Smarter Than You Think
Nov. 30th, 2024 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidkmPaper Crow, volume 1 issue 2 (Fall/Winter 2010), bi-annual, $5/issue or $8/year. Saddle stitched, card-stock cover, 32 p. ISSN 2152-9116. www.electrikmilkbathpress.com.
I don't often review periodicals, but this is not the first time. Paper Crow is a fairly new genre poetry zine, and it's very nice. In fact, about several of the poems in this magazine I thought "she should have submitted that one to me!" 26 poems by 25 authors in 32 pages and they are all good.
This is a passionate magazine. There are poems about love, lust, and death, and in no case are these subjects treated lightly. These poems have weight, and it's not ballast.
From "The diluted soldier," by Marge Simon
Sometimes he sees in perpetuity
memories of a lover,
returns to it again and again,
something that can't be soiled by words,
even those in confidence a moment or so
From "In the garden with my lover," Pam Marin-Kingsley
The tulip shoots emerge,
force their way upward.
Their tips in bud as straight
and pink as his.
There is a commonality among the poems in this magazine. Things are not always as they seem. In fact, they usually aren't. As Jane Gwaltney says in "The Lady and the Mirror"
Quietly, she punishes her knuckles,
not once, but twice – positive that
illusion is all it's cracked up to be.
One thing I find very interesting about Paper Crow is that the poems are all very personal. They seem so full of emotion, most of them are about relationships, and it certainly seems like they must have been very close to the hearts of their authors. Why, then, is the name of the editor printed nowhere in the magazine? Perhaps this is an oversight. If not, I can't make out the purpose, but it's certainly unusual.
Never mind all that, though. We don't really read poetry magazines for the editor anyway, we read them for the poems. If you're thinking about what to pick up next, Paper Crow is a good choice. You won't have to give up anything, except perhaps your equanimity.
From "Drinking," by Brian Rosenberger
Forget the cab, call the hearse
brunette blind dates the coroner now
Both running on empty
I've quoted a few poems; I can't quote them all. Other names you will recognize include Donna Burgess, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, James S. Dorr, Jaime Lee Moyer, and Bruce Boston. I think in every case Paper Crow has gotten close to the best these poets have to offer. But enough of this, go order the magazine already.
I don't often review periodicals, but this is not the first time. Paper Crow is a fairly new genre poetry zine, and it's very nice. In fact, about several of the poems in this magazine I thought "she should have submitted that one to me!" 26 poems by 25 authors in 32 pages and they are all good.
This is a passionate magazine. There are poems about love, lust, and death, and in no case are these subjects treated lightly. These poems have weight, and it's not ballast.
From "The diluted soldier," by Marge Simon
Sometimes he sees in perpetuity
memories of a lover,
returns to it again and again,
something that can't be soiled by words,
even those in confidence a moment or so
From "In the garden with my lover," Pam Marin-Kingsley
The tulip shoots emerge,
force their way upward.
Their tips in bud as straight
and pink as his.
There is a commonality among the poems in this magazine. Things are not always as they seem. In fact, they usually aren't. As Jane Gwaltney says in "The Lady and the Mirror"
Quietly, she punishes her knuckles,
not once, but twice – positive that
illusion is all it's cracked up to be.
One thing I find very interesting about Paper Crow is that the poems are all very personal. They seem so full of emotion, most of them are about relationships, and it certainly seems like they must have been very close to the hearts of their authors. Why, then, is the name of the editor printed nowhere in the magazine? Perhaps this is an oversight. If not, I can't make out the purpose, but it's certainly unusual.
Never mind all that, though. We don't really read poetry magazines for the editor anyway, we read them for the poems. If you're thinking about what to pick up next, Paper Crow is a good choice. You won't have to give up anything, except perhaps your equanimity.
From "Drinking," by Brian Rosenberger
Forget the cab, call the hearse
brunette blind dates the coroner now
Both running on empty
I've quoted a few poems; I can't quote them all. Other names you will recognize include Donna Burgess, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, James S. Dorr, Jaime Lee Moyer, and Bruce Boston. I think in every case Paper Crow has gotten close to the best these poets have to offer. But enough of this, go order the magazine already.
