Best of 2012: chapbooks

in 2012 I received numerous chapbooks, some because I have a subscription to small presses, others because I happened upon them serendipitously. & that's the beauty of the chapbook. it is small, understated & turns up in the most unexpected places. many of these were gifted to me by generous small pressers who wanted to share the joy of their creations & who were proud of their authors' work. the list includes poetry, visual poetry and fiction. there are so many chapbooks I haven't seen by presses yet unknown to me. I am open for more.

the chapbooks on this list are here because they surprised me, they made me stop what I was doing & pay attention, because they were remarkable.

Steve Dalachinksy - the veiled doorway (unarmed, Saint Paul, Minnesota)

bpNichol, The Lungs: A Draft (No Press, Calgary, Alberta)

Margaret Christakos - from Tumltétudes: The Chips & Ties Study (Book Thug, Toronto, Ontario)

Howie Good, Strange Roads (Puddles of Sky Press, Kingston, Ontario)

Christine McNair and rob mclennan, Prelude: selections from a collaboration (Ottawa, Ontario)

Phil Hall, A Rural Pen (Apt. 9 Press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Kathryn MacLeod, Entropic Suite (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Roland Prevost, Parapagus (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Daniel f. Bradley - Chortling American Show Goo (Laurel Reed Books, Mt. Pleasant, Ontario)

Joel Williams, Shitting on Roses (Black Bile Press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Michael e. Casteels, cemantics (Puddles of Sky Press, Kingston, Ontario)

rob mclennan, Notes, on the subject of marriage: (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

rob mclennan, Poem beginning with a line by Pinder (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Patrick Larkin, Flight Mode (Ferno House, Toronto, Ontario)

Monty Reid, Garden (dec unit) (Corrupt Press, Les Pays-Bas)

Colin Smith, Carbonated Bippies! (Nomados, Vancouver, BC)

The Author John Kinsella, Paradise Lust. A POEM Book 1 DAMAGE REPORT (BookThug, Toronto, Ontario)

Eryk Wenziak, 4am (No Press, Calgary, Alberta)

Barry McKinnon, Into the Blind World (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Kemeny Babineau, After Progress (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Stephen Brockwell, Excerpts from Impossible Books, the Crawdad Cantos (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

George Elliott Clarke, Selected Canticles (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)

Robert Hogg, from Lamentations (above/ground press, Ottawa, Ontario)