Starting off with Peter Bakowski's proletarian "The Jaws of Factory (Graveyard Shift)", these are solid no-nonsense poems with a bleak perspective on every-day life. Drinking seems to be a recurrent problem--not the joyous first-person wine guzzling of Bukowski, but sadly observed third-person portraits of drunks dulling the pain of dull lives. Linwood Ross's "Causalities" is just one hard-hitting example. Sherman Alexie is back, strong prose-pieces from an original Native American voice. Closes with some short-stories, still gritty but of varied quality. LACTUCA also publishes the OUTPOSTS zine review/exchange listing (available for an SASE)--addresses of about 100 more magazines & presses.--luigi
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #3,
Contact the editor, luigi-bob drake, at Burning Press
Copyright Burning Press 1993, 1995.