Reviews
The Crap Parade by Matt Nunn (Wonderhorn) from 34 Trident Close, Walmley, Sutton Coldfield B76 ILR at £2.50.
Twenty-two A4 pages of Matt Nunn’s poetry show him at his
outrageous height. One could well call him an exponent of punk
poetry with his no words barred insight into modern urban life.
There is the chainstore weirdo masturbating on the department
store escalator, crap films about the Queen at Christmas,and the
burning down of the young offenders’ institute. Behind the shock
tacticts there is an over-wealth of warranted statements on life
today. Good advice: “Concoct carefully: / chew your biro to the quick / smoke a pack, drink a barrel / torture your brain to the pain / threshold. Listen to advice / proffered by your morn and your dad / the bitter pundits, the old cynics, / don’t just stab a pin on the page / and hope.” After all “This should be a land fit for The Lads, all steak and / chips and shellsuits, every boxhouse with a satellite”.
A Phoenix Rises and A Placid Plateau (Plowman) both from John Binns 14 Silver Royd Close, Wortley, Leeds LS12 4QZ.
John Binns rhymes with little thought to the choice of good metre or selection of his rhyming words. Despite this, he is very widely published and some of his poems stand up to scrutiny. “My life is a vicious square”, however, was the sole gem I found in these two collections.
The Wasp in the Wind by Steve Luttrell from Cafe Review, 20 Danforth Street, Portland, ME04101, USA; price not given.
A mini-chapbook of collected Haiku. A series of thoughtfully observed statements that despite being interesting lacked the clever metaphor. “A chorus of crows / rehearsing the rites of spring / black against the snow".
Poetry Manchester Vol.1 No.1 £2 from 13 Napier Street, Swinton, Manchester M27 3JQ.
Amusing poem, by Ralph Hancock,on the half-life of a human being. Surreal Last Poem from William Powell has a hand turning into a flower, which silences the man’s screaming neice. Powell is the featured poet and he takes some getting used to with his use of the archaic poetic ‘O’ and with his chatty one of the lads style in such as "Delicious Do". Sam Smith helps save the day with his three poems, of which Micturition Syncope came as a surprise. The surreal feel continues with Brendan McMahon seeing someone standing in Switzerland - “Now eagles nest / in your indifferent hair”. In “Blue” Neil Russell has such phrases as ‘Even with the sound off / the metaphors are all of hell again.” The poem, however, is a fine one about blue flowers which bloom after the exchange-fire of war in Yugoslavia. Well worth a try.
Editor of Wire Magazine surreally resurrects poems from past
editions to fill his born again magazine. See them again or afresh by sending £5 for this and the next two issues to 1, Alanbrooke Close, Knaphill, Surrey GU2I 2RU. Wire Vol.2 Issue 1
1st Aramby Poetry Awards 1995 in conjunction with Wire £2 first poem, £1-5O thereafter to be sent to Aramby Publishing at the above address before 30th.Oct.1995. Or one can enter a collection of poems, up to 40 in number, for £10. Prizes 1. Publication of a collection of poems plus £150 2. Publication in an anthology.
Waterways Feb.95 2 dollars 60c. (add postage to Europe/U.K.)from 393 St.Pauls Avenue, Staten Island, New York 10304-2127, USA.
60 page 6in. by3in. magazine with a nice feel to it. This years poems loosely based on the theme of Ferlinghetti’s “A Coney Island of the Mind”. Albert Huffstickler says “Only God is perfect” and that is because he was brought up in a better environment! Good poems from James Penha, Gertrude Morris, Ida Fasel, A.W. Knight, and others. Stevens represents the U.K. Lyn Lifshin at her best.
The Yonkly 31 The poetry is improving, so is the criticism in this magazine workshop. There is also a prose section. Annual sub, for eight issues is £13 (4 for £7-50 - poetry only £5-50) from 16, Angle Park Terrace, Edinburgh EH11 2JX, Scotland.
The Man Who Drank The Moon by Andrew Darlington from Rose Cottage, 3 Tram Lane, Buckley, Clwyd, N.Wales CH7 3JB. No price given.
As a fan of the complicated and image-laden poetry of Andrew Darlington, this small collection came as a surprise. He appears here as a mere-mortal and sometimes a minimalist at that. There are some good images here, nevertheless; "5am. reedbeds / and the estuary swell”,”..crows / gnawing at...morning / leave only... white bones of daylight”. Moonflower Meditations.. "when the dome / of the Forteza / bitos / the setting sun”, was best for me.
Ah Pook Is Here Issue5, £1 from The Vicarage, Pontllanfraith,
Blackwood, Gwent NP2 20P, Wales.
Very visual A5 magazine that is for “people who write, not writers”! Angry young man stuff. Surreal stuff from Michaella Henocque whose dream has her horrified / in the fleshy trunk of the octopus. Simon Brown says “How can I write / anything meaningful / when.. I .. hear / a ..voice / from the radio / discussing pig farming”. One whole page is filled with the dada poem “who gives a shit” repeated over and over.
Dandelion Arts Magazine 16 £3 from 24 Frosty Hollow, East Hunsbury, Northants. NN4 0SY.
Some poorly scanning verse from Binns and Lloyd-Price intrudes amongst a collection of gentle poetry with Vittoria Vaughan, Marlene Bennetts, and Alfred Tricker (painting) taking the honours.
Green’s Magazine Vol.23 No.2 12 dollars / year from PO Box. 3236, Regina, Sask. S4P 3H1, Canada.
Bulky A5 magazine of prose and poetry. A strangely shaped “Singing Glass” from Jane Spavold Tims is a fine poem about a frozen pond which has an eerie feel about it. Gene Riley writes of Love in Las Vegas,where “among those / Hermaphrodite one-armed bandits / You can line up the whole cherry orchard”. Maureen Weldon and R.L.Cook guest from Britain.
Psychopoetica Vol.31 £2 from Dept.of Psychology, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX.
Excellent work from Peter Bakowski (whose class "think of the ants / they burn at lunch time / with .. magnifying glasses), Anne Rees (whose Alice has feelings that are bright red), Andrew Pye (who spoils his Sigmund Freud & I poem with its last line), Adrian Green, Maureen Weldon, and Eamer O’keeffe (who uses various typecasts to enfold her fire in a forceful “conflagration”).
Cerberus 18 5 dollars (4 dollars USA) from 4599C NW Hy.70W. Arcadia, Florida 33821,USA. B.L.Niditch reveals a life of gladiator matches, de Sade, expired fireworks, and Uncle Joe making the cold war hotter, in “Midcentury”. Cheryl Townsend has the wind “its gentle strength / with the salt of masculinity / running its weathered fingers” through her hair. Illustrations by the editor of Purple Patch.
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magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The