reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Published in Issue No. 13 ~ June, 1998

Here’s some fun, but not for the whole family (unless you have a perverse family). This zine is funny in a mean-spirited, piss on your neighbor way, with bits of sadism and screwiness for good measure. At times, the editor is a bit self-indulgent, but he makes up for it in flashes of brilliance. Nearly all of the material in Crank is lightyears away from anything resembling good taste. Some of it is even too grotesque for me.

In the world of Crank, it is helpful not to take anything too literally. Take, for example, “Crank Kiddie Fun”. I’d imagine that this would consist of a game in which Barney would somehow get mangled. The editor, however, has another idea of kiddie fun: a word find in which one searches for 62 words describing sex organs and acts, all found in The Fermata by Nicholson Baker.

“Letters to the Editor” consists of lustful confessions (which are probably fiction), all of which have an unexpected twist at the end.

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Kimberly Villalba Wright was born in Hollywood, Florida, and has spent most of her life in Mobile, Alabama. She earned a BA in English at the University of South Alabama in 1997. Her poetry has appeared in the Epiphany, Arrowsmith, Doggerel, Dicat Libre, El Locofoco, as well as Poetry Café. This fall, Wright will begin working toward an MFA in creative Writing at the University of Memphis. Wright currently resides in Kennett, Missouri.