Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:
There are classics and then there are classics. It seems, however, for every generation there is its own unique Romeo and Juliet. Punk was happening and headbands and sweatsuits and big hair was just around the corner when Dire Straits ran a counter, at least for a while, interesting path. It doesn't really get more RockLit than this; song above and video following.
This week's featured poem comes from Lilliput Review #28, February 1992. Enjoy.
Ars Poetica
Forging a poem is Like nothing so much as Building a butterfly Of bronze.
A couple of miscellaneous notes this morning and some samples from a featured back issue of Lilliput Review. First, a call for poems from one of my long-time favorite small press publications, Chiron Review:
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The editors of CHIRON REVIEW are reading submissions for an "All Punk Poetry" issue to be published Dec. 2009. Poetry, fiction, b/w line art, comics/cartoons, photos, nonfiction, whatever should be sent via snailmail with self-addressed, stamped envelope for reply/return to: Chiron Review, Attn: PUNK, 522 E. South Ave., St. John, KS 67576. Name and complete mailing address should appear on every poem, story, etc. Deadline: Sept. 1, 2009. Material is copyrighted in author's/artist's name. Payment: one contributor's copy with 50% discount on additional copies. If anyone wants to help spread the word, just copy & paste this in an e-mail. We will forward a flier for posting to anyone who asks:
chironreview@earthlink.net.
Chiron Review is open for submissions year-round. Postal submissions with name, complete mailing address (on every poem), and SASE are welcome at Chiron Review, 522 E. South Ave., St. John, KS 67576-2212. Writers are invited to send up to 5 poems, 1 long poem, or 1 short-story. We're also open to reviews, interviews, black and white art and photography, and essays of interest to writers and the small press literary community. We ask writers to limit submissions to four times a year or less. We do not consider simultaneous or previously published submissions; nor do we consider e-mail submissions though exception is made for book reviews and foreign/overseas submissions. CR copyrights in author's name, all rights revert to author upon publication. Pay is one contributor's copy. We would like to exchange subscriptions with other magazines and receive review copies of small press books and magazines for review and listing in my "News, Etc." column. They can be sent to the address above.
Subscriptions and donations are welcome. A one-year/four issue subscription is $17. The "Triple S" discount is offered Seniors, Students and Starving Artists. Don't be afraid to ask. And of course, those who are able and wish to provide more support than $17 a year are most welcome to do so. Subscribers may send cash, check or money order to the address below or we can accept payment via Paypal: poetry_man61@earthlink.net. The Personal Publishing Program under Kindred Spirit Press imprint is available to poets and writers interested in self- publishing. Through arrangements with a highly specialized printer, I can offer small press runs for reasonable prices. These prices include professional typesetting, printing and shipping. Click on the Kindred Spirit Press button below for more info.
Chiron Review presents the widest possible range of contemporary creative writing -- fiction and non-fiction, traditional and off-beat -- in an attractive, professional tabloid format, including artwork and photographs of featured writers. About a quarter of each issue is devoted to news, views and reviews of interest to writers and the literary community.
Past contributors include Charles Bukowski, William Stafford, Marge Piercy, Wilma McDaniel, Edward Field, Antler, Robert Peters, Leslea Newman, Erskine Caldwell, Janice Eidus, Felice Picano, Will Inman, Richard Kostelanetz, Lorri Jackson, James Broughton, Charles Webb, Quentin Crisp & a host of others, well-known and new.
Most recent Issue: $7.00. Sample copy/back issues: $7.00 ea. Send all correspondence to : Contact Info Email: chironreivew@earthlink.net
Location: Chiron Review, 522 E. South Ave., St. John, KS 67576
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Next, two more entire back issues are up online for free. Here's #159
And here is #157:
The purpose for putting up entire issues for free is to give poets a better idea of what the magazine is about and what types of poems are published there. Also, entire issues simply better represent the magazine as it is. Finally, it also helps those who'd prefer not going through the process of sending for (& possibly may not be able to afford) a sample copy. Issues #'s 160 and 161 may be found in this previous post.
Oh, and then there is the enjoyment for of reading poetry in its natural habitat for those who do that sort of thing. Failing that, there is usually some nifty art, by the likes of Wayne Hogan and Guy Beining, for the visually inclined.
I don't expect to be doing this as an ongoing project or archiving the entire run online (but it is an interesting thought, no) but I will now and again put up an issue when time and inclination allow. I'm also hedging against the eventual conversion of the back issue archive in the transition from google pages to google sites to something possibly untoward.
More about untoward in a bit.
This week's featured back issue is #28, from February 1992, and it seems to have a thing for butterflies.
Ars Poetica
Forging a poem is Like nothing so much as Building a butterfly Of bronze.
Patricia Higginbotham
Mother
Surgical teams Pinned her Monarch glands To a mythical cure And she steeped out Of her body With scissors and rose.
Patrick Sweeney
prayer flags
battle flags
no difference to the wind
Charlie Mehrhoff
Finally, the happy coincidence of Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Harlan Ellison all being born on the same day is just too good to pass without noting. Here's a trailer from one of the films Lee and Price starred in together, a tad less garish than the Scream and Scream Again trailer, another of their joint efforts (and we arrive conveniently back at untoward - faint-hearted viewers beware).
on the flower pot does the butterfly, too hear Buddha's promise?