Stark Mountain Press Presents:
the colors of ash by Larry Kimmel
Stark Mountain Press is a Winfred Press imprint.
This story-sequenced volume of tanka, cherita, haiku and short-form free verse allows the reader to discover Larry Kimmel’s wide range of subject matter, his fine use of language, and more importantly, the way he allows the form to grow through him, delivering to us his personal truths.
Kimmel is a writer and a poet I have time for. He brings every echo from his past to enrich our present.
I may have created the Cherita which dominates this collection but Larry Kimmel has endowed it with endless possibilities here.
I hope you will buy and treasure this book and immerse yourself in the poet’s fragmented world, a world in which he shows us again and again how we can cope and survive with the permanent ache of being human.
— ai li, editor of the cherita
the colors of ash kept me awake most of the night. It is spectacular. I love it. When I did sleep a little I dreamed a man came up the lane and sat on the bank by an old ruin and began to read poems aloud. He said – ‘this ruin is the colour of ashes’.
Somehow it’s where these poems belong, in the countryside, away from traffic or industry and the noise of men and music. They are poems to get lost in, poems that made me forget the passing of time and present troubles. Every poem goes deep and makes me think yes, me too.
— Joy McCall, author of fieldgates: tanka sequences
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countless syllables
and still
and still
I’ve not
explained
myself
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putting out
kibble
for the feral cat
snow
on every branch
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Stark Mountain Press Presents: light-borne rain:
a two-voice improvisation, by Larry Kimmel
and sheila windsor
light-borne rain is widely evocative and emotionally charged story-telling at its very finest. Kimmel and Windsor have crafted each stanza with imagery that tantalises the senses. The twists and turns of each cherita link and shift, and fully engage the reader. The resulting collaborations reflect the creative minds of these two fine poets. This collection is a grand achievement, which will inspire and reward with each successive reading. — Ron C. Moss, Former Secretary of The Australian Haiku Society and author of the new haiku collection, Broken Starfish
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Sheila Windsor and Larry Kimmel’s light-borne rain is an engaging cherita conversation between two accomplished writers who have mastered the art of juxtaposing their work. Readers will be entertained by this “jam session”, which features eclectic topics ranging from Pabst to Pinot Noir, Gregorian chant to Dylan, Sappho to Rimbaud, Monet to Dali, Pooh to Barbie, and everything in between! — Debbie Strange, award-winning cherita poet.
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If a lot of poetry comes across as studied and overworked, then light-borne rain, the new book of collaborative cherita by Larry Kimmel and Sheila Windsor will be a welcome relief. Allowing themselves no longer than 30 minutes to craft a response to the other’s piece, Larry and Sheila are at their buoyant best. These cherita exude wit and playfulness, as the poets’ use of an eclectic assortment of images make the results feel effortless. This is a book I’ll dip into frequently to savor the craft, as well as the partnership, between these two fine poets. — Peter Jastermsky, award-winning cherita poet.
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short and sweet prespresents: in an upstairs room [orig. titled: long-stemmed roses], by Larry Kimmel. A collection of cherita selected and sequenced by ai li, creator of cherita.
In his latest collection in an upstairs room Larry Kimmel approaches the love poem in a fresh, bold way. Laced with sensuality, subtly touched by longing and saturated with passion—these cherita speak (or rather whisper) to the lover in us.
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As explored so skillfully in this poetry collection, love is so much more than just ‘being in love’. It is all the sensations of longing, of losing, of letting go, of not living up to expectations, and sometimes, of keeping secrets and/or just being moved by the moment.
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This is a thrill of a collection, but please don’t take my word for it, turn the page …
excerpts from the foreword by
Caroline Skanne
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Note: in an upstairs room is essentially a new and selected collection of my cherita since 1997 till now, 2018, and contains, along with shards and dust, all of the cherita that I wish to preserve at this time. Larry Kimmel
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Keibooks Presents: Side by Side: tanka pairs, by Larry Kimmel and Joy McCall
Joy and Larry met each other in the pages of tanka journals, a few years ago, and became friends and began to write together, almost always in pairs of tanka, and mostly thrown down in passing. The result is Side by Side, an intimate look inside the friendship of two master poets who commiserate with each other over the debilities of age, and who inspire one another with humor, wit and a keen appreciation for the perishable beauty of the world. “I suggest you read these fine poems slowly, a sip at a time the way you would a fine whiskey. Notice how the voices of the poets blend, become one until the reader pays no attention at all to whether the “author” of a particular tanka is Kimmel or McCall … Enjoy.” —Tom Sexton, former Poet Laureate of Alaska; author of I think Again of Those Ancient Chinese Poets, and For the Sake of the Light, and A Ladder of Cranes.
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bottle rockets press presents: thunder and apple blossoms, by Larry Kimmel . A collection of haiku selected and edited by Stanford M. Forrester
Author’s Note: It should be noted that all of the poems in thunder and apple blossoms appear in Collected Haiku 1997 – 2017. Also, any reader who has read the necessary fly, or alone tonight, will find many old friends here, though often in different format. Still, there is a goodly number of haiku that have never been collected until now. the necessary fly, will be discontinued by the time this book is published, though alone tonight will remain in print, as alone tonight has a strong selection of tanka as well as a number of haibun besides the haiku. thunder and apple blossoms is a part of a twenty year haiku anniversary celebration that the author is giving for himself. Won’t you please join me.
Praise for thunder and apple blossoms
if one could set short form poems to music, this book by Kimmel would be its’ lyrics. — ai li
Prepare to get naked, then nude, for this collection from Monet to tea-dark gurgles and a midnight whistler’s footsteps. These poems are stained-glass parables with red toenails willing to fix an argument for sex with the smart click of high heels.— Alan Summers, Co-founder of Call of the Page; and President, United Haiku and Tanka Society.
Stark Mountain Press is a Winfred Press imprint.
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Stark Mountain Press Presents: Collected Haiku 1997 – 2017, by Larry Kimmel
Stark Mountain Press is a Winfred Press imprint.
Any reader who has read Larry Kimmel’s, the necessary fly or alone tonight, will find many old friends in Collected Haiku 1997 – 2017, though often in different format. Still, there is a goodly number of haiku that have never been collected until now. the necessary fly, will be discontinued by the time this book is published, though alone tonight will remain in print. alone tonight has a goodly selection of tanka as well as a number of haibun besides the haiku and remains a popular book. I might add that alone tonight is the first major collection of Kimmel’s haikai books, first published in 1998. Collected Haiku 1997 – 2017, on the other hand, represents all of the haiku that the author wishes to preserve from the past twenty years. A kind of twenty year haiku anniversary.
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Winfred Press Presents:
the Second Edition of Blue Smoke: a two voice improvisation, by Sheila Windsor and Larry Kimmel
Praise for Blue Smoke
I am in awe of how Larry and Sheila have brought their inner storyteller out from the proverbial smoke-filled ancestor’s cave. I may be its parent but these two fine poets have given the cherita endless possibilities in which it can be written and interpreted.
blue smoke gets into your very being, your soul.
ai li, haiku and tanka poet
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Blue Smoke is unique. Informed, rather than constrained, by precedent the authors use their extensive knowledge of Japanese collaborative verse to generate a work that is associated to renga, but different.
This is no mere sequence of stanzas. It is a gavotte, an elliptical exploration of the nature of reality. Kimmel and Windsor treat us to a dialogue of perception. Though verses alternate, as the work progresses it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish one voice from the other. Distinctions of gender and culture become vanishingly slight – identities less tangible than the blue smoke of the title.
John Carley, renku poet and translator
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Larry Kimmel website 