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About the CHAPS Poetry Series ...

Squares & Rebels, a queer and/or disability imprint, has decided to branch out a bit with a new poetry (and occasionally prose) chapbook series featuring the work of queer male poets. Each chapbook, often showcasing unpublished work, is 32 pages long and printed on high-quality paper stock with the outer and inner covers in full color. We plan to publish two slates of three or four titles each year in the fall and spring. All print sales are direct orders from us within the United States only (see below about international shipping); in fact, you won't find our CHAPS Poetry Series titles on Amazon and other online vendors. (Of course, each CPS title will be available as e-books.) This limited approach enables us to pay our writers a higher royalty rate and still break even with the creative risks our writers take in their work. At the moment, submissions to the CHAPS Poetry Series are by invitation only. We do expect to open up eventually to queries from writers who've purchased at least one CPS title here. Thank you for your interest! * As it turns out, international shipping rates have proven to be exorbitant, which is why we have to warn you in advance. If you're still interested, please order away!

The First Slate | The Second Slate | The Third Slate (forthcoming)

THE SECOND SLATE: Spring 2025

No. 4: ARKANSAS LUGGAGE by Ed Madden

AN ELEPHANT HAIR BRACELET By Ed Madden At some point, I don’t remember when, I realized that things could disappear in my overnight bag, the one I usually took with me on short trips when I was in grad school. Thin things like a magazine or my checkbook could slide down the side and under the flat plastic bottom into a hidden space beneath. There were four metal knobs on the bottom, to hold it stable, protect the bag when it slammed through the airport baggage, but they also lifted it just enough that the fake bottom, like a pouch, could expand, taking in whatever you’d lost, whatever you’d found ... Order your own copy right here!

No. 5: THE GREAT OCEAN OF THE PLAINS by David Cummer

AUGUST ON THE FARM By David Cummer Standing in the middle of the asphalt road, in the middle of everything, is like standing in the middle time. That translculent, silver glint to the East? That dented corrugated metal silo on its side after the straight line winds blew it off the concrete pad? How long away is that? See the grain elevator in Chaffe? Only a dark flint chip in the West the murky color of brackish water in a culvert but as massive as the one across from Grandma Betty's house. Infinity begins in the South pasture. Order your own copy right here!

No. 6: OTHER DANCES by David Rutiezer

GRATITUDE By David Rutiezer For my mother's paintings on our walls, balloon-bat faces flowing jewel-colored with their almond eyes. And another of swans bobbing along a river, their necks craning. For a series of photos from the shoot I slept through decades ago, her cradling Brownie, puppy-eye excited, his ears abrupt triangles. For the calendar she got me of tornadoes churning through the Midwest that I'll soon give away, too stress-inducing too early in the day, though fragile flowers pictured in her own calendar get eaten by bugs, wither, decay. For her bed I now sleep in with its banistered headboard ... Order your own copy right here!

THE FIRST SLATE: Fall 2024

No. 1: I WAS A TEENAGE EXORCIST by Mark Ward

POLICE SKETCH By Mark Ward I don’t believe that you cannot describe the man who broke your heart so violently. Start with the eyes, that’s normally where it begins to show: the wince he tries to hide when you drone on, the other faces inside his phone, the messages planning his flit. You dated for a year and you can’t see his aggrieved face each time you close your eyes? I normally don’t ask but why are you looking for him? You said he was missing but he isn’t. We questioned him last night. And so far everything he said is true, that you’re consumed by baseless misgivings. We made a sketch of you. It’s quite a sight. Order your own copy right here!

No. 2: FIERCE KISSES by M.J. Arcangelini

TALK TO ME By M.J. Aracangelini Cuddling close together in bed, a bad movie flickering. Tell me about eternity as though you really know something about it. Describe the rose to me, explain again how it can rust in the sunlight. Remind me of spring's swift swollen creeks crashing through canyons. Sliding beneath the bedding tendril arms encircle you, ear pressed to your furry chest listening to your voice muffled by the quilt, an echo from within. Now, talk to me of love. Order your own copy right here!

No. 3: THAT TIME I MET EINSTEIN AND OTHER CATASTROPHES by Eric Thomas Norris

Some witty stories with equally witty doodles. ADVANCE PRAISE "Before I read this book, I was confused by Mr. Norris. Having read this book, I am confused about everything--but on a higher level." --Enrico Fermi, Physicist, University of Chicago "Now, I am become Eric--a talker with squirrels." --J. Robert Oppenheimer, writing in the Los Alamos Times "Once you accept the genius of Eric Norris, wearing polka-dots with plaid becomes very easy." --Albert Einstein, Professor Emeritus, Princeton, NJ Order your own copy right here!

Our list so far ...


Better Davis and Other Stories
written by Philip Dean Walker

We Are Not Your Metaphor: A Disability Poetry Anthology
edited by Zoeglossia Fellows

Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman
edited by Raymond Luczak

That Was Something: A Novel
written by Dan Callahan

London Skin & Bones: The Finsbury Park Stories
written by Ian Young

It's Just Nerves: Notes on a Disability
written by Kelly Davio

At Danceteria and Other Stories
written by Philip Dean Walker

The Kiss of Walt Whitman Still on My Lips
written by Raymond Luczak

QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology
edited by Raymond Luczak

Lincoln Avenue: Chicago Stories
written by Gregg Shapiro

When We Become Weavers:
Queer Female Poets on the Midwestern Experience
edited by Kate Lynn Hibbard

Queer & Celtic:
On the Irish LGBT Experience
edited by Wesley J. Koster

Among the Leaves:
Queer Male Poets on the Midwestern Experience
edited by Raymond Luczak



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