Founder James Meetze | Founded 2002 | |
Tougher Disguises is a publisher of experimental poetry, based in San Diego, California. It was founded by poet James Meetze in 2002, publishing small letterpress editions by a pair of established poets, Peter Gizzi and Clark Coolidge.
Since 2003, Tougher Disguises has dedicated itself to publishing works by a new wave of less-established experimental poets such as Noah Eli Gordon, K. Silem Mohammad, Cynthia Sailers, Chris Stroffolino, Stephanie Young, and Chuck Stebelton. They are perhaps best known for K. Silem Mohammad's Deer Head Nation, the earliest book-length collection of Flarf poetry. "Mars Needs Terrorists," a poem from this collection, was selected for inclusion in the 2004 volume of the Best American Poetry series.
The name of the press is an allusion to the first poem in Jack Spicer's book Language.