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Pif Magazine
Pif Magazine |
Deeply Shallow
Read the messages from the editor, submission guidelines, etc., and you'll get a sense of the almost puppy-like enthusiasm of Deeply Shallow editor Jason Gurley. This guy's clearly got the isn't-Web-publishing-great!, even-I-can-start-a-lit-mag bug, and he's hoping the enthusiasm rubs off. For the second issue of his oxymoronically - not to mention regrettably - titled 'zine, Gurley has added regular columns to the modest mix of poetry and fiction that marked DS's inaugural version. But truth be known, pickings here are still pretty slim. Columns, all penned by DS's newly assembled staff, include among other things book reviews by Jeff Oliver ("The Literary Scene"), media criticism by Mik Dietlin ("How to read a Newspaper") and video reviews ("Eye on Hollywood") by Jay Rittenberg. These run the range from passable ("The Literary Scene") to amateurish to honestly disposable ("Eye on Hollywood") – certainly there's nothing here that will tear you away from the latest Salon. As for the poetry and fiction side of things, Gurley's promise to showcase "Pushcart and Pulitzer Prize Nominees alongside emerging writers" is more than a little premature. (In fact, he admits to having had a bit of difficulty rounding up quality submissions.) Without question, the standouts for this issue are the poems "This Morning What I'd Like For Breakfast" and "Some Things I'd Like to Preserve" by Zijie Ken Pan. One hopes Pan's work is an indication of the sort of thing Gurley will cull for future issues. Any suggestion to visit DS, however, must be accompanied by a few consumer warnings. First of all, DS resides on what is apparently the slowest server in Alaska (where Gurley is based) – even a T-1 line proved no match for this dog. Secondly, make sure your health insurance is paid up before you visit: there's the very real possibility that Carpal Tunnel Syndrome will set in as you click through the ream of preliminary pages that precede Deeply Shallow's table of contents. Tell us what you think. Email talkback@pifmagazine.com Want Pif to review your zine? A graduate of Columbia University and The University of Pennsylvania, life-long New Jerseyan and New York Mets fan, Tom Hartman now lives in Philadelphia where he's an Associate Poetry Editor at Painted Bride Quarterly. Over the years his writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Photo Review, City Paper (Philadelphia), and Philadelphia Weekly. When he's not writing he spends far too much time hating the Atlanta Braves.
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