Poetry can be a difficult field to break into, but it’s a beautiful medium for sharing thoughts and conveying emotions. That’s why poetry zines are particularly lovely. While someone can start a blog to track their mental health recovery or share their favorite recipes, the world of technology is not always as open for poets.

There’s also something romantic about reading poetry from a zine. I picked up my first poetry zine at a small town secondhand book store when I was 12, long before I even knew what a zine was. Later, sitting alone and drinking in the works of Sheldon Birnie, I knew I was reading prose that few others would take in.

Here are a few of my favorite poetry zines.

inward

This collection of poems by seven writers are from assignments for the Women’s Verse Revival class at the Alexandra Writers Centre in Calgary, Canada. Because of this, some repeat imagery and themes tie many of the pieces in the zine together.

However, it’s not actually disclosed where the pieces came from until the end, which made the repetition of a revolver lying next to a camera in two different poet’s pieces, almost back-to-back, seem like a startling coincidence.

Many of the pieces are reflections on history — both personal and otherwise — so each poem does have a vastly different subject matter, despite the similarities. Each poet also has a distinct style, keeping the themes fresh throughout the 15 meticulously laid out pages.

You can get copies by emailing course instructor Laurie Anne Fuhr at lauriefuhr@gmail.com.

You Win Again

Sheldon Birnie’s 30 page zine of poetry is filled with drinking, drugs, parties, and relationships. It’s dark and raw, some pieces written with long lines, and others in scattered fragments. As the zine goes on, he plays more and more with the space of the page.

However, sometimes his play with punctuation and capitalization seems haphazard rather than planned. There are inconsistencies within poems that could questionably be typos rather than calculated decisions.

Despite this, his use of space and shorthand (yr for your, walkin for walking) helps convey emotions and personality, of which all the poems are chock-full of.

The zine was put out by the now defunct Small Change Press, but Birnie is still kicking around with a couple of new books available.

The Raving Lunatic: Volume 1

This collection of poems by musician Tannis Kelm is as chaotic as the title might suggest. The 16 page zine leaves little white space, with multiple poems crammed onto each page — some even being printed sideways — and frantic sketches filling in the rest.

The text in the poetry has the same vibe with sparse punctuation, infrequent capitalization and wild metaphors. Each poem begs to be read over several times in order to be fully understood, but not in a bad way. Deciphering their codes is, in fact, a delight.

Kelm has since come out with two more volumes, all of which are still available. Just keep an eye out for her new website, which will launch mid-October, for more details. For now, get in touch through her Facebook page.

Pictures: Volume 2

This polished 20-page zine was created by artist and illustrator Kathleen Bergen. The cover is a one-of-a-kind original watercolour painting by the author. Inside is a collection of her poems, beautifully typed using an antique typewriter and accompanied by her own artwork.

Her poetry deals with mental health, sometimes rather literally and other times more metaphorically. Bergen explores some of the feelings that go along with anxiety and depression in ways that others who suffer from similar mental health problems can likely relate to and those who don’t might be able to gain some insight.

The images have a surreal feel, each fitting with the poem it runs alongside but each also done in a different style, showcasing a lot of Bergen’s talents.

For inquiries about Bergen’s work, contact her at kathleen.bergen@hotmail.com.

Poetry zines are an uncommon find; with so many these days focusing on politics, health, and other art forms, it’s a delight to find a zine packed with nothing but poems.

The Poetry Zine Round-Up was originally published in Anomaly on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.