The Birth of Asperatus Press

One of the few benefits of the apocalyptic state of our weather -- more commonly known as Climate Change -- is the birth of a new kind of cloud -- Asperatus.  The Cloud Appreciation Society has a lot to say on the subject including the following about how the newest cloud formation in fifty years got its name:

The cloud looks a little like the surface of the sea on a choppy day, which is why we proposed that it should be called asperatus from the Latin verb ‘aspero’, meaning to make rough. The term was used by Roman poets to describe the sea as it was roughened by the cold north wind.

Fifteen years ago when I was living in London, I became obsessed with the clouds I saw outside my window. In fact, I took about a thousand pictures of these clouds -- these were the days before digital and iphone cameras -- with the Canon AE-1 I had gotten for my high school graduation.  From one window, during a period of one whole year, many times a day, I snapped pictures of these council houses across the way and the clouds that drifted past them.  Up and down, up and down, the world would not let me rest.

The clouds did look strange.  In fact, one time it seemed as if the formation I was photographing was an angel kissing the top of one of my buildings.  There were two buildings, actually.  They stood side by side and were the tallest structures in the London landscape I could see from my window.

Little did I know these clouds were not even named yet.  I am quite sure they were Asperatus clouds . When I exhume my box of photographs from the attic, I will send them to The Cloud Appreciation Society just to verify and post them here for you to see.

I didn't know I was photographing Asperatus clouds. And although I knew that the buildings I was photographing looked very much like my Twin Towers at home, I had no idea that just a few years later, my Twin Towers at home would meet the fate they did.

I also had no idea I would be naming my imprint Asperatus Press.  But it seems fitting.  Because I am always interested in new cloud formations, especially when they take the form of poetry and/or prose.

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up!  Oh, and by the way, I'm happy to publish your Asperatus photos if you come across these clouds in your backyard.