Carl Mayfield is a small press icon and, as with many an old school icon, you will find very few electronic footprints in his wake. Back in the threadbare 80s, he published a small press poetry magazine called Margarine Maypole Orangutan Express. And by magazine, I mean a single sheet of 8.5 x 11" paper, folded once, and slipped into an envelope, with an average of 10 or so brief, sparkling shards of poetry.
It was one of a handful of publications that were an inspiration for Lilliput Review.
As happens on occasion, a small press editor doubles as a poet in another, slightly askew, but parallel universe. And so we arrive at chapbook #24 in the Modest Proposal Chapbook series (by the by, all chapbooks in the series are $3 postpaid in the US, $5 everywhere else), entitled All The Way Up by Carl Mayfield.
I've been publishing Carl for many years in Lilliput Review and I knew that one of these days we'd get around to doing a collection. All the Way Up is 20 pages of succinct shards of awareness from one of the finer observers, lyrically speaking, of the human experience. Since this is not a review but a notice of publication, I'll simply slip three of those poems into this post to give you a taste. See what you think.
If you are taken with these three, there are more where they came from. Do a little slipping of your own - a check (made out to 'Don Wentworth') into an envelope or 3 discreetly secreted dollars - and mail it to Lilliput Review 282 Main Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201.
Or, if you are in more of a modern mode (or mood), at the top of the right hand sidebar you will find a Paypal 'Buy Now' button for your relatively instant gratification.
20 poems for 3 bucks and you can say you did your small press duty for the week. Give it a go.
You'll be happy you did.
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Photo by Shaggy 359
stirred by people's voices
the greening
willow
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue
best,
Don
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2 comments:
Don, I received my copy and just wanted to say kudos to Carl, each of the twenty is a gem. My favs are the daffodil haiku and 'Borders' which reminded me of Jack Gilbert's tone of voice. But I wasn't sure if in 'Blank Look #137', on page 5, the first word of the second line shouldn't be "off" instead of "of"? Thanks for publishing these. Tell Carl to keep working.
Thanks, Peter, so happy you enjoyed Carl's work.
Somehow an original typo slipped back in after being removed. Thanks for pointing it out. It's been corrected.
best,
Don
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