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Friday, June 24, 2005

Itty Bitty Books

Alternative publishers continue to look for ways to get books into the hands of readers inexpensively, and the 3-1/2" by 4-1/4" size is a popular alternative. Ben Hiatt's ShirtPocket Series comes to mind. The Book Collector has an appealing display of Richard Hansen's 24th Street Irregular Press and Lummox books in that size. I toy with the idea myself, sometimes, for poets whose format is small.

A few poetry journals have taken to that format, as well, choosing the small poem to fit. One of these is Lilliput Review; another is Silt Reader, co-edited by our local Robert Roden. Another, Brevities, is by local poet/editor Joyce Odam. Brevities (also at The Book Collector) is a monthly journal that is already in its 28th issue. Send Joyce 3-5 poems, SASE: 2432 48th Av., Sacramento, CA 95822. Good things can, indeed, come in small packages; the small size allows Joyce to be able to afford fancy papers for inserts, for example. Here is a sample Joyce-poem from the latest issue. (Hey—it's another frog poem!)

ORNAMENTAL FROG
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento, CA

In a small green sink-jar
filled with water and
gray river stones
I keep
an old glass frog
with one foot missing—
happy there,
I think.

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Pick these up at The Book Collector.

Next Monday, the weekly Sac. Poetry Center series will feature members of the SPC Tuesday night workshop at HQ, 25th and R, Sac., 7:30pm. And if you missed Robbie's reading last night at Luna's, well, darn. It was awesome!

—Medusa