The Alfred Gustav Presss

Subscriptions for Series Eleven are available for $13 ($18 outside Canada) in total for three issues. The poets are:

• Ian Adam, Three
• Annie Deeley, Brother
• Kevin Spenst, Pray Goodbye
  

The subscription deadline for this series is October 1, 2013 for distribution in November. Electronic payment is not yet available.

For more information, email David or send cash or cheque payable to David Zieroth at:
The Alfred Gustav Press
429B Alder Street
North Vancouver, BC
V7L 1A9

Patrons are welcome. A minimum donation of $50 payable to The Alfred Gustav Press will be gratefully acknowledged in the next series, anonymously if desired. No tax-deductible donation receipt will be issued.

Series Ten (May 2013):
John Donlan, Call Me the Breeze
Maureen McCarthy, Nine Steps to the Door
Tara Wohlberg, Cold Surely Takes the Wood

Series Nine (November 2012, out of print):
Gerald Hill, Streetpieces
Sandy Shreve, Level Crossing
Douglas Burnet Smith, Nine Kinds of Light

Series Eight (May 2012, out of print):
Dorothy Field, God Is
Cornelia Hoogland, Gravelly Bay
Patricia Young, Amateurs at Love

Series Seven (November 2011, out of print):
Allan Briesmaster, After Evening Wine
Louise Fabiani, Cryptic Dangers
Chris Pannell, Everything Comes from Above

Series Six (June 2011, out of print):
Barry Dempster, Disturbing the Buddha
Richard Lemm, The Gold Flash
John Reibetanz, Laments of the Gorges

Series Five (December 2010, out of print):
Shane Neilson, Elision: the Milton Acorn Poems
Rob Taylor, Lyric
Diane Tucker, Sandgrain Leaf

Series Four (June 2010, out of print):
The Narrow Room by Jeremy Harman from Toronto/Dublin
Okanagan Galilee by Nancy Holmes from Kelowna, BC
How to Beat the Heat in Bodrum by Leonard Neufeldt from Gig Harbor, Washington

Series Three (December 2009, out of print):
Brian Bartlett, Being Charlie
Allan Brown, Excursions
John Terpstra, Elder Son

Series Two (May 2009, out of print):
Christopher Levenson, Habitat
Susan McCaslin, Persephone Tours the Underground
Matt Rader, Reservations

Series One (December 2008, out of print):
gillian harding-russell, Apples & Mice…
Richard Therrien, Water, Language, Faith
David Zieroth, Dust in the Brocade (see the New Poems page for an excerpt.)

Subscribers have said: “You have indeed done a superb job with these chapbooks. They are both a pleasure to hold and a pleasure to read.” “I love the look, feel and feeling of the chapbooks. Very inspiring, and magical.” “Instant rare books.”

Submission guidelines available on request.

Background:

I started the Alfred Gustav Press as a micro press for poetry because I wanted to work with my hands and heart in a new way or, rather, in an old way, that is, I wanted to make objects that were lovely to hold, that were made by my hand using the technology available in my home (clone, laser jet, stapler, steel edge, blade, pen and colouring pencil). I wanted to touch each piece of paper in each chapbook. And I wanted the poems to touch others.

I want to print poems that might not otherwise be available soon if at all. I look for poetry that is accessible and evocative, strong in insight and image—in other words, poems in the lyric/narrative tradition in its deepest sense—with some unity of theme or form appropriate for the short length of a chapbook.

I named the press after my father, a farmer both serious and taciturn yet not without charm and wit, sometimes melancholy, always hard working and a great lover of winter reading. The press’s selections may or may not reflect such a disposition toward life. The intention is that the poems published will exhibit some of Alfred’s (counsel-to-the-elves) acumen and Gustav’s (staff-of-the-Goths) gusto. I wanted to return to my father’s way of working, especially when he repaired machinery: slowly and precisely, patiently, with the available tools, making what was necessary with the resources at hand.

My intention is to produce three chapbooks in the spring, three in the fall. The author receives ten copies to distribute as desired; the press keeps the rest for its own pleasure, including filling subscriptions. I print only as many copies as I have subscriptions, and thus I know exactly the number to produce and to whom each copy will be sent. I think of the readership as small but intense. I imagine their pleasure on receiving the chapbooks in the mail as equal to mine in producing them. Altogether, it’s an effort of guild-like pleasure keen to bring poetry to readers. All copies are signed by the poet.