Some people think you should not judge yourself by the measure of other people, but I hold there is no self without others, and an awareness of the people who make up your community is essential to defining yourself within it. I’m not taking about making friends on Facebook, I’m talking about exposing yourself to the writing people put their sweat and blood into making. Give that stuff a chance, and I think you’ll find you are giving your own writing a chance as well.

Kyle Flemmer [photo credit: Dean McClelland] is an author, editor, and publisher from Calgary, Canada. Kyle founded The Blasted Tree Publishing Company in 2014, a small press and community of emerging Canadian artists. He graduated from Concordia University in Montreal with a double-major in Western Society & Culture and Creative Writing. Kyle is passionate about social satire, philosophy, and science, and enjoys writing poetry, short stories, and critical essays. His work has been published by NewPoetry, above/ground press, no press, Soliloquies Anthology, Gadfly Online, The Bullcalf Review, and Spacecraft Press, among others.

We Who Are About To Die : Kyle Flemmer

Kyle Flemmer is an author, editor, and publisher from Calgary, Canada. Kyle founded The Blasted Tree Publishing Company in 2014, a small press and community of emerging Canadian artists. He graduated from Concordia University in Montreal with a double-major in Western Society & Culture and Creative Writing. Kyle is passionate about social satire, philosophy, and science, and enjoys writing poetry, short stories, and critical essays. His work has been published by NewPoetry, above/ground press, no press, Soliloquies Anthology, Gadfly Online, The Bullcalf Review, and Spacecraft Press, among others.

Where are you now?
I am currently sitting in the living room of my apartment in the neighborhood of Sunnyside, north of the river in Calgary, AB. It’s snowy outside and 10:43 pm, the time I start feeling productive and do things like write answers to interview questions, call my mom, or vacuum. Unless I have brought home burgers as a bribe, my future wife tends to resent these late-night habits, though our cat does not. At 28, I am amid the so-called prime of my life and the beginning of my career, but please don’t tell my life or career that.

What are you reading?
I’m halfway through A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch, a novel about the romantic entanglements of a close-knit group of bourgie mid-lifers. It’s very well written, and though the prose is purpler than grape drink – everyone is petulant, clever, and dashing beyond believe – I feel I’m learning something about writing complex motivations. I’m also reading through a box of chapbooks I recently received from rob mclennan at above/ground press, including stuff from derek beaulieu, Christian Bök, Stan Rogal, the Touch the Donkey series, and much, much more.

What have you discovered lately?
My most recent discoveries include: the trade economy existing among author, artist, and publisher types whereby creativity otherwise monetized or unavailable is exchanged in kind, building community and opening access where it might otherwise not exist; and an increasing fascination with concrete and visually-oriented poetry, especially that which incorporates novel advances in consumer media and technology (like scanners, printers, computer manipulation, social media, etc.) into the exploratory process.

Where do you write?
The bulk of my writing is done sitting in the living room of my apartment in Sunnyside, though I have been known to scribble into a battered notebook elsewhere from time to time. I try to switch up my writing implements, as I seem to hit different rhythms with, for example, a typewriter versus a pen and paper. Thus, I write into my computer, my journal, the notepad function of my phone, on my typewriter, or a scrap of paper. Luckily, all of these are instruments are mobile, so my writing practice is more dependent on state of mind than time or place.

What are you working on?
At the moment I’m working to complete a book-length project of visual poetry I’ve been referring to as ‘Barcode Poetry’. Each part is a unique typographic code generated on my 1940 Remington Rand Deluxe Model 5 typewriter. As I hope to build some public enthusiasm for the series while I get it up to 100 parts (it’s in the 60s now), I’ve been sending out early drafts of the project for publication, and am having some surprising success. Otherwise, I’ve been working on a variety of print media via my small press, The Blasted Tree Publishing Co. In the last month we’ve put out several leaflets, longsheets, and the like, and we have a chapbook and a short poster series coming out over the next couple weeks.

Have you anything forthcoming?
I am personally looking forward to the publication of two excerpts from ‘Barcode Poetry’, both of which will be appearing online. The first comes out from h& on Friday, February 10th, and we should see the second batch posted by Bottlecap Press on February 18th. I also have a review of Svetlana Lilova’s experimental poetry book, Metaphysical Dictionary, forthcoming in filling Station magazine. My review attempts to replicate her dictionary-like form as a way to demonstrate my impressions of the book. Meanwhile, The Blasted Tree will see the publication of obscuritysquared, a neuroscience-inspired chapbook of poetry by Montreal scientist, musician, and poet Michael Smilovitch, then a poster series made from visual poetry by Columbian designer and author Laura Rojas. Exciting times!

What would you rather be doing?
Less of the day job, more of the writing/publishing. Obviously, paying the bills is hard (i.e. impossible) without the former, though I spend a lot of time doing the latter, and wish it were more. Some of the happiest times I’ve experienced were when I was free to write (perhaps a little inebriated) without haste, when I’ve connected with friends both new and old over the subject of writing, or when a product of my creative labour is well-received by the community I aspire to serve. To that end, I would like to do more of what I am doing, but better, more effectively. Unfortunately, the double-life routine is a little taxing, yet I know I’m very fortunately to have a bourgeoning creative practice I can tend in my spare time.

Photographic Module

Command Tasks

Observation during

      Zodiacal libration

Lunar command

      of earth

Star light through sextant:

      In through the

Near side lunar module

      Moon the L4 sextant module

Specific solar corona segments

      earthshine by region

Dark surface fields

      eclipse the light

Galactic command

      earth terminator

> Found poem rearranging “Command Module Photographic Tasks” table (pp. 3-89) from Apollo Program Summery Report [JSC-09423]