PERSISTENCIA PRESS

2006-11-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

RIP Theo van Gogh, two years gone yesterday . . .

Theo van Gogh :: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_%28film_director%29
The Healthy Smoker :: http://www.theovangogh.nl/indexc.html
"Submission" (Part One) :: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF_jfHrDJns&eurl

2006-10-29T14:05:00.000-05:00

http://dirt-zine.blogspot.com

NOW AT DIRT, THE PREMIER JOURNAL OF
MINIMALIST ART, LITERATURE, AND THEORY
............................................................................

GEOF HUTH on "The Art of Pwoermds" . . .

DIRT interviews ARAM SAROYAN . . .

Visual art by IRA JOEL HABER and JESSE FERGUSON . . .

Poetry by ANDY GRICEVICH and AVERY BURNS . . .

Full review of "Concrete Movies" by NICO VASSILAKIS . . .

MARK YOUNG does short fiction . . .

& more!

Philip Primeau
Editor, Dirt

http://dirt-zine.blogspot.com

2006-10-23T13:28:00.000-04:00

The new face of Dirt . . . http://dirt-zine.blogspot.com/ . . . enjoy and keep on submitting!

2006-08-27T12:33:00.000-04:00

New from PERSISTENCIA*PRESS . . .

words without image by Phil Primeau
"experiments in pure language"

From the chap . . .

who can
be
that or this

it's all just
so
why

being is
how
not
what

words without image is available both in print and online.
http://www.freewebs.com/persistenciapress/pprimeau_wwoi.pdf

To request a hard copy, e-mail PERSISTENCIA at persistencia_press@yahoo.com.

2006-08-27T11:03:00.000-04:00

Coming soon from PERSISTENCIA . . .

switches [releases] by Mark Stricker

Winner of the 2006 P-STAR Summer Chapbook Contest.

2006-08-20T11:24:00.000-04:00

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.

&

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.

&

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

2006-08-11T01:39:00.000-04:00

Jesse Crockett (one third friend, one third teacher, one third mystery) comes out of the darkness and into the night with his new e-'zine Listenlight. The first issue is good, the second is better. I particularly enjoyed Amanda Laughtland's quasi-apocalyptic poem series. Be sure to check it out; Jesse has a sharp editing eye and very sensitive, refined tastes. Listenlight, I think, is one of the more promising new publications around, just behind Mark Young's Otoliths. Speaking of which, there are plenty of copies to be bought via Lulu. It's worth the ten bucks American.

2006-08-10T10:48:00.000-04:00

to: clifford.duffy@gmail.com
from: phil.primeau@gmail.com

RE: http://takingthebrim.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-lutheran-surrealism-does-not-exist.html

Dearest Cliff,

It would seem that you are in fact the reactionary one, what with your knee-jerk perception of Surrealism as some sort of atheists-only club. It's funny, you see: Kirby's "Christian Marvelous" looks foreward, not back. It's fresh, it's bold. He is rebellious in a new way. He refuses to buy into mindless secularism. Ain't that hip?

Plus, it's not like past Surrealists haven't been religious and/or conservative. Even big names: Lamantia died a devout Catholic; Kerouac died a devout Catholic; Dali was an "anarcho-monarchist" and practicing Catholic. Religion and surrealism, it seems, go hand in hand*.

You have a dull mind and even duller tastes if WAITING FOR THE RAPTURE turns you off so much. More respected (and coherent) critics applauded the chap, and for good reason . . . it's just some solid stuff. Evidence: four printings, with more to come.

Best,
Phil Primeau
PERSISTENCIA

P.S. Olson has a bigger -- and better -- collection due out in a few months. I'll be sure to send you a copy.

*After thought: This makes sense, I think. What is more otherworldly than the concept of God impregnating a 16 year old virgin with a savior who redeems mankind by being nailed to a tree? If that was't the foundation of Christianity, it'd certainly find a home in the Theater of the Absurd. Water to wine! It's straight out of Genet or Ionesco.

2006-08-07T11:44:00.000-04:00

Dirt #3 is finally ready to go. The first 100 copies will be printed in full by tomorrow, mailings will be complete by mid-week (at latest). Promise.

For all your patience, here's a decent chunk of the Aram Saroyan interview found in #3.

* * *

Dirt: You mentioned Finlay before. Is it safe to assume that your work was shaped by artists operating outside the realm of poetry? Beyond that, who were your early influences?

Aram Saroyan: My first big interest, pre-dating poetry, was photography (see my book Words and Photographs, Big Table, 1970), and for a while I had a sort of unspoken agenda, perhaps only half-conscious: I wanted to make a poem as immediate as a photograph. Eventually I realized the immediacy of a photograph had to do with it being instantaneous, and a poem necessarily has a reading process. However, a one-word poem, or a two word poem, and maybe a slightly longer one, is virtually instant, has virtually no reading process. I was influenced too by Warhol and the sculptor Donald Judd, and American advertising. I wanted a poem that would look good on a billboard:

an oyster
can't
read this

And this was the Sixties, so it was sort of in the atmosphere. You're young, and the economy is still in a sort of boom phase, and you're discovering who you are, what you like. There was a nice period in there before things got dark in the later Sixties.

D: Which of your early poems holds the most resonance for you now?

AS: One of my favorite pieces is from Aram Saroyan:

a leaf
left
by the
cat
I guess

It transcribes a specific small event: I was living in a two story house in Cambridge, Mass., and my room was on the second floor, and I found a leaf in the room, and the poem sort of transcribes the cognitive process I went through picking it up and wondering about it. That's it, it's nothing much, but it's the mind negotiating word by word toward some sort of understanding. Another similar piece is from the section 'Sled
Hill Voices' in Pages:

something moving in the garden a cat

In this one it's another cognitive incident in which for a moment the eye is looking without knowing what it's seeing and then it knows. So it's an infinitesimal time frame in which something happens between the senses and the mind. I think those pieces are interesting sort of neurological transcriptions, a kind of realism that has to do with very small time frames.

D: I've heard that 'lighght', perhaps your most (in)famous poem, was the result of a typing error. Can you give that rumor a thumbs up or down?

AS: No, that one wasn't a typo (one or two others may have been). The poem adds an extra 'gh' to the word light—a silent addition that adds an element to the word as if to make the phenomenon more palpable, as if the word holds the phenomenon. I could have added another 'gh', so it would have been 'lighghght,' which I think is more than is needed, or I could have done it—as it's sometimes misspelled on the internet —'lightght, ' which doesn’t work at all by my lights (no pun intended).

I had an interesting experience a few years ago when I thought I'd do a Christmas card of the word, embossed white on white. What I discovered was that if the word is embossed then the extra 'gh' isn't necessary, because embossing makes for the equivalent palpable effect.

2006-08-04T09:45:00.000-04:00

PERSISTENCIA is proud to present Plain Speak/Sweet Speak, a dynamic collaboration between G Emil Reutter and Phil Primeau. The double chap of "plain sweet poetry" consists of two parts: the base text and the "remixed" text.

From the Editor's Intro:

This chapbook demonstrates not only the versatility of language, but also the necessity of subtextual examination. It allows reflection on cultural and linguistic patterns and forces the reader to consider the flexibility of the written unit. To the regret of elementary school grammar teachers everywhere, a piece of literature is not a sandwich. It is not a discreet continuum with a beginning, middle, and end. Rather, it is an onion. It is a rug of thickly woven thematic and narrative elements.

Four from Plain Speak/Sweet Speak:

porch (Reutter)

cool breeze
chimes ring
humidity dissipates
chair rocks
in rhythm
darkness of
night arrives
settling down
contentment sets in
as fire fly
dances in
the night air

Love Seat (Primeau)

Chimes dissipate through

humidity, the night
settles in rhythm

with our chair.

One firefly
over there.

* * * * * * * *

moment (Reutter)

she sits
on edge of bed
long wavy hair
covering frame
silhouetted by
early morning sun
i sit up
our bodies meet
her head rests
upon my shoulder
a moment frozen
in time
a moment
that will always
be in my mind

Seconds (Primeau)

She sits on wavy hair
in a long frame

by
early morning sun!

Bodies sit up
in us, we meet
frozen

her head rests
upon)

this will always
be in mind.

http://www.freewebs.com/persistenciapress/gerpp_psss.pdf

2006-07-31T10:59:00.000-04:00

I had originally intended on reviewing Jon Leon’s excellent and groundbreaking new chapbook TRACT. BlazeVox’s bandwidth restrictions, however, decided otherwise. Apparently, excessive traffic has brought the downloading of Jon’s masterpiece to a halt. Expect a full post dedicated to TRACT when the situation has been remedied.

from Series Magritte
Mark Young
moria (2006)
66 pg., $10

Mark Young has always been a poet of the thing rather than the medium. That is not meant with any disrespect. On the contrary, his dedication to articulating the most basic realities of our existence is a welcome change from the language consciousness with has held alternative poetry by the throat for so long. While Mark’s writing is always tuneful and agreeable, it is clear that his primary interest lies far beyond the mere vessel that is writing.

That being so, it may seem unusual that he chose to build a collection of poems around the work of René Magritte, the late great Belgian surrealist who once claimed that his images "do not mean anything." A disciple of the fantastic, Magritte crafted dreamy situations often hinged upon alien juxtapositions. He laid a veil of "mystery" (his own word) over every creation.

This hardly seems to be fertile ground for a realist whose mastery of form has never diminished his emphasis on function. Right?

Yet meaning is precisely what Young culls from these marvelous images, most of which he has so thoughtfully granted a companion poem. And though more than a few are fit to have leaked from the pen of Lamantia ("birds/ are made from/ the air/ The house/ we live in/ is a/ forest"), the majority are distinct products of the poet who managed to find the "real" in "surreal." Few remain within the hallucinatory constructs originally established by Magritte.

Take for example, "Intermission." The painting: pale fragments of human bodies congregate next to a curtain; behind looms a spotted mountain surrounded by a brood of dark clouds. The poem: a left-ish contemplation on the "War on Terror" written in hay(na)ku form: "Let’s/ hope/ then that/ the actions of/ those/ who invaded/ Iraq or blew/ up Atocha Station/ were parts of/ the final act/ of a tragedy/ &/ not part/ of the intermission."

Another, "Golconda." The painting: sedate gentlemen fall from the sky at dusk (dawn?). The poem: a humorous little gem about love, life, and dating Mr./Ms. Average, it includes mention of the song "It’s Raining Men" and finishes: "if you ask enough people/ sooner or later some/body’s/ bound to come across/ even if it is only/ an anonymous Mr Average/ in a mass-produced bowler hat." Ain’t that the truth?

At one point Mark reflects on the style that is so typical of René and his comrade surrealists but so radically different from his own: "It is the image that is/ so/ first paint/ the painting/ & then decide/ what the/ locomotive emerging/ from the fireplace/ might mean." It is strange but perhaps not unpredictable (opposites attract, etc.) that the two styles (one top-down and the other bottom-up) mesh so nicely in Series.

The weakest poems of the bunch are those which merely turn painting to verse. They are often delectable ("I eat myself/ in exquisite agony"), but lack Mark’s fine sense of exposition. In other words, they leave you wanting something more; they are appetizers, not entrees. He manages to bridge the gap with “The Threshold of the Forest”, in which he ponders sullenly: "In the march/ of civilization/ there may come a time/ when the/ artificial forest/ is indistinguishable/ from the/ natural city." This sort of bristling cultural-analysis-in-ten-lines-or-less is wonderfully typical of Mark.

Series Magritte was released some time ago, and has existed in blog form for years. You have probably read earlier versions of many of these poems in any number of online or print venues. Nonetheless, it is a solid read that warrants far more applause than it has thus far received. Perfect bound with a glossy cover and back, it is available from moria via Lulu. If you’re down with the Belgian-Aussie connection, go grab a copy. You will neither regret it nor forget it anytime soon.

2006-07-27T23:47:00.000-04:00

PERSISTENCIA gets an electronic make-over.

Upcoming reviews: TRACT by Jon Leon, from Series
Magritte by Mark Young

Upcoming publications: Plain Speak/Sweet Speak
by G Emil Reutter & Phil Primeau

& coming slowly down the road:
New American Mood by Kirby Olson

* * *

Driving in the winter
dead

"Mississippi Bridge"

Chuck Berry illuminates
everything,

a stop sign coasts
along the way . . .

Another Friday afternoon
with Richard.

He wants the many
groups to assimilate.

“That is America's strength.”

(He may be right,
so what?)

Boggie woogie turns on
the radio,

I turn off & go left
towards home.

"Visiting Richard Niebanck", from New American Mood

2006-07-23T11:21:00.000-04:00

Office Gnomics
nick-e melville
Acton Press (2006?)
14 pg., side-stapled

I have long appreciated nick-e melville’s playful deviations. In my own publications and in others, I have kept an eye out for his name and his signature wit. So I was happy when I recently received a copy of his new chapbook Office Gnomics (from the elusive Acton Press).

The collection is born from an employee’s manual that had the unfortunate luck of becoming melville’s plaything. In tone, it is reminiscent of the radical arts movements of the 60’s and 70’s; in form, it is the direct descendent of Ron Johnson and Mike Koshkin. But this is no RADI OS. It is far more subversive, far more piercing, far more critical. And a much quicker read, at that.

Melville confronts the downside of corporate “wage slavery” (term du jour amongst progressives these days) and explores the fundamentally repressive and exploitive nature of 8 to 5 office life. He cracks bitterly “dare/ taking no breaks” and ribs management here and there.

More than a “satirical reading between the lines” (Acton’s back cover description), Office Gnomics is incredibly – and surprisingly – erotic. It is sex-charged from start to finish. At one point, melville urges the reader to: “keep a steady pace/ don’t change it/ finger/ your muse/ let legs dangle/ at eye level.” Another poem lends readers instructions for giving fellatio. It starts: “can you maintain it/ and begin to/ ache/ yes.”

Accompanying melville’s sharp words are found images from the pages of the employee’s manual. Most of them are altered, faces erased and hand positions manipulated. On whole, the simple visuals enhance the project. Stark and ghostly, they contrast nicely with the sometimes tangled verse. By the end, however, they are more than a little repetitious.

Office Gnomics provides no means for contacting Acton Press, but melville’s e-mail address is scattered across the Internet. This down-n-dirty chap is certainly worth some quick Googling. Get to it.

Note: This is the first of an ongoing review series which will appear irregularly at this address. If you are interested in contributing material to be featured, write to phil.primeau@gmail.com. Chapbooks, broadsides, and 'zines only, please.

2006-07-18T00:39:00.000-04:00

The Immaculate War
by Philip "PR" Primeau
PERSISTENCIA (2005, 2006)
25 pg. (electronic)

Roughly a year after its print release, The Immaculate War
is now available in e-chap format. Hallucinatory and erotic,
it features free wheeling typography in a brief, accessible
collection of poems.

Download and read it for free here.

PERSISTENCIA*PRESS
persistencia_press@yahoo.com

2006-07-13T12:10:00.000-04:00

Upcoming from PERSISTENCIA...

`Chapbooks by G Emil Reutter, Kirby Olson, and Lewis LaCook.

`Full website overhaul

`Dirt(y) surprises

2006-07-08T09:56:00.001-04:00

P-STAR Summer Chapbook Contest

What: A chapbook contest run by Phil Primeau and financed by PERSISTENCIA*PRESS. Manuscripts should be no longer than thirty pages, flexibility is a plus. Poetry or short fiction only.
No vispo.

When: Manuscripts may be submitted at any point between July 8, 2006 and August 8, 2006. Winner will be announced by September 1.

Who: All are welcome to enter; special consideration will be given to up-and-coming voices.

Why: Winner receives $150 prize, 150 chapbooks (with unlimited POD for three months). One honorable mention will be compensated for entry fee.

Where:

PERSISTENCIA
5 Long Meadow Drive
E. Greenwich, Rhode Island
02818

Include SASE, no electronic submissions. $10 entry fee.

2006-07-08T09:56:00.000-04:00

P-STAR Summer Chapbook Contest

What: A chapbook contest run by Phil Primeau and financed by PERSISTENCIA*PRESS.
Manuscripts should be no longer than thirty pages, flexibility is a plus. Poetry or short fiction only.
No vispo.

When: Manuscripts may be submitted at any point between July 8, 2006 and August 8, 2006.
Winner will be announced by September 1.

Who: All are welcome to enter; special consideration will be given to up-and-coming voices.

Why: Winner receives $150 prize, 150 chapbooks (with unlimited POD for three months). One honorable mention will be compensated for entry fee.

Where:

PERSISTENCIA
5 Long Meadow Drive
E. Greenwich, Rhode Island
02818

Include SASE, no electronic submissions. $10 entry fee.

2006-07-07T10:37:00.000-04:00

Bolts of Silk, another addition to the blog-zine scene. New poems posted several times a week. Check it out.

2006-06-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

Another batch of Waiting for the Rapture chaps have been printed and signed by the poet himself. If you're interested in this small, limited edition, send an e-mail to persistencia_press@yahoo.com.

2006-06-15T11:01:00.000-04:00

JACK RAOUL DOES KENNETH GOLDMSITH

PERSISTENCIA June 2006
a NEW online CHAPBOOK

Section IX from No. 111.2.7.93-10.20.96 by Kenneth Goldsmith by Jack Raoul

In this exciting new publication, Jack Raoul reproduces the work of avant-garde uncreative poster boy Kenneth Goldsmith. Painstakingly copying Section IX of Goldsmith’s No. 111.2.7.93-10.20.96, Raoul remains loyal to the parent text down to the letter. Half prank, half tribute, half treatise, this chapbook is now available online from PERSISTENCIA. Download and read for free here.* But wait, there's more! Raoul promises more boldly unrevised sections in the near future! Keep an eye out.

Home: http://persistenciapress.tripod.com
E-chaps: http://www.freewebs.com/persistenciapress/
E-mail: persistencia_press@yahoo.com

*http://www.freewebs.com/persistenciapress/sectionix_jack%20raoul.pdf

2006-06-13T02:20:00.000-04:00

PERSISTENCIA is proud to announce the release of every, beyond't nothing by harry k. stammer.

From the editor's note:

[Stammer's] poetry is never still. It is always restless, always branching out and growing back in on itself. It is special. Perhaps, even, it is one of a kind. Harry’s textual potions are post-Language excursions which test the firmament of syntax. Just as his (equally ambitious) vispo experiments prod – and sometimes outright mock – the link between word and image, so his poetry defies the relationship between language and thought. Stammer’s unusual mind-to-page transcriptions attempt to redefine writing as a more free and organic process.

From the chapbook:

two toes two weeks one toe three fingers

forced coat pocket cup shaking bush search back
stretched shoes toes up (8am by) arms
wrapped [out at evening in by]

knee boots black to red jacket drawn around
"¿cambio, es?" 'tending parking sitting bars lot twist'd
two toe left side shoe off reflecting
glass backed (in) car it car

"it's nothing, now, not me, no" walk
cross set end street where't: back shortly tv screen
opens "weight like" arrive implied "open'd clouds
over" //dropped popsicle sitting back bars

shoe off left knee right knee over it's such
foot on foot on calf "common reasons why people"

failed (get up) no! shoes stretching up
toes fingered can't modern walkway sleeping in't

&

"out by heat" overhang served in
hostile (remote) where two blocks away meet

mistake shaped limited by indistinct
sight agreeing sinking (just kneeling) shadow canopy

end fingertips scratching agree decided
yard lines "meter?" identify individual disused

"it's only an impression," away distant (way)
slab'd gray to grayer angle

to bus pole "the news stands'n the
way" redraw the line point

threadlike quiescent "just because you, that
hair" nails over bricks slowly (just lines)

colored gray less white against

red ordered have'd bright winging "just because
you, short pants" held there

This publication is an electronic chapbook. It can be found here.

2006-05-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

Updates from a very busy spring:

--Dirt 3 (the Aram Saroyan issue) is to be mailed out in the next two weeks; thanks for all the patience, it'll be worth it.

--POLITIXXX, a new PERSISTENICA publication of radical art, poetry, and politics is currently under production. It's a merger of No Wave, Lipstick!, and an politics-only 'zine that never quite got off the ground. For more information on the newsletter, contact politixxxeditors@yahoo.com.

--harry k. stammer's new e-chap every, beyond't nothing is to be released in June, keep an eye out.

--Mark Young drops the first issue of Otoliths.

--Kirby Olson's Waiting for the Rapture is reviewed in Galatea Resurrects #2.

--PERSISTENCIA home page has received some much needed updates.

2006-03-30T09:28:00.000-05:00

Caleb Puckett
A.K. Allin
Tim Keane
Christopher Hivner
Mark DeCarteret
Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino
Anne Heide
Brian Zimmer
Michelle Greenblatt and Sheila E. Murphy
Arlene Ang
Chuck Dramine
Kirby Olson

go to Starfish #4

2006-03-26T08:53:00.000-05:00

Martin Marriott is now editor and manager of Starfish, a quarterly journal of surrealist art and literature. He is an active member of the Seattle Surrealist collective. Best of luck to him. Subs should still be sent to submissions@starfishpoetry.net.

###

Casual Things

the plane floats by
one hundred
miles
away
maybe one thousand

who knows?

4 @ RealPoetik

2006-03-23T06:36:00.000-05:00

(passing the word along)

The response to my earlier email was fast, furious & overwhelmingly positive & supportive, so I'm going ahead with the ezine. (For those of you who I've included here for the first time, the earlier email was calling for expressions of interest.)

It'll be called Otoliths. Why? Because I like the word. & its definition. An otolith is one of the small bones or particles of calcareous or other hard substance in the internal ear of vertebrates, and in the auditory organs of many invertebrates; an ear stone. Collectively, the otoliths are called ear sand and otoconite.

I'll consider text & vispo, prose of any description (with a limit of 5000 words & I'm not too sure about genre fiction), photography, paintings, drawings, collages. Any combination of the above. I'll consider kinetic or moving works.

It should be previously unpublished work though I'll make an exception for exceptional blog postings, & anything visual can have been exhibited. There'll be no payment, though my intention is to also bring each issue out in a print on demand form, & each contributor will receive a complimentary copy.

I'll be using the Blogger platform, & most of you are familiar with its foibles. It'll be single-paged, not continuous, will have a separate cover for each issue, & a table of contents that will have the links to the individual pages. There'll be no sidebar. Each issue will be archived. The ability to have comments on the page/post will be at the discretion of the contributor. I've put a rough mock-up of a few pages at http://the-otolith.blogspot.com

Submissions can be as attachments or in the body of the email. The address for submissions is otolitheditor@gmail.com. Please include a brief bionote, & a photo if you like, with the submission. Closing date for submissions for the first issue will be April 30.

I look forward to working with you.

Best
Mark Young

2006-03-16T15:10:00.000-05:00

Moria (fall 2005/winter 2006)

REFRAIN: WITH YOUR DICK BETWEEN MY LEGS
by Karyna McGlynn

With your dick between my legs,

you ask: what up?
:|

you ask me a pointed question

but it's too hard to answer.
:|

you don't breathe.

You're like this stiff I saw at a funeral once

(he had on orange eye shadow and I went,

like, totally necro for about three seconds).
:|

you feel lucky, but, no; it's more than that.

You are a commuter with the right of way;

your finger flicks through morning radio

as you suck the whip off a giant mocha.
:|

you've got a big head.

You flare your nostrils and smile fatly.
:|

you secretly hum the theme from Shaft.
:|

a vein in your forehead pops and the whole room

smells like canaries as the aneurism comes

all over your face.

2006-03-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

Simon DeDeo reviews Waiting for the Rapture in his online publication Rhubarb is Susan.

2006-03-02T06:45:00.000-05:00

Been a (busy) while. Some updates:

Kirby Olson's WAITING FOR THE RAPTURE will be out in about two weeks.

The Dirt #3 deadline is fast approaching. Send poetry, vispo, essays, short fiction, review materials, and mnmlst miscellanea to dirt_zine@yahoo.com.

David E. Patton's MILK BOWL MOON OVER ST. LOUIS is now available from PERSISTENCIA online for download in .pdf format. Access it for free here.

&

New stuff @ Dan Waber's Minimalist Concrete Poetry.

Mark Young's e-chap Betabet.

2005-12-25T11:44:00.000-05:00

Coming Valentine's Day '06...

WAITING FOR THE RAPTURE
by Kirby Olson

A N E W B O D Y

I could have been a pair of shoes until I saw my hands.
I could have been a tree until I saw my feet.
I could have been a river until I saw myself laugh.
I could have been a car until I saw that I could walk.
I could have been a human being until I saw my eyes.

E A S T E R C H U R C H B A S E M E N T

CHRIST IS RISEN!

My boy works clay
while each doubting Thomas
is astonished.
Could the risen Lord walk amongst us?
Lola returns from the bathroom
to make a blue flower out of Play-Doh.

1st Corinthians 15:
He appears to Caiaphas
& the 12,
to 500 brethren &
James the Apostle,
& also to Paul.

Witnesses to the Resurrection…
do I believe this?
A crack in the wall of death,
a way to go home, home—
so that we may be imperishable

together.

2005-12-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

Starfish #3
Autumn 05

Donna Kuhn
Martin Marriott
Cecil Touchon
Carlos M. Luis
Christophe Casamassima
Adam Fieled
Amanda Earl
Catherine Ednie
Amy King
Geof Huth
jUStin!katKO
Steve Dalachinsky
John M. Bennett
Peter Ciccariello
Andrew 'endwar' Russ

http://starfishpoetry.net/content.php?content.15
http://www.starfishpoetry.net

2005-12-10T17:39:00.000-05:00

COMING SOON...

Starfish #3 (December '05)
No Wave! (January '06)
Kirby Olson's Waiting for the Rapture (February '06)

WORD = BONE

2005-11-12T09:40:00.000-05:00

New from PERSISTENCIA*PRESS, QUEEN of HEARTS by Jeff Harrison.

"With forlorn minimalism, Harrison weaves a delicate and elusive love poem -- or something like one. 23 pages, staple bound, color cover art."

Copies are free of charge. E-mail persistenica_press AT yahoo DOT com to order.

2005-11-07T15:18:00.000-05:00

No Wave: 'zine is a 4-letter word!

A slim & shoddy publication meant to showcase street, punk, outsider, "deviant", lo-fi, minimalist, bizarre, and assorted "no wave" art, poetry, prose, and critical theory. Each issue will feature no more than eight contributors (usually fewer). It is to be largely cut & paste or handwritten, with marginal white space, corner stapled. Distributed for free thru PERSISTENCIA's mailing list, it will also be handed out at random on the streets and in the mailboxes of poor unsuspecting bastards.

Bueno. Er. So...
New Jersey.
Yeah.
Ehm. Hrm.
Friday. i'm in the car,
Selling bibles to my parents
And they are, like, not buying.
Uh, the satanic philos, i mean.
Hardly, it was a joke-- i mean
Like, comic nihilism, really.
So, I'm, er, doing what i always
Do-- which is planning for the
Future or just getting down to
The end. i don't recommend this,
It's horrendous-- i'm spewing
BS everywhur. in my head,
Planning, like i Said, which
Is more... like, daydreaming.
Fugging muppets are on,
But, mostly there's silence. we're
Going down m.str eg &; in nj meeting
Some kid i remember from pictures
But i'm looking trashy, going into
Rest stations and feeling durty...
Honestly-- i'm looking for something
To fumar-- which is retarded. No
Sketchies around. Just me. so i'm
Bored then i get a call and it's like
"soanywayihookedupwith=-o" and i'm,
Like, not caring, but feeling bad
Because What can i say in this car,
Really, i mean-- it's completely silent
Except for me doing a halfazzed job of
Comforting someone who's doing a halfazzed
Job of apologizing for something
That i'm sure we both don't really care
About but something i'm kind of laughing
About because i've heard the night before
That the he in this silly thing is like
"i'm confused" to some, uh, character
Who is, like, not involved. so, i'm
Thinking during the thing-- and i'm saying
Things that are vague like "oh, no problem,"
"it was nothing," "no, dude, it hardly..."
And just trailing off... so, i'm thinking
Is it worth it to call this kid ... or am
i so pushed out of all this stuff-- so tired,
Really, that he's the only ass that i can land--
i mean, that's sad. so maybe i'll play
An ambiguous response till i have the for sure
On some other end. then, i'm kind of disgusted
Because after all this time, i'm not sure
If i feel anything about this, then,
i just don't care, again, and we go to mcdonald's,
Again, to go to the bathroom and i'm looking
For sketchies, again. i don't find any.
I get another call. ambiguous again.

Jill-- i tell her i'm dead for a few.
We're in ny or nj, & i meet a kid and i'm chill
And tired and scrubby, he goes to an all
Guy's school but he's cool and clean and chill
And tall. he tells me things and i tell him
Things. Our parents talk about college upstairs
Before his friends bring over bad alcohol
& he's not misogynistic-- just reasonable,
Maybe he's racist, or maybe just reasonable.
Mildly retarded girls come over, & overly
Metrosexual bois. He remains friendly
& i don't want to be drunk in the car
With my family, so i leave without saying
Good-bye to the friends. i see him upstairs
And i'm spacing out so it's an awkward good-
Bye to him, and i walk out of the front
Door that is wide open with the AC going.
My family leaves, and that's it.
i die somewhere along the road and wake up
The next day at a family reunion and my
Cousin is hella boring. she chats with adults
About the stupidity of the drinking age(
She drinks, like, once everyother week,
Since when? Last week?) she refuses glow in the
Dark things, and everything, choosing Adult,
Instead. not enough champagne in this world
See uncle stubby, his new baby,
He's traveling without his young wife,
She's being good now, sin cigarettes,
Eating better, drinking less? but at a
Bachelorrette party but he's cherubic
& trusting & it makes me feel better
About being private or less obnoxious
About being kind or old.
A few people are uptight, all are nice,
i walk in on my cousin, beaming, attached to her
Mother, while Aunt Kath goes '& Jess doesn't care much
About what other people think' and i'm not even
Annoyed. just hunched in a seat, with sunglasses
On, walk away from Aunts & Jess.
The night ends well, the hotel bed is great
i dream and think maybe i'm saying 'c'est bon'
Outloud. i wake up
it's sunday
Going on monday.

(Kim E, No Wave 1n/05.)

for Q&A nowavezine@yahoo.com

2005-10-30T23:44:00.000-05:00

+ + + + +

Dirt #2
http://dirt-zine.tripod.com

REVIEWS +John M. Bennett's Mud Lamp +Dan Waber's Minimalist Concrete Poetry +Ampersand Squared: an/thology of pwoermds (ed. Geof Huth)

ESSAYS +Billy Pendulum (micro) +Sheila Murphy (micro) +John M. Bennett (micro) +Dawn Prendergast (micro) +Grace Vajda (micro) +Geof Huth, The Art of Pwoermds

POETRY +Kirby Olson +Mark Young +J. Michael Mollohan +Jean Hartig +Jeff Harrison +Grace Vajda +Nico Vassilakis +John M. Bennett +Andrew Topel +Diana Magallon +K.S. Ernst +Jon Leon +Martha L. Deed +Geof Huth +David-Baptiste Chirot +Mairead Byrne +Sheila Murphy +Reed Altemus +Steve Dalachinsky +Irving Weiss +fiftyseven +Hugh Steinberg +Bruce Covey +Bob Marcacci

INTERVIEW +Andrew "endwar" Russ

& A CONCLUSION by Nick Piombino

+ + + + +

If you are interested in receiving a copy, send an e-mail with your name and address to dirt_zine@yahoo.com. Dirt is distributed for free, but with more than 50 pages of content, small donations are accepted. Chapbook/'zine swaps are (usually) just as appreciated as monetary contributions. Expect #3 out sometime in early '06. Submissions for that issue are welcome starting immediately.

2005-10-29T23:54:00.000-04:00

David E. Patton's Milk Bowl Moon Over St. Louis (PERSISTENCIA, 2005) reviewed at How Ya Doon.

"St. Louis poet David E. Patton's poetry, bursts like a newly seasoned soup served up at a mission kitchen amidst a gaggle of strangers. Pushing fifty and largely self-educated Patton is a gay black man and his territory is Americana. However Patton`s use of vernacular is a blend of Walt Whitman and a young rap poet..."

2005-10-24T21:11:00.000-04:00

"Wish we were really human," I said.

"Yes," everyone agreed, and we waited by the fence
for another five hundred thousand years.

(Gary Barwin)

QUIVERING IN THE SEX

she shines my coat
of many feathers
with zero
in a display
of curtains
shaved off
the long lines
of putty
worshipped
by dogs
and cats
for all eternity
in a fish's
blade of wet skin

(Greg Evason)

fhole #6

Warwick Poets' Cafe

2005-10-19T22:27:00.000-04:00

for RI/Mass. area

Mairead Byrne and Joanna Nealon read at Warwick MoA, Saturday October 22. Open mic at 7:00, followed by four fifteen minute sets from the featured poets. $5 admission.

2005-10-14T06:45:00.000-04:00

(via e-mail)

Sept. 25
to Editor
from Ron Silliman

What is this this agist crap? At least I know surrealism was a movement of the 1920s -- that makes you what? 100?

Starfish, now officially on Ron Silliman's snub list.

2005-10-06T16:08:00.000-04:00

Upcoming from PERSISTENCIA this autumn...

Chaps by JEFF HARRISON and KIRBY OLSON

Dirt #2

Lipstick ("erotic/mnml" by FRANK NORTH)

Motion Sickness (PII)

2005-10-01T09:36:00.000-04:00

Dirt #2 is on its way down the pipe; release is slated for sometime in late autumn. Submissions should be sent to dirt_zine AT yahoo DOT com. Responses to the micro-prompts are still being accepted.

For more information, see the site.

The Immaculate War Release

2005-09-25T14:36:00.000-04:00

Out from PERSISTENCIA, 23 pages of surreal poetry in The Immaculate War. Staple bound, B&W cover art on heavy stock paper. Copies available, write to persistencia_press AT yahoo DOT com for requests and questions.

Two selections:

*

eratio, fall 2005

2005-09-21T20:40:00.000-04:00

"the noise of them that sing i do hear."
eratio postmodern poetry issue six, fall 2005
http://www.eratiopostmodernpoetry.com

Milk Bowl Moon Over St. Louis Release

2005-09-18T11:01:00.000-04:00

Milk Bowl Moon Over St. Louis by David E. Patton is now out from PERSISTENCIA*PRESS.

From the inside cover:

Part Langston Hughes bebop, part Beat freestyle, part Midwestern folk banter, the work of David E. Patton spans generations & weaves together a wealth of styles to create a unique & deeply personal vein of Americana. A gay, largely self-educated black man who came of age during the turbulence of the Sixties and Seventies, his voice reverberates with a humble confidence & lonesome strength which at once saddens & transfixes. Largely uninfluenced by recent movements, Patton’s material remains simple, insightful, & ultimately some of the most genuine to exist in modern poetry.

Three poems from Milk Bowl Moon...:

Johnny’s vision of being romantic
is staring into my eyes,
room lit by candlelight while Zappa
and the Mothers’ Flower Punk plays in the background.
Or sitting out in the garden after taking mushrooms,
acting out the instruction of Ominous Spinach
playing from speakers in the doorway.

This gift of God is sweet but dated.

Several times committed to
Ft. Logan Mental Institution in Denver.
In Boulder, Johnny collects the morning papers from
front yards and deliver them on the other side of town.

This man of God stands out in Boulder during winter.

In summer this gift fits in with transients.
He is saying to strangers on the Boulder Mall,
I am Gabriel come back from the dead!
Gabriel knows that the first of the year is 1966.
Johnny is neat but sedated,
chain smoking and throwing curses.
Strapped in his bed Johnny is saying,
I am Gabriel come back from the dead!

*

To be content
to know just
what a sparrow knows,
you must be
sparrow in your bones.

*

Old Mrs. Reagan told us to just say no
to the snow white girl,
the rock candy cloud,
the smack boy horsing Mary Jane in the love boat.
But white powder is so sweet to kids
who get the green back bucks from the streets.
15 year old can make more money than her Dad,
Dad out there guarding the homes of rich folks,
more than Mama who has given over her soul
to an absentee landlord,
more than sister-woman pushing
chemical infested burgers at the Mc,
more than brother-man whose poor black ass
is teaching capital addiction.

The disinherit see every day of their lives
the snow queen riches smiling down from billboards
and hear on the TV screams: buy me, buy me, buy me!

We ain’t shit without hair care,
without car style,
without bony thin looks in size six.

We ain’t clean without Tide freshness,
without sunlight in a bottle,
without lemon cleaning formula,
without cloud soft toiler paper for your ass.

We ain’t healthy without low calories,
without low salt,
without low fat.
We ain’t men without Brut Super Dry Extra Strength,
(buy 2, get 1 free and every woman’ll be at your feet!).
We ain’t popular without the brand of beer,
without breath smellin of Scope Original Mint .

Well, scope this—
capitalism thrives on addiction
and addiction thrives in capitalism.

22 pages of poetry, white heavy stock cover. To order a copy, send an e-mail to persistencia_press AT yahoo DOT com.

This chap concludes PERSISTENCIA's summer series. Look for work by Kirby Olson, Jeff Harrison, & others later this autumn.

Colored Glass Release

2005-09-12T15:51:00.000-04:00

Colored Glass by Billy Pendulum is now available from PERSISTENCIA*PRESS. A work fitting the poet's name, Pendulum's tight verses swing here and there without warning. Ranging from the humorous to the macabre, they are in his own words, "rhymes from the end of the world." The staple bound chapbook contains 13 pages of poetry and is printed in three versions, each with a different color cover. Copies are free, contact persistencia_press AT yahoo DOT com to order.

Three selections from Colored Glass.

mine

days once spent in your room
now you walk all around,
while i wait
like old body on the wall
ready to come down.

my little colored glass,
my little colored glass.

*

oh you, you’re worth a title (or two)

*

diner bum

ham on rye
ham on rye
(i don’t ask why)
ham on rye.

Call for Work

2005-09-09T16:16:00.000-04:00

PERSISTENCIA*PRESS is seeking erotic poetry for Lipstick!, its upcoming mail micro-series. Lipstick! will appear irregularly and run indefinitely, with each “issue” being dedicated to a single poet’s work.

Submit no more than one page’s worth of work; whether you send five poems or fifty poems, your submissions must fit, conventionally or otherwise, onto a standard sheet of computer paper. Run of the mill, sub-porno “erotica” is not desired. We are interested in innovative writing styles and fresh, bold takes on the subject. Romantic or violent, dark or fantastic, deviant or vanilla…anything goes so long as it fits that bill. Further details will be provided upon acceptance.

All subs to persistencia_press AT yahoo DOT com.

2005-09-09T06:43:00.000-04:00

Starfish #2 Released

2005-09-05T16:57:00.000-04:00

Starfish #2 (Summer '05)

with...
Curtis Bonney
Ray Craig
Toph Church
Jeff Harrison
AnnMarie Eldon
Diana Magallon
Sheila Murphy
Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino
Mark Young
Renee Wagemans
Halvard Johnson
Crag Hill
Kirby Olson

http://www.starfishpoetry.net/

Dirt #2 Micro Prompts

2005-09-03T08:40:00.000-04:00

Unlike the premier issue, Dirt #2 will feature a section on minimalist poetics. In keeping with the spirit of the ’zine, it will be composed of a series of micro-essays in response to micro-prompts. The prompts themselves are minimal to the point of excess – as you can see below, they have been pruned down to bare snippets of phrase.

Those interested should submit their responses to dirt_zine AT yahoo DOT com. You are welcome to answer as many as you’d like. Further prompts may be provided if more substance is needed.

There are no right answers, no correct “takes”, &c. &c.. Essay lengths may range from a single word to a couple of sentences long. Don’t feel rushed, either, #2 isn’t due out for some time.

DIRT #2 MICRO PROMPTS

1) between minimalism and politics? What are its applications in
2) is more important: minimal length or minimal substance?
3) minimalism in the real world. Cite specific examples or
4) the animal kingdom, what would it
5) in the year 2100.
6) say about our culture? Is the form reactionary or progressive; is it
7) subversive?

Be creative and get wrtng.

2005-08-31T22:50:00.000-04:00

The Ghetto of Concretism

2005-08-28T09:59:00.000-04:00

"In a recent blog entry, Ron Silliman mentioned "the ghetto of concretism" while speaking on the evolution of visual poetry over the past half-century. Primeau reacted to this idea by spending a few days examining mid-century concrete poetry, which led him to conceive the idea for a small anthology of retro concrete poetry. Geof Huth agreed to co-edit the book, and today we are excited to announce the first call for submissions for The Ghetto of Concretism.

For the purposes of this anthology, we are working with two working definitions of "concrete poetry":

Concrete poetry is a form of vispo typified by the manipulation of words and letters/numerals as they lie on the page, concrete poems rely on unconventional typographical presentations to convey their meanings. Concrete poets design their pieces using only letters, numerals, punctuation marks, and a fine eye for space.

In general, concrete poetry is a visually simple form of visual poetry in which the letter is the unit of composition. Words may (and usually do) exist, but it is the interplay of letters through those words & their shapes and reverberations that make these pieces work.

Send submissions to concreteghetto@gmail.com. We prefer unpublished work; submitting more than a single piece at a time is fine. If your work is not digital and you don't have a scanner, contact either of us for our snail mail addresses. Feel free to spread the word on your blogs, listservs, &c.

Best,
prPrimeau & Geof Huth"

Please copy and distribute as desired.

Lara

2005-08-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

Lara, a chapbook by Jesse and myself, has been released and is now available to order. Contact tefflox AT gmail DOT com to request a copy. For more information, go to Differentia.

You find her like this,
your last flowers thrown
to lame dogs and root witches, thorn
fever touching her petal hips damp.
To remember how you were
and see yourself now
and here, an obdurate lace
wreathes her neck as she cools
on the shale.

(from Lara)

LARA ANODYNE

2005-08-13T14:34:00.000-04:00

Starfish #2

2005-08-10T09:50:00.000-04:00

Starfish #2 is just around the corner. Submissions are still more than welcome. Send contributions to submissions@starfishpoetry.net.

www.starfishpoetry.net

Dirt #1

2005-08-06T00:57:00.000-04:00

Dirt #1 is printed and in the mail. To request a copy or for questions/comments, send an e-mail to dirt_zine AT yahoo DOT com.

2005-07-22T01:23:00.000-04:00

Dirt

2005-07-18T12:56:00.000-04:00

"Dirt is an irregularly published
newsletter/'zine of ultra-simple,
minimalist poetry and poetics.
Contributions should be no more
than a few short lines -- at most."

go to Dirt...

Summer '05?

2005-07-17T11:50:00.000-04:00

I had originally thought that there would be too few submissions to publish a summer edition of Starfish. However, if work continues to come in at the current rate, the next issue will be bumped up from Autumn '05 to Summer '05 (which would work nicely, seeing as how I intended for it to be quarterly). Look for updates on the Starfish site.

New Wave Surrealism

2005-07-13T12:13:00.000-04:00

www.starfishpoetry.net
New Wave Surrealism

Submissions for Autumn '05 edition currently being accepted.

Starfish #1 (Spring '05) Released

2005-06-21T00:31:00.000-04:00

Starfish #1 (Spring '05)

Differentia Books

2005-06-11T13:04:00.000-04:00

Jesse Crockett calls for submissions for Differentia Books #2.

Starfish

2005-05-30T18:25:00.000-04:00

Starfish -- Surrealist Poetry, Prose, and Theory