Something wonderful I recently pulled out of the archive —
the catalog of books once upon a time published by
Cherry Valley Editions.
Charles and Pamela Plymell, and back when they
published my first book of poems Rope of Bells (1974),
Joshua Norton was also part of the merry printing pranksters.
Some may recall Charley Plymell was one of the first to
publish then unknown R. Crumb.
As I recall my book was published in 250 copies and
went out of print almost immediately,
I'm not sure why, no one knew me at all,
except Pam, who I was in regular correspondence with,
and in each letter I tucked in another poem.
Pam had a plan.
The CVE little books were printed by xerox on kraft paper —
ingenuous as far as I'm concerned — stapled and
light and easy to move along and to this
day I covet the copies I own.
Charles & Pamela Plymell
