auxarczen press is a small press created in 2019. In the mid-eighties, two friends were having a discussion about The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, specifically one of the four songwriters in the band, Larry Lee. His songs cut right through the muck and transported you to a peaceful place, a place of zen. We arrived at Ozark Zen, the french explorers who mapped the area settled on Aux Arcs. I carried the phrase with me for a few years and eventually used it in a poem and when it came time to publish again, it was obvious what the name of the press would be. Sometime later, while we were reading the acknowledgments in the liner notes to their album Men From Earth, we see a thank you to Lew Welch. 

It couldn’t be better, thanks Kyle. 

        - Michael Cartright