Rope-a-Dope

Also, Mary will be reading here:

2011-02-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

The Boston Center for the Arts

February 23, 2011
10-12pm

Please come! (Click for details.)

CUNY Chapfest

2011-02-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

We're going to this.

Hope you are too!

FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE GRAVITY AND OTHER PEOPLE by Chris Tonelli

2010-05-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Word. Chris Tonelli is everyone's favorite person, and an awesome poet besides. Did you know this chap includes a DVD? What are you waiting for? Click it.

$10 includes shipping.

RUN by Kim Gek Lin Short

2010-04-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

Kim Gek Lin Short's manuscript was selected from among the many dozens of submissions we received during our Golden Gloves open reading period. Congratulations, Kim.

Printed and handsewn in an edition of 144.
48 pages.

Our thanks to all who helped us print and fold and sew, and especially to artist Morgan Thomas, who drew the boots for the cover.

About RUN: In the technicolor timewarp called Hell, Hong Kong wannabe cowgirl La La is hellbent on realizing her dream to be a folk-singing sensation, even if it means surviving a dysfunctional relationship with her kidnapper, Ren, who is just hellbent. Ren thinks he'll win, but La La, dead or alive, always wins.

$10 includes shipping.

She had her country superstar humility . . .

2010-04-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Kim modeling RUN.

Mary modeling RUN.

Want to model RUN? Want to write a review?
Send us an email: ropeadope.press@gmail.com

RUN at AWP

2010-04-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

Pre-release copies of RUN, by Kim Gek Lin Short, are available at the AWP Conference in Denver this weekend. Kim's manuscript was selected during our open submissions period for the Golden Gloves Chapbook Series. Stop by our table, shared with BIRDS, LLC and Brave Men Press, to pick up a copy.

Did we mention the first 12 copies come with a horse?

Pictures (and a PayPal button) coming soon.

Split Decision

2009-11-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

The final collection of Manila Broadsides from Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series. A slide show here.

Poems by: Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Elizabeth Bradfield, Lily Brown, Sommer Browning, Jennifer Firestone, Kevin Gallagher, Rauan Klassnik, Dorothea Lasky, Justin Marks, Hazel McClure, Lisa Olstein, Sarah Rosenthal, Zachary Schomburg, Janaka Stucky, James Tate, Jon Thompson, Aaron Tieger, Besty Wheeler, Dara Wier, and Mark Yakich

Prints by: Bartleby, Thomas Buildmore, Scott Chasse, Mike Dacey, Robert daVies, Tricia Gray, Vanessa Irzyk, and Carrie Siegel

Colophon

A collaboration between Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series, Split Decision was made by hand in an edition of twelve in the autumn of 2009. The first twelve of each of The Manila Broadsides, Volume Two, published between April and October 2008 in editions of sixty, are collected within its covers. Our thanks to all of the Manila poets and artists--especially Mike Dacey, who lent us his Vandercook.

Curator, The So and So Series: Chris Tonelli
Art Direction, The Manila Broadsides: Robert daVies
Letterpress Printing: Jeremiah Gould & Mary Walker Graham
Book Design & Production: Mary Walker Graham

Cover: Iris bookcloth; screenprint & stencil by Thomas Buildmore
Endpages: Hahnemuhle Bugra; screenprint by Robert daVies
Text: Rives BFK; handset metal type printed on a Vandercook SP20
Binding: handwaxed linen thread

[Photo Credit: Jeremiah Gould. Thanks Jeremiah! You rule.]

Voir Dire

2009-11-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Justin Marks is the author of A Million in Prizes (New Issues Press, April 2009). He is the founder and editor of Kitchen Press Chapbooks and lives in New York City with his wife and their infant son and daughter.

Rope-a-Dope Press, 2009. Letterpress printed in an edition of 96, with illustrations by Robert daVies. $8 includes shipping.

2009-09-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

Join us on Thursday, September 10th at 7PM for the 7th Season Kickoff of d.a. levy lives: celebrating the renegade press

ACA Galleries
529 W. 20th St., 5th Floor
NYC

Readings from Mary Walker Graham, Justin Marks, Kate Schapira, Kim Gek Lin Short, Sampson Starkweather, and Chris Tonelli

Music from Erik Schoster of He Can Jog

Please note that there's been a time change. The reading is now at 7PM, not 6.

The complete Welcome to Boog City Festival schedule is available for download here.

Golden Gloves 2

2009-08-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to announce that Series Editor Chris Tonelli has chosen Kim Gek Lin Short's Run as the second Golden Gloves Series Chapbook.

Kim Gek Lin Short is the author of The Bugging Watch & Other Exhibits (Tarpaulin Sky Press 2010) and the chapbook The Residents (dancing girl press 2008). She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and young daughter.

Congratulations as well to our finalists Friedrich Kerksieck (A Picnic is a Picnic) and Michael Robins (Circus, forthcoming from Flying Guillotine Press).

Thanks to everyone who submitted during the Golden Gloves open reading period. We enjoyed reading your work, and hope to see more of it in the future!

If you’re in (or near) New York on Thursday, September 10th, please join us for the D.A. Levy Lives Reading Series, at ACA Galleries in Chelsea, as part of the Welcome to Boog City poetry and music festival. Readers will include RAD poets Kate Schapira, Chris Tonelli, Sampson Starkweather, Mary Walker Graham, Kim Gek Lin Short, and Justin Marks. Eric Schoster of He Can Jog will also be there to make some noise. And there’ll be art, and books, and wine, and cheese! Woooo. (Details, directions, and a full schedule will be available here shortly).

Thanks again for supporting Rope-a-Dope.

Justin Marks on Poetic Asides

2009-05-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Justin Marks interviewed by Robert Lee Brewer here.

Voir Dire is still available! Scroll down to find the PayPal button.

Meanwhile, in Moth Land . . .

2009-03-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Rauan Klassnik interviews Sampson Starkweather here.

And Dan Magers reviews the chap here.

Drink up.

Open Submissions

2009-02-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

We're reading chapbook manuscripts for the Golden Gloves Chapbook Series until March 31st. Please send us your work! Guidelines below (scroll down, and please read 'em!).

City of Moths

2008-11-25T19:24:00.001-08:00

“My friend thinks that poetry has nothing to do with words. Poetry, she says, is a mountain. An actual mountain. A thing that fools climb simply ‘because it’s there.’ Poetry is there, but why do we constantly feel the need to prove it exists? To point to it? Like a mountain appearing in the distance. ‘Be an uncarved block of wood’ is what the Sarah Lawrence kids, who hadn’t slept in 40-some hours, still high off ecstasy and acid, sitting Indian-style on the rock, otherwise-silent, would shout at me during tennis matches. They were right. What lies in the uncarved block of wood. Whorls and grains, stories and held smoke. Surrounded by. My block of wood, another person’s mountain. The sound of a finger pointing to some unseen thing. To be reckoned with, or perhaps, reckoned by. Something to draw a door in” (page 6, City of Moths).

Sampson Starkweather was born in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He is the author of The Photograph from horse less press. His work can be found in Typo, Octopus, jubilat, Absent, Tarpaulin Sky, RealPoetik, and Sink Review. He lives in the woods alone.

Golden Gloves Chapbook Series, 2008/2009. Stab bound, with letterpress printed cover. Printed in an addition of 144, of which the first twelve are signed by the author. $10 includes shipping.

SOLD OUT.

Little Johnny Wants A Broadside!

2008-11-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

And so do you. They make wonderful bathroom reads, and also come in a water-proof bag to keep you dry from those wintery showers. He also wants a copy of The Jungle, City of Moths, and Victor in the New World. (Sorry Johnny, we're out of that!)

Open Submissions February-March 2009

2008-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Rope-a-Dope Press will read chapbook manuscripts during our first open submissions period, February-March 2009. The selection will be published in the Spring of 2009 as part of the first annual Golden Gloves Chapbooks Series.* This year's Series is edited by Chris Tonelli.

Please submit two copies of your original poetry manuscript, 15-35 pages, postmarked between January 25th and March 31st. Include two title pages with each copy: one with your name, contact information, and title of your manuscript; the second with title only.

We look forward to reading your work. A selection (and finalists) will be announced in the spring.

Mail your submission to:
Golden Gloves Chapbook Series
Rope-a-Dope Press
516 East 2nd Street, #42
South Boston, MA 02127

Include an SASE if you would like your manuscript returned. Entries without an SASE will be recycled after they have been considered.

Please consider buying some of our other chapbooks to get a feel for what we like. City of Moths, by Sampson Starkweather, and For People Who Like Gravity and Other People by Chris Tonelli, are forthcoming in the Golden Gloves Series and will be made available soon on this site.

Thank you!

*Three chapbooks are published annually through the Golden Gloves Chapbook Series. A guest editor works with Rope-a-Dope founders Mary Walker Graham and Robert daVies to select one chapbook through solicitation, one through open submissions, and one his/her own.

Open Studios

2008-10-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

South Boston Open Studios is this weekend, November 1 and 2. Stop by The Distillery and see us!

Grand Finale!

2008-10-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

Poems by Dorothea Lasky, Dara Wier, and James Tate.

Silkscreen and drawing by this month's featured artist, Robert daVies.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

Miss September - the eve of our expression

2008-09-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

Poems by Rauan Klassnik, Justin Marks, and Lisa Olstein.

Silkscreen by this month's featured artist, Tricia Gray.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

BluePRINT Opening Reception

2008-09-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

BluePRINT, an exhibit exclusively featuring artists working in The Distillery, will open next Tuesday, September 30th, from 7-9pm at The Blue Room in Kendall Square, Cambridge. This exhibit has been coordinated by Scott Chasse, Robert daVies, and Mary Walker Graham, all having work in the show as well. Please stop by the reception if you have a chance, or visit the restaurant on your own time to check out the work and have a great meal and/or drinks!

Click here for more info about the Blue Room.

And here for a complete list of participating artists.

A Smaller Type of Book

2008-09-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

Mark Yakich's What, Friends, IS A City? is the latest book printed by Rope-a-Dope Collaborative's Thumbsized Editions.
All books are individually crafted and put through whatever method we can get our hands on. Next stop: Justin Marks!

Golden Gloves

2008-09-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Rope-A-Dope Press has chosen Sampson Starkweather's City of Moths as the first Golden Gloves Series Chapbook.

Sampson Starkweather is the author of The Photograph from Horse Less Press. He lives in Chappaqua, NY where he is an editor of physics and chemistry books.

Congratulations as well to our finalists Justin Marks (Voir Dire), Douglas Hahn (Standing Wave), and Phil Cordelli (The Incorporation). Rope-A-Dope has decided to publish Justin Marks' Voir Dire as well.

Justin Marks is the author of A Million in Prizes (New Issues Press, forthcoming 2009). His latest chapbook is [Summer insular] (Horse Less Press, 2007). He is the founder and Editor of Kitchen Press Chapbooks and lives in New York City.

As finalists, Douglas Hahn and Phil Cordelli will be considered automatic finalists for our open reading period, February-March 2009*. We invite all of you to submit then as well, and thank you for the opportunity to consider your work.

Best,

Chris Tonelli
Series Editor

*Please do not send manuscripts prior to the open submissions period. We can only consider manuscripts postmarked between January 25 and March 31, 2009. Please check back soon for more details regarding manuscript requirements and format. Thank you.

August! Big Fat Sausssage!

2008-09-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Poems by Sommer Browning, Hazel McClure, and Aaron Tieger.

Silkscreen by this month's featured artist, Carrie Siegel.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

In July, 3 poets and 1 scrivener

2008-07-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Poems by Elizabeth Bradfield, Kevin Gallagher, and Jon Thompson.

Silkscreen by this month's featured artist, Bartleby.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

The June Manila Broadsides

2008-06-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Poems by Paige Ackerson-Kiely, Zachary Schomburg, and Janaka Stucky.

Drawings by this month's featured artist, Vanessa Irzyk. Hand-stained and printed with polymer plates by Robert daVies.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative.

$24 includes shipping.

Distillery Open Studios + So and So #26

2008-06-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Double Header!

Distillery Open Studios + Art Sale
Saturday, June 7th
Noon-7pm

The Distillery in South Boston will host its annual Spring Open Studios on Saturday, June 7th from Noon - 7pm. (Unlike the weekend-long events in the past, this one is for one-day only!) This year's event will include work from over 40 artists, craftspeople, and creative entrepreneurs. This year, The Distillery has organized a ground-level "Art Sale" and a "Silent Auction Exhibit" in The Distillery Gallery - both carrying the same theme: great affordable art. In addition, studio doors will be open throughout the building, inviting guests in for a view of the various creative spaces.

More info here.

So and So #26

Paige Ackerson-Kiely * Zachary Schomburg * Janaka Stucky

+ Manila Broadsides featured artist Vanessa Irzyk

Saturday * June 7th * 8pm * The Distillery * 516 East Second Street * South Boston, MA 02127

Feel free to bring booze and snacks.

Paige Ackerson-Kiely is the author of a collection of poetry, In No One's Land, winner of the Sawtooth Prize and published by Ahsahta Press. She lives with her family in rural Vermont and works as a clerk.

Zachary Schomburg is the author of a book of poems, The Man Suit (Black Ocean 2007), the co-editor of an online poetry magazine, Octopus, and the co-editor of a small poetry press, Octopus Books. Poems from his new manuscript, Scary, No Scary, are in Denver Quarterly and Born, among others. His collaborations with Emily Kendal Frey are in Diode, Sir!, and Pilot. His translations of the Russian poet Andrei Sen-Senkov are forthcoming in Circumference and Mantis. He is a PhD student at the University of Nebraska.

Janaka Stucky is the founder and managing editor of Black Ocean, and publishes the magazine Handsome. Since receiving his BFA from Emerson and an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College in 2003, he remains rooted in Boston—spending his life traveling, writing, and caring for the dead. Some of his poems have appeared in: Denver Quarterly, No Tell Motel, North American Review, Redivider, and VOLT.

Miss May

2008-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Poems by Jennifer Firestone, Dorothy Lasky, and Sarah Rosenthal.

Screenprints by this month's featured artist, Scott Chasse.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative. We love Jeremiah Gould!

$24 includes shipping.

So and So Turns 25, Rents Car to Celebrate

2008-05-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Firestone * Dorothea Lasky * Sarah Rosenthal

+ Manila Broadsides featured artist Scott Chasse

Saturday * May 17th * 8pm * The Distillery * 516 East Second Street * South Boston, MA 02127

Feel free to bring booze and snacks.

Jennifer Firestone is the co-editor of Letters To Poets: Conversations About Poetics, Politics, and Community, forthcoming in October from Saturnalia Books. She is the author of Holiday (published by Shearsman Books), Waves (published by Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs), and From Flashes and snapshot (both published by Sona Books). Her work has appeared in HOW2, LUNGFULL!, Can We Have Our Ball Back, Fourteen Hills, MIPOesias Magazine, Dusie, 580 Split, Saint Elizabeth Street and others. She is the Poet in Residence at Eugene Lang College (The New School For Liberal Arts), and she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their infant twins.

Dorothea Lasky is the author of AWE (Wave Books, 2007). Currently, she lives in Philadelphia, where she studies creativity and education.

Sarah Rosenthal is the author of How I Wrote This Story (Margin to Margin, 2001), sitings (a+bend, 2000), not-chicago (Melodeon, 1998), and Manhatten (Spuyten Duyvil, forthcoming). Her poetry, fiction, reviews, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous journals including How(2), Bird Dog, Fence, Lungfull, Denver Quarterly, and Boston Review. Her poetry has been anthologized in Bay Poetics (Faux Press, 2006), The Other Side of the Postcard (City Lights, 2005), and hinge (Crack Press, 2002). Sarah has created a commissioned, multimedia installation based on her poetry for the San Francisco Exploratorium Museum. She is the recipient of the Leo Litwak Fiction Award, the Primavera Fiction Prize, and a grant-supported writing residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Her collection of interviews, A Community Writing Itself: Conversations with Avant-Garde Writers of the Bay Area, is currently being considered by several publishers. She writes curricula on writing and reading for the Developmental Studies Center, a nonprofit publishing house, and teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University.

The April Manila Broadsides

2008-04-14T18:26:00.001-07:00

What lies flat? But makes a nice hat?

What folds to fit on a shelf? Or hangs on your wall in at least twelve different configurations?

Why, a Manila Broadside triptych, of course.

Poems by Lily Brown, Betsy Wheeler, and Mark Yakich.

Letterpress print with wood type by this month's featured artist, Mike Dacey.

10 x 22" on Rives BFK, perforated to be torn into three panels. Text set by hand in metal type and printed on a Vandercook SP20 at Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative. Our thanks to Jeremiah Gould, Matt Templeton, Nathan Demant, and this month's poets and artist.

$24 includes shipping.

Lost Letter #1

2008-04-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Lost Letter is a limited edition, handmade book that exhibits the works of young, contemporary artists. The illustrations for the first letter were created by Kenichi Hoshine, a New York based artist who was recently selected by Saatchi Online to participate in this year's Pulse Art Fair.

Printed in an edition of 12, the outside is letterpressed and handwritten. The book inside is a giclee print using Ultrachrome, archival inks.

$45.00 - Shipping included

The Terrible Twos

2008-04-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

So and So turns THIS many!!!

Lily Brown * Betsy Wheeler * Mark Yakich

and Manila Broadsides featured artist Mike Dacey.

Saturday * April 12th * 8pm * The Distillery * 516 East Second Street * South Boston, MA 02127

Feel free to bring booze and snacks.

Lily Brown was born and raised in Massachusetts and currently lives in San Francisco. She is the author of the chapbook The Renaissance Sheet, published by Octopus Books in 2007, and her second chapbook, Old with You, is forthcoming from Kitchen Press in 2008. Poems have appeared or will appear in Typo, Octopus, Handsome, Coconut, Fence, Pleiades and 26.

Originally from the Upper Mississippi River Valley, Betsy Wheeler studied poetry and the art of the book at the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse where she was a Maple House Fellow for Sutton Hoo Press. She received her MFA in poetry from The Ohio State University in 2005, then lived, worked, and wrote as the Stadler Fellow at Bucknell University's Stadler Center for Poetry from 2005-2007. Her poems have recently appeared in The Journal, Bat City Review, MiPoesias, Pebble Lake Review, Forklift Ohio, Ping Pong, and Absent. Her chapbook, Start Here, is available from Small Anchor Press. Co-editor of Pilot and Pilot Books, she lives in Northampton, Massachusetts where she works for Wondertime magazine.

Mark Yakich's new poetry collection is The Importance of Peeling Potatoes in Ukraine (Penguin 2008). He lives in New Orleans. His website is markyakich.com.

Speech Acts:

2008-03-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Rope-a-Dope Press will be exhibiting a number of works at The Dudley House at Harvard University on April 3rd including book covers from an ongoing collaboration with Sarita Cartonera, whose beautifully crafted one of kind books will also be displayed. Opening night gala starts at 8pm. For more information, check out Dudley House.

the Jungle goes to New Orleans

2008-03-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a beautiful gesture by Casey Yancey, the JUNGLE is heading down to The New Orleans Public Library. For more information about this program, check out Better World Books.

Ding! Ding! Book 2

2008-03-10T18:59:00.001-07:00

Kate Schapira's Case Fbdy. is now available for purchase. The paperback edition is $9, includes shipping.

Case Fbdy. was printed in an edition of 96, of which the first 12 are limited hardback copies. The cover art was designed by Mike Dacey.

2008-03-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Hardback edition is $18, includes shipping.

the JUNGLE

2008-02-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

If you're here for your copy of The Jungle, our handbound anthology of The Manila Broadsides, please send an email to ropeadope.press@gmail.com.

13" x 11", hardcover, Coptic binding. Featuring So and So poets Shafer Hall, Cecily Parks, Ravi Shankar, Dan Boehl, Dan Hoy, Gina Myers, Michael Carr, C.S. Carrier, Lori Shine, Phil Cordelli, Hazel McClure, Keith Newton, Douglas Hahn, Daniel Magers, Maya Pindyck, Andrea Baker, Jennifer Bartlett, and Reb Livingston; and artists Anna Trzaska, James Weinberg, Catherine Bourassa-Hebert, Sadie Bliss, Robert daVies, and Nik Gulacsik.

A collaboration between Rope-a-Dope Press and The So and So Series, The Jungle was made by hand in an edition of twelve in January 2008. The covers, doublures, and end pages were printed on LamaLi and Rives BFK papers using lead type, polymer plates, and screenprints. The text throughout was set by hand on a Vandercook SP20 in the typeface Caslon.

The Manila Broadsides were printed in editions of seventy-two each on Rives BFK and French Co. papers. Thanks to all of the Manila poets and artists.

Special thanks to Robert Charlton, Mike Dacey, Cynthia Dromgoole at the South Boston Public Library, and the Distillery.

The Jungle is $240 + $10 for shipping. Please email to arrange payment & shipping.

Victor Reviewed

2008-01-27T19:52:00.000-08:00

Alexis Orgera reviews Victor in the New World on The Blog Poetic. Check it.

And a shout from Brian Foley at The Bostonist.

Victory

2008-01-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

Chad Reynolds' chapbook, Victor in the New World, with illustrations by Robert daVies, is now available for purchase. $12 includes shipping. SOLD OUT.

Victor in the New World was printed in an edition of 144, of which the first 12 are signed by the author and artist.

The cover was printed on Canson MiTientes on a Vandercook SP-20 with handset metal type and polymer plates from Boxcar Press. The interior was printed with archival ink on French Co. paper at Square Root Imaging. The text is Adobe Caslon Pro, based on William Caslon's original typeface and drawn by Carol Twombly in 1989.

Thanks to Catherine Bourassa-Hebert, Robert Charlton, Mike Dacey, and Nathan Demant.

2008-01-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

Back Cover:

Epigraph:

Interior detail:

AWP

2008-01-25T07:40:00.001-08:00

We still have to sew it up, but The Jungle is under way and almost ready to hop in The Poetry Van and head to NYC. If you're going to be at AWP (or you're lucky enough to live in New York), stop by and see us. The book fair is free and open to the public on Saturday, Feb 2nd.

Plus, Chad will be there to sign Victor in the New World on Saturday from 12-2pm.

The Jungle in assembly...

Pics from Vic

2008-01-06T21:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to help us celebrate the release of Victor in the New World. The readers were hot. Ara Vora was smoking. And it was a good thing because it was the coldest day of the year.

Chad Reynolds

MC Chanler

Elisa Gabbert

Gravitron
aka Chris Tonelli

Ara Vora

All photos courtesy James White, except this one below. Through no fault of the photographer, in all the pictures from the reading , I look like an alien. So yeah, I'm cheating. Because I can.

Courtesy Wayne Chinnock.

Victor in the New World Release Party

2008-01-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Last night we resolved to celebrate (with or without snow) the release of our first chapbook, Victor in the New World, by Chad Reynolds, with illustrations by Robert daVies. We hope you'll help us start 2008 not with a whimper but a bang.

"Chad Reynolds's book of masterful poems about the 'Wild Boy' is even better than Truffaut's film. Brilliant in concept and accomplishment, Victor in the New World is the debut of a great new poet. This is something extraordinary." --Bill Knott

Author Reading & Book Release
Thursday, January 3rd, 8 pm
with guest readers Elisa Gabbert, Mary Walker Graham, & Chris Tonelli
M.C. Loc Chanler
& musical guests Ara Vora

The Distillery
516 East 2nd Street
South Boston, MA 02127
directions here

We'll provide sparkling libations and snacks, but feel free to BYOB.
---
Chad Reynolds was born in Oklahoma and lives in Boston. His poems and reviews have appeared in absent magazine, The Amherst Review, California Quarterly, The Diagram, The Kennesaw Review , Meridian, Open Letters Monthly, Puerto del Sol, RealPoetik, Redivider, Sawbuck, Swink, Verse Daily, and Washington Square. Victor in the New World is his first chapbook.

Elisa Gabbert is a poetry editor, with Simon DeDeo, of absent magazine. Recent work appears or will appear in Colorado Review, Pleiades, Meridian, Washington Square , LIT, and Cannibal, and her collaborations with Kathleen Rooney can be found in Boston Review, Coconut, Caketrain and other journals. Her chapbook, Thanks for Sending the Engine , is available from Kitchen Press. In addition, That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness, a collaborative collection co-written with Kathleen Rooney, is forthcoming from Otoliths Books, and their chapbook Something Really Wonderful is out from Dancing Girl Press.

Mary Walker Graham was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia but now she lives right here, just up the stairs on the 4th and 5th floors. Together with Robert daVies, she founded Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative in the spring of 2007. Her poems have appeared in 42opus, OCHO, Poetry Magazine, and Poetry Daily.

Chris Tonelli lives in Cambridge, MA where he runs The So and So Series. He has work forthcoming in Cannibal, H_NGM_N, Drunken Boat, and Good Foot, and poems of his will be included in the anthologies The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel – Second Floor and the 2008 Anthology of Younger Poets. His second chapbook, a collaboration with Sarah Bartlett called A Mule-Shaped Cloud, will be available from horse less press in January.

Victor in the New World Launch Postponed

2007-12-20T12:39:00.000-08:00

PLEASE NOTE: Tonight's scheduled launch party for Chad Reynolds's chapbook, Victor in the New World, has been postponed due to weather. We are rescheduling for Thursday, January 3rd at 8 pm.

We're sorry for any inconvenience, and hope you'll be able to join us in January. If you forwarded any of our previous emails regarding the reading, please help us spread the word about tonight's cancellation.

Victor must have a mind of winter, because it snows every time we think about him.

More details about the January 3rd event will follow.

Victor in the New World: Book Release

2007-12-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas! And all Rope-a-Dope wants is for you to join us in celebrating the release of our first chapbook, Victor in the New World, by Chad Reynolds, with illustrations by Robert daVies.

"Chad Reynolds's book of masterful poems about the the 'Wild Boy' is even better than Truffaut's film. Brilliant in concept and accomplishment, Victor in the New World is the debut of a great new poet. This is something extraordinary."
--Bill Knott

Author Reading & Book Release
Thursday, December 20th, 8 pm
with guest readers Mary Walker Graham & Chris Tonelli
M.C. Loc Chanler
& musical guests Ara Vora

The Distillery
516 East 2nd Street
South Boston, MA 02127
(directions here)

We'll provide sparkling libations and snacks, but feel free to BYOB.

Chad Reynolds was born in Oklahoma and lives in Boston. His poems and reviews have appeared in Absent, The Amherst Review, California Quarterly, The Diagram, The Kennesaw Review, Meridian, Open Letters Monthly, Puerto del Sol, RealPoetik, Redivider, Sawbuck, Swink, Verse Daily, and Washington Square. Victor in the New World is his first chapbook.

Mary Walker Graham was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia but now she lives right here, just up the stairs on the 4th and 5th floors. Together with Robert daVies, she founded Rope-a-Dope Press Collaborative in the spring of 2007. Her poems have appeared in 42opus, OCHO, Poetry Magazine, and Poetry Daily.

Chris Tonelli lives in Cambridge, MA where he runs The So and So Series. He has work forthcoming in Cannibal, H_NGM_N, Drunken Boat, and Good Foot , and poems of his will be included in the anthologies The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel – Second Floor and the 2008 Anthology of Younger Poets. His second chapbook, a collaboration with Sarah Bartlett called A Mule-Shaped Cloud, will be available from horse less press in January.

If you just can't wait to get your hands on Victor, show up a week early and help us sew him up:

Wine & Bind
Thursday, December 13th, 6-9 pm

We've got the needles and thread.

Nik is Sick

2007-12-10T16:32:00.001-08:00

And we mean that in the really good way.

Nik Gulacsik's broadsides, with poems by Andrea Baker, Jennifer Bartlett, and Reb Livingston. Head over to Manila to get yours.

13"x11" silkscreen + hand-painted details on Rives BFK.

Art Spotting

2007-11-29T08:52:00.002-08:00

Tonight at the Distillery Gallery. 6:30-8:30 pm. Directions here.

The Distillery Gallery in South Boston continues its new series of exhibits which feature guest artists along-side Distillery resident artists. Curated by The Distillery's Robert daVies and Femke Lutgerink, Art Spotting makes creative use of the gallery's expansive space and invites the viewer to partake in the exhibit, rather than simply view it.

Art Spotting is an interactive, two dimensional exhibition featuring the works of 40 local artists. Unhinging the usual curatorial patterns, the selection process for this event has one requirement: All work must fit within the limitations of a five inch by five inch frame. Our point: to eliminate, at first glance, the overall individual elements of each artist on hand thus asking the viewer to look a little closer. In fact, Art Spotting persuades the viewer to take on the role as this exhibition's practitioner, and by doing so completing the visual venture first introduced by the various works involved. With this limited requirement, the exhibition makers are investigating how to involve the viewer more actively, to increase their visual parameters, and at the same time, restricting the literal field given to the artists.

Participating artists include: Aimee Belanger, Sadie Bliss, H. Boney, Catherine Bourassa-Hebert, Michael Cardinali, Laurie Carman, Brian Carman, Loc Chanler, Scott Chasse, Corey Corcoran, Tasha Marie Cough, Michael Dacey, Nathan Demant, Alex Feinstein, Elizabeth Geissler, Mary Walker Graham, Ivo Gretener, Nikolaus Gulacsik, John Hyde, Vanessa Irzyk,Dynamo Jenkins, Marketa Klicova, Kathy Kneeland, Maria LeCreta, Jasmine Laietmark, Keith Maddy, Jane D. Marsching, Dan McCole, Denyse Rose Murphy, Chris Nau, Debra Olin, Mike Olnstead, Cheryl Ann Robinson, Debra Bretton Robinson, Amy Ross, Sand T, Matt Aaron Templeton, M. L. Van Nice, Deb Todd Wheeler, & James White.

Speaking of birds.....

Remember, remember

2007-11-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

...the 3rd of November?

Robert daVies' broadsides are now for sale on the Manila blog, with poems by Douglas Hahn, Daniel Magers, and Maya Pindyck. Tea stain & polymer plate on Rives BFK.

Open Studios

2007-11-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

After a long weekend pulling prints with the public, Rope-a-Dope is reclining on the couch and may never get up. At least not until tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who came out to see our wares and take a turn on the Vandercook!

Trisha Beezup joined us for much of Sunday afternoon and got these great shots below.

Robert daVies helping a visitor pull her first print.
Bob made the broadsides this month and they look awesome.
They'll soon be up on the Manila blog.

Even Milo thinks the Manila Broadsides are tasty.

Mike Dacey of Repeat Press fame.

Big Red & Shiny

2007-10-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Chris Tonelli interviewed over at Big Red & Shiny about the So and So Series and the Manila Broadsides.

Open Studios This Weekend

2007-10-29T10:21:00.001-07:00

More info here.

Ms. October

2007-10-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Sadie Bliss' Manila Broadsides are here, and they sure are purty.

You can buy one by clicking here.

et voila

2007-09-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

... the September set of Manila broadsides, with silkscreens by Catherine BourassaHebert.

Buy one for yourself, your sister, the girl next door...

Thanks to everyone who helped out this month! Chris, Cat, and Bob did more than their share of printing, slicing, typesetting, and lifting heavy objects. And thanks to Rob Charlton at Goosefish Press for the use of his guillotine. It cuts Rives BFK like butter.

You Be Poncho

2007-08-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Man down.

Man over.

Mary broke her shoulder defending friend-of-Rope-a-Dope L.O.C. from marauding street gangs in Southie. No, really: she fell off the tightrope in Rope-a-Dope's studio. You thought that was a clothesline?

If anyone wants to learn to set type, study one-armed bartending tricks, or wash the dishes, your moment has arrived. Lefty can't lift a coffee cup, much less a case full of lead. Woo-hoo.

By the way, the August broadsides, trippy eye-candy for both sides of your brain, will be available very very soon over at the Manila site. Artist James Weinberg pays homage to the three graces: Dan Boehl, Dan Hoy, and Gina Myers.

Next month: Catherine BourassaHebert takes on Michael Carr, C.S. Carrier, and Lori Shine. Visit the So and So's blog for fight details.

Project Southpaw in DC

2007-08-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday 12th August 2007:
Maria LaCreta and Robert daVies spent a warm and wonderful day working with the Ecuadorian community making notebooks that will be shipped to schools in Ecuador. Our thanks to Dayse Taruselli for escorting us around DC and to Ted Loza for allowing us to stay at his home. Also, a special thanks to Artist Catherine BourassaHebert and Chuck Lewin from PMD Corps for supplying us with their time and materials for the coloring books.

The Manila Broadsides / July Edition

2007-07-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

The first set of Manila Broadsides are here! Thanks to artist Anna Trzaska for the beautiful silkscreens, and to Shafer, Cecily, and Ravi for the poems. Ravi-shing. We couldn't be happier.

Cecily Parks, "Self-Portrait Which Makes Use of the Beaufort Scale"

Ravi Shankar, "Fourier and Moore"

Shafer Hall, "Graduation Night"

All broadsides are 11"x13" on Rives BFK. The text is 12-18 pt Caslon, handset in metal type and printed on the Vandercook at Rope-a-Dope Press.

Individual broadsides are $15 a piece and include the cost of shipping.

Buy all three for $30.

Next month: Dan Boehl, Dan Hoy and Gina Myers with broadsides by artist James Weinberg. Visit the So & So's blog for details.

Project South Paw

2007-07-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Project Southpaw enlists American communities in the creation of notebooks to be offered to those without access to their own paper products. Participants learn basic bookbinding skills as they design and bind two notebooks from recycled paper bags. At the close of each workshop, one notebooks is collected from each participant and sent to a community in need.

These notebooks were made by Robert daVies.

The So & So Series at Rope-a-Dope

2007-06-16T18:50:00.001-07:00

We are happy to be hosting The So and So Series in our pad. Click below to read the fine print & the list of poets appearing here starting in July. Or visit The So and So's blog for more details.

Shhhhh....

2007-05-26T01:18:00.000-07:00

We're hunting wabbits.

(work in progress)
Sarita Cartonera

Motherlode

2007-05-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

We just bought a full run of recut Caslon + the cabinet and some other sundries. Isn't is perty?

Distillery Open Studios

2007-04-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

Come check us out during Open Studios. We're in Studio 11; that's on floors 1-5 on the north side of the building. Artists showing in our space include: Helen Granger (painting & drawing), Anna Trzaska (painting & drawing), Robert daVies (painting), Mary Walker Graham (poetry & book arts), and (hopefully) Deanna Devries (jewelry).

Besides all that you can see the press and how things work around Rope-a-Dope. And maybe even enjoy a few light refreshments.

Directions to the Distillery are here.

Repeat Press

2007-04-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

Mike Dacey owns the SP20 we moved into the space a couple weeks ago. These are some of his letterpress & screen-printed posters; for more of Mike's work and details on the pieces below, head over to Repeat Press, where you can still buy one of these beauties.

Women as Black Music

2007-04-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Details from Robert daVies series, "Women as Black Music." Handwritten text is from Marguerite Duras' The Malady of Death and from Mary's poem "Double."

Impressed.

2007-04-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we moved a Vandercook SP20 into the studio. It is f*ing beautiful.

Thanks to Loc, Sadie, & Cat (and any other elves who magically moved this 1500 pound thing while I was at work and Robert was in NYC), and especially Mike, who owns it. Love, love, love.

New books!

2007-04-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

Pictures of Mary's recent books: the Paul Valery cover is made from a recycled American Poetry Review (who doesn't like cutting up that rag?). And "Tragedy" is the first of a series of blank books based on a poem titled "Double."

8x6", 24 pages (blank); hardcover with coptic binding.

Detail of cover. Lama li (handmade Nepalese paper) + handcut and engraved insulating tape.

Detail of Valery cover. 6 1/2 x 8 1/4", 20 pages (blank), hardcover Japanese stab binding. Recycled American Poetry Review+ newsprint.

Ali Bombaye

2007-04-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering what the significance of "rope-a-dope" is, check out Wikipedia's explanation (there's a link in the side-bar). You can also watch this excerpt from When We Were Kings on You Tube, or better yet, rent the whole thing.

DIY and indie publishing are a sort of rope-a-dope technique, non?

Logo

2007-04-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

Rope-a-dope logo by Robert daVies. Love it.