Bricabrac is my to-be-monthly poetry mix zine, full of the poems I like and think you should like.

I love the way April’s issue looks. Tofer Moran, the wondrous designer, clothier, and my fellow musician, has beautifully executed my idea of creating something similar to a mix-tape for poetry, done in hard-copy. His design skills make this so much more legitimate.

These are the poems on my mind this month. And because the best things are better shared, I’ve been leaving these around Durham, NC, like little pots of gold, ready to be someone’s found treasure. Or like diseased rats at the bottom of one’s soup, depending on your metaphor.

Catch the disease (or become fabulously wealthy. Again, depending on your metaphor). If you live near me, ask for one. If you don’t, download the case and the innards and assemble this sucker yourself:

Bricabrac 1 :: 04/09 case

Bricabrac 1 :: 04/09 fold-out book

Assembly instructions:

Print the fold-out double-sided, then fold the 11″x17″ in half horizontally twice, then once vertically, to create a booklet (like a zoo map).

To assemble the case, print the 8.5″x11″ and fold it in half horizontally. Then unfold it and fold down the tabs so you have a sort of very shallow trough. Align the case as if it were a book you were reading and tape down the left side tabs. You should end up with something that looks like a CD case, with restraining tabs on the top and bottom of the right half. Put the fold-out beneath them, turned sideways.

That was horribly cryptic; sorry. Maybe I’ll make a video.

If you don’t want to do all that difficult folding, you could come to Durham and walk around Brightleaf and hope you happen on one. Check the gutter.

_{(Also, I included one of my poems in here, nestled among the greats. Vanity, your name is Self-published.)}

In the nascent spirit of papernet, I’m going to post PDFs of these mixes (on what schedule, I have no idea). My friend, Tofer Moran, designer, artist, musician and et-cetera-extraordinaire, is helping me lay it out.  He had the idea to make it one zoo-map-like sheet, as opposed to my idea of cutting books and stapling and so forth. This is why I pass ideas through my friends. Because their ideas are good. And less work. The single sheet is more true to the idea of papernet, and it looks so cool; you would not believe it.

Bricabrac (the title was his idea also) will be one 11″x17″ sheet, folded into eight sections, surrounded by another 8.5″x11″ sheet folded into an envelope. You’ll be able to print it out and assemble it yourself, or you can email me your address and I’ll mail you one I put together. I might read the poems aloud and post the recording as well; I’m not sure. I’ll almost certainly read my own poems aloud at some point.

I’ve never edited an antholody, or magazine, or even made a mix of music, so I have no idea what I’m doing. That’s ok by me. There’s no real criteria for these poems, they’re just the ones I’ve noticed lately. And if you love a particular poem or poet, let me know down there in the comments. Bricabrac is all about sharing good poetry.