Rope-a-Dope

Split Decision

2009-11-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

The final collection of Manila Broadsides from Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series. A slide show here.

Poems by: Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Elizabeth Bradfield, Lily Brown, Sommer Browning, Jennifer Firestone, Kevin Gallagher, Rauan Klassnik, Dorothea Lasky, Justin Marks, Hazel McClure, Lisa Olstein, Sarah Rosenthal, Zachary Schomburg, Janaka Stucky, James Tate, Jon Thompson, Aaron Tieger, Besty Wheeler, Dara Wier, and Mark Yakich

Prints by: Bartleby, Thomas Buildmore, Scott Chasse, Mike Dacey, Robert daVies, Tricia Gray, Vanessa Irzyk, and Carrie Siegel

Colophon

A collaboration between Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series, Split Decision was made by hand in an edition of twelve in the autumn of 2009. The first twelve of each of The Manila Broadsides, Volume Two, published between April and October 2008 in editions of sixty, are collected within its covers. Our thanks to all of the Manila poets and artists--especially Mike Dacey, who lent us his Vandercook.

Curator, The So and So Series: Chris Tonelli
Art Direction, The Manila Broadsides: Robert daVies
Letterpress Printing: Jeremiah Gould & Mary Walker Graham
Book Design & Production: Mary Walker Graham

Cover: Iris bookcloth; screenprint & stencil by Thomas Buildmore
Endpages: Hahnemuhle Bugra; screenprint by Robert daVies
Text: Rives BFK; handset metal type printed on a Vandercook SP20
Binding: handwaxed linen thread

[Photo Credit: Jeremiah Gould. Thanks Jeremiah! You rule.]

Voir Dire

2009-11-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Justin Marks is the author of A Million in Prizes (New Issues Press, April 2009). He is the founder and editor of Kitchen Press Chapbooks and lives in New York City with his wife and their infant son and daughter.

Rope-a-Dope Press, 2009. Letterpress printed in an edition of 96, with illustrations by Robert daVies. $8 includes shipping.

2009-09-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

Join us on Thursday, September 10th at 7PM for the 7th Season Kickoff of d.a. levy lives: celebrating the renegade press

ACA Galleries
529 W. 20th St., 5th Floor
NYC

Readings from Mary Walker Graham, Justin Marks, Kate Schapira, Kim Gek Lin Short, Sampson Starkweather, and Chris Tonelli

Music from Erik Schoster of He Can Jog

Please note that there's been a time change. The reading is now at 7PM, not 6.

The complete Welcome to Boog City Festival schedule is available for download here.

Golden Gloves 2

2009-08-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to announce that Series Editor Chris Tonelli has chosen Kim Gek Lin Short's Run as the second Golden Gloves Series Chapbook.

Kim Gek Lin Short is the author of The Bugging Watch & Other Exhibits (Tarpaulin Sky Press 2010) and the chapbook The Residents (dancing girl press 2008). She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and young daughter.

Congratulations as well to our finalists Friedrich Kerksieck (A Picnic is a Picnic) and Michael Robins (Circus, forthcoming from Flying Guillotine Press).

Thanks to everyone who submitted during the Golden Gloves open reading period. We enjoyed reading your work, and hope to see more of it in the future!

If you’re in (or near) New York on Thursday, September 10th, please join us for the D.A. Levy Lives Reading Series, at ACA Galleries in Chelsea, as part of the Welcome to Boog City poetry and music festival. Readers will include RAD poets Kate Schapira, Chris Tonelli, Sampson Starkweather, Mary Walker Graham, Kim Gek Lin Short, and Justin Marks. Eric Schoster of He Can Jog will also be there to make some noise. And there’ll be art, and books, and wine, and cheese! Woooo. (Details, directions, and a full schedule will be available here shortly).

Thanks again for supporting Rope-a-Dope.

Justin Marks on Poetic Asides

2009-05-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Justin Marks interviewed by Robert Lee Brewer here.

Voir Dire is still available! Scroll down to find the PayPal button.

Meanwhile, in Moth Land . . .

2009-03-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Rauan Klassnik interviews Sampson Starkweather here.

And Dan Magers reviews the chap here.

Drink up.

Open Submissions

2009-02-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

We're reading chapbook manuscripts for the Golden Gloves Chapbook Series until March 31st. Please send us your work! Guidelines below (scroll down, and please read 'em!).

City of Moths

2008-11-25T19:24:00.001-08:00

“My friend thinks that poetry has nothing to do with words. Poetry, she says, is a mountain. An actual mountain. A thing that fools climb simply ‘because it’s there.’ Poetry is there, but why do we constantly feel the need to prove it exists? To point to it? Like a mountain appearing in the distance. ‘Be an uncarved block of wood’ is what the Sarah Lawrence kids, who hadn’t slept in 40-some hours, still high off ecstasy and acid, sitting Indian-style on the rock, otherwise-silent, would shout at me during tennis matches. They were right. What lies in the uncarved block of wood. Whorls and grains, stories and held smoke. Surrounded by. My block of wood, another person’s mountain. The sound of a finger pointing to some unseen thing. To be reckoned with, or perhaps, reckoned by. Something to draw a door in” (page 6, City of Moths).

Sampson Starkweather was born in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He is the author of The Photograph from horse less press. His work can be found in Typo, Octopus, jubilat, Absent, Tarpaulin Sky, RealPoetik, and Sink Review. He lives in the woods alone.

Golden Gloves Chapbook Series, 2008/2009. Stab bound, with letterpress printed cover. Printed in an addition of 144, of which the first twelve are signed by the author. $10 includes shipping.

SOLD OUT.

Little Johnny Wants A Broadside!

2008-11-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

And so do you. They make wonderful bathroom reads, and also come in a water-proof bag to keep you dry from those wintery showers. He also wants a copy of The Jungle, City of Moths, and Victor in the New World. (Sorry Johnny, we're out of that!)

Open Submissions February-March 2009

2008-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Rope-a-Dope Press will read chapbook manuscripts during our first open submissions period, February-March 2009. The selection will be published in the Spring of 2009 as part of the first annual Golden Gloves Chapbooks Series.* This year's Series is edited by Chris Tonelli.

Please submit two copies of your original poetry manuscript, 15-35 pages, postmarked between January 25th and March 31st. Include two title pages with each copy: one with your name, contact information, and title of your manuscript; the second with title only.

We look forward to reading your work. A selection (and finalists) will be announced in the spring.

Mail your submission to:
Golden Gloves Chapbook Series
Rope-a-Dope Press
516 East 2nd Street, #42
South Boston, MA 02127

Include an SASE if you would like your manuscript returned. Entries without an SASE will be recycled after they have been considered.

Please consider buying some of our other chapbooks to get a feel for what we like. City of Moths, by Sampson Starkweather, and For People Who Like Gravity and Other People by Chris Tonelli, are forthcoming in the Golden Gloves Series and will be made available soon on this site.

Thank you!

*Three chapbooks are published annually through the Golden Gloves Chapbook Series. A guest editor works with Rope-a-Dope founders Mary Walker Graham and Robert daVies to select one chapbook through solicitation, one through open submissions, and one his/her own.

Open Studios

2008-10-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

South Boston Open Studios is this weekend, November 1 and 2. Stop by The Distillery and see us!

Grand Finale!

2008-10-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

Poems by Dorothea Lasky, Dara Wier, and James Tate.

Silkscreen and drawing by this month's featured artist, Robert daVies.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

Miss September - the eve of our expression

2008-09-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Poems by Rauan Klassnik, Justin Marks, and Lisa Olstein.

Silkscreen by this month's featured artist, Tricia Gray.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

BluePRINT Opening Reception

2008-09-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

BluePRINT, an exhibit exclusively featuring artists working in The Distillery, will open next Tuesday, September 30th, from 7-9pm at The Blue Room in Kendall Square, Cambridge. This exhibit has been coordinated by Scott Chasse, Robert daVies, and Mary Walker Graham, all having work in the show as well. Please stop by the reception if you have a chance, or visit the restaurant on your own time to check out the work and have a great meal and/or drinks!

Click here for more info about the Blue Room.

And here for a complete list of participating artists.

A Smaller Type of Book

2008-09-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

Mark Yakich's What, Friends, IS A City? is the latest book printed by Rope-a-Dope Collaborative's Thumbsized Editions.
All books are individually crafted and put through whatever method we can get our hands on. Next stop: Justin Marks!

Golden Gloves

2008-09-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Rope-A-Dope Press has chosen Sampson Starkweather's City of Moths as the first Golden Gloves Series Chapbook.

Sampson Starkweather is the author of The Photograph from Horse Less Press. He lives in Chappaqua, NY where he is an editor of physics and chemistry books.

Congratulations as well to our finalists Justin Marks (Voir Dire), Douglas Hahn (Standing Wave), and Phil Cordelli (The Incorporation). Rope-A-Dope has decided to publish Justin Marks' Voir Dire as well.

Justin Marks is the author of A Million in Prizes (New Issues Press, forthcoming 2009). His latest chapbook is [Summer insular] (Horse Less Press, 2007). He is the founder and Editor of Kitchen Press Chapbooks and lives in New York City.

As finalists, Douglas Hahn and Phil Cordelli will be considered automatic finalists for our open reading period, February-March 2009*. We invite all of you to submit then as well, and thank you for the opportunity to consider your work.

Best,

Chris Tonelli
Series Editor

*Please do not send manuscripts prior to the open submissions period. We can only consider manuscripts postmarked between January 25 and March 31, 2009. Please check back soon for more details regarding manuscript requirements and format. Thank you.

August! Big Fat Sausssage!

2008-09-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Poems by Sommer Browning, Hazel McClure, and Aaron Tieger.

Silkscreen by this month's featured artist, Carrie Siegel.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

In July, 3 poets and 1 scrivener

2008-07-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Poems by Elizabeth Bradfield, Kevin Gallagher, and Jon Thompson.

Silkscreen by this month's featured artist, Bartleby.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

The June Manila Broadsides

2008-06-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Poems by Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Zachary Schomburg, and Janaka Stucky.

Drawings by this month's featured artist, Vanessa Irzyk. Hand-stained and printed with polymer plates by Robert daVies.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

Distillery Open Studios + So and So #26

2008-06-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Double Header!

Distillery Open Studios + Art Sale
Saturday, June 7th
Noon-7pm

The Distillery in South Boston will host its annual Spring Open Studios on Saturday, June 7th from Noon - 7pm. (Unlike the weekend-long events in the past, this one is for one-day only!) This year's event will include work from over 40 artists, craftspeople, and creative entrepreneurs. This year, The Distillery has organized a ground-level "Art Sale" and a "Silent Auction Exhibit" in The Distillery Gallery - both carrying the same theme: great affordable art. In addition, studio doors will be open throughout the building, inviting guests in for a view of the various creative spaces.

More info here.

So and So #26

Paige Ackerson-Kiely * Zachary Schomburg * Janaka Stucky

+ Manila Broadsides featured artist Vanessa Irzyk

Saturday * June 7th * 8pm * The Distillery * 516 East Second Street * South Boston, MA 02127

Feel free to bring booze and snacks.

Paige Ackerson-Kiely is the author of a collection of poetry, In No One's Land, winner of the Sawtooth Prize and published by Ahsahta Press. She lives with her family in rural Vermont and works as a clerk.

Zachary Schomburg is the author of a book of poems, The Man Suit (Black Ocean 2007), the co-editor of an online poetry magazine, Octopus, and the co-editor of a small poetry press, Octopus Books. Poems from his new manuscript, Scary, No Scary, are in Denver Quarterly and Born, among others. His collaborations with Emily Kendal Frey are in Diode, Sir!, and Pilot. His translations of the Russian poet Andrei Sen-Senkov are forthcoming in Circumference and Mantis. He is a PhD student at the University of Nebraska.

Janaka Stucky is the founder and managing editor of Black Ocean, and publishes the magazine Handsome. Since receiving his BFA from Emerson and an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College in 2003, he remains rooted in Boston—spending his life traveling, writing, and caring for the dead. Some of his poems have appeared in: Denver Quarterly, No Tell Motel, North American Review, Redivider, and VOLT.

Miss May

2008-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Poems by Jennifer Firestone, Dorothy Lasky, and Sarah Rosenthal.

Screenprints by this month's featured artist, Scott Chasse.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative. We love Jeremiah Gould!

$24 includes shipping.

So and So Turns 25, Rents Car to Celebrate

2008-05-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Firestone * Dorothea Lasky * Sarah Rosenthal

+ Manila Broadsides featured artist Scott Chasse

Saturday * May 17th * 8pm * The Distillery * 516 East Second Street * South Boston, MA 02127

Feel free to bring booze and snacks.

Jennifer Firestone is the co-editor of Letters To Poets: Conversations About Poetics, Politics, and Community, forthcoming in October from Saturnalia Books. She is the author of Holiday (published by Shearsman Books), Waves (published by Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs), and From Flashes and snapshot (both published by Sona Books). Her work has appeared in HOW2, LUNGFULL!, Can We Have Our Ball Back, Fourteen Hills, MIPOesias Magazine, Dusie, 580 Split, Saint Elizabeth Street and others. She is the Poet in Residence at Eugene Lang College (The New School For Liberal Arts), and she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their infant twins.

Dorothea Lasky is the author of AWE (Wave Books, 2007). Currently, she lives in Philadelphia, where she studies creativity and education.

Sarah Rosenthal is the author of How I Wrote This Story (Margin to Margin, 2001), sitings (a+bend, 2000), not-chicago (Melodeon, 1998), and Manhatten (Spuyten Duyvil, forthcoming). Her poetry, fiction, reviews, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous journals including How(2), Bird Dog, Fence, Lungfull, Denver Quarterly, and Boston Review. Her poetry has been anthologized in Bay Poetics (Faux Press, 2006), The Other Side of the Postcard (City Lights, 2005), and hinge (Crack Press, 2002). Sarah has created a commissioned, multimedia installation based on her poetry for the San Francisco Exploratorium Museum. She is the recipient of the Leo Litwak Fiction Award, the Primavera Fiction Prize, and a grant-supported writing residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Her collection of interviews, A Community Writing Itself: Conversations with Avant-Garde Writers of the Bay Area, is currently being considered by several publishers. She writes curricula on writing and reading for the Developmental Studies Center, a nonprofit publishing house, and teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University.

The April Manila Broadsides

2008-04-14T18:26:00.001-07:00

What lies flat? But makes a nice hat?

What folds to fit on a shelf? Or hangs on your wall in at least twelve different configurations?

Why, a Manila Broadside triptych, of course.

Poems by Lily Brown, Betsy Wheeler, and Mark Yakich.

Letterpress print with wood type by this month's featured artist, Mike Dacey.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative. Our thanks to Jeremiah Gould, Matt Templeton, Nathan Demant, and this month's poets and artist.

$24 includes shipping.

Lost Letter #1

2008-04-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Lost Letter is a limited edition, handmade book that exhibits the works of young, contemporary artists. The illustrations for the first letter were created by Kenichi Hoshine, a New York based artist who was recently selected by Saatchi Online to participate in this year's Pulse Art Fair.

Printed in an edition of 12, the outside is letterpressed and handwritten. The book inside is a giclee print using Ultrachrome, archival inks.

$45.00 - Shipping included

The Terrible Twos

2008-04-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

So and So turns THIS many!!!

Lily Brown * Betsy Wheeler * Mark Yakich

and Manila Broadsides featured artist Mike Dacey.

Saturday * April 12th * 8pm * The Distillery * 516 East Second Street * South Boston, MA 02127

Feel free to bring booze and snacks.

Lily Brown was born and raised in Massachusetts and currently lives in San Francisco. She is the author of the chapbook The Renaissance Sheet, published by Octopus Books in 2007, and her second chapbook, Old with You, is forthcoming from Kitchen Press in 2008. Poems have appeared or will appear in Typo, Octopus, Handsome, Coconut, Fence, Pleiades and 26.

Originally from the Upper Mississippi River Valley, Betsy Wheeler studied poetry and the art of the book at the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse where she was a Maple House Fellow for Sutton Hoo Press. She received her MFA in poetry from The Ohio State University in 2005, then lived, worked, and wrote as the Stadler Fellow at Bucknell University's Stadler Center for Poetry from 2005-2007. Her poems have recently appeared in The Journal, Bat City Review, MiPoesias, Pebble Lake Review, Forklift Ohio, Ping Pong, and Absent. Her chapbook, Start Here, is available from Small Anchor Press. Co-editor of Pilot and Pilot Books, she lives in Northampton, Massachusetts where she works for Wondertime magazine.

Mark Yakich's new poetry collection is The Importance of Peeling Potatoes in Ukraine (Penguin 2008). He lives in New Orleans. His website is markyakich.com.