Category Archives: Limited Editions

Limited Edition: Thin Wings

Limited Editions, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , ,

THIN WINGS  − A Tanka Sequence

By Pat Nolan

Thin Wings was published in the Fall of 2005 by Empty Head Press in a limited edition lettered A through Z, signed by the author and bearing his seal, “wandering like a cloud,” each with a unique cover, some as reproductions of Japanese prints in the author’s collection, silk screened Japanese end papers, and hand sewn in the Japanese four-hole side stitch style.  It is made available here as a pdf file.

Tanka ,meaning ‘short song,’ is an unrhymed poem with a fixed thirty-one syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7.  In Westernized stanza form, it is a five line poem.   Tanka, one of the oldest of Japanese verse forms, dates back to before the 11th Century.  Tanka gained renewed popularity in the late 19th Century among radically modern young poets who brought its diction and subject matter up to date.  Historically, tanka is a precursor to renga, haikai, and haiku.  The poems in Thin Wings do not follow precisely the fixed syllabic count nor do they conform to many of the accepted tanka conventions but seek a synthesis and accommodation brought about by translation into a radically different language and culture.

From the introduction to Pat Nolan’s Cloud Scatter (Tangram Press, Berkeley, 1994)

Cloud Notes
Tanka originated as court poetry early in Japanese history. I would hesitate to call these poems tanka because that presumes a mastery of a complicated set of rules and conditions.  The poems. . .actually owe more to the intricate prosody of haikai no renga (known as renku or linked verse), than to this ancient form, especially in the relationship between [the split] stanzas.  There is, as a matter of fact, a renku term for a poem composed of only two links and that’s ‘tanrenga.’  As accurate as that may be, I am uneasy with that label.  ‘Tanku,’ a word of my own invention, would seem to accommodate the Japanese nomenclature (haiku, renku) but it too doesn’t suit my sense of these poems.  Ultimately, I find myself preferring tanka as the logical as well as sentimental favorite for what this kind of poem might be called.  I do so well aware that the designation is a borrowed one.

Limited Edition: Fly By Night

Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Poetry, , , , , , , , , ,

FLY BY NIGHT
Selected Poems, 1975 −1992
by Pat Nolan 

Doris Green Editions originally published Fly By Night as a limited edition specifically for the author’s readings at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado and at The Poetry Project in New York City in November of 1992.  In 2006, Re:issue Press reprinted the selection of poems in the original edition adding the subheading Selected Poems, 1975 −1992. A few modest editorial changes were also made, and the biographical information updated.  Surplus covers from the original edition were recycled and cut down to fit the current format, from 8×10 to 5×7.  The hand-sewn Japanese style binding and the folded leading edge of the page are unique to the reissued edition.  A review of Fly By Night by Gabriel Ricard was published at the Unlikely Stories blog.  Here then is the full text of that 1992 selection of poems: Fly By Night Selected Poems 1975-1992

Terms, Conditions & Categories

Crime Fiction, Fiction, Limited Editions, Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, Western, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nualláin − (pronounced Noo-al-ayne) Celtic for the family name, Nolan, meaning noble or famous.  The Irish writer Brian O’Nualláin was also known as Brian O’Nolan, as well as by his most famous pseudonym, Flann O’Brien, author of At Swim-Two-Birds, The Third Policeman and The Dalkey Archives.
House – a business organization of like minded folk, kindred in their interest in the creative, bringing together years of experience in writing, self-publishing, book design, and book selling under one roof, peaked, in the shape of an open book (see logo on the masthead).
Publishers – a business or profession intent on making available literature of a particular genre, be it fiction, poetry or non-fiction, and often entered into more for personal satisfaction than financial gain.  The year 2011 marked the centennial of Brian O’Nualláin’s birth, a fitting beginning for Nualláin House, Publishers, and the publication of ON THE ROAD TO LAS CRUCES, A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman by Pat Nolan (November, 2011).  Nualláin House, Publishers, will proceed on the assumption that what appeals to the editors might well appeal to other reasonably literate, intellectually curious readers.
Fiction – that which is made up, imaginatively, under the assumptions of possibility more than its probability irrespective of the truth; in short, fanciful lies.  Under the heading of fanciful lies, coming soon: THE LAST RESORT, A Lee Malone Adventure by Pat Nolan (August, 2012).
Poetry – the evil of banality.
Non-Fiction – not fiction.
Whimsy – capricious, eccentric, unpredictable and erratic (see Quirky).
Quirky – an abrupt twist or curve, idiosyncratic (see Whimsy).
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eBooks – at present, the eBook format taxes the technologically challenged and DIY mentality of Nualláin House, Publishers’ production designer.  Suffice it to say, all titles will eventually be issued as eBooks (see Future).  In the meantime, pdf files of sample chapters and limited edition poetry books will be made available on a regular basis with the compliments of Nualláin House, Publishers (see Future, Sample Chapters, and Limited Editions).
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Limited Editions – In the months to come (see Future), Nualláin House, Publishers will make available pdf files of rare and limited editions of poetry books from such presses as Re:Issue Press, On The Fly Press, Last Cookie Press, Editions de Jacob, Bamboo Studio, Empty Head Press, Egret Moon, and Not My Hat Press featuring such titles as Fly By Night, Later, Carbon Data, Intellectual Pretensions, Thin Wings, Untouched By Rain, Ah Bolinas!, Exile In Paradise, and Jacks Or Better.
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