Wednesday 31 December 2014

2014 Issues


Issue 75, They/Ils. January 2014
The prompt was an unknown photograph, probably taken sometimes around the turn of the 19th/ 20th century. Many authors and artists responded as usual. Internationally acclaimed photographer Eleanor Bennett signed the introduction

Remember or try attaining to construct the memory of if the front cover of this edition was but a photograph taken only minutes ago.

It must seem almost impossible to do because then you rid it of its magic. A celeb selfie from 2011 will never seemingly taken on the qualities of a legendary music photograph from the 60s. Selfie or self portrait – the necessary shortening seems to induce the novelty quality.

We trap ourselves like an unconscious ruling that the vintage and antique gain depths that deepen in the years numbering. The past carries much the same crimes as today or at least all the same intent behind whichever sin. A rose tinted impression carries more admirability. I collect antiques and to find a mint perfume set from 1910 as apposed to a set from 1998 gives me shivers. The illusion of higher quality, workmanship and of so many treasures being lost to me adds the mystique of why a portrait from over a hundred years ago of just an ordinary face is of more substance than a portrait taken seconds ago of a near identical subject. There are so many billion photos taken ever so easily these days that maybe some of us hark back to the time of those rare picture in which we know the people sat posed for ages at a time to just stay in focus.

Sometimes in the world of collecting antiquities you find items where the enamel or the hand painted design is in such fine condition that you just can't believe it prior to 1870.

Sometimes when we keep the past wrapped up, seemingly lost to modern eyes when unveiled it is exactly like a screen shot of the sight of the silversmith, potter, goldsmith or photographer when looking upon their finished, developed and final creation.

Tangible Language Emily Ramser -- Untitled Flora Michèle Marin -- La lettre d'Adam Jacques André -- He's One of Them Tom Sheehan -- Historical Marker, State Route 158 Karla Linn Merrifield -- Untitled Flora Michèle Marin -- Auguries of Indifference Caleb Puckett -- They Susan T. Landry -- Untitled Flora Michèle Marin -- The Unknown -- Jan Oskar Hansen -- Untitled Denis Emorine -- Untitled Alexandra Bouge Street Art -- Untitled Cece Chapman Jeff Crouch -- Animula Daniel Y. Harris -- Untitled Alexandra Bouge




I have always been interested in visual poetry, asemic writing, pictures created with the help of letters, numbers, other signs. I composed some myself, these were then published, all this made me come across many great poets and artists who replied to the call for submissions and made this issue one of the richest and most outstanding so far.

Olivier le Lohé [à la banquise de la banlieue] -- Volodymyr Bilyk Eight Corr 1-8 -- Perrin Langda Tetris, Alaska et Lettre d'amour à mon congélateur -- Fern G. Z. Carr Holocaust Geneaology, Ransom Note and Balanced + Well, Well-Balanced -- Pamela Johnson Parker Cave Midwife's Song: Parietal Art -- Amanda Earl  Three Vispos -- James B. Nicola At the Museum, or Temptation Probability,  The Monster Void,  Fly and On Roman Traffic -- J.J. Steinfeld Tumbling Down the Existential Steps

I chose to reprint this visual poem by fern G. Z. Carr, "Ransom Note"







Issue 77, Pen is Envy, July 2014

Heat in the summer usually draws kinky thought and I like erotic writing from time to time. Pen is envy is a pun I found in Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, where one of the aunt warns the maids against the will to use a pen. Of course, the Freudian concept of penis envy which implies that some girls at a early age would like to have the same genitals as a boy. I really liked the way things turned with the pen selfies sent and published along with the work of some of the authors.

Inside illustrations by Alexandra Bouge, Sophie Brassart, Ira Joel Haber,
Flora Michèle Marin & Norman Olson

Contents

Paul Beckman Study Habits -- Alexandra Bouge -- Sophie Brassart Biodiverse -- Chloé Charpentier Ses yeux sont encore rouillés -- Denis Emorine Solidaire/In Solidarity -- Ron Fischman Pentimento -- Mathias Jansson The Word Cut -- Steve F. Klepetar My Grandfather's Pen, My Mother's Pen & The Pen of My Uncle is on The Bureau of My Aunt -- Roger Leatherwood Aluminum Nub & Words and The Night -- Karla Linn Merrifield Lullaby in Eight Notes, Tanka Takes Greek Mythology 101, Dropping Veils, Mrs. Keefe Said & Review Notes  -- Peter O'Neill The Sad page Three Girl, Orgasm &  The Dark Pool -- Norman Olson Drawing Tree Branches -- Emeniano Acain Somoza Jr Body of Sharp Objects, The Body Is A Collector -- J.J. Steinfeld Bookish Sex & The Poet's Perplexity -- La Petite Mort Sounds So Sexy -- Marisa Urgo One Moment Alone -- Yvette Vasseur La poésie, Sa postérité, Sa publication non-fiction -- Walter Ruhlmann The Words Jump Off My Pen

An interview with Marie Lecrivain

Here is the reprint of one of Steve Klepetar's poems

The Pen of My Uncle is on The Bureau of My Aunt

I learned to say this in French in seventh grade
and it was true. 

My uncle’s black pen slithered across my aunt’s bureau
flicking its poison-flecked tongue.  

His thousand records, untouched by any but him, 
looked down from locked cabinets, singers 

imprisoned in cells of glass and wood.  
He’d slip on white cotton gloves to touch their edges

lower them slowly onto the turntable’s nub
as music vanished in those murmuring walls.  

I loved how my aunt’s blue-black hair was piled 
high on her noble head, how her black eyes burned

how she called me “cheeky” whenever I gave her lip
how she poured a measure of gin into her morning tea

how she loved Ian Fleming’s books and named her cat 
James Bond, whispering to him as he chased his tail around a chair.




Issue 78, Ubu, October 2014

I Invited James Mahan to illustrate this issue.  I really like this artist, quite borderline, but with so much talent and darkness that it suited perfectly this issue and its original creed: trauma.

Olivia Arieti -- Glen Armstrong -- Alexandra Bouge -- Christophe Bregaint -- Howie Good -- Mathias Jansson -- Steve F. Klepetar -- Alain Lasverne -- Arthur Levine -- LWO + Lafleur -- Peter O'Neill -- J.J. Steinfeld
An interview with Klaus J. Gerken

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