by daithí
What I wish to share with you is how Corvus–Buffy’s newest publication– represents a unique approach to publishing. Then, I will tell you some other unique features of this book.
Many of us know that the publishing industry has changed in recent years–from wining and dining writers to having them do the heavy lifting. As a result, poets have chosen alternate routes–from printing broadsheets for local distribution to chapbooks paid for by individual authors with presses helping to put them in bookstores.
Corvus signals another departure from business as usual. Instead of waiting for a major publisher to find him or to pay an alternative press to crank out his book, Buffy has taken a different path. His approach might be called publication by subscription. By producing a small number of books–100 in this case–he is relying on 25 subscribers to cover the cost of production. Anything above that goes directly to him. There is no middle man. There is no Amazon.
While scrolling through the book and reading the poems out loud, other unique features became obvious. Twenty-seven poems were included in Corvus. Interspersed throughout the book are also 23 woodcut scenes of crows. Some alone. Some in pairs. Others bunched in trees. The artwork as well as the written work was done by Buffy. As was the page design.
Oh not again the corvid comes
Tells me to get over myself
Your world passes you by
with your eyes wide
(“Eyes Wide as Crows Fly” p.9)
For additional information about this amazing book, go to: