This book won our Fence Modern Poets Series back in, oh, 2005 I guess it was (published in 2006), and by my calculations probably only about 300 people have ever actually held it in their hands (including shippers and handlers). One hundred fifty copies have been sold by our distributor as of the most recent sales report, and probably about twenty directly from our office. Several copies sold way back in 2005 at the first reading for the book, which took place at the KGB bar in NYC. Daniel Brenner, the book’s author, read with the wonderful Tracey McTague, and I well remember several audience members, there for Tracey, approaching me after the reading saying things like “Where did you find this guy? He’s amazing!” and then buying the book. I had hoped that this was a harbinger, that a kind of slow burn of discovery would spread across the poetry reading population, and I would have the pleasure of saying to many, as I said to those audience members, that “I found this guy in the pile of entries to the Fence Modern Poets Series,” but so far this has not happened. There’s been quite a lot of silence around this book. So I would instead urge many of you who are entering the Fence Modern Poets Series this year to pick up a copy of The Stupefying Flashbulbs, if not in curiosity then in solidarity with one who was in your position of hopefulness just three years ago. He won the contest and his book was published. Ta da!

AWP was fine and fun. You’ve probably already heard about the relatively low-sales experience of many small presses there, and it was no different for us. With the exception of our two newest books, Flet and Infamous Landscapes, and of Not for Mothers Only (more on that later) it seemed from my side of the table that everyone felt that they had already heard everything that Fence Books had to say. It was pretty overwhelming, all the millions of cool books on tables, so after I finally, on the third day, took a walk around the second and THIRD floors of bookfair, I felt I completely understood the impassive reactions to our treasured offerings.

But I must report on our amazing Saturday night reading and party down at Deborah Landau’s comfy NYU Creative Writers House. Honestly I didn’t have high expectations of turn-out, given how spent and over it I was feeling; I imagined that each of the thirty poets on the list would be reading to the other 29, and that afterwards we would toast one another with our feet up on the comfy chairs, exhausted mothers and/or poets all. But instead we packed out the rooms at more than 130 people, and everyone sat for more than two hours in rapt, I tell you rapt attention to the variegated and stormin’ line-up (from Rae Armantrout with her deservedly famous pinching nipples poem to Zhang Er reading “Ma Ma/Mao Mao”–mama/cat in lush original tongue–to Anne Waldman literally storming the podium shouting “Patriarchy?! Patriarchy?!”) It was completely hot and fun and not for mothers only. Really nice to see lots of young, presumably childless cats and kittens there grooving on the mothership.

Back in Albany now I am working on the sleep deficit, happy to have voted last night, mostly happy to be easing back into the grind of book/mag publishing. The previously blogged-about six-months-in-advance publishing schedule means that I am lurching into our Fall 2008 pre-production season and that Colie Collen, invaluable and savvy and heaven-sent Associate Editor of Fence and Fence Books, who many of you may have met or spied womaning the Fence table last week, is working intently on getting things (permissions, files, bios, etc) for the forthcoming summer publication of A Best of Fence: The First Nine Years, wherein all Fence editors will select their favorites from their moments with Fence and in addition will contribute essays discussing their experiences as editors of Fence. A bit of history for you. I don’t think I can say “Fence” any more than I already have so I’ll sign off now till next time.

because there will be so many nice people there that I only get to see once a year, now that AWP has become this unlikely small-press/poetry reunion landscape; but why is it making me so nervous? We’ve got our fortune cookies with cryptic messages and book deals inside; we’ve got our books, of course; got our signage mostly; got new little book stands to hold up the books so everyone can see them amongst the sea of books. Interns are in place in case I want to creep off to hear a panel or two. I dunno. Come by and see me to see if I’m still nervous. And even if I am still nervous, come to our reception and our reading and our party (visit Events page for details).