The indelicately named ‘Giving a Shit Broadsides’ project began in 2017 when, gutted by political developments, and wrestling with my own endless and tiresome need to justify the place of making art in my life, I plunged myself into a big project to help me push back. The call went out in early 2017 for unpublished poetry, prose or other brief statements on giving a shit, loosely defined. Contributors just had to care deeply about something good: building community, stopping to care, growing vegetables, whatever. I would handset them in metal or wood type, pair each bit of text with an image, and go to press at Whisky Jack on either my 21M Challenge proof press or my tabletop Chandler and Price platen press. Contributors would get ten copies of their own broadside, plus a complete set of the others.
I selected eighteen contributions. When 2017 was drawing to a close and I only had nine done, I decided to divide the project into two volumes. Contributors to Volume 1 were: Terry Ann Carter, Amanda Earl, Kim Fahner, Alamgir Hashmi, Amanda Jernigan, Jonah Jones, Jana Kutarna, rob mclennan, Nick Thurston & Sofi Thanhauser, as well as an anonymous voice I pulled from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Report. I left the rest for Volume 2 and commissioned a couple of extra pieces to round out the project to an equal ten broadsides per project.
When I started this project, I was very much a novice printer. I am still a beginner, but this project has forced me to grow. I’ve acquired typefaces and equipment; I’ve considered layout and colours; I’ve become less proud about tearing something apart when it’s not working and starting from scratch. I’ve learned some of the limitations and possibilities of my own humble shop.
Volume 2 completes the project. Onward.
derek beaulieu, untitled. Set by db in various mysterious metal typefaces and 50-line wood type. Derek Beaulieu is the author / editor of 20 collections of poetry, prose and criticism including two volumes of his selected work Please No More Poetry: the poetry of derek beaulieu (2013) and Konzeptuelle Arbeiten (2017). His most recent volume of fiction, a, A Novel was published by Paris’s Jean Boîte Editions. Beaulieu has spoken, performed and exhibited his visual work across Canada, the United States and Europe and has won multiple local and national awards for his teaching and dedication to students. Derek Beaulieu was the 2014–2016 Poet Laureate of Calgary, Canada and is Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Jack Davis, “from Audubon’s Labrador.” Set in 12-pt Cochin Light and 12-pt Garamond, italics and plain. Ornament from Skyline Type Foundry.
Jack Davis spends his summers watching for forest fires from a lookout tower in northern Alberta. His poetry collection, Faunics, is published by Pedlar Press. He lives in Parry Sound, Ontario.
Howie Good, “Finding Them Gone.” Set in 24-pt Times New Roman and 50-line wood type.
Howie Good is the author of The Loser’s Guide to Street Fighting, winner of the 2017 Lorien Prize from Thoughtcrime Press, and Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements, winner of the 2015 Press Americana Prize for Poetry.
Monica Kidd, untitled. Set in 12-line Old Style wood type.
Enough about Monica Kidd already.
E.D. Morin, untitled. Set in 36-pt Garamond plain, 18-pt Garamond italics, 12-pt Cochin Light, using Daredevil typesetting furniture and linocut shapes.
Winner of the 2007 Brenda Strathern Late Bloomers Writing Prize, E.D. Morin writes, edits and finds outdoor adventure in Calgary, just a stone’s throw from the Canadian Rockies.
Shane Neilson, “When in Doubt, Use the Moon.” Set in 14-pt Century Schoolbook. Plate made with an image from Graphics Fairy.
Shane Neilson is a poet, physician, and critic whose writing is rooted in rural New Brunswick. He published Dysphoria with PQL in 2017.
Mark Antony Rossi, “Well Water Woman.” Set in 6-line Old Style wood type.
Mark Antony Rossi’s poetry has been published in Anak Sastra, Deep Water Literary Journal, and Father Stars Than. He is editor-in-chief for a new online journal, Ariel Chart (arielchart.blogspot.com)
Carolyn Smith, untitled. Set in 18 pt Parisian. Original linocut by Monica Kidd
Carolyn is a gardener and a parent who enjoys helping plants and people grow and thrive.
Marc Swan, untitled. Set in 24 pt Sans Serif Light. Plate made from photo by Monica Kidd.
Marc Swan is a retired vocational rehabilitation counselor. His poems have recently been published in Scrivener Creative Review, Sanskrit, The Antigonish Review, Mudfish, Gargoyle, Ropes, Nuclear Impact Anthology, among others.
L.H. Turner. “How Bake Sales Save the World.” Set in 24 pt Times New Roman, 14 pt Century regular and italics. Extended dash from Moore Wood Type. Egg beater plate made with an image from Graphics Fairy.
Some things that L.H Turner gives a shit about include feminism, family, her Anishinaabe heritage, and Bravo’s Real Housewives.