LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE SIXTH

Cokefishing in Alpha Beat Soup: July 2009 | Various Authors

Poetry
2 pages
11” x 17” broadside
Alpha Beat Press
c/o Dave & Ana Christy
806 E Ridge Ave
Sellersville PA 18960
$1 each, $10 year

Cokefishing is a monthly broadside, or in self-description: “a Beat / Post-Beat independent poetry Beatsheet dedicated to the small press and the way it used to be.” It is old school cut ‘n’ paste as submitted, poems, letters, prose, and pictures; and has the feel of the early nineties zines, before the Internet revolutionized (although not everyone will agree on this word) the way the small press worked. The broadside, although sometimes sloppy from the cut ‘n’ paste, feels good to read, makes me feel like the small press is still alive and kicking and not some corporate whore, as its current state sometimes suggests.

Cokefishing is full of names the small press knows: T. Kilgore Splake, R. Emolo, The Poet Spiel, H D Moe, Normal, even my name in this particular issue, if I am to say the small press knows my name. The flaw of cut ‘n’ paste, of course, is that you take the product as it comes, which means typos, misspellings, commas in random places, all preserved on paper from the authors' negligence or poor judgment, but not a flaw of the one laying out the broadside, per se. As an editor, that gets to me every time, and while I understand it's the nature of the beast, I do wish writers would take more care with their work.

The standout poem of this issue is “in these final moments” by The Poet Spiel, a poem reflecting final thoughts of a passenger or multiple passengers aboard a September 11th flight doomed for the fate we know so well by now. Some snippets:

[ ... ] i wish for
thirty violins to lift me up and out
of here [ ... ]

for all of my life i wish
for greater bulk in my shoulders
for our united lunge forward
[ ... ]

right this moment oh how i wish that
i could just get filthy sick
directly into the foul mouths

of these arabic looking bastards [ ... ]

One copy, one buck. Can't beat that.

•This zine was sent from the editor/publisher because I have previously corresponded with him and because I have poetry contained in this issue.•
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LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE FOURTH

R. Emolo Give-Out Sheets: June 2009 | Various Authors

Poetry
3 pages
8 ½” x 11” broadside
R. Emolo
231 E 22nd St
Paterson NJ 07514

R. Emolo is famous for his give-out sheets, scribbled pages of poetry, pen pal addresses, mail art, blurbed info in an add-to-it-and-pass-it-on fashion. They are mostly quick reads, a few pages in length, and fairly sloppy cut-n-paste, DIY, in the vein of poetic mail art. I am on the mailing list and receive a new packet of give-out sheets periodically, every couple weeks or so, free of any charge. This latest set contains the poetry of R. Emolo and some pasted address contact ads.

Emolo's poetry is experimental, a mishmash of non-linear words crushed together into phonetics and alliterate flowings. They are clearly sporadic thoughts strewn on paper in a rhythmic train-jump, complete stream-of-consciousness writing. If you are into experimental, free-flowing poetry, this will be up your alley. Also, if you are looking to connect to penpals, then this is always a good resource for the independent press and for mailart contacts.

From “Poetry Wafting Thru The Air,” an ode to poets entertaining a reader without the necessity of TV:

Hawthorne Muchachos
Marching band.

Mediterranean Ocean.

Make 3-D more 3-D'er.
[ ... ]
They took TV away & didn't
replace it with TV.

Emolo's writing is often hard to comprehend, but it's interesting to see the progression of sounds from one line to another, to try to follow the train as it skips from track to track.

•This pamphlet was sent from the editor/publisher because I have previously corresponded with him.•
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LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE THIRD

For Dave Church, Poet: A Tribute #3 in Memoriam | Various Authors

Letters, poetry

2 pages
11” x 17” broadside
R. Emolo
231 E 22nd St
Paterson NJ 07514

I now have issues 1, 2, and 3 of this memorial broadside series by editor R. Emolo for Dave Church — the poet who died on Thanksgiving 2008, from a heartattack in the Providence taxi he drove for years — and by the time you get to issue 3, some of the material has fizzled out. I hate to say this, but it's true. This issue is not the best of the series. This issue is mostly letters to the editor about Dave or regarding the submissions included about Dave by the authors, rather than gritty, deep material. The poems and writing are kind of generic tribute poems, as well, like they could be about anybody, sometimes seeming uninspired, as if the writers never actually knew him, just knew of him. One of the only actual poems here, of which all are taken from cut and paste sources, taped in and photocopied exactly as submitted, is so loaded with misspellings, typographical errors, and missing words that I can't even enjoy the flow of the poem.

This issue also contains letters from the contributors regarding their previous poem submissions that aren't even included in the broadside, which is confusing. For example, I have a letter printed in this issue, taken from a postcard that was not ever intended for printing, that was written at the time I submitted my poem, “God's Lonely Man,” to R. Emolo's broadside project a few months back.  The postcard says:

Here is my Church poem, if you do another broadside. The title of my poem comes from a line in Taxi Driver — fitting.

But ... the poem was included in issue #2 of the memorial broadside series, not in this issue. So it's like a tease, suspension with no release. There are several other instances of this in the issue, as well, which leads me to believe the editor ran out of material for completion of the project and was in too much of a hurry to get the issue released. I would have rathered he waited until he had more poems and actual writings than printing material that just doesn't seem necessary or that reads as filler.

On the flipside, I must say, at the same time, I'm glad he's doing these tributes. As much as I wish he would wait to release them until he has more quality material, I do think it is important and necessary to keep Dave's memory, commitment to the small press, and decades of work and words, alive in our writing community. I just wish there were more words left behind.

One can't complain entirely, however, when the price is right; float R. a stamp, a buck, or just a letter of request, and he'll mail you a copy. Even though it isn't entirely quality material, it's worth it if you are a Dave Church fan or friend, or if you just want to know more about the man and his impact on the independent press.

•This book was sent to me by the editor/publisher because I have previously corresponded with him and because I have a postcard printed in it.•
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