A Bookshop Interview with Cord Moreski

I had the pleasure of meeting Cord Moreski at a recent poetry reading in Troy, NY and I really liked his energy and poetic style, and I’m really happy he took a few minutes to tell me about his favorite bookshop. Cord has a new book coming out from Between Shadows Press called Apartment Poems and I suggest grabbing a copy when you can. Check out his website and drop by Labyrinth Books if you’re near Princeton, NY!

Favorite Bookshop: Labyrinth Books (Princeton, New Jersey)

1. How did you discover the shop, and what do you remember about your first experience there?

I discovered the shop about a decade ago. Originally, I was at the Princeton Record Exchange(an awesome record store to check out), and I came across the bookstore when I was walking back to my car. I remember seeing tables of books outside, and I knew I totally had to go inside.

2. Does the shop have a particular vibe, theme, or atmosphere that stands out?

The vibe of Labyrinth Books is very warm and inviting. The staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable. It’s a great place to get lost in for a few hours.

3. What books have you bought there in the past?

I bought a lot of books from there. My favorite ones would be Frank O’ Hara’s Meditations in an Emergency, Ted Kooser’s Flying at Night, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, William Carlos Williams’s Selected Poems, and Raymond Carver’s Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories.

4. What part of the shop would we find you hanging out in the most? 

Besides gravitating towards the poetry section on the first floor, I would probably be down in the bookstore’s basement. There are a lot of cool used and rare books down there. The basement also has some really fun reading events. I was fortunate to see the 22nd U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith read(she signed a copy of Wade in the Water: Poems for me), and I also saw Michael Dickman. The basement is where all the poets hang out.

A Bookshop Interview with Victor Clevenger

I’ve followed the writings of Victor Clevenger for a long while now and I’ve been lucky enough to have published some of his pieces in Hobo Camp Review. Since I don’t get out to the Midwest very often, I thought I’d check in to see what his favorite bookshop is out thataways.

Favorite Bookshop: Barb’s Books in Belle, Missouri

1. How did you discover the shop, and what do you remember about your first experience there?

Founded in 2017, Barb’s Books is a nonprofit bookstore created to serve the local Belle community and its overall mission is to support literacy and educational programs throughout the region.  I began visiting Belle approximately a year before the store was founded due to the Osage Arts Community also being in Belle, Missouri. All my experiences, from that first one in 2017 up to my visit just last week, have been fantastic.

2. Does the shop have a particular vibe, theme, or atmosphere that stands out?

The shop has a very laid back and welcoming vibe to it, with a vast selection of books. Barb’s offers books to the community at affordable prices and offer books in trade for those who volunteer at the store. The store donates all proceeds after operating expenses, on a project-by-project basis for materials for our local public library and three school libraries. In addition, Barb’s Books also offers a variety of programming, including a monthly open mic series and book readings/author signing events.

3. What books have you bought there in the past?

I have purchased a great assortment of books from Barb’s, mostly poetry, but I also search out books with large glossy photographs for the purpose of collage art. I would say that my fondest purchase from Barb’s would be the Richard Brautigan reader containing Trout Fishing in America, The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar. It was that very copy of Trout Fishing in America that I used to create my found poetry collection titled 47 Poems.

4. What part of the shop would we find you hanging out in the most?

You would definitely find me hanging out on the couch watching a good poetry reading/open mic.  Barb’s puts on events that bring in poets and artist from all across the United States.  It truly is something amazing to witness.

Victor Clevenger spends his days in a Madhouse and his nights writing. Selected pieces of his work have appeared in print magazines and journals around the world; it has also been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and the Pushcart Prize. He is the author of several collections of poetry including A Finger in the Hornets’ Nest (Red Flag Poetry, 2018), Corned Beef Hash By Candlelight (Luchador Press, 2019), A Wildflower In Blood (Roaring Junior Press, 2020), Scratching to Get By (Between Shadows Press, 2021), and 47 Poems (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2022). Together with American poet John Dorsey, they run River Dog. He can be reached at: crownofcrows@yahoo.com

His latest collection is 47 Poems, created in the found poetry & erasure poetry styles by collecting words from within each of the 47 sections of the Richard Brautigan novel Trout Fishing in America. Words were erased or rearranged on the page to create their own individual titles & pieces. People can purchase a copy from Crisis Chronicles Press or directly from Victor by reaching out to crownofcrows@yahoo.com

A Bookshop "Interview" with Cheryl Rice

Usually when I interview poets and writers about their favorite bookshops, it’s a quick Q&A, four or five questions, but Cheryl Rice took it another step and wrote a brief and fascinating saga about her favorite shop, one that has seen many transitions over the years and has become something altogether different, leaving Cheryl with a lot of memories and nostalgia. I hope you enjoy, and please check out Cheryl’s work and bio below. She’s a dynamic and prolific poet and writer and I’m happy to have her here!

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(Image borrowed from AlbanyPoets.com)

Having lived in the Hudson Valley for over forty years, there is no shortage of bookstores past and present that I might dub “my favorite” at any given time. I’ve been employed by the finest, and patronized the funkiest. So many of them are no longer with us, and that saddens me in many ways. As I clear my bookshelves to fulfill my Pandemic goal of making my tiny house work better for me and my arts, I let many books pass through my hands and into boxes headed for our local used goldmine, Halfmoon Books in uptown Kingston. Credit will be due there, and used gratefully to refill those recently emptied shelves, of course.

I often come across books in my collection with odd little prices penciled in the upper right-hand corner of the first page: 23¢, 43¢, 78¢. I immediately know where the book came from. Back in the early days, when I first arrived to attend SUNY New Paltz in the early 1980s, there was an outstanding used bookstore & art supply shop, Manny’s, in the heart of town, next door to P&Gs bar, and across the street from a book shop that some might have considered a rival but was actually the perfect complement—Ariel Booksellers.

Manny’s was really Manny’s back then, as the man himself, Manny Lipton, still held court. He was a loud New Yorker who’d come up from The City in the 1970s and, rumor had it, opened a bookshop to offer the many art students in town a place to buy supplies. The origins of the business are still shrouded in mist, since the original façade was clearly that of a ‘60s cocktail lounge, and the phone number was listed as “Manny’s Lounge” for many decades. The front of the store was pasted with photos and clippings, a community-created collage that got shabbier and thicker every semester. He frightened me really, since I was newly away from home and still finding out who I would become. But the draw of cheap books was too much to resist. I bravely slipped by Manny, perched up front, pontificating to a new crop of freshmen, and headed towards the deepest depths of the store.

You would mainly find me in Biography or Fiction. I was not yet a dedicated poet, although I’d been writing for most of my life. The art supplies were equally attractive to me, but not as big a bargain as the paperbacks. The stock overflowed the shelving, and piles of books sat in front of shelves overwhelmed by their loads. I remember getting a mass market edition of “The Other Side of the Rainbow,” Mel Torme’s tell-all about behind the scenes of “The Judy Garland Show.” You could find old copies of novels used in classes, but the textbooks, cleverly updated every couple of years, were worthless. Now and then a crumbling Henry Miller would pop up, and I’d snatch it quickly before the authorities showed up.

Eventually it was not the authorities, but the local fire commissioner who arrived. The place always was a fire trap, as well as a physical hazard should the shelves suddenly topple down onto some beatnik engrossed in a book of prints by Dali. Volunteers from the community came in to clear the aisles. Portions of rug that hadn’t seen daylight since the Camelot days of Kennedy winced at the brightness. It was cleaner, it was safer, but it was never the same treasure trove of gems. The pearls of Manny’s wisdom still flowed, but could the clean up have taken something out of the master? I’ll never be sure.

Graduation, marriage, divorce, and movement all led me away from Manny’s in its declining years. The business is still there, calls itself “Manny’s,” but the books are gone. Manny’s daughter and son-in-law took over the business some time ago, and it is a fine place to get a picture framed or to purchase a souvenir. Art supplies fulfill every student’s needs. But when I go in, now for fancy paper to make chapbooks with, I still wince a little. I still expect to see the Man himself, sharing his observations. I wish I’d listened then to what I’ll never know now.

Cheryl A. Rice’s poems have appeared in Home Planet News, Rye Whiskey Review, Up The River, and Misfit Magazine, among others. Recent books include Until the Words Came (Post Traumatic Press), coauthored with Guy Reed, and Love’s Compass (Kung Fu Treachery Press). Rice’s RANDOM WRITING WORKSHOPS travel from town to town at request. Her blog is at: http://flyingmonkeyprods.blogspot.com/. Rice lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.