I didn’t quite expect this, but I’m about to release another collection of poems. That knocking is a short collection, just 7 poems, but one I’m excited to see released. Sometimes there are poems that sit neatly in a full-length thematic book, but often some poems just don’t – they’re loners, awkward in crowds, not sure where they belong. But they’re strong and have things to say – about jet-lag, love, pain, Morrissey and silence – so they keep quietly knocking.
That knocking is being published through Little Windows, a new small-press based in Adelaide, but globally-minded. It’s being launched as a sibling to three other chapbooks – by Jill Jones (SA), Alison Flett (SA/Scotland) and John Glenday (Scotland). Beautiful small objects, tactile paper, tracing paper inserts, limited numbered editions of 111.
What’s a chapbook, you ask? ‘Ceap’ actually comes from the Old English word for business, trade or barter (not chap as in ‘man’ or ‘fellow’). It’s now jargon for a short book, usually stapled or stitched rather than with a spine, and often distributed informally, direct from author to reader.
If you’re in Adelaide, the launch is on Thursday June 16th, 7pm at Booknook & Bean, Shop 18, Topham Mall, Adelaide CBD. If you’re Facebook inclined, let us know you’re coming – https://www.facebook.com/events/1556074694693777/
If you’re in Melbourne, I plan to make That knocking (and hopefully the other chapbooks) available at Collected Works, the greatest poetry bookshop there is, Nicholas Building Level 1 at 37 Swanston St Melbourne.
If you’re not in either of those places, I’ll be selling them direct at readings and by mail, and you can of course get them direct from Little Windows. Yes, they’re actual objects, something for the body as well as the eyes and the mind.
Andy Jackson 