House House Press launched their first three chapbooks with us last night and what a night of beautiful readings it was!

The evening started off with Jessica Dolan, whose work is forthcoming with House House Press. Reading from the upcoming collection, Dolan talks about street work and being on the other side of the desk as someone who now works with youth and street workers. These poems, intimate and difficult, were hard for her to work on, and she questioned whether she wanted them to be out in the world. 

"Traveling between outside and tomorrow, try sleeping outside," ends one of her poems. 

Next up was one of House House Press' two founders, David Bradford. Nadia Chaney gave a beautiful intro, speaking about David's generosity and openness as an editor and reader. 

Reading from The Plot and a larger manuscript of in-progress work, David's poetry was full and evocative, a catalog of memories past, of abuse and a life spattered with contrasting tender images. Look out for his full length book, you won't want to miss it!

"Already too dark to see and/That indigo shimmer shade and/Already our old bloodied teeth/Our old flesh in a braid", he read. 

After a short break, assiyah jamilla read from her collection feral. Repetitive and heavy with striking imagery, the work beautifully weaves words through all their possibilities. She read, "the noise waves from the shore/and the noise and the silence/and the softness as it rushes, me/and the fierceness, and I'm savage/me wanting to soften you savagely/and the savage need in me, me/to soften you viciously/and fight you to give in giving". 

The night ended with a reading from Nadia Chaney from her chapbook Reading Practice for Rust and Holograms, a work of poetry, sci-fi, essay and much more, the images guiding the reader through both a temporal and cerebral experience. Chaney talked about the editing process, pulling at the work, a sci-fi narrative she wasn't expecting coming out of it. 

"Earth, the pet of stars, her place is to birth moonlings with memory, but without learned behaviour. No more monkeys jumping on the bed," she read confidently, holding the attention of everyone in the room. 

It was a special night with a packed room! If you couldn't make it, check out all three chapbooks available in store.