I love this magazine for many reasons, not least because it was one of the first to recognize Lorri Jackson's work (she was a Chicago poet who died of a heroin OD in 1991). Editor Michael Hathaway, who rarely drinks, has that drinkers edge that gives him the balls to take chances. In this issue are interviews with Mark Weber and Belinda Subraman--both known for their underground publishing ventures as well as their writing. I was caught off guard by some new poems from Padi Harmon, who used to publish CALLIOPES CORNER and from whom I hadn't heard in years. Charles Webb's "To Beat the Shit Out of Someone" had one of the best fight sequences I have seen yet in a poem: "He punches, you block/ hard enough to crack his forearm/ and make pain leap in his eyes/ your right splatters his nose/ like a bug on a windshield." A review of Blacks by Gwendolyn Brooks, photographs of many of the poets, and a new Tony Moffeit poem are just the tips of this iceberg.--oberc
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
Contact the editor, luigi-bob drake, at Burning Press
Copyright Burning Press 1994, 1995.