Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
“The Day Jam Master Jay Died” by Kevin Coval
Kevin Coval
THE DAY JAM MASTER JAY DIED
woke unsure how to pay rent
check hadn’t come in from county
too many months living like artist
with no net to break the fall
went to my brother’s class at Kelvyn Park
taught Luis Rodriguez in freshman honors
two poems about neighborhood folk / one
heroin-addicted guitar player and the other
man angry in Humboldt Park [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems, Tributes by Tim
Monday, March 30th, 2009
UNDID IN THE LAND OF UNDONE by Lee Upton
Review by L.J. Sysko
UNDID IN THE LAND OF UNDONE
by Lee Upton
New Issues Poetry & Prose
Western Michigan University
1903 W. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5463
ISBN 1-930974-72-8 / 978-1-930974-72-2
2007, 81 pp., $14.00
http://www.wmich.edu/~newissue/
Lee Upton is lucky she is a poet over 40-years-old. If she were any younger, she would have been anointed the Voice of Generation X because her latest [...]
No Comments » - Posted in E-Reviews by Megan
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
Received for Review in March
Once again, here’s how our review process works: If you’d like to review any of these books or literary journals (or any from the full list), let us know, and we’ll mail it to you. Write a review of at least 600 words, and if we publish it, we’ll also send you the forthcoming copy [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Announcements, E-Reviews by Tim
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
“The Sacrifice” by Michelle Bitting
Michelle Bitting
THE SACRIFICE
I think about how you stayed up nights, Mother,
drinking coffee at your sewing machine.
The time you never went to bed
finishing my Isadora Duncan costume—
diaphanous number cut from a swell of black crepe
for the mad-grief dance after her children accidentally drowned.
Remember waking to find the garment realized—
dark offering you draped across the ironing board,
the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Poems by Megan
Saturday, March 28th, 2009
“If to Say” by Gregory Orr and Trisha Orr
TRISHA ORR: “These paintings were generated in response to an invitation to collaborate with my husband, the poet Gregory Orr, for an exhibit entitled ‘Love Letter Invitational’ at the Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia. The exhibit consisted of collaborative works done by writers and artists on the subject of ‘love.’ Greg and I had [...]
8 Comments » - Posted in Poems, Tributes by Tim
Friday, March 27th, 2009
“Every Element is Relevant” by Marlon O. Carey
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Marlon O. Carey
EVERY ELEMENT IS RELEVANT
Every element is relevant
And significant
Like a herd of African elephants
Marching slowly through the tenements
Or similar to seeds submerged in sediment
I eventually emerge to serve as evidence
A phantom menace
Like my lame ass ex-girlfriend
Who attempted to insult my intelligence
But she was merely a victim of her [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Audio, Poems, Tributes by Megan
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
“I Went in With My Hands Up” by Caleb Barber
Caleb Barber
I WENT IN WITH MY HANDS UP
“Sweet Jesus as morning the queenly women of our youth!
The monumental creatures of our summer lust!”
—Thomas McGrath, “Letter to an Imaginary Friend”
It was a little like that pregnant black heifer
stuck in the aluminum feeder-box sized specifically for calves
—jackknifed, full of muesli and seed, her head turned out
toward the [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Poems by Tim
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
WILD WEST by Judith Rechter
Review by Mary Meriam
WILD WEST
by Judith Rechter
RAW ArT PRESS
ISBN 978-0-9729185-4-1
2007, 64 pp., $12.00
www.rawartpress.com
Life is a perilous balancing act. In a flash, the comforts we cling to can be stripped away. Judith Rechter’s book of poems, Wild West, is a wild ride through the perilous world. Animals and people are lost, fallen, chomped, bleeding, beaten, dead, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in E-Reviews by Megan
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
“Piraha” by Grace Bruenderman
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Grace Bruenderman
PIRAHA
Somewhere in Brazil
near the Amazon River
a tribe called the Piraha
lives and quivers
runs and slithers
as they curl and cling
to the Amazon bank
they sing as much as they talk
they “ohhhm” as much as they walk.
Because the Piraha have no language
for numbers or feelings
just colors and singing
and chanting and breathing.
“I love, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Audio, Poems, Tributes by Tim
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
“Midnight” by Shannon Amidon
Shannon Amidon
MIDNIGHT
They were never cold before the night
she found him in the near dark kitchen
holding a 20-gauge like a crutch,
leaning into the corner between oak cabinets.
Able to think of nothing else, she asked him
for a story from his boyhood. His damp cheeks
glistened in the glow of the plastic rainbow
nightlight. And he began. Something about skipping
church [...]
