Killaly Contributors: Being an Index to Stuffed Crocodile and Killaly Chapbook Contributors and a List of Their Recent Publications Together with Twenty Found Poems Signed on a Floor

Robert C. Brandeis was Chief Librarian, Victoria University, Toronto.

Regional small press publications are almost a fact of Canadian literary life; it is often difficult, however, to keep track of their transitory appearance.

Killaly Press in London, Ontario, has contributed to the effort of recording the contents of little magazines by publishing the Index to Little Magazines of Ontario (1967-73). They are also noteworthy for the relatively long publishing history of their Stuffed Crocodile (1972-78) and for the 33 titles in the chapbook series.

The press has now apparently ceased publication with the volume under review: this last issue in the chapbook series is enhanced by including an index of the contributors’ publications elsewhere. The tedium of index reading is somewhat alleviated by the inclusion of 20 “found poems” by “Frank B. Arnold,” a name which a handwritten note on the title page of the review copy reveals to be the pseudonym of the prolific Steven Osterland, sometime co-editor of Crocodile. It is also instructive to be reminded that Crocodile published such poets as Ralph Gustafson, Janis Rapoport, and Denise Leverton.

The Index is useful as a record of contributors to Killaly Press publications and for the list of titles in the Chapbook series. The inclusion of contributors’ “recent publications” in other than Killaly Press items is somewhat less useful: it is highly selective and includes, as being “recent,” publications extending back to 1971.