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From au462@cleveland.Freenet.Edu Tue May 7 20:26:38 1996
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 09:04:07 -0500
From: Robert Drake <au462@cleveland.Freenet.Edu>
To: pauls@etext.org
Subject: TRee 4a: zines
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Issue #4.0, section a: zines 2/94
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TapRoot is a quarterly publication of Independent, Underground,
and Experimental language-centered arts. Over the past 10 years,
we have published 40+ collections of poetry, writing, and visio-
verbal art in a variety of formats. In the August of 1992, we
began publish TapRoot Reviews, featuring a wide range of "Micro-
Press" publications, primarily language-oriented. This posting
is the first section of our 4th full electronic issue, containing
all of the short ZINE reviews; the second section contains all of
the chapbook reviews. We provide this information in the hope
that netters do not limit their reading to E-mail & BBSs.
Please e-mail your feedback to the editor, Luigi-Bob Drake, at:
au462@cleveland.freenet.edu
Requests for e-mail subsctiptions should be sent to the same
address--they are free, please indicate what you are requesting--
(a short but human message; this is not an automated listserve).
I believe it is FTPable from UMich, which also archives back issues.
A cummulative, searchable, and x-referenced HyperCard version is
under development--e-mail for status & availablility information.
Hard-copies of TapRoot Reviews contain additional review
material--in issue #4: features on E-Zines; "Remixsponse
Categorryarray" from Sub Rosa Press; John M. Bennett as
Collaborator; Jack Foley's "Adrift"; Roof Books; Audio
publications; recent work by Allison Knowles; and the Global Mail
MailArt Project. TapRoot Reviews intends to survey the boundries
of "literature", and provide access to work that stretches those
boundries.It is availablefrom: Burning Press, PO Box 585, Lakewood
OH 44107--$2.50 pp. Both the print & electronic versions of TapRoot
are copyright 1994 by Burning Press, Cleveland. Burning Press is a
non-profit educational corporation. Permission granted to reproduce
this material FOR NON-COMMERCIAL PURPOSES, provided that this
introductory notice is included. Burning Press is supported, in
part, with funds from the Ohio Arts Council.
Reviewers are identified by their initials at the end of each review:
Mark Amerika, Michael Basinski, Tom Becket, John M. Bennett, Jake
Berry, Daniel Davidson, Luigi-Bob Drake, Mark DuCharme, Bob Edwards,
R. Lee Etzwiler, Mike Gill, Bob Grumman, Joel Lipman, Susan Smith
Nash, Oberc, Charlotte Pressler, Andrew Russ, Nico Vassilakis, and
Thomas Willoch. Additional contributors are welcome: drop an e-note
or send SASE.
*** Many thanx to all of our contributors. ***
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ZINES:
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6IX--(Vol. 3 #1, 1993), 427 W. Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA,
19119. $4.00. Edited by a group of six women (hence the
magazine's name, it would seem), 6IX is a lively collection of
mainly Language-oriented poetry and writing. There are some
beautiful texts in this issue by Alice Notley consisting of linked
phrases each enclosed in quotation marks, a technique that creates
some amazing effects. Also appealing is the poem "The Waiting
Room" by Jacqueline Weltman with its ethereal yet earthy
eroticism, and an manifesto by Susan Smith Nash entitled "Beyond
the Language Movement [reprinted in this issue of TRR] that seems
to address the attitudes that underlie this compilation. Includes
book reviews.--jmb
ABACUS--(October 1993), 181 Edgemont Ave., Elmwood CT, 06110. 19
pp., $3.00. Three long poems by Jefferson Hansen that mix day-to-
day autobiography (about, for instance, a summer job); wordplay
(e.g., "an intensity of tennis shoes"); reflections on language,
epistemology, etc.; politics (like what Tonto would have done
about Saddam)... A bird's cry that can't be borne in words;
skepticism that "begins by realizing/ boundaries, say, between/
skin and feathers, language and music."--bg
ART:MAG--(#16), PO Box 70896, Las Vegas NV, 89170. $3.50.
Vigorous xeroxed zine with Velociraptor intensity "Poetry Eaten
Alive by Dinosaurs"--the poems kick-box and claw their way into
the imagination. The mag man suggests that perhaps the poetry that
crawls into your bloodstream is always a little edgy: "If
Shakespeare were alive today he'd be / making tragic pornographic
soap operas. / He'd be reading at the adult book store / instead
of major universities." Wild graphics by Holly Banks.--ssn
ARTCRIMES--(#14, 1993), 2672 West 14th St., Cleveland OH, 44113.
116 pp., $10.00. An epic assemblage, a box of poemcards, a visual
and tactile a/maze to get lost in. Loosely organized around a
Tarot theme, the poets and visual artists here cross each other's
palms and palimpsests with signs & disfigures, casting fortunes to
the winds to wind up with treasure, Fool's gold. Energetic and
inclusive rather than careful, the press of culture collapsed &
collaged from ancient texts & CocaCola ads, culture plundered
rather than revered. Under the frantic rubble, there's a range of
fine poetry (Amy Sparks, John Byrum, Stacey Sollfrey, Ben
Gulyas...) & graphics (Beth Wolfe, Melissa J. Craig, Valerie
Marek...), plus plenty that is both, or neither. A few pieces
seemed out of place, either dispensable or reprinted from previous
issues, which adds something of a mailart "no rejection" feel.
Plenty to choose from though, and the card format lets you shuffle
& edit your own version.--lbd
AVALON RISING--(May 1993), PO Box 1983, Cincinnati OH, 45201. 16
pp., $1.00. A small, roughly monthly publication with mostly
poetry, plus some fiction, comics, brief reviews, and pen pal ads.
The selection is widely eclectic, with a leaning toward the
surreal. This issue includes one piece each by M. Dorfman, E.
Miller, C. Newton, T.M. McDade, E.L. Locher, J.M. Bennett, & S.C.
Holsted. All poems are given a full page; this, and the small
number of carefully chosen works, makes each stand out nicely.--
jmb
BCCI-KURIL ISLANDS--(#1), 846 Thomas St., State College PA,
16803. 16 PP., $1.00. Some bits of humor, a few pages of
reviews, and a curious take-off on another Horrox-affiliated
publication, "A Rhetorical Apocalypse", entitled "A Rhetorical
Archeopteryx". Overall, this is a moderately interesting zine,
though the best part is a page obtained by searching the Penn
State Library Information Access System for titles beginning with
the phrase "I was".--ar
BLANK GUN SILENCER--(#7), 1993, 1240 William St., Racine WI,
53402. 52 pp., $3.00. BGS is a prime vehicle in the otherstream
for gritty realistic poetry, with drawings, collages, and a little
surreality thrown in for good measure. This issue even kicks off
with that master of grit himself, Charles Bukowski. But he's not
the only master. Further installments of Steve Richmond's
"Gagaku", Kurt Nimmo, editor Dan Nielsen's drawings, Lyn Lifshin,
Lynne Douglas sizzles, and about 50 others. This is a journal
about what is all too real in our lives, and the art of how to
live it.--jb
Editor Dan Nielsen knows how to capture writing with a bite,
and when you to America. In this issue "The UFO Abduction
Experience Examined" breaks down that ever-growing experience that
talk shows have thrived on since Streiber went on tour with his
shrink. Reviews of fanzines, vital documents, literary and
poetry publications, pamphlets, and oddities fill this tabloid
publication. No matter how much you know about the small presses,
editor Ken Wagner will find something you never would have found
anywhere else.--ond reprints from what it finds crawling through
the mailboxes of America. In this issue "The UFO Abduction
Experience Examined" breaks down that ever-growing experience that
talk shows have thrived on since Streiber went on tour with his
shrink. Reviews of fanzines, vital documents, literary and
poetry publications, pamphlets, and oddities fill this tabloid
publication. No matter how much you know about the small presses,
editor Ken Wagner will find something you never would have found
anywhere else.--o
BOUILLABAISSE--(#2, 1992), 31A Waterloo St., New Hope PA, 18938.
72 pp., $8.00. An "international literary magazine [of] Beat and
Post Beat... writings," combining two formerly separate magazines,
COKEFISH and ALPHA BEAT SOUP. This issue is jampacked full of
delightful, complex and stimulating works: Joy Walsh, Bukowski,
Allen Ginsberg, Gerald Locklin, Robert Weir, Judson Crews, and
Robert Howington are just a few of the large number of authors
represented. Fine poets of today and yesterday barnstorm
unalloyed truth-telling and yea' saying in a neo-beat tradition of
unexcelled richness--complex, bold, and often warped. "Today I
saw the end of the world in a friendly wave." Paul Beston chants.
"...a Guthrie with Grammar skills. Traversing the U.S./ Drink and
puke. Drink and puke." D.P. Funkhouser relates in alive poetic
leaps. And, we can't forget the artwork by Dan Nielsen and
Belinda Subraman. BOUILLABAISSE is creative emancipation, broad
and angry, vivid and bleeding, shadowed by a previous generations
greatness of aesthetic preference, by choice, echoing Jack and
Neil, giving us Buk and Allen.--rrle
CHIRON REVIEW--(Vol. XII #3, Autumn 1993), Rt. 2 Box 111, St. John
KS, 67576. 32 pp., $3.00. I love this magazine for many reasons,
not least because it was one of the first to recognize Lorri
Jackson's work (she was a Chicago poet who died of a heroin OD in
1991). Editor Michael Hathaway, who rarely drinks, has that
drinkers edge that gives him the balls to take chances. In this
issue are interviews with Mark Weber and Belinda Subraman--both
known for their underground publishing ventures as well as their
writing. I was caught off guard by some new poems from Padi
Harmon, who used to publish CALLIOPES CORNER and from whom I
hadn't heard in years. Charles Webb's "To Beat the Shit Out of
Someone" had one of the best fight sequences I have seen yet in a
poem: "He punches, you block/ hard enough to crack his forearm/
and make pain leap in his eyes/ your right splatters his nose/
like a bug on a windshield." A review of Blacks by Gwendolyn
Brooks, photographs of many of the poets, and a new Tony Moffeit
poem are just the tips of this iceberg.--o
COMPOST NEWSLETTER--(Fall 1992), 729 Fifth Ave., San Francisco CA,
94118. 24 pp., $2.50. Mostly well-crafted conventional short
stories such as "I Wanted To Kill My Boss But His Brother Beat Me
To It" (by Danielle Wills), which starts: "Artie follows me around
the dressing room at a safe distance of at least five feet because
he's afraid I'm going to lay into him with my shoe again and he
wants to know if I'd be willing to piss on his face because if he
doesn't get his face pissed on at least twice a day he gets
terrible acne."--bg
CRASH NETWORK NEWSLETTER--(July 1993), 519 Castro St. #7, San
Francisco, CA, 94114. 16 pp., $1.00. This issue is devoted to
bicycling, not only as a hobby but as a key to 21st-Century
Transportation. Much data about bike clubs, where to buy bikes
cheaply (police auctions), and the superiority of bicycles to cars
(for one thing, you can park 14 of them in a parking space
designed for a single car). Satire, fiction, cartoons and
drawings, too--not to mention information on their network, set up
to help travelers find places to crash.--bg
DADA TENNIS--(#4, Summer 1993), PO Box 10, Woodhaven NY, 11421.
22 pp. This is an exhilarating and visually appealing issue of
the most unabashedly dada-oriented magazine around, including work
that is both playful and dangerously edgy. This issue includes
work by Kostelanetz, Gerald England, Jake Berry, Michael Basinski,
Malok, Paulauskas, Ficus Strangulensis, Weinman, DeWitt, Pat
Conte, James Chapman, J.M. Bennett, and a lively disjunctive piece
by Alexis Bhagat. One of the high points is a long (9 page) prose
collaboration by eleven different people, written via the
DreamWorld experimental/dada computer BBS, that makes for some
fine disorienting reading.--jmb
DADA TENNIS--(#5, Fall 1993),PO Box 10, Woodhaven NY, 11421. 52
pp. An epic in invented language, with a phonetic centering/motif
in the title "ZIFF." Although "a project of DreamWorld BBS," it
seems to be the solo work of editor Bill Paulauskas. This falls
squarely in the tradition (?? or shadow?) of Hugo Ball's Dada
sound poetry and Kurt Schwitters' Ursonata: "Huzi ZIFF ziinentif
ezi ZIFF oziezie ZIFF ZIFF ZIFF/ zizicant if/ ZIFF ZIFF o// Hif
zinif// Zietniw tziest."--lbd
DIE YOUNG--(#6, summer 1993), English Dept., University of
Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette LA, 70504. 48 pp., $3.00.
There is quite a variety of excellent forward-looking poetry here,
including some unusual pieces by Howard McCord, Judson Crews, and
Robert Peters, and two translations from Plautus by Fred Chappell.
Among the other high points in this issue are poems by Vincent
Ferrari, Michael Basinski, and some amazingly lively word-play
texts, written in the 1920s by Else von Freytag-Loringhoven, that
seem decades ahead of their time: "Weak-Rundown Man Like/ The
Growing-Miss As Well--/ Getting On And Off Unlawful/ With Jelly-
Jam-Or Meyer's/ Soapnoodles--/ The Rubberset Kind Abounds--".--jmb
DRIVER'S SIDE AIRBAG--(#9, November 1993), PO Box 25760, Los
Angeles CA, 90025. 24 pp., $1.90. Sometimes I watch a magazine
slowly evolve and come into sharper focus, and DSA is heading in a
great direction. Mike's getting the hang of things, and with and
excellent Vietnam story by Kurt Nimmo, and a murder/suicide story
by Robert W. Howington, you know you're going to be disturbed.
Mike's poem "The Floppiest of Hats, the Juiciest of Tears" also
captures that postpunk-lit edge. Add into the mix some comix,
kickass graphics, and reviews, and you got the recipe for a
magazine on the move.--o
DROP FORGE--(#2), PO Box 7237, Reno NV, 89510. $2.50. A good
selection of experimental work. Prose, poetry, drawing, and
collage. Sean Winchester has done an excellent job bringing it
all together and with an editorial section is developing a voice,
a focus--otherworldly and surreal. Even the ads function as art as
much as they promote any product. The visuals range from slightly
erotic to anomalous chaotic; the writing from dream-like to
abstract free associative. This is an example how a few bucks can
create an attractive mag that stimulates the imagination to free
itself from the bondage of ordinary media.--jb
DUMARS REVIEWS--(Fall 1993, final issue), PO Box 83, Manhattan
Beach CA, 90266. 36 pp., $4.00. The usual lively reviews of
horror and sci-fi zines, books, movies, etc... but also of small-
and micro-press publications (such as Robert Peters' book, Love
Poems for Robert Mitchum). But funnest are the reports on the
still-clinging-to-male-centeredness World Horror Convention, and
Confrancisco (World Science Fiction Convention)--includes
photographs.--bg
DUSTY DOG REVIEWS--(#10/11, 1993), 1904-A Gladden, Gallup, NM,
87301. 52 pp., $2.00. Another heapin' helpin' of poetry chapbook
reviews, covering the independent literary press. Just shy of 100
items covered, most given several paragraphs and liberal
quotation. Editor John Pierce seems to have a more singular view
of what poetry is (or is not) than we do here at TRR; yet he
generally manages to write descriptively about a range of styles.
His own writing style can get a little, uh... well, like this:
"Chief among the principal reasons for the preponderance of silly
artificial devices in contemporary poetry, is that such
meretricious gimmickry hides crappy abilities from common
peepers."--lbd
EL-E-PHANT--(August 1993), 6026 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA,
90036. 20 pp., $5.00. A slim set of essays and reviews, covering
mostly the higher-profile side of Language poetry, as well as some
theater (where is drama in the micropress world?), work-in-
translation, and a recording review of Schwitter's "Ursonate."
Could be the house organ of publisher Sun & Moon (same address,
several of their books are featured); and while the quality is
there, probably needs more bulk to be worth the bucks.--lbd
EXILE--(Vol. 1 #4, Fall 1993), 149 Virginia St. #7, St. Paul MN,
55102. 8 pp., free fr postage=52". A feisty rag, aimed at a Twin
Cities audience (but useful abroad), bringing "Reviews * Essays *
Information" to interested North Country readers. Feeling, it
seems, that important threads in the contemporary poetry world
aren't given their due locally, EXILE tries to bring some Culture
to the uninitiated. Specific foci include Language poetry and
sound/performance work. The regular column "New & Neglected"
features reviews of Bob Perleman's "Virtual Reality" and
Silliman's "Toner;" a survey of the remainder bins in local
bookstores turn up recent releases from Ron Padgett and Harryette
Mullen (nice remainder bins!). Past issues have had extensive
information on recordings, as well as reading reviews. A personal
fave in this issue is the cover story on the APA ("Aggressive
Poetic Acts") Movement--suggested actions include: "'Poetry, She
Wrote': In Mystery section of Bookstore, surreptitiously remove
last page from copy of popular whodunit. Replace with page of
Language poetry", and "'For the Record': Commit capital crime.
After sentencing, when judge asks if you'd like to make a
statement, read 'Projective Verse'."--lbd
EXPERIODDICIST--(September 1993), PO Box 3112, Florence AL, 35630.
4 pp. This issue, devoted entirely to the work of Jack Foley, is
an ideal short introduction to what Foley is all about. It
contains a fine short defense of performance poetry; some
insightful commentary on the work of the collage artist Jess (and
on art-in-general); and a variety of strong poems, one of which I
quote in full: "Across the heart sickles of sharp-edged
pain// only sleep/ dissolved in thunder)."--bg
FAT FREE--(September 1993), PO Box 80743, Athens GA, 30608. 16
pp., $1.00. Very accessible poetry, illumagery and satire--with a
few political outbursts, all from the left. A piece by Sparrow
called "Mr. Adams" sums up its tone: "Only Mrs. Adams gives a
shit/ about Mr. Adams."--bg
FEH!--(#15), 147 Second Ave. #603, New York NY, 10003. $2.00.
Morgana Malatesta has taken over as editor, but very little of
that old FEH! stench has vanished in the process. For which we can
all be eternally grateful and fearful. If you've never tasted the
supreme poison this mag has to offer you should understand the
poetry here specializes in offense and insult, but it's much more
than cheap shots. These sewers run with divine refuge, the feces
of true heresy to the textual posturing of "serious" poetry.
Resulting in genuinely brilliant perversion and generous
laughter.--jb
FIRST INTENSITY--(Vol. 1 #1, Summer 93), PO Box 140713, Staten
Island NY, 10314. $9.00. A premiere issue which contains
fascinating breadth, from a sublime (in the Longinus or Edmund
Burke sense) letter from Lord Byron which depicts the execution by
guillotine of three robbers. The Romantic desire to evince a
strong reaction in the reader is certainly evident here.
Introduced with a quote by Michel Foucault, Edward Foster's "From
the East" confronts how visceral longing either splits the self or
forces it into a coherent image. Other strong offerings by
Stephen Ellis, Robert Kelly, Deborah Salazar, Chris Stroffolino,
Sally Detlor, many others. Excellent graphics.--ssn
FLAMING ENVELOPES--(September 1993), PO Box 470186, Fort Worth TX,
76147. 8 pp., $1.00(?). Entertainingly raspy editor (Robert W.
Howington) who considers WORMWOOD REVIEW and THE NEW YORK
QUARTERLY the "best lit mags going" and Charles Bukowski "the
greatest poet on earth." Crackling poems and illumagery by people
like Lyn Lifshin and Gerald Locklin. I was particularly taken
with C. Ra McGuirt's "statutory verse," which was about "a busload
of/ cute little/ baptist/ girls (who)... made me want/ to do
something/ desperate...// I guess//this (poem) is/ it."--bg
FURNITURES: THE MAGAZINE OF NORTH AMERICAN IDEOPHONICS--(#11, June
1993), 227 Montrose Place Apt C, St. Paul MN, 55104. 16 pp.,
Taking it's name from Erik Satie's "furniture music," this
photocopied & stapled journal addresses an interstice somewhere
between music & literature. The music side finds allies in
serious experimental composers such as James Tenney, Neil Rolnick,
George Crumb--working from and through the modernist "serious
music" tradition but still largely outside the "canon" (many of
these composer's works are (only) available through the composer's
collective Frog Peak Music--Box 5036, Hanover NH 03755--which also
distributes FURNITURES). The literary side leans towards work
with a "sense of cosmos"--seems like they would be friendly to
Rothenberg's "Ethnopoetics," and to various oral traditions.
Points of contact include new music scores as/related to visual
poetry, and meditative explorations of geography & terrain as oral
histories &/or soundscapes. Includes reviews of recordings,
scores, short essays, and about a dozen poems.--lbd
GOD'S BAR: UN*PLUGGED--(Vol. 1 #1, September 1993), 112 Dover
Parkway, Stewart Manor NY, 11530. 36 pp., $1.00. This quarterly
is described as "a literary magazine by and for disenfranchised
computer bulletin board poets." A collection of lyrical free
verse which rumbles with a sonorous voice, and a single short
prose piece which adds a cold-snap ending. Appears to lead
towards subjective images which give a sense of non-being.
"Sunset forever,/ a gesture for world peace:/ An endless sea of
daffodils." But this indirect enthusiasm forces the concrete
metaphors to stand out like a bas-relief. "The potato farmer
smiles/ slightly, flashing rotting teeth/ &..." Clean, curious,
and inventive.--rrle
GROUND ZERO--(Vol. 1 #3, April 1993), PO Box 7232, Auburn CA,
95604. 16 pp., $1.00. Subtitled "a magazine for the aspiring
writer," this one centers on short stories and poems, wedged
between normal ads. Although this issue is rather thin and the
print is large, all pieces have a refined flavor and a contented
tone prevails. There is no darkness and horror, only brightness
and hope. Forget about riveting cadences and float: "The wings
of my soul are/ spreading wider/ reaching higher/ than the prayer
of a sinless child."--rrle
HAMMERS--(#7, 1993), 1718 Sherman Ave. #203, Evanston IL, 60201.
78 pp., $5.00. Finding a common denominator to describe a
magazine containing work by fifty different poets can be a risky
proposition, but not so with HAMMERS. Editor Nat David sticks to
a vision. Quotations on the first page back cover by ee cummings,
F. D. Roosevelt and Emily Dickinson set a tone of respect for self
expression, the written word, and books in general. David wants
poetry to wield social power (and so it's fitting that his
magazine is named for a tool), the poetry reflects this with
socio-political commentary manifest in experience rather than
stated overtly. In one poem, a father talks to a son about
killing animals for trinkets and trophies; in another, a child
runs to obliviate the turmoil he knows is at home; another poem
describes sex with a condom. No shortage of relevance here.--mg
HYPHEN--(#7), PO Box 516, Somonauk IL, 60552. 72 pp., $3.25.
When I first moved to Chicago, one of the magazines that stood out
among the hundred or so local publications was HYPHEN--these
people seemed to have a direction, a focus, and some of the best
artists and writers in the city. In this issue, Margaret Lewis'
story "Little Marks" captures a bar pickup scenario in Tangiers
from a woman's point of view; Tito Salomoni's paintings create
surrealistic scenes that would have made Dali jealous; and a
collage by Michele Gambetta (combining a real squirrel's lower
body with the head half of a fish) made the beer dance
uncomfortably in my stomach. And that's just the first half of
the issue. There's an incredible amount of creativity here for
the money.--o
IN YOUR FACE!--(#7, 1993), PO Box 6872 Yorkville Station, New York
NY, 10128. 36 pp., $3.00. Editor Gina Grega lives up to the
title of this publication by trying very hard to be
confrontational, featuring poetry, reviews, rants and risque
artwork. Overall bold in context, uncensored, often contradictory
in its motif. It sometimes struggles too hard to be bizarre, and
is at once PC and off-the-rack radical. This issue contains work
by Ohio's own Cheryl Townsend, as well as Dan Nielsen, and others.
Lyn Lifshin tells of smuggling, "the child is slit/ emptied out
like a trout/ or a hen stuffed taut/ and plump with small/ bags of
heroin" This publication is specifically for the loud and alone.
--rrle
KIOSK--(#6, Spring 1993), SUNY Buffalo, Dept. of English, 306
Clemens Hall, Buffalo NY, 14260. 135 pp., free for SASE. This
special issue is called "Interstates," because the editors have
tried to assemble "writings that play with conventional genre
lines, create a dialogue with past literary works or traditions,
and otherwise experiment with language and reader expectation."
There's some good poetry here by A.M. Allcott, Michael Basinski,
Jeff Hansen, Mark Wallace, and others, as well as some weird near-
fiction by the likes of Piotr Parlej & Robert Rebein. Strong ties
to Buffalo's postindustrial literary scene. An upcoming issue is
to deal with "Rust Belt Writing."--be
LAUGHING HORSE BROADSIDES--PO Box 2328, Norman OK, 73070. Amusing
clip-art configurations provide graphic accompaniment to poems by
a broad spectrum of contributors. Rochelle Owens' section from
Luca captures the sinuous, braided structures of the larger work.
Elizabeth Robinson's "Train Ride" continues her probe into the
anatomy of tropes, of language's structures. Elizabeth Sargent's
"911--Saturday Afternoon 1:13 p.m." keys off an actual event--the
1993 mass murder of five teen-aged black women in Oklahoma City.
The highly-charged poem is written in the persona of a mother of
one of them.--ssn
LETTERBOX--(#2, August 1993), 3791 Latimer Pl., Oakland CA, 94609.
52 pp., $4.50. A beautifully produced magazine featuring some
excellent innovative poetry, some by writers not seen before by
this reviewer. Especially exciting is a series of image/text
combinations created as postcards by Jennifer Cooper and Jose
Roberto Frota. There is also some lovely work by Beth Anderson
and Jennifer Moxley that, in different ways, combine a "Language"
sensibility with authentically felt imagistic and narrative
devices. The twelve contributors to this issue show a variety of
effective adaptations of current avant-garde tendencies.--jmb
LIFT--(#13, September 1993), 10 Oxford St., rear, Somerville MA,
02142. $5.00. A three poet chapbook issue. Edward Barrett's
"The Leaves Are Something This Year" connects experience with
language play. Lori Lubeski's "Obedient, A body" explores the
fragmentation of self and examines "prints of other carried bodies
dragged through sand." Gian Lombardo's "Before Arguable Answers"
contributes sly flashes and moments--"Pass the Salt, Schrodinger"
is delightfully playful, which rounds out the issue very well.
--ssn
LILLIPUT REVIEW--(#49), 207 S. Millvale Ave. #3, Pittsburgh PA,
15224. 16 pp., $1.00. The second All-Women issue, with many of
the usual suspects (Cheryl Townsend, Gina Bergamino, Sheila E.
Murphy, Stacy Sollfry). Writing poetry & being a poet is a
recurring topic. As usual, only one poem over a dozen lines--this
time, Lyn Lifshin's "Dried Roses"--and, as is often the case, this
longer feature is among the strongest of the bunch. Makes you
wish the editor would try his hand at a mag without the severe
length restrictions.--lbd
LILLIPUT REVIEW--(#50), 207 S. Millvale Ave. #3, Pittsburgh PA,
15224. 16 pp., $1.00. "Editor's Choice--Best of Issues #1-49."
That about sums it up--the cream of the crop from a fine zine that
specializes in tiny (8 words to about that many lines) poetry.
The impact is not tiny, however, as each of these miniatures
merits close inspection & rereading. In the process, you get an
even more precise fix on the editor's tastes: human, plainspoken
but precise, honest emotions from the whole range of human
experience. Also a sense of humor, as in Lyn Lifshin's "Yawn
Series of Younger Poets": "annual politician of/ a first book of/
plums by ailing/ writer under 40./ Marmosets may be/ sublimated
only/ during February/ and must be/ accompanied by/ a stamp, self/
addressed moose." Perhaps for the 100th anniversary we'll get a
full-scale retrospective anthology.--lbd
LILLIPUT REVIEW--(#51), 207 S. Millvale Ave. #3, Pittsburgh PA,
15224. 16 pp., $1.00. Editor Don Wentworth knows that great
things come in small packages, and he's proven it time and time
again in LILLIPUT REVIEW. In this issue, Steve Doering's "Mowing
the Grassy Knoll" grabs you with "Last night I came home to/ find
that some goof had/ monopolized my answering/ machine with a
brain-/ chilling chant:/ 'A marriage license is/ not a
warranty.'"; and Bill Shields' "dead poem #9" captures death in a
strange forensic frenzy. The poems are sometimes gentle,
sometimes hard, but they're always awfully good.--o
LILLIPUT REVIEW--(#52), 207 S. Millvale Ave. #3, Pittsburgh PA,
15224. 16 pp., $1.00. I really like the way Wentworh mixes the
graphics with the poetry in this issue, an excellent fulfillment
of the senses. Besides artwork by Vogn, Guy Beining, and Harland
Ristau, you get Cheryl Townsend's "Autumn," which walks through a
natural pagan joy of the season. Anthony Lucero captures
strangers in the apartment below with: "the man downstairs/ is
singing/ he is singing/ to the other man/ i don't know/ which is/
which/ one of them is/ an architect/ the other is/ a writer/
neither of them/ are singers." Toss in a few by John Bennett, Lyn
Lifshin, and Arthur Winfield Knight, and you got another great
collection.--o
LIME GREEN NEWS--(#5), PO Box 626, Green Mt. Falls CO, 80819. To
get a copy of LGN you send "artwork or writings... or something in
trade." Classic mailart--doing what mailart was intended to do--
serve as a medium for creative exchange. The bulk of this issue
consists of letters to editor Carolyn Substitute and her response.
And the responses are not just tossed off, they're complete
letters. Strewn throughout all the verbiage, various artwork
keeps it interesting to look at as well. Photos, collage, and a
drawing of Carolyn crucified, with detailed explanation. There's
a Nikita Khruschev comic, which I enjoyed because it was crude and
scatological. LGN is sincere, joyously sloppy, and a delight to
read/see.--jb
THE LOST PERUKE--(July 1993), PO Box 1525, Highland Park NY,
08904. 24 pp., $1.50. On the front cover of this issue is a
photograph of what looks to me to be a South Sea Islander. It is
labeled, "A Mayan is a Terrible Thing to Waste." The articles
within have similar kinds of fun with Dan Quayle (!) and some 40
dead rock stars (including Paul McCartney?). Amusing stuff, but
not what I'd call super-inspired.--bg
MEAT EPOCH--(#16, Summer 1993), 3055 Decatur Ave. #2D, Bronx NY,
10467. 5 pp., SASE. Definitely otherstream material here: an
oddball cartoony drawing of a whale nudging a boat that is partly
constructed of the syllables, "aft" and "en" (two forms of "end"?--
that form a pun on "often") by G. Huth; an amusing essay by
Sparrow on a cult whose members eat nothing but money; a
combination of text and collage (featuring JFK) by Thomas Lowe
Taylor that wonderfully evokes dissolution--of history, of
personality, of matter; and three poems.--bg
MEAT EPOCH--(Special Review Issue #1, Summer 1993), 3055 Decatur
Ave. #2D, Bronx NY, 10467. 2 pp., SASE. Review by Gregory St.
Thomasino of Daniel Davidson's Weather. Good short discussion
that helpfully include three samples of Davidson's poems, one of
which quite impressed me (because so anti-impressive?): "to be
specific/ I have forgotten my/ (umbrella)."--bg
MISSIONARY STEW--(Vol. 1, #2, 1993), 100 Courtland Dr., Columbia
SC, 29223. 8 pp., $.50(?). Sweet & to the surrealist point, 6
short texts on half a sheet of paper. F'rinstance, EYE MOCK, by
Greg Evason: "in the earlier elbows/ of her face/ there were
Chinese dolls/ sliding down webbed banisters/ & talking into dark
blue walls/ of someone's artless drippings."--lbd
MISSIONARY STEW--(Vol. 1, #3&4, 1993), 100 Courtland Dr., Columbia
SC, 29223. 8 pp., $1.00(?). A cleverly origamied single sheet,
featuring eight pieces by as many artists (about as "well known"
as you get in some circles: John M. Bennett, Al Ackerman, Greg
Evason, Cheryl Townsend...). About even between visual and verbal
work, with a political slant and an experimental bent.--lbd
The material in this weird little ma little different because of the computer layout, including some strange, funny clip art.
But the poetry is just as strong, generally on the experimental
side, but some very literal too. Things seem to lurk beneath the
facade in these pieces, making you want to dig deeper, ask
questions of yourself as you inquire of the poem. Perhaps it is
best summed by Malok's inkblot glyph "God's Entropy". MISSIONARY
STEW will continue to expand and invent, changing physical form as
it goes.--jbexperimental side, but some very literal too. Things
seem to lurk beneath the facade in these pieces, making you want
to dig deeper, ask questions of yourself as you inquire of the
poem. Perhaps it is best summed by Malok's inkblot glyph "God's
Entropy". MISSIONARY STEW will continue to expand and invent,
changing physical form as it goes.--jb
MOTORBOOTY--(Fall, 1992), PO Box 7944, Ann Arbor MI, 48107. 64
pp., $3.00. Zine personality but mainstream production values and
cultural interests (e.g. Camille Paglia). Lots of satire that
occasionally goes sophomoric, but also solid pieces of straight
reporting on such topics as the Firesign Theatre and Bozo the
Clown--as both person and trademark. Fun selection of down-and-
dirty comic strips, too.--bg
MR. COGITO--(Vol. 10, #3, 1993), PO Box 66124, Portland OR, 97266.
32 pp., $3.00. A timely collection, entirely devoted to Eastern
European writing (Serbian, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian,
Ukrainian, Slovak) which MR. COGITO has featured in smaller doses
for a number of years. As might be expected, the themes are
heavily influenced by politics & history; the poetry itself is
lyrical, impassioned, and often pessimistic. Marcelijus
Martinaitis, one of Lithuania's leading poets, weighs in with a
number of his "Ballads of Kukutis," about a mythical folk hero
emblematic of ethnic identity; [the next issue of MR. COGITO is
completely devoted to more of Martinaits' work; see review in
Chapbook section]. Echo's of Milorad Pavic's myth/epic _Dictionary
of the Khazars_ seem unavoidable, since many Western readers will
have few other points of reference; other work herein helps
balance the picture, presenting the whole range of human
concerns.--lbd
NASHVILLE'S POETRY NEWSLETTER--(#16), 1016 Kipling Dr., Nashville
TN, 37217. SASE. As the name implies this zine covers the poetry
scene in Nashville., seemingly quite active. The Newsletter
covers events, open mikes, as well as special shows and festivals.
There's plenty of poetry here as well, including further
installments of Joe Speer's "work in progress" which is titled by
the page number. The subjects change from paragraph to paragraph,
but they're all somehow related--political, historical, personal
anecdote--the stuff of life and poetry.--jb
ORBIS--(Summer/Autumn 1993), c/o Mike Shields, 199, The Long
Shoot, Warwickshire, ENGLAND, CV11 6JQ. $7.50. ORBIS reflect its
editor's devotion to a conventional sort of poetry with little
sense of adventure. Editor Mike Shields' poetic sense is perhaps
summed up in his editorial "Remaking the Language," where he
wonders about the "typographical peculiarities" he sees in so many
poems and asks "Why do poets who cleave to such oddities also
abandon standard punctuation?" Despite its editor's middle of the
road approach to poetry, ORBIS is very readable. Scads of poetry
book reviews, magazine reviews, and general poetry scene news
(mostly British) give it a comfortable, among friends feeling.--tw
OXYGEN--(#9, 1993), 535 Geary St. #1010, San Francisco CA, 94102.
34 pp., $2.00. This is an interesting publication with a
consistent personality. The poetry is filled with imagery,
emotions, and a few prose poems that carry a story line where it
should go. Mel C. Thompson's "The High-Wire Kid" reminded me of
my childhood daredevil days: "My dad just laughed at the police/
when they explained how I'd climbed/ over 150 feet in the air on
the massive steel frame/ that brought electricity to thousands of
homes." And Kennon Webber's "What Price Poetry?" left me worried
about the days ahead: "Behind on your rent/ The four-fifty an hour
job/ when you're forty years old/ ...Sleepless nights in smoky,/
crowded cafes/ Waiting for your name to be called/ on the open-
mike sign-up sheet." Contributors include academics, construction
workers, housewives... all of them writing powerful lines that hit
the mind like gas fumes making love to a match.--o
PACIFIC COAST JOURNAL--(Vol. 1 #4, Spring 1993), PO Box 355,
Campbell CA, 95009. 52 pp., $2.50. Subtitled "Talking
Soapboxes," contains two prose pieces, an essay, an interview, and
eighteen poems. Multi-cultural, intellectual but not obtuse, and
casually feminist. There is an essay which compares Black English
and Standard English within American Universities. A prose piece
delves into the friendship of two preadolescent youths, one a
recent immigrant. Another short story leads us from L.A. to
Mexico, to Canada in a pre-NAFTA meta-critique of trade and
existence in a multinational sphere. Even the poetry evokes
balanced assertions: "i cried out 'i will follow you then.'/
they looked with disgust/ and told me i was just a white male."
Included is the "First Annual Amnesty International Poetry
Contest" winner "There's A Nigger in tha' Neighborhood" by Shirley
Ward: "Black niggers, red niggers, yellow niggers, brown niggers,
an'/ po' ass white niggers.../ Niggers inside my own race/ who
can't quite keep up the socio-economic pace." Chronically angry,
not soon be forgotten.--rrle
PARADOX--(#3, July 1993), PO Box 643, Saranac Lake NY, 12983.
$2.50. Because this issue contains not only text, but also an
audio tape it comes packaged in a two pocket loose-leaf notebook
insert. The text is narrative poetry and prose poetry for the
most part, with line drawings derived apparently from Pacific
island mythology by Chitra Ganesh. The writing is interesting and
moves well from piece to piece. Bill Shields contributes several
brutally honest pieces inspired partially by Vietnam, and other
afflictions--his work remains vital because he manages to
cultivate a gallows humor and find life, however bleak, among the
ruins. Susan Nash Smith's piece "from a paleontologist's
notebook" is wonderful, a sea of images and ideas rich with
possibility. The audio tape is noise and voice pieces, some of it
quite strong--all of it certain to fill a room with bizarre
atmosphere. At a decent volume you might even require an
exorcist.--jb
PEARL--(#19, Fall/Winter 1993), 3030 E. Second St., Long Beach CA,
90803. 96 pp., $6.00. Work by Judson Crews, Gerald Locklin, Todd
Moore, Paul Weinman, Charles Bukowski, et al.... as well as a
chapbook by Mark Weber entitled _The Bones of an Ancient Thesaurus_.
Standouts include work by the aforementioned Locklin, Weber, and
Bukowski, as well as Kathleen Zeisler Goldman's "The Right Way To
Be A Woman": "She smiles/ through the damnedest things./ Things
like disease, divorce, miscarriage,/ rape, beatings, her own
death/ and the deaths of her children." This is a damn good
publication, worth every cent; filled with little poems by big
names, and big poems by little names, seducing each other as they
sit back-to-back on the page.--o
PHOBIA--(#8, 1993), PO Box 23194, Seattle WA, 98102. 48 pp.,
#4.00. After an extended Art Strike (& a move to Seattle), Ezra
Mark returns, further along in both vision and practice. Neo-
Situationist tactics like detournement and plagiarism (even a
reprint of a 1961 Guy Debord essay) are much in evidence, as are
various modes of effacement and erasement. Unlike some Situ
stuff, the politics inform rather than obscure the aesthetic.
The palimpsest, trace on top of obscured cultural trace, is the
metaphor this calls up, and maybe the ghost of the other Ezra.--lbd
PLASTIC TOWER--(#16, September 1993), Box 702, Bowie, MD, 20718.
44 pp., $2.50. Normally I back off from publications with pink
covers, but the cover illustration of a man digging a grave
grabbed my curiosity. These are more traditional poems that carry
an academic residue from writing workshops--while I saw an
occasional poem that caught my fancy, I didn't find that straight-
forward brutal reality attack that I usually thrive on. These are
not poems from the street, they are from thinkers, and somehow
instinctual responses carry a stronger reality (for me) than
philosophy.--o
POETIC BRIEFS--(Spring 1993), 19 Southern Blvd., Albany NY, 12209.
16 pp., $8/6 issues. "The Interview Issue," featuring (naturally
enough) interviews with: Dennis Tedlock, Masani Alexis de Veaux,
Robert Creeley, Eric Mottram, Ge(of) Huth, Charles Bernstein, &
Rosmarie Waldrop. Not particularly informal, these are mostly
concerned with background comments on recent work by the
interviewees, though Creeley's is more taken with visual artists &
reminisce on various Black Mountain personalities. In keeping
with the general preoccupations of this magazine, the technical
process of interviewing (transcription, excerpting) is given some
direct attention, most noticeably in the Dennis Tedlock interview
where some of the editorial technique is rendered graphically. We
always knew, when reading interviews, that those folks didn't just
sit down & actually talk like that--Bernstein went so far as to
re-write most of his interview afterwards, ensuring that we "get"
what he thought he meant to say... but what else was lost?--lbd
POETIC BRIEFS--(#13, October/November 1993), 19 Southern Blvd.,
Albany NY, 12209. 16 pp., $1.50. Mark Wallace's "L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E
poetry bashing" gets at the heart of issues needling poets who
don't like to be thrown into one large critical filing cabinet
called "Language Poets." Will L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E have the same
effect on the "best minds of my generation" as T. S. Eliot's "The
Wasteland?" A must-read for every poet. Unforgettable bits:
Gerald Burns' "Any phone book is a poem," Chris Stroffolino's "on
the scent of logopoeia," Sheila Murphy's "The headpipe's motor
nasty," and Elizabeth Burns' "perspectives are tilted, changed."--ssn
POETRY MOTEL--(#20, 1993), 1619 Jefferson St., Duluth MN, 55812.
52 pp., $5.95. The bleak and unpretty side of life (& death),
spelled out in details of individual lives. Narrative poems about
real folks: kids stage a neighborhood war with apples & rocks; a
guy watches a whore & her john in the back alley; a Navy nurse
cracks up during Desert Storm... The craft is in telling the
story, and in not letting the telling get in the way. Not gussied
up, but somehow compassionate, even inspirational, despite the
hard-bitten surface.--lbd
THE POETRY PROJECT--(October/November 1993), St. Mark's Church-in-
the-Bowery, 131 E. 10th St., New York NY, 10003. 24 pp., $5.00.
Interesting reviews of mainstream books about dead poets (Auden,
O'Hara), but also of smallpress (if not micropress) poetry books.
One article covers the recent Buffalo Festival of New Poetry--an
event that was actually devoted in part to otherstream poets--but
it was all gossip & descriptions of what attendees were wearing,
etc., so in the end pretty useless. THE POETRY PROJECT contains
scattered poems, too--and a moving tribute to James Brodey, a poet
who recently died of AIDS.--bg
POETRY USA--(#25/26, 1993), 2569 Maxwell Ave., Oakland CA, 94601.
56 pp., $2.00. This double issue, and the next, is devoted to
"The Experimental," which is here treated with the respect and
intelligence usually given mainstream work. Editor Jack Foley
opens with "Towards A Preface To My Book, _Gershwin_," which serves
extremely well as an introduction of the type of work that
follows. Next, a "Quotations/Testimonies" section includes the
voices of everyone from Walter J. Ong to Walt Whitman to Jack
Spicer to Gertrude Stein to Plato, and lead us into a trip though
the looking glass of human consciousness as origami where vocal-
verbal-visual wormholes drive from one quadrant to another as
quick as the space between syllables. To single out individual
works would do a disservice to the whole. And this issue reads
as a whole--a single work written by poets from all places and
times converged here to demonstrate the beauty that lies in the
outer reaches. I should mention that a transcript of dinner
conversation between Robert Duncan and friends demonstrates his
extraordinary imagination and leaps of logic in his enthusiasm for
virtually any subject. As such, he represents that element of the
experimental that perhaps gives it life--enthusiasm for
everything--to live, to create without limitation. This issue is
saturated with that enthusiasm. 56 large tabloid pages in two
sections, dirt cheap for a document that explores the neuro-
chemical-spiritual fringe.--jb
RADIO VOID--(#14, 1992), PO Box 5983, Providence RI, 02903. 112
pp., $5.00. When I lived in Boston I remember these crazy
psychopaths occasionally wandering into the Primal Plunge
Bookstore and terrorizing the locals with their latest
"publication." These were highly seasoned characters who carried
their hysteria, with moments of calm before the storm, in such a
pleasant peaceful way you didn't even know you were in some kind
of danger. Much like RADIO VOID: a great mix of art & words, but
with inherent dangers that most people won't even know exist.--o
RANT--(#1, Spring 1993), PO Box 6872, Yorkville Station, New York
NY, 10128. 56 pp., $3.95. Appropriately, RANT contains tirades
about life, love, and politics. No one will agree with all the
points of view expressed herein--making converts is not the point;
eloquent, soapbox bitching with momentum is the point. Twisted
minds are not shunned. This issue reprints a section of Rimbaud's
"A Season in Hell"--some quotations illustrate Vitale's editorial
ethic: "I have swallowed a monstrous dose of poison. Thrice
blessed be the counsel that came to me!... The violence of the
venom twists my limbs, deforms and prostrates me. How nicely I
burn. Go to it, demon!" Some of the more contemporary tirades
address grocery store clerk rudeness, waiting for results of AIDS
tests, and obesity.--mg
REBEAT--(#3), PO Box 13387, Salem, OR, 97309. 32 pp., free.
Poems, texts, and graphics reproduced giant-size in tabloid
format, giving a real presence to the work presented, which is
surrealistic, chance-taking, and very lively. Bukowski and
Kostelanetz make appearances, and I was further delighted by the
poems of Shanna Renee, some gritty collages made on cigarette
packages by D.E. May, and a series of poems by Dave Nichols: "a
list of sins. dysfunction. leave it behind. the valley of
pumping. the valley of poison. leaving soon. state street. d
street. the row of windows./ limbo. the new jazz. instrument.
a new needle. drone." (from "imperfect")--jmb
REBEAT--(#4), PO Box 13387, Salem, OR, 97309. 36 pp., free. When
editor s.loy started this project, it was "doomed" from the get-
go: limited by prearrangement to 4 issues only, then on to
something else, as needed. That "limitation" seems to have been
liberating--no chance to get entrenched or stodgy, no worry about
the how to keep the thing going... maintain the focus on the
present, center. This issue is "The Lid," a cheerful farewell and
open door toward the future. The large format and explosively
blown-up typewrit & handscrawl is as visually effective as ever,
and appropriate to the immediate, human, "writ large" prose &
poetry. Even where it shimmers toward surreal or fantasy, it's a
hard-edged fantastic, not fuzzy or indefinite. Fine stuff, we'll
look forward to whatever comes next.--lbd
SEATTLE SMALL PRESS POETRY REVIEW--(May & June 1993), PO Box
45627, Seattle WA, 98145. 2 pp.@. This is a monthly one-page
reviewsheet, focusing (almost) exclusively on publications from
Seattle & environs. The strength of such a regional project lies
in it's potential to build a sense poetic community and allow the
various cliques & clans of poets know what others are doing. This
one covers a range of styles, from experimental to performance to
fairly traditional , and so succeeds in emphasizing an eclectic
geo-connectedness. On the flip side, familiarity can breed... a
kind of in-bred reaction that is less review, and more the kind of
thing participants should swap & argue with over after-reading
beers. Some of this shows up here, too, the worst example being a
reviewer's re-writing of a poem he's critiqued: such belongs in a
workshop, not a review. Worthwhile despite it's faults, every
poetic community could benefit from a publication such as this.--lbd
SHIT DIARY--(August 1993), 5629 Granada Dr. #271, Sarasota FL,
34231. 24 pp., $1.00. Quite a range of "marginal" material such
as a chatty, thoughty letter from David Napper, editor of
ANTISKIOS (I always enjoy meeting editors informally, outside the
pages of their zines); a whacked-out character study by Huck
Finch; collages; diary entries; poems--no, wait, this issue is
poemless; a drawing on a 1040 tax form of Christ crucified
expressing his love for the tax-exempt status of churches...--bg
SHOCKBOX--(#7, December 1993), PO Box 7226, Nashua, NH, 03060. 60
pp., $5.00. The table of contents reads like a _Who's Who_ of at
least one sector of the literary underground (Howington,
Bergamino, Crews, Townsend, Weinman, Shields, Bennett...), and
with each page packed to the gills with words and graphics you
know it's going to take awhile to read. I like to keep SHOCKBOX
in the bathroom, and every time I start to read another tale of
angst and hysteria I forget what I'm doing and a half an hour
later my wife is knocking on the door asking if I'm okay. There's
too much in here to even begin to talk about--just buy a copy, hit
the bathroom, and be prepared to get caught up on a roller coaster
ride that skims the edge of hell.--o
SITUATION--(#3), 10 Orton Place #2, Buffalo NY, 14202. 20 pp.,
$2.00. Keenly aware that language is both an imperfect mirror and
a distorted window on the world, the poetry here still aims for a
bit of "truth," and succeeds more than fails. Susan Smith Nash
(in "From a Paleontologist's Notebook") looks for a grounding in
artifact & rock, while C.S. Giscombe (in excerpts from Giscome
Road) finds it in a history made personal. Other highlights: very
visual excerpts from Susan Gevirtz's "Enterprise: Seagram Project"
(which begins: "Lie down in aerial sleep/ awaken in view of/ torn
door, mail slot,// seascape, playing field,// narrow church nave,
leaded glass,// rear view mirror,// space between slats,// of wood
fence"); & Cynthia Kimball's striking orality & image.--lbd
SITUATION--(#4, 1993), 10 Orton Place #2, Buffalo, NY, 14202.
$2.00. More exciting with each issue. Kim Rosenfield's
"Wandering Uterus" seduces the reader with intoxicating gender-
inflected discourse about the process of writing poetry. Charles
Bernstein's "A Test of Poetry" echoes his "A Defense of Poetry"
(in AERIAL 6/7), Joe Ross's playfulness mixes with acerbic digs at
our culture, Spencer Selby's "No Way" is constructed of couplets
that hint of doppelganger.--ssn
Textual poetry mostly of the Language-centered school. As a
critic, I especially enjoyed the Charles Bernstein contribution,
for it consists of a list of the comments--questions, actually--
that a Chinese translator has for a poet about his poems; so we
get a mind struggling with poems, and--obliquely but
intriguingly--the poems struggled with. Great high-prose by
Sheila Murphy, too.--bg
TABOO JADOO--c/o Javant Biaruja, Nosukumo, GPO Box 994-H,
Melbourne 3001, AUSTRALIA. TABOO JADOO is a journal for the
discussion and expression of private language (a journal for
multilinguistics amphigory interlingustics ecrite d'ombres
langue close lettrisme jasyan etc.). Issues feature the work of
individual artists. Issue #4 featured Michael Helsem's Glaugnea:
On the Choice Not to Utter Sense. Issue #2 featured Janette Orr's
Mhurwrenfur. A future issue will feature work by Richard
Kostelanetz. Currently, issues of the magazine are presenting in
sequence the Taneraic-English Dictionary. Taneraic is a hermetic
language which Javant Biaruja has been developing of the last 25
years. He has written over 3,500 pages in this language, which
includes a descriptive grammar. The dictionary is a fantastic
fun-house of sound and meaning. If one considers that all words
are poetry, than it is a short leap into the poetic pages of the
Taneraic Dictionary . For those readers serious about new
language, invented languages, and the formation of language
itself, this dictionary will prove to be immensiely fascinating.
In an era of poetry that challenges linear narrative and image-
bound work, the idea of writing in a private tongue offers an
intense and immense poetic proposal. As Biaruja notes in his
preface: "Bes aisyan, beqi jebo quida i rinat sescyudiva puno."--mb
TALISMAN--(#11, Fall 1993), PO Box 1117, Hoboken NJ, 07030.
$5.00. An astounding 300 pages of poetry, criticism, interviews,
experimental prose, translations. A special section on Michael
Heller contains interview, critical essays, responses, and
Heller's own work--what I find astonishing is the way Heller
articulates issues of praxis--it is illuminating to see exactly
how he goes about creating a text. Heller's eyes are open to
literary antecedents and philosophical thought structures. Heller
has already embarked on an autobiography, which arouses all sorts
of tantalizing issues surrounding autobiography and the orderings
and arrangings of self and cultural context. Autobiography is a
construct which reflects cultural knowledge systems and belief
structures. TALISMAN itself reflects a knowledge system--the
range of works and authors comprise a history as well as a map or
a landscape of this palpable moment in poetics.--ssn
TALKING RAVEN--(Vol. 3 #2, Autumn Equinox 1993), PO Box 45758,
Seattle WA, 98145. 16 pp., $3.00. A quarterly rag-top subtitled
"A Journal of Imaginative Trouble," the theme is "Media Madness."
An alive, provocative publication with the feel of the early
underground. It includes outrageous editorials, poetry, reprints
from other publications and interviews with local media artists.
Also includes an article on "Feminist Demonology" by Robert Anton
Wilson, and interesting ads from the Seattle Alternative scene.
Anarchical and bizarre, candid and combative--still, this one
lacks perspective; and sometimes a false-intellectual air makes it
appear retro.--rrle
:THAT:--(August 1993), PO Box 85, Peacham VT, 05862. $1.50.
Featured poets Robert Creeley and Benjamin Friedlander contribute
spare, symmetrical pieces that confront the abbreviations within
language itself. For Friedlander, language's compressions may rob
the signified of essence ("as noun never pronoun / because it is a
thing"). Creeley's "Echo" poems replicate the process the reader
engages in each time it must decompress a word so that it balloons
up in the mind to evoke an entire thing or event. Creeley points
out that the problem is that the balloon is slippery and it is
variegated with colors and size.--ssn
One of the best kept secrets in contemporary poetry is
:THAT:, a monthly (more or less), deftly edited by two Stephens
(Ellis & Dignazio). The format pits five pages each of two poets
with &/or against each other; this issue feature Robert Creeley &
Ben Friedlander. Creeley is flawless as ever--"all you/ said you
wanted fainted"--still writing his "Echo" poems. Friedlander
seems to present an untitled "cat" series--"chipped in chatter
these/ teething expressions/ marble in their perfect character." --md
THIRTEEN POETRY MAGAZINE--(Vol. 12 #1, 1993), PO Box 392,
Portlandville NY, 13834. 40 pp., $2.50. I really like this
magazine for a couple of reasons: first, it's so packed to the
gills with carefully selected, well written poems that it carries
the weight of publications with three or four times the number of
pages; second, it's got great graphics mixed in that seem right at
home with the poetry. My wife was looking for a poem to read in
class and she really enjoyed Ralph Hammon's "Cantos of Light",
with the opening lines: "As a curious child/ I didn't understand/
why I couldn't hold sunlight/ in the palm of my hand/ when I went
inside where it/ lost itself to shadow." I, on the other hand,
went after Ken Stone's poem "Sex": "Sex/ is/ for/ those/ who/
know/ how/ to/ gain/ pleasure/ from/ every/ act," and Dorthy
Dreher's "The Sabbath": "Wild in the moonlight/ with eyes aflame/
we fuck like goats,/ groan and lick/ like rivers of fire."--o
THRUST--(Vol. 1 #1, Fall/Winter 1992), PO Box 1602, Austin TX,
78767. 44 pp., $3.50. "Experimental" and "underground" tend to
be relative terms, applied to any piece that strikes its audience
as somewhat unusual. THRUST publishes an eclectic group of
writers whose work falls outside the fairly narrow conventions
adhered to by most American fiction. The first issue has a
translation of work by former East German writer Wolfgang Hilbig;
the rest are writers from the US. Reviews of experimental prose
are promised in future issues. Issue 1 is somewhat mixed. Tom
Whalen successfully masquerades as a European writer of
philosophical magic realism in "Annals"; though his writing
conveys few specificities, it does translate the form. Likewise,
Helen Duberstein translates the art-M
rchen into English in "Old
Man and the Faerie," but the setting of the tale remains Central
Europe. Albert Huffstickler's one-page "Alley Way," however,
succeeds in bringing a favorite European genre, the tale of an
uncanny encounter in a modern city, into what is clearly the
contemporary US, in language, manners, and diction. Kirpal
Gordon's self-consciously jazzy prose transcribes rather than
investigates the rude collages thrown up by contemporary US life.
And Dan Parker's "Revenge of the Roach," though finished,
successful, and enjoyable, is also thoroughly unambitious.
Clearly, writers of experimental prose in American English still
have much work--and play--to do. I am glad that THRUST is
providing them with a forum.--cp
THRUST--(Vol. 1 #2, Spring/Summer 1993), PO Box 1602, Austin TX,
78767. 52 pp., $3.50. A collection of "experimental and
underground prose." According to editor Skip Rhudy, "fiction
submitted here should play with language, form, structure,
perspective, tense, or any combination of the above plus more."
The zine's contents fits his description, with flair. Lots of
surrealism, irony, sex & violence--but high culture, too (one
story's characters discuss G. E. Moore's philosophy, for
instance).--bg
TIGHT--(Vol. 4 #4), PO Box 1591, Guerneville CA, 95446. $4.50.
This issue begins with an open letter from the editor regarding a
member of the IRA who was imprisoned in Belfast for carrying
explosives, escaped to the States, and lived underground for more
than a decade. He is now held prisoner in isolation pending
possible extradition. If you sympathize with his plight he can
receive mail or books from bookstores at Richard Earl Martin, UFW
396, 5325 Brooder Blvd., Dublin, CA 94568. TIGHT is always
guaranteed to provide at the very least a handful of gems in
virtually any style. Politics usually not a central theme. Ann
continues to create harmony from a cacophony of voices.--jb
TRANSMOG--(#11, September 1993), Rt. 6 Box 138, Charleston WV,
25311. 22 pp., $1.00. Think of this project as a paper version
of a computer bulletin board, such as rec.arts.poems on the
Internet. From the variety and organization (or lack of it) it
seems most everyone who contributes something appears in print,
which is appropriate for a publication that has such a strong
emphasis on networking (including computer networking). After
several multi-contributor issues, it looks like TRANSMOG is
rapidly becoming the place to post the latest experimental
language/surreal developments. The graphic artwork is
particularly notable in this issue. Some favorite poems: any of
the many John M. Bennett pieces, "My Impression of M. C. Escher"
by Daniel Sattler, "Poetry My Ass," work by Evan Pappas, the
Ficus/Bennett visual collaboration, and Michael Basinski's
"NOTATION Page 48". I'm sure I missed lots, or left them
for you to discover.--ar
Another smoking issue from Ficus' dungeon, and the crowd he's
assembled strips away those layers of inhibition you've been
saving for your children. John M. Bennett's contorted
calligraphy, Alex V. Cook's mesosticing, astonishingly weird
drawing by Duke Andrews, Blair Wilson, Harold Dinkel, Sean
Winchester... Bill Paulauskas and Harry Polkinhorn drop in with
textual inventions. But this is a small fragment of the work.
This is the joyous edge, the cells of human consciousness run
amok. The next best thing to whizzing on an electric fence.--jb
VERBAL ABUSE--(#1, Summer 1993), 315 Park Ave. South Rm. 1611, New
York NY, 10010. 80 pp., $6.00. A collection of writing spawned
at a NYC nightc
lub reading series. Tough words, with lots of NYC
nightclub ambiance--Ecstasy, attitude, drag-queens and living-on-
the-edge. As would be expected from the origins, many of these
pieces would work well on stage, at high volume. Dramatic
black&white layout; no room for gray. Plenty of AIDS references,
but (except for some masturbation) not much explicitly safe sex.
Self-confidence/promotion, just a bit of that NYC drive to make
this (poetry) the Next Big Thing.--lbd
W'ORCs/ALOUD ALLOWED--(Vol. 8 #8 & 9, August & September 1993), PO
Box 27309, Cincinnati OH, 45227. 20 pp., $3.00. Now I've done my
share of everything in Cinci, but this publication is a new one to
me. It seems to be a collection of various poets from all over,
doing what poets do. Some of the highlights in the August issue
were Kevin Holland's "Relax/ Enjoy yourself/ lose some weight/
reduce your stress, your cholesterol, and your fat," and the
obituary for Glenn W. Frank who helped the students at Kent State
mellow out after the shootings (am I old or is this a forgotten
tragedy?) In the September issue we get a kickass letter that
might be either bullshit jive or serious criticism, and poetry
that is, well, ok. Which isn't saying much.--o
W'ORCs/ALOUD ALLOWED--(Vol. 8 #10, October 1993), PO Box 27309,
Cincinnati OH, 45227. 26 pp., $3.00. This 8 1/2" X 14" "monthly
poetry samizdat" is free on the streets and provides an overview
of poetry happenings in Ohio, poetry, editorial works, selections
from chapbooks, and critiques of poetry events and forums. The
poetry is Beat with shattered glass polyrhythms and hard edged
compelling sounds, very experimental with a raucous swagger. It
made me want to stand and read aloud. The cover collages are
intense: The opinions are straight from the hip. Where else are
you going to find a drumpoet, and a special 18 page single poem
insert by Gary David titled "Bear Medicine"? "I throw dust on
me/ it changes me/ I am a bear/ when I go to meet him." --rrle
WURDZ...--(August 1993), PO Box 6010, Toledo OH, 43614. 16 pp.,
$1.00? This publication serves the Writer's Resource Center of
Toledo, and so contains Resource Center news, Toledo area poetry
listings, and publishing opportunities in addition to the poetry.
It seems that familiarity sounds good to the poets in this issue.
A few semi-random quotations: "There are signs of afternoon
delight...", "your place or mine...", "I hope you're happy and not
too blue...". One poem, titled "goodby", is about wrist-slitting
suicide.--mg
X-RAY--(#1, Fall 1993), PO Box 170011, San Francisco CA, 94117.
60 pp. + enclosures, $7.00. The first thing that strikes is the
strikingness of the object: genuine x-ray negative for a cover,
velo-bound pages, each sheet a different paper (Chinese telephone
directory, musical scores, notebook paper...), varied typefaces,
tipped-in booklets & realia... The contributions vary from gut-
punch narratives to obscure/conceptual "art"; contributors range
from regular-guy Bukowski and psycho "White-Boy" Paul Weinman to
mail-art types and John M. Bennett. Found and pseudo-found work
a strong presence. It'll be interesting to see if the editors can
(or choose to) continue with this labor-intensive format.--lbd
XIB--(#5, 1993), PO Box 262112, San Diego CA, 92126. 56 pp.,
$5.00. A nice collection of otherstream poetry and illumagery
that also includes some good poems and short stories by more
knownstream writers. My favorite of the latter is Jim Mikiley's
"The Arresting Officer Tells Me to Start At The Beginning," which
is about a nun who held up the poem's narrator too long in a
drugstore check-out line.--bg
I like this magazine, and Tolek edits it with a fine tuned mix
of excellent graphics, poetry, fiction, and ideas. Tolek knows the
underground, and this exploration into turf that would make most
normal people turn their heads away shows he's not afraid to take
chances. Many of the pieces in this collection left me thinking,
reminded me of scenes from real life that were intense at the
time, but were quickly forgot in a denial state because they were
so disturbing.--o
ZINES!--(Spring 1993), 221 N. Blvd., Richmond VA, 23220. 12 pp.,
$1.25. A stapled-in-the-corner newsletter of zine-reviews. In
this issue, editor/publisher Christopher B. Martin covers some
twenty zines of all kinds. At least three-quarters of these I'd
never heard of--so ZINES! should raise the zine-consciousness of
almost anyone. Martin also provides useful dope about the
computer software and hardware he uses to produce his zine.--bg
ZYX--(#4), 58-09 205th St., Bayside NY, 11364. 5pp., SASE.
Arnold Skemer here reviews and discusses writing and critical
texts of interest to experimental fictioneers. This issue's
topics included books by Perloff, Hejinian, Crag Hill, and
Kostelanetz, and a lead review of Leon S. Roudiez' "French Fiction
Revisited." Skemer's newsletter is interested in device and
stratagem as a means to disrupt the conventional movements of
reading; also in the disruptions and violations inflicted on us by
the mass-market media; and in the recuperation of these
disruptions for "high art" (his phrase). A strongly
aestheticizing Modernism here, Continental, smelling of red wine
and garlic, as they say; but fully within the Radical Modernist
line of Dada, Futurism, and Constructivism. Skemer's sarcastic
comments on the "Malthusian aspects" of the creative writing
M.F.A. phenomenon make especially good reading.--cp
ZYX--(#6, Spring 1993), 58-09 205th St., Bayside NY, 11364. 5pp.,
SASE. Half of this issue of Arnold Skemer's one-man review zine
is devoted to a defense of the historical novel. He also
discusses crazy self-publishers like Jack Saunders (and myself); 4
or 5 collections of visual poetry, an anthology of "paradoxism;"
Mike Gunderloy & Cari Goldberg Janice's The World of Zines (which
allows him to make a few cogent comments on the zine world based
on his own involvement in it); and several other books. Large
pages and small type allow him to say quite a bit in a mere 5
pages.--bg
