The Laziest Secretary

Jennifer Blowdryer

12.95

Zeitgest Press/ http://www.zeitgeist-press.com/ 

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Zeitgeist-Press 1630 University Avenue #34 Berkeley, CA 94703

Reviewed by: Christopher Robin

“If she could somehow harness the energy she put into a free dinner into trading on the stockmarket, she could have funded the early retirement that had been her dream since preschool. Latoya hadn’t wanted to dress up like an Indian Squaw in a cardboard hat and dyed macaroni beads, she had not wanted to multiply, and she had especially not wanted to attend gym. Her childhood passed in a dizzying array of fake illnesses and hall passes. She had never for one moment wanted. To do. Anything.”

Zeitgest delivers another winner with this very funny book by long time punk poetess/writer/food critic/musician Jennifer Blowdryer. The main character, Latoya, is an overweight, frumpy temp worker (this book was first printed in the 1990’s and this is the 2^nd edition) who hates (loathes, despises, cringes at the thought of) getting up in the morning. And of course, coupled with that, she also hates to work, and will go to (mild) lengths to get fired (she doesn’t have to do that much, which suits her).

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Sirens Anthology/Five Femme Fatale Poets

Misti Rainwater-Lites, Debbie Kirk, Jude Lynn, Iris Berry & Cynthia Ruth Lewis

Sisyphus Press P.O. Box 10495 State College, PA 16805-0495 www.sirens5.com   

Reviewed by Christopher Robin  

This anthology is nothing short of an outsider epic. It is composed of five hungry female poets who may bring to mind Patti Smith, and other goddesses of Rock ‘N’ Roll-and-the-Word, Five writers that have not succumbed to self-destruction, (like many of their predecessors), but are saving their own asses (and ours if we’re lucky enough to read them) through their writing. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

Debbie Kirk’s poetry is a good example of this. Historically, we have lost many writers to mental illness and suicide. Hence, her poetry is pure redemption: “I’m a crime scene sex idol/the bastard child of Burroughs,” (from ‘My Cross is Upside Down and I’m Dizzy.’) And yet, more than merely pulling us into despair, Kirk, a veteran of the punk and poetry scene, shows us how she has survived the horrors of addiction and abuse, and may in some way instill courage in her readers (mostly based on the fact that she has lived to tell): “even my closest friends won’t offer me a hand up/I spent two weeks in that roach infested shelter for battered women/but I lived/ so I’ve stopped asking for help/and stopped waiting for it,” (from ‘A Mercy Killing’). The titles alone will draw you in: “Judas and Idle Hands,” “Crazy People Eat Glue,” “What is the Color of Evil,” “My Arena of Hate…” Often self-deprecating, and sometimes empathetic, she usually gets the last word: “I know we are both scared of ourselves/I know we are both scared of each other/But today I’m on fire/and you’re fucked, (“From ‘Climbing on Top.’) Poignant, rebellious, cathartic, and delivered with a sneer, if you dare to delve into her mind, you may be tempted to reach for the razor blade, but I would recommend that you keep reading instead, hold these poems  to your heart and hold on tight, praying to whatever god you have left.

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Pat King: Lit Up Magazine just seemed to come out of nowhere. Did you plan on starting a webzine for a while or was it a sudden decision?

Mikael Covey:  There were a couple of things that went into that - one, so many great writers around today, and so many great zines... Yet the zine editors saying they only accept maybe five percent of all submissions. So I wanted a forum that was maybe more open.

Secondly, I wanted to reach a younger audience because really, there are great literary ezines out there, but I don't think kids, teenagers, are aware of that. So I wanted to reach out to them, bring them into the fold of avid readers; like an alternative to playing video games or just killing time.

And, there're a bunch of other reasons, I suppose, but those two make me sound altruistic and noble, so let's go with that.

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Come for the Apocalypse, Stay for the Widgets

A Review of Bad Attitude by Leopold McGinnis

Reviewed by Pat King

If you want the best example of contemporary outsider writing from the last couple of years, then you should read Leopold McGinnis’s self-published book, Bad Attitude.  The book is cynical, funny, and yet, deadly serious about its subject.  And it’s a polemic in the best sense.  It takes the topic of consumerism, lays it on the operating table and examines its guts. 

The subject of the book is the end of the world, the apocalypse, something I’ve been incredibly interested in recently. 

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