Forthcoming Mad Rush Mag #1 in the (Year of the Mayan)

New Print Publication to be released soon via chief editor: Craig Sernotti. Mad Rush Mag #1 will feature a mountain of Independent Press contributors ranging from such names as Lynn Lifshin, Bill Gainer, Puma Perl & Misti Rainwater Lites to RL Raymond, Aleathia Drehmer, Michael Grover, William Taylor Jr., Zarina Zabrisky, AD Winans and many, many more. You can find ordering information and further updates for Mad Rush Mag #1 (cover art David Tomaloff) here: www.madrushmag.wordpress.com

First International Occupy Movement Anthology

FOR RELEASE:     FOR JANUARY 15, 2012

New poetry book destined to “…fascinate historians a thousand
years from now” -- FootHills Publishing Releases First International
Occupy Movement Anthology

Liberty’s Vigil, The Occupy Anthology:
99 Poets among the 99%

WHEELER HILL, N.Y. – Ninety-nine poets from 22 states and 6
countries speak out on behalf of the 99%, encouraging their fellow
citizens to join in the effort to end corporate excess and income
inequality, and win back the middle-class from corporate titans and
their political puppets.

Co-editors Karla Linn Merrifield and Dwain Wilder have assembled the
first anthology of its type in the world to inspire readers to take
action on behalf of the 99%.

"Poets here have left their quiet corners and hit the streets to
encourage their neighbors to address the needs of the homeless…to
fight side by side with besieged homeowners who are facing
foreclosure...to eliminate corporate “personhood” and inordinate
corporate influence on Capital Hill. We want readers to learn; we want
them to act,” said Merrifield, author of six books of poetry.

In a similar vein, co-editor Dwain Wilder remarked, "I have very much
enjoyed having a part to play in this collection's coming together. It
is to be hoped that this will not be just a poetic artifact of
historic interest (which I certainly hope it will!), but that it will
also be the start of yet another breath taken by Americans on their
long, vigilant road toward fully realizing our national dream of
freedom, liberty and justice for all."

An historic book
Contributing poet Chris Crittenden of Lubec, ME, remarked on the
historical nature of the anthology, saying: “The Wall Street debacle
of 2008 is the blow that broke the weakened backbone of American
supremacy. Ninety-nine voices within these hand-sewn pages capture the
outrage, shame and anguish of a vast potential squandered. They embody
the wounded consciousness of a fractured and dismayed citizenry, and
their howls, laments, and torn dithyrambs shall fascinate historians a
thousand years from now as much as they stab us today.”
Diverse Voices, Diverse Styles

“Poetry wields a special force in the Occupy movement. It is a
medium that comes from the deep roots of our subconscious, in a myriad
of styles, to focus attention on social injustice and political
tyranny. Occupy poetry gives voice to the voiceless and unites the
movement with a river of words and a fire of images. That is, ‘a
posse ad esse’…from possibility to actuality,” says contributing
poet Devreaux Baker. And myriad is a key word.

Humor and rage, compassion and irony and so much more! Liberty’s
Vigil, The Occupy Anthology may have a single unifying theme, but its
poets represent a wide range of viewpoints and styles. You’ll find
in the book’s pages distinguished poetic masters such as William
Heyen and Francisco X. Alarcón as well as poets just launching their
careers. And, the 99 poets’ styles range from free verse to tanka to
villanelle to sestina to…. Here’s Elizabeth Bodien‘s
contribution:

Tanka: as winter bites

as winter bites
the fraying jacket rips
how to mend?
a few own all the needles, thread
the rest only their voices

And here’s an excerpt from Bill Dorris’s “The EU Commissions a
Group Portrait by Van Gogh:”

We want something that captures the essential humanity
of a high-yield market,

that shows the lives we have previously revoked
are merely subject to default....

A complete list of contributors follows along with the co-editors
bios.

Follow Liberty’s Vigil Online

It’s easy to keep up with Liberty’s Vigil and its activist poets.
News of readings held by contributors will be posted on the FootHills
Publishing web site (www.foothillspublishing.com.) as well as on
Liberty’s Vigil group wall page on Facebook.

Sales to Support Income Equality
FootHills is contributing 20 percent of proceeds from sales of
Liberty’s Vigil to the Occupy Movement. For details, please contact
the publisher.

Available Now

Liberty’s Vigil, The Occupy Anthology: 99 Poets among the 99% (128
pages) is available for $20.00 at selected bookstores nationwide –
ISBN 978-0-931053-81-8 -- and from FootHills Publishing at
www.foothillspublishing.com. FootHills Publishing, celebrating its
26th anniversary this year, is headquartered in Wheeler Hill, N.Y.
Michael Czarnecki, publisher, is available at (607) 566-3881.

###
List of Contributors

Jennifer Ailles
Francisco X. Alarcón
C. Albert
Anita J. Augesen
Devreaux Baker
Ron Bailey
David Baratier
Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt
Mark Block
Elizabeth Bodien
Debbi Brody
Michael R. Burch
Alex Cigale
Billy Clem
Steve Coffman
Karen Connelly
Kay Cosgrove
Chris Crittenden
Kathleen M. Curry
Beau Cutts
Craig Czury
Vivian Demuth
Charlotte Jane Dickens
William Doreski
Bill Dorris
Edward A. Dougherty
Kathy Engel
Charles Entrekin
Eric Evans
Ariel Fintushel
Chris Flynn
Dennis Fritzinger
Laura Glenn
vincent f. a. golphin
Howie Good
Dane R. Gordon
Corinne Heschke
William Heyen
Ed Higgins
Scott Hightower
Debbie Hinman
Alicia Hoffman
Paul Hostovsky
Jane Hoogestraat
Rose Hunter
M.J. Iuppa
Mary Strong Jackson
Tom Jones
Kitty Jospé
Frank Judge
Laura Klinkon
Maude Larke
Janet Levin
Stephen Lewandowski
Eric Lochridge
Iven Lourie
Margot Malone
Catherine McGuire
Karla Linn Merrifield
Corey Mesler
Ellen Birkett Morris
Kate Murr
Will Nixon
Jules Nyquist
Beatrice O'Brien
Greg Opstad
Mónica Teresa Ortiz
Ted Peck
Natalie Peeterse
James Penha
elijah b pringle
Erik Richardson
Susan Edwards Richmond
John Roche
Debby Rosenfeld
Michael Rothenberg
Mary Rudge
Deborah Dashow Ruth
Nancy Scott
William Seaton
Nina Serrano
Scot Siegel
Josie Sigler
John Richard Smith
Michael G. Smith
Richard Smyth
Jack Bradigan Spula
Eamonn Stewart
Susan Supley
Heather Thomas
Paul Watsky
Alice Weiss
Lenore Weiss
David White
Anne Whitehouse
Dwain Wilder
Martin Willitts, Jr.
Paul Winkel
Leah Zazulyer

About the Editors

A long-time environmental activist and a National Park
Artist-in-Residence, Karla Linn Merrifield has seen hundreds of her
poems appear in dozens of publications as well as in many anthologies.
She has six books to her credit, including Godwit: Poems of Canada
(FootHills Publishing), which received the 2009 Andrew Eiseman Writers
Award for Poetry, and her new chapbook, The Urn, from Finishing Line
Press. Forthcoming from Salmon Press is her full-length collection
Athabaskan Fractal and Other Poems of the Far North, and The Ice
Decides: Poems of Antarctica from FLP. She and her husband Roger M.
Weir co-edited THE DIRE ELEGIES: 59 Poets on Endangered Species of
North America, also from FootHills. Currently in the works is a book
of technologically themed poems, The Gizmo Girl’s Diary, a
collection of poems reflecting on the Age of Technology, and Virus in
the Song, poems in memoriam to her brother. She was founding poetry
editor of Sea Stories, and is now book reviewer and assistant editor
for The Centrifugal Eye (www.centrifugaleye.com). A graduate of The
College at Brockport (SUNY), where she earned an MA in Creative
Writing-Poetry, she teaches at Writers & Books, Rochester, NY. You can
read more about her and sample her poems and photographs at
http://karlalinn.blogspot.com. She resides in Kent, NY, and winters in
North Fort Myers, FL.

Dwain Wilder, a native of a small town outside Dallas, moved to
Rochester, NY, in 1970 to study Zen Buddhism. He has had a varied
career as Navy flight crew member, research technician, software
engineer, and luthier (builder of stringed musical instruments). Dwain
had leadership roles in the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War
Movements, as a staff member of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference’s Project Dialogue, and coordinator of the Southern
Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam. In this latter
capacity, he worked closely with students, Quakers, pacifists and
civil rights field workers across the South to organize the only
South-wide Anti-War March, on Lincoln’s Birthday, Feb 12, 1967. He
was also security marshal for the 1967 Fifth Avenue Parade against the
War, worked with Staughton Lynd as a community organizer in New Haven,
and as an organizer for the 1967 People’s Congress, an attempt to
nonviolently occupy the House of Representatives in Washington.

Dwain graduated with honors from Yale with a degree in American
Studies (History of Technology and Literature). He is a poet and
essayist whose work has been published in various small poetry
periodicals and collections. His poetry collection, Under the Only
Moon, was published by FootHills Publishing in August 2011.

Dwain lives with his wife and their dog and parrot in a quaint
farmhouse near a large park. He currently makes his livelihood in
lutherie, and his Appalachian dulcimers are held in high regard, both
in the U.S. and abroad.

About the Publisher

Publishing America's poets for 26 years, FootHills Publishing is a
family-owned-and- operated concern based in Wheeler, NY. Each copy of
its hundreds of titles is lovingly hand-sewn, making for a more
beautiful reading experience. Visit FootHills at
www.foothillspublishing.com.

January 6th, Project U Radio @ The Literary Underground

TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION: Relationships and Writers: Have you ever dated a writer/poet? It has been said in some articles that the arrangement is doomed from the start, while others say that when it fits, it is a unique experience that serves to further both people's creative endeavors...This Friday, we open up the phone lines to singles and couples alike, in order to find out which is more prevalent: the disastrous affair, or the inspirational union? Call in to speak on: 805 856 2808 Friday 7PM WEST 8PM MT 9PM CST 10PM EST.

Hosted by Frankie Metro, Lynn Alexander, and Paul Corman-Roberts.

You can call in or send a comment to be read if you want to chime in anonymously. You can also leave a comment here with your name if you can't call in. All welcome, uncensored, unscripted, unhinged.

 

January 13: Tainted Dayton Show And Raffle

Brian Fugett (pictured below) is becoming a man this month at a private party but none of us are invited so we will express our disgust while we try to raise some money for Project U Radio with a raffle of awesome prizes. These prizes are so awesome that we can't even post about them here. As a teaser, however, we will say that we just might have a basket of laundry for you to try to win and sniff from Phyllis Miller herself. We're talking ripe compression stockings, straight from the Hi Rise! Five bucks, via paypal, and you get a chance to win. All proceeds go to Project U Radio operating expenses, nothing fishy. Just trying to toss some money in the Literary Underground kitty.

In this segment, we will dis-honor Mr. Brian Fugett with some roasting and ribbing as we celebrate his 40th with some well deserved abuse. The call in number is (805) 856-2808. This is the link to the show page where you can listen through your phone if you have cheap-ass internet, listen online, listen to the archive, or call in to say something. *here*.

Here is your chance to holler about hamsters, poetry grenades, aerosol cheese, porn-a-rama, and Karl Koweski.

Karl Koweski, here is your chance to holler about Gordon Lightfoot.

Gordon Lightfoot, here is your chance to holler about being Canadian.

And Canadians? You can holler about having Leopold. Eh?

Leopold can't holler because he will be too busy.

Plus, he's kinda locked in an old refrigerator. Because he's a raffle prize.

January 20, 2012, Segment 5, Project U Radio

Segment 5: January 20, 2012.  ”Editorial Discretion”. Editors, would you publish work with content that you think is personally objectionable (i.e. racism) if you thought it was an otherwise good piece? How do you feel about a blanket policy about certain kinds of content, such as “We don’t publish anything that includes sexist elements”. Do you make distinctions as far as language, character, etc. and have you had this issue come up when selecting work for a zine, website, journal, or project? Do you find the line of subjective interpretation to be difficult? Have you rejected work that you thought was well written because it contained something that you thought to be offensive or thought might offend readers? Beyond offensive, but perhaps hurtful or harmful?

If you want to start at the beginning, check out the archives *here* for our Censorship show, December 2, 2011, where we discussed movements like The Citizens For Decent Literature whose aim was to suppress literature that organizers felt was "objectionable". Inspired by this and being a fan of free speech, Literary Underground's Michele McDannold started a printed publication by the same name and soon after, a website to showcase poetry online. Brief editor of the website content, Michael Goscinski, was invited on to talk about censorship and a lengthy conversation ensued.

My distinction on the difference between censorship and editorial discretion is simple- one involves the systemic suppression of free speech through an authority either by their own undertaking or under pressure by a group that has lobbied for suppression. The other involves the discretion of a content producer and their right to have standards with respect to content. If I have a magazine, I have the right to decide that I don't want any content that involves clowns. (to use my example from the show) We are looking at my right as an owner and producer to discretion, which I believe to be important. But censorship would involve the government telling producers that they cannot publish content that involves clowns. This distinction takes away editorial discretion with a blanket rule across the board, presumably (they say) for societal or other benefit. This is an external, imposed control meant to assert one group's moral or religious view onto another group by limiting clown content. ...... 

Welcome to Project U Radio

Welcome to the Literary Underground's Project U's Radio/Audio blog, where we will be posting information and links about upcoming shows, topics, guests, and more. We will also post a schedule as episodes are organized.

dispatch litareview special occupy movement issue

Dear friends,

The spectre of the Occupy Wall Street movement and its otherworldly implications certainly warrant a special issue of dispatch litareview (issn 1948-1217 - litareview.com), that much goes without saying. Given our historical grounding as a forum for radical literature, it'd be irresponsible of us to forgo this movement as cause for a special edition.

We feel that this issue must be printed and disseminated on the streets as well as by the usual means (free download). We've got the people nationwide to make this happen. We're only short a bit of spare change, and so we've done one of those kickstarter things to see what can come of it. If we get anywhere near the goal, surely we'll find another means to cover the gap ("...we robbed banks to fund papers of transgressive poetry..."). Please go to http://kck.st/sgY2NS and please tell everyone you know who might possibly be interested. We're only trying to raise $350 (consider it pre-ordering, as all donors receive a copy), so we're confident to reach our goal in short order.

We're also soliciting first-hand dispatches from the occupations nationwide. We've got guaranteed reportage from Portland, Oakland, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boston, DC, and Chicago, but of course we'd like more perspectives from each as well as work from other North American occupations.

I am personally pleased to see the spirit of Paris 1968 so alive and well. With any luck, we'll get a variety of voices and riff the occupation movement from all sides. A plaque on the hall of culture commemorating a distinctly anarchist phenomenon.

Submissions of first-hand accounts, photography, and artwork from the occupations can be sent by the means established at http://litareview.com/submissions.html or by sending them directly to dispatch@litareview.com. Materials may also be sent by post to dispatch litareview / c/o Paul Madore / 1929 W. North Ave Apt. 3 / West Baltimore, MD 21217.

In resistance,
md & phm
litareview.com
dispatch@litareview.com

a product of disproductions, disproductions.org

 

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Thank you for your continued support.