there once was a shadow - beautiful poem by Shaunt Basmajian

 
there once was a shadow on huron street
and she was the one who followed me home
it was on one of those star filled nights
full of awe and intrigue
while the street bells chimed
and the wind
curled under our feet

we met as strangers
(a collision from the streets)
i the invader from the suburbs
and you the alien
from your mind
back then
in those reprocessing days
when love was like an ocean
and life that ship on sea
beneath the fountain
with its wine
and the city half-lit
like a candlelight
for us to dance under
on the rooftops
beneath the trees . . .

there once was a shadow on huron street
but in the morning
you were gone


copyright Shaunt Basmajian

from Surplus Waste and Other Poems
Unfinished Monument Press, 1982

Shaunt credited me with editorial assistance when he published this collection with my Unfinished Monument Press. Shaunt was stabbed during a robbery when he was driving cab. I don't believe he made it to 40 -  his dates are 1950 to 1990. RIP Shaunt

most outrageous haiku poet ever (letter from Jones)

Following is a letter from Jones (Daniel Jones) which I'm sending to the Haiku Canada Archives. Among many interesting traits, Jones was a perfectionist, and in pre-computer days this letter is perfectly typed - no whiteout, no correctotape. Jones descended on the Toronto literary scene from Hamilton in the early 1980s. By 1994 he was dead at age 34 by suicide, a victim I feel of the frustrations of being an overly talented poet/writer/haikuist/publisher/editor/performer in a country which doesn't recognize such incredible talent early enough. 

I met Jones at a very informal poetry round robin reading at James Deahl's place. Jones made quite an entrance. He pulled out a bottle and spit the cork, then handed it around. When he read his first poem, I believe it was "things I have shoved in my ...", I fell over laughing. I asked if I could publish his poetry with my small Unfinished Monument Press, and quickly Jack and Jill in Toronto was printed. Soon after Wayne Ray published Jones's first and only collection of haiku, Two Cops Kissing, with his HMS Press.

Regarding his status as a unique haiku poet, Jones was known to have performed poetry readings buck naked. It is very painful reading through my correspondence file with Jones, but I hope to add more to the blog later. I've taken the liberty of highlighting Jones's paragraph about his perception of Haiku Canada.     

                                                             ~    ~    ~     

PO Box 794
Station P
Toronto,  Canada
M5S 2Z1

25 September 1989



Chris,

Thanks for the letter and for the haiku pamphlet. Apart from the spelling, McCawley did quite a nice job on it. Good news about the reading.

So thanks for the lead, I think. I sent this Mark McCawley 8 pieces from The Brave, and he took them all and made the same offer about the chaplbook. Now I'm a little dubious about the whole project. He seems earnest, if a little too much so. He sent me a long letter about "the spirit" of small press and his publication "credits", including such highlights as The Poetry Alberta Yearbook. Well, as you paraphrase Shaunt, "What the hey!" I guess.

I keep making these vague offers to visit via letter, and I'm wondering if I can hold up to them. I've never been so busy in my life. I mean it's been really insane. I haven't been able to visit Kevin Connolly since he moved 2 months ago, and he only moved to Queen and Woodbine. A visit does sound good, but I better not make any promises.

I had a letter from Tom Wayman who fled the city life and moved to the Slocan Valley.

Haiku Canada always makes me think of Team Canada in hockey. I passed Keith Southward on the street the other day, and he snubbed me as usual.

It seems I'm going to be organizing the Toronto Small Press Book Fair in the spring. That seems like a long time away, but  I have to start on it already. Stuart and Nick needed a rest, and no one else wanted to do  it, so I bit the bullet. I'm sharing the chores with someone named Glenn Gustafson, whom I've never met and is only 22. I really think I could do without this.

What's happening with UnfinMon? I seem to recall there were some problems with Shaunt and Jim I can't recall the details and don't really care. I guess in a few months I'l have to send out the stuff for the Book Fair. Should I send it to you? Ask Shaunt? Or just not bother? Just for my own interest, though, I am curious what's happening.

I hope you've got lots of wood for the stove. It's getting bloody cold already.

Best,

Jones

New TV Series "1969" based on Chris Faiers's "Eel Pie Island Dharma" memoir

 

Well, it isn't official yet, and the rights are still very open for bidding. But I thought I'd better put the concept out there while I'm still alive and kicking. (and make sure my copyright is honoured when some smart producer twigs to this idea)

I'm a latecomer to binge watching TV. In fact I haven't watched TV for most of my life, and I haven't owned a TV set for decades. But during the pandemic I began binge watching TV at a friend's house to pass the time, and I've enjoyed quite a few of the current series, which was a new cultural experience for me. In fact I am so impressed with some of the political content in the new 1923 series that I wrote my first blog post about TV yesterday. Several years ago two young English actors and novice script writers wrote an extensive movie script based on my memoir/haibun Eel Pie Island Dharma about my hippy, commune living adventures in the late 1960s. I self-published this book in 1990 as Eel Pie Dharma with my Unfinished Monument Press, and it was republished in a professional format in 2012 by Hidden Brook Press as Eel Pie Island Dharma. Considering the incredibly vibrant music of the times, the sound track to 1969 is a no-brainer. 

Yep, drugs, sex, rock'n'roll, adventuring through the late 1960s - the chapter titles tell the tales:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

A Psychedelic Basho 144 Piccadilly Squat The Day We (Sort Of) Met George Harrison The Isle Of Wight Concert Bedsitters & Jools Meeting Eel Pie Eel Piers More Eel Piers Alice Eel Pie Days The Buddhist Monastery The Schoolgirls Dominic And The Gnome Homes Twickenham Cemetery

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

The Clap Clinic Tripping Formentera The Night The Hog Farmers Got Swamped Skinheads The Three Fishes Tripping To Cambridge Lavenham Hare Krishna Glastonbury Magic Festival Ireland Wales The Rich Hippie Mescaline On The Barbican

 

 

my thread in Haiku Canada (and in English language haiku)

Former President of Haiku Canada Terry Ann Carter is in the process of writing and publishing a history of Haiku Canada. Over the years I've sent her a number of chapbooks from the early days, and also replied to her questions as best I can. Following is a recent email I sent her to try to clarify my role in and perspective on some history of Haiku Canada (as well as on English language haiku in general).
 
I'll take a few mins now to try to fill in a few gaps in my background and role in haiku for you, as you sound confused about Unfinished Monument Press and other activities about where and when I was active in the haiku community, and especially how my history may fit in with the greater picture you're trying to uncover. Of course what I'm writing will be a bit solipsistic, but that's the best I can do, and I have been active in writing and publishing haiku from 1967 onward (now over half a century!)

You've also given me a great excuse NOT to go on the planned bitterly cold evening walk on the towpath by the Crowe, and I've poured a glass of chiraz to keep me inspired.

I was born in Hamilton (1948), but only lived there for a few months when I first returned to Canada in 1972 after living in a commune in London, UK and traveling around Europe. This story is told in my memoir "Eel Pie Dharma", first self-published with my Unfinished Monument Press in 1990 (one of the earliest English language book length haibun), and then republished with Tai Grove's Hidden Brook Press in a professional edition in 2012.

I didn't meet the Hamilton haijin, or any other haiku poets in person, until that first founding gathering of what became Haiku Canada at Eric Amann's apartment in the late 1970s. This is where I connected with Margaret Saunders, and it was probably through her that I also connected with Herb and then Jeff.


college days,  anti-draft activism and intro to haiku and Eric:

My intro to haiku happened while sitting in the library at Miami-Dade Junior College in 1967 (now Miami-Dade College) and I found an ad in the Village Voice classifieds for "Haiku" magazine. I'd been writing short poems, and the editor of the M-D lit mag, "Southwind", told me they resembled haiku. So I wrote off for a copy of "Haiku", and this is how I connected with Eric. Eric was a med student or doing his early hospital residencies in NYC, and had discovered haiku as a lonely expat Canadian. (Have you read Eric's autobiography, "The House on Fountain Street" - Can't find my signed copy right now in the dark of my study)

"Haiku" duly arrived and I immediately identified with the haiku form. My family had moved back to Key Biscayne (island off Miami) after living in a suburb of Atlanta during my high school years. I'd mistakenly registered with the draft board in Atlanta, which cost me dearly when I became very active in opposing the Vietnam War. I organized a campus group to counsel against the draft, and also began applying for conscientious objector status. Jim Christy has a parallel background with opposing the war. As one of the highest profile anti-war activists in Miami, the draft board, way off in Atlanta, soon went after me.

I was extremely stressed in this period (circa 1967-69), and I began writing haiku as an outlet for the stress and began sending haiku to Eric. Eric rejected my first attempts, but soon started accepting them for publication in his influential mag. I also began practicing yoga and meditation at this time.

Eric's "Haiku" was a leader in the very small field of haiku practitioners and small mags and broadsheets. There were a handful of these, but Eric's mag was acknowledged to be at the forefront in developing a modern, English language version of haiku. In the 1960s almost all haiku were written in the rigid 5-7-5 form, but Eric bravely promoted a shorter, looser form. He was my mentor, and I did my best to write haiku which fit into his forward thinking views. My haiku were published in all the small North American mags and broadsheets. But . . . in June 1969 the draft board caught  up with me and sent 3 induction notices in one week. It was time for me to leave the U.S. I was a permanent resident (green card holder) from age 7 or 8 until I left just weeks before my 21st birthday. As a foreign national they would have deported me rather than jailed me anyway I assume  : )

hippie street life in a commune and first 2 haiku collections in 1969:

Rather than return to Canada, my father thought I should go to England, which was a horrible idea. I stayed with my snotty older cousin and his doctor wife for a month or so, and then they unceremoniously threw me out into the street. I ended up living in the nearby Eel Pie Island Hotel hippie squat for the next 1 1/2 years. With the last of my small savings I self-published two chapbooks of haiku (I sent you one of these, "Cricket Formations") in the summer of 1969. The haiku in CF were all non-standard haiku, and most of them have stood the test of time and half a century later they are as publishable now as they were then considered cutting-edge in the small haiku community of the late 1960s. Michael McClintock, who remains a staunch haijin, published a selection of my haiku in one of the Amerikan haiku mags, with a very nice bio note and intro. This would have been circa 1970, and "Southwind", the Miami-Dade lit mag, also did a full page feature of my haiku. All of this didn't mean as much to me as it might have, as I was literally scrambling to find enough food to eat and a blanket to keep me warm in small room in the abandoned Eel Pie Island Hotel.

Return to Canada and poetry:

After 3 years of hippie street life and wandering about Europe (all detailed in "Eel Pie Island Dharma: a memoir/haibun) I desperately needed to  change my life at age 24. I decided to visit Canada. After all, Canada couldn't be any less impoverishing or squalid than my young life had become in England. I enrolled at university, but after years of smoking hash and dropping acid, the academic life didn't suit me. I ended up joining The Canadian Liberation Movement, a Maoist/Stalinist sect that was anti-imperialist as well as staunchly pro-Canadian culture. Too much happened to write about here, but in CLM I met one of Canada's leading poets, GG winner Milton Acorn. Friendship with Milton encouraged me to return to writing poetry, which I've continued to do ever since.

I did a variety of jobs to survive, including working as a steelworker/union organizer in Guelph and then a cook at the Univ. of Toronto. I even got chef's papers through George Brown College, but my calling continued to be poetry, including haiku.

I managed to get a few of my politikal poems published in leftwing papers and mags like "Alive" in Guelph and "the Red Menace" in Toronto. Around this time, 1976-77, I met Toronto poet Ted Plantos through a mutual friend, Tom Clement. Tom was working as manager with the remains of the publishing arm of the CLM after it disbanded circa 1975, and it was through Steel Rail Press publishing and meetingTed that I realized I could start my own small press, as Ted had done with his Old Nun Press.

Unfinished Monument Press and The Main Street Library Poetry Series:
Following Ted's example, I self-published a collection of my poetry, "Dominion Day in Jail", by founding Unfinished Monument Press in 1978. The monument referred to is a memorial to two of the martyrs in the 1838 Rebellion, a holdover from CLM days.

There was a burgeoning poetry scene in Toronto and other poets asked to share my Unfinished Monument imprint. Sometimes the poets did all the work themselves, and sometimes I did most of it. UMP published first collections by such prestigious poets as Robert Priest ("The Visible Man"), my friend Tom Clement ("Superman"), Jim Deahl's first work ("Real Poetry"), Margaret Saunder's first ((haiku "A Flock of Blackbirds"), Lynne Kositsky's first ("PCB Jam"), Bruce Hunter's first ("Selected Canadian Rifles") etc. etc. . UMP published quite a Who's Who of the Toronto poetry scene from its founding until I gave it to poet Jim Deahl in the early 1990s.

Ted Plantos had also coordinated a poetry series at a Cabbagetown branch of Toronto Libraries. He had recently folded the series, and as there was only one other ongoing poetry venue in Toronto at the time, The Axle-Tree Readings, I decided to again follow Ted's example and in 1979 I started the monthly Main Street Library Poetry Series at my local branch of Toronto Public Library (TPL).

By accident I had become a bit of an amateur impresario on the Toronto poetry scene, and I was able to first publish poets, or discover unpublished poets through the readings, and then feature them. I was also able to wrangle a job as a low paid desk clerk at the library through my volunteer work as the poetry series organizer. As the series was successful, I was further able to encourage many of my house poets by getting them onto the Canada Council list of sponsored readings (e.g. they could get paid to travel and do a few readings a year).

back to haiku:

So it was during this creative period of publishing poetry with UMP and featuring poets at the readings that Dr. Eric Amann and George Swede decided to hold an informal meeting of other haiku writers. As the founder of both UMP and the reading series, I was able to give various haiku poets the ability to publish and to perform their work.

On Oct. 21, 1981 I featured George Swede and the Haiku Workshop. Reading the signed guest book under flashlight, I can find George's name, Keith Southward (he was the original editor of HC's mag/newsletter "Inkstone), Denise Coney (she and Keith were a 'power haiku' couple for a while), Irene Mcguire, Jan Dawson, Nancy Prasad, Shaunt Basmajian, and myself of course. Probably others whose names I can't read or remember.

Many other major and minor poets read at the series, and there would have been features of other haiku poets. The series ran for 6 years and 62 readings. The readings played an important role in introducing poets to each other, and among the featured poets at a glance I see Milton Acorn, jones, Herb Barrett, Jeff Seffinga, Margaret Saunders. In total over 100 poets, and much of the creativity, the plotting, building and destruction of poetic empires, occurred at various pubs after the readings.


Phewww

Terry, I don't know if the above babble is going to help or confuse you!  Writing a history, even my own perhaps, will always have an element of revisionism. The complex intertwining of personal stories, serendipitous meetings, and a pint or two of lubrication makes the task of accurately documenting history, even as ephemeral a one as Haiku Canada's, an almost impossible task.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Chris/cricket

    

        

THEY DON'T SHOOT POETS HERE: poem by Shaunt Basmajian 1982

THEY DON'T SHOOT POETS HERE

a synopsis of the poetry scene in toronto
after 14 years


pablo neruda would
still be alive and well
living on a farm
somewhere outside toronto
working as an insurance agent
or a manager at a local bank
doing readings here and there
sponsored by the canada council
lorca's blood
would be cold and tempestuous
spilled only at a tavern
probably over and during a
hockey game in which
his team got an unnecessary
penalty
rimbaud undoubtedly would be
in a rock band
as a singer or lead guitarist
complaining about "the satisfaction"
he can't get or why his band is
unable to sign a recording contract
with a major record company

poets in greasy old hogtown just
don't have anything to scream about
"what's his name" just masturbates
in front of his audience
and "you know who" wonders why
he/she isn't famous



from Surplus Waste and Other Poems by Shaunt Basmajian

I published this with Unfinished Monument Press in 1982
Shaunt gave me a dedication for editorial assistance





photo from abebooks.com

beach glass, The Printed Word. Shaunt, jones: unacknowledged legislators

Below the Bluffs

Below the bluffs
where the streetcar
tracks end
we wash our feet
in Lake Ontario's
grimy wavelets
gently toe
the wealth of
muti-coloured fragments
time-polished
from shattered
beer bottles

This is one of the small joys of being a poet, rediscovering a long forgotten poem in an old chapbook. I'm unloading packets of small press poetry chapbooks from the boxes which fill my front porch and basement. Thank God for new small press enthusiasts like James, the owner of The Printed Word bookstore in Dundas, Ontario. In a phone chat a few weeks ago James proclaimed his love of poetry, especially Canadian poetry. Most poetry fans stick with the mainstream poets, the sort of famous ones like Al Purdy. But a few devotees veer off the beaten track to discover the work of lesser known (e.g. publicized) Canadian poets like jones and Shaunt Basmajian. 

The packet I mailed James two days ago contained a small poetry anthology published by Mark McCawley with his Greensleeves Press. The other chapbook I sent was my own collection, Unacknowledged Legislator, kindly published by small press godfather bill bissett in 1981 with his alternative blewointmentpress. Yeah, this is a minor "filler" poem, but it was fun to find a piece I'd long forgotten I'd written, and a very good friend is a beach glass collector who I hope will enjoy reading it.

In conversation with James I learned that he admires several of the poets I published with my small Unfinished Monument Press, esp. Shaunt and jones (Daniel). Apparently jones's writing has achieved a cult following in CanLit, and perhaps Shaunt's work as well.   While preparing today's packet I started re-reading Shaunt's poetry, and tomorrow I'll post one of his excellent poems from Surplus Waste and Other Poems.

chapbooks and emails to new Canadian poetry bookstore, The Printed Word

The Printed Word (bookstore)
Dundas, Ontario


Hi James,

I'm so pleased to learn that there's a new generation of booksellers which is enthused about Canadian poetry and also the hippie era  :  )   I'm both things, in spades!

Today I mailed you a small (free) sample of the chapbooks I published from the mid-1970s thru the 1990s, just to pique your interest. Also it's fascinating that you know of jones (Daniel). I published his first chapbook, "Jack & Jill in Toronto", most of which was then included in his poetry collection with Coach House Press.

The chapbooks I mailed today are "Last Minutes Instructions" by Mark McCawley (he was also a small press publisher - he died a few years ago in his 50s), "Qaani Lore" by jw curry, who is a mainstay on the micro press scene, "Poets Who Don't Dance" by Shaunt Basmajian (he died over 30 years ago - stabbed and robbed while driving cab in TO), and "Dear Little Old Lady" by Helen Costain. This is just a random sampling of Unfinished Monument Press chapbooks, of which I had a few extra copies available.

Hopefully the hot link in my email below to Chris H is still live, and it'll fill you in on the list of readers and musicians I featured at the Main Street Library Poetry Series from 1979 to 1985.

Assuming the link is live, it will take you to my blog, riffs and ripples from zenriver gardens, where there's a lot of other info on my involvement with CanPo.

Great to get in touch (thanks to Chris H. for making the connection) -

Best wishes with the bookstore - it's a hard grind making a living in the Canadian cultural field.


peace & poetry power!

Chris (Faiers)

here's the link to the Idden Brook Press edition of "Eel Pie Island Dharma":

http://www.hiddenbrookpress.com/Book-NS-ChrisFairs-EelPie.html

                                                              ~   ~   ~   ~

 reply from James, owner of The Hidden Word bookstore

Hi Chris:

The package of Unfinished Monument arrived a few days ago and -- tho I looked at them immediately excitedly noting titles and authors and the fact that Jones edited Shaunt Basmajian's Poets Who Don't Dance which sounds like a Jones title (and the poems are closer to Jones than other Basmajian I've seen - admittedly mostly visual/concrete stuff) -- I've only now had a chance to sit down with them and type out my appreciation and say thank you for reaching out to me and sending a lovely sampling of your press.  I would definitely like to see more of what you have and discuss a purchase of valuables in your collection.  For example, any Jones that you have would be of interest.  I started collecting Jones a few years ago when I first acquired some of his chapbooks from Nelson Ball, and recently a friend traded in Jones' copy of Layton's Balls for a One-Armed Juggler with a stamp that has "Jones" in the middle, "My Book"  along the top and "Fuck Off" at the bottom.. this copy also Rochdale ex-libris). 

I'd love to have a copy or copies of your hippy poet memoir.  I'm sure of at least one buyer, and I would like read it myself.

I've got customers in front of me and work piling up so I will sign off.

thanks for the books!

James




photo from Google

rare Canadian poetry for postage cost (?)

bill bissett recently sent me the following request for help finding homes for extra copies of his seminal blewointmentpress collections. I also have extra copies of Unfinished Monument Press poetry I published from the late 1970s thru the 1980s. It looks like we're both open to offers - a little help with postage and you could snag some rare collectible Canadiana! 

dere chris hi great 2 heer from yu
evreething sounds xcelent ther
evreethings xcelent heer
iuv bin going thru all my stuff
taking out th xtra blewointmentpress'
books n stuff
wher i dont know th address uv th
prson
in a lot uv cases i dew n sent xtra copeez
2  th author  sumtimes i cant find out
tho n i need mor space heer
i drempt reelee uv yu cumming 4 t n
picking them n taking them 2 nicky in
t bay 2 sell them 4 yrself or give them 2
him whatevr yu want 2 dew on yr next
brillyant road trip n thers not that manee
uv them

itul prob take anothr month 4 me 2 get
it 2gethr
sumtime let me know if ths is a viabul or
brillyant plan 4 yu

hope yu ar having an awsum evreething
lots uv love n thanks
bill


still more offers:


Hi Chris,
Wonderful to hear from you -- as always. I guess there are a few of us in the same situation. I've got piles of Rampikes plus books from IWI Communications, and Underwhich Editions (two small presses that I was involved with years ago). Yeah, and Nicky is mighty far away.

It's an odd puzzle, isn't it? You'd think there would be something like a major Library wing or some "safe-house" for literary publishers (maybe funded by some arts-related government wing -- possibly on the municipal or provincial level). Well, I guess there is no such thing, although I do know that some libraries will take publishers' old poetry collections  (limited numbers -- a few copies of each book) for their archives. It might be worth a try approaching some Toronto libraries (either city libraries or maybe university or college ones).

I'm pretty sure that blewointment could find a home (has bill been consulted -- hope he's doing ok). Unfinished Monument doesn't have quite the fame, but it's still important and maybe the two could be linked with a library placement -- especially if there are some cross-over authors involved with both of those small presses. Just a thought.
I'm in the same situation. Sigh.

Peace and love to you to, brother!
Karl
Dr. Karl E. Jirgens, Editor, Rampike Magazine
Dept. of English Language, Literature & Creative Writing
Professor, University of Windsor

                                               
                                                      ~      ~      ~


$$$$ Be a mule for the CCLA.  :-)  books not drugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear All – See the word BUT – it is an important BUT that you can help pay for.

Hi Chris and Bill – about your orphan poetry book collections

Let me start with the word BUT.

I can take one (1)  copy of every Canadian published book that you have BUT they will be going to Cuba. I have pledged to the University of Holguín that I will build the largest collection in all of Cuba of Canadian Literature – including poetry – for the university library. Actually we are well on the way. Kim and I are taking hundreds more this winter.

I have letters from the Cuban Consul, the head of the Canadian Studies program, from the head of the English department as well as from a professor that is coordinating this BUT we need money to pay for the shipping. Books are heavy. Because I am the prez of the CCLA – Canada Cuba Literary Alliance – we are given a free extra luggage to carry books when we fly West Jet.  If you want to go to Cuba with books I can arrange for you to have an extra luggage for the books also.

If you want to give the nudge to your friends and collect the cash we can take more but they will have to be paid for.

Collect the cash, send me the book and the cash and I will take them or arrange for them to go.

I THINK that they will charge me $30 for the 3rd luggage and $30 for each one after that but I will have to check. I will have to check my ticket for how heavy each $30 can be.

If anyone is interested you can contact me.

All the best

tai

This message is being sent from
Hidden Brook Press, or the personal email of Richard M. Grove = Tai

50 years of publishing poetry - Burning the Words

Thanksgiving 2016

Hi Sheila,
A quick note on Thanksgiving day . . . guess this is a time of reflection  ;  )

I'm planning to do a post on my blog about uncluttering my house of all my old poetry mss, correspondence, chapbooks, etc. . The tentative title is 'uncluttering, archiving, reminiscing' - that could almost be a senryu!

Anyway, I vaguely remember you wrote an excellent poem on this subject a number of years ago. I'd love to include your poem (if my memory is functioning correctly, and you did write such a poem) along with my post.

Trust all well with you and your new life on the west coast? All well with me, altho life is very quiet and I'm enjoying a sabbatical from the poetry world.

peace,
Chris



Burning the Words

 
I’m up to the Ws now

All these poets
whose letters I thought important
to keep
- in cabinets
- in drawers
- in boxes

Thirty years
of their cover letters
with submissions
and carbon copies of my replies
with the old manual typewriter
the e slightly higher than the other characters
moving on to electric
then electronic word processor
finally the computer

In these folders
are cards of thanks
from grateful beginners
whom I published
or interviewed on the radio

There are names here
I neither recognize nor remember
not hard to toss those
to watch words curl upward
in a grey spiral
freedom by fire


But some writers I got to know
quite well by mail
and saw more than a few move on to fame
such as it is for literature
Liliane Welch is in this batch
she sends me postcards from Europe every summer
Roger White, who sent me witty epistles
as he commenced his journey toward death
Dick Woollatt, also deceased
whose chapbook I produced

It was tempting to read the contents of those files
but I resisted - I would have wanted to keep them
and this is an exercise in unloading

Hard to believe I hauled it all
through half a dozen relocations
taking up precious space in attics and basements
thinking of how universities would fight
to acquire these old papers
and would pay my descendants huge sums
for the privilege

I’m saving them the job by disposal
I feel liberated watching these words disappear
see only a tiny hint of remorse
in the ashes



Sheila Martindale
from her book Portraits & Still Life (2004)






                                                           ~   ~   ~   ~

Thanks, Sheila, for letting me post your poem. You said what I'm feeling now, and you said it perfectly and poetically. I'm in the process of trying to find new homes in various archives for the literary ephemera I've gathered in the half century (!) I've been a publishing poet.

It's hard to believe that it was 50 years ago, 1967, that Eric Amann published some of my haiku in his seminal mag, Haiku. Eric died this spring, and I still haven't managed to lift myself from creative lethargy to create a  tribute to Eric.

I did contact Terry Barker last week to see if he's interested in adding some of our correspondence to his archives at York University. Terry approved of the idea, and about a kilogram of letters, manuscripts and postcards are now heading towards a new home. I'll give Terry a short breather, and then more packages will be on their way.

Last spring I did follow your initiative and began burning some of my correspondence as the publisher of the small lit press, Unfinished Monument Press. I spent half an hour stuffing the chiminea in my backyard before my conscience took hold, and some of the material heading for York U will have singe marks on the margins  : )-

Of course some of my personal books and correspondence are already in established archives. Haiku materials are in both the Haiku Canada archives and the big California haiku archives. For several years Marvin Orbach (RIP) printed copies of all my poetry related email correspondence for his special archives at the University of Calgary. So much of the last several years of the Purdy Country Litfests (PurdyFests) correspondence I coordinated (with Terry Barker) are being well preserved and catalogued.

I feel lighter and less burdened as the packages go out, and some folders will doubtless still head for a visitation with the chiminea. If any reader of this blog is interested in a random batch of chapbooks, I'll gladly send a miscellaneous batch for postage costs (about $15 inclusive).



                                                               .     .    .    .


On 2016-10-10, at 7:52 PM, anna yin wrote:

sad to read that....and think life is like that...

Yet, when I feel low, i read haiku, write haiku... then I feel better.  here is my Thank you haiku

cards from friends
today’s rain
in a soft melody

all day thinking of you
the numbers I dial
ring a moon river tune

feast of thanksgiving
on your fingertips
the roast turkey’s scent

midnight goodbye
thank-you message
so much unsaid
-
Anna



 

counting coup in CanPo/what constitutes self-publishing?

On 2013-07-09, at 9:30 AM:

Chris, could you send me a recent bibliography of books? Maybe the last four? I will need publishers and dates. Nothing self-published.Need it for the CC report. Thanks! -UP


Hi UP,
Here's a list of my publishing credits. It's a bit out-of-date, because I've grown even more lax in old age with keeping a record of these things. I've always thought of litbios as 'counting coup', something necessary to please academics & orgs like the CC, but somehow a bit pretentious & even adolescent in its self-promotional bragging.
But then again I am extremely proud of all my publications   :  )

I'll note with an * the most prestigious books (i.e. not associated with self-publishing), altho this issue itself is moot, as I was the publisher of an historically important small press - Unfinished Monument Press - which (self)published first collections by Robert Priest, James Deahl, Bruce Hunter, Lynn Kositsky  etc. etc. among a host of now-acclaimed Canadian poets & academics. UMP also published collections by GG winning poets such as Milton Acorn & Raymond Souster.

So this begs the question, is it self-publishing if you establish a (semi)respectable litpress, & then continue to publish yourself??? 

Thanks again for sponsoring me at Cat Sass Cafe! It was an enjoyable evening, one of the best readings I've experienced. Morley attended the music jam there last Friday nite & thoroughly enjoyed it.

peace & poetry power!
Chris ... & Chase Wrffffffffffffffffffff!

p.s. the tribute evening to Milton Acorn last Thursday at Q Space in TO was a true love-in - for all attending & reading & to Milt's spirit






~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 


Andreas Gripp has left a new comment on your post "counting coup in CanPo/what constitutes self-publi...":

love your response, Chris. Art Council pretension never disappoints. And as a side: if you self-publish a poem, it's not considered published in their eyes. But if you try to enter the same self-published poem in one of their sponsored contests for unpublished poems, they say it's already been published so it can't be entered. makes perfect sense.



Posted by Andreas Gripp to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 11 July 2013 05:51

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Hi Chris and Raven K,

Chris - I do hope you had a good time drinking beers for you and yours (a.k.a. Raven K and Wilbur (Willy) Walnut :)

Jim - Melanie and I look forward to hearing the telling of the story about how W.W. lost his eye at the Silver Dollar during a stripper's table dance. :D

Chris - Sorry I missed you on Thursday at the pre-tribute toast with Milt at the Silver Dollar.   I need to see this plaque on the outside wall of the Waverley Hotel up close.  Chris you inspired me to type the following:

I,
like
the thousands of people,
several times
in the past
few months,
passed by
the Silver D.
on the Spadina car,
going or leaving
somewhere.

 . . . and I am
reminded
of
how I too
once
stayed
at the Silver D.
oh yes,
sadly,
this is
all about
me.

A night
I
will
never
forget.
      

I wish I could have joined Milt & you that evening.

performance, peace & poetry power!

Performatively,
simon

Simon C. De Abreu M.A., B.Ed
Program Teacher

Unfinished histories: Main St. Poetry/Unfinished Monument Press

Hi Marvin,
You are helping me recollect (guess that's almost a pun) a lot of nearly forgotten Canadian literary history with which I've been involved  - I'm enjoying our correspondence very much, and of course you are most welcome to preserve it for the archives. I've been putting some of it online already - instant CanLit documentation  :  )

********************************************************

UNFINISHED MONUMENT PRESS

Unfinished Monument Press was an important stepping stone for a generation of Toronto poets. I'm so proud to learn that Jones' reputation was recently 'resurrected', while our little gang is now busy 'resurrecting' Milton Acorn's legacy.

I founded Unfinished Monument Press in 1978 in order to self-publish a collection of poems I'd been writing since the Canadian Liberation Movement (CLM) had dissolved a few years earlier. The name Unfinished Monument refers to the monument in the Toronto Necropolis dedicated to Sam Lount and Peter Matthews, two martyrs hanged for their participation in the 1837 Rebellions.

(Possibly I coined the name 'unfinished monument' to refer to the monument. I believe in CLM we always referred to it as the monument to Lount and Matthews.)

After publishing my chapbook DOMINION DAY IN JAIL I became aware that other young poets were in need of a democratic, cheap & participatory means to get their poetry seen. Tom Clement published the chapbook SUPERMAN, and Dee September (her nom de guerre - not sure of her real name), a friend of Clement's, published MAKING WAVES.    

I've been writing and publishing haiku poetry since 1967-68, and through contact with other haiku poets, I published Hamilton poet Margaret Saunder's first collection, A FLOCK OF BLACKBIRDS.

Sometimes I did the typing, layout & photocopying for the chapbooks, and sometimes the individual poets produced their books with little input from me. One poet who preferred to have some sort of publishing house "name" on his first collection was Robert Priest. Robert did all the work producing his THE VISIBLE MAN. Robert has gone on to become one of the most published and high profile poets of our generation.

I also helped Bruce Hunter produce his chapbook, SELECTED CANADIAN RIFLES, as part of an assignment while he was a grad student in bp Nichol's course at York University.

Many other chapbooks and poets followed: my own WHITE RASTA, POEMS by Marglamb Wilson, PCB JAM by Lynne Kositsky. I stayed up all night drinking Lynne's gift of a bottle of glayva. By morning I had written my entire ISLAND WOMEN suite, which was published as a chapbook by Wayne Ray's HMS Press.

James' Deahl's first publication was his treatise on poetry, REAL POETRY. I consider James the leading Canadian practitioner of People's Poetry, true to the tradition of our mutual friend, comrade and mentor, Milton Acorn.

I met Shaunt Basmajian through our involvement with The League of Canadian Poets. We had been been rejected as full members by the cliquey, elitist and academically credentialist group, and were unhappy with our secondary status as associate members. We organized the other associate members, and then formed our own democratic national group, The Canadian Poetry Association (CPA). Shaunt's first full length (over 50 pages, bound) book was with Unfinished Monument, SURPLUS WASTE AND OTHER POEMS. 

The list of Unfinished Monument poets and their collections goes on and on. In the early 1990s, after leaving Toronto and 'retreating' to the Marmora area, I turned Unfinished Monument Press over to James and Gilda Deahl. They continued the tradition of publishing new and emerging poets, as well as established poets. Many of their books were much better produced than the earlier 'photocopy and staple' jobs.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

MAIN STREET LIBRARY POETRY SERIES


In 1979, the year after I founded Unfinished Monument Press, I visited my local library on Main Street in Toronto's east end. The head librarian was pleased to have a patron volunteer to organize monthly poetry readings, and the series ran for six years.

So I was now wearing many hats: political poet, haiku poet, small press publisher (really more coordinator), host of Toronto's second most influential reading series (after the Axletree Coffeehouse), and working as a cook (arrggggggggggh - too many deep fryer burns, too many stupid managers to think much about those days!).

A further benefit to the emerging poets of the late 1970s to mid-1980s, many of whom I was helping publish with Unfinished Monument Press, was that I was also able to get them on the Canada Council readers list (qualify them for doing paid public readings by the CC).

I did this for James Deahl, Shaunt Basmajian, Bruce Hunter etc. .

I folded the series in 1985 after I bought a small starter house near the Gerrard/Ashdale branch of Toronto Public Library - TPL had hired me to work at the Main Street Library in 1982 as a desk clerk, based largely on my volunteer work organizing the readings. I transferred to working at Gerrard/Ashdale, and truthfully, I had tired of the machinations of some poets who were always finagling for readings. I offererd to turn the series over to several poets who had complained about my selection of featured readers, but of course some people prefer to complain and let others do the work. No one offered to continue the series, which folded.

I have the guest book for the series from the first to the last readings. It is a gem. I encouraged everyone to sign it, and readers in the Open Sets had to sign up as well. There are also impromptu snippets and clippings in the guest book. So it's an interesting & comprehensive document - a monthly 'who's who' of the Toronto poetry scene from 1979 to 1985. I listed the featured poets on my blog last year, and I'll see if I can cut & paste the list here:




Readers: MAIN STREET LIBRARY (Toronto) POETRY SERIES: 1979-1985

Main Street
Library Poetry Series
1979 – 1985 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
On November 15, 1979 I founded this monthly poetry series at the Main Street Library in Toronto’s east end. The main Toronto literary venue at that time was the Axletree Coffeehouse located downtown, and this series was created to provide both a local forum and an alternative and additional outlet for poets. The readings ran until December 11, 1985. The following poets and musicians performed during these 62 readings:

PETER ACKER                                  SUSAN GLICKMAN       LESLIE NUTTING
MILTON ACORN                               SHARON GOODIER        PAM OXENDINE
LILLIAN ALLEN                                AMANDA HALE              SUSAN PARKER
With TRUTH AND RIGHTS              CHRIS HEGGE                  BEN PHILLIPS
GAY ALLISON                                    LARRY HOPPERTON      TED PLANTOS
ROSEMARY AUBERT                       MARSHALL HRYCIUK  NICHOLAS POWER
DAVID AYLWARD                             BRUCE HUNTER          ROBERT PRIEST
HERB BARRETT                                SUSAN IOANNOU       BRIAN PURDY
SHAUNT BASMAJIAN                MARIA JACOBS            WAYNE RAY
SHARON BERG                                 BETH JANKOLA            DAVID REID
DENISE BERTRAND                         PAT JASPER                    JIM ROBERTS
KRISANTHA SRI BHAGGIYADATTA   KARL JIRGENS             STUART ROSS
ROBERT BILLINGS                          GEORGE JONAS            HUGH RUDDEN
bill bissett                                             jones (Daniel)          MARGARET SAUNDERS
ANDREW BROOKES                         CLIFTON JOSEPH          LIBBY SCHEIER
BRIAN BURCH                                ANITA KELLER              JEFF SEFFINGA
HEATHER CADSBY                           LALA KOEHN               DEE SEPTEMBER
DENNIS CHIASSON                           LYNNE KOSITSKY      GERRY SHIKATANI
LESLEY CHOYCE                            MARK LABA                MARTY SINGLETON
TOM CLEMENT                                 DONNA LANGEVIN      JIM SMITH
DENISE CONEY                               ERIC LAYMAN          PATRICIA K. SMITH       
ROSALIND EVE CONWAY         ROSS LECKIE                DOUG STEWART
AFUA PAM COOPER                  CAROLE LECKNER      RICHARDSUMMERBELL
HELEN COSTAIN                              JUSTIN LEWIS          GEORGE SWEDE
JENI COUZYN                                  FRIEDA LING           KEITH SOUTHWARD
RITA COX                                  DALE LOUCAREAS          JAN DAWSON
TOM CRANE                                   RICHARD LUSH           IRENE MCGUIRE
NORM CRAVEN                         LARRY MACDONALD     NANCY PRASAD
jw curry                                            JULIE MCNEILL        LOLA L. TOSTEVIN
BEV DAURIO                               CAROL MALYON       YVES TROENDLE
JAMES DEAHL                              RAY MARTIN             ANDREW VAISIUS
BRIAN DEDORA                      SHEILA MARTINDALE     STEVE VENRIGHT
MICHAEL DENNIS                  BRUCE MEYER              BRONWEN WALLACE
PIER GIORGIO DICICCO        GEORGE MILLER          TOM WAYMAN
MARY DIMICHELE                   ERIN MOURE                CARLY WHITE
ABBE EDELSON                     NEIL MUSCOTT               BARBARA WILSON
DAVID FREEDMAN                 LILLIAN NECAKOV      ELIZABETH WOODS
GLENN FREW                             bp nichol                        
STEPHEN GILL                                                                   ROBERT ZEND

peace, poetry power! and great memories ...  Chris Faiers, series coordinator
Posted by Chris Faiers/cricket at 13:06 1 comment: 
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Labels: Readers: Main Street Library Poetry Series (Toronto)


**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Marvin, I'm getting a bit tired after writing all this, but it is fun and a chance to document so much while I'm still able. Maybe more later,

peace & poetry power!
Namaste,
Chris ... and Chase ... wroooooooooooooooof!

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************


On 2012-07-24, at 10:22 PM, marvin orbach wrote:

Hi Chris,
Thanks for sending me the  letter on Daniel Jones.    Your e-mails
are always literary gems, and have historical value.  Which means I
would like to preserve them  in my archive in Calgary, if you don't
mind.
  Blessings, from Montreal West.
  Marvin.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 4:51 PM, Chris Faiers <zenriver@sympatico.ca> wrote:
(from an email to a friend)

Back from ZRG about an hour ago - watered pines, painted more dragon scales, drank beer, pruned back sumac trails - the usual. Came home early again, & just back from small shopping at VM.

Cool news - last nite I Googled Jones (Daniel) - inspired by sending old Unfinished Monument books & manuscripts to Marvin for archives - I published Jones' first collection, a chapbook titled JACK & JILL IN TORONTO, & then he got a 'major' book published with Coach House. But the BS of the CanLit scene eventually got to him, & he committed a very crazy & dramatic suicide around 1994. Now his writing has been resurrected, & there were over 2 million hits on his name (altho Daniel Jones is a common name).

A couple of publishers brought out reprints of 2 of his books last year. I missed all the hoopla - would have attended if I'd known. Apparently his work is now on course lists, he has a cult following, etc. .

One of his 'resurrectors' wondered if he'd be pissed off by the late fanfare? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he would be! I believe Jones always had a strong sense of his literary worth, & even his ultimate literary lionizing & destiny. So now publishers, critics THE CANPOETRY ESTABLISHMENT, who ignored him & didn't see his value (when I did - first - with Unfinished Monument Press & readings at Main St. Library) are now cashing in on his legacy. Yeah, I bet he's both pissed & pleased.

This is part of why I bailed on the CanPo scene almost a quarter century ago. I realized that staying the course in TO would lead to further poverty, frustration - even depression & suicide in Jones' case - and then, years after you're effing dead, well, everyone suddenly sings your praises. Where the F were they when you were starting out & needed support!

Anyway, so great to belatedly learn that Jones is finally getting his literary merit acknowledged!!!!

I'm copying this to James Deahl, as know he'll be interested & pleased as well. First met Jones at a poetry party at Jim's house where he & Gilda lived in the west end. Still have clear memories of that first meeting, Jones spitting the cork from a wine bottle & then blowing our minds with his poem "Things I've Shoved in my Asshole"  : )

Enjoy Sushi Delight,

will call later,
wrfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!

*********************************************************


email July 25/12

Dear Chris,
    I am glad to report that your package arrived  yesterday,
Tuesday.  Thank you so much for the amazing manuscript of Foot Through
the Ceiling, and the three very rare books.  These are very important
items  in our literary history, and will be welcome additions to the
collection in Calgary.  I should add that the books in your previous
package are, at this moment, winging their way to the Promised Land.
    I really enjoyed reading these three books.  I find your poetry
very much alive.  It engages the reader and doesn't let go.  It is no
wonder that you are a decorated poet.   In fact, your books, and your
poems   helped revive me and helped raise my morale.   I am much better
now, and have rejoined society.   I must say that your  poetry, books, and lively
e-mails were  important factors in my  recuperation and return to
normal society.
     And thank you for all the invaluable, historical information.
Your contribution, over the years, to Canadian literature is amazing.
Perhaps you should be cloned.   It is an honour for me to play a part
in helping preserve  your books and documents for future generations.
And the folks in Calgary, are delighted, I am sure, to   add your
material to the collection.
     You mentioned Maria Jacobs in an earlier e-mail.   I remember
reading and enjoying her poetry a number of years ago.   Her family in
Holland, during the war,  were outstanding citizens.  They  assisted
their Jewish neighbours in escaping the Nazis.  For this they will
always be remembered.   I have often  wondered why Maria changed her
last name to Jacobs, when she came to Canada.
      Thanks for all the information on Daniel Jones.  It is a real
pity that his life was so short.   It is great that there  is a
revival of interest in his poetry.
     Ray Souster was always very  kind to me.  My collection in
Calgary contains many of his handwrittem  poems.  I  lost touch  with
him many years ago.  Perhaps you can bring me up-to-date,  with a few
brief words.
      I am thinking now of our great People's Poet, Al Purdy.   Years
ago I attended one of his poetry readings at the Vehicule Art Gallery
on Ste.-Catherine St. downtown.   The audience was  medium-sized.
There was a pitcher of water and a glass next to Purdy.  Being a
People's Poet, he wasn't about to drink from a glass.  Purdy actually
drank straight from the pitcher.  This is the way a real man drinks.
For some reason this incident has remained clear in my mind, for so
many years.   Shortly after Al started reading,   a well-dressed man
quietly  entered the room and took his place in the audience. It was
Leonard Cohen.
      I am now looking at your list of poets and musicians who
performed at the Main Street Library Poetry Series.  I am familiar
with the verse  of many of the poets.  I like, in particular, Susan
Ioannou's poetry.  Over the last few years, she has sent me many
books and documents for my collection. Are you in touch with her?
     If ever you feel the need to send me more books and mss., please
feel free to do so.  I am honoured  to be able to play my part in the
grand scheme of things.
      Blessings, from Montreal West.
      Chi-miigwetch.       Marvin.


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email July 31/12: donation of 1989 notebook for Univ. of Calgary archives

Hi Marvin,

I'm sending you one of my personal notebooks for the Univ. of Calgary archives. I've kept these notebooks much of my adult life, & they contain information on just about every aspect of my life, from mundane financial records and 'to do' lists to drafts of haiku and longer completed poetry manuscripts.

This notebook in dated Aug. 1989 on the cover under "subject". It's a green, cirlox-style spiral binder, approx. 8 1/2 X 11 inches, 108 pages, "FANCO" 3 subject notebook.

1989 was a crucial time in my life. I had bought a derelict century house in the mining hamlet of Cordova Mines after selling my small semi-detached 'starter' house in Toronto's east end. Two years earlier I had received the inaugural MIlton Acorn People's Poetry Medal for my collection, FOOT THROUGH THE CEILING (1986, Aya Press, then Mercury Press, Toronto).

I moved to Cordova Mines, Ontario, about 100 miles from Toronto, in early April, 1989. This notebook would have detailed my early experiences and musings in my new rural Ontario surroundings.


EEL PIE DHARMA: A MEMOIR/HAIBUN

There are many drafts of haiku, some included, some rejected, for what would become my book, EEL PIE DHARMA: A MEMOIR/HAIBUN (self-published with my Unfinished Monument Press, 1990). Almost at the end of the notebook is a list of the 28 chapters which would become this seminal English language haibun (and now much-referenced history of the tail end of the 1960s in London, England, and the hippie/squatting/music scene).

EPD has been quoted in EEL PIE ISLAND by Dan Van Der Vat and Michele Whitby (2009, Frances Lincoln Limited, London, England). It was also used as a reference for WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN: THE WHO FROM LIFEHOUSE TO QUADROPHENIA by Richie Unterburger (2011, Jawbone Press, London, England).

Noted English novelist Hari Kunzru credits EPD at the back of his novel MY REVOLUTIONS (2007, Penguin). It was nice of Kunzru to formally credit EPD as a source, but there are enough similarities between my life and that of his protagonist (named "Chris"), that I suspect EPD was as much an inspiration for his book as a resource. 


OTHER POETRY PROJECTS
Among the myriad notes, poetry drafts, financial records and jottings are drafts of a book review on a posthumous collection by poet Marty Singleton. I was probably doing this as a regular contributor for CANADIAN BOOK REVIEW ANNUAL.
Another poet who died young was Shaunt Basmajian, and there are notes on my plans to attend his poetry wake in Toronto.

Another project I was involved with was co-publishing an anthology titled SMALL PRESS LYNX with Edmonton poet Mark MCCawley. There are also travel plans for a Canada Council sponsored reading in Edmonton which Mark arranged for me.

Another project with Mark was his publication with his Greensleeves Press of a broadsheet of my poetry titled MOON CITY. There is a checklist of the poets and magazines where sent copies of this broadsheet on the next-to-last page. 


All in all, this old notebook provides a fascinating snapshot of the life I was beginning to live in rural Ontario, and a glimpse back at the very active life I had led in Toronto on the poetry and political scenes. It covers the year I turned 41.


peace & poetry power!
Chris (Faiers) ... and Chase wffffffffffffffffffffff (who has slept thru this pleasant hour of typing & reminiscing)

Unfinished Monument Press redux: donation to special collections, Univ. of Calgary

Toronto's Historical Plaques

at torontoplaques.com

Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques

"Patriots of 1837"

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted April, 2011

Here in the western end of the Toronto Necropolis is this monument which was erected by the Matthews Family & Friends A.D. 1993, according to information on the plaque. Here's what it says:

Plaque coordinates: 43.66759 -79.36290

This memorial is to honour the memory of Peter Matthews and Samuel Lount, who, without praise or glory died for political freedom and a system of responsible government.

Their minds were tranquil and serene
No terror in their looks were seen
Their steps upon the scaffold strong
A moment's pause...
their lives were gone

Peter Matthews was the son of Capt. Thomas Elmes Matthews, a United Empire Loyalist, and Mary Ruttan Matthews. Peter was born in the Bay of Quinte region of Upper Canada, now Ontario. He grew up and lived in Pickering Township in the area now known as the Village of Brougham, on his family's farm.

---

June 25, 2012 (emails)

Hi Marvin and James,
Yes, I'd be delighted to donate a selection of Unfinished Monument Press books to the University of Calgary, Special Collections!

A month or so ago I spent some time going through a boxful of Unfinished Monument books, & I donated a few for sale in the recent Haiku Canada 35th anniversary silent auction.

There is a casual assortment of books in the box, most in pristine condition, and I'd feel comforted knowing they have found a good and lasting home where their contribution to Canadian literary culture will be appreciated.

What I'd propose donating would be at least one copy of each Unfinished title I have (not sure of how many individual titles there are).

Yes, Marvin, please email me your snail mail address and I'll post the selection to you asap. Thank you for your concern and dedication in preserving a crucial part of our culture.

peace & poetry power!
Chris Faiers

(founder of Unfinished Monument Press in 1978 - publisher until the early 1990s, when I turned it over to James Deahl and his wife, Gilda Mekler)

Thanks, James, for passing this on to me  : )

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June 25, 2012


Dear Chris,

     I have just heard from this fellow from the Univ. of Calgary. Perhaps you have some extra copies of UnMon books.

. . . James



Dear James Deahl,


Please let me introduce myself. I am a volunteer book selector for Special Collections, at the University of Calgary. Several years ago I donated my large collection of Canadian poetry to this library. Since then I have been adding material to the collection on a regular basis. If you would like to read up on the collection, just google my name, in quotation marks.

For the past few years I have read and enjoyed some of your poetry. I was wondering if you would be willing to donate some volumes of Canadian poetry to the collection. Some of your own books, or even some volumes published by Unfinished Monument Press. My dream is to create a collection that reflects the poetic soul of a nation. If you would be willing, I can give you my address. It would be my pleasure to pass on your books to the U. of C., Rare Books. Your books would be looked after  in a state-of-the-art facility by professionals who have a deep knowledge and love of Canadian poetry.


Please let me know if you are interested.


Marvin Orbach, in Montreal

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Perhaps other small press publishers are also caretaking valuable collections which they would like to donate.
- Chris

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June 26/12
further emails re donations, including list of first 10 Unfinished Monument Press books


On 2012-06-25, at 5:33 PM, marvin orbach wrote:

Dear Chris,
  Thank you so very much for your kind offer.   I look forward to
receiving your books, reading and enjoying them, and then forwarding
them to the U. of C., their final resting place, where they will be
preserved in pristine condition for future generations of scholars and
researchers.   For me the Univ. of Calgary Special Collections
is biblioheaven.
    I should mention that my collection consists of two parts,
books and manuscripts. The collection includes signed handwriten poems
by our most famous poets. Just in case you would like to add one or
more to the collection, please feel free to do so.
    I have read some of your poetry over the years, and enjoyed it very much.
   A great big thank you for helping to advance Canadian literature.
Canada needs more people like you.
   Perhaps you could inscribe a book or two. It is always nice to
include personalized copies in the collection.
 
   Marvin Orbach
 
May your summer be filled with fields of lavender.
   Marvin, in Montreal West.

June 26/12


* * * * * * * ** * * * ** * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * ** * * * 
First batch of donations

Hi Marvin,
Thanks for the kind words, which very much apply to yourself as well!

I did a quick browse through the 'Unfinished Monument Press' box, and was a bit disappointed to discover how few duplicates I've kept over the years. I plan to send the first batch of books this afternoon, but unfortunately it consists of just 10 books. I'll explore further, and perhaps there are more duplicates in hiding elsewhere  :  )

I also have a quite extensive and eclectic collection of small press poetry. I coordinated the Main Street Library Poetry Series in Toronto from 1979 to 1985, and many of the poets gave me gift copies of their books (some signed). I've often wondered what to do with these books as I slowly enter senility (turning 64 in 2 days). Perhaps I should start donating them as well ...

Following is the list of Unfinished Monument books I'm sending today:

POETS WHO DON'T DANCE - Shaunt Basmajian
JACK AND JILL IN TORONTO - Jones (Daniel)
ON THE ROAD FOR POETRY - Mona Fertig
DEAR LITTLE OLD LADY - Helen Costain
the dead leave holes - Ben Phillips
PCB JAM - Lynne Kositsky
IN HER MAJESTY'S CIVIL SERVICE - David Reid
QUANNI LORE - jw curry
FOR CHRIST AND KROPOTKIN - Brian Burch
LAST MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS - Mark McCawley

All these books were published during my 'editorship' of Unfinished Monument. I may supply some further data, time & energy permitting.

peace & poetry power!
Chris (Faiers)
now off to my ZenRiver Gardens with shaman dog Chase (wrfffffffffffffffff!) to help poet/playwright/artist Jim Christy build our magick stupa installation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Batch #2 of donations
July 4, 2012

Hi Marvin,
I found some time this evening to prep the second batch of books for you to donate to the Univ. of Calgary special collections.

Two of the books are poetry collections by me with other presses:

ZenRiver: Poems & Haibun (Hidden Brook Press, 2008)
unacknowledged legislator (blewointmentpress, 1981)
The others are rare copies of Unfinished Monument Press chapbooks (which I didn't know I possessed):

Real Poetry by James Deahl (1981 - an essay on James' poetics and his first book)
Lount and Matthews: a commemorative booklet by Peter Flosznik (1982)
Original Innocence by Leslie Webb (1988) 
There is more of a personal connection with these books than with most of the Unfinished Monument books I published. As noted, this was James Deahl's first book, and he and I have been comrades and collaborators since our early days as poets.

Peter Flosznik was my best friend for a short while. He was killed in front of me riding motorbikes while we were on holidays in Freeport, Bahamas in 1982.

Leslie Webb was a girlfriend, and we shared an intense relationship.

I'm also including a broadsheet of mine, "Moon City", published by Mark McCawley's Greensleeve Publishing in 1989;

and Tough Times: When the money doesn't love us, essays edited by John B. Lee for Black Moss Press, 2010.


The copy of "ZenRiver: Poems & Haibun" is a special 'illuminated' copy, with art pen illustrations drawn by me. The dedication is to you and the University of Calgary Special Collections library.

Marvin, I hope you are feeling better and that your recovery is proceeding quickly and painlessly.

Thanks again for your dedication to the world of small press Canadiana poetry.

peace & poetry power!
Chris (Faiers) ... and Chase ... wrffffffffffffffffffffffffff!  - my familiar companion, currently in dog disguise  :  )




On 2012-06-28, at 9:05 AM, marvin orbach wrote:

Hi Chris,
   I have read the ten books that you sent me.  It was a wonderful
experience.   They will be in my next box of books to Calgary. Thanks
again for your kindness.
    I mentioned to Allan Briesmaster that perhaps a note in the
League's newsletter would   bring me overwhelming results.  I am
having second thoughts.  Maybe the collection should be written up in
the newsletter.
     Thanks for your very kind offer of writing reviews  for your
blog.  My instincts have always been for collecting rather than
writing.
I can't spend too much time in front of the computer since I am still
recuperating from an operation.  I must very sadly decline for now.
Your  offer gives me much honour.  Thanks again.
     The volumes that you sent will make great additions to the
collection at the U. of C.  Miigwetch.
     Cheers, for now.
     Shanti, Shalom.
     Marvin.

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 July 9/12

Hi Marvin,
Thanks for letting me know the package arrived OK, and many thanks for the compliments on my dubious artistry with the 'illuminated' copy of ZR:P&H  :  )

I'm not sure how many copies I've illustreated* in this manner - definitely fewer than 10. All have been gifts to other poets (e.g. Pearl Pirie, Jim Christy). I really enjoy doodling with the art pens - probably got the idea from bill bissett and his books ... I'm a big fan of bill's - he published my first 'real' collection of poetry with his blewointmentpress way back in 1981.

So pleased to know that these older chapbooks are being read & enjoyed, and then will live life anew in the AC controlled special collections at Univ. of Calgary - surely a sort of heaven for poetry books!

I'm about to head into TO - This Thursday is the launching of the new selected of Milton Acorn's poetry, IN A SPRINGTIME INSTANT, fittingly at the Parliament Street Library. We're going to hold a small reading in Allan Gardens beforehand, to commemorate Milt's leading of the Free Speech Movement 50 years ago.

peace & poetry power!
Chris ... and a heatstruck Chase ... wffffffff

*this was a typo, but Milt taught me to always accept typos of this nature - 'illustreated' is a great neologism - some might say I not only illustrated the books, but I also mistreated them in the process  :  )


p.s. glad to hear your recovery is progressing ... I passed another kidney stone a few nites ago ... getting so it's no big deal for me to drop one into the toilet bowl from time to time - arrgggghhhhh



On 2012-07-09, at 1:49 PM, marvin orbach wrote:

Hi Chris,
  Your package arrived  today.  What marvelous books you are sending
to the Univ. of Calgary!!   Thank you so much.   Your illuminated copy
of ZenRiver...    is something to behold.  It will be a treasured
addition to the collection.  I am sure the librarians in Special
Collections will be very excited  about it.   Have you illuminated
many of your books?  You are quite an artist.   I am looking forward
to reading and enjoying the books in my favourite armchair by the
window.
     Thanks once again for your kindess and generosity.
      My recuperation is coming along  very well.   Thanks for your concern.
      Blessings. from Montreal West.
      Toda raba  (thank you in Hebrew).
       Shukran (thank you in Arabic).
       Shalom, salaam, and shanti.
       Marvin.

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Hi Marvin,

I'm sending you one of my personal notebooks for the Univ. of Calgary archives. I've kept these notebooks much of my adult life, & they contain information on just about every aspect of my life, from mundane financial records and 'to do' lists to drafts of haiku and longer completed poetry manuscripts.

This notebook in dated Aug. 1989 on the cover under "subject". It's a green, cirlox-style spiral binder, approx. 8 1/2 X 11 inches, 108 pages, "FANCO" 3 subject notebook.

1989 was a crucial time in my life. I had bought a derelict century house in the mining hamlet of Cordova Mines after selling my small semi-detached 'starter' house in Toronto's east end. Two years earlier I had received the inaugural MIlton Acorn People's Poetry Medal for my collection, FOOT THROUGH THE CEILING (1986, Aya Press, then Mercury Press, Toronto).

I moved to Cordova Mines, Ontario, about 100 miles from Toronto, in early April, 1989. This notebook would have detailed my early experiences and musings in my new rural Ontario surroundings.


EEL PIE DHARMA: A MEMOIR/HAIBUN

There are many drafts of haiku, some included, some rejected, for what would become my book, EEL PIE DHARMA: A MEMOIR/HAIBUN (self-published with my Unfinished Monument Press, 1990). Almost at the end of the notebook is a list of the 28 chapters which would become this seminal English language haibun (and now much-referenced history of the tail end of the 1960s in London, England, and the hippie/squatting/music scene).

EPD has been quoted in EEL PIE ISLAND by Dan Van Der Vat and Michele Whitby (2009, Frances Lincoln Limited, London, England). It was also used as a reference for WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN: THE WHO FROM LIFEHOUSE TO QUADROPHENIA by Richie Unterburger (2011, Jawbone Press, London, England).

Noted English novelist Hari Kunzru credits EPD at the back of his novel MY REVOLUTIONS (2007, Penguin). It was nice of Kunzru to formally credit EPD as a source, but there are enough similarities between my life and that of his protagonist (named "Chris"), that I suspect EPD was as much an inspiration for his book as a resource. 


OTHER POETRY PROJECTS

Among the myriad notes, poetry drafts, financial records and jottings are drafts of a book review on a posthumous collection by poet Marty Singleton. I was probably doing this as a regular contributor for CANADIAN BOOK REVIEW ANNUAL.

Another poet who died young was Shaunt Basmajian, and there are notes on my plans to attend his poetry wake in Toronto.

Another project I was involved with was co-publishing an anthology titled SMALL PRESS LYNX with Edmonton poet Mark MCCawley. There are also travel plans for a Canada Council sponsored reading in Edmonton which Mark arranged for me.

Another project with Mark was his publication with his Greensleeves Press of a broadsheet of my poetry titled MOON CITY. There is a checklist of the poets and magazines where sent copies of this broadsheet on the next-to-last page. 


All in all, this old notebook provides a fascinating snapshot of the life I was beginning to live in rural Ontario, and a glimpse back at the very active life I had led in Toronto on the poetry and political scenes. It covers the year I turned 41.


peace & poetry power!
Chris (Faiers) ... and Chase wffffffffffffffffffffff (who has slept thru this pleasant hour of typing & reminiscing)

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Aug. 9, 2012
4th batch of donations

donation: "Small Press Lynx" anthology package (signed copy anthology, letters & original mss, notebook from that time period)

via Marvin Orbach for the Univ. of Calgary Special Literary Collections Archives


Hi Marvin,
AcornFest was an unqualified success and party! Can't get any better than that.And of course there's all the ongoing inspiration created by this annual thronging of poets : )

Today I'm sending you the complete package for the 1991 SMALL PRESS LYNX Anthology, co-edited & co-published by myself and Edmonton poet Mark McCawley.

The package contain one copy (of the two I own) of the anthology. Taking a quick glimpse thru, I'm amazed at the scope of the contributions. Several of the artists were better known as visual artists, so the antho contains some striking art work (including the cover by Beth Jankola).

From what I remember, Mark & I solicited pages from the poet/artists, rather than individual poems. Contributors were asked to do whatever they wished with 'their' page, and many of them took us at our word! I'd forgotten what a fun & freeform project this was.

I'm also including the complete folder for the project. This includes the original submissions & misc. correspondences between the editors and the participants. As many of the contributors have passed on, these letters may have particular value for the archives (Daniel Jones, Shaunt Basmajian, Margaret Saunders, Herb Barrett, Tom Crane, Ted Plantos, etc.).


I'm also including my personal notebook from this period, a 3-ring spiral "Fanco" booklet dated August 1989. I've discussed this "Cordova Mines" notebook & its history in an earlier email. It contains notes, haiku drafts for my EEL PIE DHARMA: A MEMOIR/HAIBUM (about to be republished this fall by HIdden Brook Press), drafts of reviews I was writing for CANADIAN BOOK REVIEW ANNUAL (from re-reading one I now suspect why a certain People's Poet prob. dislikes me ... with some justification) ... even finances and 'to-do' lists. Future sociologists, as well as literary historians, will enjoy this stuff immensely.

gotta go poopify Chase & then head off to water the transplanted pines at ZRG,

think you'll enjoy this batch ...

peace & poetry power!
Chris ... and Chase wffffffffffffffffffffffffff (just get me outside so I can pee & poop!)


p.s. Marvin, most of my recent work, including haiku/haibun, is online on my blog, Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens:

http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.com/

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Package #5

Faiers/Unfinished Monument Press archival material for Univ. of Calgary via Marvin Orbach
Aug. 14, 2012

correspondence folders:
Ted Plantos/Chris Faiers
Mona Fertig/Chris Faiers
Ben Phillips/Chris Faiers
Hi Marvin,
Again, I'm so pleased to have found a home for all my personal literary documents!
The Plantos folder is thinner than expected - likely there is further, earlier correspondence elsewhere. Ted and I did a lot of poetry activities together, and it was my suggestion to Tom Clement for Steel Rail Publishing to bring out the anthology POEMS FOR SALE IN THE STREET. This would have been my first contact with Ted, circa 1979. Over the years I featured Ted at The Main Street Library Poetry Series, and we did a reading together once at Northern District Branch of Toronto Public Library.

Ted and I were friends, along with fellow poet Shaunt Basmajian. I remember the three of us holding a beery movie night in Ted's tiny living room on Columbine Ave. in Toronto. The only memory I have is of watching DUNE, and shouting "Ride the wild worm!"!  Ted was a science fiction fan, I'm not, altho I had read Dune as part of a scifi course at Univ. of Guelph.

It was Ted who initiated the annual Milton Acorn People's Poetry Medal. I was the inaugural recipient in 1987 for my Aya/Mercury collection FOOT THROUGH THE CEILING.

I published chapbooks by both BenPhillips and Mona Fertig with Unfinished Monument Press. Their folders are thicker, and I noticed some letters still in their original envelopes.

Thanks, Marvin, for being such a dedicated supporter of CanLit/CanPo. As you noted in your email, you have also sacrificed much to give this support. And yes, we'll be forever linked in the archives at Univ. of Calgary - hopefully, an honour to both :  )

peace & poetry power!
Chris ... and a very patient Chase (past poopifying time late this morning/early aft) ... wfffffffffffffffffffffffff (get me outta here!)

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Batch #6 (Unfinished Monument Press chapbooks from Chris Faiers)
Aug. 28, 2012

PCB JAM  by Lynne Kositsky
WHITE RASTA by Chris Faiers

INTO THIS DARK EARTH by Raymond Souster and James Deahl  (signed by both authors - limited edition #86/99)

DEAR LITTLE OLD LADY by Helen Costain
POETS WHO DON'T DANCE by Shaunt Basmajian
SURPLUS WASTE AND OTHER POEMS by Shaunt Basmajian
THE DEAD LEAVE HOLES by Ben Phillips
QAANI LORE by jw curry
IN HER MAJESTY'S CIVIL SERVICE by David Reid
LAST MINUTE INSTRUCTIONS by Mark McCawley
ORIGINAL INNOCENCE by Leslie Webb
THIS IS HILARIOUS by Marshall Hrlyciuk
LOUNT AND MATTHEWS: A COMMEMORATIVE BOOKLET by Peter Flosznik


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Batch #7 (Chris' collections)
Oct. 9/2012

Hi Marvin,
I'm taking a break from the fourth (arrgggh) & hopefully final proofing of EEL PIE ISLAND DHARMA;  I'll make the fourth visit down to Tai Grove's old farmhouse near Lake Ontario this Thursday.

After a proofing session & morning coffee I did some browsing thru a box my mother, Marianne Claire Faiers, sent me a few years ago. She was cleaning out her small condo on Hilton Head Island, & she wanted to ensure that she returned any of my writings and publications which might be of importance. Now I'm passing some of these 'rarities' on to you. I'm esp. pleased that I found an almost pristine copy of my 1978 chapbook  DOMINION DAY IN JAIL (I mistakenly call it my first chapbook in the intro, but I'd actually published those 2 haiku collection in 1969).

So into today's mail go my collections:

DOMINION DAY IN JAIL,  Unfinished Monument Press, 1978
WHITE RASTA, Unfinished Monument Press, 1980
UNACKNOWLEDGED LEGISLATOR, blewointmentpress, 1981 (signed to my mother
ISLAND WOMEN, HMS Press, 1983 (signed to my mother)
THE UNFINISHED ANTHOLOGY Vol. I, editor, Unfinished Monument Press, 1984
ZENRIVER: POEMS & HAIBUN, Hidden Brook Press, 2008 
Time to poopify a patient Chase, who's still digesting leftover turkey,
peace & poetry power!
yer pals
Chris ... and Chase ... Wrffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!



*****************************************************
Batch #8
Nov. 26/12
page proofs for EEL PIE ISLAND DHARMA
Gwen Macewen memorial CD (donated by Virginia Dixon)

Hi Marvin (& Virginia),
Almost every Sunday afternoon for the past several months poet/novelist/etc. Jim Christy and his artist partner, Virginia Dixon, and I have met at The Ranch, a family roadhouse restaurant on Highway #7 between Marmora and Havelock. We're lured there by the incredibly cheap turkey dinners (under $8), & I  especially appreciate that they have Rickard's Red beer. We are often joined by other area artists, including my friend Morley Ellis, and a ZenRiver neighbour, Warren Fraser.

Last night we celebrated the arrival of Jim's newest book, and we started making plans for a local joint launch of our two newest publications.

Virginia thoughtfully brought a very rare and unique gift for me - a CD compilation created for the benefit for The Gwendolyn Macewen Memorial.
Virginia said the CDs weren't made for sale, but were gifts for donors of $20 or more. The CD contains archival tracks of Gwen reading, and also includes readings by Margaret Atwood, George bowering, bill bissett, Jim Christy, Irving Layton, Dennis Lee and Joe Rosenblatt.

The CD is exquisitely packaged, & much of this info is included on the jewel box. Virginia said she believe either 100 or 200 copies of the CD were made, adding to its rarity & archival importance.

After thanking Virginia for the gift, I told her about you & how you're collecting CanLit & CanPo material for the Univ. of Calgary archives. Virginia reached into her purse & handed me a second CD, which will be enclosed with the package I'm sending you this aft.

The other item in this package is the page proofs for EEL PIE ISLAND DHARMA (as promised).

Virginia also enlcosed a zip drive of info on the event, but for some reason my Mac system won't cooperate & let me open it. If the zip pdf doesn't arrive with this email, Marvin, let me know & perhaps Virginia can forward it directly to you. It should be preserved alongside the CD.  

Off to the post office to mail this incredible find,
peace & poetry power!
Chris ...and Chase ... Wrffffffffffffffffffffff!

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