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JAN-MAR 09

VALERIE BROWN PHOTOS

I was going to write about the weather....

And then it dawned on me that nobody really cares about the weather, except travelers, gardeners and the weather people on TV. And the weather people  don’t really seem to get it.  One year all the talk is about global warming, and by the end of March the next year, they’re assuring us just a couple more days until spring when the weather will get “better”. What better! The longer it stays cold, the better! What would be more satisfying in an age of carbon excess than to see hell freeze over? The weather is … let it be.

Seems like each time there’s a crisis in the economy, people start getting back to basics – seeing what’s really important and doing something about it. For artists, writers, poets, photographers, these crises offer a chance to capture moments in time that too soon will be part of the distant past, relics and remnants of another time and place that will have little to do with future present. Some work will find rest in museums, other in libraries, some in homes; much more will be lost forever, like layers of leaves on a forest floor. My take? The period we’re going through, which began in the late 1800s and continues today, is going to make a very thick ring on the tree of life.

There’s ample evidence poetry is sharing in this golden age. The number of  poets, poetry books, web sites, readings, workshops and college courses focused on the craft is growing like never before. This month’s Poetry page features Molly Goldblatt, aka, MK, whose “She Howl” appears in full, with a link to Joe Weil’s Facebook site where you can see and hear MK read Part I on-line.  

Los Angeles contributing photographer Ginger Liu attended the opening of “Everything But The Kitchen Sync” and reports back with photos and a review of  what’s happening now in the West Coast alternative art scene (News from LA).

Paintings from David Zeggert, Andrea Goldsmith and Judy Horowitz round out the art pages, though you could probably include Larry Hamill's photilations in that category. Hamill combines art and photography in digitally enhanced images such as the illustration above, Fred Over South Beach, (Fred, by the way, is Fred Holdridge of Fred & Howard who owned Haus Frau in German Village, Columbus, Ohio). 

Don't overlook "Litchfields", who are back with us in a panel on the Books page, where you’ll also find a review of “Flesh and Words,” short stories and essays by Romanian poet, writer and essayist Carmen Firan. There's more, of course...

All in all, it’s a magazine on wheels you can browse and read at your leisure. No hype, no ads. Download it to your electronic book and take it with you to the beach…. Your pleasure is our pleasure. Dig it.

-- MRF.