TRICK OR TREAT: A $1.59 MID-LIST SPECIAL!

Had a Board meeting yesterday at Kelsey Street Press -- you most def should check out Mei-mei Berssenbrugge's latest collection CONCORDANCE with Kiki Smith. It is definitely one of the most lushly gorgeous poetry publications ever put out there! So there!

Anyway, while at Kelsey, I was asked by R., new press member, as to how I got involved with Kelsey. I explained that when I moved from New York to the Bay Area about 7 years ago (and didn't really know anyone here yet), Mei-mei suggested I get together with the Kelsey co-founders, and fabulous poets, Rena Rosenwasser and Patricia Dienstfrey. I ended up helping out by volunteering once a week at Kelsey for a few years before then being asked to join the Board.

And why was I volunteering? I work at home and, while living primarily in San Francisco where I can walk or cab most places, I could have done what I did successfully in New York City for 20 years: avoid driving a car. But I knew, being a Californian anew, that I had to pick up my driving skills again (not totally successful; even today, I can't back parallel park, which is a problem with San Francisco's dearth of street parking). So I volunteered at Kelsey just to give me a reason to drive once a week from SF to Berkeley.

Such, are the serendipitous stuff of which stuff are made: the above could be titled, "How to Become A Board Member of A Poetry Press."

Anyway: TRICK OR TREAT! While at Kelsey, I used a phrase I never use in normal everyday conversation: "midlist title."

So, here's a TRICK OR TREAT special. For $1.59, the first 10 people to reply can have any of these mid-list books from moi Meritage Press, for which my stint at Kelsey was helpful as I set up a new poetry press...and I toss in a couple of my books, too. Just send a check for $1.59 (or two dollar bills camouflaged) to me at Eileen Tabios/ 256 North Fork Crystal Springs Road / St. Helena, CA 94574...and you can have any one of these faboo mid-list titles:

100 More Jokes From The Book of the Dead (John Yau & Archie Rand)

OPERA: POEMS 1981-2002 (Barry Schwabsky)

The Obedient Door (Sean Finney)

Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole (Eileen Tabios)

Menage A Trois With the 21st Century (Eileen Tabios)

Why $1.59? My dearies -- that is the current "Media Mail" postage cost for mailing out such books! To reserve yr copy ahead of time, email Moi at GalateaTen@aol.com