KADAR KOLI (BUFFALO) GAFF (GLOUCESTER) NO INFINITE (BOSTON)

Mentioning here THREE relatively recent print poetry journals I had the honor of contributing to earlier this year, one from Buffalo, two from New England, all deserving much further attention: 1) NO INFINITE; 2) GAFF; 3) KADAR KOLI.

1. NO INFINITE (No. 2): Boston. Ed. Mitch Manning. Contributors: Sophia Le Fraga, Jared Stanley, Richard Owens, Derek JG Williams, Rene Char trans. Teresa McMahon, Mark Pawlak, Semezdin Mehmedinović trans. Ammiel Alcalay, Patrick Williams, Kev Bewersdorf, Jill McDonough, David Rich, Mel Bentley, Ed Steck, Audrey Mardavich, Keith Jones, Joshua Gottlieb-Miller, Tyler Gobble, Andrew K. Peterson, Jim Dunn, David Grundy, Zach Collins, Inga Eičaitė.

No. 2 includes an astonishing 10-page spread of visual work from London-based artist Inga Eičaitė.

2. GAFF (No. 1): Gloucester. Ed. David Rich. Privately circulated. Contributors: Sean Bonney, Audrey Mardavich, Jose-Luis Moctezuma, Ian Heames and Jonty Tiplady, Lisa Rich, David Hadbawnik, Boyd Nielson, Mitch Manning, Frances Kruk, David Grundy, Richard Owens, Michael Peters.

The opening epigraph to Gaff, drawn from Clarence Manning Falt's Wharf and Fleet (1802), reads: "When the trips are being taken out, often many fish slip from the pitchforks and sink to the docks. A class of young men and boys then row around in little boats, called punts, and gaff up the fish beneath the wharves and sell them. It is an illegal business, and if caught, they are subjected to a fine and imprisonment. It is operated at low tide."  

3. KADAR KOLI (No. 9): Buffalo. Ed. David Hadbawnik. Contributors: John Hyland, Arielle Guy, Gerrit Lansing, Susan Briante, Michael Sikkema, Michael Kelleher, Aaron Tucker, Emily Anderson, David Rich, Jen Tynes, Gillian Hamel, Chris Piuma, Pattie McCarthy, Kevin Varrone, Robin Brox, Richard Owens, Boyd Nielson, Zach Finch, Dale Smith, Morani Kornberg-Weiss, Roger Snell, and a special feature on the archive including an interview with Ammiel Alcalay and an essay by Megan Cook. 

Commenting on the archive in his editorial introduction to the journal, Hadbawnik outlines what he believes to be two foundational rules of archival research: 1) "Don't trust an edition when it claims to capture the 'original' of something"; 2) "Don't trust anyone or anything, even when you think you're holding the 'original' in your hands." 

Chaucer scholar Megan Cook adds in her essay on the archive, "Pedant Love," "Over the years, I have spent a lot of time waiting in and around rare book repositories, enough time to decide that waiting is indeed the distinguishing feature of the archival habitus."    

                                                                                                                                  FRANCES KRUK (from GAFF):

          COME HERE TO UNLEARN WHAT 

          I CANNOT DISBELIEVE 

          NO DARKNESS BLACKER THAN BRIGHT LIGHT 

          NO BLACKER LIGHT 

          NO BLACKER LIGHT 

Also recent and astounding: TRIPWIRE (No. 7): Oakland. Ed. David Buuck. Contributors: Jen Coleman, Leslie Kaplan (trans. Julie Carr & Jennifer Pap), Rodrigo Toscano, Jeroen Mettes (trans. Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei & introduced by Samuel Vriezen), Lesego Rampolokeng, Heather Fuller, Nathan Cordero, Donato Mancini, Trish Salah, Arnold Joseph Kemp, Hsia Yü (trans. Steve Bradbury), Carlos Soto-Román, Tonya Foster, Rachel Zolf, Eric Sneathen on Dodie Bellamy, Julia Bloch on Divya Victor, Robin Tremblay-McGaw on Harryette Mullen, Nicky Tiso on David Wolach, plus a special feature on British poetry, featuring Nat Raha, Sean Bonney, Connie Scozzaro, Francesca Lisette, Emily Critchley, Verity Spott, William Rowe, Jennifer Cooke, Robert Kiely on Samantha Walton, and Colleen Herd & Pocahontas Mildew.