textfiles/magazines/TAPROOT/taproot-6a

From au462@cleveland.Freenet.EduMon Aug 21 11:09:07 1995
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 10:33:49 -0500
From: Robert Drake <au462@cleveland.Freenet.Edu>
To: au462@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
Subject: TRee #6a--zines



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  Issue #6.0, section a: zines                             2/95

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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 6th full electronic issue, containing 

most of the short ZINE reviews; the second section contains most 

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 subscriptions 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).

The archive site for back issues is the Electronic Poetry Center

at SUNY Buffalo: gopher to: <wings.buffalo.edu/11/internet/

library/e-journals/ub/rift>.  Our thanks to Loss Glazier et al 

for maintaining this resource.


The paper version of TapRoot Reviews contain additional review

material--in issue #6: survey of recent anthologies and local

poetry newsletters, features on work by Richard Kostelanetz, 

Michael McClure, Bern Porter, Harvey Pecar/Joyce Brabner, and

excerpts from _Chain_, _Synaesthetic_, and _The Al Ackerman

Omnibus_.  Plus more.  TapRoot Reviews intends to survey the 

boundaries of "literature", and provide access to work that 

stretches those boundaries. It is available from: 


     Burning Press, 

     PO Box 585, 

     Lakewood OH 44107--

     $2.50 pp. 


Both the print & electronic versions of TapRoot are copyright 

1995 by Burning Press, Cleveland.  Burning Press is a non-profit 

educational corporation.  Permission granted to reproduce 

this material FOR NON-COMMERCIAL PURPOSES, provided that THE CONTENTS ARE NOT EDITED OR ALTERED IN ANY WAY, and 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: Michael Basinski, John M. Bennett, Jake Berry, 

Luigi-Bob Drake, R.R. Lee Etzwiler, Bob Grumman, Susan 

Smith Nash, Oberc, Andrew Russ, Gregory Vincent St. 

Thomasino, Mark Weber, Thomas Willoch, and Karl Young.  

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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1 CENT--(#299, February 1994), 1357 Lansdowne Ave., Toronto 

Ontario, CANADA, M6H 3Z9.  2 pp.  Nice verbo-visually-augmented 

haiku-like winter scene by jw curry.--bg


1 CENT--(#300, March 1994), 1357 Lansdowne Ave., Toronto Ontario, 

CANADA, M6H 3Z9.  36 pp.  Special anniversary collection of 36 

"kernular poems."  Each page a different size and coming out of a 

different part of the binding.  Wide variety of poems like one by 

Brian David Johnston that's called just "A Poem": "Art is long./ 

Life is short./ Brian is heavily medicated."  There are other, 

seriouser, equally good ones in the batch.--bg


1 CENT--(#301, March 1994), 1357 Lansdowne Ave., Toronto Ontario, 

CANADA, M6H 3Z9.  1 pp.  A single visual poem called "New Age 

Blues" by Stephen Cain that makes a pinwheelish game of the word 

"naive."--bg


1 CENT--(#302, April 1994), 1357 Lansdowne Ave., Toronto Ontario, 

CANADA, M6H 3Z9.  2 pp.  A one-paged poem, or set of 3 poems, by 

bp Nichol that includes the lines, "'Your poetry is so tight/ it 

squeaks.'"  This issue was dispersed the afternoon of April 30th, 

1994, at Toronto's newly christened "bp Nichol Lane."--bg


1 CENT--(May 1994), 1357 Lansdowne Ave., Toronto Ontario, CANADA, 

M6H 3Z9.  8 pp.  Some excellent reviews of otherstream material 

by publisher jw curry, including a visual poetry anthology from 

Germany.  Great quote attributed to MB Duggan in one review that 

exactly, parodically states what makes so many published haiku 

very bad: "Nature is nice./ Civilization is evil. Suffering is to 

be pointed out and pitied."  Also scatter poems and graphics, 

including the anonymously-rendered "Connect the Dot" puzzle.  

Yes, it's just one dot.--bg


6IX--(Vol. 3 #2, 1994), 427 W. Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia PA, 

19119.  36 pp., $4.00.  (914 Leisz's Bridge Rd., Reading PA 

19605??)  Graced by Gil Ott's subtle cover collage of a Japanese-

calligraphied whale swimming in a steno-pad of fluid handwriting, 

this beautifully edited issue features a selection from Elena 

Rivera's "Wale: or, the Corse," inspired by Melville's Moby Dick 

and Charles Olson's "Call Me Ishmael",  as well as the way 

"whale" disintegrated in the echo to "wale," which are welts that 

rise up after a lash.  Jenny Gough's "two poems" resonates, with 

"what better way to underscore the/ flower than allow the blister 

to appear in the light of stamps."--ssn


ABACUS--(#85, October 1994), 181 Edgemont Ave., Elmwood CT, 

06110.  18 pp., $4.00.  A text by Carla Harryman to be used in a 

film by Abigail Child assembled from the work of three writers.  

The premise of the film, in Harryman's words, is "to challenge 

the concepts of private and public space by creating a melodrama 

in which domestic life is filmed outside, much of it in a house 

without walls."  Lots of politics, and the characters have names 

like "Technique," Fulcrum," and "Property," but the dialogue is 

jauntily natural-sounding and flows.  Makes me eager to see the 

Child film, which is called "Rubble".--bg


ABUSE--(Summer 1994), PO Box 1242, Allston MA, 02134.  104 pp., 

$4.00.  Every once in awhile I run across a project I have to 

part of because it's so damn good.  ABUSE is one of those.  It's 

theme this issue: DEATH AND DYING.  This reads like a strange 

cross-section of America, with students and academics, artists, 

writers, psychopaths, comic publishers and drawers, all smashing 

together in a jam-packed euphoric worship of the dying process.  

There is sadness, anger, and satire, as well as a strange 

acceptance of the inevitable, but what stands out is the way all 

these different perspectives seem to blend together and form a 

strange logical cohesion.--o


ALIEN RELAY--(August 1994), c/o Jake, PO Box 11407, Shorewood WI, 

53211.  24 pp., $1.00 (?).  This reminds me of the mid-'80s when 

zines were new and fresh, and there was a combination of anger 

and innocence in the small presses.  However, we're running into 

the mid-'90s with only an illusion of being in control, and the 

Slacker mentality has overgrown its DIY roots, and I don't know, 

maybe I've lost touch with the youth of today, or maybe I just 

wish that more zines today carried a little bit of fight instead 

of a passive acceptance.--o


ALTERNATIVE PRESS REVIEW--(#3, Spring/Summer 1994), PO Box 1446, 

Columbia MO, 65205.  82 pp., $4.00.  This issue includes a 

moderately interesting short history of fanzine publishing by 

Michelle Rau that seems a work of genius next to TIME's September 

5th discovery of the genre.  APR continues to slight the art wing 

of the "alternative press" (in my admittedly biased opinion), but 

this issue does have a number of articles worth reading, 

including Leora Tannenbaum's "Sex, Fear, and Feminism On Campus," 

which argues against the position that rape is whatever causes a 

woman to feel violated.--bg


ANT, ANT, ANT, ANT, ANT--(#1), PO Box 16177, Oakland CA, 94610.  

48 pp., $3.00.  "A journal of haiku, small poetry, and minute 

experimentalia" such as editor Chris Gordon's "the house darkens 

into the rain     i hold her approximation."  Three poems by 

Robert Creeley, and some fine unattributed graphics including a 

terrific misfocused photo of a cat turned Franz-Marc-sculptural 

as it boldly starts downward into some mysterious somewhere.--bg

     Mostly haiku, but also some non-haiku, a couple longer 

pieces (some of which are like haiku sequences), and some photos 

and drawings.  A lot for $3.  And a lot of it is very good.  I 

especially like editor Crhis gordon's one-liners (e.g. "desire 

blossoom sinside me the teeth of an atrocity"), but there's a lot 

of creative nuggets in here.  The best parts come from the 

authors i hadn't heard of before, such as this (by a. daigu): 


    approximate space

         of a haiku conceived and

              later forgotten 

--ar


ARTHUR'S COUSIN--(Vol. 2 #2, Summer 1994), c/o Joshua, 2501 

Wickersham Ln. #2132, Austin TX, 78741.  14 pp., $1 and one 29  

stamp.  I still love to drift through zines, because they often 

carry information and writing that takes chances, and isn't 

concerned so much with social acceptance as challenging society 

itself. In this issue Joshua takes on BARNEY, demanding his 

immediate destruction so children can be freed from television's 

corrupting effect.  He also takes on 90210, criticizing the 

unrealistic representation of heroin addiction, large breasted 

simple minded women, pregnant sluts, etc.  But then I looked on 

the next page, and there was an ad for The Rollins Band's Weight 

CD, and I got this ugly feeling that I was in one of the tv shows 

that were getting criticized. Overall I really like this zine 

because it asks a lot of questions, and brings up issues that 

most people would never think of because they are too busy 

following, not thinking, or questioning the world around them.--o


AVALON RISING--(#25, June 1994), PO Box 1983, Cincinnati OH, 

45201.  24 pp., $1.00.  Two or three texts from four different 

poets and a series of True-Romance-dictioned excerpts from 

Michael Estabrook's grandmother's diary (that seem authentic but 

I think are not), followed by a poem by Estabrook about her 

suicide after being caught by her husband with another man in 

1932.  Among other contributors, poets John M. Bennett and Lyn 

Lifshin celebrate language, while Robert Howington and Errol 

Miller story.  Good mix.--bg


AVEC--(#7, 1984), PO Box 1059, Penngrove CA, 94951.  150 pp., 

$7.50.  Strong, challenging work that requires active and erudite 

reading--at least a nodding acquaintance w/ Dante, f'rinstance, 

would be helpful, as well as more than a bit of PoMo literary 

theory.  Several pieces usefully cross genre boundaries: 

collaborative dance/spoken work from Ney Fonseca & Aaron Shurin; 

a graphic improvisational score written for the ROVA sax quartet 

by Bruce Ackely; and writing to & thru graphics (Susan Gevirtz 

responding to photos by Kristine Larwen; Micheal Palmer to 

drawings by Mica<63>la Henich).  David Levi Strauss also combines 

word & image in "Odile and Odette", a series of letters from 

Berlin; there's also another section from Nathaniel Mackey's 

ongoing epistletory fiction "From A Broken Bottle Traces of 

Perfume Still Emanate."  Kevin Killian, Margy Sloan, and Dodie 

Bellamy are all given a chance to stretch out for more than a 

couple of pages, while Leslie Scalapino, Kevin Magee, Jean Day, 

Myung Mi Kim, Susan Clark, Ben Hollander and Laura Moriarty have 

longer works excerpted--leaving one to wish for more.--lbd  

     Editor Cydney Chadwick has done a consistentland a concluding 

tercet.  Amazing that in this age of free form or form 

manipulation creation, form being an extension of content, etc. 

form, that there would be 62 pages of sestinas out and about in 

poetry world.  But herein collected they are with their end words 

patterned: 123456, 615243, 364125 etc.  More amazing the list of 

those who are included herein: Ted Berrigan & Ron Padgett, Anne 

Waldman, Clayton Eshleman, Maxine Chernoff, Kevin Lillian, Susan 

Wheeler, Nina Zivancevic.  A unique, innovative editorial twist.  

This issue obviously has a program of writing.  Let's end with 

tercet pattern: 2,5; 4,3; 6,1.--mb opera" by Nathaniel Mackey--

not Mackey's best work, but still well done, with a salutary 

sense of humor.  Mei Mei Bersenbrugge--excellent, as usual.  

Edmond Jabes's "Dante's Hell"--one of the most engrossing, and 

unusual, of Jabes's meditations in the ongoing series of 

translations by Rosmarie Waldrop.--ky


B-CITY--(#8), 517 North Fourth St., DeKalb IL, 60115.  Special 

Sestina Issue.  The traditional sestina is a 39-line poem written 

in six sextets and a concluding tercet.  Amazing that in this age 

of free form or form manipulation creation, form being an 

extension of content, etc. form, that there would be 62 pages of 

sestinas out and about in poetry world.  But herein collected 

they are with their end words patterned: 123456, 615243, 364125 

etc.  More amazing the list of those who are included herein: Ted 

Berrigan & Ron Padgett, Anne Waldman, Clayton Eshleman, Maxine 

Chernoff, Kevin Lillian, Susan Wheeler, Nina Zivancevic.  A 

unique, innovative editorial twist.  This issue obviously has a 

program of writing.  Let's end with tercet pattern: 2,5; 4,3; 

6,1.--mb


BAD NEWS BINGO!--PO Box 33388, Austin TX, 78764.  34 pp., $3.00.  

I don't know very many people who had a decent childhood, so it's 

no surprise to see so much viciousness and psychological scarring 

in the latest issue of BAD NEWS BINGO!, who's theme is family.  

You get photos of Charlie Manson's bald headed family women, 

juvenile arrests, the death of one's mother to cancer, and so 

much confessional turf you read on out of curiosity, while 

feeling guilty, like you overheard somebody's words while they 

were talking to a priest.  There is truth here, and a lot of it 

is ugly.--o


BALLPEEN--(#4, 1994), PO Box 55892, Fondren, Jackson MS, 39296.  

55 pp., $4.00.  A stimulating art zine, engaging to the eye as 

well as to the intellect.  Genuinely learned essays.  Witty 

fiction, expert poems, graphics and eidetics.  A 

deconstructionist-cum-conceptualist point of view less the all-

to-common juvenile butt-head logic.  William Whallon's "Greek 

Cognates of the Vilest Words in English" is rewarding.  Michael 

Kirby's "Melodrama Manifesto of Structuralism" is useful for 

students of film theory and comp. lit.  Artfully produced by Mr. 

A. di Michele.--gvst


BANGTALE INTERNATIONAL--(1994), PO Box 83984, Phoenix AZ, 85078-

3984.  40 pp., $5.50.  Rod Farmer has poetry here, as does John 

M. Bennett, B.Z. Niditch, and Lyn Lifshin.  Pure emotionally 

direct poetry, sometimes experimental, other times tight and 

dynamic.  "I smoked the near finished Silk Cuts/ of another man's 

dream."  There is a world-weary feel here, as if it's all been 

done before and now all that's left is the echo of polytonality 

and taut white flesh.  "We've built fairy bridges/ of balsa wood 

and cellophane..."--rrle


BASEBALL AND THE 1,000 THINGS--(Vol. 1, #1-#3), 3016 French St., 

Erie PA, 16504.  4 pp.@, SASE.  Edited by Rick Lopez.  Lots of 

off-beat information and opinion, much of it about baseball, or 

about something else with baseball spliced in--for instance, a 

quotations about infinitesimal in math that Lopez uses to 

illustrate the diminishing powers of the baseball commissioner.  

Among the non-baseball material, this quotation from Pound's 

Cantos: "'You damn sadist.' said mr. cummings,/ 'you try to make 

people think.'"  These 3 issues contain just one poem and nothing 

I'd call otherstream (unless you count the plug for Harper's), 

but it's lots of (intelligent) fun.--bg


BASURA--(#1, October 1994), PO Box 3232, Aurora IL, 60504.  

20 pp., $1.00.  It's good when you see a debut issue that has 

some decent planning behind it, and with Cheryl Townsend, Paul 

Weinman, Todd Moore, Lyn Lifshin, John M. Bennett, Eric E. Scott, 

and others on board, you got a crew that is trained and ready for 

an all-out assault.  Lifshin's "The President's Forfinger" is 

"intent as a penis/it has a mind of its/ own..."; Moore's "Jerry" 

wasn't supposed "to have his old man's/sawed off..."; Townsend's 

"It Was Like" "butter he said..."; and an interview with Weinman 

are just a sampling of this fine first effort leaving scars.--o


BEET--(#9, Summer 1994), c/o Joe Maynard, 372 Fifth Ave., 

Brooklyn NY, 11215.  28 pp. (with a 28 pp. insert), $3.00.  

I wish I had hooked into more of the local action when I lived in 

Trenton NJ, especially after reading BEET.  You got kids having 

kids committing suicide (Allison Goodwin's "Photosynthesies"), 

coming of age realizations (Steven Sipes' "Our Hitlers, 

Ourselves"), and a great insert that documents a performance 

including Sparrow and Carl Watson, previous Chicago trickster.  

There are graphics that carry one liners that evolve into a 

lasting curiosity, and the realization you have been to new 

places you might want to visit again, only next time you'll be 

prepared and have the weapons to defend yourself.--o


BLACK BREAD--(#3, 1993), 100 Magazine St., Cambridge MA, 02139.  

78 pp., $5.00.  Edited by Jessica Lowenthal and Sianne Ngai.  The 

fourth moral of Lyn Hejinian's "A Fable," presented herein, 

reads: "Various women writer's will take up the philosophical 

quest for uncertainty."  It would be wildly speculative, and 

gender-biased, to suggest that women are more likely to quest for 

and embrace the real, uncertain, world--while men are apt to try 

to impose their own limiting, ossified vision of how things are & 

ever shall be.  I would never suggest that.  But the nine women 

contributors to this magazine do seem to gracefully evoke a 

vision of a world in flux, fragmented and flimsy and alive (and, 

therefore, dying).  I've read writers who seem dismayed by the 

imprecision of memory and language, or fight against their "lost" 

author-ity over text.  Compare them to Laynie Brown's fertilizing 

insect: "A bee gathers/ They absorb the world through their 

senses/ Everything is in a ferment."--lbd


BLADES--(#31, 1994), 182 Orchard Rd., Newark DE, 19711.  Edited 

by JoAnn Balangit and Francis Poole.  A small and quite personal 

publication, BLADES has been appearing for many years and always 

contains material of great interest, not to be found elsewhere.  

Each issue includes poems and drawings, interspersed with found 

texts, some quite strange and exotic.  This issue includes a poem 

or letter by Nistina, a 19th century Algonquin woman, and some 

translations of 12th century Andalusian poems.  One of the 

issues' high points is a long poem by JoAnn Balangit, "Dreams, 

Night of the Eclipse," of which part 3 follows:


     my sister's arm was straight

     as she handed me half a snake.

     She kept the half with the head.

     I pulled the body through my fist,

     squeezed tight, tail first,

     Wet slices of the snake

     slapped against the tile floor.


There is not a dull moment in these pages, which also include 

work by "Goya", D.P., Bukowski, P.J. Cooper, Francis Poole, as 

well as found and anonymous texts.--jmb


BLANK GUN SILENCER--(#9), BGS Press, 1240 William St., Racine WI, 

53402.  52 pp., $3.00.  Nielson is on of those editors I'd hate 

to get in a fight with--This fucker has some bad literary 

backing.  The issue leads off with a Bukowski poem that captures 

the cynical bitter outlook of a man who found little use for 

humanity, then leaps immediately into a Gerald Locklin poem about 

a homeless man catching on fire and starting a blaze that 

destroyed fifty luxury homes.  Mark Weber captures an Albuquerque 

morning in just the way I remember them back in 1974.  Cheryl 

Townsend drags us through an angry confused teenaged abortion; 

Jay Marvin has those she done left me blues; and Michael 

Estabrook captures that married man confusion when a young girl 

flirts with a condom.  Bite sized slabs of reality, not all of 

them pretty, but all of them so real you can't help but to nod 

your head in recognition.--o


CAFE REVIEW--(Vol. 5, #2), 20 Danforth St., Portland ME, 04101.  

$6.00.  Wonderful poetry of deep observation here by Helene 

Swarts, and an image rich piece by Tom Clark, but the heart of 

this issue is an interview and new poems by Michael McClure, and 

Jack Foley's "Exile".  These two act as a scatological quasi-

hallucinatory dose to the soul rendering almost anything else in 

the mag as adornment by comparison.  McClure's vitality and 

authentic voice combined with Foley's polyspirit manifestations 

shed stark light on even the darkest corners of the psyche and 

inspire us to do the same.  Great issue.--jb


CHAIN--(#1, Spring/Summer 1994), 107 14th Ave., Buffalo NY, 

14213.  282 pp., $7.95.  Central to the whole project that is 

Language Poetry is the refusal to take for granted the tyranny of 

meaning, a questioning of the authority of language.  Even given 

this stated "resistance to the established power structure," it's 

still welcome surprise how strong a presence women seem to have in 

the "second generation" coming out of (or against) the LangPo 

traditions.  It's a singular occurrence in the avant guard, as 

in the mainstream.  This presence is reflected in sheer numbers 

of women editing important publications in & around the movement: 

Rosmarie Waldrop at Burning Deck, Jessica Grim & Melanie Nelson's Big 

Allis, Lee Ann Brown at Tender Buttons, Susan Smith Nash's Texture 

Press, Cydney Chadwick's Avec, Black Box's Jessica Lowenthal & Sianne 

Ngai, Jennifer Moxely's The Impercipient...  and now, CHAIN, 

edited by Jena Osman & Juliana Spahr.  This debut issue takes one 

further step, from questioning the authority of language to 

questioning editorial authority, the filtering mechanisms that 

come between writer & reader in the form of editor/publishers.  

Most of the above-mentioned editors contribute to the discussion 

on Gender and Editing, as well as folks as diverse as Andrea Juno 

(RE/Search's "Angry Women" issue), Heather Findlay (On Our 

Backs), and Holly Laird (Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature).  

Their experiences as women editors are both diverse & similarly 

informed by an awareness of issues of power--issues that one 

hopes (but somehow doubts) is shared equally by their male 

counterparts.  The second half is devoted to another kind of 

discussion, actual Chains of correspondences between several 

writers, chain letter poems, with one writer re-sounding/ 

responding to the instigations of another, resulting in linked 

energies and exchanges that are generous & engaged/engaging.  

Here at TRR, I've avoided the usual "editor's picks" or "top ten 

lists", but I guess I'll be a man about it and put this one 

toward the top of my list of faves.  Issue #2 will address 

"Documentary," & the editorial "we" will be looking forward to 

it.--lbd


CHIP'S CLOSET CLEANER--(#11, Fall 1994), 826 Aspen St. NW, 

Washington DC, 20012.  24 pp., $4.00.  Chip Rowe's "personal 

zine" deals in "Pop Culture, Humor, Trivia, Fun."  In this issue 

he reviews various books and periodicals he's read, perceptively 

discusses the value of cuss-words, presents a quite thorough 

report on the eight-track tape scene, and reprints items he 

likes, or thinks absurd--like, 50 euphemisms for "masturbation."

--bg


CHIRON REVIEW--(Vol. XIII #2, Summer 1994), Rt. 2 Box 111, St. 

John KS, 67576.  32 pp., $3.00.  Editor: Michael Hathaway.  A 

poetry tabloid that's been going for 39 issues now. The poetry is 

mostly plaintext stuff about the day-to-day, like one by C.S. 

Fuqua about calling a girl he's interested in only to find out 

she's about to get married--strong & agreeable in voice but not 

adventurous.  Good selection here, too, of work by featured (& 

interviewed) poet Gerald Locklin--including one about "the new 

male", whose sperm-count is reportedly dropping: "hypotheses 

include environmental/ pollution and snug undergarments;// 

private investigator locklin suspects/ feminist intimidations."  

Also in the issue: a short story, a few dozen micro-

review/announcements, and photographs.--bg


CHIRON REVIEW--(Vol. XIII #3, Fall 1994), Rt. 2 Box 111, St. John 

KS, 67576.  32 pp., $3.00.  Editor: Michael Hathaway.  If I had 

to list a hierarchy of publishers that were true to their ideals 

and truly serious about their love of literature, Michael 

Hathaway would be at the top--he's got a rock solid stance on 

poetry and fiction.  Some great in depth interviews with Ron 

Androla, John Bennett and Dan Nielsen in this issue.  And  when I 

read Kristine Sanders' poem "Hit While Running", her lines "when 

I see the bullets skimming towards/ your face I think of skillets 

burning/ eggs hissing in a pan, your eyes/ as shiny as potatoes 

cut in little squares" slapped me back in time to greasy-spoon 

breakfast hangovers after a wild night of love.  Throw in an 

excellent essay on Ron Androla by Todd Moore, long insightful 

reviews of poetry chaps that actually give you an idea of the 

poetry, and updates on literary events--this is what it's all 

about.--o


COTTON GIN--(Vol. 1 #2, Fall 1994), 1605 Wright Ave., Greensboro 

NC, 27403.  28 pp., $2.00.  Nice mix of what I call "plaintext 

poetry" and more experimental stuff.  A story by Kevin Keck 

called "In a Waffle House With Jesus" (a Bruce-Jay-Friedman-sort 

of jest, but funny in fresh ways) shares one page with a Paul 

Weinman/White boy analysis of beer commercials.  Very nice full-

color illustration by Laura Dawn Roberson on the front cover, 

too.  It's labeled "special" and consists mainly of 42 solid blue 

circles surrounded by white, arranged to form a rectangle--not 

very exciting-sounding but oddly absorbing.--bg

     Like a garage band on the verge of breaking out.  What's 

special about COTTON GIN is that, amongst other things, they 

publish song lyrics--how many zines are doing that?  What's 

special about song lyrics is that they tell a story, and when the 

lyricist is a Southerner that story's likely to teach a life 

lesson, a life lesson with universal relevance.  Such is the case 

with Chip McKenzie's "Dear Amelia" and  Tami L. Conner's "Angels 

in Bluejeans" is, simply, perfect.--gvstat's at once susceptible 

and vulnerable.  Laura Dawn Roberson's "Collage 59" uses excerpts 

from I Corinthians, lauding honesty in love.  And Tami L. 

Conner's "Angels in Bluejeans" is, simply, perfect.--gvst


CROTON BUG--(# 3), PO Box 11166, Milwaukee WI, 53211.  76 pp., 

$8.00..  Bob Harrison, editor.  Contributors include: Anne 

Tardos, Clemente Padin, Gil Ott, Ron Silliman, Franz Kamin, 

George Quasha, Paul Dutton, Jackson Mac Low, Juliana Spahr, 

Richard Kostelanetz, Eva Festa, Ge(of Huth), Sheila Spargur, Jeff 

Poniewaz, Marina Pillar Gipps, Bruce Andrews, John M. Bennett, 

Kimberly Lyons, among others.  If you find the contributors 

interesting already, the present works won't let you down.  If 

they don't interest you, this magazine probably won't do much to 

change your mind.  A major feature of this issue is the close and 

sagacious integration of work with a semantic base with work 

based in visual principles.  Spanish language work sometimes 

includes English translation; sometimes, as in the case of work 

by the Uruguayan mail artist and visual poet Clemente Padin, 

translation isn't necessary.  CROTON BUG has been consistently 

worth reading through its first three issues--a pretty good 

record for any new zine.  Poetry well chosen.  Not only a zine to 

check out now, but to watch in the future.--ky


DIE YOUNG--(#7, Aug. 1994), PO Drawer 44691, University of 

Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette LA, 70504.  $3.00.  Editors 

Skip Fox and Jesse Glass have assembled their strongest issue to 

date.  DIE YOUNG #7 is a lucky one.  Those within: Stephen 

Petoff, Stephen Ellis, Stephen Thomas, Susan Smith Nash and Susan 

Best and Spencer Selby.  Also the poetry of Kevin Killian and 

Kenneth Warren marks what words as art can form.  And there is a 

chapbook supplement and translations from Finnish, Polish and 

Spanish.  Yes, all good fish in a dish and nothing much more to 

wish.  The poet Robert Gregory, first from Pittsburgh and last I 

heard from South Florida (who by the way is one of the ones who 

will last) kinda sums this issue No. 7 up: "although people are 

standing still, the wind tastes like milk/ and the world is 

dancing inside itself as always."--mb 


DREAM WHIP--(#1, 1994), PO Box 53832, Lubbock TX, 79453.  24 pp., 

$2.00 (?).  This is an interesting chap filled with scraps of 

dreams.  It runs the gamut of nightmares, astral projection to 

other lands, fears of losing all control in situations where 

you're a pawn, contemplations on death, earthquakes and tornadoes 

and other natural disasters, and infatuations that seem to avoid 

becoming real situations.  This short publication really does 

feel like the world of dreams, with those short jerky awareness 

that you tell yourself to remember, but can't seem to hold onto 

in the morning.  Send them your dreams and see if things start to 

happen.--o


DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES--(#43, 1994), 1300 Kicker Rd., Tuscaloosa 

Al, 35404.  20 pp., $2.00.  Urgency balled up into a package of 

fantasy and surreal poetry.  The mood here is melancholic, 

desperate, coming full steam from the dark core of the brain, 

bubbling up from the brain stem: sorceresses, wolves, 

transmogrification, atonement, broken flesh, urchinesses, savage 

sub-species, solar winds, worm webs, succubi, and resurrection 

are just a few of the horrors found here.  What is created is a 

chilly acute publication with an oddly internalized focus and 

sense of pressure.  The shorter pieces are honed to a taut and 

dynamic edge.  This zine cuts to the Gothic quick.--rrle


DREAMTIME TALKINGMAIL--(#6, Summer 1994), Rt. 2 Box 242W, Viola 

WI, 54664.  40 pp., $3.00.  Miekal And, Liz Was, & Patrick 

Mullins, editors.  Not a poem in this magazine but this is the 

map of poetry (perma) culture.  Where progressive imaginations 

exist, like Dreamtime Village, art is all things.  Soul sings.  

Being involved in place, merging with the natural, living in the 

nature of it all: it is all a poetics.  Be free.  Anarchism has 

always been a part of part (look it up: Jackson Mac Low, Robert 

Duncan).  So to Utopianism: Walden Pond.  Don't get drunk on the 

Paris Commune or lost in Shelley and Byron: We have got it here.  

Wake up.  Support.  Get with the program--this ain't Shake & 

Bake.--mb 

     Life as experiment as art as documented here.  Theory, 

correspondence, discussion of how we might sustain ourselves 

creatively and without damage to the environment.  Articles here 

by Hakim Bey on social disintegration and the possible details 

thereof, and Liz Was on learning from illness, color, number and 

generally the magic of being alive and knowing it, continue the 

work the Xexoxial folks have been doing now for twenty years.  

There are also reviews, events and much else.  By living beyond 

the normal delusions and abstractions the inhabitants of 

Dreamtime Village suggest what might be possible if we pursue an 

ethic of self-reliance and life as experiment as art asx--jb


DRIVER'S SIDE AIRBAG--(#13, Summer, 1994), PO Box 25760, Los 

Angeles CA, 90025.  24 pp., $1.70.  I don't think I've ever seen 

a small press reach so far, and build such a strong foundation, 

in such a short period of time.  But Mike has pulled it off, 

grabbing writers that count into his PO Box so fast you'd think 

there was a creative suction device sucking all of this energy in 

his direction.  How else could he get the likes of Terry Everton, 

Lyn Lifshin, Cynthia Hendershot, Ana Christy, Todd Moore, 

Howington, Androla, Weinman, and C.C. Russell into one envelope 

without a dozen injuries.  This is one of those presses that 

makes you know what is going on, whether you want to know or 

not.--o 


DRIVER'S SIDE AIRBAG--(#14, Summer 1994), c/o Mike, PO Box 25760, 

Los Angeles CA, 90025.  32 pp., $2.25.  Mike keeps coming back 

for more, tearing up the streets of LA with a publication that 

has some of the best sucker punches ever thrown by Todd Moore, 

Mark Weber and Ron Androla.  Even Ana Christy's "post office" 

strikes home, with lines like "i'm a poet in drag and what about 

my nails?" and "but they hired me a woman (i wanna bitch)". The 

excerpt from Cynthia Hendershot's upcoming novel "Body" makes me 

want to tie her up, tight, and tell her about the things that 

make me happy.  This is a fine read, filled with the things you 

expect to find from some of the best small press writers 

around.--o


DRIVER'S SIDE AIRBAG--(#15, Fall 1994), UBP, c/o Mike, PO Box 

25760, Los Angeles CA, 90025.  30 pp., $2.50.  I remember reading 

a contributor's column in a lit mag years ago that said when Lyn 

Lifshin is good, she is damn good, and in "Falling Not Far From 

the Tree" we get "My dad,/ the loins of my fruit,/ divorced his 

wife, my mother,/the fruit basket,/ and married a big-screen TV".  

Kurt Nimmo screams at us from the shadows of America, capturing 

the fucked up aspects of a world gone so wrong it can't do no 

more wrong no more, and C.C. Russell's "Red Mustang, Gravel Dust" 

("We haven't talked/ in over a month/ so I call you up/ and say/ 

'If we can't talk,/ can I at least have my clothes back?'") 

brought back experiences I would have rather done withou.  With 

Todd Moore, Paul Weinman, John M. Bennett, and even Howington, 

this is real entertainment and a read that won't easily go 

away.--o


DROP FORGE--(#3, 1994), 13450 Mahogany Dr., Reno NV, 89511.  

32 pp., $2.50.  (e-mail--seanw@shadow.scs.unr.edu)  A well paced 

mix of prose, poetry, collage, drawings, and computer visuals.  

The writing is often delightfully scatological bordering on 

magical.  Often the prose is at least as inventive as the poetry.  

Keil Winchester's hysterical invention of a summit of best-

selling authors in Transylvania to critique the late Bukowski has 

the whole crowd mumbling glossolaic poesis that actually is a 

vast improvement over what any of them have written.  This is a 

great otherstream mag.  Check it out.--jb


DUSTY DOG REVIEWS--(#18, Summer 1994), 1904-A Gladden, Gallup NM, 

87301.  15 pp., $2.00.  Twenty-one quirky, sometimes runaway but 

always interesting reviews of small and micro-press poetry.  The 

taste of its sole reviewer, David Castleman, runs to dominant-

mode poetry, but he does not neglect otherstream material, and 

fully engages everything he writes about.  And he always fairly 

quotes from what he reviews, to give us a chance to judge it for 

ourselves.  Here's the first line from his review of Steve 

Richmond's Demon Country: "Mr. Richmond sends onward another of 

his delightful and very casual, insistently iconoclastic memoirs 

chockful of rambling poeticalities many of which might easily be 

honed into close dense poems, which he will not do."--bg


EAT POOP!--(#23, Summer 1994), 193 N. 5th Street #A, San Jose CA, 

95112.  36 pp., $3.00.  Nathan Nothin', editor.  Bell's cover art 

of Bukowski made me a lover of this zine immediately.  Then, as I 

slowly wandered into its pages and saw the likes of Howington ("A 

guy sat at the bar and he told me he didn't have a gun so I gave 

him one of my guns."), Nate's "We're All Gonna Die In The End", 

bootlegged photos of Buk lifting weights (all of fifteen pounds 

worth), and obnoxious music reviewz and comix, I knew I was on 

familiar ground.--o


ELECTRIC REXROTH--(#2), Tetsuya Taguchi, 8-35-314, Tsuchiyama-

cho, Nada-ku, Kobe, Japan, 657.  142 pp., $25.00.  Journals 

devoted to important literati usually contain scholarly articles, 

biographical notes, etc. on the figure after whom they are named.  

This one has very little commentary on Rexroth.  A bibliography 

of Rexroth studies since 1982 by Morgan Gibson contains only 22 

entries.  Rexroth was not the kind of poet who left a lot for the 

mills of academe to grind out, as did, say, Pound or Zukofsky.  

The result in this instance is a miscellaneous collection of 

beats, neo-beats, & near minimalists, often presented in 

bilingual format.  For me, Sharon Dubiago turns in the best 

poetry, though others might prefer contributions by Robert Bly, 

Cid Corman, John Solt, Ira Cohen, James Laughlin, Nina 

Zivancevic, or a dozen other poets.  Perhaps this nicely 

designed, small format magazine does a better job of paying 

tribute to Rexroth than a scholarly journal could do.  It would 

do better if it weren't so outrageously priced.--ky 


EXPERIODDICIST--(1994), PO Box 3112, Florence AL, 35630.  4 pp.  

An issue devoted to BREATHPOINTS by Shiela E. Murphy, as part of 

the lively ongoing broadside series edited by Jake Berry.  These 

eight formally varied poems are an illuminated meditation on 

domesticity, and are remarkable in the strength with which they 

reveal a sense of self in its place--to such an extent that that 

place seems connect to all other places, or to "place" itself.  

The language is resonant, luminous, and charged:


          Neighbors


     I like about them cotton colors and their soft, engaging 

     smiles.  One woman tells me about falling (after I have 

     fallen).  Pool water in another season is young blue.  We 

     live in desert town all five of us by heart.  Is there much 

     custom (tantalize).  First run envy sequences a falderol 

     that I accept of me.  We mirror as we can.  Some beauty, 

     some sandpaper.  And release the muscles of the hand.


--jmb


EXPERIODDICIST--(June 1994), PO Box 3112, Florence AL, 35630.  

4 pp.  "Malok's Tissue Issue."  Includes another stanza of 

Malok's famed "Fuck Dirge" that begins "Fuck well all the 

whatevers," plus other inimitable poems, drawings and tabloidy 

lyrico-loony collages by the Waukau Hermit.  All kinds of mega-

yucks in the collages like these arrangements of found texts: 

"our big NOTHING Beyond beans" and "ENJOY grief: mental health 

with a grin, mental health, pink and pudgy."--bg


EXPERIODDICIST--(May 1994), PO Box 3112, Florence AL, 35630.  

4 pp.  This issue contains a first-rate set of poems by John M. 

Bennett but--to my disappointment--no author's statements of the 

kind other issues of this zine have featured, and which I hoped 

might become its special contribution to the field.  None of 

Bennett's formidable talent in illumagery is on view here, 

either, but, hey, the poetry makes up for any lacks--like where's 

"Where's tall-lurched doubting's yearned!"'s at the bottom of the 

last page.--bg


FACE THE DEMON--(#1 July/August 1994), 3077 Gardner Creek Rd., 

Dickson TN, 37055.   28pp.  D. Madgalene, editor.  A lot of faith 

and a lot of fantasy here.  Starts off with a couple of poems 

praising God, and then does a 180 degree reversal to poems 

centered on Gen-X pro-suicide, prison, go-go bars, the atom bomb, 

sixties revivals... even a poem about a tractor pull.  This is a 

mixed bag, sometimes intense, sometimes fuzzy, always shifting 

focus.  Rod Farmer and Tom House have poetry here, in their work 

the reader can feel the intensity, the spontaneity, of the poem.  

Overall, this publication is effective in a passive/aggressive 

sort of way.  And I suppose I can ignore the rough sketch of the 

masturbating Republican elephants in the centerfold.--rrle


FACTSHEET 5--(#53, 1994), PO Box 170099, San Francisco CA, 94117.  

134 pp., $3.95.  Seth has finally given up on the Herculean task 

of promising to review every-fuckin'-thing that comes in, and 

that's probably necessary for him to survive &/or keep his 

sanity.  And he's come under attack lately for reviews that miss 

the mark--the inevitable result when you go for breadth of 

coverage rather than depth.  But no other publication comes close 

to matching the broad reach of zines that FACTSHEET 5 covers, 

from anarchy to Zen (and Bob, Bondage, Comix, Girlzzz, Punk, 

Queer, SciFi... etc. in between)--with particularly strong 

coverage of quirky, fall-between-th-cracks kind of stuff.  

Still an indispensable, if not-quite-"definitive", guide to the 

zine revolution.--lbd


FEEDBACK--(#17, Summer 1994), PO Box 2, Gibbon NE, 68840.  

14 pp., $1.00.  On the surface you'd think this was a fanzine, 

but after a few paragraphs you realize that there is an 

intelligent conscientious woman taking on the world here.  And 

tho this is DIY made to look slick, under all the veneer is one 

of the strongest editors I've seen in a long time.  Tho it's a 

one (wo)man show, contributors from all over the place, and it 

has a vicious free-wheeling love of controversy.  At the same 

time, it's so real and rational that I felt like I'd just dropped 

into a party of old friends, instead of being tossed into a room 

filled with strangers.  If you want fiction, articles, poetry and 

reviews of music and books, this is a down home great place to 

be.--o


FEH!--(#17), 200 East Tenth Street #603, New York NY, 10003.  

$3.00.  There's been a shakedown at FEH! Namely Simieon and 

Morgana, the editors, have split, so I suspect this may be this 

last issue in the current form.  But knowing Simeon, who will 

remain as sole editor, things will only worsen--with FEH!, this 

is a good thing.  The high & noble herald of all that is odious 

and profane, this issue turns in some real gems in the garden of 

foul delights.  Al Ackerman's "Lamentable Haircut" suggests a 

"linguini wig"; "Leper's Orgy" by Ian Ayers reminds us that if 

you're a leper you'll likely attend only one; and the holy script

of "GOB" comics is a mutant of pure offense.  This stuff will 

pervert every decent impulse you ever had.  You'll become rude, 

obnoxious, the bane of your family and friends.  I recommend it 

highly, and soon!--jb


FIRST INTENSITY--(#3, 1994), PO Box 140713, .  , $9.00.  This 

magazine presents a gathering of solid poem work.  No trash.  

No self-serving ego get ahead show boat editorial I publish your 

poem and you will write me a blurb junk.  No ass kissing.  No 

sleep with me I slept with Walt Whitman bull poetics.  Unafraid 

the red giant stars shine with the twinkle twinkles.  Writers 

have batches of work.  Within No. 3: John Yau (writing fiction), 

Robert Kelly, Theodore Enslin, Diane di Prima, and Susan Smith 

Nash, Clark Collidge, Will Alexander.  A community of writing.  

See great poetry on Michael Boughn, Leonard Schwartz, George 

Albon pages.--mb 


FOUND STREET--(Vol. 3, Summer 1994), 2260 S. Ferdinand Ave., 

Monterey Park CA, 91754.  26 pp., $3.00.  The usual wide range of 

otherstream material including one of Cliff Dweller's found-

headline poems, which includes the following three lines: "Angels 

handcuff/ themselves to trees,/ knowing when to be gracious", and 

Crag Hill's resonant pwoermd "Travellled." Also, a couple of 

collages by Steven Hartman--in one, a man (whose head is a 

partially cut-open... squash?) seems deep in thought in front of 

a greatly-enlarged cut-away section of epidermal tissue, while a 

sphere out of a solid-geometry textbook hangs in the sky above--

the combination speaking eloquently if mysteriously about the 

flesh and (Platonic?) abstraction.--bg


FROZEN HYPNOSIS--(#9), c/o Malok, Box 41, Waukau WI, 54980.  (or 

c/o Bern Porter, 22 Salmond, Belfast ME 04915).  free or trade.  

FROZEN HYPNOSISis an ongoing collage collaboration between two of 

the genre's finest.  They do to media essentially what media does 

to us--they rip it to shreds and reassemble the pieces, in the 

process allowing us to see how images are connected to produce 

desired results.  As the title suggests, what we have here is a 

snapshot of indoctrination in process.  It does nothing less than 

gives us an opportunity to reconsider what is happening and maybe 

reassess what we do with what we are asked to swallow.  More 

liberating in a few pages than any politician could manage in a 

lifetime. --jb


FUEL--(#7, Spring 1994), PO Box 146640, Chicago IL, 60614.  

66 pp., #3.00.  Andy (that's Ms. Andy for those of you who don't 

know) Lowry's back with another, and I should say the damn best 

yet, issue of FUEL.  David McCord (San Francisco's sweetheart) 

kicks us in the reproductive organs with a story that, well, 

makes a married man wonder if he can trust his wife.  Kurt Nimmo 

strikes with a story that brings the hard times to your door, and 

leaves the footsteps bouncing against the inside of your head.  

Dan Grzeca's graphics are, as always, powerful, and the whole 

issue leaves you with that existential confusion you get on 

Monday morning, knowing what the next five days will do to the 

little sanity you got left. This is real writing from people 

who've been through it all, and survived intact.--o


FUEL--(#8, Summer 1994), PO Box 146640, Chicago IL, 60614.  

46 pp., #3.00.  There are only a small handful of lit mags that 

incorporate visual layout with text in a balance that'd make the 

professionals scream out in jealousy, and FUEL is certainly at 

the top of that list.   Andy edits with a sharp clean eye that 

captures some of the best poetry and fiction around the country, 

then sets the words against a visual backdrop that puts layers 

beneath the writing.  In this issue Vincent Zandri's murderous 

adventures of a writer in search of a story slams the senses 

against a wall; Lisa Manning takes a boy, a knife, a city bus, 

and an apology, and makes it work just right; Michael Shores' 

illustrations make dreams into reality with edges you can almost 

touch; and John Goldfine takes McDonald's shattered economic 

dreams into a family scene that has become all too real today. 

That's just a glimpse, and there is so much in every issue you 

could almost write a review as long as the magazine. This is the 

stuff that dreams, and nightmares, thrive on.--o


GLOBAL MAIL--(September--December, 1994), PO Box 597996, Chicago, 

IL, 60659.  8 pp., 2 stamps.  Another in Ashley Parker Owen's 

dizzyingly thorough listing (400+ entries from 39 countries in 

this issue) of "all kinds of art projects, collaborations, and 

mail-art events."  For instance, you can send your mail-art 

images to an address in France and they'll be shown on French 

television. Somebody at another address wants the names of all 

those voted most likely to whatever from you high school 

yearbook.  Fun browsing for almost anyone--but an indispensable 

resource for mail-artists.--bg


GOD'S BAR: UN*PLUGGED--(Vol. 1 #3, March 1994), 112 Dover 

Parkway, Stewart Manor NY, 11530.  32 pp., $1.50.  According to 

the credit's page, GOD'S BAR is "originated by disenfranchised 

computer bulletin board poets.  Don't know how that happened, but 

there is some fine work here, beginning with editor Virgil 

Hervey's piece on two paintings of Li, the early Chinese poet, 

and a Chinese woman's response to one of them.  Then there's Paul 

Weinman's "Vegetable Sex" for which I will allow you to use your 

imagination and almost guarantee you you'll be wrong.  For the 

most part confessional, beat influenced poetry & an excellent 

additon to the genre.--jb


GREEN FUSE--(#28, Spring/Summer 1994), 3365 Holland Dr., Santa 

Rosa CA, 95404.   52 pp., $5.00.  Ecologically cynical, mildly 

satirical, liberal-activist-oriented work which includes a large 

range of PC subjects: the homeless, gun control, exploitation of 

living things and the earth itself, species extinction road 

kills, trapping, war, Jesse Helms, homophobia and the media... 

even an eulogy for Wiley Coyote.  The poetry here is often 

obsessed, pastoral, and charmingly bitchy.  But, it's also 

intense and mournful as incendiary emotions are balanced against 

poetic form.  Honest verse with a bracing message, as in David 

Austin's poem "Dear Jesse": "In this poem/ no crucifixes are/ 

submerged in/ my own piss/ ..no men are/ urinating into/ other 

men's mouths/ In this poem/ there are no smiling/ naked 

children," which goes on to provide the reader with an artistic 

victory over the arch-conservative.  Hard-edged and tight-skinned 

eco-poetry for the people.--rrle


HEAVEN BONE--(#11), PO Box 486, Chester NY, 10918.  $6.00.  The 

great value of HEAVEN BONE is how, with poems, stories, articles 

and graphics, and pieces that contain elements of some or all of 

these, it opens the door into the other world.  We are so 

accustomed to degenerated commodity that passionately open 

imagination seems almost insane.  But HB provides exquisite 

evidence to the contrary.  By publishing material such as the 

interview here with Akhter Ahsen (who understands the 

psychological and political implications of imagination unbound), 

the translation and discussion of Rene Dumal, the divinely 

organic photographs of Paul Winternitz, as well as recent high 

poetic script by Belinda Subraman, Michael McClure, Dan Raphael, 

Diane DiPrima, among many other visionaries, the light breaks 

cleanly through the contemporary illusion of fear and malaise, 

revealing what lies beneath and beyond our paralysis.  A shamanic 

device, a Sufi oracle, a blast of authentic ecstatics, HEAVEN 

BONE is the transfiguration of the species as it happens.--jb


HOME PLANET NEWS--(#37, Summer 1994), PO Box 415, Stuyvesant 

Sta., New York NY, 10009.  24 pp., $2.00.  There are times I want 

to write NYC off and hope that my aunt in New Jersey is right 

about there being a planetary shift that will wipe out California 

and flood the east coast all to shit.  But then a new issue of 

HOME PLANET NEWS comes out and I think, yeah, none of us live 

forever, but let's put that planetary shift off a few more years.  

After all, there's a great interview with my favorite dirty old 

man, Gerald Locklin, poetry by a poet that is so prolific (Lyn 

Lifshin, who else?) you know there'll be mail flying with her 

name on it long after that dreaded shift takes places, and a 

stack of reviews that made me pick up my checkbook and order a 

handful of pubs hoping they'd send them to me before the checks 

began to bounce.  This sat on the radiator across from my toilet 

for three days as I read every word--pretty good, considering 

most publications get a day and a half at best.--o


HOUSE ORGAN--(#7, Summer 1994), 1250 Belle Ave., Lakewood OH, 

44107.  16 pp., $1.00?.  Editor: Kenneth Warren.  Work herein by 

Joe Napora, Richard Peabody, Peter Ganick, Gary Sullivan, Johanna 

Drucker and more.  And also herein a critical review of Kerouac's 

"Old Angel Midnight" by Kenneth Warren.  This is not a review 

from a passionate knight defender of the great Beat King.  It is 

a frank encounter and there should be more of this in the Beat 

Kerouac world.  Also collected herein this issue a review of Todd 

Moore's "Dillinger; Books I and II" by Gerald Burns.  He trashes 

old "Toad" with an intellectual ugly stick-pen and leaves him 

crushed, maybe hushed, with his poetic guts fading in an acid 

pool of critical ink.--mb

     Due to the editorial selections HOUSE ORGAN has a somewhat 

different feel from most other mags.  Experimental and more 

mainstream poetry follow one another on the page, and there are 

always interesting essays.  This time for instance, Eva 

Shaderowsky's "The Serpent of Chaos," and "Kerouac's Heavy Load" 

by editor Kenneth Warren.  In selecting the poetry Warren has a 

good ear for what works well together.  He manages to do it 

without coming off pedantic.  Always a good read.--jb


HYPHEN--(#9, Summer, 1994), 330 South Green St., PO Box 516, 

Somonauk IL, 60552.  72 pp., $3.95.  Out of all of the local 

Chicago magazines, HYPHEN is the only one that dances across 

the creative arenas and consistently introduces me to new turf I 

would have run after sooner if I had only known that it was 

there.  Nat Krieger's "Dying for Culture in Sarajevo" gives us 

the arts striving for survival amid an evolving madness.  If you 

want to see photos of Chicago's notorious slam poets (Marc Smith, 

Tony Fitzpatrick, etc.) and catch up on the latest news, this is 

the place to catch the action.  Plus plenty of damn good fiction, 

poetry and art (I'm still staring at Helen R. Klebesadel's 

watercolor with a bad case of jealousy).--o


I AM A CHILD: Poetry After Robert Duncan And Bruce Andrews--

Tailspin Press, 418 Richmond Avenue #2, Buffalo NY, 14222.  

1171 pp., $8.50.  A new journal (and a hefty one) edited by 

William Howe.  As you can hear from the sub-title it is a far 

gazing and inquisitive magazine.  Work by Susan Howe, Robert 

Creeley, Charles Bernstein, John Clarke, Duncan, and Andrews.  

And combined in these diverse literary roots Jeff Gburek, Ben 

Friedlander, Pat Reed, Juliana Sphar, Rod Smith, Joel Kuszai and 

Miekal And.  And there are many others, and there is an 

information here, a program of writing.  Here is a spectrum of 

representation.  This Poem is your Poem.  This Poem is my Poem.  

From California to the New York island.  Beautifully orchestrated 

and mechanically splendid.  One of the brilliant and hard songs 

on the jewel path poemtree.--mb


THE IMPERCIPIENT--(#5, May 1994), 61 East Manning St., Providence 

RI, 02906.  48 pp., $5.00.  "Divide the world from yourself and 

you die.  See.  Separation equals contempt."--Joe Ross, from 

"Equations = equals."

What kind of fin de siecle decadence is possible after a century 

of excesses--excesses of technology, violence, and alienation?  

Optimistically, the end of this century might be marked instead 

by a re-engagement with the world--and excellent work presented 

in THE IMPERCIPIENT ("silent pillow of a generation") would seem 

to bolster that optimism.  Strong opening pieces from Jessica 

Lowenthal ("I am a Deist"), Peter Gizzi ("Imitation of Life: A 

mini series"), and Lisa Jarnot ("Diary of a Rough Trade Angel") 

confront various aspects of power (power of belief, brute force) 

and individual response/responsibility.  Lee Ann Brown and 

Magdalena Zurawski reclaim body and passion from both 

sentimentality and cynicism.  Throughout, the poems are carefully 

wrought, crafted in order to communicate (rather than merely 

obscure, or impress).--lbd 


IMPLODING TIED-DYED TOUPEE--(#3, Summer 1994), 100 Courtland Dr., 

Columbia SC, 29223.  32 pp., $4.00.  Fine collages like the front 

cover by Michael Shore and fine poems like "The Sirenes"; an 

infra-verbal gem by Gregory St. Thomasino worth quoting in full:


     aweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

     and away into


and some first-rate M. Kettner compositions, one a haiku whose 

last line speaks of "head: light as a lawn chair."--bg


INDELIBLE INK--(Seventh Edition, Fall 1994), c/o Lauren Salmi, 

3142 West Belden, Chicago IL, 60647.  50 pp., $3.00 (?).  Every 

time I get ready to write the Chicago literary scene off another 

magazine comes along that forces me to change my mind. INDELIBLE 

INK is one of these miracles, with poems that run the gambit from 

academic workshop to hard core vicious street. My favorite piece 

was "War and Marriage" (perhaps because I could identify with the 

subject matter) by Michael H. Brownstein, which captured the 

conflicts with lines like: "She followed him spouting out anger 

like launched hand grenades.  The more she yelled, the more 

insane he knew she was."  Tina Dugay-Khan captures the poetry slam 

world in "The Contest": "We were lined up/ like rival gang 

members/ Our 3 minute poems were like/ drive-by shootings/ The 

words were hot as bullets/ No truce-this time/ Let's rumble"; and 

Kurt Eisenlohr's EAT showed just how important a good meal is 

before you die.--o


INTERTEK--(Vol. 3.5), 13 Daffodil Lane, San Carlos CA, 94070.  

$4.  (e-mail: tek@well.sf.ca.us).  One can always rely on 

INTERTEKfor intelligent stimulation regarding things 

digital/cyber.  This issue consists of two excellent articles 

that meet that standard.  Editor Steve Steinberg discourses on 

"The Ontogeny of RISC" and Alex Cohen "On The Origin of 

Artificial Life--Some Assembly Required".  In the first article 

word maps illustrate the "evolution" from CISC architecture to 

RISC and the manipulation of industry and market to achieve this 

end.  In the second we see how the criteria for what life is 

might be changed by machines who build other machines, etc. etc. 

until we are defined by something that is entirely other to what 

we now consider to be ourselves.  Stimulating stuff whether you 

agree or not.  Guaranteed to keep you on your toes (at least 

while you have them).--jb


JOEY AND THE BLACK BOOTS--(#1, Summer 1994), 718 Lewis St., 

Laramie WY, 82070-3236.  16 pp., $1.00 (?).  C.A. Miller, editor.  

For a first issue this reads like something edited by someone 

who's been around the block a few times.  Cari grabs the likes of 

Lyn Lifshin, C.C. Russell, C.F. Roberts and Cheryl Townsend, and 

let's you know up front that this is just the beginning of what 

is going to be a great relationship.  Get in on the ground 

floor.--o


JOEY AND THE BLACK BOOTS MONTHLY--(#3, September 1994), 2143 

Garfield #5, Laramie WY, 82070-4342.  20 pp., $1.00.  I enjoy 

poetry publications that carry the feel of a zine, but pack the 

wallop of a semi out of control.  In this issue, Janet Kuypers 

grabs us with lines like "I wanted to feel the sold sharp rocks/ 

cutting into my face/ and slicing my skin./ I wanted pain to feel 

good again.", while C.C. Russell's "Lover" touches the heart with 

"Somewhere along the way/ it began to feel/ like a catheter 

tube;/ pain on the way in/ at the end/ but in between,/ just an 

uncomfortable/ release."  When you add in the likes of Howington, 

Townsend, Lifshin, and comix by Phil Labrie, you got a mix that 

can only do you right.--o


JOEY AND THE BLACK BOOTS--(#4, October 1994),  2143 Garfield #5, 

Laramie WY, 82070-4342.  16 pp., $1.00 (?).  C.A. Miller, editor.  

Cheryl Townsend is one of those erotic writers that has to leave 

a wet spot on every seat she writes a poem at, and between the 

lust of friends and lovers her poems continue to explore the 

sensual world of female sexuality.  And she's here in full force, 

along with Lyn Lifshin, C.C. Russell, Mark Hartenbach, and a 

feastful of others, all redefining human existence, and making 

those who don't know wonder what the hell is going on.  This is a 

small magazine, but one that carries the guts and strength you 

need for your everyday survival.--o


JUBAL--(Spring 1994), 2 Garden Lane, New Orleans LA, 70124.   

40 pp., $3.00.  A "Literary Magazine"... with poetry, short 

stories, an essay (on Unknowing), comix by Trippin Cat, and 

plenty of b&w full page sketches which seem to dominate this 

intense yet diverse publication.  Going solely to a digital 

format in 1995.  Prowling the edges of romantic obsession is 

Colette Bennet's poem "Nightfuck," one example of the startling 

turbulence found here: "Silk against my skin/ the moon likes to 

fuck../ it's only a couple of times a year/ when the sun climbs 

on her..."  On the other hand, in Kyle Cassady's "Plague Diary": 

"You're/ giving me/ AZT and you say that smoking/ would be bad 

for me?"  Here is an impulsive energy, repeatedly jolting and 

yet, very accessible.--rrle


JUXTA--(#1, 1994), 977 Seminole Trail No. 33l, Charlottesville 

VA, 22901.  $4.50.  Editors: Ken Harris and Jim Leftwich.  The 

inaugural issue of an ambitions and impressive new journal of 

innovative writing, one in which innovation is widely enough 

conceived to include a broad spectrum of differing styles and 

approaches.  If future issues are as well-edited and inclusive as 

this one, JUXTA will become a major forum for the best and 

liveliest of American poetry.  The magazine is neatly and cleanly 

produced, perfect-bound, and includes textual and visual poetry, 

and some criticism: Susan Smith Nash's article on Language Poetry 

is one of the clearest and most balanced discussion of  that 

phenomenon I've read.  The contributors are many, but just to 

give an idea of the variety here, include Sheila E. Murphy, 

Cheryl Townsend, Hugh Fox, Marcia Arrietta, Jake Berry, Bob 

Grumman, Crag Hill, Spencer Selby, Harry Burris, Mark DuCharme, 

Peter Gannick, Nico Vassilakis, Linsay Hill, M. Kettner, John 

Byrum, Thomas Lowe Taylor...  and many others.  Highly 

recommended.--jmb

     An absolutely astonishing first issue.  The poets and work 

assembled here are some of the most provocative current.  The 

tone of the manifesto intensity of the essays is one hungry for 

blood and consummating inspiration.  The poetry has all the 

authenticity and  organism of Beat as well as the revelry of 

Blake's prophecies or Breton's automatism.  JUXTA is one of a 

handful of mags now wise to the rising storm of poetry yearning 

to be restored to its essential impetus while not divorcing 

itself from the brink of the contemporary world abyss whereon we 

must dance to survive with vitality.  As with Heaven Bone, Poetry 

USA, Lost And Found Times, and a few others, it holds the promise 

of what might be if we'll shed the scales and drink the sky 

raw.--jb

     JUXTA comes roaring out of the wilds without the look of a 

virgin, and with the feel of practiced flesh.  They studied the 

field, grabbed the right writers (Sheila E. Murphy, John M. 

Bennett, Jake Berry, Hugh Fox, etc.), and kicked out an issue so 

strong I'm still trying to work my way through it, having read 

every page to make sure I missed nothing going on. This isn't 

your usual poetic verse, but rather an exploration of breaking 

all the rules with language shifts that rip electrical discharges 

out of brain cells that aren't used to being tugged.  Lines leap 

at you with sporadic bursts of: "It's hangers and bones it's 

sticks and stones/ The weather is the handsome tarp of God" 

(Lindsay Hill's "The Method of Steepest Descents"); "It is women 

in a place where nerves converge in a central system" (Nico 

Vassilakis' "She Looks Up Mythology"); and "gripped by the part 

shriek fast/ got sweat strip and into book sheer/ roar a long 

breaklanding only slow" (Peter deRous' "Desired Trope").  You'll 

be confused, and delighted, for a hundred hours or more.--o

     Here is something new and unknown.  Ambergris floating in 

the sea of tired magazines.  And it is a goooood magazine.  A 

thing like this needed.  Reminds me of the first issue of Jon 

Edgar Webb's THE OUTSIDER: A wonderful magazine of the 1960s that 

published Olson next to Bukowski.  It is good to see that the 

editors drink wide the map of poetry.  The juxtapositioning 

includes: Spencer Selby, Cheryl Townsend, John Byrum, Hugh Fox, 

Crag Hill, Rod Smith.  If Santa Claus wanted to give poets a 

present it would be more mags like JUXTA.  The Easter Bunny would 

do the same.  And the Ground Hog.  And Venus.--mb


KIOSK--(#7), English Department, 306 Clemens Hall, SUNY, Buffalo 

NY, 14260.  An annual of "new writing" that actually emphasizes 

the experimental.  This journal looks like most academic literary 

journals: a piece of art and a title on the front, the names of 

the contributors on the back.  But a number of the names on the 

back might be familiar to the readers of TRR (but not to many 

readers of academic journals): Jake Berry, John Byrum, John M. 

Bennett, Sheila E. Murphy, Tom Beckett, Amy Sparks.  Not every 

work is experimental, and not every experiment works, but there's 

enough good work to make it worthwhile.  I liked some of the 

fiction the best: Mark Jacobs's "The Albino Pheasant", Daniel 

Kanyandekwe's excerpt from "The Last Writer", Susan Shaio's 

"Heels", and Frank Green's resonating "Scarlet Letters: Part One 

(The Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale talks about AIDS)".  Poems by 

John M. Bennett and Amy Sparks also stand out.--ar

     The poetry/literature schools at SUNY are not at all what 

one would usually finds in academia, at least judging from the 

material they publish, KIOSK being a fine example.  This issue 

contains mostly experimental, or at the very least innovative 

work.  Some Language poetry, but not bound to that as criteria.  

Charles Bernstein is here, but also John M. Bennett, Lyn Lifshin, 

but also Sheila E. Murphy.  This combination of poets could 

cudgel imagination from the rock in a heartbeat.  Very 

encouraging to know that education and inspiration do 

occasionally intermingle.--jb  


LAUGHING HORSE BROADSIDE--PO Box 2328, Norman OK, 73070.  $1.00.  

Cydney Chadwick's "Noun Descending a Fire Escape" explores the 

perversity of gender role-constructed bondage, as a woman becomes 

disenchanted with her snoring lover, "especially after you 

discover a whole wad of money stashed away in his shoe box."  

A tableau-vivant that reminds one of French new-wave cinema, 

Godard's "Breatheless", or Louis Malle's more recent incest-

insinuations in "Damage".--ssn


LETTER eX--(August/September, 1994), PO Box 476920, Chicago IL, 

60647.  20 pp., $2.00 (?).  What do you do with a tabloid that 

has too many pictures of Lydia Tomkiw on the cover?  Inside 

LETTER eX, however, it's another story, and Chicago's performance 

art poetry sweetheart gets quickly lost in the shuffle.  There's 

an excellent overview of local poetry publications and events, 

and a slobbering great review of a really bad poetry collection 

(Chicago Cherry: Wicker Park Erotica), and a decent overview of 

Allen Ginsberg's latest romp through the Loop.  This is the place 

to go if you're a poet wanting to know where to go in Chicago.--o


LETTERBOX--(#3, May 1994), 3791 Latimer Pl., Oakland CA, 94609.  

52 pp., $4.50.  Scott Bentley, editor.  Another in the recent 

crop of publications cross-pollinating between various 

aesthetics.  Stephen Ratcliffe opens w/ 8 sections from 

"SOUND/system", delicately problematizing issues of identity (of 

author or subject)--slam up against Errol Miller's self-assured 

"God Almighty, we're/ human-size, avant-garde individuals/ 

snaking through the timestream, students/ of an ideal world..."  

Arethusa Stevens' romantic surrealisms contrast w/ John M. 

Bennett's hard-edged surreality; Michael Sylvester's tale of 

graverobbers at Robert Frost's tomb bumps hard up against 

Pasquale Verdicchio's lyric travelogue of Beuyes in Italy.  It's 

a fine gray-area between eclectic & scattered--fortunately, the 

unifying factor here is the consistently high quality of the 

various works.  Praps appropriate that the binding is a fairly 

fragile scratch-pad glue.--lbd


LILLIPUT REVIEW--(#56), 207 S. Millvale Ave. #3, Pittsburgh PA, 

15224.  16 pp., $1.00.  Petite pamphlet which could, in a steamy 

laundromat situation, be mistaken for a religious tract.  But 

this is no you-are-not-alone reinforcer of existential 

abandonment:  Jim Cory's "232-9212/Tight Ass" is a warm reminder 

of the power of advertising; Scarecrow's "nothing heals" is a 4-

line whisper into a corpse's ear.  A neat little packet, 

punctuated with Rorschach graphics reproducing the experience of 

being interrogated in a windowless room by a psychiatrist gone 

ragged-in-the-mind.--ssn


LILLIPUT REVIEW--(#57), 207 S. Millvale Ave. #3, Pittsburgh PA, 

15224.  16 pp., $1.00.  A tiny booklet packed with kernular 

poems, some as short as tolek's hilarious "/more/," which 

consists of just the line: "perfect, belittled"; or the even 

shorter "NowHere" of Richard Kostelanetz.  Then there's my 

favorite contribution to the issue, Ficus strangulensis's 7-step 

transformation of a handwritten "Be" to "blank"--a visusual 

treatment of the original by John M. Bennett.  Most of the other 

poems are longer and fairly conventional, but generally enjoyable.--bg


LILLIPUT REVIEW--(#60, Summer 1994), 207 S. Millvale Ave. #3, 

Pittsburgh PA, 15224.  8 pp., $1.00.  David Wentworth, editor.  

This publication is an act of love, incredible dedication, and 

touches on what poetry always talks about being, but so rarely 

is.  Wentworth's eye for poems that are precise and filled with 

emotion is one of the finest in the small presses, and he can 

coax the best out of any poet, and give it to the world on a 

golden platter.  In this issue Cheryl Townsend takes on the Pro-

Lifers, Weinman throws white racism against a wall, C.C. Russell 

gives us Mother paranoia, Ana Christy hands us a haiku kid on 

dope.  You get the feeling that all of these poets have been the 

places they're writing about, welcoming us into their worlds with 

a light touch of words inside our head.--o


LOGODAEDLUS--(#7, Summer 1994), PO Box 13193, Harrisburg PA, 

17104.  30 pp., $7.50.  An unbound collection of verbo-visual 

pieces, several in full color, by such artists a John Byrum, 

Spencer Selby and Karl Kempton.  One example: Guy R. Beining's 

"Beige Copy: Post-Text," a collage with annotations (e.g., 

"cerebrum" and "cephalic") in varied colors around two 

rectangles, one containing a geisha in blue with a two-tiered 

red parasol, the other using the first's red and blue--and 

circles--with an x-ray of a wrist, and young-girl images... 

all to suggest fascinating things about brain function, waking, 

and dreaming.--bg


MEGAZINE--(#13, Spring 1994), PO Box 86803, Phoenix AZ, 85080-

6803.  8 pp., $1.00.  This is a wonderful ranting piece of pure 

hatred, with a prison poem by Weinman, a poem from Frank ('s 

Depression) about greyhound bus travel so close to life that my 

butt hurt from the long ride, and other scraps of anger and 

madness.  Sometimes bordering on the pointless though--to be so 

vicious without a target that deserves it.--o


MESHUGGAH--(#10, June 1994), 200 E. 10th St., New York NY, 10003.  

56 pp., $2.00.  A "special religion issue" that features this 

quote from Tammy Faye Bakker: "I take Him shopping with me.  

I say, 'OK, Jesus, help me find a bargain.'"  Also includes 

serious material, such as a little-known essay on Christianity by 

Robinson Jeffers, a caustic slam on religion by Bob Black, and an 

even deeper piece by Dr. Al Ackerman called "The Gospel According 

to Peanut Butter."--bg


MILK--c/o The Poetry Project at St. Marks, 131 E. 10th St, New 

York NY, 10001.  18 pp., $3.00.  "Signed sealed & delivered: the 

letters issue", an assemblage of correspondence to & from various 

including Bernadette Mayer, Ted Greenwald, Richard Hell, Jill 

Rapaport, Ted Berrigan (circa 1971)...  more than a little 

muttering on the difficulty of the poet life, but mostly a 

miscellany & no noticeable theme.  A bit of a Cleveland 

connection, w/ Frank Green on tour with his Scarlet Letters 

performance, Lola Rodriguez dissing the town she can't seem to 

leave, and several from or to expatriot Mike Decapite.  An 

equally random index picks out "crush," "God," "Alice Notley," 

"people," "poems," "smile," "streets," and "Wordsworth" as worth 

multiple citations.--lbd


MISSIONARY STEW--(Vol. 2 #3, May 1994), 100 Courtland Dr., 

Columbia SC, 29223.  6 pp., $4.00.  Fifteen 2-word poems, some 

illustrated (as Gerald Burns's "canned poem" and Harlod Dinkel's 

"elementary drowning"), the rest typographically or in some other 

way illumagistically-enhanced, sometimes to the verge of visual 

poetry as in John M. Bennett's scriggly-rural rendition of "corn 

belt."  A fun collection for people with a taste for minimalistic 

poetry.--bg


MONDO HUNKAMOOGA--(#8, July 1994), Box 141, Station F, Toronto 

Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2L4.  4 pp., $2.00.  A revival of Stuart 

Ross's much-missed (for 6 years!) newsletter of the cutting-edge 

literary scene in Toronto, and linked areas elsewhere.  Some 

excellent short reviews of books Ross picked up at the Toronto 

Small Press Book Fair, and a wonderfully-casual but pin-pointedly 

informative discussion by jw curry of an exhibit of illumagery 

and visual poems by bill bissett.  Also, an ad for a movie called 

"The Four Horsemen Go To Mars" (with "actual Hollywood poets!", 

among them Leonard Nimoy, Richard Thomas, and Suzanne 

Sommers).--bg


MYSTERIOUS WYSTERIA--(#6, Summer, 1994), 335 East Erie, Lorain 

OH, 44052.  38 pp., $1.00.  Ironically I often find the best 

writers and publications come out of the most unexpected places, 

and while most people would look to either coast for writing with 

an edge, there are people in the midwest and even, yep, Ohio, who 

draw blood when you touch their pages.  Here's one such, with a 

Scott Holstad poem about a stripper and dreams of rescue; Erroll 

Miller observing a sex craved female looking for another fuck 

without obligation: Weinman striking a few sexual notes, and a 

Lifshin poem I actually liked.--o


MYSTERIOUS WYSTERIA--(#7, Fall 1994), 335 East Erie, Lorain OH, 

44052.  34 pp., $1.00.  Eric Scott, editor.  In the latest issue 

of MYSTERIOUS WYSTERIA you get prison fiction by Jon R. Campbell, 

a sex poem by Lyn Lifshin ("Like The Floor/ I want you/ there 

waiting/ for me spread/ out, no bitching/ if I walk all/ over 

you..."), a story by Terence Bishop about that strange lust you 

have for people you can't have, and Paul Weinman ripping apart 

another piece of our reality.  Eric captures the best that he can 

find in each issue, and often it's the best that can be found.--o


NEW BRAND--(#6, Summer 1994), PO Box 184, Vinton VA, 24179.  

40 pp., $1.00.  When you toss great band interviews (Youth 

Brigade, Rhythm Collision), huge romantic notions by Thomas Wells 

who takes on controversial subjects like what the hell is gay 

pride and do we really need it, White Boy Poems (come on Paul, 

kill the motherfucker before I do) by Weinman, and music reviews, 

you get a damn good read by a wildman in Virginia who isn't 

afraid to throw the first punch, even if someone else started the 

fight.--o


NEW BRAND--(#7, September 1994), PO Box 184, Vinton VA, 24179.  

33 pp., $3.00 (?).  Music reviews, interviews with bands, a weird 

fucking letter columns from people you hope you'll never meet in 

person, zine reviews that call something shit when it is shit, 

and poetry from Weinman and other wired out illuminated souls.  

This is the perfect bath-tub read, a fun thing to mix it all up 

in just the right doses.--o


NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW--(Vol. 17 #4, 1994), 20 Werneth 

Ave., Gee Cross, Hyde, Cheshire, U.K., SK14 5NL.  36 pp., 2 

Pounds/$5.00.  Poetry without borders from poets residing in 

mostly England, but also Canada, Mexico, Austria, Spain, Brazil, 

Bulgaria, the USA... even the Vatican.  Belinda Subraman is here, 

as one of two representing the USA.  Translations and original 

script, churning ambient soundscape with tantalizing 

possibilities.  It retains some diffuse poetic grandeur, as perhaps 

only an English editor can channel it--often too floating 

and sacred for me.  "These are the eyes that never fit/ and this 

is the mouth that can't forget." chants Peter Howard in his 

mantra voice.  Still, the world needs more international vehicles 

for poetry.--rrle


THE NEW RENAISSANCE--(#27, Fall 1994), 9 Heath Rd., Arlington MA, 

02174.  181 pp., $7.00.  A beautifully-packaged collection of 

fiction, non-fiction, illumagery and poetry from the middle 

outlook of our culture, but which includes a breakthrough article 

by David Impastato on the nature and failings of "dominant-mode 

poetry.  Also a worth-the-price-of-admission set of reproductions 

of the neo-Boschian unmiddle-outlook paintings by Samuel Bak (b. 

1933).--bg


NO LONGER A FANzine--(#5, Summer 1994), 142 Frankford Ave., 

Blackwood NJ, 08012.  54 pp., $2.00.  Joseph A. Gervasi, editor.  

When someone takes on the world without flinching, and gets 

interviews with William T. Vollman (author of THE RAINBOW 

DIARIES), Randall Phillip (editor of FUCK), and even talked to 

Dennis Cooper in the last issue, you know you're dealing with 

somebody who isn't afraid to take on the crazies.  This is what 

fanzines dream of being--independent, xeroxed, DIY--but almost 

never achieve because there isn't the intelligence and gall in 

most people to pull this thing off right.  This is the stuff, the 

place, the thing you got to see, like talking to somebody you 

really want to know.--o


O!! ZONE--(#12), 1266 Fountain View Dr., Houston TX, 77057.  

48 pp., #4.00.  A highlight of this issue is a grittily anti-

sentimental but moving elegy for Bukowski by Robert Peters.  

Representing the opposite end of the overt-passion scale is C.L. 

Champion's "poema cocci," which consists of four scattered 

rectangles.  In the middle of one is the word "cloud"; in another 

is a "c"; and "clod" is in a third.  The fourth is empty.  Earth, 

sea and sky... and mystery.--bg


O!! ZONE--(#13), 1266 Fountain View Dr., Houston TX, 77057.  

48 pp., $5.00.  Harry Burrus, editor-Publisher.  Thirteen, what a 

pleasant number, but not bad luck--good luck for Harry Burrus.  

Here's one that is moving it along.  Writers from about the round 

orb on which we live (some of us at any rate).  Represented 

writers from: Papatoetoe, West Yorks, Berlin, Aukland and 

Baltimore!  Well, we are all poets and here is this maga going 

all about it.  It communicates: A phone call of poetry with a 

free package of gum.  Fine cut-up collages too.  A Fine mix of 

poetry forms and no arrogance.  Obviously no one in this maga has 

a polo pony.  Some tributes to poetry of Anna Leonessa and some 

nude shots.  Some visual poems and some confessions.  Names in 

the news: Crag Hill, Bob Grumman, Ergee, Trish, Hergo and fine 

work from these: Zauta, Bertola, Akmakjian, Weslowski.  Sing 

these names and get more poetry.  Poetry-o. Poetry-ski.  Us the 

word fine a lot.--mb


ONE HUNDRED SUNS--(#2, Spring 1994), PO Box 30186, Long Beach CA, 

90853.  68 pp., $5.00.  This enticing zine has included so many 

well-known micropress poets I can't mention them all.  Suffice it 

to say that this publication is an exploration of the spirit of 

poetry in the '90s, represented in almost 40 poems, plus b&w 

collages, two-tone photographs, reviews and even three comix 

sketches.  Amid the clarity of well-worked verse and reliable 

voices is a sense of mission; to present tasteful but not tame 

poetry; to create something enjoyable and lasting.  For example, 

Todd Kalineki attempts to paint, "& made a few random attempts at 

the abstract./ Fuck this, i thought--/ nature's more powerful..."  

Todd Moore interacts with his father: "he grabbed/ my hand &/ 

made me/ touch the/ pulse going/ up & down/ on his wrist..." 

vivid images abound.  Elsewhere, Cheryl Townsend contemplates 

age, "...someone let the air out/ of my tires..."  Poetry by 

poets with focus and confidence.--rrle


OPEN 24 HOURS--(# 10, 1994), PO Box 50376, Washington DC, 20091.  

$3.00.  Buck Downs, editor.  Twenty-four contributors include 

Alice Notely, Bruce Andrews, Robert Fitterman, A.L. Nielsen, John 

Elsberg, Mark Wallace, Keith Higginbotham and Spenser Selby, 

among others--this should give an idea of the great variety of 

styles presented.  What holds them all together is a lively 

concern with innovative or intensely engaged language as the 

essence of poetry.  There is very little in the way of merely 

formal exercise here, however; all of these selections reflect an 

immersion in human experience and an active engagement with it:


     an American's

        an American's 

     lacy way around

     attire     a frozen rule

     misled stance of lessening value

     a take charge kind

     of sick, surrogate winds we got

     a situation here     dismissive

     shipment of over-

          designed blouses the forever

     shift, all grunt, gamely

        a linked-up way about him from first

     to third in no time

                         --Robert Fitterman


An excellent compilation.--jmb


OXYGEN--(Summer, 1994), 535 Geary St. #1010, San Francisco CA, 

94102.  50 pp., $3.00.  Richard Hack, editor.  This is one of San 

Francisco's serious literary pubs, and you feel a fine tooth edge 

in its editing.  With one of Arthur Winfield Knight's better 

short stories about a  run in with the traffic legal system, a 

poem about Victor Martinez's hatred of the street and hatred of 

responsibilities that keep you from the alleys, and a cynical 

bite of surrealistic reality from Richard Hack, you know you're 

on to something.  It carries an edge, and an academic touch--

proof there are still people outside of the margin that know what 

all of this is supposed to be about.--o


PEARL--(#20, Spring 1994), 3030 E. Second St., Long Beach CA, 

90803.  96 pp., $6.00.  Some literary magazines are so tightly 

structured they read more like a well edited fine tuned 

anthology, than just a small press magazine.  PEARL is one of 

these, tearing along like a wild out-of-control car looking for 

new speed limits to break, while, at the same time, running so 

smooth you forget there are flashing blue lights trailing in the 

distance.  In this issue we get some of the best stars of the 

literary presses including poetry by Laurel Speer, Tolek, Mark 

Weber, Dan Nielsen, and Robert Peters. You also get great 

illustrations by Ann Menebroker and Daryl Rogers, among a cast of 

thousands.  Add into this mixture of flammable fumes a chapbook, 

CODE GREEN, by Donna Hilbert (tasty lines like "The pain is dark 

green/ I feel it in my bask when I sleep", "I loved the flat 

sassy/ bodies of my paper dolls", and "Because I can't breathe,/ 

i try to sleep/ on the drive up the mountain"), plus Tolek, 

Laurel Speer, Ron Androla, Mark Weber, Gerald Locklin... well, 

you know you're going to be in for quite a ride.--o


PHOBIA--(#8, Summer 1994), PO Box 23194, Seattle WA, 98102.  

44 pp., $4.  Edited by Ezra Mark.  Near the end of this 

collection of otherstream collages, poems, fictions and related 

utterances are two sideways white zeros by Andrew Klimek that 

join each other against a black background.  One is larger and 

slightly higher off the ground that the other.  It takes their 

title to make one realize that they form "infinity, skewed."  

Minimal, to be sure--but full of hints of nothing/something out 

of darkness, of chains, of the elegant exactness of mathematics 

gone pathological in the subtlest of ways, of the universe in 

process...  Much else here is of similar bent & quality.--bg


PIEDMONT LITERARY REVIEW--(Vol. XVII, #4, Fall 1994), c/o 

Piedmont Literary Society, Bluebird Lane, Rt. #1, Box 1014, 

Forest VA, 24551.  44 pp., $3.00.  There are times I get tired of 

the anger and hysteria, and want to read something that gets bask 

to the basics.  When I get philosophical I read _The Art Of War_, 

but when I want thoughtful poetry I go to an issue of PIEDMONT 

LITERARY REVIEW.  Bruce Thomas Boehrer is the first poet to 

capture what Kevin Cosgriff, a friend of mine in KY, called a 

diet ("eat less food, drink more beer") in the form of poetry.  

Kathleen Thomas' poem, "The Typest", scared me half to death when 

she wrote "Speed, accuracy, and diffidence/ Account for her 

precise movements/ And bland face./ None of the executives detect 

the rage...".  A lot of these poems are, on the other hand, 

gentle, thoughtful, and bring that strange smile you can't take 

off your face when you're walking down the street and remember a 

moment only you would understand.--o


PINK PAGES--(#5, Summer 1994), c/o Joe Maynard, 372 Fifth Ave, 

Brooklyn NY, 11215.  28 pp., $2.00.  Where else would you find 

explicit digitized sexual illustrations of bondage, venereal 

diseases, sexual confessionary fictions that would moisten the 

driest surfaces, poems that would provoke the gentlest feminist 

to military action, and creative individuals who have no mercy, 

coming back for more, over and over again, until the edges are so 

rough they feel like they're on fire.  Where else, but the PINK 

PAGES?  Who else would have this kind of fun?--o


POETIC BRIEFS--(#17, August/September 1994), 31 Parkwood St. #3, 

Albany, NY, 12208.  16 pp., $10/6 issues.  Starts with a sensible 

article by editor Jefferson Hanson against the Language poetry 

bashing currently going on.  Ends with an epigramful short essay 

by John de Wit including such as: "keeping understanding in mind 

makes a poet a part-time teacher, a noncommissioned officer of 

the artistic forces" (which I like a lot, tho I'd add, double-

ahem, that keeping understanding ALWAYS out of mind makes a poet 

a lieutenant-colonel of the anti-artistic forces...).  Much in 

between that is equally fun to reflect on, into, or away 

from.--bg


RALPH--(#19, July 1994), PO Box 505-1288 Broughton St., Vancouver 

BC, Canada, V6G 2B5.  4 pp., $1.00.  I found this in a coffee 

shop, and Ralph must travel a lot because he covers San Francisco 

this time with a bit of Punk history, a Jennifer Joseph reading, 

a trip to North Beach and City Lights, and a poem that almost 

makes fun of poetry.  There's also a list of Ralph's latest 

reads, and a feeling in this short publication comes from the 

heart and travels of a man who wants to know what life is all 

about.--o


SCHISM--(Vol. 3 #11-#24, 1985-89), PO Box 2977, Iowa City IA, 

52242.  8pp. @, $10.00 (cash).  A collector's packet of back 

issues a zine edited by JanetJanet.  In "Up the Garden Path", she 

sez of it: "SCHISM was never intended to be a serious art 

movement; it was a rather slight joke.  A humorous way of 

exposing the stupidity of organized art movements."  Nonetheless, 

the 14 issues here are full of manipulations of text and visual, 

and other moves that any otherstream artist could learn from.--bg


SEATTLE SMALL PRESS POETRY REVIEW--(June 1994), 6226 1/2 Stanley, 

Seattle WA, 98108.  4 pp., $??.  Three verbo-visual works each by 

Trudy Mercer, Ezra Mark, and Joe Keppler, with critical 

commentary by yours truly.  A full range of "vizlature," from a 

textless jumble of scribbling by Mark from which one or two 

letters might be emerging, to a piece by Keppler that is all 

text--the word "err" repeated enough times to form a large 

rectangle, to something by Mercer that looks like a diagram of 

sub-atomic events somehow concerned with the origin of language 

in the half-text/half-graphic middle of the range.  A short 

survey of vizlature, and introduction to what's going on in the 

Seattle otherstream.--bg


SEMIQUASI REVIEW--(#1, Summer 1994), Box 55892 Fondren Station, 

Jackson MS, 39296.  12 pp., SASE.  Good long reviews of 

otherstream fiction (if Avital Ronell's The Telephone Book, $35 

from the University of Nebraska Press, qualifies as otherstream).  

Lots of deconstructive insight--and extra helpfulnesses such as a 

note that there's an interview of Ronell in RE/Search #13 for 

those interested.  Halfway through a sequence of highly 

idiosyncratic langpo/haiku responses to a ballet competition 

begins a flourish of improvisational riffs on various artworks 

and who knows what else that are good reading but not 

illumination as criticism, if that is what they were intended to 

be.--bg


SHEILA NA GIG--(#9, 1994), 23106 Kent Ave.,, Torrance CA, 90505.  

100 pp., $6.00.  This yearly publication can be counted on to 

yield high-energy poetry every time.  In this issue, along with 

poetry by Charles Webb, Gerald Locklin, Lynn Lifshin and others, 

we have three poetry contest winners with two representative 

poems from each.  Plenty of conscious space in this publication, 

and each word is boiled down to it's essential nucleus.  When 

Ilie Ruby tells of her sister in one poem called "Triple Slut," 

"Sister had a way/ of peeling the sun from the sky/ with a 

word..."  we can feel her torment, see the sibling rivalry.  Most 

of these poems are earnest and piercing; for example, Candace 

Moore tells us of her personal abuse; "I'm willing/ to be beaten.  

Your bruises are like/ trophies..."  No sappy innocence here, a 

verbal alchemy of free verse resides on each page.--rrle


SHIT DIARY--(#12), USF #3182, 4202 East Fowler Ave., Tampa FL, 

33620-3182.  44 pp., $1.00.  Setting the tone for this issue are 

a black-comedy tale by Andrew Urbanus about a wack who is 

literally shit on (and into) at some kind of sadistic 

fraternity's night of entertainment, and a nutty story by Tom 

Lavignino about a guy who gets his kicks sneaking into a woman's 

apartment and leaving his unflushed turds in her toilet.--bg


SHIT DIARY--(#14), USF #3182, 4202 East Fowler Ave., Tampa FL, 

33620-3182.  $1.00.  Editor Surllama has had a bit of address 

trouble lately, so you might try sending any funds or queries to 

Surllama, c/o Kevin D. Kelly, just to make sure it reaches him.  

This issue is yet another howling fine bowl full, including a 

delightful pic of child turds described as, "Two Californias and 

the Panhandle of Texas."  Now where else are you going to find 

something like that?  There's a couple of steaming wonders by 

Willie Smith including a murderer who drowns his victim in a 

toilet and goes on to become a preacher.  "The Dervish Unwinds" 

by Bill Kaul-puta is a tale of grisly science with roadkill.  

After that the mag gets weird.  SHIT DIARY has become a very 

unique place to be, very tasty--like giving your lover head and 

he or she farts in your mouth and you cum instantly.  It's just 

that intense.  An enema for the soul.--jb


SHOCKBOX--(#10, Summer 1994), PO Box 7226, Nashua NH, 03060.  

58 pp., $3.00.  Editor: C.F. Roberts.  Some of the small press' 

most vicious psychopaths (Cynthia Hendershot, Robert W. 

Howington, Blair Wilson, Gerald Locklin, Paul Weinman, and 

another thirty or more equally dangerous souls) flying at you, in 

page after page of rabid euphoric hysteria.  Alfred Vitale's 

fight between his parents (YOU JAB ME???WITH A KNIFE???FUCKIN' 

CUNT.. .I'LL") reminded me of the fights I never saw as a kid, 

and even Chicago poets like Batya Goldman get to fart and go to 

Heaven in this world.  This is writing from the edge--the knife 

edge, not the artsy avant-garde.--o


SHORT FUSE--(#58, Summer 1994), PO Box 90436, Santa Barbara CA, 

93190.  24 pp., $1.00.  One of those electro-dynamic every-

square-inch-crammed free-on-the-streets poetry & graphix 

publications.  Mostly dark, as inna poem by Edward Mycue whose 

lonely protagonist should spend the night at a motel but can't 

bring himself "to fill/ any empty room/ between two sets/ of 

lovers."  Good otherstream work by the usuals (Jake Berry, Guy R. 

Beining) too.--bg


SILENT BUT DEADLY--(#4, August 1994), USF #3182, 4202 East Fowler 

Ave., Tampa FL, 33620-3182.  24 pp., $1.00.  More critiques by 

subscribers to this equivalent of a poet's workshop.  The poets 

whose work is treated this time are E.E. Cummings, John Be. 

Denson, C. Mulrooney, and Jake Berry.  Lots of hilariously dumb 

critiques, plus a worth-th-price-of-the-issue spoof of High 

Literary Seriousness by Eel Leonard (aka Dr. Al Ackerman).  Great 

reading for those with a sense of humor who enjoy reading about 

literature.--bg


SILENT BUT DEADLY--(#5, October 1994), USF #3182, 4202 East 

Fowler Ave., Tampa FL, 33620-3182.  28 pp., $1.00.  Poets 

critiqued in this issue: John M. Bennett, Gabriel Monteleone 

Neruda, Tom "Tearaway" Schulte, and yours truly.  C. Mulrooney 

claims he hasn't gotten any poems to criticize, "just a bunch of 

bric-a-brac junkmail, because the editor can't tell the 

difference"; he proceeds to "criticize" the poems with poems of 

his own & others.  Robert Peters calls Bennett's poem "horrible, 

horrible."  And like that.  The usual much fun; and tho I enjoyed 

being the victim of critique, I was disappointed that Bennett got 

it worse than I did.--bg


SITUATION--(#7), 10402 Ewell Ave., Kensington MD, 20895.  16 pp., 

$2.00.  A simple but cleanly produced compilation of poetry and 

texts by eight writers, all of which (according to editor Mark 

Wallace) address the "possibility of identity" in "formally 

innovative" ways.  The innovative strategies here are largely of 

the neo-Language type, to use a term of less stylistic than 

associational meaning.  The selection of texts is excellent, 

showing a wide variety of approaches, from Sterling Plumpp's 

incantational "Mfua's Song," to Ron Silliman's obliquely related 

prose paragraphs, to A.L. Nelsen's elusivly framed examination of 

character, to Kevin Killian's dialogic invocations of popular 

culture and language.--jmb

     Includes Ron Silliman's "Under," a section of his long 

project _The Alphabet: all the high fizz of surrealism and jump-

cut langpo--and even lyric grace at times, as in: "The trees at 

first catch, then amplify, sounds of the storm.  Baby at the 

stage when he can pull himself up but not take a step without 

support."  A funny short play about Barbara Hutton by Kevin 

Killian--strikes me how far the Language poets swerve from 

newsprint for diction, tho to it for subject matter. The other 

good items here once again confirm the position of SITUATION 

among the best outlets for langpo and related materials 

going.--bg


SMALL PRESS REVIEW--(Vol. 26 #7, July-August 1994), PO Box 100, 

Paradise CA, 95969.  40 pp., $5.00.  The annual double issue, 

edited by Laurel Speer, devoted to the observations of a handful 

of small press (never micropress) editors.  These people always 

say the same kind of things, but I always enjoy reading them--for 

that matter, I always say the same kinds of things myself when 

asked to comment on my experiences as a publisher).--bg


SPIKE--(#4, 1994), PO Box 20183, Boulder CO, 80308.  90 pp., 

$8.90.  Peter Lamborn Wilson's essay "The Wild Man," identifying 

the American myth of white man turning into a "savage" Indian as 

central to our cultural psyche, appears half-way thru this 

collection, and it seems relevant to other of the work here--

Coyote, & various western/wilderness settings, show up in more 

than a couple of poems; while Adrian Louis's "Ancient Acid 

Flashing Back" poems extend the psychedelic generation's claim on 

an LSD/shaman connection.  Several pieces each from a dozen 

contributors, including Charlie Mehrhoff, Jack Collom, and Bruce 

Barrows.  LA performance poet Akilah Oliver successfully 

translates her impressionistic word collages to print.  And Tom 

Cooper's longish "Ides of March Poem" is upstaged by the 

preceding series of four photographs--in the first three, he's 

holding signs that read, serially: "Hello," "I have AIDS," "Now 

you see me..." & of course, in the final frame he is gone.--lbd


SUBTEXT--(#1, Summer 1994), PO Box 23194, Seattle WA, 98102.  

44 pp.,  $3.  One particularly nice thing about this magazine is 

that it includes statements about their craft by most of it's 

(Seattle-based) contributors--through not by Kirby Olson, whose 

entire contribution, in quotes, is "POETICS: hatred disguised as 

gentle comedy; gentle comedy disguised as hatred."  The poems and 

fictions are wide-ranging and risk-taking, as in this excerpt of 

an excerpt of Tom Malone's "Puget Safe," "by wind structed/ obser 

light/ rapid light brances/ on shore up"; excerpts from Ezra 

Mark's NARTHEX; and John Olson's "Fluorescent Frontier," which 

begins with a "laryngeal jalopy."--bg


SYNAESTHETIC: A JOURNAL OF POETRY, PROSE, AND MEDIA ARTS--(#1, 

Spring 1994), 178-10 Wexford Terrace, Apt. 3D, Jamaica NY, 11432.  

$7.00.  Alex Cigale, editor.  The debut issue of a literary 

journal devoted to "found forms found text" (this issue includes 

some photography, which raises the question of whether or not all 

photography is "found" art).  Most of the texts are presented as 

poems, and involve some degree of manipulation and/or selection 

by the artist.  In some cases the source of the material is 

indicated by a note, but in others there is no such information: 

in the latter cases the texts often sound rather flat, which 

suggest that the detailed knowledge of a poem's "foundness" plays 

a major role in its aesthetic success.  In spite of the 

occasional dull moment, however, there are many excellent and 

stimulating contributions here--for example, the work of Rochelle 

Lynn Holt, Tony D'Arpino, Sesshu Foster, Halvard Johnson, Bennett 

Capers, Jesse Glass, Gary Aspenberg and John Bradley.  This 

journal is an important contribution to the literary scene in its 

focus on found technique as a serious process in contemporary 

writing. It is professionally produced in large format, typeset, 

perfectbound, with well-reproduced photographs.  I look forward 

to future issues.--jmb


TAGGERZINE--(#5.5, Spring 1994), PO Box 632952, San Diego CA, 

92163-2952.  28 pp., $2.00 (?).  I love the layout of this 

magazine, with clean white space offsetting the words and art.  

There's a conscientiousness to it, with a touch of love and 

dedication.  Weinman's playful gory rabbit killer poem showed his 

taking on new territory, which renews my respect for his creative 

tendencies going another eight steps up the road. Adrienne 

Droogas' piece, "I Was Raped Today," was so powerful, so 

spontaneous, that lines like: "I washed and I washed and have yet 

to cleanse myself with tears", "I don't want to hear your voice 

and taste you in my mouth", "I don't want this smell in my room 

anymore", still echo in my head.  Frank B. Hobbs' "Achey Breaky 

Dreams" capture bits and pieces that create a gestalt of the 

senses, and the graphics compliment, don't over-ride the words.  

This is a balance that most publications should learn: that anger 

tempered with insight and well written words rips apart the 

senses more than anger overwhelmed by noise.--o


TALISMAN--(#12, Spring 1994), PO Box 1117, Hoboken NJ, 07030.  

262 pp., $6.00.  A central publication for American poetry.  Each 

issue features a wide and deep selection of various new poetries, 

and also showcases an individual well-known poet with samples of 

his work, critical commentary on it, and an interview with the 

poet--this time around featuring Theodore Enslin. Also here, a 

large selection of contemporary Chinese poetry in translation.  

TALISMAN may not quite have caught up with the latest 

pluraesthetic and infra-verbal poetry but it's not ignoring it, 

and it's first-rate on everything else I know about in 

contemporary poetry.--bg


:THAT:--(#18, February 1994), PO Box 85, Peacham VT, 05862.  

10 pp., $1.50.  Feature: Daniel Zimmerman's "Tattoo's for 

Proteus," a lyrical festival of intonation, symbol-making, and 

forms as fibrous as crystals shattering in the screech of dawn.  

"Lisa's Rag Doll Devil" toys with the monsters of the unconscious 

that say hey-I-won't-be-tamed: "my mother prays St. Anthony/ no.  

it's just as well."  Light-hearted juxtapositions of Greek myth, 

20th-century culture, and philosophical inquiry.  Strangely 

moving.--ssn


:THAT:--(#24, Aug 1994), PO Box 85, Peacham VT, 05862.  24 pp., 

$1.50.  Stephen Dignazio & Stephen Ellis, editors.  Issue No. 24 

is a set of work, writing, poems by Robert Grenier.  They are 

notebook poems--not poems from a notebook.  Grenier's most recent 

work uses the note book page(s) as a unit of composition.  The 

pages are unlined so that the words as material locate themselves 

in a wide variety of fashion: some approaching the non-verbal and 

the completely visual yet maintaining a link with an alphabet, 

which is a concept that is also stretched in this poetry.  :THAT: 

is always farther and for-word.  Issues 19-23 (all published in 

1994) featured: Kenneth Irby, Patrick Dowd, Stephen Jonas, 

CLayton Eshleman, Halliday Dresser, Bruce Andrews, Ray DiPalma, 

and Nathaniel Tarn.--mb


THIRTEEN POETRY MAGAZINE--(Vol. XIII, October 1994), PO Box 392, 

Portlandville NY, 13834-0392.  52 pp., $4,00 (?).  It's always 

sad when a great literary magazine comes to the end, and THIRTEEN 

was one of those publications you hoped would go on forever.  

There was always a gentle touch, an almost sensitive approach to 

editing, and while I tend to lean in the direction of vicious 

psychopathic outlaw writing, there was always a beam of light that 

caught my eye as I drifted through the poems. Often I had no 

idea of who the writers were, confused by all of the names I had 

never heard of, but there were gems shining in each issue, and an 

awareness that there is more than blood and guts and sweat to 

writing.  This issue is packed to the gills, and is a decent 

finale for a magazine that I will truly miss.--o


THORNY LOCUST--(#3, Summer 1994), PO Box 32631, Kansas City MO, 

64171.  36 pp., $4.00.  Rigorous poetry, prose, line art and b&w 

photos.  Often warm, and sensual, even humorous, at other times 

cerebral and self-conscious ranging to the dark and extreme: from 

lies we tell our children to serial cannibalism with a lot of 

fragments in between.  Not exactly focused but provocative 

anyway.  "She begs for another jolt,/ her body strapped down 

safely,/ electrodes sizzling forgetfulness," Robert Cooperman 

whispers to us, while Carl Bettis contemplates the infamous 

serial killer: "Jeffery Dahmer's/ Grown no calmer."--rrle


TIGHT--(Vol. 5, # 3), PO Box 1591, Guerneville CA, 95446.  $4.50.  

Editor: Ann Erickson.  For several years now a crossroads of the 

underground poetry scene, TIGHT collects in every issue an 

assortment of almost all kinds of poetry currently appearing.  

This issue begins with an excellent, considered piece by Crag 

Hill, "At The Louve"--the second verse: "Safe art is a damnable 

confession,/ that kneeling figure on the fact,/ for the state can 

conceive of us."  And what follows ranges from confessional, to 

descriptive, to experiment, to sentiment.  This is like a poetry 

menagerie shaped without intrusions by the editor's keen 

sensitivity for the broad diversity of poetic voice.--jb


TO--(Vol. 2 #3/4, Spring 1994), PO Box 121, Narberth PA, 19072.  

320 pp., $10.00.  Very high-grade production values with a neat 

cartoony painting by Philip Guston of a ghost-sheeted, cigar-

smoking painter painting a self-portrait of himself on the cover.  

Within is a section devoted to Guston that contains 16 

reproductions of his paintings followed by one poem on each 

painting by Clark Coolidge, followed in turn by commentary on 

Coolidge's poems by Debra Balken, a memoir of Guston by William 

Corbett, and other Guston-related material.  All kinds of other 

interesting poetry and prose, including some "sonnets" by Jenny 

Gough that do fascinating things in and about their 14 lines--

their 14 literal (plane-geometry) lines.--bg


TRANSMOG--(#13, summer 1994), Rt. 6 Box 138, Charleston WV, 

25311.  24 pp., $1.00.  Ficus Strangulensis, editor.  Although 

this is in a zine format, and carries that edge you'd expect, 

there are some damn good pieces amid the sloppy layout, which you 

wouldn't know are there unless you really dig.  There are tons of 

"found" poems, utterances from the insane, short insightful 

bursts from Sparrow, poetry by Weinman, surrealistic word combos 

from John M. Bennett, a Bob Z poem, strange disorienting 

graphics, and a friendly feel that makes you read through 

everything again just in case you missed something the first time 

through.--o


TRANSMOG--(#14, May 1994), Rt. 6 Box 138, Charleston WV, 25311.  

22 pp.  More talents new to me, like Ehel--one of whose two 

illumages comprises 25 fouled-up renderings of rectangles 

stamped, always incompletely, with phrase, "FIRST-CLASS MAIL."  

Perhaps the centerpiece here is "The Invaders," a plaintext poem 

by Robert Kelly that takes up six columns.  It begins as a 

discussion of language as "an invasion/ from outer space"--each 

word being an alien that has move into our brains.  It ends with 

the speaker having found them after many vain attempts to.  It is 

"a kind of shapely pouting silence/ a bunch of words beyond my 

grasp/ all I could do was say them so I did."--bg


TRANSMOG--(#15, Fall 1994), Rt. 6 Box 138, Charleston WV, 25311.  

28 pp.  There's something about a one staple lit mag that brings 

me back to my Boston days when Bob Z's BAD NEWZ used to haunt my 

mailbox.  Lyn Lifshin, Sheila Murphy, John M. Bennett, Sparrow, 

Paul Weinman, Jake Berry, Lainie Duro, Alan Catlan, John Grey, 

Paul Weinman, and a mailing list fly at you like a thousand 

sucker punches gone astray, making me wonder how the hell Ficus 

managed to throw so many fiercely individualistic poets together 

without having the pages shred themselves.--o

     Just crammed with sparkletic visual and verbal items: the 

best buy around for otherstreamers.  One happy specimen of the 

contents is a story by Don Webb that features sentences 

discussing themselves and the text they're in.  Example: "This 

sentence believes that no one will read this far, and so 

occasionally goes out for coffee."  New this issue (I think) is a 

short review section by editor strangulensis.--bg


U-DIRECT--(#1, August 1994), PO Box 476617, Chicago IL, 60647.  

42 pp., $4.00.  Produced by Mary Kuntz Press, in conjunction with 

this summer's Underground Publishing Conference at DePaul 

University.  Hence, it has a few pages on the conference itself--

but the bulk of it consists of strong articles whose titles tell 

it all: "Don't Let State Artists Become the State of the Arts," 

by conference organizer Batya Goldman; Merritt Clifton's "20 

Years of Collating"; Mike Basinki's "White Boy and the World of 

Poetry"; or Stuart McCarrell's "On the Five Types of Poets"--this 

last item from 1966 and thus amusingly "wrong" about the then-

just-starting Language poets, but still pertinent food-for-

thought.--bg


VEINS--(#2, Summer 1994), c/o T. Bishop, 2220 Walnut St. #402, 

Philadelphia PA, 19103.  34 pp., $3.00.  Editor Terrence Bishop's 

piece, "Tales From The Workplace," captures a dance club monotony 

with such clean precise lines you can feel the garbage ooze over 

your fingers as he writes about dragging the trash outside.  Mel 

C. Thompson's CARRYING THE TORCH carries intensity to an extreme 

with lines like: "You wanna' hear some bullshit?/ I still love 

your plump, junkie ass,/how you keep (almost) dyin' young--your 

scratchy, nervous whiskey talk."  Throw in some Nicole Panter (my 

favorite real life nasty girl), and you are on the road to a 

place so vicious that your best weapons won't keep away the 

dreams.--o


VISIBLE LANGUAGE--(Vol. 27, #4), Rhode Island School of Design, 

Graphic Design Dept., 2 College St., Providence RI, 02903.  112 

pp., $10.00.  Special issue: VISUAL POETRY: AN INTERNATIONAL 

ANTHOLOGY.  This collection came about as a result of discussions 

held at the Third International Biennial of Visual Poetry in 

Mexico City, 1990.  The general editor for the collection is 

Harry Polkinhorn, who also edited the section for U.S. poets and 

translated the commentaries of the other editors.  The other 

editors are: Philadelpho Menezes (Brazil), Pedro Juan Gutierrez 

(Cuba), Enzo Minarelli (Italy), Cesar Espinosa (Mexico), Fernando 

Aguiar (Portugal), and Clemente Padin (Uruguay).  This is not a 

block buster anthology like those of Solt or Williams in the 

'60s.  Because of its sketchiness, the collection tends to be 

more suggestive than definitive.  This is a distinct advantage 

because visual poetry in all countries has moved away from 

classic concrete into new approaches and new media, including 

computer and video poems, which can't be summarized or 

simplified.  One of the advantages of local editors is the 

capacity of several of them to be sharply critical of visual 

poetry in their countries in a way that an outsider could not be.  

As a suggestive venture, this collection is a good place to work 

from, whether for readers or editors.--ky


WHOLE NOTES--(Vol. 10, #1, Spring 1994), PO Box 1374, Las Cruces 

NM, 88004.  28 pp., $3.00.  Contented poetry with a feeling tone, 

emotional honesty rising above mere cage-rattling.  This is not 

technique for technique's sake poetry.  This tenth anniversary 

issue is richly textured and bracing: includes a German 

translation of a pseudo-haiku by Karl Lubomirski, "So many 

storms//and now/ ivy."  Rhymes when necessary, plus the 

obligatory Lifshin poem.--rrle


WORD OUTA BUFFALO--264 Summer St., Buffalo NY, 14222.  $1.00.  

Ah, yes, from the turf that was once the home of Charles Olson 

and Mark Twain we have this new magazine: WORD OUTA BUFFALO.  

This fresh magazine, now in its second issue, has as its program 

the multiplicity of poetic voices that make their home in 

Buffalo.  This is not a magazine simply cloistered at "the 

University" or restricted to friends.  Without pomp, camp, or 

bias a good sounding of all types of poetry spawned in this old 

time eastern city by Lake Erie.  Snow will not stop the Word Outa 

Buffalo.  No, the writing is not restricted to the street and 

schooly poets of Western New York.  There's a healthy batch of 

others with words that then bellow from Buffalo, among them: Nava 

Fadae, Michael Tritto, Michael Millay, and Heather Griffiths.--mb


X-RAY--(Vol. 1, #3), PO Box 170011, San Francisco CA, 94117.  

$15.00?.  Edited by Johnny Brewton.  Probably the most elegant, 

physically and visually pleasing assembling-type magazine I've 

ever seen.  A fat, 7 x 8.5" nicely bound compilation of visual, 

conceptual, and literary pieces, some of them hand-made; in fact, 

most of the pages have been produced by the artists themselves, 

who have been chosen or invited by the editor.  Included are 

several beautifully printed small booklets inserted in envelopes 

tipped into the issue.  There is really not a dull moment in this 

production, which includes work by, among others, Alice Borealis, 

Charles Bukowski, Neeli Cherkovskky, Jack Foley, G. Huth, and Ray 

Johnson.  Among my personal favorites are a collage by Eysekutz, 

a booklet of skeletons by Generic Mike, Foley's poem, a letter 

from India (in an airmail envelope) by Arun Lele, and Brewton's 

own found poem "Pharmacy."  X-RAY is a labor of love and great 

beauty and is fast becoming a collector's item.  Don't miss 

it.--jmb


XIB--(#6, Summer 1994), PO Box 262112, San Diego CA, 262112.  

68 pp., $5.00.  I always welcome Tolek's clear focus.  Here you 

got Keith A. Dodson's lines related to wearing his daughter's 

underwear and getting caught by his wife; then Wayne Hogan's 

insightful perceptive justifications for killing his wife; 

Patrick McKinnon's "Poem for Gramma Lavis"; and Lyn Lifshin's 

poem about things getting blown up and ugly.  This is one of 

those lit mags that rip open psychological scars: the brutal 

realities that are here now, and the ones you thought had healed 

over.--o


YOUR DAD IS...--(#1, 1994), PO Box 3756, Erie PA, 16508.  8 pp., 

$2.00.  Jam-packed with abraded realism where confession and 

personal perspectives converge at an eccentric depth.  We have 

Lifshin, Huffstickler, Kollnski, Kuypers, Nichols, Androla, and 

others; including almost a dozen of Paul Weinman's short but 

intense "White Boy" poems.  In this publication we are talking 

explicit rogue poetry, poems which have escaped from authority 

and tradition.  As Robert Nichols exhorts: "reality-based poetry/ 

that stretches the imagination & aggravates America/ to anarchy, 

to sexual anarchy..."  Yes, well this might be the definitive 

point.  Hard poetry for hard people and hard times.  Whatever the 

point is, this is not poetry for the weak.--rrle


ZYZZYVA--(Vol. X, No. 3; Fall, 1994), 41 Sutter Street, Suite 

1400, San Francisco CA, 94104.  160 pp., $9.00.  Howard Junker, 

editor.  Many high points in this issue: "First Time In Print" 

section, something more zines should try--of the three presented 

here, Colleen Sullivan is someone to watch, though the others 

should not be ignored; self-portraits by local artists, many of 

them funny, most intentionally so; Karl Kempton's "Om Suite", one 

of the first, if not the first, publication of Kempton glyphs 

since he went from typewriter to computer, and in the process set 

aside the x-y grid in most of his visual poetry to date for more 

fluid forms; and Sherman Alexie's "The Writer's Notebook": loose 

and free graphic and textual interaction.--ky 



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         End, TapRoot Reviews Electronic Edition (TRee)         

                  Issue #6.0, section a: zines                  

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