Poetry, in particular, has been XConnect's strong suit. While the editors favor free-verse over formalist pieces, there seem to be few criteria other than quality. This means that each issue offers a nice cross-section of voices and styles, from more abstract, experimental, and language-inspired verse, to longer narrative poems. The current issue (June, 1999) is no exception. Featured poets include Victor Hernandez Cruz (Snaps, Red Beans), whose "Kobayashi Issa" is a gorgeously-textured homage to the Japanese poet, and Michael Magee (see "What I Learned, Elementary"). Also notable are poems by Lenny DellaRocca (particularly the surrealistic "Letter to Andre Breton") and Seth Abramson, whose narrative poem "Cadillac Island" contains the following lines about a barber in a resort town.

Andy is calculating taxes behind his soft features;
tourism must not become axiomatic, says
"The Guide to Small Businesses," a saddle-stapled bible
Andy hides behind the lollipops in his metal cabinet.
As it says, "Make tourists stop; your business must be unavoidable."
Andy has seen Barney prancing through a TV schoolroom;
in the past six months his business has doubled.

In addition to poetry and fiction, each XConnect highlights the work of a featured visual artist. The current issue presents work by sculptor/mixed-media artist Tristan Lowe, who, it must be said, is something of a curious choice. Deeply conceptual and often combining things like fans, televison screens, small motors and other moving parts with a central figure or figures (a clown, a massive inflatable cyclops, etc.), Lowe's work very much depends on the viewer's proximity to achieve its effect. Looking at the photographs presented here, we can certainly sense how Lowe's pieces hinge on a palpable tension between the whimsical and the potentially dangerous – but we can't feel it, which is precisely the point. All we can do is wonder where/when we might see Lowe's work in person.

But this is admittedly a minor criticism; featured art in past issues has included some excellent work – photography, works on paper – far better-suited for presentation on the Web.

And XConnect is, after all, a magazine of writing. In that department, certainly, it never disappoints.

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