The Audio Zine
{ Monthly Archives }
by: Daniel Dissinger
NEW YORK, NY-To get to the staging area of The Bowery Poetry Club, don’t get distracted by the variety of edibles, or the chalkboard with various mouth-watering combination’s of food and drink written in colorful neon. Ignore your stomach, follow your ears, and walk straight through the curtain hanging in the corner-dive head first into this poetic rabbit-hole.
by: Daniel Dissinger
The main objective of language is to present an idea in a clear and concise fashion. It is thought to be the poet and/or the novelist that uses language to confuse, warp, and play with the realities of everyday life. Yet, language can also be used to deceive and manipulate situations-to verbally imperialize certain groups of people. A quote from Lisa Birman’s debut book of poems, for that return passage: a Valentine for the United States of America, can be used to best explain the beautiful disaster language has come to be, “Being both the thing/ and the threat of the thing/ an act and an instrument.” In Lisa Birman‘s book, it is America who is the devious wordsmith-hiding its true intentions under much garbled jargon and double-talk, leaving many of its “lovers” asking–why?
by Kris Miller and Brendan Hamilton
On Sunday, March 29, we sat down with Olatundji Akpo-Sani and Rob Geisen to discuss their press and the recent release of their anthology, Recipes for the Apocalypse: A Toast to a New Frontier. We talked about poetry, politics, hip hop, cross-genre work, the role of the artist in today’s world, and George W. Bush as America’s stripper girlfriend. Below is a clip and the full interview transcript:
Brendan Hamilton: We’re wondering if you could give us some background on Baobob Tree Press.
Olatundji Akpo-Sani: I think we had both been publishing chapbooks of our own work independently for a while. And, you know, we met years and years ago at the Penny Lane reading series. That’s kind of where it all got started. And we started hanging out, and we said, “If we’re doing this for ourselves, why can’t we do this for other people? What’s stopping us from putting out other local artists that we know or poets and writers that are just fantastic? There’s a lot of talent in this area—why can’t we put that work out there as well and make this community much more known than it is?” And that’s kind of how it started.
Rob Geisen: He had been one of my favorite guys that I’d seen around town and we hadn’t really talked that much in the Penny Lane-type era, but then we got together and he came to me with this idea, “What if we do this?” And I thought it was brilliant. So, let’s do that. Continue Reading »
by: Daniel Dissinger
The cover of Raza Ali Hasan’s book of poetry, 67 Mogul Miniatures, exhibits one of the emperor Sha-Jahan’s first decade of rule over the Indian subcontinent. These hugely populated artistic scenes were restricted to thirteen by nine inch frames, yet articulated complex themes such as classism and religion. Just like these paintings, Raza Ali Hasan’s poetic worlds erupt inside their tri-couplet form. With his use of violent imagery, mixed with sheer poetic artistry, Raza Ali Hasan constructs a sprawling world that fits in the palm of your hand.
by: Daniel Dissinger
NEW YORK, NY – “I have no idea…right…okay…no. Well, it was supposed to be, or I thought this was going to be a reading. No. I’m just going to head back. Oh…huh…no, it’s okay. Listen, I did meet someone…yeah, Taylor Mali.”
by: Daniel Dissinger
NEW YORK, NY – The directions from HopStop.com should have read something like this: turn left on West 4th street, then immediately turn left on the pretentious street with NO street sign, that is Cornelia Street. Do not proceed to West 11th street just because it stopped raining and the sun is out.
by: Daniel Dissinger
BROOKLYN, NY – It was only a day ago that FIELD magazine held their 40th anniversary reading at The New School in Manhattan. Now, in a basement in Brooklyn–where a little girl blocks the steps to do her homework-people of all ages and fashion senses fill every seat, sit on the floor, and stand in the back for a night of poetic mastery.
by: Daniel Dissinger
NEW YORK, NY – On his website, Editor David Young says of poetry, “I feel that poetry is one of the great and enduring human activities and that it merits being served with integrity and humility.” On March 24th, The New School was host to FIELD‘s 40th anniversary-where these types of poets that fill David Young’s criteria, as well as fulfill the listener and reader’s every expectation-treated the crowd to a night of FIELD‘s best and brightest.
Aging is Not Optional
Age is a strange country
you think you only visit
tempting, full bodied
breathing well
in polished oak houses.
When you finally get there,
anesthetized and whining,
you will probably want to leave.
As promised, here are the videos from Baobob Tree Press’s release party for its new anthology, Recipes for the Apocalypse: A Toast to a New Frontier, held March 7, 2009 at the Lazy Dog in Boulder, Colorado.
The anthology and CD is available for purchase at Baobob Tree Press’s online store.
Rob Geisen
Max Taylor
Continue Reading »