Because this issue contains not only text, but also an audio tape it comes packaged in a two pocket loose-leaf notebook insert. The text is narrative poetry and prose poetry for the most part, with line drawings derived apparently from Pacific island mythology by Chitra Ganesh. The writing is interesting and moves well from piece to piece. Bill Shields contributes several brutally honest pieces inspired partially by Vietnam, and other afflictions--his work remains vital because he manages to cultivate a gallows humor and find life, however bleak, among the ruins. Susan Nash Smith's piece "from a paleon-tologist's notebook" is wonderful, a sea of images and ideas rich with possibility. The audio tape is noise and voice pieces, some of it quite strong--all of it certain to fill a room with bizarre atmosphere. At a decent volume you might even require an exorcist.--Jake Berry
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
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Copyright Burning Press 1994, 1995.