City of Moths

“My friend thinks that poetry has nothing to do with words. Poetry, she says, is a mountain. An actual mountain. A thing that fools climb simply ‘because it’s there.’ Poetry is there, but why do we constantly feel the need to prove it exists? To point to it? Like a mountain appearing in the distance. ‘Be an uncarved block of wood’ is what the Sarah Lawrence kids, who hadn’t slept in 40-some hours, still high off ecstasy and acid, sitting Indian-style on the rock, otherwise-silent, would shout at me during tennis matches. They were right. What lies in the uncarved block of wood. Whorls and grains, stories and held smoke. Surrounded by. My block of wood, another person’s mountain. The sound of a finger pointing to some unseen thing. To be reckoned with, or perhaps, reckoned by. Something to draw a door in” (page 6, City of Moths).

Sampson Starkweather was born in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He is the author of The Photograph from horse less press. His work can be found in Typo, Octopus, jubilat, Absent, Tarpaulin Sky, RealPoetik, and Sink Review. He lives in the woods alone.

Golden Gloves Chapbook Series, 2008/2009. Stab bound, with letterpress printed cover. Printed in an addition of 144, of which the first twelve are signed by the author. $10 includes shipping.

SOLD OUT.

Little Johnny Wants A Broadside!

And so do you. They make wonderful bathroom reads, and also come in a water-proof bag to keep you dry from those wintery showers. He also wants a copy of The Jungle, City of Moths, and Victor in the New World. (Sorry Johnny, we're out of that!)

Open Submissions February-March 2009

Rope-a-Dope Press will read chapbook manuscripts during our first open submissions period, February-March 2009. The selection will be published in the Spring of 2009 as part of the first annual Golden Gloves Chapbooks Series.* This year's Series is edited by Chris Tonelli.

Please submit two copies of your original poetry manuscript, 15-35 pages, postmarked between January 25th and March 31st. Include two title pages with each copy: one with your name, contact information, and title of your manuscript; the second with title only.

We look forward to reading your work. A selection (and finalists) will be announced in the spring.

Mail your submission to:
Golden Gloves Chapbook Series
Rope-a-Dope Press
516 East 2nd Street, #42
South Boston, MA 02127

Include an SASE if you would like your manuscript returned. Entries without an SASE will be recycled after they have been considered.

Please consider buying some of our other chapbooks to get a feel for what we like. City of Moths, by Sampson Starkweather, and For People Who Like Gravity and Other People by Chris Tonelli, are forthcoming in the Golden Gloves Series and will be made available soon on this site.

Thank you!

*Three chapbooks are published annually through the Golden Gloves Chapbook Series. A guest editor works with Rope-a-Dope founders Mary Walker Graham and Robert daVies to select one chapbook through solicitation, one through open submissions, and one his/her own.