Mouth of the Rat (rob mclennan) is a lush little micro chapbook set ocean-side in Florida, collecting together the vivid, flashing colors of that coastline. The poet reaches back into the romantic history of the pirate coast, melding the gold and Spanish history of the beaches with the crisp blues of water and sky. It’s a glorious companion for the poetry lover dreaming of galleon strewn paradise. (Porkbelly Press, 2015) // available in our shop
An excerpt from “Standing on a beach in South Florida, February:”
5.
Blackbeard buried $2,000 in casks
near the Boca Raton Inlet. One of many,millions. Waves.
Rare Spanish coins have washed up, beached.
Lifeguard chalks up daily wave heights, warnings,
Man-o-War. Aquamarine: a swollen,floating death.
6.
St. Augustine. The line returns, becomes
a closed form, shaped. Adheres to origins,retires. Palm trees equidistant,
portioned. A tonal lilt, the gildedSpanish tongue.
Cover
The cover image (“Facing the Edge of Eternity,” acrylic/mixed media painting, 20 x 30 inches, by Maralena Howard) is printed on matte paper (inkjet). The micro chapbook is handbound & each is trimmed by hand. Hand-cut flags, typed old school, are affixed to the verso.
About the Poet
Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa. The author of nearly thirty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, he won the John Newlove Poetry Award in 2010, the Council for the Arts in Ottawa Mid-Career Award in 2014, and was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2012. His most recent titles include notes and dispatches: essays (Insomniac press, 2014, The Uncertainty Principle: stories, (Chaudiere Books, 2014) and the poetry collection If suppose we are a fragment (BuschekBooks, 2014). An editor and publisher, he runs above/ground press, Chaudiere Books, The Garneau Review (ottawater.com/garneaureview), seventeen seconds: a journal of poetry and poetics (ottawater.com/seventeenseconds), Touch the Donkey (touchthedonkey.blogspot.com) and the Ottawa poetry pdf annual ottawater (ottawater.com). He spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, and regularly posts reviews, essays, interviews and other notices at robmclennan.blogspot.com.
About the Artist
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Maralena Howard is a painter, mixed media artist and writer. Her focuses on abstract and minimalist subjects are prominent. Of her work, Maralena states, “I celebrate the complex nature of detailed simplicity. Capture. Repossess. Release. In each piece, there is liberation.”
maralena.com | @ArtistaForma | facebook.com/artista.forma
Porkbelly Press 