| Poetry Book Reviews by Ralph Haselmann Jr. Lucid Moon Poetry Website (Aug 11, 2001) Abyss, poetry book in English with Greek translation by Harry R. Wilkens, with drawings by Norman J. Olson. 2001, 160 pages, $6 ppd, purchase from Bookstore KOAN, edpantote@yahoo.gr , Skoufa 64, Athens, Greece, 10680. This is another lousy collection of politically incorrect poems by Harry R. Wilkens, quite possibly the worst poet living in the world today. The "poems" are not even artful or poetic, just pathetic musings about havings sex with "girls who could be my daughter's age" and chefs wanking off into soup. Disgusting, reprehensible, this Wilkens is a loser and this book is a waste of trees. The only redeemable quality is the illustrations by Norman J. Olson, which are effective graphic imagist art. Avoid this like the plague! Afterwords, poetry book by Ellen Steinbaum, 2001, 80 pages, softcover, $12 ppd, checks made out to Blue Unicorn Press, P.O. Box 40300, Portland, OR 97240-0300. A well-crafted book of heartfelt poetry about losing loved ones and the aftermath, putting back together one's life when there is a big missing part. Relativity reads: "Suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself." -- Alan Lightman, Einstein's Dreams. " You tell me how minutes and years retrace themselves flying through black space without moving as we kiss for the first time again and again forever transfix each other's gaze in huge amazement locked in days and decades that do not change I guard my heart from a hurt felt centuries before and you cannot stop yourself from the crime of words committed before the stars were born shoulders turned hastily forever words tossed unthinking into amber time we cannot change we rethink each thought offer the same embrace rip the same flesh and fly through black space inscribing each breath onto unchanging forever you tell me." Time has slowed down for Steinbaum, as she grieves for her lost loved one. The writing is exquisite and metaphysical and thought-provoking. Steinbaum lovingly crafts each poem in a way that moved me immeasurably. I could identify with this collection because I just published my book Wounded Heart, Naked Soul about lost loved ones, but whereas mine was raw visceral emotion, Steinbaum's poems are calm meditative reflections that equally burn and touch your soul. The best poetry book I have read in months. Cokefishing In Alpha Beat Soup, poetry broadside equal to 4 pages, various authors, August 2001, $1 plus one stamp or $10 for a year's sub, check made out to Dave Christy, 31 Waterloo St, New Hope, PA 18938. A cornucopia of cool post-Beat poetry, the best of the small press, this broadsheet never fails to delight, with its mix of offbeat poems and quirky illustrations. Best this issue was the three-legged pants man drawing by Michael LaBash, the poem My Cities by Kevyn Knox, Thirty-seven by Kevin M. Hibshman, and Three Voices by Milton Kerr. Also cool were pieces by Catfish McDaris and Ana Christy. As an editor, Dave is going for a keen mix of the real and the surreal, and he is a discriminating editor, picking and choosing the best of what's out there, making it a fun read. Lummox Journal, monthly poetry newsletter examining the process of creativity. August 2001, 20 pages, $2 single issue or $20 year subscription, check made out to lummox Journal, PO Box 5301, San Pedro, CA 90733-5301. Always an interesting read, this informative newsletter has listings of upcoming poetry readings, a few poems, a few reviews and editorials, and this month's feature, an interview with Ian Griffin of Green Bean Press and essays by John Macker and Rene Diedrich. Lively, check it out today and you'll become hooked! The Eyes Of A Vertical Cut, poetry chapbook by Ronald Wardall, 2001, 32 pages, $7 check made out to Slipstream, Box 2071, Niagara Falls, NY 14301. Ronald Wardall has written a fine chapbook with taut imagery and plainspoken detail. He captures the moment in beautifully wrought details. You Sat Under An Elm reads: "You sat under an elm writing in your diary with a stub of pencil. "June 3, Cold Harbor, I was killed." The smoke still drifted across the field, and the elm, bewildered, every leaf shot off. You were the kind of boy who before battle, given the chance, would have pinned your name on scraps of paper inside your shirt, on your cartridge belt, under your bed roll, inside the sweatband of your cap, so unless a shell made you into birdseed, your mother would know. Waiting under the Virginia sun, you watched the blades of wild grass flick from green to silver, back to green, and that afternoon in the breeze coming across the grass from the hills, you became plain as the sole of a shoe, your last breath as durable as dirt." Wardall is excellent at bringing up memories of a distant past. He plays with the sunlight and shapes it into a defining light and a defining moment. This is a classy looking and reading chapbook, highly recommended. Meat Sculptures, short stories chapbook by Paul Rogalus, 2001, 42 pages, $5 check made out to Green Bean Press, PO Box 237, NYC, 10013, gbpress@earthlink.net , or visit website at http://www.home.earthlink.net/~gbpress . This is a smart and smart-ass microfiction collection from a talented storyteller, Paul Rogalus. The mini-stories sparkle with details and witty humour. In Looking For Jack Kerouac's Grave, the characters stop at a food store in Boston on the way to Lowell, where Kerouac grew up and is buried. "Somewhere north of Boston Steve stops at a grocery store, saying he wants to get some bread. We wander in and stray off in different directions. Ben climbs into the frozen food bin and lies down on top of the fish sticks and tater tots, folding his hands over his chest like a corpse. A woman sees him and screams. I find an intercom for the supermarket's public address system, and I start making grocery-related announcements taken from an Allen Ginsberg poem: "Walt Whitman to the meat counter please…Garcia Lorca to the melon section." Somewhere on the other side of the store I hear Scarlette laughing." I laughed out loud at many of the passages. This is the kind of read you can come back to again and again and pick up new insights, sort of as though you had alzheimers and was meeting the same person again but you didn't recognize them! Red Sky At Night, poetry and prose book by Daniel E. Levenson, 2001, 112 pages, $15 plus $2.50 postage, check made out to Daniel E. Levenson, Turtle Cove Press, PO Box 288, Foxborough, MZ 02035, turtlebook@yahoo.com , and check out website at http://www.turtlecovepress.com . This is a heartfelt collection of simple but soulful poetry that celebrates the outdoors, nature, animals, the Natural Wildlife Preserves, the desert, and Leonardo DaVinci's flying machines in trips to Italy and the southwest of the United States. A Soul Can Move Out Here reads: "A soul can move out here, in this red, red desert air, where the birds swing low into the branches of a Juniper, looking for a little shade or perhaps a tender bug to eat. A soul can move out here, among the red rock, and scrub cactus, with the vultures wheeling overhead, waiting for a body to drop. A soul can move out here through the arches and feel the sunshine in the devil's garden. A soul can move out here floating beneath the star-crushed sky and breathing in the night air of late winter in the high desert. A soul can move out here, away from pain and chaos, into the clear embrace of the cool desert sky." Throughout this book we can feel the good vibes that come from communing with nature, and we celebrate with Daniel the joy of just being alive. A fine read. Slipstream #21, poetry journal in book form, summer issue, 2001, 100 pages, Sample issue $7, subscription including two issues and two chapbook, $20, check made out to Slipstream, Box 2071, Niagara Falls, NY 14301. A fine poetry journal that has an intriguing mix of academic poetry and poetry with a more underground feel. This makes for an involved read, because you have to really read through each and every poem to get your poetry fix and to decide which style you like. This issue featured porn photos that have been manipulated with dirt and fire around the edges; it makes for a startling contrast, especially the cover, where it looks like the girls' mouth is covered with dirt and she is prevented from talking. Very creepy. Also a thingamjig drawing by Michael Basinski on the back cover that looks like a vagina or an anal cavity inside out! What's with all the disturbing imagery? Many of the poems were disturbing too. Guess that's life in these here United States today. Wing - Ding At Uncle Tug's and Other Stories, short stories by Jeff Grimshaw. 2001, 84 pages, $8 check made out to Ian Griffin at Green Bean Press, P.O. Box 237, NYC, 10013. Many of these humorous short stories first appeared in the Delaware Valley News (Central Western New Jersey), and they possess a sort of safe humour for a mass newspaper audience. Still, these shorts are pretty funny, you have to admit, but you won't find anything sexual or off-color. Cubing The Car was cool, about a kid who wanted his parent's wreck of a car to be crushed and cubed so he can take it home and use it for cool furniture, say a coffee table! Other stories had inventive premises as well, such as Festival Of Romance, where a third-rate cinema house screens cheesy romance movies and bills them as a Festival OF Romance. One worker dons a pink gorilla suit and is supposed to be a guest attraction, Pinky The Gorilla. The results are hilarious. I really dug this collection, and Jeff has a far out wit. Just wait till he writes a more explicit collection! Jeff is having a book signing October 13 at the Clinton Book Shop in Clinton, New Jersey (where I'll have a signing for my two books too in the fall), and I'll be there to cheer him on! 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 Al Aronowitz' The Blacklisted Journalist website (http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/index.html), Joe Grant's BookZen website (http://www.bookzen.com/ ), Andre Cordrescue's Exquisite Corpse (http://www.exquisitecorpse.org), Carlye Archibeque's The Independent Review Site (http://www.irs.theroadlesstraveled.org), Brian Morrisey's Poesy magazine and website (http://www.geocities.com/bmorrise2/), Don Hoyt's Web Writer's Workshop (http://www.webwritersworkshop.com). Ralph Haselmann Jr. HOME PAGE & ARCHIVES
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