I don't know Steven May, but he recently began an excellent chapbook review blog. Those chaps featured so far include Frank by CAConrad, Among the Cynics by Robert Fitterman, and Part of by Hiram Larew (2000 winner of the Baltimore Artscape for Poetry). Check it out -- hopefully some PERSISTENCIA titles will soon be appearing there.

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Teeny Tiny #8
Ed. Amanda Laughtland
7pg., free

Yesterday I was surprised but very pleased to receive Teeny Tiny #8. As its name suggests, TT is a micro-zine both in terms of size (3”x4”, folded not stapled) and content (7 pages with 6 short poems and one little prose piece).

Two items in particular caught my eye. The first is a kernel of prose, a nine sentence reflection by Christopher Wells on his “favorite girl.” “She was genuine, not a short summary of . . . a woman,” he remarks. “Overall,” he muses easily, “she wasn’t fussy.” Wells concludes the passage with a somewhat obvious double entendre: “In fact, whatever it was, she would put as much of it in her mouth as possible. It was – exhilarating.” The hyphen really does the job.

The second interesting bit is a poem by Harvey Goldner (another individual I am unfortunately largely unaware of, though his words hit home) entitled “At the Puyallup Fair.” It reads in its entirety:

In the big white barn
the 3000 pound bull
sleeps, and we read
that his favorite food

is sweet corn on
the cob and
that his name
is Andy.

Clearly, Goldner has a keen eye for the subtle sort of humor woven into everyday life. His style and tone remind me something of a relaxed, modern day William Carlos Williams, or perhaps even a less spacey and more sensible Richard Brautigan. In fact, judging from the voice, those lines may just have easily been inked by EB White.

Complete with black and white cut-n-paste images and one sentence film, art, and literary reviews, Teeny Tiny is perhaps the most enjoyable print micro-zine I’ve read in some time. (Black’s Calliope Nerve is another laudable voyage into those shallow waters.) Managed and edited by Amanda Laughtland, it is free with minimal postage costs. Drop Ms. Laughtland an e-mail to request a copy or, better yet, a full subscription.

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Teeny Tiny will be featured in Dirt #4 along with an interview with Amanda Laughtland.