A new series of visual poems by repeat Blasted Tree contributor katie o’brien, two ten six was made by applying the zalgo or “cursed text” effect to existing poems. Zalgo text generation involves combining numerous typographic characters with Unicode symbols to add diacritical marks above and below letters. Using this technique, o’brien has overwritten their earliest poetry manuscript to create something entirely new. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of sixty 7” x 7” chapbooks hand-bound with black thread into purple covers, available now from our online store.
Poetry Booklet - Canadian Poem (for Stuart Ross, by rob mclennan
A poem by small press darling rob mclennan, Canadian Poem (for Stuart Ross, pays homage to a community of characters, each of whom have contributed to Canadian literary culture in unique ways. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of seventy-five 5.5” x 2” booklets bound with brass paper fasteners into red construction paper, available now from our online store. The booklets feature four slightly different designs that stack together to form a larger image, a nod toward the way many people come together to form a literary community.
Read Canadian Poem (for Stuart Ross,
Poetry Chapbook - RAPE by Charlotte Jung
With this short series of visual/found text poems, Charlotte Jung shines a light on the disturbing frequency of rape and the near-banality of its prevalence. RAPE is a feminist script exploring the phenomenon of rape through a clinical engagement with the term itself, evoking the numbness we feel in place of the horror we should feel when confronted with the truth about rape culture. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 copies of RAPE, each bound with red thread into light grey high-cotton covers with the title debossed in. Copies of the chapbook are available now from The Blasted Tree’s store, and the series can be read online following the link below.
read RAPE
Poetry Chapbook - The Republic of Home by Leslie Joy Ahenda
The Republic of Home is a chapbook-length poem written after Dionne Brand’s Inventory. Each of the 11 parts represents one month of 2021 (ending in November) and catalogues the reported COVID deaths at the beginning and end of each month. Otherwise, the poem does not reference the pandemic. Instead, pulling quotes from Inventory, Leslie Joy Ahenda examines ideas of self-hood and relationship, methods of living in the world amid disaster, and the impossible staying power of hope. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 copies of The Republic of Home, each bound into Italian high-cotton paper in dark grey with a pastel green flyleaf. Copies of the chapbook are available now from The Blasted Tree’s store, and the entire poem can be read online following the link below.
read the republic of home
Visual Poetry Leaflet - Mountainview_1 by Kyle Flemmer
Part of series of ten visual poems derived from landscape imagery, Mountainview_1 processes a photograph through a text shader to render a mountain scene in characters from the word ‘mount’. The series was produced by Kyle Flemmer during the Computational Writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in May 2022. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of seventy-five 7” x 7” folded leaflets, available now from our online store.
View Mountainview_1
Poetry Chapbook - A Rose for the TransCanada by Gregory Betts
A transcription and anagrammatic response to derek beaulieu’s visual poem Prose of the TransCanada, Gregory Bett’s A Rose for the TransCanada meticulously enumerates every character in beaulieu’s original, then tells the story of a coast-to-coast journey using only those characters. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 chapbooks to mark the 25th anniversary of derek beaulieu’s publishing ventures, House Press and No Press. Copies of A Rose for the TransCanada are available in our online store, and the collection can be read using the link below.
Read A Rose for the TransCanada
Poetry Leaflet Set - 100 Sounds by Kit Dobson
100 Sounds is a list poem compiling sounds heard by Kit Dobson between January 1 and June 30, 2020. This time spans the worldwide eruption of the COVID-19 coronavirus, which was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. 100 Sounds is excerpted from Field Notes on Listening, published by Wolsak and Wynn in 2022. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of leaflet sets, each with two 6” x 12” leaflets folded into craft paper sleeves with an explanatory note on yellow cardstock.
Read 100 Sounds
Poetry Chapbook - We Are Lichen by Razielle Aigen
Inspired by the phenomenon of symbiotic relationships, We Are Lichen by Razielle Aigen unfolds in nine poems interpretively based on the lichen life cycle. By diffusing the polarity between personal and public spheres, a confused and re-fused meaning of self and other is generated. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 copies of We Are Lichen, each hand-bound into 100% recycled parchment paper covers and a white paper doily with jute twine. Copies of the chapbook are available now from The Blasted Tree’s store, and the entire collection can be read online following the link below.
Read we are lichen
We Are Lichen features as the textual component of a text-based, multimedia installation exhibited as part of Image De Femmes, 21st Edition, at Galerie Mile-End, Montréal, QC, 2014.
Poetry Leaflet - semi-automatic transmission #18 by Jeff Kochan
A poem about nature, evolution, and the strange ecology we inhabit while “getting ready for the end times.” semi-automatic transmission #18 is one of a series of poems by Jeff Kochan. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 leaflets featuring the poem on granite grey paper. semi-automatic transmission #18 can be read online following the link below, and copies of the leaflet are available for purchase from The Blasted Tree’s store.
Read semi-automatic transmission #18
Poetry Longsheet - Maps, Omens, & Agar #3
Maps, Omens, & Agar #3 features two anagrammatic poems by kerry rawlinson. Each of rawlinson’s poems is an anagram of the title and first stanza of a poem by Paul Verlain, which appears in italics alongside the new work. The Blasted Tree has produced a limited edition of 60 two-page longsheets printed on ivory linen paper and staple-bound. Maps, Omens, & Agar #3 is available for purchase in The Blasted Tree’s store and can be read online using the link below.