Kyle Flemmer, Building Permit: Capitol Hill
The most radical poetry prompts us to take action. This collection from poet, publisher, digital media artist, and small press powerhouse Kyle Flemmer is a rousing to, as the author describes it, “bluntly name colonization, neoliberalism, and gentrification as instruments of power exercising control over the land.” Building Permit: Capitol Hill is a little bit prose poetry, a little bit visual poetry, a little bit photo-collage, and a lotta bit decolonial force. Inspired by the photo-collage work of Roy Miki and the critical-creative lexicons of Monika Kin Gagnon, this collection uses real estate terminology, archival materials, and the author’s own photographs to reconsider the re/development of the Capitol Hill neighbourhood in Calgary.
Printed in a limited run of fifty copies at Product Photo in Toronto, this chapbook is written and photographed and collaged by Kyle Flemmer. Typeset by Dani Spinosa who also made a chunky mess of one of the author’s photographs for the cover.
Sample Poem:
settle: If we settle for nothing now, you won’t take action later.