Halos of Debris Author: Darrell Gray Illustrator: Cover photos by Kathryn Silva Size: 15.6 x 23.5 cm Binding: Smythe-sewn paperback (Cloth is Out of Print) Pages: viii + 68 ISBN: 0-918395-00-3 Price: $20 Description: These 58 poems by Darrell Gray constitute the last collection by the founder of the Actualist Movement in Iowa City. Gray was a solitary voice in American poetry until his tragic death in 1986. Handset in Sabon type, and printed letterpress in two colours on Mohawk Superfine text, this lovely tribute to the hilarious and spontaneous combustion of words is a fitting remembrance of the man who invented "Mental Floss," and wrote "Rooting for the Mutants." Here is the title poem:

Photo: Shelly Vogel

HALOS OF DEBRIS A burst of energy, and then we fall asleep. Outside it is almost night -- thunder & bugs intersected, then taken away. While thought is real, birds keep going beyond it. They are a form of language the landscape uses to stay awake. But we disappear into the spaces they forget to nest in; passed from one brain to another -- so that truck-stops stay open all night, the plains quiver and flower, and pearls form at the bottom of the sea.

Simply to See

Author: Poems of Luxorius, translated into English by Art Beck.
Illustrator: Alastair Johnston
Size: 15 x 20.5 cm
Binding: Coptically sewn into Indian Bagasse paper, that was spray-painted with Vandalic motifs
Pages: 64 pages of Frankfurt Cream laid paper, letterpressed in Monticello & Bell types
ISBN: 0-918395-12-7
Price: $125
Description: There is some question as to whether Luxorius ever existed or whether he was a pigeonhole invented by medieval monks to secrete copies of their erotic poems. Legend has it that he lived in North Africa in the fourth century, while Rome was under control of the Vandals. This book, produced an edition of 125 copies in 1990, prints the Latin on the left pages and the English en face.

Mutabilitie of the Englishe Lyrick

Author: Tom Clark
Illustrator: Alastair Johnston
Size: 21.4 x 14 cm
Binding: Marbled paper over boards
Pages: 36
ISBN: No ISBN
Edition: 200 copies were printed in 1978, in a syncretic Dutch Old style type invented by the compositor.
Price: $75
Description: The typography and content were created as a tongue-in-cheek hommage to the quincentenary of printing at Oxford. This copy signed by the poet, Tom Clark, and the printer, Alastair Johnston, below the spoof colophon image of a monkey and mermaid.

Reviews: "At Poltroon Press ... Frances Butler and Alastair Johnston have printed and published a range of books that dance between classical typography and concrete poetry in an altogether delightful way. Tom Clark's The Mutabilitie of the Englishe Lyrick is a good introduction to Poltroon work." --Roderick Cave, The Private Press (Second edition), Bowker, 1983

Muted Hawks

Author: Tom Raworth
Illustrator: Alastair Johnston
Size: 16.5 x 24.4 cm (closed)
Binding: Cased into flexible boards in two kinds of Thai crumpled paper, inside a silver letter-press printed slipcase, with blind-stamped type on the upper cover
Pages: 26
ISBN: No ISBN
Edition: 40 copies, a long accordion-folded book
Price: $400
Description: This is the fourth Poltroon Press publication written by Tom Raworth, the great English poet who, alas, has no honour in his own land. The other three titles, "Logbook," "The Mask," and "Nicht Wahr, Rosie?" are among the most sought-after Out of Print Poltroon Press books. Muted Hawks is a serial poem that has the rapidfire logicbursts familiar to fans of Raworth, balanced with abstract typographic prints by Alastair Johnston, who was inspired by the poem and the work of Hendrik Werkman in his efforts. The book unfolds to 416 centimetres, about 14 feet in length. Signed by Tom Raworth.