POET-EDITORS/ 26


Amanda Laughtland

Amanda Laughtland lives in the suburbs of Seattle and teaches at Edmonds Community College. Her book of poems with illustrations by Jen May, Postcards to Box 464, has just been published by Bootstrap Press. She also has a recent chapbook, Kitchen Tidbits, out from Sacrifice Press. She publishes zines and books through her press, Teeny Tiny.

What is (or has been) your favorite editing project and why?

My favorite editing project: I've felt a lot more satisfaction than I ever expected from making my mini zines and chapbooks. Other writers and artists have told me that the very smallness of my publications has inspired them; I think Teeny Tiny has a DIY spirit that makes publishing seem fun, affordable, and accessible to people who maybe haven't considered trying it before. I've enjoyed seeing how far I can go with a publication made up of just a single folded sheet of paper, and I've tried to incorporate recycled materials and other unique and handmade touches. As a friend said, "Small is beautiful." These tiny zines and books have introduced me to innovative poets from all over the world through trading publications and through submissions; it's exciting when someone finds my press and shares my sensibility and has the interest and patience to wait for me to come up with a tiny showcase for his or her work.

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Talk to You Later

As I cover my thin t-shirts
with cotton or woolen sweaters

I wish I could cover the heart
on my sleeve and spare it

this rainy weather. Downtown
I reach your voicemail and shout

over the roar of tires. I hold
my phone inside my coat

to let it ring into my fingers.



Late Sunday

      with a line from James Schuyler

Reading in bed a night after
a night you stayed with me, I hear
my refrigerator run loudly.
I keep the pillow you borrowed

next to me. "In moon terms
you're not so far away," or so a poem
reminds me. Early this morning
I took the dog out and could see

the half moon. You asked,
"What time is it?" and rolled over
and held me. I know we slept
because I dreamt about the fisherman

we'd met before dinner, waiting
for our table at the waterfront café.

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