The Wave Pamphlet Series is a venue for bibliographic and critical writing the likes of which find a unique home in the pamphlet form. While we do sell pamphlets occasionally, Wave Pamphlets are primarily available through the Wave Books subscription.
Most recent pamphlet:
#10: Lightning-Scenes: The lightning-scene is a frequent topos of early Arabic verse, in which the speaker commemorates a night made sleepless by the thunder and lightning of an approaching storm. In the course of preparing his forthcoming English-language edition of The Book of Rain by Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī (d. ca. 830 CE), poet and translator David Larsen took in enough examples of the topos to make a small collection. The result is Wave Pamphlet #10: ten variations on the classical theme by Arab poets of the first centuries before and after the Prophet Muḥammad's epochal Migration of 622. Each is an exercise in nature poetry of a highly specific kind, dedicated to the power of the sky to alter the ground, and each begins with lightning, kerygmatic emblem of the life-renewing rain.
Previous pamphlets include:
#1: Garrett Caples’ Quintessence of the Minor presents a comprehensive survey of neglected, oft-brilliant and oft-imperfect Symbolist poets, revealing—with acuity, erudition, and blessed candor—a tradition of forgotten, though no less valuable and invigorating, poets and poetry. SOLD OUT
#2: Noelle Kocot’s Damon's Room: a discography of music important to the author (mostly selected from the music collection of Kocot’s late husband, composer Damon Tomblin), and brief essays on the intersections of Kocot’s life in relation to these songs.
#3: Author Bios: a sundry collection of biographical notes as they appeared in five books by Larry Eigner, this Wave-edited selection offers a glimpse into the trajectory of this prolific poet through the often overlooked and, in this case, supremely engaging “author bio.”
#4: Notes on the Poetry of Pierre Reverdy by Jorge Carrera Andrade, translated by Alejandro de Acosta. A companion of sorts to our 2011 translation of Carrera Andrade’s Micrograms, this pamphlet provides another example of Carrera Andrade’s unique critical style and his engagement with world literature.
#5: Translator’s Questions: Philip Lamantia’s Selected Poems into Japanese, translated by Koichiro Yamauchi, includes questions sent to Lamantia’s editors at City Lights.
#6: Translator’s Questions: John Ashbery’s Houseboat Days into Bengali, translated by Aryanil Mukherjee and responses by David Kermani, includes verbatim email exchanges with Ashbery’s primary translator into Bengali during the translation of Ashbery’s 1977 book.
#7: A Personal Bibliography on Bolinas, California, for Wave Books by Dale Smith, reflects on poets and publishers in Bolinas during the 1960s and 70s. SOLD OUT
#8: Jargon Society Publisher’s Notes contains a selection of press descriptions included in books published by (or about) The Jargon Society, all written by Jonathan Williams.
#9: Freely Frayed,ᄏ=q, & Race=Nation were three talks given by poet Don Mee Choi at the Race & Creative Writing Conference 2014 at the University of Montana, Missoula, and at the 2014 AWP conference in Seattle, related to her translation work, especially with Korean poet Kim Hyesoon. SOLD OUT