Help Argos Books produce Forensics of the Chamber by j/j hastain!

Argos Books is looking to raise some funds to produce a full color run of j/j hastain’s forthcoming Forensics of the Chamber. See the note at the end of this post. If you can, I highly recommend helping out to bring this project to fruition.

I’ve written about j/j’s striking poem-collages–from the recent verges & vivisections (The Knives Forks and Spoons Press, 2011)–in an essay called “Thinking Beyond the Human.” I suggested that one of “hastain’s assemblage[s] is an exquisite corpse without organs…a…questioning of embodiment by thinking Artaud (via Deleuze and Guattari) back through the practice of surrealist collage.” My review of j/j’s  prurient anarchic omnibus (Spuyten Duyvil/Meeting Eyes Bindery, 2011) is here, and my micro-review of j/j’s collaborative dialogue with t thilleman,  Approximating Diapason (Spuyten Duyvil, 2012) is here.

As Anne Waldman says, “j/j is the real deal.” I certainly agree.

Forensics of the Chamber, a full-length collection of interwoven poems and collages by j/j hastain, will be published by Argos Books this spring.

From the first read, we at Argos were thrilled by the sharp, unflinching focus of hastain’s  language. The collages interspersed with the poems are lush, mysterious gems that bring a rich spatial quality to the text. This is truly an inter-species body of work, part image, part story, part human and part wilderness.

This work fits and furthers Argos’ editorial mission: to publish the most alive and innovative work out there. We feel that this book, with its fearlessness and delicacy, is a wonderful manifestation of our publishing goals.

Our intention is to do justice to our mission, and to the depth and brilliance of j/j’s work, by producing this book with the highest quality possible. The book, our second full-length collection, will be printed in color and perfect-bound. Your contribution will help cover the cost of printing (with 20+ full-color images) and shipping.

Argos is an independent poetry press that has produced many critically-acclaimed handmade books since 2010, including poetry in translation, artist/poet collaborations, and beautiful and unique ephemera and events. We rely on support from our readers for our existence.

Please consider supporting the publication of Forensics of the Chamber! Goods include a black and white Super 8 film/video link of poet Brenda Iijima’s performative dance piece, filmed by poet and filmmaker Stephanie Gray, created just for this occasion; a limited-edition j/j hastain broadside; beautiful Argos titles; and of course, Forensics of the Chamber itself when it is printed–as well as our deepest gratitude, and the bliss of knowing that you have helped a vital poetry community thrive.

About the author: j/j hastain is the author of several cross-genre books including, most recently, myrrh to re all myth (Furniture Press Books, 2013), as well as  the trans-genre bookslibertine monk (Scrambler Press), SOS: Song of Songs of Solomon (a Queer Translation) (Triton Books/Spuyten Duyvil) and The Xyr Trilogy: a Metaphysical Romance. j/j’s writing has most recently appeared in Caketrain,Trickhouse, The Collagist, Housefire, Bombay Gin, Aufgabe and Tarpaulin Sky, and will appear in the forthcoming Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics (EOAGH and Nightboat Books). j/j has been a guest lecturer at Naropa University, University of Colorado and University of Denver.

~ by Michael Leong on March 29, 2013.