Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726

Pif Magazine
1426 Harvard Ave. #451
Seattle, WA 98122-3813

PAST ZINE REVIEWS	MORE ZINES

Disquieting Muses
Editor-in-Chief: Dancing Bear
Reviewed by Tom Hartman

	Disquieting Muses Editor-in-Chief: Dancing Bear disquietingmuses@excite.com

The February 2000 edition of Disquieting Muses is not only the strongest to date, it makes a solid case for the inclusion of this 'zine in any list of notable online lit mags.

There are some big-name contributors here, including Joy Harjo ("The Ceremony," "Songline of Dawn," "The Gift") and Big Bridge's Michael Rothenberg ("The Small things in Life"), but also quality work from lesser-knowns: Helena Nelson, for example (the quick and witty "At the Poetry Reading" 1 & 2 ), and Rebecca Petrascu, who contributes the lovely and evocative "Darkroom in Samoa":

Darkroom in Samoa

We swim through green abundance,
one last breath before the glade. Before the
schoolroom mausoleum, chalk dust and damp
cement. One last breath before the closet
where we inter ourselves.
There are chemicals used for this in the dark or
near dark: developer, stop bath, fixing bath, wash.
Acrid attacks on the senses, vinegar alchemies,
each in turn.
Faces surface from oddly bent buildings:
lovers; horizons. Not always what was meant,
yet each one making its own sense.
We inhale the fumes and the faces together,
exhale a sigh of the same.
Our nostrils still burn when we step out of the room
and raise ourselves from the dead.
We make hardcopies of a wasteland,
here where the breezes are lush,
where the air is ginger and palm.

Petrascu's poem is representative of the sort of poetry visitors are likely to find in DM: consistently well-crafted free verse with abundant imagery and a strong narrative component. Look closer and you'll find considerable depth beneath the shimmering surfaces.

There's some edgier stuff here as well: A.R. Lamb's highly recommended "The Midwife Fainted," for instance, which walks the same semi-surrealist terrain as Charles Simic and James Tate.

Along with poetry, the new DM features some fine photographs of Kashmir by Toronto-based KASH (Gabrielle Torsello). Particularly striking is the cover shot of pigeons flapping skyward in the wake of a solitary walker. Alas, it is too bad that more of KASH's work isn't included here: the 5 photographs selected for this issue, as compelling as they are, give us little more than a fleeting glimpse at life in this perpetually (and tragically) war-torn region.

DM editor Dancing Bear is a familiar figure on the San Fran poetry scene (he hosts his own poetry radio show, "Out of Our Minds," on KKUP, Cupertino), and his own work (which occasionally can be found in DM) has appeared in such well-respected publications as New York Quarterly and Poetry Motel. Clearly, he possesses a keen editorial eye as well.

Design-wise, DM might be spruced-up a bit — it's really rather plain — but otherwise, this is a high-quality product and certainly worth visiting on a regular basis.

Tell us what you think. Email talkback@pifmagazine.com

Want Pif to review your zine?
See Review Suggestions for more details.

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.