Some people are unreasonably unselfish, and Emily Pettit is one of them. An editor for Notnostrums and Factory Hollow Press, she is also the new publisher of jubilat, which, under her thumb, just released a bad motherfucker of an issue (see: Julia Cohen, Michelle Taransky, James Tate, Rachel Glaser, Dara Wier, lots!). Her devotion to art is exemplary and climbs no ladder, but aims at making our anxious little world a bigger, bettered one.  It should come then as no surprise then that her poems, too, are of the giving kind; and her new book Goat in the Snow, now available for pre-order from BIRDS LLC, gives and gives and gets it right. Im not one to blurb (ed note: bullshit), but when a wise old man once again feels the change coming in his bones and scrys the truth, you listen:

Her kindness is always ahead of us, anticipating the problems we will or won’t run into, and we always end up in a different, precise place than the one we started out from, as she reassuringly tells us: “You know/ you know you know. It’s all uncertainty/ and your neck. You walk slowly/ in a calm voice.” Goat In The Snow is multicolored, ever-changing, a delight to try to clasp. –

JOHN ASHBERRY

Birds LLC are now taking pre-sale orders of Emily Pettit’s Goat in the Snow. To celebrate they’re offering 100 limited-edition broadsides of a poem by Emily, which will be adorned with original art by Rachel B. Glaser and letterpressed by Flying Object. The first 26 people who order will get a lettered copy (A-Z) of the broadside, signed by both the author and artist. Or just buy the damn book.

To celebrate therelease, starting tomorrow this weekend Emily will be on mini tour with Birds LLC affiliates & editors Justin Marks, Sampson Starkweather, Paige Taggart, and Chris Tonelli.

December 9th, Friday, Kansas City, MO. Facebook Event info can be found here.

December 10th, Fayetteville, AK. Facebook Event info here.

December 11th, Lawrence, KS. Facebook Event info here

If you don’t take your seat in the middle of the country, but still want in – buy the book, or you see new poems by Emily in the new issue of Glitterpony and PEN Poetry Series. Or just look out below.

HOW TO BE RESPONSIBLE

When the respiratory system says,
I don’t feel like being a network right now,
you have developed a giant disorder.
You breathe out of order. It doesn’t totally suck.
It staggers. It’s not like being a hook.
It’s more like being a hook ladder.
Like the silence that sometimes accompanies the
unexpected. What are your ears hearing?
I mean move over falling days,
I am attempting to be responsible.
No imitation breathing. It is inadequate.
What to do with what you have heard?
Hammer, anvil, stirrup—the bones
that form a bridge in the ear need to
form a bridge elsewhere in the dark.
Darkness a bet you make again
and again. You are asked to accept
the fantastic. It’s so fantastic.
Accept it. Someone says, Emotions
don’t have brains. And someone is right.
It’s a different way to dance. Mind
no longer content to move around
the circumference, mind makes a big leap,
becomes a telescope ladder. A significant
vertical exposure. An altered heart.
I forget approximately.