Second, we will be at The Philadelphia Sculpture Gym for “Coldhearted”:

All the info is available if you follow the link. We’ll have everything out, be composing ad hoc love poems, and be splitting space with Gigantic Sequins and Turtleneck Press. See you there.

Due to the poor economic climate and our general inability to finance any new projects, Splitleaves Press is suspending operations until further notice. We will still be selling all titles through mail order and our Etsy shop, but will no longer be publishing new material.

We have never relied on grant money, reading fees, or donations, so as soon as we have a few dimes to rub together, rest assured that we will revamp the press, bigger and better than ever, with more “Splitleaves Affairs” and chapbooks, bringing innovative poetry, fiction, and text art out into the world.

Thank you all for your support over the past couple of years. It’s been a wild ride and a riot of fun. We couldn’t have done it without you! Splitleaves will be sure to apprise you of when we are operational again.

Yours,

The Editors

Following this, Splitleaves Press will take a bit of a hiatus until the New Year, when we will begin publishing again. The economic climate has finally taken its toll on your favorite Philadelphia-based press. We’ll be back eventually, though. What doesn’t kill us only makes us whinier.

4 by 6 folded.
8 by 6 half-folded.
16 by 6 unfolded.
This book-object opens accordion-style.

Full-color images on cream paper.
Closed with a blue silk ribbon.

First Printing.
Limited edition of 100.
$5.00.

j/j hastain is the author of numerous full-length, cross-genre books, chapbooks, and artist’s books. j/j is an Elective Affinities participant, a member of Dusie kollektiv and a regular contributor to Sous Les Paves. j/j’s manuscript Let was a finalist in the 2010 Kelsey Street and Ahsahta book competitions. In 2011 j/j’s book we in my Trans was nominated for the Stonewall Book Award.

Like the logo (Courtesy of Word Up) says, from June 14 to July 14, titles from Splitleaves and many other fine presses will be available for purchase in Northern Manhattan. Specifically, 4157 Broadway at 175th Street. They’ll be open weekdays from four to nine p.m., weekends from twelve to four p.m., and for a few special events. Check their website for more details, and swing by if you’re in town. Remember, this is just for one month, so get there while you can.

We hope to see all of your bright, young faces there!

Second, we finally remembered to bring a camera to “A Splitleaves Affair”. Seems like the fourth time is the charm. For your viewing pleasure, you can take a gander at our readers, “Ooh” and “Ahh”, and kick yourself for missing such a wonderful evening, or relive the joy.

Ryan Eckes:

Chris McCreary:

Jenn McCreary:

Christophe Casamassima:

All the information you need is on the flier, but I’ll repeat it here: Saturday, May 14 at seven o’clock in the evening at Moonstone Arts Center in Philadelphia. See y’all then.

Image courtesy of Kyle Ferino and The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center.

“Casamassima’s Of constitutes a poetic genealogy and a genealogy of poetics more complex, healthful, and diverse than most conversations on contemporary poetry’s relationship with modernism allow.  By turns wry criticism and gentle homage, Of suggests that the bloodstream of language circulates infections and kinships, welcome as well as uninvited, into a vital poetics.  Of‘s intelligence and breadth of imagery reframe in interesting, rewarding ways the work of many under-considered poets of the past century; it is both tribute and the foundation of new considerations.”

Twenty-eight pages. 8.5 by 5.5.
Full-color cover by Heather Joi.
Hand-stitched with black linen thread.

First Printing.
Limited edition of 75.
$7.00.

Christophe Casamassima is the editor and proprietor of Furniture Press Books, and author of the Proteus Cycle (The Proteus; Joys: a catalogue of disappointments; Ore), Three Suite, Untilted, and Of, from which these poems are derived. He currently serves as the Co-Founder/Director of Literary and Performance Arts at the Baltimore Center for the Emerging Text.

Heather Joi is an emerging, visionary artist. Self-taught, she is originally from West Virginia. Joi moved to Baltimore ten years ago after being stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army. She has shown her work around Baltimore in cafés, restaurants, shops, and galleries. The cover piece is called “Scorpio” and is from her paper collage series. You can see more of her work online at her website.