Category Archives: Poetry

Limited Edition: All Ears

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All Ears

haikai no renga by Keith Kumasen Abbott, Pat Nolan, Maureen Owen & Michael Sowl

Renku PoetsAll Ears, a haikai no renga or linked verse, was the first of the collaborations between Maureen Owen, Keith Kumasen Abbott, Michael Sowl, and Pat Nolan to be made into a limited edition handmade book and was published by Empty Head Press in 2004.  Subsequently, Random Rocks and Poetry For Sale, both haikai no renga, were issued as limited edition handmade books(see Nualláin House archives for July 2013 and October 2012).  All Ears was also included in the anthology Saints of Hysteria, A Half Century of Collaborative American Poetry (Soft Skull Press, 2007).   

All Ears was composed through the mail over a period of a year and a half beginning in early 1992.  Once the 36 stanzas (kasen) of the haikai-no-renga were completed, each poet was asked to comment on the process in general, and on their own stanzas and those of their collaborators.  The arrangement of stanza follows the standard haikai form of 8 stanzas on the first sheet and 8 stanzas on the back sheet with the remaining 20 stanzas taking up the central text.  Following the haikai no renga and the commentary by the poets is the sequence showing the stanza assignment as well as which poets had the moon and flower stanzas.   

All Ears was bound using repurposed “sticks & strings” wallpaper sheets from a wallpaper sample book as cover stock and backed with Japanese silkscreen endpapers.  Each cover was unique in itself. The pages were folded vertically with a folded leading edge as is common in Japanese books.  Each book was hand sewn using a Japanese side stitch style known “tortoiseshell.”  The dimensions are 4.25×10 inches (10.5×16.5 cm).  Only a limited number of All Ears were produced and it is out of print. 

For more on the intriguing subject of Japanese Linked Verse, see Earl Miner’s Japanese Linked Poetry (Princeton, 1979), Hiroaki Sato’s One Hundred Frogs (Weatherhill, 1983), and Haruo Shirane’s Traces Of Dreams (Stanford, 1998).

To view a PDF facsimile of All Ears, click on ALL EARS 2004

Nualláin House So Far

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

HELLOLIFEjHello Life by Gail King
Poetry; The poems of Hello Life achieve their freshness in the particularity of experience. The poet surrenders herself to the moment and tenders that subtle cognition as a delighted welcome to life. The ease of her expression in dealing with the everyday communicates an uncommon wisdom. The poems present, through playful understatement and sly humor, the immediacy of spontaneous impressions. Maureen Owen, former artistic director for The Poetry Project in NYC and author of Edges of Water and Erosion’s Pull, says “In Gail King’s poems the events of the day become transformative, the images of the temporary become immediate, and the mystery of being alive in the Now unfolds. “…time like a lake breeze” says the poet, and the wind rises.” Gail King’s poems have also won the praise of Andrei Codrescu, poet, novelist, essayist and NPR commentator, author of So Recent Rent A World, who said “Reading Gail King has always been one of my great poetry pleasures. Her inimitable voice narrates the world with humor and tenderness, a world of beauty and occasional sorrow. Her work has healing effects.”
 December 2013  ~  $16.00  ~  64 pages ~ Paper  ~  ISBN 978-0-9840310-3-0

 

The Last ResortThe Last Resort, A Lee Malone Adventure by Pat Nolan
Meta Pulp– Pat Nolan has written a fast paced, tongue-in-cheek, pun filled comedy of errors, misunderstandings, and faux intuition in the mode of a 1930’s pulp thriller to talk about the pulp fiction of that era.  In doing so, The Last Resort presents an unlikely set of circumstances in which a worldly-wise female reporter must untangle herself from her past in order to deal with the puzzling events of her present.  Rather than the typical splinter-jawed, broken nosed, tobacco breathed tough guy hero, Nolan upends the stereotype by introducing a gorgeous internationally famous former fashion model whose super power is her beauty.  THE LAST RESORT, A Lee Malone Adventure, is a quirky, entertaining recreation of the lurid screed that once peopled pulp pages on newsstands everywhere.
August 2012 ~ $19.99 ~ 212 pages ~ Paper~ ISBN 978-0-9840310-2-3

“Has-been supermodel Lee Malone retains her drop-dead gorgeous looks—and haute couture wardrobe—and uses them every chance she gets to solve a murder mystery and live to write about it in The Last Resort: A Lee Malone Adventure. Author Pat Nolan sets this labyrinthine adventure in his home turf along the Russian River communities, renamed the Corkscrew River in the book. Having survived a botched kidnap attempt and a rescue by a secret female militia, Malone seeks the “quiet life” among the redwoods. She writes puff pieces for the Corkscrew County Grapevine, but stumbles into a deeper, more sinister story. Nolan weaves his heroine’s backstory throughout, touching on issues of homelessness, sex slavery, pornography and ever-changing relationships in river communities, while retaining a sense of humor and comic relief.”
— North Bay Bohemian, Fall Literary Issue, 2012

                  

ontheroadfront300On The Road To Las Cruces, Being A Novel Account of The Last Day In The Life of A Legendary Western Lawman by Pat Nolan
Historical Fiction; On The Road To Las Cruces, a work of fiction tethered loosely to historical fact, is the story of the relationship between two men, one garrulous, the other taciturn, the Mutt and Jeff of the old Southwest.  What is related on the road to Las Cruces is as much a retelling of some history as it is how such a retelling might come about, and is represented in the manner of a tall tale, the deadpan details of a crime story, melodrama, and a conspiracy to murder. The road to Las Cruces is full of twists and turns.  The sound of a door slamming like a gunshot brings us into the world of the old Southwest and the gun violence of that historical era.  More than just the tale of a legendary lawman who remains nameless to the end, it is a lesson in storytelling and an allegory for how lives were lived and how death was dealt.  As much a dusty tale of buffalo hunts and shoot-outs as a politically driven “whodunit,” On The Road To Las Cruces is the story of youthful bravado and an old man’s regret.
November, 2011 ~ $16.99 ~ 154 pages ~ paper ~ ISBN 978-0-9840310-1-6

   “. . . a real old-fashioned Western. Page-turner. There are all sorts of funny sly mixes in the story, good Nolan humor, great repartee. . . .” – Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of Whatever Gets You Through The Night.                              

“Pat Nolan is not only one of our finest living poets. . . but now surprises with a prose paean to the West. Whatever Pat writes deserves to be read and remembered.” – Barry Gifford, author of Wild At Heart and Sailor And Lula

                                                                                                                    

 

 

 

 

What is being said about Gail King

Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gail King lives in a shed and has been getting away with murder for years.  This can be explained in part by quoting Hugh Kenner who said “American genius (in literature) cannot be distinguished by a casual glance from charlatanry. Purity of intention lies at the heart of American achievement.”  

Of her recent book of poems, Hello Life, Keith Kumasen Abbott, professor emeritus and author of numerous books of poetry, prose, and non-fiction, including Downstream from Trout Fishing In America, a Memoir, says “In Hello Life Gail King often uses sleight of hand as she guides readers into a scene, a mood, a spiral, then disappears while events continue for us alone. Her art is beguiling, comic, candid and a pleasure.” 

Maureen Owen, former artistic director for The Poetry Project in NYC and author of many books of poems, including Edges of Water and Erosion’s Pull, says “In Gail King’s poems the events of the day become transformative, the images of the temporary become immediate, and the mystery of being alive in the Now unfolds. “…time like a lake breeze” says the poet, and the wind rises.”

Gail King’s previous book of poems, Boxes & Chair (What Leaf Press, 2006) won the praise of Andrei Codrescu, poet, novelist, essayist and NPR commentator, author of So Recent Rent A World, who said “Reading Gail King has always been one of my great poetry pleasures. Her inimitable voice narrates the world with humor and tenderness, a world of beauty and occasional sorrow. Her work has healing effects.”

Joanne Kyger, author of more than twenty books of poetry and prose, including About Now: Collected Poems, and recipient of the 2008 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Poetry said of Boxes & Chairs “. . .a lovely lovely book. . .with direct beauty of what actually happens. [The poems] are all about SOMETHING, not just states of mind mired in ‘language’.”

Gail King, a Bay Area native, has lived in the Northern California town of Monte Rio for over 40 years. She has written poetry all her adult life and was the publisher of Doris Green Editions, a small literary press active in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s.  Boxes & Chairs, her third selection of poems, was published by What Leaf Press in 2006. Many of the poems featured in that selection are included in Hello Life.

 

 

HELLOLIFEj

December 2013  ~  $16.00  ~  64 pages ~ Paper  ~  ISBN 978-0-9840310-3-0

 now available from
Nualláin House, Publishers
Box 798 Monte Rio,California, 95462
(free shipping through December 31st, 2013)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Life, Poems by Gail King

Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Coming in December!
New from Nualláin House, Publishers!!!
Order now and get free shipping!!
(offer good through December 31st, 2013)

HELLO LIFE

Poems by Gail King

The poems of Hello Life achieve their freshness in the particularity of experience. The poet surrenders herself to the moment and tenders that subtle cognition as a delighted welcome to life. The ease of her expression in dealing with the everyday communicates an uncommon wisdom. The poems present, through playful understatement and sly humor, the immediacy of spontaneous impressions.
  

SOME DAYSHELLOLIFEj

Some days
there is fog
that rolls
down the hills
and pours
like great waterfalls
off the land
to disappear into the sea
and you can drive
in and out of fog streams
and see a line in the air
where sunlight turns to shadow
behind hills

In Hello Life Gail King often uses sleight of hand as she guides readers into a scene, a mood, a spiral, then disappears while events continue for us alone. During Flood of 95 she directs our camera eyes through wreckage and despair − then fades away; and each reader is morphing through slippery endings. “ inside we walk on cardboard/ make ourselves tough to stand it/ months down the road our anger will/ burst upon us/ now the green is good and there are/  plum blossoms”  Her art is beguiling, comic, candid and a pleasure. −Keith Abbott, author of Downstream from Trout Fishing in America, A Memoir and The First Thing Coming

Gail King, a Bay Area native, has lived in the Northern California town of Monte Rio for over 40 years. She has written poetry all her adult life and was the publisher of Doris Green Editions, a small literary press active in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s.  Boxes & Chairs, her third selection of poems, was published by What Leaf Press in 2006. Many of the poems featured in that selection are included in Hello Life.

December 2013  ~  $16.00  ~  64 pages ~ Paper  ~  ISBN 978-0-9840310-3-0

Praise for Boxes & Chairs

“Reading Gail King has always been one of my great poetry pleasures. Her inimitable voice narrates the world with humor and tenderness, a world of beauty and occasional sorrow. Her work has healing effects.” − Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of So Recently Rent A World 

“. . .a lovely lovely book. . .with direct beauty of what actually happens. [The poems] are all about SOMETHING, not just states of mind mired in ‘language’.”   − Joanne Kyger, poet, author of About Now, Collected Poems

To be the first on your block to get a copy of Hello Life click on How To Order on the menu line above


 

 

 

The Nolan Anthology of Poetry, Volume II: The Modern Era

Modern Poetry, Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

anthcvr1The Nolan Anthology of Poetry, Volume II was published by Fell Swoop in 2003.  The first Nolan Anthology of Poetry was published in 1993 by the same New Orleans publisher.  Volume II (Fell Swoop #64) The Modern Era was printed in an unspecified print run using basically the same 8.5×11 stapled binding format as the first volume though designating them as “volumes” may be a bit of overstatement as each is only twenty pages in length printed on a single side of the page.  The cover design by the author was meant to replicate the pocket poetry books of the French publisher, Gallimard under the NRF (Nouvelle Revue Française) imprint.  Volume II, as did Volume I, represents a sampling from a variety of the author’s poetry manuscript unpublished at the time.  Since then the poems in the tanka sequence Light Years have been included in a handmade limited edition chap book entitled Carved In Stone (Empty Head Press, 2013).  The Chinese style poems were published as a selection entitled Exile In Paradise (Bamboo Leaf Studio, 2009), also as a handmade limited edition.  The prose poems were included in a handmade chap book entitled Intellectual Pretensions (edition de Jacob, 2009).

Click here for The Nolan Anthology of Poetry, Volume II: The Modern Era 2003

A word about Fell Swoop magazine whose stated mission, as per Editor Reverend XJ Dailey, is to destroy contemporary American poetry: this year marks the 30th Anniversary of their fitful yet courageously tenacious low tech existence.  They (3rd person plural used advisedly) will publish their 130th issue this November.  Past featured authors and contributors to Fell Swoop magazine include Andrei Codrescu, Aram Sayroyan, Bernadette Meyer, The Clark Coolidge, Sir Thomas Weigel, Richard Martin, Camille Martin, Lady Alice Notley, and Keith Kumasen Abbott to name just a few.  As an unpretentious and somewhat anachronistic photo copy (xerographic) publication, Fell Swoop harkens back to the more innocent days of the mimeograph revolution when such prehistoric publications as Fuck You, C, Blue Suede Shoes, The End, Life of Crime, and The World roamed the humid fecund swamps of Am Po’s armpit.  Though based in New Orleans, they represent one of the last unapologetic bastions of the New York School of Poets scattered to the four (or five) corners of the poetry universe after the passing of the Grand Himself, Ted Berrigan.  Fell Swoop keeps the flame alive to light another Chesterfield.   Their post-Katrina address is Po Box 740158 New Orleans, LA 70174.  Send them a bunch of cash, in one fell swoop.

 

Limited Edition: Jacks Or Better

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

Jacks Or Better

by Pat Nolan

Jacks Or Better is a travel journal (kikobun) in the tradition of Basho’s Narrow Roads To Far Off Places.  The narrow road followed in this journal is the iron road, from San Francisco to rural Florida with stops in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.  It is a poet’s journey expressed as haibun in which descriptive or expressionistic prose is capped by a haiku-like poem that continues the thread, elucidates it, or offers a disparate juxtaposition.  Published by Egret Moon Press in 2011 in a limited edition of 36 copies. 38 pages hand-bound with Japanese stitching between grey repurposed paper covers, 7×7.25 inches (18x19cm).

 

jobfcvrfrom Jacks Or Better 

Although this is my first trip to New Orleans, I’ve taken trains across country before and have always found that if you’re on a schedule they are the last place to be.  But if you’re not in a hurry, they enforce a leisurely pace that is fast becoming antique. My final destination is Florida where I will visit with my parents.  The first leg will take most of three days. This trip is ostensibly about the anatomy of a friendship and the relationship between generations.  I will visit with Andrei Codrescu in New Orleans and lecture to his MA classes at Louisiana State University. 

Baton Rouge
“only place in America named
         after a dog’s dick”

 

 To view a pdf facsimile click JACKS OR BETTER 2011

Special Offer: Cloud Traffic

Non-fiction, Poetry, , , , ,

cloud traffic

Special Offer

Limited Edition Broadside

Cloud Traffic

A poem and linoleum cut by Pat Nolan in a signed and numbered edition of fifty, printed in Bembo by Luci Edwards on Arches Text  (6 5/8 x 8 3/4 in.; 16.9 x 22.3 cm) from Ideal Café Editions at Iota Press Sebastopol, CA available now for $10 each, postage included, for a limited time only through Nualláin House, Publishers.  See How To Order for more information.

Limited Edition: Carbon Data

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Carbon Data

By Pat Nolan

 

carbon dataCarbon Data is a limited edition poetry selection published by Last Cookie Press in 2008, bound with 60# granite grey cover stock in the Japanese four-hole style.  35 pages, 8.5×5.5 

The poems in Carbon Data first appeared in Fell Swoop, Tight, Exquisite Corpse, Smelt Money, Kickass Review, Watching The Wheels: A Blackbird, Court Green, and Otolith as well as in volumes of selected poetry including Fly By Night (1992), The Nolan Anthology Of Poetry, Vol. II (2003), and Later (2007).  

Pat Nolan’s poetry and prose have been published in numerous magazines including Rolling Stone, The Paris Review, The World, Big Bridge, Poetry Flash, and Exquisite Corpse as well as literary magazines in Europe and Asia.  He is the author of fifteen books of poetry, including LATER from On The Fly Press (2007).  

This limited edition is still available for $10 plus shipping.  Get free shipping when you purchase a copy of either On The Road to Las Cruces or The Last Resort along with Carbon Data.  Click here to preview a pdf facsimile of  CARBON DATA 2008

Limited Edition: Random Rocks

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

Random Rocks

Haikai No Renga

By The Miner School of Haikai Poets

randrksfcRandom Rocks is a limited edition haikai no renga (linked verse) published by Bamboo Leaf Studio in 2007.  The size of the edition was linked to the number of stanzas in a kasen, a standard renga length employed by Basho and his disciples, and in the memorializing of the 36 immortal poets of Japanese literature.  Random Rocks measures 5.5x 7 (14x17cm), is hand sewn in the Japanese side stitch style, bound in heavy green chiri paper, momogami binding strips and features Japanese silk screen end papers.  The edition was divided evenly among the four haikai poets to distribute as they saw fit.                                                                                        

The Miner School of Haikai Poets have engaged in the practice of haikai no renga over a period of thirty years, written primarily through the mail and more recently, email.  They are Pat Nolan, Keith Kumasen Abbott, Michael Sowl and Maureen Owen. The Miner School’s haikai have been published in numerous magazine including Hanging Loose, Exquisite Corpse, Jack’s Magazine, Big Bridge, and Simply Haiku as well as in limited edition chapbooks and broadsides from Empty Head Press, Bamboo Leaf Studio, and Tangram Press.  Their kasen, All Ears, was included in Saints Of Hysteria, an anthology celebrating collaboration, from Soft Skull Press (2007).   

One of the unique features of Miner School haikai is that it includes a running commentary by the authors on each of their own stanzas as well as a stab at their collaborators’ links.  It functions in a way similar to commentary provided as a special features audio track on a DVD.  The introductory essay to another kasen, Bamboo Greeting, published in Simply Haiku (2008), further details some of the unconventional methods practiced by The Miner School of Haikai Poets.  

Haikai no renga is a form of renga (Japanese linked verse) practiced by Basho (1644-1694) and his disciples.  It consists of a 17 syllable verse and a 14 syllable verse provided in turn by the poets engaged in the collaboration.  In linking verses, a 31 syllable poem is produced, the latter verse of which (the 17 or the 14 syllable) will go on to join the next in the sequence to form its own unique poem, and so on until the requisite number of stanzas has been achieved.  Renga sequences can number into the hundreds.  Basho favored the economy of 36 stanzas.  Renku is diminutive for haikai no renga also known as haikai.  The more renowned Japanese verse form, haiku, is derived from the practice of amassing numerous hokku to vie for the privilege of opening a moon-viewing-sake-sipping evening of friendly literary collaborations.   Renga itself is derived from the courtly form of poetry exchanged by the aristocracy as exemplified in Lady Murasaki’s 11th Century The Tale Of Genji.  The rules of the composition for renga and haikai no renga are complicated and arcane, but like those of chess or go can be captivating and stimulating.  

For more on the intriguing subject of Japanese Linked Verse, see Earl Miner’s Japanese Linked Poetry (Princeton, 1979), Hiroaki Sato’s One Hundred Frogs (Weatherhill, 1983), and Haruo Shirane’s Traces Of Dreams (Stanford, 1998). 

A pdf facsimile of RandomRocks 2007can be found here.

 

 

 

 

Limited Edition: Untouched By Rain

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

Untouched By Rain

A Tanka Sequence

by Pat Nolan 

ubrfcvrUntouched By Rain was published in 2005 by Empty Head Press in a limited edition, lettered A through Z, signed by the author and bearing his seal, “old goat.” Each hand-made book has a unique cover, many as reproductions of  uchiwa-e, Japanese fan prints, features silk screened Japanese end papers, and is hand sewn in the Japanese four-hole side stitch binding.  The black & white illustrations accompanying the tanka represent traditional Japanese motifs such as the cherry blossom, crane, bamboo, and pine. Untouched By Rain, and a companion selection of tanka, Thin Wings, were originally made to be sold through the gift shop at the Sonoma County Museum.  Up until the gallery’s recent closing, both tanka selections were also offered through The Quicksilver Mine Company.  Less than a handful of copies of Untouched By Rain are still available.  Inquiries welcome.

presentation envelope
presentation envelope

Click to view a pdf facsimile of Untouched By Rain 2005

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 Untouched By Rain 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.