New from Dye Hard Press: Animal eyeball by Gary Cummiskey and Paul Warren

 

Animal eyeball is a free e-chapbook and consists of seven cut-up prose poems by South African poet Gary Cummiskey, complemented with collages by UK artist Paul Warren. 

26 pages. 

To access the book click here.

You can also access and download a PDF version here.

Arja Salafranca reading at the Red Wheelbarrow

Check out Dye Hard Press author Arja Salafranca reading at The Red Wheelbarrow this Thursday night. Dye Hard Press has published two of Arja's collections -- The fire in which we burn and Beyond touch (with Modjaji Books). Arja also selected the stories for the much-acclaimed short fiction anthology The Edge of Things.

Forthcoming from Dye Hard Press: Animal Eyeball by Gary Cummiskey and Paul Warren

 Animal eyeball is an e-chapbook of seven cut-up prose poems by Gary Cummiskey, with collages by UK artist Paul Warren. Watch this space!

A bootleg translation of Sky Dreaming

It seems a bootleg Bengali translation of my 2011 chapbook Sky Dreaming has appeared in India. The cover photograph is by Arja Salafranca.  I am honoured by the translation, but just wish I had known about it and some acknowledgements had been made. Arja also did not know that her photograph had been used.

Sky Dreaming was originally published by Graffiti Kolkata.

Delay in printing of Somewhere else

There has been a slight delay in the printing of Somewhere else, but it should be back on track in a fortnight. The printer has gone off to get married and have his honeymoon!

Interview with Gary Cummiskey in Bengali literary journal Boier Duniya (The Book World)

An interview with Gary Cummiskey in the Kolkata-based Bengali literary journal Boier Duniya (The Book World) by poet and publisher Subhankar Das. Subhankar is currently publishing my latest collection of poetry, Somewhere else.

An English translation of the interview is below:

When did you start writing poetry?

I was about fourteen when I started. One day in school our English teacher set us an exercise. He played the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac track 'Albatross' and told us to listen carefully. Then he told us to write a poem about an albatross for homework. I think I was the only kid in the class who liked the idea! That night I wrote a poem about a dying albatross and realised I wanted to write more poems … and so it started.

 

Tell us about your magazine Green Dragon.

Green Dragon was a literary journal that I published from 2002 to 2009. It ran to six issues and featured both poetry and prose, as well as interviews and reviews. The first two issues were staple bound, while the others were perfect bound. I printed about 300 copies of each issue. I published mainly South African writers but also some overseas ones, mainly from the US, but also from the Netherlands and the UK. The seventh issue was scheduled to be a short-fiction special, with material selected by South African writer and poet Arja Salafranca. But the amount of material we received was so big that it turned out to be a huge anthology in its own right, called The Edge of Things, which appeared in 2011 and was highly acclaimed. Green Dragon did not continue after that. I got tired of it, it was a huge amount of work.

 

Your favourite poets and how do they move you?

I have so many favourite poets and my preferences change. But my main influences have been the US beat poets and the modern French poets. Among the US beats my favourites are Gregory Corso and Bob Kaufman, as well as more borderline beats such as Marty Matz and Philip Lamantia. Among the French, Antonin Artaud, Jacques Prévert, Joyce Mansour and Claude Pélieu. Also the Spanish-language modernists, such as Neruda, Vallejo and Lorca. Among South African poets definitely Wopko Jensma, Sinclair Beiles and Seitlhamo Motsapi. A feature that that they all share is a willingness to experiment with language, to use language in new ways, often in a subversive manner. I am both intrigued and inspired by poetry that aims to challenge the norms in which language is presented or used.

You know about the Hungryalist writer movement here in the 60s, you were a friend of Pradip Choudhury. Do you think there is a common theme of independence or something worth mentioning about their work? Falguni Roy was also an important poet and Sharmy made a short film Eebang Falguni aka The lost lines of a beauty monster, which you have seen.

From the few Hungryalist writers whom I have read, there are certainly common voices of independence, of breaking away from conventional literary forms, a willingness to experiment, to take risks. There is definitely a countercultural stance. I have often seen the Hungryalists referred to as ‘the hungry generation’, which sounds similar to ‘the beat generation’. I don’t know where that phrase originated from, and while, yes, the Hungryalists and the beats shared a lot of common concerns and there was interaction between them – eg Ginsberg in India, and Ferlinghetti publishing some of the writers in the City Lights Journal, plus corresponding with Malay Roy Choudhury – the scenes were quite different, and in no way do I see the Hungryalists as ‘India’s version of the beats’ – the Hungryalists had emerged quite independently of the beats.

Falguni Roy is an interesting poet and I would really love to read more of his work – has there been a complete volume published in India? A tragic figure, publishing one collection in his lifetime and dying of drug abuse, and certainly influenced by the Hungryalists.

I sent you a book by Subimal Misra who was an antiestablishment exponent here, any comments. 

I haven’t read The Golden Gandhi Statue from America for a while, but I have it set aside for a reread. That book had a big influence on me as it encouraged me to continue writing short fiction, short fiction that didn’t have to follow conventional lines, or even have a narrative in the traditional sense. I liked what Misra said about his work not appearing in bookstores because bookstores sold products called books. That resonated with me deeply, as independent voices rarely find themselves stocked in bookstores here in SA. And I love that Misra dedicated the book to Jean-Luc Godard, whom, Misra says, taught him language.

Sky Dreaming, a chapbook of poems by you was published by Graffiti Arts Collective in 2011. I still remember Pravasan [Pillay] handing over the cover design of this book to me in Sweden in the venue where I was doing my poetry reading. Mouni Mondal did a  small chapbook translating a few poems from this book in Bengali and she did a good job.  Now this year we will be doing another poetry chap of yours, Somewhere else. Tell us about this new project and how you usually compose a poem?

Somewhere else is a collection of 26 poems, composed over the past four or five years. Some of them were inspired by a trip I took to Turkey in 2019. As usual with me, some of them are prose poems. And most of them quite surreal. Poems come to me – usually when I least expect it, not when I am thinking of writing. I can’t force poems out. I can’t sit down and decide to write a poem. The poem comes or it doesn’t. And while the initial inspiration may see the poem written down spontaneously, I do spend a lot of time on revision. I believe in craft in poetry.

I admire that work of yours on Sinclair Beiles, what a book. His books of poems are hard to find here. I wish I had a few so that I can translate his poems in Bengali. A beat poet who never got any recognition. What was the reason behind that?

There are a few reasons behind Beiles’s lack of recognition as a poet. First, from a South African literary perspective, he spent much of life outside the country. He wasn’t an active participant in the local literary scene until about the 1980s, but by his own admittance he didn’t want to fit in, anyway. Most of his publications were very small, limited editions – one chapbook in the 1970s was only 20 copies – another collection, in the 1990s, was only four copies. This has made access to his work very difficult. In fact, after the publication of the first edition of Who was Sinclair Beiles? in 2009, I found a chapbook of his I had not been previously aware of. Even the University of South Africa, which has most of his titles, neither had it nor had heard of it.

How is the independent writers' scene in SA? Here I count on the young guns. 

The independent writing scene is still around, and always will be, hopefully. South Africa has always had independent voices. One of the greatest threats to independent voices, in South Africa and elsewhere, is self-censorship: giving in and producing what is politically, culturally or commercially acceptable – and marketable. The temptation to produce what will generate applause and accolades – market success. The main challenge for independent writers, however, is the lack of publishing outlets and the ability to find readers. We need more small, independent presses in South Africa that publish quality, innovative work. We could do with more journals, and certainly more online journals.

Slightly all the time

 

Somewhere else has gone to final print

Somewhere else, a new chapbook of 26 poems by Gary Cummiskey, is being published by Grafitti Kolkata, India. Copies will be available for sale from publisher Subdankar Das in Kolkata, and a few copies will be available for sale from the author in South Africa soon. 

Cover art by Paul Warren.

Coming soon: Animal eyeball by Gary Cummiskey and Paul Warren

She sleeps in the tent of the breakfast jingle

 Animal eyeball is an e-chapbook of cut-up prose poems by Gary Cummiskey and collages by UK artist Paul Warren, to be published by Dye Hard Press soon. One of Warren's collages to feature in the chapbook appears above. Watch this space!

Proofing Somewhere else

 Busy checking the first proofs of my latest poetry chapbook Somewhere else, published by Graffiti Kolkata, India. And it's looking damn good!

Hurry on, sundown

 

With the Safety Off still available from David Krut Bookstores

 

It’s Yeoville in the mid-1990s. Enter Fig, a copywriter with a penchant for living on the edge – staying up all night, having casual sex and snorting cocaine. Drifting from seedy clubs to grotty flats, Fig continues his aimless odyssey … until the day he falls asleep in a client presentation and is fired.

Nine months later Fig is hooked on heroin and turns to drug-dealing for survival. If his previous lifestyle skirted close to the danger zone, it’s now gloves off as he drops all pretence of respectability and descends into a world of syndicates and violence.

From now on, he’s living with the safety off.

A novel not for the faint-hearted …

To order click here.

Waiting on the other side

 

Coming soon from the Kolkata Arts Collective ...

 

Somewhere else is a chapbook of 26 poems by Gary Cummiskey, due out in March from the Kolkata Arts Collective, Kolkata, India, headed by Subhankar Das, who also published Sky dreaming in 2011.

Cover art and design by Paul Warren. 

Who was Sinclair Beiles? available at Clarke's in Cape Town

 

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about South African beat poet Sinclair Beiles, edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is still available from Clarkes.

Originally published in 2010, this is a revised and expanded edition that was published in 2014. 

Aiyo! at still available at Clarke's and The Commune

 

Pravasan Pillay's Aiyo! is still available at Clarke's in Cape Town - either order online or if you are in the area, pop into the shop in Long Street.

Copies are also available at The Commune bookstore in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.