Tom Kryss | Sketch Book

Lemme put this straight; I am a big fan of Tom Kryss and have been for many years. His new title, Sketch Book, is no different than any other title by Tom Kryss, for here is a poet who is truly insightful and filters his pages with meaning. From the very first page, where he quotes Ohio poet Kenneth Patchen, to the very last line, you cannot put this little book down. Although at times I have found myself wondering why the poet did this and why he took this sentence in this or that direction, I kept on returning to the fact that here is a master, whether he is composing sonnets or prose poems. Sketch Book is being released in a limited edition of 50 signed copies and 100 regular copies. If you have a chance to order this book, I will urge you to do so as soon as possible.

—B.L. Kennedy, Reviewer-in-Residence

Here at Kamini Press we are proud to present another of our favorite poets and his new book:

Tom Kryss

Sketch Book

It was the fine poet and writer John Bennett who many years ago, on his Vagabond website, introduced us to Tom Kryss. Since then he’s been a favorite artist, illustrator and poet. Please study Kryss’s long list of books, chaps, broadsides and art, look at the bottom of this page. There is something about Tom Kryss’s tone and voice that makes him very special. Have you seen his art? Have you seen his The Book of Rabbits – one of the most beautiful children’s books you’ve ever seen?

Tom Kryss is a true outsider and he was part of the Cleveland poetry scene in the Sixties around d.a. levy; the Cleveland scene back then had more outsiders per square meter than any other poetry scene in America.

Let me quote John Bennett from Vagabond: “You want your young genius poet of the 20th Century? Scrap Rimbaud. I give you Tom Kryss. What Tom Kryss does, more than any poet I know, is strip away excess and cut to the bone. He staked out a modest turf and then hunkered down and stayed there. He has not squandered time and blurred his focus chasing down publishers and polishing his image. So that what he writes is unencumbered and fraught with the particular, which is the unique, which is the only way to get a handle on the universal. What he writes always gives you something and never takes anything away. “

Sketch Book is his new book from Kamini Press, number 5 in our Poetry Series. 40 pages of prose poems. Cover art by Tom Kryss. All 150 books signed by the author in Ravenna (this American town with the beautiful Italian name). Twenty-five of the books come with a hand-tinted and signed print by Tom Kryss. Author portrait painting by Henry Denander.

[quickshop:Tom Kryss – Sketch Book – Signed – Kamini Press:price:10:shipping:0:shipping2:0:end]10 USD Signed book including postage all over the world.

[quickshop:Tom Kryss – Sketch Book – Signed plus Artwork – Kamini Press:price:25:shipping:0:shipping2:0:end]25 USD Signed book with artwork including postage all over the world.

Please

use the PayPal button above or send cash in a brown envelope to Kamini Press, Ringvägen 8, 4th floor, SE-117 26 Stockholm, Sweden. In Sweden pay SEK 60,-/150,- (including postage) to Bankgiro 5889-0781, or get the book from Bokmagasinet, in Stockholm.

Tom Kryss | Painting by Henry Denander

Tom Kryss Books and Broadsides

• Cleveland Poems, Chicago Poems & Other Shit – Free Love Press – Cleveland 1967
• Look at the Moon Then Wipe the Light from Your Eyes and Tell Me What you See – Runcible Spoon – Sacramento 1968
• Nuclear Roses and Quiet Rooms – Open Skull Press – San Francisco 1969
• Dialogue in Pale Blue (with r.j.s.) – Broken Mimeo Press – Cleveland 1969
• The Book of Rabbits (Krulik Ksiega) – Ayizan Press – Cleveland 1969
• Sherwood Anderson’s Blue’s – Gunrunner Press – Milwaukee 1970
• Sleep Like Yellow Thunder – Second Aeon Publications – Cardiff, Wales 1970
• Dog’s Body – No Deposit No Return – Victoria, B.C. 1970
• New Majiks (Selected Poems & Rabbits) – Radical America – Cambridge, MA 1970
• Sunflower River – Dead Angel Press – Portland, OR 1972
• I Am the One Who Walks the Road (with Douglas Blazek and Don Cauble) – Dead Angel Press – Portland, OR 1972
• Music in the Winepress, Parrots in the Flames – Vagabond Press – Ellensburg, WA 1976
• Falling through the Cracks – Fuck If I Know Press – San Francisco 1984
• Coltrane Spins a Note – Black Rabbit Press – Cleveland 1990
• Dusty Dog #6 – (John Pierce, Publisher) – Zuni, NM 1992
• Strange Attractors – Zerx Press – Albuquerque, NM 1993
• Current Outsider (Tribute Sampler) – Vagabond Press Home Page – Ellensburg, WA 2000
• Just Blue Skies: Poems for & after d.a. levy (An Electronic Chapbook) – d.a. levy Home Page; cooperative presentation of Ghost Pony, Kaldron On-line, Light and Dust Mobile Anthology of Poetry 2001
• Downwind from the Fires of Nothingness – Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA 2001
• 7 Poems & a Eulogy (with Steve Ferguson) – Ferguson Press – Cleveland 2003
• Sunflower Wars – Bottle of Smoke Press – Leesburg, VA 2003
• Death March (Poems for All #296) – 24th Street Irregular Press – Sacramento 2003
• Sunflower River for Jim Lowell (Bottle #2) – Bottle of Smoke Press – Bear, DE 2004
• Wiring Tutorial for Unshielded Twisted Pair (with Matthew Wascovich) – Slow Toe Publications, Cleveland 2004
• Entrance Level Opportunities - (Six Pack #4) – Bottle of Smoke Press – Bear, DE 2004
• Horse – Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA 2004
• Two for the Asphodel – Costmary Press – Kent, OH – November 2004
• Here’s Wishing You Good Work in 2005 (assorted rabbits) – Jeff Maser, Bookseller – Berkeley 2004
• The Music Box Store (printed by Jason Davis of Verdant Press for Jeff Maser, Bookseller – Berkely 2005
• Brotherhood – Bottle of Smoke Press – Dover, DE 2005
• Real Time – Costmary Press – Kent, OH – June 2005
• Sunlight – Bottle of Smoke Press – Dover, DE – October 2005
• Spring into Winter – Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA 2005
• Encyclical (Bottle #4) – Bottle of Smoke Press – Dover, DE 2006
• Real (Poems for All #617) – 24TH Street Irregular Press – Sacramento – May 2006
• The Search for the Reason Why – Bottom Dog Press – Huron, OH 2006
• In a Time without Sunflowers – Bottle of Smoke Press – Dover, DE 2006
• Unchained Melody – Letters Bookshop – Toronto 2006
• Rabbit (illustrated coaster) – Bottle of Smoke Press – Dover, DE 2006
• Further Downwind from the Fires of Nothingness (Measured Steps #5 with John Bennet and d.a. levy) – Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA 2006
• At the Beginning & the End (Measured Steps #7 with Alan Horvath and d.a. levy ) – Kirpan Press – Vancover, WA 2006
• Where the Rainbow Ends (Measured Steps #8 with Jake Marx and David Pishnery) – Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA 2006
• The Certificate of Nemeth Racz (Bagozine #55) – Word e Print – Cleveland – January 20, 2007
• Dusk (Populist Poems #12) – Bottom Dog Press – Huron, OH 2007
• In Reserve – Costmary Press – Kent, OH – February 2007
• Be the Poem (Bagozine #56) – Word e Print – Cleveland – February 17, 2007
• The Last Leaf (Bottle #5) – Bottle of Smoke Press – Dover, DE 2007
• Morel, the Clown (Bagozine #60) – Word e Print – Cleveland – August 18, 2007
• Was Lauft Er? (GPP Anthology) – Green Panda Press – Cleveland – August 2007
• The Case for Hope – Costmary Press – Kent, Ohio – January 2008
• The Attempt Itself – Green Panda Press – Cleveland – May 2008
• Stop, Look, What’s That Sound – Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA – June 2008
• Tree Challenged - Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA – August 2008
• Again – Costmary Press – Kent, Ohio – December 2008
• They Know Me at the Library – Costmary Press – Kent, Ohio – January 2009
• Tell What It Is To Be a Man – Costmary Press – Kent, Ohio – January 2009
• Light Dark Light - Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books – Manasquan, New Jersey – February 2009
• Two Poems and a Print – Costmary Press – Kent, Ohio – February 2009
• Roses That Bloom - J.W. Curry – Ottawa, Canada – March 2009
• At the Edge of the Forest – Yellow Pepper Press – Douglasville, GA – March 2009
• Roses that Bloom – Kirpan Press – Vancouver, WA – April 2009
• A Selection of Poems – This Passing World website – Portland, OR – June 2009
• The Little White Elephants of Senegal – Grey Sparrow Press – Kent, Ohio – August 2009
• Birds Don’t Talk - Costmary Press – Kent, Ohio – August 2009

Kamini Press
poet Tom Kryss wrote this letter in 1967, in support of da levy and Jim Lowell; who were under indictment by local authorities in Cleveland for the selling and dissemination of alleged obscene poetry. A collection of testimonials in behalf of Lowell, gathering anti-censorship discourse from American authors such as Charles Olson, Hubert Selby Jr., Charles Bukowski, Denise Levertov, James Laughlin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and others, was published, with proceeds ploughed into Lowell’s defense fund.

A part of small press history, indeed.

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