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Salt & Fig Books folksy, narrative, free verse that is down to earth and strangely satisfying. The poetry imprint of Flying Ketchup Press ® to develop new and diverse voices through one annual anthology. Our dream is to salvage lost treasure troves of written and illustrated work—to create worlds of wonder and delight, to share your story.
Our first book with Poet t.l. Sanders, Missouri poet, inspired an award-winning performance and film. In 2020, we started our national Editor in Residence Program.​
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NIGHT FOREST: FOLK POETRY, STORY & ART
2023 POETRY ANTHOLOGY
THE PATH OF BIRDS curates a collection of twenty-five new and rising International poets and features the intricate narrative verse of Araceli Esparza. These poets beckon you to emerge tooth and claw-to fly, crest, and ultimately soar. These poems are not mere avian observations but the lyrical voices of daily song. They answer editor Samantha Malay's egg question, "Do we all dream of flight in our briny cradles?" Inspired by our kinship to birds, these poems borrow their fledgling journey, meeting each day and its struggles with migrational persistence. With the reading, these poems will crack open and wake you to something new and alive. They honor the journey, the nesting of parent and child, the love of words in artfully feathered hearts. They ask, where can't our words take us if they have wings? Illustrated with beautiful, luscious, full-color artwork by artists Robin Moravec & Joha Bisone, this book is a unique gift for the creative soul.
POEMS IN GLASS: HASNA SAL
OUR 2020-2021 POET IN RESIDENCE
POEMS IN GLASS: HASNA SAL is a uniquely original book--part memoir, part revelation. Through the panes, poems, and practice of glass artist Hasna Sal, you'll find the heart of a poet. "From the pulse of a small city park at dusk, one artist is forever changed." Hasna's insistence that "the artist's role is to bring awareness" sounds simple until you walk the bed of shards Hasna crosses with the people in her community. From a local doctor and his family in crisis, to the invisible victims of human trafficking, to the weary student in need of spiritual sustenance, Hasna explores both outer and inner sanctum, and our deepest needs for spirit and light. Illustrated with her brilliantly cast unpaned glass art, Hasna's lyrical verse harkens back to the form of Sufi poets and the warmth of bygone days where color brings visceral emotion and therapeutic energy to the mind and body. "Color is the elixir of life," she says. Read Hasna's stories and poetry as she lets color and prisms serenade her narratives through art and verse. Read more on our Poet in Residence Page.
ISBN 13: 978-1-970151-46-6 softcover $25.99
ISBN 13: 978-1-970151-45-9 Hardcover coming soon
ISBN 13: 978-1-970151-47-3 Epub $9.99
Released Oct 10, 2021
In the media
NIGHT FOREST: FOLK POETRY, STORY & ART
2021 POETRY ANTHOLOGY
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NIGHT FOREST: Folk Poems and Stories Illustrated by artist Elka Trittel and featuring award-winning poets Katharyn Howd Machan and Gary Baumier, this collection fights for forgotten wonder and reaches into colorful truths with new bite. Reading this collection will make you want to take up the mythic path and find the heart of your inner hero. The collection contains works by over 50 international poets as well as six short stories: "Fomka" by Katie Sakanai, "Briefest Use" by Hayden Moore, "Swan Song" by Caroline Sidney, "Good Gal" by Hayli McClain, "Just a Pile of Stones" by Kevin Callahan, and "Eleventh Night" by Lauren Tunnell. ​
THE VERY EDGE: POEMS
2020 INTERNATIONAL POETRY ANTHOLOGY
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The Very Edge is an intense collection of urgent and inspiring poetry that brings together writers in English, Spanish, and French. Co-edited by Polly Alice McCann and Araceli Esparza, it celebrates thirty-six contemporary poets such as New York poet Anne Whitehouse and Kansas Poet Laureate Huascar Medina. Let them take you on a journey across border towns and prairies to the top of the Swiss Alps; fly from the waters of the Amazon to Manhattan rooftops into an arid land where you can sit at the table and hear stories woven from the frayed edges of our hope. With art direction by designer KÄ“vin Callahan, this book features several artists, including the work of textile designer and photographer Samantha Malay and incredible meditative portraits by award-winning artist Mano Sotelo.
Meet Poets Omar Bárcena, Jill Bronfman, Michelle Brooks, Tara Carnes, Kevin Callahan, Don Cellini, Paul Dresman, Alan Dunnett, Kristin Gallagher, Araceli Esparza, Malcolm Glass, Jeffrey Hantover, Eric Machan Howd, Donna Isaac, Vicci Jacobs, A. Kaiser, David Lohrey, Anthony Thomas Lombardi, Evamaria Lugo, Katharyn Howd Machan, Samantha Malay, Janet McMillan Rives, Huascar Medina, Cécile Oumhani, Eloísa Pérez-Lozano, Janet M. Powers, Bruce Pratt, Julie Sellers, Mary Silwance, NOBODY the Poet, Joe Weintraub, Anne Whitehouse, Megan Wildhood, and Guinotte Wise. Read more on our blog or our The Very Edge story page.
BLUE CITY: POEMS
2019 POETRY ANTHOLOGY
Blue City Poets: Kansas City, with Cover Art by Susan Kiefer. Blue City Poets: Kansas City-- From the pulse of a starlit Mid-Town roof to the beat of a cicada-humming-July-blue-summer day; from memories of the rolling prairie to the squeaky wheel of the shopping cart on a blizzard-ready night on the Eastside, Kansas City is home to the blues in a dozen ways. Come sit for a spell with like memories, or visit for the first time. These words of Kansas City poets will draw you in with a longing that is as real as it is enjoyable until you agree, 'there is no place like home.' Illustrated with lush, buoyant paintings by Michael B Savage, SAV art gallery. Works by Malcolm Byers, KÄ“vin Paul Callahan, William Edward Dozier, Melissa Goodnight, Jamie Lynn Heller, Mary-Lane Kamberg, C.M. Millen, Frances A. Rove, Mary Silwance, T.L. Sanders, Taylor Ware. Read more on our Blue City Poets Story page or our blog.
kNew THE POETIC SCREENPLAY & CHAPBOOK
2019-2020 Poet in Residence
POET T.L. SANDERS
The Poetic Screenplay kNew is a lyrical screenplay at the heart of open mic. Like jazz, T.L. Sanders' poetry is his affinity for sound. “Intense, gripping . . . a one-two punch . . . written in fire and delivered with thunder," writes reviewer Kelly Luck. These debut poems present Dr. James Dean, a quiet family man who goes back to Kansas City to mourn the death of a father he hardly knew. The Blue Room holds just another stage where anyone can spit some lyrics. But this night, a new vision awakens when a community grieves a prodigal father. Something new emerges in the hearts of those willing to speak their truth . . . and who takes the stage might very well surprise you. Read more about Poet. T.L. Sanders on our kNew Story page or our blog, and find knew: The Chapbook.