Book Reviews  by Ralph Haselmann Jr.
Lucid Moon Poetry Magazine Issue #34 (June 1999)

Alone On A Bridge Poetry book by J. Harris For price info write to Jay Harris, PO Box 1005, Muncie IN, 47308-1005. Nicely printed poetry book, 56 pages, could've used a cover illustration instead of just blue stripes. Lively, colorful and imaginative writing decorates these mostly downbeat commentaries on situations, relationships and life in general. Mid-day in Milan reads: "Mid-day in Milan means a two-hour lunch for Givenchy, paper sandwiches for models, quick teas for swarthy officeboys. The lunch hour always comes too soon for lovers. Soft eyes search for scenes from Hemingway and Nin and Rhys; instead come up with bums, tourists, noise. Dim and brassy, the end of the hour sounds, chiming across the table, across empty bottles of sour vino, across the marble city square, into the ears of sleepy silk-dons, belching with poise. And atop the library, an old pigeon yawns and cleans his wings. The humans craze and collide. He dawdles." J. Harris put his heart and soul into these poems, but one wonders why he had such a bad time putting this together, for the poems turned out well, if not a little bit downbeat. So come share in J.'s misery and maybe reading this will gently blow your blues away...

The Berkeley Lesbians Novel by Laurence Cloud. 174 pages, $10 check incl. postage, made out to Dave Christy at Alpha Beat Press, 31 Waterloo St, New Hope, PA 18938. A funny, surrealistic romp through the mind of the main character Piglet, as he serves his mistress M. in a slightly kinky S&M relationship. There isn't enough sex, but you get a feel for his master/slave relationship. There aren't enough Lesbian sex scenes either, but you get a glimpse of the California lesbian scene. One funny passage has a cop pulling Piglet over and shining his flashlight in shock at Piglets' crotch, Piglet still wearing a big green plastic dildo over his pants from a recent sexcapade with mistress M.! ""You know," said the officer, "it's guys like you why I moved my family to Pleasanton." THe officer continued to shine the flashlight first on Piglet, and then the dildo. Piglet hastily unstrapped it. "What do you have to say for yourself." Piglet rushed to apologize again, but stopped. Instead, he said, "That someday, I'm going to take a drive on out there, to Pleasanton. With my symbol sitting right next to me, on the passenger seat. And i'm going to drive right up to the Safeway, right at midday. High noon. Park, strap on old Mr. Green, here, open the car door--" The officer punched Piglet in the stomach with the flashlight. A short, hard jab. Piglet doubled over. He grabbed for the car door and tried to grasp. This was how Houdini bought it. This hadn't happened, his wind knocked out, since he was a kid. "Have a pleasant evening, sir," said the officer. He turned and walked away..."" A cool book, breezy and fun to read, with a hint of Kink. THe author and the publisher are sending a copy of The Berkeley Lesbians to New York shock DJ Howard Stern because Howard loves Lesbians. I don't think Howard will get the book, because you have to think and use your imagination a little! All in all a good read. Kudos to Alpha Beat Press on a nice printing job with this book, with cool illustrations of lesbian warriors by Lee Burks.

Crucifixion Times Poetry book by B. Z. Niditch. $9 check made out to B. Z. Niditch, Po Box 1664, Brookline, MA 92446-0013. 54 pages, this is a powerful, heartfelt look at this century, through war torn ravaged nations, through fascism and The Holocaust, through painters and artists who tried to make sense of everything, and through writers who bled for their art. B.Z. writes with sincerity and empathy but is never preachy. 1945 reads: "All your apparitions are blasted your prisms of captured swastikas icons and slogans scattered and rifled your Aquinas in the piss of time and your mother is a she-goat. Wrinkled politics is already over utopias are dark-eyed collectives all forget-me-nots individuals in a seance every mirror scares its nailed foundation and trains rumble from chimney factories. Even your glasses are on linoleum and the respectable judges call on belly laughed bureaucrats blindly walk their shepherds and the passerby is a collaborator". The sharp tongued descriptions and words stick in your side like a thorn until you pull it out and are left wading through the light of the poet's epiphany. This is a finely wrought collection of socially aware poems that will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended.

Cultural Subversion Essay by Frank Moore. 7 pages, $1 to Frank Moore, PO Box 11445, Berkeley, CA 94712. Frank Moore is a performance artist, shaman and poet. In this important essay, he talks about how writing was originally a tool of the rich to keep the poor working class people in their place, and how by computers, xerography, vcr, faxes, flyers and other means of communication we as artists can take back the control of communications and creativity from the government and big corporations. A very informative read from a giant thinker.

A Fine Kettle Of Fish Poetry chapbook by Ed Galing. 16 pages, Free with large s.a.s.e. to Ed Galing, 3435 Mill Road, Hatboro PA 19040. Another collection of short prose and pithy wisdom from the likeable Ed Galing, most of these pieces have appeared in local Pennsylvania Newspapers. The Photo is very touching and nostalgic and reads: "It's a small photo old with the ages...I am about six I have a buster brown haircut, straight across my forehead, and large dark eyes a small smile on my lips I am holding a small cane in my hands...wearing short knickers and long stockings...but it's the eyes, so sad and brooding, that stands out so...what am i thinking? what is the special event that brings me here...that little boy will never return, but he lives in my heart forever." A fine collection by Ed "Pops" Galing.

Ibbetson St. Press Issue #1 Poetry Magazine. $4 for single issue or $7 for 2 issue subscription, check made out to Douglas Holder, Ibbetson St. Press, 33 Ibbetson St., Somerville, MA. 02143. Fine looking new poetry magazine published twice a year, 8 1/2 by 11, with other zine address listings and writer bios. Spring 1999 issue is 32 pages and features well known writers like Lyn Lifshin and B.Z. Niditch and up and coming writers like Joe Verrilli, Ed Galing and yours truly. Rochelle Hope Mehr's poem January 27, 1999 reads: "I hold this flame at arm's length It's Mozart's birthday and I no longer have the strength to listen. Too much beauty, too intense Too much loss of innocence." Finely wrought poems in the romantic, classical, academic and Post-Beat tradition, a nice variety. Features beautiful front and back cover drawings by Richard Wilhelm. This magazine shows a lot of promise and i look forward to reading future issues.

Memoirs Of A Beatnik Memoirs by Diane DiPrima. $12.95 from Penguin books, available at bookstores everywhere. A gritty, soft-porn memoir written by legendary Beat poet/writer Diane DiPrima. Diane dropped out of college at age 18 to pursue a writing career. She lived the homeless life briefly in New York City in the mid 1950's before moving to San Francisco. Back then, homelessness did not carry the stigma it does today, and it was not as dangerous and squalid as it is today. Diane lived a care free life and had a baby. She slept with a few young guys, and the passages here are erotic and honest and matter of fact. The writing is evocative of a care free time when the possibilities were endless and the Beat writers broke new ground and moved poetry into the 20th century. Allen Ginsberg had just published his landmark Howl and Jack Kerouac was about to get On The Road published. One day Allen, Jack and Peter Orlovsky (Allen's lover) showed up at Diane's doorstep. They had heard about her writings and wanted to meet her. They stayed for three days and read poetry and smoked weed and drank wine. What an exciting, enchanting time it must have been! They had an orgy too, and the passage reads: "We finally got loose of the bedclothes: Jack, with a great cry, heaved himself upwards and dumped them all on the floor, then fell heavily on top of me and entered me immediately. My momentary surprise turned to pleasure, and i squirmed down on his cock, getting it all inside of me, feeling good and full...It was a long, slow, easy fuck. I knelt with my feet tucked under me and moved up and down on Jack's cock, while his hands on my waist supported and guided my movement. I glanced at the group beside me. Leslie was lying on Allen, kissing him, and they were grinding their stomachs together. I could imagine, though I could not see, their two hard cocks between them, denting the soft skin of their bellies. Benny lay a little to one side of the two of them. He was kissing leslie's back and neck, and he had his own cock in his hand. Pleasure began to increase in my gut, I bent down to kiss Jack on the mouth, moving faster and faster against him. His two hands on my shoulders held me warm and tight, as we both came in the friendliness of that huge, candlelit room..." When Diane started to write this book, the editor kept penciling in "More sex!" in the margins! The sexual passages are gentle and loving, with a warm friendly atmosphere of those carefree times. Memoirs of A Beatnik is well-crafted, riveting, and a great document of the beginnings of the Beat movement. A must read.

MotorHead Poetry book by Mark Spitzer. Write to John nd Nancy Berbrich for price info: 3700 County Route 24, Russell, NY 13684. 40 pages, this chapbook has a cool silver gem cover and is a nicely themed collection of poems dedicated to all the cars Mark has ever loved before. These poems spew gas and smoke and the tires screech up your mind with imaginative descriptions and metaphors and witty writing. The fist poem, There Was A Beat-To-Shit 68 Firebird, reads (or rather assaults your senses!): "There was a beat-to-shit 68 Firebird bleeding puddles at Red Nelson's Buy Sell Trade Cash For Cars and being seventeen masturbating car scenes I was driven by the fendered curves the vented hood and especially the chrome beak streamlined to cleave all asphalt ahead like the wink of Red Nelson a man of dazzling plaids a man who proved to me that Bondo was sculpture that quarter panels were thighs and that two bucket seats worth 250 each could've been sold to a hippie but Red saved that car for some teen seeking wheels some teen who seemed like me so I gave Red Nelson money down and drove that junker off the lot dual white clouds billowing out it was the smog of bad rings but it looked like burning rubber and so I put the pedal down until the tranny whined a sonic rumble grew and-- BAAAAAAM!! the engine blew a rod through the block and hot oil sprayed rippling brown waves all over the windshield obscuring everything except one loser kid with zits wincing back in the glass". This chapbook ripples with energy and humor and is recommended for anyone who has ever known the joy of owning a car.

No Matter What Poetry chapbook by joe r. $4 check made out to Green Bean Press, PO Box 237, NY NY 10013. 42 pages and a little pricey at $4, this is mini skinny chapbook, nicely designed, with a good story by joe r about friends Cal, Manny and Pincushion going to the clinic to get the results of Pincushion's HIV test. The three look like a parade of weirdos and have earings and punk hairdos and everyone stares at them as they walk to the clinic. Joe's style of misspelling words can be either intriguing or annoying depending on how much patience you have! But joe always comes up with good storylines and throws in some humour that makes you smile and want to continue to read on. A very good read, "...and now for something completely different!" as Monty Python would say.

Optima Sauvidad Poetry book by Sal Salasin. $9.95 check made out to Green Bean Press, PO Box 237, NY, NY 10013. 82 pages, beautifully produced as always by Ian Griffin, with B&W cover photo by Ian that perfectly captures the wry mood of the contents. This book isn't quite poetry, it's more like a stand up comedy routine and a series of funny one liners and witty whacked observations strung together. Which is okay if you are looking for a break from poetry and need a good laugh. XXXII Poem On A Line By Andrei Codrescue reads: "Tell me darling you come here to look good or just to make money? TS, Eliot! Kiss my titties for a dollar. This is the land of the free and the home of the Braves. Washington Square Hotel, Room 501. Thank you ladies and gentlemen it must have been the amyl nitrates. Or the ether. After all, with the statute of limitations up in just five minutes, why burden yourself with my misfortunes? We're living in a fool's paradise because we're all fools. People come and go but money lives forever, little tributes to some interesting encounters. I dreamt I was afflicted with several political, philosophical and ethical diseases. I'm wearing new shoes but am otherwise naked. We're at the point were commerce ceases and trade begins." Funny stuff, always interesting and it makes you think. But is it poetry?!

The Selected Poems Poetry book by Richard A. Seffron 68 pages, $10 check made out to Leonard J. Cirino, Pygmy Forest Press, 2434 C St, Eureka CA 95501. A stark, startling collection of somber, short poems by the late Richard A. Seffron, who committed suicide in 1993 at age 26. The fact that he took his own life only adds to the weight of what he wrote. My America reads: "I see America in visions of veterans hunched over burst airbags listening tensely to shortwave radios calling Tokyo or cellular phones six lanes of domestic cars their bumpers glued on the freeway they're risking death making deals my america likws god guns and family walks through dreams lives by the coast these people are doomed to their middleness doomed to easy deaths imprisoned in deep sleep." There is a sense of doom or resignation to these haunting poems, but Richard writes many beautiful turns of phrases. A highly recommended collection to read and wonder where it all went wrong for him. Sojurns Of The Heart Poetry chapbook by The Poetic Knight, Mark Richburg. Finely produced chapbook with nice cover illustration by Mark. 56 pages, somewhat pricey at $10.95, check made out to Mark Richburg, 2019-H Powers Ferry Road, Marietta, GA 30067. Beautifully written heartfelt poetry from a master of the form. Some cliches drift in and out of the more original poetic thoughts, so if you don't mind sentimental Hallmark-Greeting type poetry, you'll enjoy this. Moonlight and Destiny reads: "Moonlight softly illuminates the glow of bodies' skin; two lovers through a meadow dance like petals in the wind. Your touch so warm, your kiss so sweet, like that of morning dew. Your eyes, so fine, like crystal lakes that mirror Heaven's blue. Your hand I hold, your heart I feel, together we are one, pursuing dreams of reverie in the palace of the sun. The love we share is a timeless tale of beauty in it's prime, like the eternal roar of the ocean's rage, exceeding sands of time. For within two hearts we share one joy of treasures wished and cast; the days of bliss, the emerald skies, the fond memories of the past. So hand in hand we journey on as if birds across the sea, forever faithful in love's flight on the wings of destiny". This chapbook does leave you with a warm, serene feeling when you finish reading it.

Tiger Balm Erotica Poetry book by Noni Howard. $9 check made out to Noni Howard, New World Press, 20 Driftwood Trail, Half-Moon Bay, CA 94019. Shocking orange cover of a nude lady with tiger stripes hints at the S&M delights inside this fine book of erotica by Noni Howard. The S&M scenes are not overly cruel, but almost loving, as the master wipes away her slaves' tears. I don't pretend to understand the S&M scene, why someone would willingly be humiliated by a lover and would want pain inflicted upon themselves, but that is part of the excitement and mystique I guess. Regular sex becomes boring after a while! The passages are beautifully and tenderly written. The main character is handcuffed onto a barber's chair in a gay men's bar. It's the waiting for what comes next that is difficult to bear, but a rush of excitement comes over her: "The man sharpens his razor. There isn't another sound in the room except for my elevated breathing. In flourish, the top of my head comes off and my wig goes sailing into a corner. In the same moment, a hot towel covers my head and I am in shock. A very large hairy masculine hand clutches my chin upward and tells me not to move. With every oh so tentative touch from the straight razor I feel a rush in my cunt. His hands and the steel on my head are making me cream in my pants. I don't dare move and am desperately trying to control my breathing which is now labored with sexual tension. I can't believe this is turning me on. From the back of the room I contact your eyes blinding headlights into mine. You advance toward me. As soon as your hand touches my neatly shave forehead my tears fall upon your wrists, your arms and you embrace me rubbing your fully exposed breasts in my upturned wet face. My head is a newly peeled egg inside and out..." Noni is a free spirit and is not afraid to show us the dark side. She writes beautiful heartfelt poetry and this is her first book of erotic passages. It shows another side to her boundless talent and energy. Definitely worth checking out if you like a whiff of danger and intrigue, a little spice to your sexual personae.

Please send poetry books, chapbooks, broadsides, tapes, cds etc for review to Ralph Haselmann Jr. at Lucid Moon, 67 Norma Road, Hampton, NJ 08827. Please indicate price including postage, who to make check out to, and address where to order from.