Very excited to receive copies of
bp: beginnings this week. It looks great and, as it's been the focus of my academic research for the last year, it's very satisfying to see all that sweat materialized into print.
From the backcover:
bp: beginnings brings together bpNichol's pre-
Martyrology materials in one comprehensive collection, including such key texts as Nichol's first chapbooks
Beach Head and
Cycles Etc., the minimal lyric sequences of
The Other Side of the Room and
JOURNEYING & the returns, and various concrete and sound texts such as
Lament,
The Year of the Frog, and
Ballads of the Restless Are. These collected sequences show Nichol developing his talents in both visual poetry and lyricism,
pointing the way towards the union of the two forms in the later
Martyrology. Combined with
The Captain Poetry Poems (published by
BookThug in 2011),
bp: beginnings now makes all of Nichol's major poetry
sequences available to both the avid Nichol specialists and to
aficionados of innovative poetry everywhere.
You can order the book directly from BookThug
here. It's also available as an ebook (a first for me!)
And there's also the Toronto launch on April 15th, where I'll be doing a roundtable discussion about Nichol's work with Brian Dedora and Lola Tostevin (moderated by Greg Betts). Info on that night
here.