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Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726
Published by:
Pif, LLC
PMB 248
4820 Yelm Hwy SE
Suite B
Lacey, WA 98503-4903
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| PAST ZINE REVIEWS | MORE ZINES |
The Poetry Webring Webzine
Reviewed by Tom Hartman
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Anyone who's surfed the Web in search of poetry has probably found themselves perusing one "chain" or other in the massive Poetry Web Ring. Maintained by the Anglo-American team of Chesil and lilip with the help of a global volunteer staff, PWR now boasts some 2500 member sites, including well-known 'zines like Wired Art for Wired Hearts, along with poetry resource sites, links pages and countless personal homepages (all with the familiar neon-wire-around-a-blue-globe logo). |
The Poetry Webring Webzine |
Odd that it hasn't happened before, but the PWR has finally launched a 'zine of its own, titled – what else? – The Poetry Webring Webzine, the premier issue of which went live back in January. Of course, it's far too early to say whether the editors will make good on their promise of regular quarterly updates or if PWW will truly evolve into a showcase for "a wide diversity of work from first time net-published poets to well-established net and print poets" (the quality thus far is fairly uneven); however, the "Launch Issue" of PWW does contain a few nice surprises.
Most notable among these are several previously unpublished poems by Attila the Stockbroker, the self-described "Social surrealist multi-instrumentalist hardcore wandering minstrel...sharptongued radical poet, singer/songwriter, musician and composer...a synthesis of Hilaire Belloc, The Clash and a sixteenth century troubadour." If you've never heard of him (and if you live in the States, chances are you haven't), Attila was something of a fixture on the UK punk and performance poetry scenes back in the late '70s/early '80s. As a result, live recordings of classics like "A Bang and a Wimpey" and "Russians in the D.H.S.S." (frequently found on early punk compilations alongside tunes by The Damned, Buzzcocks and 999) are important artifacts in the history of these movements. Yes, he rhymes, and some of the slang, political references, and UK-specific inside jokes that punctuate his stuff may be too obscure for American audiences, but there's no denying the rhythmic ease with which he spins his caustic, absurdly funny commentaries on contemporary Britain. Witness, for example, "Contributory Negligence."
In addition to Attila's performance poems, the 1st edition of PWW also contains some solid poems from the enigmatic Floridian poet Duane Locke, a former Poet-in-Residence at the University of Tampa and frequent contributor to The Bitter Oleander, among other print journals. Locke's work – imagistic, idiosyncratic, full of resonant details, as in the stunning "A Japanese Girl in New Jersey" – sets a standard that, unfortunately, nothing else in PWW comes close to matching.
A final note: along with beefing-up its content, PWW needs rather desperately to improve its design. Specifically, the editors need to lose the dreadful "workman" background graphic (Intended as a reminder of the "workman-like way" in which a poet must approach his/her craft), which unnecessarily darkens the left-hand side of each page and makes it nigh-on impossible to read about a third of the content--including some of the better stuff PWW has to offer. Since you won't be able to enjoy it here, be sure to click over to Attila the Stockbroker's homepage http://www.tvsmith.com/attila/poems.html for readable versions of "My Poetic License" and other delights.
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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.