Announcing EUREKA SLOUGH by Joseph Massey

Eureka Slough,  5x7, 28 pages, w/ jet black end papers, covers art and design by Wendy Heldmann, $5.00

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Very happy to announce the publication of this poignant, well-balanced verse by my new friend Joe Massey.  If you are in the Bay Area Saturday night, stop by the Habenicht Press reading series to hear him read from Eureka Slough.

What a few others have said of this suite of poems:

Joseph Massey's poems are some of my favorite places to go, "given to green / and clear-cut patches." His silent engine is always sure to bring me through "What's left of the dream" and the "Page / as white / as the sun." I must remember to thank him for his constant reminder of these and other pleasures. 

--CA Conrad

In the lyric carpentry of _Eureka Slough_, a startling vision of nature and rain gets hammered into being. Massey uses words to hone down the world til we can see it with fresh eyes, and for fresh eyes—with concision and precision both. His poetry’s more complex than he lets on, just like the California it celebrates.

-- Kevin Killian

Joseph Massey's essentialized, intelligent poems take us into the present, vibrant moment. His spare language is memorable as it fashions an immediacy out of a life with a quiet and consistent musical line. As does the world, "You awake / within the poem."

--Burt Kimmelman

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To order, simply click the Buy Now button in the right hand column, or send cash or check to:

Scott Pierce @ 703 W. 11th Street #2 Austin, TX

Comments

[Mark L.]

Received the chapbooks in the mail today. They are gorgeous, I can't wait to read them. Thanks for sending them so quickly.

Looks like I placed my order a few days too early, though!

[Steven Moore]

Received Eureka Slough in remarkably quick time (less than a week to UK). Many many thanks. It's a beautiful book. The discussion of the book on Ron Silliman's blog is very interesting, especially the comments from Kyle Kaufman who saw Massey read the book:

I saw Joe read this very work at the release party for this chapbook last month, at David Hadbawnik's reading series in SF. My memories of his reading have - I now see - almost nothing to do with what Ron is reading. I remember entirely the tension, angst, rage and insecurity - all funnelled through the 40oz'er he was drinking while performing - and that my main impression of the work - and what Ishared with him afterwards - was a deep, devastating suffering coming across, one that aroused concern (for the poet) and wonder (that the poems held this). I distinctly remember thinking that it was astounding how gothic he had rendered Eureka, how a place so fullof natural beauty appeared so torturous and devastated - almost abandoned - in the work. Now, seeing the work (I don't have a copy) I have to marvel at how "easy" Ron's reading is - I mean it seems - I think its said above "spot on". I have the sense of seeing the words here for the first time. Yet I remember that second poem, I just remember it as an entirely different beast. Mind-blowing.