| Poetry Book Reviews by Ralph Haselmann Jr. Lucid Moon Poetry Website (April 17, 2001) Apology To The Idiots, poetry chapbook by Laura Joy Lustig. 1999, 42 pages, $6 ppd cash or check made out to Lummox Journal, POB 5301, San Pedro, CA 90733-5301. Laura Joy Lustig writes abstract expressionistic poetry, like it or leave it. Some of the word combinations don't make sense, but most ring loud and clear and most of what she has to say is amusing. Crazy reads: "crazy loves me follows me naked plays dress-up takes on roles of fathers & almost of the hook mothers. I hear parents can come in good I was never understood by these people & their parents. Crazy comes in colors lavender & anti-mercy killings all in 1 big jar of reserved oxygen swimming in streams instead of seas & X. Here's a taste of X X is w/santa & the tooth fairy. Be blue when finding yellow brick roads fat bouncers fancy organic vegetation & won't let any 1 get in his/HER way. Questioning & living do not occur simultaneously they've been dispensing anti-peace treaties all over the appalacians--these mountains have responded more than n.t.c. folk self-delusion is a prerequisite for easy living no 1 can do it for you." Laura's poems are playful expressions coming from the id and the heart. An interesting read. Erotic Escapades, poetry chapbook by Jack Shadoian, with cool cover art by Chris Shadoian. 2000, 20 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. This is a quirky collection of erotic poetry, from all angles--gay, straight, s& m, kinky, down and dirty, even sex with angels! Erotic Escapades 15 (Sex With Angels) reads: "I dreamt I crept beneath an angel's skirt, and tasted airy flesh, after which my brain begain firing rapidly, foci floating free. The pleasure was like death up close, like fire to my sick heart still beating, burning, brooding, rarely useful, never known to rest." Jack packs quite a poetic punch in this short chapbook, with poems that are full of imagination and colorful ideas and images. A groovy ride. Faith In Nothing, poetry chapbook by John Sweet, 2000, 16 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. John Sweet writes amazing poetry that screams to be heard. Often starting out innocent enough, the poems peel away layers to reveal a dark underbelly. The Days Are Soft And White reads: "september here in the land of dead baby jokes I shake the trembling hands of junkies I laugh with the men who rape their daughters the days are soft and white the faces of strangers blurred I sit at a second-story window and breathe the warm gasoline air I keep a finger on the trigger and an eye on the man next door I wait for the punchline." Pretty harsh stuff, Sweet writes poetry with a whiff of danger and darkness. For those who like their coffee black and bitter. From The Directory Of Lost Souls, poetry chapbook by Steve Conway and Bill Miracle. 2000, 20 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. This chapbook is a fine collaboration between two talented poets, Steve Conway and Bill Miracle. Their styles go well together. Bill's poetry is pricklier and more dramatic, while Steve's poems are flowery and sad. It makes for a nice mix. In The Wastebasket by Miracle reads: "Among the paper ashes of broken words from a tormented mind living a dream visioning a nightmare as crude oil from a fountain stains his intentions with unsteady hands before the blackness spills crimson from the vial of his wrist throwing away another page from the directory of lost souls." I See The Softness by Conway reads: "I see the softness of your downy hand it causes my blood to race making mine crave yours wanting so bad to be intertwined with our flesh pressed comfortably close feeling that warmth passing between us like pleasure cells richocheting from one neurotransmitter to another non-stop electricity a connection meant o be out of the ordinary a unique occurance guided by destiny I can feel your pulse you mine our life forces in synchronicity without explanation your hand in mine meant to be." Beautiful words. I enjoyed this collaboration very much. Hang Gliding On, poetry chapbook by Scott C. Holstad. 1999, 48 pages, $6 ppd cash or check made out to Lummox Press, POB 5301, San Pedro, CA 90733-5301. These poems are desperate screams of help from a man drowning in a fucked-up world. The poems are coarse, rude and violent. It Seems So Real reads: "I dreamed I killed my boyfriend sawed his head off with a screwdriver made out of rotting fish and I dreamed I killed my girlfriend in a frenzy created by smoking together in bed. I saw massive breasts throwing themselves at me nipples protruding stiffly and I wondered at the Freudian implications and I was annoyed by the sound of the phone ringing (can't escape it) and woke up to find the phone was ringing and my lover was very much alive and we went through the mail and cut up the bedsheets to use as tourniquets in case we ever needed any and I cooked the phone and went downstairs to sit in the rain." I don't know what kind of personal hell Scott is living, but I'm on Lithium too and my life ain't as bad. I was glad when I finished this chap, it made me feel better about my life… Literary Laxative, poetry chapbook by Laura Joy Lustig, with artwork by Nathan Beaty, 1997, 16 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189 Nederland, CO 80466-3189. Laura Joy Lustig writes abrasively and amusingly about love and sex and men and life in general. Sometimes the language is clipped and experimental, run-on sentences, which makes the poems hard to understand, but most of the time the message comes through. Invading Dusk reads: "Jaded with no snooze because someone is beside me making me look at myself making shy nipples pink gumballs (because love don't make me come) night secrets turn daily horoscopes listening to dreams coming around after midnight with lights dim and poet's guard liquid in whatever bottle's left when brave consciousness and ink have been refueled and you make me look at a rose so I miss everything." Laura Joy has developed her own unique style of writing, and it makes for a refreshing read. Living Like Tomorrow Has Died and 13 Doves Fly, poetry chapbooks by Steve Conway, 1999 and 1997, 24 pages and 16 pages, $2 each cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. Steve Conway has led a harrowing existence, imprisoned for his mental illness instead of getting the care he needs, and not allowed to take a shower for weeks on end. He is sueing the prison system for mistreatment. He vents his spleen about the prison conditions in Living Like Tomorrow Has Died. Darkness reads: "Darkness grew in my mind, hopelessness muffled the voice of reason, there was no reason, it was sickness. I can't help but think there's compassion for people w. physical deformities, hunchbacks. Melonheads & Frankenstein boots clip-clopping, those who don't look away feel compassion. Meanwhile, mentally & socially ill get thrown into prisons, treated criminally, instead of given help. Me, I hurt all those I loved, w. my diseased mind, it's not enough for me to feel the guilt & shame. In the final analysis all I got was nails thru my hands, feet & nothing to drink but vinegar." The poems in 13 Doves Fly are warmer and sweeter, more flowery than those in Living Like Tomorrow Has Died. The title poem Thirteen Doves Fly reads: "thirteen doves fly in front of the moon white and round back to the indigo sky its heart opened by a cloud under the blue white shining from inside an angel came to me today I could cry I've seen her in a dream a perfect dream that I've always longed to hold in my embrace inhaling the spirit of her cloud-like visage breathing her soft purity deep into my lungs feeling her angelic aura in every blood cell pumping through my heart & hopefully back into hers." Touching words. A fine effort. Manx Tales, micro-fiction mini-chapbook from RD Armstrong, 2000, 46 pages, $6 ppd cash or check made out to Lummox Press, POB 5301, San Pedro, CA 90733. Raindog (RD Armstrong) writes with a flair for film noir dialogues and beboppin poetry street scenes. This chapbook contains 15 short stories centering around a hipster dude named Manx. The writing is crisp, lively and funny. HOT BOX reads: "Manx leaned into the hot wind, cupping his hands over the match, trying to light what might well be his last cigarette. Between the howling wind and the screaming nightmares, he hadn't slept a wink last night. Now he was here, pale and shaky, sweating off another hangover at the blast furnace door. He closed his eyes and waited for the ghosts of his past to appear. They approached him tentatively, like deer entering a clearing, cautious, hesitant, wary. They could be spooked so easily and then they would disappear into the darkness again. He took a slow, hard breath. He glimpsed one, then another. He froze. They were coming right up to him, checking him out , looking for a clue to his identity. Like guests at a thirty-year reunion party, they waited for their eager memories to catch up with the dull aching throb of this being that reminded them of someone they had once known. Manx wanted to play dead, but that would hardly fool the dead, now would it? Somewhere in the back of his mind, perhaps near the reptilian brain stem, in a room far off of Terror Street, a woman's voice began to rise and fall in a melodic kind of moaning. It was as if Mahalia Jackson had taken up residence in his head to brush up on her spirituals. She knew that no one would disturb her up in that lonely room…" These stories were intriguing and well-written. A nicely done chap, though not part of the Little Red Book series.. Meat Eater, poetry chapbook by Bill Shields, with cool drawings by Claudio Parentela. 1999, 40 pages, $6 ppd cash or check made out to Lummox Press, POB 5301, San Pedro, CA 90733. These poems are more like sketches of dialogue between the main character and his lover. The poems are raw, harrowing and tightly drawn and involve the main character's memories of Vietnam and his lingering heroin addiction. Dialogue Again & Again reads (screams, actually): "I don't need a goddamn soul, I hollered. Not ONE GODDAMN PERSON. Not now, not ever. World, I added, you are a stone mother-fucker. Two hours ago I had shot up a speedball, felt my heart leave a chest, & an hour later, come back. I was feeling cocky, heroin & speed clearing the Mekong Delta sludge from my eyes. Kill me, I said to the ghosts, come on, kill me. It's you or the fucking heroin--either way, I'm going to die. Not alone showed their mutilated head. What'd you do--leave with that woman? I screamed my questions at the walls. I don't need a gun to kill you anymore. I'll run into Hell with you. An hour to a hit; I was planning my days around withdrawals. An overdose was laughed at. I fell asleep with a Purple Heart on my lap." These poem-stories are abrasive and corrosive, and show the dark side of America after the Vietnam War, the drug casualties and lost souls dying to stay alive. A harrowing experience, finely etched in acid washes. A must read. Me, poetry chapbook by Hugh/Connie Fox, with artwork by Claudio Parentela. 2000, 34 pages, $6 ppd cash or check made out to Lummox Press, POB 5301, San Pedro, CA 90733-5301. Fox is a transsexual, and these poems brim with sexuality, lust, desire, sadness and a waiting for an operation that may never happen. The poems are poignant and erotic. Connie reads: "Impotent after 1 day off Nilandron, used for castrated cancer patients with metastases, while I was taking it orgasming in 15 minutes, the day after I stop totally impotent, but I put on the grey pantyhose anyhow, the transparent black tit-hugging bra, the tight black dress and highest heels, one hour, two, on my back looking at my legs, playing with my penis and tits (38B), almost coming over and over again, rest, another try, over and over again, three hours, 4 AM sleep or die, I'm 66, but SHE looks forty, I take out all of the knockout pills and down them, kiss Connie goodbye in the mirror, the beautiful, perfect diseased whore, the disease somehow enhancing her beauty, higher cheekbones, wilder eyes, more ribs, less fat, the breasts fuller than ever, "Until we meet again," better to die savage and yourself than be safe and never really alive." These poems were truly touching. I admire Fox's openness, bravery and naked honesty in tackling a touchy subject. A heart-wrenching chapbook. Nothing Matters And What If It Did, poetry chapbook by Mark Senkus, 2000, 16 pages, $2 cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. Mark Senkus writes terrific poems about the banality of everyday life. He comes up with colorful metaphors and intriguing ideas that makes the poetry sing instead of wallow in self pity. You Have Got To Be Kidding reads: "the early morning is a smirk-grey machine with hobbled spiders in the corners breathing slow cold breaths like old secrets and my cigarette melts down between my fingers that have not laughed in three weeks / There is not much for the dreamers in this world but to keep on with dreaming dream, dream… / dreams as thin as coffee filters, and I remember this one: a long drive out on a melting day, the fire of sun lighting me at some mid-summer noon; oh my God, you have got to be kidding, heat and sweat and my scalp cracking with flame, the forest on fire and dripping with ash, heated with yellow darkness and all the caskets of the world underground somewhere like empty shoeboxes / and another dream of growing thirsty watching the fish sucking at water and all the earth became one round river and others, so many others, like empty beer cans, dream after dream but hardly a different place to awaken to as the machine keeps breathing." Senkus dreams in technicolor and wins you over with his poetic chops. A fine read from a fine press, Kitty Litter Press. Scatterings and Run Laughing Down Streets Of Wilderness, poetry chapbooks by Gary Jurechka, 1999 and 1996, 20 pages and 26 pages, $2 each cash or check made out to Cari Taplin, Kitty Litter Press, PO Box 3189, Nederland, CO 80466-3189. Gary Jurechka is a terrific poet, one of my favorites at Lucid Moon. He has plenty of poetry chops to spare in these wonderful little chapbooks by Kitty Litter Press. Gary always finds imaginative ways of seeing things. Howl No More, Howl No Less from Scatterings reads: "(for Allen Ginsberg 1920-1997) The howl has faded into the bleak, sedated night radical renegade revolutionary poet mad intellectual visionary poet feel the words, feel the worlds your hand has altered. Ah, your passing such tragedy, but your heart lives on in all you have touched, your kind, burning heart lives on and still carries the beat the beat the beat and in the deep, breathing night, the howl still echoes." Notice the play on words with "feel the words, feel the worlds". Gary's poems are often playful in this manner. In five poems in these chaps he writes the poems using song and album titles from the Monkees, Blue Oyster Cult, Marillion, Led Zeppelin and Nine Inch Nails. Both of these collections are very good, but the title cover page of Scatterings is hard to read. You won't be disappointed buying either of these chaps, they contain some fine poems and they are inexpensive also. The Iceberg Theory, poetry chapbook by Gerald Locklin. 2000, 48 pages, $6 ppd cash or check made out to Lummox Press, POB 5301 San Pedro, CA 90733. Gerald Locklin is a distinguished professor who has published over 80 books and has appeared in over 1000 magazines. Alas, quality is more important than quantity. These "poems" were more like gentle anecdotes reminiscing on every day life. They bored me to death. I fell asleep three times while reading this. No passion or juice, just dull anecdote after dull anecdote. Somebody throw Locklin a life raft, he's drowning in a sea of his own mediocrity. Where's the poetry? Where's the beef? I dunno. Major disappointment. Please send poetry books, chapbooks, cds, broadsides or whatever for review to Ralph Haselmann Jr. at 67 Norma Road, Hampton, New Jersey 08827. Include price plus postage, who to make check out to, and address to order from. I will review them within 2 weeks and send you a copy of the review. Publishers have my permission in advance to reprint any part of my reviews as long as they send me a copy of what it appears in. The reviews go out to several small press discussion lists, inlcuding David McNamara's poetry )ism( list, Doug Holder's list, Kelly DeSaint's list, J.J. Campbell's list and Frank Moore's list, after which they will be archived on my Lucid Moon Poetry Website. My reviews are also picked up by 5 websites, including Andre Cordrescue's Exquisite Corpse, (http://www.exquisitecorpse.org), Carlye Archibeque's The Independent Review Site (http://www.irs.theroadlesstraveled.org), Don Hoyt's Web Writer's Workshop (http://www.webwritersworkshop.com), Brian Morrisey's Poesy magazine and website (http://www.geocities.com/bmorrise2/), and Al Aronowitz' The Blacklisted Journalist website (http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/index.html). Ralph Haselmann Jr. HOME PAGE & ARCHIVES
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