poeticdiversity: the litzine of Lost Angeles
volume 6 number 1
April 2008
Once more, unto the breach, dear friends, once more…" - William Shakespeare, King Henry V
I hope, of course, whoever reads this introduction understands my sense of humor.
April is BACK! It's… well, hmmm… it's National "Something" Month… which one was that? There's April Fools Day (1st); Bataan Day (Phillipnes, 9th); Tax Day (15th); 4:20 (HA! – 20th); Patriot's Day (21st); Earth Day (22nd); Conch Republic Independence Celebration (Florida Keys, 23rd); ANZAC Day (Australia, New Zealand, 25th); St. George's Day (UK, 25th); Carnation Revolution (Portugal, 25th); National Sexual Assault Awareness Month (this is a SERIOUS topic), … and… oh, yes, it also National POETRY Month.
I'm not going to bust anyone's chops – this time around - about the need to keep poetry alive and well in an uncaring and stulifying world. Poetry's doing fine on its own, as long as there are Truths to be expressed and Words to be written down. I choose to celebrate this month, along with the staff, by presenting what we consider to be another fabulous issue of poetry, prose, interviews, art, and reviews that celebrate diversity.
If, however, you are looking for a poetry reading to further satisfy your literary addiction, then check out Poetix's ( http://www.poetix.net/) calendar of events for details and directions. Some suggested highlights are:
April is BACK! It's… well, hmmm… it's National "Something" Month… which one was that? There's April Fools Day (1st); Bataan Day (Phillipnes, 9th); Tax Day (15th); 4:20 (HA! – 20th); Patriot's Day (21st); Earth Day (22nd); Conch Republic Independence Celebration (Florida Keys, 23rd); ANZAC Day (Australia, New Zealand, 25th); St. George's Day (UK, 25th); Carnation Revolution (Portugal, 25th); National Sexual Assault Awareness Month (this is a SERIOUS topic), … and… oh, yes, it also National POETRY Month.
I'm not going to bust anyone's chops – this time around - about the need to keep poetry alive and well in an uncaring and stulifying world. Poetry's doing fine on its own, as long as there are Truths to be expressed and Words to be written down. I choose to celebrate this month, along with the staff, by presenting what we consider to be another fabulous issue of poetry, prose, interviews, art, and reviews that celebrate diversity.
If, however, you are looking for a poetry reading to further satisfy your literary addiction, then check out Poetix's ( http://www.poetix.net/) calendar of events for details and directions. Some suggested highlights are:
Sunday, April 6th – Beyond Baroque's 1st Sunday of the Month Reading: Kevin Patrick Lee, Zachary and Gerald Locklin. 5-7 pm. Open Mic: Three minutes/ Two poem limit. FREE. Hosted by Marie Lecrivain. Venice.
Thursday, April 10 - Eric Brown +O 6:30 pm Downtown Poets Crawl, Downtown Los Angeles.
Thursday, April 14th - Sci-Fi & Fantasy Poetry +O 8 pm Monday Night Poetry - Santa Catalina Library Pasadena.
… And there are a ton of open mics – my recommendations are: Coffee Cartel in Redondo Beach (Tues), Cobalt Café in Canoga Park (Tues), and Velvet Guerilla Lounge in Santa Monica (Wed), etc. There is something for a poet to attend every blessed night of the week. So, I guess this means that Eliot was wrong: April is not the "cruelest" month, unless you owe Uncle Sam some big ones.
In this issue:
Center Stage: G. Murray Thomas gets down with Brendan Constantine.
Editor At Large: Theresa Antonia interviews Other Voices International Project editor Roger Humes.
Featured Poets: Mike Dias, Gene Justice, Sarah Maclay, April May March, and Gene van Troyer.
Guest Essayist: Shannon Prince finds her muse "her" way in Bones in the Other World.
Artist in Residence: Scottish poet, novelist, and painter Dee Rimbaud.
Contributing Poets and Writers: Theresa Antonia, Jim D. Babwe, Julia Bemiss, Amanda Boschetto, Jack G. Bowman, Maria Rose Burgio, Don Kingfisher Campbell, Chris Crittenden , Henry Dumolet, W. Scott Fischer, Kenneth Gurney, Erik Haber, Sherri Hoffman, Alegria Imperial, Liu Jue, Scott C. Kaestner, Marie Lecrivain, Laura LeHew, Chris Mansell, Isobel McQueen, Mephistopheles , Robert John Miller, Sonnet Mondal, Carl Moore, Peter Nezafati, Brenda Petrakos, Rob Plath, Kim Schroeder, June Shiitake, Annette Sudgen, Ilona Timoszuk, and Kirby Wright.
Reviews: Bruce Bartrug's Rio De Dios: Thirteen Histories of the Los Angeles River; Nickole Brown's Sister ; editor Mark Eleveld's and Sourcebooks The Spoken Word Revolution Redux; Alta Ifland's Voice of Ice/Voix de Glace; Sarah Maclay's The White Bride; and Moontide Press's Carving in Bone: An Anthology of Orange County Poetry.
See you in August. Go out and get your poetry groove on!... (smile).
marie lecrivain
executive editor
poeticdiversity: the litzine of Los Angeles
