“What’s left of literature.”
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A Brief History
So Many Birds publishing [aka SMBp] was an independent not-for-profit small press which produced quality chapbooks for writers, artists, and musicians. Elegant and cost-effective, these books afforded those who published with SMBp an excellent opportunity to introduce their work to the general public, offering them greater recognition in the community.
Founded by Stephen Jackson in Eugene, OR in the late 1990s, the first two chapbooks, fifteen and Saturnine Lives, were of his own writing, however, the response to the quality of design and craftsmanship led him to encourage others to entrust SMBp with the production of their own books.
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In 2000, SMBp relocated to Seattle, Washington and Jackson began scouting for writers whose work deserved a wider audience than the local café open mic night. Between 2000-03, SMBp published eight chapbooks and one bound book for seven individual writers and one musician.
In 2002, SMBp created Future+Present, a biannual chapbook-style publication with original cover art created by local artists. Each issue featured a selection of work from five poets aged 25-and-under who lived in the Seattle area, had not been previously published, and were dedicated to their craft.
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Not only involved directly in the promotion of the writers’ work through book release events and various readings, SMBp became a family of writers, holding regular meet-ups where writers could discuss their own and each other’s work. These gatherings would often turn into spontaneous private readings and discussions of future publications.
In 2003, Jackson joined forces with writer/editor Brendan Kiley to develop, design, and produce Harness literary magazine. The two of them working anonymously through its entire run under the pseudonyms of editors Clyde Tombaugh and Claude Souvenir [Jackson and Kiley, respectively].
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At this time, SMBp stopped producing individual chapbooks and, after three successful issues, ceased publication of Future+Present. With the work of twenty-five talented writers published under the So Many Birds name, SMBp redirected its energy solely into the new literary magazine.
Harness held true to SMBp’s original goal of focusing attention on the local writing community, while also aiming to publish the work of more established writers. Maintaining a humorous and surrealist bent, it presented itself as “an international publication seeking enough gas money to get beyond Seattle’s city limits.”
The name derived from a line by poet Vanessa Sooy, “poetry is a rat-sized harness / for the Martian horse / inside us.” Jackson had envisioned an extension of the metaphor as an opportunity to harness the energy of the Seattle writing community, as many outside publications continued to either neglect the burgeoning scene, or were simply unaware of it.
The first year of Harness included original fiction, poetry, plays, essays, and oddities from the likes of Rebecca Brown, Robert Glück, Gregory Hischak, Yves Jaques, Brendan Kiley, Stacey Levine, Camille Roy, Matthew Stadler, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Deborah Woodard, and playwright Wayne Rawley.
Interviews included Pulizer prize-winning poet Galway Kinnell, Egyptian poet Mohammed Metwalli, as well as Christina Nation and Karyna McGlynn, who represented Seattle in the 2003 National Poetry Slam. Musician Michael Franti of Spearhead was featured in an article on hip-hop as literature — part of an ongoing series of essays by editor Brendan Kiley [writing as Souvenir], which also included a feature on a poetry workshop for juvenile felons.
In addition, there were appearances by Sherman Alexie, Christopher Frizzelle of The Stranger, and De Kwok of Tablet magazine. Regular columnists included Greg Bachar [“Lives in Seattle”] and David LaTerre [“Atlantic & Pacific”].
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Later issues included new work from writers J. Wesley Fullerton, Elizabeth Alexander, Julianna Spallholz, Michael C. Boyko, Frank Montesonti, Aaron Burch, Crysta Casey, playwritght Tommy Smith, Vanessa Sooy, and Stokely Towles, and featured original artwork from Willow Bittner and Max Moore — who imagined the likenesses of editors “Clyde and Claude” for the cover of the first anniversary issue.
Featured essays appeared from Selah Saterstrom on Japanese haibun, and Brendan Kiley [as Souvenir] on language and dance, including an interview with internationally renowned Israeli choreographer Ohad Nahirin of the Batsheva Dance Company, while James D. Newman was added as a regular columnist [“Ascensions & Eclipses”] and Maged Zaher [“A Book Considered”] as book reviewer.
Returning features and reader favorites included the “Get Listed!” guide to local poetry readings for the greater Northwest area, “Ex Nihilo,” in which fictional readers submitted self-generated art, and the “Who’s reading?” column, where local and national writers and/or the person-on-the-street were pitted against each other in their reading and writing habits.
Please check back on occasion as additional information about SMBp chapbooks, Harness literary magazine, and Future+Present is added, including images and excerpts.
© 2026 Stephen Jackson — all rights reserved.
