LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE THIRTY-SIXTH

Marymark Press Give-Out Sheet Series: February 2013 | Various Authors

Experimental poetry, artwork, photography, interviews
5 pages
8 ½” x 11” loose sheets
Marymark Press
45-08 Old Millstone Drive
East Windsor, NJ 08520 USA
Free

These give-out sheets come to me roughly monthly, and have for years. The man behind the press, author/editor/publisher Mark Sonnenfeld, is one of the hardest workers in experimental poetry. I have to warn you, though, this is experimental poetry in every facet of the definition. That's what Marymark Press promotes: an independent, free-flowing style that mixes coherency with the absurd with the near non-sensical.

This is a lot of people's thing, and if it's yours, then this is the best of the best for finding experimental poetry that reads more like mail art or word art. This particular set of give-out sheets contains an interview with poet and mail artist, Teresinka Pereira (although no actual poetry or mail art by her, so out of context, it doesn't mean as much to read the interview); poetry by Mark Sonnenfeld and Arnold Skemer; artwork by Austria's Erich Sündermann; and photography by Germany's Andrew Maximilian Niss. I have to admit that I love how globally spread Sonnenfeld's projects are; there always seems to be at least one piece by an artist from a different country, so this is a great representation of experimental work the world over.

Some snippets, so you can see just how experimental this stuff goes (I picked the most coherent ones for samples, too.):

[ ... ]
to visit the haphazard roundness,
the merger of disparate plans
blending into each other
with odd cartographical logic
that evolves to acceptance
of the seeming ordinariness
of the mundane.  (from “The Complexity of the Grid” by Arnold Skemer)

[ ... ]
Rewriting in a studio
(funeral) procession      trades
the electric guitar rails real
together                    or
before
something very
vernacular
“big space” prototype.  “It
would
not be   me
though.”  (by Mark Sonnenfeld)

•This pamphlet was sent to me from the publisher because I have corresponded with him.•
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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 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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