condensedmatterbindery - Tumblr blog

condensedmatterbindery · 9 years

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THE MISSION OF THE PRESS

The mission of the press is to put the best poems by the best poets in the best books. As for what the best poetry really is: that can be a thing for the world to fight over. All I’m interested in is giving it a home. Us physics people don’t distinguish much between now and the future, so if you’re not the best now but will end up among them some time and materials down the road, it makes very little difference to Condensed Matter whether or not you’re here now or later – but I want you here. I want you to write your heart out; I want you to write the best poetry the world has ever seen, and if the world allows it, I’ll join you in that enterprise.

Condensed Matter doesn’t care a whit about any prescriptive tenets of style, aesthetic, or form. I want only the best, and that distinction will be unmarred as possible by my own biases and preferences. To steal Harriet Monroe's conceit, the door will always be open to all creeds and all poetics; it will be wide open for any and all who can claim passion for the poetic craft. To that end, this is more an invitation than a mission: forge the best with me, dearest reader, whatever it may be.

#poetry #bookbinding #publishing

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condensedmatterbindery · 9 years

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100% pure poet blood

#bookbinding #esn13 #beyond survival #this is the fun part

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condensedmatterbindery · 9 years

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hi tumblr friends!! I'm Brian, founder of Condensed Matter Bindery and Press. it's a one-man-four-cat show (that one is Chad) at the moment, and I wanted to share some snapshots of the binding process. you can see: - my living room, on the sixth floor of a dinky apartment a few blocks from Rutgers University - some stills of the printing, folding, piercing, sewing, endbanding, and casemaking procedures, all of which after printing is done by hand with literally the best materials in the world each book is a labor of about eight hours -- Aditi's poems deserve no less. but I guess what I really want to say is: 100% of what you spend on the books I publish goes to supporting poets and artists. I do this out of my utter passion for poetry (you can find my scribbles at poeticennui.tumblr.com), and nothing less. there are no big corporate interests, no old rich dudes -- I'm just a 22 year old newly-grad with degrees in physics and English looking to make beautiful things, supporting himself with hopefully this and as a part time physics adjunct. I know $60 is a lot nowadays for a poetry volume, but for the work, it turns out to be less than a minimum wage salary (not even including the material costs). so: if you appreciate my work, please support me; please support Aditi -- it would mean the world to me.

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condensedmatterbindery · 9 years

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OPHELIA

by Aditi Nagrath, from Beyond Survival

I.

A fly buzzes above the shower.

I am naked and being watched.

I do not say that for the sake of the poem. It is true.

II.

I survived, though only by accident: my body is a woman.

You know how that story goes.

III.

I tell Ophelia that the morning has turned on its back and so we are forgiven.

I tell Ophelia that she can carry her madness in any shape, as long as I can —over and over— say her name.

IV.

I cram impossibility into every passing moment—all things are impossible but we are exceptions—I do not crackle but I am fire— how can I not be? I was brought up in hell—

I fed on its grass and was fucked by its monsters—I bit my lips to blood and seduced the guards,

chased after them often, but I have hushed them out of existence now and locked the doors from outside—

I am fire bright but not loud, quiet because I want to destroy—

I am Shiva in a woman’s body:

blue, bold, and built to demolish. Built to rebuild—

setting the stage alight to celebrate

the sacrifice of my wonder: its mortal body and unintended survival.

V. I mourn, too, from time to time.

Do not blame me. Losing a self is also worthy of grief,

and my mouth is more of a graveyard than a house for white teeth.

--

Get the collection here!

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