SECTION TEN
POETRY
REVIEWS
sm
COLUMN
SIXTY-ONE, JULY 1, 2001
(Copyright © 2001 The Blacklisted Journalist)
MINEFIELD
*Mindfield:
New & Selected Poems,
poetry book by Gregory Corso, with forewords by Allen Ginsberg and William S.
Burroughs and an introduction by David Amram, and drawings by Corso. 1998, 268
pages, paperback, $13.95 made out to Thunder's Mouth Press, 841 Broadway, Fourth
Floor, New York, NY 10003 or special order at your local bookstore or available
at http://www.Amazon.com. Gregory Corso was
one of the last surviving Beats, as he died this past January 19, 2001 of
prostate cancer. He was one of the better Beat poets. Indeed, Crystal Drum
publisher Jeff Grimshaw recently remarked to me that Jack Kerouac's best poems
could fill a postage stamp, Allen Ginsberg's best poems could fill a meaty
pamphlet, but Gregory Corso's best work could fill a book. I wouldn't put Corso
above Ginsberg, but this collection is that book, as it has excerpts from all of
his books published in his lifetime as well as a selection of unpublished poems
at the end. Of particular note is the inclusion of his most famous poem, Bomb,
an ode to atomic weapons with typeface in the shape of a mushroom cloud. Also
great is the elegy for Jack Kerouac, Elegiac Feelings American, which
ends: "When you went on the road looking for America you found only what
you put there and a man seeking gold finds the only America there is to find;
and his investment and a poet's investment---the same when comes the crash, and
it's crashing, yet the windows are tight, are not for jumping; from hell none
e'er fell in Hell angels sing too and they sang to behold anew Those who
followed the first Christ-bearer left hell and beheld a world new yet with guns
and Bibles came they and soon their new settlement became old and once again
Hell held quay The ArcAngel Raphael was I to you And I put the Cross of The Lord
of Angels upon you---there on the eve of anew world to explore And you were
flashed upon the old and darkling day a Beat Christ-boy---bearing the gentle
roundness of things insisting the soul was round not square And soon---behind
thee there came a following the children of flowers." Corso writes with a
philosophical air and a dark sense of humor and pathos. His lesser poems are
weird scribbles that stick in the mind. His greater poems are manifestos that
deserve to be preserved. This is a fine place to start if you have yet to delve
into the depths of Gregory Corso's poetry world.
##
A
DIFFERENT SHRED OF SKIN
*A
Different Shred Of Skin,
poetry book by T. Anders Carson, with photographs by Michael B. 2000, 114 pages,
paperback, $14.95 made out to Undead Poets Press, c/o Mark Maurus, 612 S. Center
St #302, Royal Oak, Detroit, Michigan 48067-3839 or by special order at your
local bookstore. This is a harrowing collection of dark poetry about suicide,
abuse, mental illness and other taboo topics. There is a whiff of danger in T.
Anders Carson's poems, as if all is not right within his world. Tropical
Morning reads: "A Frenchman clears his throat. A cat howls a sexual
lament. Wind is soft at dusk. It is a Saturday morning, the day before flying
home to survey the disaster. I know that returning to this island was wrong. I
should know better. If it's not going to happen, don't push it. My lover tried,
I tried and my extended failure feels as if I'm treading in the pond of anxiety.
I haven't slept well for nights. Granted that's nothing new. I think that
understanding this uneasiness will make some changes. I can't go on spinning
like a cut log, resigning myself to a fateful fire, where everything
burns." An eerily silent wind blows through Carson's poetry, suggesting a
spiritual emptiness or some dark secret that he has yet to tell. Always gripping
and always touching, Carson's poetry picks you up by the lapels and shakes you
around a bit before letting you go. A fine read.
##
A
STUDENT OF HELL
*A
Student Of Hell, horror
poetry chapbook, Tom Piccirilli, 2000, 56 pages, $10 check made out to Skull Job
Productions, 1012 Pleasant Dale Drive, Wilmington, NC 28412-7617. This cracks me
up that the address of Skull Job Productions, producer of gothic horror poetry,
is on Pleasant Dale Drive! This is my first taste of horror poetry, and it’s
bloody good! Not scary per se, more like a whiff of danger and some startling
off-color imagery that gives you a little shiver. Tom Piccirilli writes amazing
poetry that sticks in your craw and slaps you upside the head and makes you look
over your shoulder to ward off danger. Full of macabre humor, like the poem My
Dead Dad Can Beat Up Your Dead Dad: "This is why the maniacs come out
to play because the juice has been drained off in the cells of our dirty brain
pans / the knocking at the windows has ended / the morning decrees there's to be
no rematch / Clouds no longer form the faces of the boys who broke your lunchbox
/ she's on the roof wrestling with screeching leaves / she's got hearts on her
sleeve, she's get a hedgerow of scattered torsos across her precious toes /
she's yawping about how badly the communion tastes / how the stations of the
cross are gliding around the room, who's showing mercy, who clings to a
cat-o'-nine-tails, whose throat bleeds / You talk of knives and sultry ex-wives
and the effects of your father's coffin upon your childhood as if you've got one
behind your back right now. / A switch blade date, a hated woman on her knees,
your dead Dad's rage pouring into your ass / How about we do this? Let's check
and see how much of the moon glints in your blade and how much shines in my eye
and we'll fill this parking lot sewer drain with what it needs in the tapping
ripples of our leaking lives." Wow, pretty intense heady stuff.
A great
refreshingly surprising burnt offering. With excellent cover design by Jame A.
Riley and illustration by Charles Jacob, and inside illustrations by GAK, Mark
McLaughlin, G. Warlock Vance, Wayne Miller, Paul Swenson, and afterword by Scott
H. Urban. Signed by all guilty parties involved.
##
BONE
WHITE AND RAVEN BLACK
*Bone
White And Raven Black,
poetry chapbook by John Gohmann, 2000, 48 pages, $3 cash or check made out to
Christopher Harter, Pathwise Press, PO Box 2392, Bloomington, IN 47402. Just
like the chapbook title, Bone White And Raven Black, these poems are
stark, bleak and full of unusual powerful imagery that sticks in the mind long
after reading the poems.
Night Poem reads: "You love me? I
didn't believe you in St. Johnsbury. I don't believe you now. The classical
station fades out at midnight and the seed on my belly cools like candle wax.
You used to say the night was a vessel moving forward, a giant's rowboat on a
sea of black. I tell you it's an empty, waiting thing, a galvanized tub left
forgotten in the corner of a dusty barn. When this town had only one radio tower
it stood in my dreams, phallic, like a demented maypole. But last October, they
built another, and now I dream of the tense silence, the drawn bow, and
stringing deer in the sky." Love here is an illusion, another prop to
occupy the protagonist's time. These poems are full of dark lyrical beauty that
haunts the mind after reading them. Gohmann infuses each poem in this chapbook
with a cold hard truth and displays a riveting eye for detail. These poems won't
warm you on a cold night like a lover, but they will leave an indelible
impression on you. ##
BOX
OF ROCKS VOLUME 2
*Box
Of Rocks Volume 2, fiction
chapbook, various authors, February 2001, 70 pages, free/trades, send
submissions to Box Of Rocks, Chad Redden, PO Box 841, Bloomington, IN
47402-0841. E-mail chadredden@hotmail.com
. This is the second volume of a charming magazine called Box Of Rocks
with mostly fiction pieces and no poetry. Stand-out pieces include those by Dan
Crocker, Maria Kazalia, Jeremy Harmon and myself (ahem). The best piece was a
touching story about two friends who die in a car crash, Lights Out by
Jeremy Harmon. I could relate to this story because my best friend died in a car
crash in high school, and his death has haunted me ever since, as this story
will haunt you. What's touching is the young adolescent male's need for
companionship and talking things out, and how the protagonist is embarrassed to
hug his best friends in consoling them. I am able to express my emotions more
openly with my male friends since my friend's death too. Box of Rocks is
a fine collection of fiction by some of today's brightest writers. The cover is
a cool collage of ‘50s and ‘60s illustrations. This chap-sized magazine is
free or trade, but send Chad some money before he goes bankrupt publishing it.
Send him $5 an issue, he would appreciate it!
##
DO
NOT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO ME
*Do
Not Look Directly Into Me,
short stories by Daniel Crocker, 2001, 183 pages, $12.95 from Green Bean Press,
PO Box 237, NYC 10013 or special order from your local bookstore. Dan Crocker is
one of the best writers around today, and has gotten praise from the likes of
Gerald Locklin and Gerald Nicosia. The title of this collection is Do Not
Look Directly Into Me, but that is exactly what Crocker offers, a look into
his psyche. The short stories are told in first person, and most offered amusing
anecdotes into the life of a middle-class worker (a dishwasher in many of the
stories). Crocker has a real ear for catching everyday language and
colloquialisms and he spins a good yarn. Most funny was the unwieldly titled Men,
Or Why I Blame My Short Attention Span On Sesame Street, Or Things They
Never Taught Us in Sunday School, Or It's Not The Cosby Show,
Or The Water Of Generations,
about the misadventures of Dan and his gay friend Athens, when they meet Athen's
Grandparents and Dan is wearing a skirt and is drunk. The grandmother keeps
calling Dan Athen's "girlfriend"! The dialogue is funny and right-on.
Also good is Chicken Blue, about a husband and wife who pick out men and
women that turn them on in the crowd at a Blues Festival, so they can fantasize
and have hot sex back at home later on. The story offers a twist ending. Least
effective is The Inner Charlie, an annoying one-note joke that repeats
the word Charlie several times each sentence. The story clobbers you over the
head with its point (I passed on this for publication at Lucid Moon but
saw it in a recent Brown Bottle. I cringed!). Overall a fine collection
of short stories by an imaginative writer. Dan is a very good poet too, and this
entertaining collection shows how versatile he is as a writer. Highly
recommended. Another nice looking production from Ian Griffin at Green Bean
Press. Green Bean Press makes the best-looking books in the small press today.
##
HAND
ON THE DOORKNOB
*Hand
On The Doorknob,
essays/poetry/fiction by Charles Plymell. 2000, 200 pages, paperback, $15.95 to
Water Row Press, PO Box 438, Sudbury, MA 01776, or special order at your local
bookstore. Charles Plymell is one of the few surviving Beat Writers. He is well
known as the publisher of the first Zap Comix with R. Crumb (Janis
Joplin's Cheap Thrills album cover; Keep On Truckin') on the cover, as
well as being a printer, poet, and novelist. This book is a real mixed bag of
good essays, mediocre poems, and whacked-out fiction. The essays range from his
accounts of his hanging out with the other Beats, his journals on taking LSD,
his publishing R. Crumb and other comic illustrators, and his account of the war
on drugs. The essays are informative, enlightening and fun to read.
The poems,
however, are listless and dull, little juice in them, just seemingly random
matter-of-fact words strung together. I could not think of one poem that stuck
in my mind after reading this collection, except for the poem 1950's
Benzedrine Hobohemian Verse, which I printed in Lucid Moon magazine
and is full of the hipster bop style of writing regularly recognized as Beat.
And then the book gets even worse, with bad fiction about Kings and Queens and a
character named Dangerous Dan in forgettable stories. I dunno, I expected a
first rate collection of poetry and I got a mixed bag collection of poetry,
prose and essays. The cover design is gorgeous though, a multi-color
illustration of Plymell holding onto a doorknob, with an overstated enticing
blurb on the back cover. I never got the significance of the title, either. Oh
well. Ho hum. ##
LOVESONGS
AND HAND GRENADES
*Lovesongs
and Hand Grenades,
poetry chapbook by Wayne Wilkinson. 1999, $2 cash or check made out to Cari
Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. Kitty Litter
Press is doing a fine series of affordable chapbooks. Wayne Wilkinson is a great
poet, one of the favorites at Lucid Moon. Here Wayne eexplores the juju
of love and sex and hope and dreams (still surviving on the scene). All That
And A Bag Of Chips reads: "and I moved to your rhythm I rocked to the
roll of your breasts Your breath paced me in sure cadence not too fast not too
slow just right on through a perfect orgasm." Throughout this dandy little
chapbook, Wayne writes terse verse, finds vivid metaphors for love and sex, and
offers a sly bit of humor. Wayne also writes with a grace and beauty that is
divine, but also throws in a hint of Jim Morrison. A very good read, at a price
that can't be ignored. ##
LUMINOUS
ORDER
*Luminous
Order, poetry book by Steve DeFrance,
2001, 90 pages, $16 from Xlibris.com and Amazon.com,
Barnesandnoble.com or Borders.com
or special order from any bookstore. This is a bold, literate, funny entry from
Steve DeFrance. I still haven't figured out yet if Steve Defrance is a poet with
the soul of a clown or a clown with the soul of a poet. Whatever, Steve
definitely has soul. Steve observes life on the sidelines with a priceless
sarcastic wit. Beware, blue-haired women with smears of red lipstick! Steve can
also be touching and heartfelt when talking about the death of a loved one from
cancer or aids or other ills. Often it is just the poetic splendor of a simple
poem that caches you off guard and makes you reconsider your opinion of
DeFrance's poetry. Silver Birds of Paradise reads: "As a younger man
I dreamed of living in exotic far-off lands. Zanzibar---Madagascar. Or wandering
in a poetic reverie at the paws of the Egyptian Sphynx. Where under a romantic
horned moon , Shelly, Coleridge and Keats would be at my side. Elliot, too.
Wearing only a tie pin. Suddenly, I rip my clothes off dive into forgetful
crystal waters. There is a swirling foam mermaids sing for me, kissing me with
sweet amnesia. We love with watery abandon, like sea horses bucking on the backs
of dolphins, then my voice would ring out my poem: volcanoes explode, answering
my cry for man. All the dead of Dylan's Sea sing in their chains, like the
sounds of spirits shrieking in the rolling surf, yes, my young spirit was large
upon the land. I had the touch of the poet. An older, but no smarter man I live
in Los Angeles. Part of my dreams have come true. Many people from far-off lands
live all around me. Most of my neighbors don't talk to me. Its not entirely
their fault. I don't like them much either. Button-down assholes all:
accountants lawyers, head doctors, & an occasional proctologist, and up to
now no mermaids at all. But when the poets of the past are upon me, why then I
mount my moldy Pegasus & together we stand leaning & sagging between
alien windmills, disguised as houses. I raise my bent lance, the one carved with
poetry on both sides: I cry: ‘O for a muse of fire’ and we charge. My steed
and I leap hedges & tilt at bay windows, but there is no Hector to meet our
challenge. The enemy sends out a pink yapping poodle. Offended we slouch in the
saddle & retire from thee field. Knowing this was only a false start &
that the true enemy will soon be at hand. So solemnly we wait our turn for
greatness & until called we can only dream of silver birds of
paradise."
Throughout
Steve DeFrance's Luminous Order I was continually amazed at the twists
and turns he took. Far from being a one-note humorist, DeFrance writes with
poetic flair and grace. I enjoyed this book immensely and I know you will too.
##
NOW
HERE NOWHERE
*Now
Here Nowhere, Vol. 3, Number 2, Autumn/Winter 2000/2001. Poetry magazine, 44 pages,
$5.50 check made out to Gravity Presses, 27030 Havelock, Dearborn Heights, MI
48127, e-mail kingston@gravitypresses.com
and website at http://www.gravitypresses.com.
This is a nice looking poetry magazine with a slick cover and interesting photos
within, including an excerpt from Live Nude Girls, which seem to be
Barbie dolls in poses! The poetry throughout is excellent, terse and rich in
detail. Picasso's Self-Portrait From The Blue Period by Peter Magliocco
reads: "The winter cold etched its way into your atelier as you painted the
old blind guitarist, & shadows within you were cloud blue oil pigment on
your palette, big with the blueness of Paris nights more priceless than the
color of money your nearsighted vision was distant from. Wiping away scarce
smiles from faces you transcribed onto canvas, you re-figured the world into
cerulean sufferings diminishing the pale fire engulfing you while the world
relished the mad darkness around all you could not paint out a blindness inside
you the blue flame burned. Then summer came, with gored bulls on a white canvas
turned to the wall." Fine poetry throughout, by many poets that Lucid
Moon has published in the past.
This magazine
is in its third year, and it is a fine collection of poetry and photos. A little
short at 44 pages, but it satisfied my hunger for good poetry. It might be
improved if it branches out a little with reviews and a letters column or
pastoral poetry editorials, but overall a fine job by the editors.
##
OUT
OF THIS WORLD
*Out
Of This World, Art Rosch,
music cd, 2000, 45 minutes, see Art's website for price and address to order
from, http://www.swamibop.com . This is
an award-winning jazz cd from a witty talented performer named Art Rosch. The
music is jazzy with Hendrixian guitar noodlings and funky rhythms. Some
highlights include Into Our Own with the catchy phrase "when we come
into our own" and a litany of things that will happen, like "we'll
grow marijuana on mars after we've forgotten how to have wars"; My Cat's
Too Fat, with a Hendrixian jazz guitar break; Jack In The Box, a
humorous episode about a guy at the fast food restaurant who gets root beer
spilled on him by the waitress; Kosovo, a beautiful ballad about the war,
and Go To Sleep, where Art singsongs "Go to sleep" in a lush
loving lullabye fashion. Some of the songs are silly, Firesign
POESY
*Poesy
newspaper format Poetry Magazine,
free, quarterly, 16 pages, issue 12 (April). A fine poetry journal edited by
Brian Morrisey, open to submissions, send to Poesy Magazine c/o Brian Morrisey,
106 Campbell Street #5, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 or e-mail at poesymag@hotmail.com.
The April issue had an intriguing interview of Jack Powers on the late Gregory
Corso (reprinted in the Archives section of Lucid Moon Website); fine
poetry by the likes of Marie Kazalia, Ed Galing, Charles Potts and others; and
concise reviews by Tim Scannel, Doug Holder and myself.
Poesey is small but well designed and
tightly packed with short poems and interesting photographs. The paper's main
concentration is Santa Cruz, Ca (edited by Brian Morrisey) and Boston Ma (edited
by Doug Holder) but it is open to poets from all areas. With a circulation of
1000, this paper is free for two stamps and I highly recommend it. Buy an ad for
a reasonable rate! ##
SQUEALS
OF THE WHEEL
*Squeals
Of The Wheel, poetry book
by Mokuo Nagayama, 2001, 36 pages, $5 from The Zion Press, 165-83, Arise,
Ikawadani-cho, Nishi-ku, Kobe, 651-2113 Japan. This is a charming collection of
poems relating to the Oriental Zodiac of animals that make up the Wheel of Life.
From the Tiger reads: "People cooped in cars were staring at me in
the shade. One car stopped and out came a man with his daughter. They invaded my
territory baring my fangs of anger and hunger. I snapped at him but couldn't
bring myself to fall upon the girl." Each poem is illustrated with the
corresponding animal. A delightful read, full of rich detail and life.
##
SYMPATHETIC
MAGIC
*Sympathetic
Magic, poetry
chapbook by T. Dunn, 2001, 36 pages, $8.95, check made out to Pudding House
Publications, 60 North Main Street, Johnstown Ohio 43031 I found this chapbook
to be a delightful collection of well-thought verse. In poem after poem, T. Dunn
weaves tapestries of light and wonder on such disparate but enlightening
subjects as Leonardo DaVinci's magical sketchbooks, the science and mythology of
the ancient Greeks, the poetry of Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton, and the humor
of Dorothy Parker at the Algonquin. Extension reads: "Today the sun
beats so hard it makes a noise, the sound of coffee scenting through floor
boards: a perfect day's catgut stretched to a week. The trees move like tai chi
men in the wind. We notice this now and we hear their rolling chant, each to
each. To extend the movement you
must breathe. There will be no false death in the underbrush of our bed today.
We will rise but slowly when we are both the right temperature, when we have
formed the right shape. For now, we are sealed clay jars filled with honey
promise, its lingering sweetness. Today we will bake our own bread and play not
the dark cello's weeping but an impasto buttercream flute. We will play til we
shine till we burn till we melt." Lots of pungent imagery in there you can
almost taste. T. Dunn writes superb poetry that captures the beauty and joie de
vive of life. For more info on this superb
THE
FAMILY REVOLVER
*The
Family Revolver, poetry
chapbook by Raymond Mason, 2000, 20 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari
Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, P.O. Box 3189 Nederland, CO 80466. I had fun with
this chapbook by Raymond Mason. The poems are more like short stories or jokes
with punchlines, but now and then a poetic line turns up. Even Trade
reads: "The Europeans came to the Americas, bringing liquor and gunpowder.
The Indians, being fair-minded, gave the white philanthropists tobacco and
syphilis. How could anyone ask for a better balance of trade?" I kept
waiting to hear a ba-dump-ba after reading each piece! Raymond Mason would make
a good comedian. I'm not sure if this is poetry, it's more like witty
observations on everyday life. Maybe Raymond is the reincarnation of Will
Rogers! ##
WILLIE
BROWN
*Willie
Brown, poetry chapbook by David
Madgalene, 2000, 24 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty
Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. This is a very unusual
brand of poetry, different from most of what I see. The poems are very
plainspoken, southern-drawl experiences of poor lower class folks. Loretta
Lynn's Little Sister reads: "The Shriners were having a circus in
Nashville. Loretta Lynn's Little Sister was singing and playing guitar. They
didn't call her Crystal Gayle back then, just "Loretta Lynn's Little
Sister". She had a big hit record in Nashville, went to #1 on the Rock
Charts (although it wasn't a hit anywhere else). Nashville was like that in
those days. The elephants danced. The clowns somersaulted. Acrobats flew through
the air. The Shriners drove funny little cars as in the middle of the ring
Loretta Lynn's Little Sister strummed her guitar and sang her sad songs. She was
a scrawny thing, pale and thin. No make-up, no fancy clothes. Even though
Loretta was on the Grand Ole Opry for years, her Little Sister still had the
stink of Kentucky." The poems are matter 0f fact slices of life. The title
poem is about a murderer and rapist named Willie Brown, and other poems are
about Mamie Eisenhower partying at the White House and about a guy named Billy
The Preacher. These poems have a home-spun feel and I enjoyed this chap a lot.
##
Please
send poetry books, chapbooks, cds, broadsides or whatever for review to Ralph
Haselmann Jr. at 67 Norma Road, Hampton, New Jersey 08827. I will review them
within 1-2 months and send you a copy of the review. Publishers have my
permission in advance to reprint any part of my reviews as long as they send me
a copy of what it appears in. The reviews go out to several small press
discussion lists, after which they will be archived on my Lucid Moon
Poetry Website. My telephone number is (908) 735-4447, e-mail ralphy@lucidmoonpoetry.com
and my Lucid Moon Poetry Website is http://www.lucidmoonpoetry.com.
Please visit my website often and sign my guestbook! ##
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