Ten Years and Two New Books

The Blasted Tree is ten years old as of this summer! It seems like only yesterday I was registering the domain name and asking my fellow creative writing students for short stories and poetry collections to publish as chapbooks. From its founding in Montreal in 2014 to the present day, The Blasted Tree has chased that special something that makes text fun to read and a page fun to read from. Now, I am delighted to present two new, fully-illustrated visual poetry books by ground-breaking Canadian authors, each available in a limited edition of 100 copies. Take a closer look at these titles below, and please consider participating in our 10-year anniversary fundraiser in support of these, and future, publications.

Game Genie Poems

by Kevin Stebner

Game Genie Poems takes the limited set of letters available in the Game Genie cheat code cartridge to its poetic extreme. Selecting only from words compatible with the code entry system, Stebner has crafted a collection of poems that treat topics as diverse as politics, gastronomy, sex, and literary formalism with rigorous precision and ribald humour. This volume presents photographs of Stebner’s code words entered into the Game Genie interface alongside textual versions to give readers an idea of the laborious process, not only of composing these poems, but of entering them letter-by-letter into a 1980s video game console.

HAVANA SYNDROME

by Sacha Archer

Slicing through genre and convention like a razor through celluloid, Sacha Archer’s HAVANA SYNDROME is a grimy, ink-splattered adventure in the hinterlands of typographic representation. Like a clandestine dossier of photocopied documents, these poems disclose themselves in furtive fragments, drawing the reader into a conspiracy of text and visual detritus. Which fingerprints are Archer’s and which are left by the reader? Whether you’re a detective or the culprit, HAVANA SYNDROME will enlist you into a secret agency of interpretation.

To celebrate ten years of small press publishing, The Blasted Tree is hosting an anniversary party and funding drive. Full details about the party are coming soon. Meanwhile, check out the fabulous offerings available through the funding drive over on The Blasted Tree’s online store, including book and chapbook bundles, one-of-a-kind art, out of print publications from our back catalogue, and more!

The Blasted Tree is looking to raise $2500 over the next couple of months to cover the production costs of our new books. Purchasing any of these bundles (or the books themselves) will be a huge help in meeting this goal. There are only 1 or 2 of each bundle available, so act fast! If you miss your shot at a bundle or just want to support the funding drive, The Blasted Tree also accepts donations. Any amount donated to the cause is greatly appreciated!

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Poetry Chapbook - failed (after)lives by Ryanne Kap

failed (after)lives is a collection of experimental writing that embraces many different forms and tones, including cheeky erasure poetry, excerpts from interview transcripts, frank prose poems, and more! Ryanne Kap reflects on a loss of faith in Christianity and its version of the afterlife, the struggle to grasp a posthuman theory of death, and how both of these concepts interact with personal experiences of grief. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 50 chapbook hand-bound into fossil grey covers. Read failed (after)lives following the link below, and copies of the chapbook are available in our online store.

Read failed (after)lives

Poetry Chapbook - make it a habit each night by Gary Barwin and Dani Spinosa

make it a habit each night is a collaborative collection of visual poetry — accompanied by a suite of multimedia Special Features — derived primarily from the Adler J2/J4 Typewriter Manual (1966). Gary Barwin and Dani Spinosa’s remix of the instruction manual format playfully intervenes in conventional notions of gendered labour, mechanization, and capitalism. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty 5.25” x 4” chapbooks printed full-colour on newsprint paper and staple-bound into cardstock covers. View make it a habit each night along with its video and audio Special Features on The Blasted Tree’s website, copies of the chapbook are available in our online store.

View make it a habit each night

Poetry Chapbook - Peaceful by Kevin Stebner

Peaceful collects a new series of concrete poetry made from dry transfer lettering by repeat Blasted Tree contributor Kevin Stebner. The typeface used in this collection is “Salim” – a bold version of Arabic script, #3283 in the Letraset catalogue. “Salim” in Arabic translates to “safe” or “peaceful.” The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty 7” x 7” chapbooks hand-bound with white thread into olive green covers, available now from our online store.

View Peaceful

Poetry Chapbook - Close Wreading by Bruno Neiva

In Bruno Neiva’s Close Wreading, the thirteen poems analysed in Practical Criticism: A Study of Literary Judgment by I. A. Richards are reanalysed using only words from the original poems. Each of Neiva’s responses are small poetic morsels, averaging a half-dozen words each. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty chapbooks bound into cloud grey parchment covers with a metallic grey flyleaf. Close Wreading can be enjoyed online or purchased from The Blasted Tree’s online store.

Read Close Wreading

Poetry Leaflet - "VOID" by Darian Razdar

“VOID” is a short, five line poem by Darian Razdar about sensory perception and deprivation. The poem is strongly imagistic, that is, if you consider ‘imagery’ the right word to describe verse shrouded in total darkness. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty hand-stamped leaflets printed with white archival ink on matte black paper. Read the poem following the link below, copies of the leaflet are available in our online store.

READ VOID

Poetry Leaflet - Rainmancer by Kaitlyn Perrin

“Rainmancer” is a minimalist poem about how dreams seep into our reality, connecting our daily lives to parallel universes. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty 4.25” x 4.25” leaflets printed on metallic grey paper. This is The Blasted Tree’s first collaboration with Kaitlyn Perrin since publishing her chapbook Chewing Around the Rind in 2015, one of our very first publications!

READ Rainmancer

Poetry Chapbook - Al-Hashashin by Yusra Usmani

Through a short series of lyric verse and prose poems, Al-Hashashin chronicles how the legendary Hashish Eaters militants filled their young recruits with religious fervour and intoxicants before sending them on suicide missions. Yusra Usmani reveals how closely akin the beauty of spiritual language is with its terrible power to enrapture and exploit: “One hand bible, one hand gun / Thy will be done, Thy will be done.” The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty hand-bound chapbooks printed on linen paper and bound into ivory parchment cover stock.

Read Al-Hashashin

Visual Poetry Broadside - Punctuation Panorama by Michael Betancourt

With vector design software and a keen eye for typographic form, Michael Betancourt crafts intricate, interlocking visual poems composed of elements of letters and punctuation marks. Punctuation Panorama is a new typoem in the tradition of designers like Hansjorg Mayer and Norman Ives, a lineage founded in physical media and honed by contemporary computer application. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of fifty 11” x 16” broadsides featuring the typoem, and copies can be purchased from our online store.

VIEW PUNCTUATION PANORAMA