books

GAME Genie Poems

by Kevin Stebner

Game Genie Poems takes the limited set of letters available in the Game Genie cheat code cartridge to its poetic extreme. Selecting only from words compatible with the code entry system, Stebner has crafted a collection of poems that treat topics as diverse as politics, gastronomy, sex, and literary formalism with rigorous precision and ribald humour. This volume presents photographs of Stebner’s code words entered into the Game Genie interface alongside textual versions to give readers an idea of the laborious process, not only of composing these poems, but of entering them letter-by-letter into a 1980s video game console.

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HAVANA SYNDROME

by Sacha Archer

Slicing through genre and convention like a razor through celluloid, Sacha Archer’s HAVANA SYNDROME is a grimy, ink-splattered adventure in the hinterlands of typographic representation. Like a clandestine dossier of photocopied documents, these poems disclose themselves in furtive fragments, drawing the reader into a conspiracy of text and visual detritus. Which fingerprints are Archer’s and which are left by the reader? Whether you’re a detective or the culprit, HAVANA SYNDROME will enlist you into a secret agency of interpretation.

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Barcode Poetry

by Kyle Flemmer

Riffing on company slogans, song lyrics, protest chants, and writing advice, Kyle Flemmer’s Barcode Poetry is a 101-part sequence of typewritten visual poems taking up the complicated relationship between art and commerce. Though made on a 1940 Remington Rand Deluxe Model 5 typewriter, a relic of the analogue past, these poems masquerade as the hallmark of digitized consumerism—barcodes—to playfully critique the paradox of creativity under capitalism. This debut collection includes an afterword by the author on composing typewriter art that positions Barcode Poetry against the commercialization of the culture industry. Barcode Poetry is a 124-page, 7.5” x 7.5” x 0.25” paperback published in an edition of 200 copies.

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Without Form

by Ben Robinson

Without Form is a meticulous erasure of the Holy Bible, only its chapter and verse notation spared by repeat Blasted Tree contributor Ben Robinson. This ambitious visual poetry project encompasses all sixty-six books of the Bible published in print in two different formats, plus animated for easy online viewing. First, The Blasted Tree made each biblical book (“Genesis,” “Exodus,” etc.) into its own chapbook, some upwards of fifty pages long, others just a single page, and only one of each chapbook produced. Recently, The Blasted Tree teamed up with knife | fork | book to produce a limited edition of 50 numbered hardcovers containing the entire Without Form project. View the animated poem as an amorphous field of numerals by following the link below. Copies of our limited edition books and chapbooks are out of print from The Blasted Tree store.

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The Blasted Tree is now accepting the submission of visual and experimental poetry manuscripts with an eye toward print publication. We are looking to produce innovative print media of all sorts, from chapbook-length projects to unconventional leaflets and broadsheets. Our print media foregrounds the intersection of form and content, and we are always looking to pair the highest quality and most appropriate materials with exciting art and literature.

PLEASE NOTE: The Blasted Tree is not accepting book-length manuscripts for consideration at this time.

Please query theblastedtree@gmail.com with a description and/or sample of your work.

Print MEDIA

From books and chapbooks to leaflets, longsheets, and beyond, The Blasted Tree provides a venue for up-and-coming and established Canadian artists to showcase their creations in print. Presented on high quality papers in a variety of formats, our print media is a great way to take home a treasure from your favorite Blasted Tree author or artist. Limited editions of our print media are available for purchase from The Blasted Tree Store.