Electronic Poetry Center
Mag Press Listing
Listing Created/Revised: Oct. 96/Feb. 98

apex of the M

  • Editor(s): Kristin Prevallet, Alan Gilbert, Lew Daly, and Pam Rehm

  • Address: 23 Greenpoint Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11222

  • E-mail: prev@erols.com

    Issn: 1072-9232
    Frequency: Apex of the M is no longer being published nor does it accept submissions.

    Sub. Cost: Back issues are available, as follows.

Editorial Statement:

From 1994-1997, APEX OF THE M was a literary magazine edited by Lew Daly, Alan Gilbert, Pam Rehm and Kristin Prevallet that published six issues of exciting work from both emerging and more established writers. The magazine attempted to provide a context for alternative poetry by presenting it alongside essays, book reviews, and archival material. The first three issues featured controversial editorials which succeeded in provoking dialogue within the poetry community. In addition, APEX OF THE M gave writers ample pages and space for the best representation of their work--all of this in a carefully designed, perfect-bound magazine with striking red letterpress covers.

Issue #1 includes the "State of the Art" editorial along with poetry by Bernadette Mayer, Elizabeth Willis, Ray Ragosta, Will Alexander, Peter Gizzi, Sean Killian, Elizabeth Robinson, Keith Waldrop, Nathaniel Mackey, Rosmarie Waldrop and John Taggart. Also featured are Norma Cole's essay concerning the placement of history, power, and agency in the act of writing; Kristin Prevallet's translation of "L'ange Heurtebise" by John Cocteau; Benjamin Friedlander's ambitious attempt to explore "the political dimensions of dreaming"; and Marta Werner's ambitious essay "'Marge of Snow': Excavations of Silence and the Space of Literature in Emily Brontk and Emily Dickinson."

Issue #2 includes "The Contextual Imperative" editorial and poetry by Edward Dorn, Susan Thackrey, Peter Gizzi, Chris Stroffolino, Lisa Isaacson, Jessica Lowenthal, Mark McMorris, Drew Gardner, Gustaf Sobin, Jeff Gburek, Lisa Houston, Jerome Rothenberg, Will Alexander and Pam Rehm. Also featured are Nick Lawrence's provocative discussion of Charles Olson's politics, preceded by Olson's essay entitled "Culture and Revolution"; Aaron Shurin's essay "My Memorial," a personal eulogy for the victims of AIDS, followed by a selection of his poetry and a review of his work by Kevin Magee.

Issue #3 includes "The Insurgent Word" editorial and poetry by Gerard Donnelly-Smith, Virginia Hooper, Joseph Donahue, Lisa Houston, Peter Gizzi, Phillip Foss, Charles Cantalupo, Kristin Prevallet, and Todd Baron. Also included are Peter Connor's essay exploring the notion of "inner experience" in the work of Georges Bataille, Elizabeth Willis' essay on Blake's representation of the fragmented and ever-fleeing Thel, Cynthia Tedesco's rant against the capitalist media machine; a section dedicated to Bernadette Mayer from Anne Waldman's epic poem IOVIS 2; and Laure's "Political Texts" and "Notes on the Revolution" translated by Jeanine Herman.

Issue #4 includes poetry by Pierre Joris, Rachel Tzvia Back, Eleni Sikelianos, Andrew Joron, Henry Gould, Patrick Doud, Eileen Corder, and Barbara Jordan, and Alan Gilbert. Also included are Will Alexander's explosive recounting of a political and economic world torn apart by racism and greed, John Palattella's sophisticated discussion of the electronic revolution, Charles Cantalupo's affirmation of the epic poem in the work of Baraka and Brathwaite; David Levi Strauss' astute commentary on the disappearance of public spaces within the context of Robin Blaser poetry; and John Taggart's multi-layered meditation on Gavin Bryars' musical composition "Jesus Blood".

Issue #5 includes poetry by Alice Notley, Robert Tejada, Mark Salerno, Devin Johnston, Denise Newman, Rodrigo Toscano, Tina Rotenberg, Drew Milne, Tim Davis, Eileen Myles, Gustaf Sobin, and Daniel Davidson. Also included is a long essay by David Matlin detailing the experience of teaching in prisons and documenting some of the more appalling motivations behind the efforts to increase the number of prisons and imprisoned in America; Andrew Schelling's poetic account of a trip to Mexico taken in an attempt to better understand the social and political conditions there; Kim Rosenfield's manifesto on gender, genre and collaboration; and Will Alexander's call for "the verbal field on fire" where racist, colonial, and political imperatives are confronted.

Issue #6 includes translations of Paul Celan by Pierre Joris and of King Hala by Andrew Schelling, with poetry by Kevin Killian, Noah de Lissovoy, Mary Hilton, Elina Rivera, Gary David, Clayton Eshleman, Norman Finkelstein, Juliana Spahr, and Will Alexander. Also included are works of fiction by Rikki Ducornet and David Matlin and Kenneth Irby's meditative "Homage to Kandinsky and Hartley-Composition / Improvisation, Starting with a Profession by Hartley." Issue #6 also features the 1955-56 correspondence between Helen Adam and Robert Duncan, with references to meeting William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg's workshop, Duncan and Jess's stay in Mallorca, George MacDonald, and cats. The correspondence includes a few unpublished poems by Duncan, Adam, and Charles Olson.

Also available: APEX OF THE M Supplement #1, "Swallowing the Scroll: Late in a Prophetic Tradition with the work of Susan Howe and John Taggart," by Lew Daly: a long meditative essay discussing recent work by Howe and Taggart and assessing the situation of contemporary alternative poetry (96 pages, perfect-bound).


Send Issue # ____ ($5 each)
Note: Issues 1-3 are unavailable.
Please include extra for postage: $1 (domestic) or $2 (foreign)
make checks payable to Kristin Prevallet / apex of the M

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