Orchid Tierney

Chet
Bakers
Teeth

Capped and gapped, laid down,
on the dirty alleys ground
‘it’s the spaces between –
the notes not played’ –
‘it’s not what you say –
it’s how it’s sayed -
and those other musical
titbits you keep in your
pocket with your outfit.
And your chops are a white boys –
no Gatemouth here, no Miles –
just a skinny white junkie boy
who can blow so sad . . .
Oh Chet – play me something
new ! . . . A drug deal gone bad
your front teeth kicked out -
Laying there gold capped on the ground, a little worn down
aahh Chet – those teeth were the foundation of your sound!
for sure your embrochure!
but your habit was catching up and now old Chet’s teeth are
lying down on the ground and old Chet – he’s coming down,
poor Chet –
lost his teeth, his health,
his ear, for fear,
for fearing,
coming down
and losing his
sound.

I love the smell of fresh ink; I love the feel of paper; I love the weight, the downward pressure of a book when I suspend it from my hands. Perhaps as a digital writer I feel my relationship to paper more keenly since I am aware of this strange distance from my body to cyberspace’s ephemeral electrons and microchips.  So it was wonderful to finally meet Rob Lamb, poet and printer who runs The Gumtree Press, one of the few surviving letterpress outfits in New Zealand. Rob is old schooled trained and his books are testament to his keen detail and aesthetic craftmanship. Together with bookbinder, David Stedman of DutyBound, Rob forms a trinity – printer, binder and poet – that recalls the heritage of collaboration with the artistic process. It is unfortunate that with the advent of ebooks, writers and would-be writers can cloister themselves  and lose sight of  the systematic actions which are critical to the  printed page’s materiality.

Likewise as an accomplished poet, Rob’s works infer a raw tactility that words themselves create a physicality beyond their ink. I was fortunate to hold Rob’s own book, A New Zealot on Saturday (“Don’t drool on it!” he said), which exists in my mind as a paragon of eventualisation. Through letterpress, poetry is THE process.  Rob’s poetry is delightfully visual which marries well with the poetry of letterpress. I’d certainly suggest that Rob’s creativity as poet and printer, deserve a strong place in our literary consciousness. Be sure to check out The Gumtree Press‘ website and facebook page.