Last year Simulacrum Press published a wonderful series of minimalist letraset concrete poems by Kingston based poet Michael e. Casteels under the title & Jetsam. The title might have prompted readers to wonder where the initial word Flotsam had got to which makes up the phrase Flotsam & Jetsam. Was it simply that it sounded nice? Was that absence of Flotsam at all significant or was it just an off hand choice of Casteels’? To know Casteels’ work is to be quite certain that it was not without a reason. He is an always careful, intentional poet which is what gives so much power to his work, both minimal and otherwise—that concentration. Happily, a very concrete answer has risen out of Malmo, Sweden where Joakim Norling runs the visual poetry press Timglaset. The answer comes in the form of a publication by Casteels titled—you guessed it—flotsam.
You’ll notice in the above photo that both chapbooks are the same size. This is without a doubt an intentional move by Timglaset publisher and designer Joakim Norling linking the publications not only by name but also in the echo of dimensions.
flotsam can be purchased on the Timglaset website here.
& Jetsom can be purchased through Simulacrum Press here.
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