We’re pleased to announce the publication of The Impossibility of Dreams–47 pages of very fine poems by our friend David B. Axelrod. Axelrod’s voice is sane, funny, insightful and intelligent. When I read his work I find myself totally centered, totally myself, even if he transports me to China, or any number of dizzying worlds, this poet finally brings me back to who I–as a human being–am, and that ability to strike to the heart is a rare gift indeed, yet David B. Axelrod carries it off effortlessly every time. This is the equivalent, sports fans, of [name your favorite legendary batter] swatting the ball out of the park at least 47 times in a row without even breaking a sweat.

More information about this title soon.

I was surprised to find this handsome 324 page paperback from Shearsman press in my mail box and to see myself quoted on the back! I am indeed honored. David Jaffin’s work needs to be better known in the world of experimental poetry. He shows us that a cultured voice can also be an experimental voice: that it’s not necessary to reject the long traditions of the past in order to be “new.” This is the lesson that the first and second wave of Modernists–Pound and H.D., Mina Loy, Wallace Stevens, David Jones and Basil Bunting, among others–were trying to teach us, but too few contemporary experimentalists seem to have taken to heart. Indeed, why is this “great forgetting”–as poignant in its way as the vast extinctions that wiped out life in the dim recesses of our geologic time–settling down over those who profess to “dialogue” instead of discuss, and “intervene” instead of simply change? So much of what is written now is thin gruel simply because the art of alluding to a shared culture has been waylaid in the name of politics, and see how we’ve suffered for it.

Okay, I’m getting killed at work, so updates have been few and far between this week. However, here’s a selection from all of the folks on Flickr who were at the show. It’s a random selection of 10 photos, so feel free to reload the page to check out new photos. More soon — Dan

www.flickr.com More photos in Buffalo Small Press Book Fair + Electric City Spectacular 2007

This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from the Buffalo Small Press Book Fair + Electric City Spectacular 2007 group pool.