The Bodily Press: Lyric Madness — A New Chapter for an Independent Publishing House and Record Label
Overlapping Circles: The Bodily Press End-of-Year Fundraiser 2025
Common ground in poetry and publishing: more books, collaborations, live events, a new neurodivergent poetry series, and the means to sustain the future of The Bodily Press
Poets are solitary, disparate, embodied; let’s face it: spiny creatures. The Bodily Press aims to bring together poets and poetry communities diverse in identity, aesthetics, and ideology, narrowing the gap and focusing the lens through which an interface of collaborative publishing can emerge.
Over the past year, as founding editor of The Bodily Press, I have not only published 30 books by 20 authors, but have organized over a half-dozen events featuring 17 authors, both from the press’ roster, and from outside its ranks. In gathering poets whose work spans numerous cultural, political, and intellectual histories and perspectives, my aim is to confront a shared sense of alienation and isolation head-on, seeking solidarity and unity in a publishing landscape more often defined by competitive, capitalistic modes of engagement than by collective struggle. My experiment thus far has yielded extraordinary results. I am now asking for your support to continue these endeavors into the new year.
As with previous fundraisers, I am offering “rewards” for various tiers of donation, which are listed along the right side of this page. Feel free to scroll down and peruse them all! You can also check out our General Support page, where you can donate by check as well.
My plans for the end of the year and into the new year include the following events:
Friday and Saturday, November 21-22nd, 2025: The Northampton Antiquarian Book, Ephemera and Book Arts Fair. The Bodily Press will table at this event, alongside other small presses local to Western MA, as well as a variety of sellers specializing in rare and antiquarian books. You can find more information and purchase tickets at www.northamptonbookfair.com
Friday, December 5th, 2025: Poet Susan M. Schultz visits from Hawaii to read in Northampton with Bodily Press author and poet Patrick Pritchett, as well as Bodily Press founder, poet and pianist Eliot Cardinaux (me). I will perform Black Swans, a long-form through-composed suite of solo piano compositions and poetry that I hope to record next year. The event starts at 7:00 PM at the New England Visionary Artists Museum
April 25th, 2026: Boog City presents The Bodily Press in Brooklyn. 2:00-4:00 PM at Block Hill Station in South Slope. Featuring readings from Deja Rene Carr (AKA Mal Devisa), Mark Scroggins, Uche Nduka, David Need, Jill Stengel, Eliot Cardinaux, and music from Steve Swell and Ellen Christi: Songs from the Poetry Box.
Late Summer/Early Fall, 2026: The Bodily Press at Amherst Books. Featuring readings by Andrew Mossin, Martha McCollough, and Jim Dunn. Date TBA.
These are just the events that are already on the books. There will be more to follow!
Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This. A chapbook of new work by the Amherst poet and author of Trash Witch.
Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen). An experimental chapbook that asks how words actually feel about being used.
Joseph Simas: Shuffle (Introducing — Anime Titles). The author’s first significant publication in poetry since 1996.
Steve Swell and Ellen Christi: Songs from the Poetry Box. A poetry collection with a CD insert featuring poetry from one of free music’s most influential trombonists, with sound design from his artistic partner, Ellen Christi.
Michael Augustin: How It Goes. A chapbook of work from the Bremen-based poet translated from the original German by Sujata Bhatt and the author.
Maged Zaher: Illness. Work by the Egyptian poet compiled from a series of notebooks dated to 2023.
Andrew Mossin: Drafts for Shelley. Retrospective work by the veteran poet created out of his study of and excavations from the draft notebooks of Percy Bysshe Shelley, completed in 2014 and never before published in full.
The Robert Francis Neurodivergent Poetry Series, edited by Nathan Spoon and Kiana Shaley. This series will feature one book per year by a neurodivergent poet selected by the series editors in collaboration with Bodily Press editors Eliot Cardinaux and Shana Bulhan. The author and title of the inaugural selection, to be published in 2026, are yet to be determined.
Titles published since the last fundraiser include:
Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend
Uche Nduka: To Umber
David Need: Broken Windows
Jim Dunn: Angry Bull’s Cadence
Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World
Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe
Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy
For more information on any of these titles, again, please scroll down and check each "reward" as it is listed along the right side of this page.
As always, THANK YOU so much in advance for anything you can give. Donations like yours are crucial. Your support allows me to continue to bring these poetry titles into the world, and therefore, into your hands. Your faith in my work means the world to me.
Sincerely,
Eliot Cardinaux
Founding Editor
The Bodily Press
NOTE: The Bodily Press is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of The Bodily Press must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only. Any contribution above the value of goods provided as "reward" is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Rewards
Featured
The Latest (2 Chapbooks, by Martha McCollough & Michael Schuffler)
Donate $28.00 or more
Amount over $22.00 is tax-deductible.
Includes:
Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This & Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)
Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)
Donate $15.00 or more
Amount over $10.00 is tax-deductible.
Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)What does it mean to "use" words? How do we render words our accomplices as writers? Is that relationship consensual? What are words' own perspectives as living entities? In Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen), Michael Schuffler helps us to imagine what words might feel, enriching our relationship to language beyond what we can make words do on a page. A slim, 32 page pocket book, this starling collection asks us to reckon with our power to name(and)call. Fraught with intrigue and perplexity, it is a tiny but densely crafted work to be considered over time.
4.25 x 6.875". 32 pages.
Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe
Donate $15.00 or more
Amount over $10.00 is tax-deductible.
Mark Scroggins: obelisk absintheThese six sections from Mark Scroggins' serial poem Zion Offramp were written between July 2023 and May 2024. They are bracketed by the two poems of Scroggins' earlier Bodily Press chapbook forage acanthus (2024), which contains sections 112 and 119.
6 x 9". 38 pages.
Martha McCollough: I woke up for this
Donate $17.00 or more
Amount over $12.00 is tax-deductible.
Martha McCollough: I woke up for thisI Woke Up for This begins with a cycle of short poems meditating on the Angel of History, followed by poems embodying perspectives shifting from the internal: “once my body / carried me here and there / like a good horse” to the cosmic: “one day you realize / nature is merciless / and the gods are awful”. Through shifting, layered points of view, grim to hopeful to darkly hilarious, these poems consider solitude, black mold, bad paintings, and “the long catastrophe through which we somehow live”.
6 x 9". 58 pages.
Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence
Donate $17.00 or more
Amount over $12.00 is tax-deductible.
Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence"Angry Bull’s Cadenceis a tight volume of original poems crafted alphabetically, with surgical precision. ...A clever conceit that might initially seem simplistic, but Dunn goes the extra mile, weighing every word equally, and pulls it off with aplomb. Each poem consists of 26-word bursts arranged in a list. Rat-a-tat-tat. A thinker’s delight. These poems may prompt you to try a few of your own. A lively, colorful painting by Alex Stroup, in pitch perfect sync with the poems, completes the package by providing the wraparound book cover. Serious fun inside and out."
-Bing McGilvray
6 x 9". 44 pages.
Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy
Donate $18.00 or more
Amount over $12.99 is tax-deductible.
Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy Cyclonic, upheavaling, remote yet close-at-hand, from Coltrane swirls, Monk-like clumps, Rothko stackings, Dolphy darts, ZAPs (zinging activation procedures), & MUPAEs (mutational update panel animation extenders), Heller Levinson's toward a reduced philanthropy is Language masquerading as poetry while defying the very category of poetry, of convention, classification, hierarchical grids, & stale conditionings.
7 x 10". 28 pages.
Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend
Donate $20.00 or more
Amount over $15.00 is tax-deductible.
Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy BendBarnacles sparkle, puffins glint, human practices result in fish-strewn beaches. Like blue-green algae on lakes and ponds, red tide is a naturally occurring phenomena. Nourished by human waste and warming waters, cyanobacteria multiply in harmful algal blooms (HABs) that release neurotoxins. In a whirl of games, addictions, concussions, swimming bans, Mary Gilliland's Red Tide at Sandy Bend posits a world of creaturely interdependence visceral and intimate.
7.44 x 9.68". 48 pages.
David Need: Broken Windows
Donate $22.00 or more
Amount over $16.99 is tax-deductible.
David Need: Broken Windows"The poems in Broken Windows are from 1994-98. They look back to a spiritual emergency I’d had in my early 20s while living in the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts. I’d had one of those Beatrice love encounters that seems to happen to some poets and that led me to a daily meditation practice (1-3) hours and eventually to pursue graduate work in Buddhist Studies. By the time these poems were written, I’d stopped identifying as a Buddhist and was searching for ways to tell other folks about who I was/what had happened to me. Many of these poems were written as 3-5 minute performance pieces; I’d introduce a poem with a story about one of the impossible things that had happened to me — the three miracles I’d seen, or a story from one of my hitchhiking trips across America. The language in the poems is simple because I was trying to talk about something that isn’t straightforward but matters."
—David Need
6 x 9". 66 pages.
Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World
Donate $22.00 or more
Amount over $16.99 is tax-deductible.
Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded Wolrd"There’s a doubled long-poem (think Nate Mackey’s Mu/Song of the Andoumboulou) sounding its way out over the flood plains of the Connecticut River outside Northampton MA. Over a series of volumes published in 2024-5, Eliot Cardinaux (who has one foot in jazz piano and the other kicking pine needles on a trail in Shutesbury) has been developing a numbered sequence of 3-4 stanza open form poems (often dedicated) alongside their Mile Marker suite. A Species of this Invaded World gives us XXVI-L of the first, and miles 72-100 of the second."
—David Need, author of Sweetbitter & Broken Windows
6 x 9". 126 pages.
Uche Nduka: To Umber
Donate $23.00 or more
Amount over $17.99 is tax-deductible.
Uche Nduka: To Umber"The act of writing is an invitation to inquiry, argument, communion. Poetry is woven into the very fabric of the sensuous, the emotional, the political. My work leans into wonder but goes beyond just beauty. I let the poem dance in the light and shadow of all kinds of truth and experience. For me, the keyword is justice. The poems in To Umber combat stoic indifference and silence. I believe that the work of a cosmic lover is never over. In me the poetry of revolt has found its writer."
the poems in obelisk absinthe, six sections from Mark Scroggins' serial poem Zion Offramp, were written between July 2023 and May 2024. They are bracketed by the two poems of Scroggins' earlier Bodily Press chapbook forage acanthus (2024), which contains sections 112 and 119.
2 Full-Lengths (2 Poetry Collections, one each by Uche Nduka & David Need)
Donate $42.00 or more
Amount over $35.98 is tax-deductible.
Includes
Uche Nduka: To Umber & David Need: Broken Windows
3 Full-Lengths (one each by Uche Nduka, David Need, & Eliot Cardinaux)
Donate $60.00 or more
Amount over $51.97 is tax-deductible.
Includes:
Uche Nduka: To Umber David Need: Broken Windows Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World
Spring 2026 Subscription
Donate $75.00 or more
Amount over $65.00 is tax-deductible.
Includes the following titles:
Joseph Simas: Shuffle (Introducing — Anime Titles) Michael Augustin: How It Goes Maged Zaher: Illness Steve Swell/Ellen Christi: Songs from the Poetry Box
Eliot Cardinaux: Miles & Murmurations (4 books of doubled long song)
Donate $75.00 or more
Amount over $67.54 is tax-deductible.
Eliot Cardnaux: Miles & Murmurations"There’s a doubled long-poem (think Nate Mackey’s Mu/Song of the Andoumboulou) sounding its way out over the flood plains of the Connecticut River outside Northampton MA. Over a series of volumes published in 2024-5, Eliot Cardinaux (who has one foot in jazz piano and the other kicking pine needles on a trail in Shutesbury) has been developing a numbered sequence of 3-4 stanza open form poems (often dedicated) alongside their Mile Marker suite."
-David Need
This doubled long song now encapsulates over 150 poems: Miles 0-100 of "Rope of Sand," and I-L of "Murmurations" span four collections, interspersed with other work, dating from 2023-2025.
This reward includes:
The Ocean from Here to Here Wandering Subject Starlings &A Species of This Invaded World
All 4 books are 6 x 9" / US Trade.
Fall 2025 Chapbook Bundle (6 Chapbooks)
Donate $80.00 or more
Amount over $71.99 is tax-deductible.
Includes:
Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen) Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence
Fall 2025 Bundle
Donate $135.00 or more
Amount over $123.96 is tax-deductible.
Includes:
Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend David Need: Broken Windows Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World Uche Nduka: To Umber Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)
Fall 2025 - Spring 2026 Bundle/Subscription
Donate $195.00 or more
Amount over $188.96 is tax-deductible.
Includes:
FALL 2025:
Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend David Need: Broken Windows Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World Uche Nduka: To Umber Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)
SPRING 2026:
Joseph Simas: Shuffle (Introducing — Anime Titles) Michael Augustin: How It Goes Maged Zaher: Illness Steve Swell/Ellen Christi: Songs from the Poetry Box
Full-Year Bundle 2025 (A Full Year's Worth of Books!)
Donate $295.00 or more
Amount over $282.42 is tax-deductible.
Includes all 2025 titles:
SPRING:
Andrew Mossin: A Common World Patrick Pritchett: Brief Mercy of This Life Eliot Cardinaux: Wandering Subject and Starlings Tasha Robbins: An Angel Alphabet John Phillips: Concrete Sarah Menefee: Winter Rose Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi: A smudge. Attenuated. paul catafago: The Palestinian Freedom Now Suite A.L. Nielsen: Supertrios (Disc 1) Deja Rene Carr (AKA Mal Devisa): Elbow Sugar
FALL:
Uche Nduka: To Umber Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)
Full-Year Bundle + Spring 2026 Subscription (A Year and a Half's Worth of Books!)
Donate $375.00 or more
Amount over $347.42 is tax-deductible.
Includes all 2025 titles + all Spring 2026 titles:
SPRING 2025:
Andrew Mossin: A Common World Patrick Pritchett: Brief Mercy of This Life Eliot Cardinaux: Wandering Subject and Starlings Tasha Robbins: An Angel Alphabet John Phillips: Concrete Sarah Menefee: Winter Rose Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi: A smudge. Attenuated. paul catafago: The Palestinian Freedom Now Suite A.L. Nielsen: Supertrios (Disc 1) Deja Rene Carr (AKA Mal Devisa): Elbow Sugar FALL 2025:
Uche Nduka: To Umber Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)
SPRING 2026:
Joseph Simas: Shuffle (Introducing — Anime Titles) Michael Augustin: How It Goes Maged Zaher: Illness Steve Swell/Ellen Christi: Songs from the Poetry Box
Full Catalogue + Spring 2026 Subscription (All of Our Books!)
Donate $500.00 or more
Amount over $487.42 is tax-deductible.
Includes all 2024 titles + all 2025 titles + all Spring 2026 titles:
FALL 2024:
Eliot Cardinaux: Quiet Labor, Toy Elegy, This Music From Another Room, and The Ocean From Here to Here Nathaniel Mackey: By Bent Light Denver Butson: The Etcetera Variations Mark Scroggins: forage acanthus Norman Finkelstein: Four Episodes Joseph Donahue: An Drochshaol
SPRING 2025:
Andrew Mossin: A Common World Patrick Pritchett: Brief Mercy of This Life Eliot Cardinaux: Wandering Subject and Starlings Tasha Robbins: An Angel Alphabet John Phillips: Concrete Sarah Menefee: Winter Rose Khashayar "Kess" Mohammadi: A smudge. Attenuated. paul catafago: The Palestinian Freedom Now Suite A.L. Nielsen: Supertrios (Disc 1) Deja Rene Carr (AKA Mal Devisa): Elbow Sugar FALL 2025:
Uche Nduka: To Umber Mary Gilliland: Red Tide at Sandy Bend Heller Levinson: toward a reduced philanthropy Jim Dunn: Angry Bull's Cadence Mark Scroggins: obelisk absinthe Eliot Cardinaux: A Species of This Invaded World Martha McCollough: I Woke Up for This Michael Schuffler: Mascot Anastasia (prone as snowmen)
SPRING 2026:
Joseph Simas: Shuffle (Introducing — Anime Titles) Michael Augustin: How It Goes Maged Zaher: Illness Steve Swell/Ellen Christi: Songs from the Poetry Box
