Issue
 #8 

B

James Babbs still lives and dies a little each day in the
small town where he grew up. He works for the govern-
ment but doesn’t like to talk about it. He likes writing and
getting drunk. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference,
because both can be very intoxicating. He doesn’t like
okra but could eat lima beans every day of the week.

Some of James' poems have recently appeared in Abbey,
Fight These Bastards, Opium Poetry, Verse Wisconsin
and Zygote In My Coffee.

Danielle Blasko is a Detroit native, currently enjoying life
on an east coast beach. She works as a freelance writer
and is a low-residency MFA student at the University of
New Orleans. Her poetry has appeared in AIM Magazine,
Qarrtsiluni, and The Moose & Pussy Magazine. Danielle
presently writes a monthly fashion blog for Eidia Lush
shoe company.

Jennifer Hollie Bowles lives in Knoxville, TN. She is the
editor of The Medulla Review, and her writing has been
published in Word Riot, Thieves Jargon, Zygote in My
Coffee, Sein und Werden and Literary Chaos, among
others. Jennifer prefers writing to sex, but due to her
love of erotic dancing, she is naked entirely too often.

C

Jeffrey S. Callico hails from Atlanta. His collection of
short fiction, Fighting Off The Sun: Stories, Tales, and
Other Matters of Opinion, is available on Amazon. His
work has appeared in several print and online literary
journals, including FRiGG, Johnny America, Origami
Condom, Calliope Nerve, Opium Poetry 2.0, Spoken
War, The Legendary, Target Audience Magazine, Pulp
Metal Magazine, Weirdyear and Fashion for Collapse.

Jeffrey is also the editor of Negative Suck.

D

Cyndi Dawson is the founder and host of "Poets and
Angels" music and poetry series, and is herself a writer,
performance poet and wordrocker. Her work has been
published in numerous magazines both online and off,
including Heroin Love Songs, 63 Channels and Lines
Written with a Razor.

Cyndi has also collaborated with reknowned musician
Jair-Rohm Parker Wells on the CD Inside of Outside,
and has recorded tracks with other musicians, as well.

Doug Draime emerged as a presence in the "under-
ground" literary movement in Los Angeles in the late
1960's. His most recent chaps include: Knox County
(Kendra Steiner Editions), Los Angeles Terminal:
Poems 1971-1980 (CovertPress), and Spiders And
Madmen (Scintillating Publications). Forthcoming
are 2 large collections: Transmissions From The
Underground (d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press) and Farrago
Soup (Coatlism Press). Also scheduled for release
is a chapbook, Boulevards of Oblivion from Tainted
Coffee Press. Draime currently lives in the wild and
wooly foothills of Oregon.

G

Timothy Gager is the author of eight books of fiction
and poetry. He has been nominated for eight Pushcart
Awards since 2008. He lives at www.timothygager.com.

Joseph M. Gant is a poet trying to breathe in a punch-
card world. His poems have appeared in places such
as Lines Written w/ a Razor and Mandala Magazine.
The most interesting thing he has to talk about is his
degree in Scientific Glassblowing. But don’t ask him
what a scientific glassblower does--he’ll charge you
a nickel; it’s how he pays for pens. His first, full-length
collection of poetry is due in the summer of 2010 from
Rebel Satori Press. He currently edits poetry for Sex
and Murder Magazine and is a contributor with OWC.

Joseph M. Gant

Dave Gregg has been writing poetry for nearly thirty
years. He was born in Missouri, where he recently
returned. Dave reads daily and enjoys Bukowski,
Pound and Updike.

John Grochalski is a poet and writer whose poetry has
appeared in The Smoking Poet, Thieves Jargon, Tattoo
Highway, Modern Drunkard, Underground Voices, My
Favorite Bullet, Eclectica, American Dissident, Cherry
Bleeds, Main Street Rag, Clockwise Cat, Zygote in My
Coffee and Gloom Cupboard.

His short fiction has appeared in Fictionville, Bartleby
Snopes, The Legendary, The Battered Suitcase and Big
Stupid Review, and is forthcoming in the anthology
Living Room Handjob.

John's book of poems, The Noose Doesn't Get Any
Looser After You Punch Out is now available from Six
Gallery Press; and his new chapbook, Meditations On
Misery With Women, is due to be released soon from
Zygote in My Coffee.

Mr. Grochalski currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

H

Kimberly Hazel lives in a small town on the north coast
of Oregon. A mother of four, she also raises canaries and
chickens, and enjoys growing orchids and dahlias. She
loves to dance, discuss spiritual matters and write dark
poetry. She has a B.S. degree in liberal studies and is
trying to find a way to pay for more college.

Kimberly's work has been published in RAIN Magazine,
Hipfish Magazine and The Northcoast Eagle Times.

Kimberly Hazel

Jack Henry is writer based in SE California, living large
in a single-wide trailer near the Salton Sea. Over the last
few years, he has had a number of poems, short stories
and reviews accepted by a variety of online and/or print
journals. Jack's first full-length book of poetry, With the
Patience of Monuments, is available from NeoPoeisis
Press. In 2010, Henry's latest volume, Crunked--a book
of themed poetry, based on the adventures of a meth
addict--will be released by Epic Rites. In 2011, Jack's
first novel, Red Lincoln, may or may not be released.
No one really knows or cares as yet.

You can find his crap at jackhenry.wordpress.com.

Justin Hyde lives in Iowa where he works as a correc-
tional officer. More of his work can be found online at: http://www.nyqpoets.net/poet/justinhyde.

K

Lara Konesky is a thirty-year-old gypsy/mother from
Columbus, Ohio. She enjoys outlaws, exaggerations,
working with refugees, barbaric, rebellious children,
burdens, and opiates. After extensive philosophical
training, she decided the only real life was the life of
the poet.

Since money, options, and death make life oppressive,
Lara decided to free herself of such chains (holding on
for dear life to her makeup, vanilla perfume and stylish
clothing). To her, the only reality in life is the life of doing,
and poetry brings us closer to the 'doing.' Poetry is the
instruction manual. The dictator. Map. Everything. Lara
also enjoys chocolate, love, and magical coincidence.

Her book, Next to Guns, is now available from Grievous
Jones Press (www.grievousjonespress.com).

Karl Koweski is a nationally renowned machinist and
bitterly obscure writer. A native of Chicago, he now lives
on a mountaintop in Alabama. His recent chapbooks in-
clude Diminishing Returns, (from SunnyOutside Press)
and Industrial Strip (published by Covert Press).

L

Anthony Liccione lives in Texas with his two children.
His poems have appeared in several print and online
journals, and he has four collections of poetry books.

Duane Locke lives reclusively by ancient oaks, an
underground stream, and an osprey’s nest in rural
Lakeland, Florida. His poems have been published
in print (American Poetry Review, Nation, etc.) and
online (CounterExample Poetics, Pen Himalaya, etc.).

Locke has also written 21 books of poems, including
Yang Chu’s Poems, Crossing Chaos (available from
the publisher or from Amazon), Voices from a Grave
(Erbacce Press) and Soliloquies from a High Wall
Hidden Cemetery (Differentia Press--download for
free at www.differentiapress.com). His latest book is
A Marble Nude Pauline Borghese with a Marble Apple
in Her Marble Hand, from Scars Press.

He also has a Ph.D, specializing in the study of English
Metaphysical Poetry, and is a painter and photographer.

M

Michael Mahone has written for a long time, but, until
recently, his work has only been showcased on seedy
bar bathroom walls and in back alleys. After hitchhiking
around North America, he now calls Vancouver home,
where he spends his days walking by water.

Ally Malinenko’s first book of poems, entitled The
Wanting Bone, was recently published by Six Gallery
Press. You can read some of her other poetry online
at shipwreckedpoetry.blogspot.com and her fiction
at gypsycampfire.blogspot.com.

She has previously been published by Alembic, Blind
Man's Review, Small Brushes, Whiskey Island Maga-
zine, The Unknown Writer, Mad Poets Society, Jack
Magazine, Posey, Words-Myth, Pens on Fire, Sugar
Mule, The New Yinzer, Zygote in My Coffee, Delirio,
Orange Room Review, Why Vandalism?, Mad Swirl,
Unlikely Stories and Deuce Coupe.

Ally is currently working on a children's novel and lives
in the part of Brooklyn that tour buses don’t come to.

Liz Mares is a Chicago-based artist and poet. Though
she's been writing poetry since the age of eight, only
now (in her thirties) has she started to seriously pur-
sue this craft. Fueled by her "eccentric" sense and
passion for words, she has plans to publish a book of
her poems in the near future. She also enjoys collect-
ing lamps and wallpaper.

Catfish McDaris has been around the small press scene
for twenty years. A contributing editor to two magazines
(Latino Stuff Review and Shrimp!) for ten years, he has
also produced 19 books and chapbooks. He just retired
from the post office and is now at full speed.

Mike Meraz is a poet from Los Angeles who currently lives
in New Orleans. He is the author of two books of poetry:
Black-Listed Poems and All Beautiful Things Travel Alone.
Both are available at Lulu.com and Amazon.com. Mike is
also the editor of Black-Listed Magazine.

Trevor Mitchell is forty-one years old and lives in a forest
in southwest England.

Rose Aiello Morales has a BA degree in English from Rut-
gers University, which came naturally, considering that her
affinity for writing poetry began at the young age of seven.
She has been published in various magazines in the USA,
Canada and Europe, including Events Quarterly, Cuib Nest
Nido and Eviscerator Heaven. She lives in Miami, Florida
with her husband Alex and nine cats.

P

Shannon Peil regularly writes in the third person. He also
runs a literary blog/zine at http://amphibi.us for literally
no reason.

Puma Perl lives and writes on the Lower East Side and
has facilitated writing workshops in community-based
agencies and at Riker's Island, a New York City prison.
She is also a member of Harmattan Theater, a perfor-
mance group dedicated to environmental and socially
engaging theater.

Her poetry and fiction have been published in over 100
print and online journals and anthologies.

Puma's first chapbook, Belinda and Her Friends (2008)
was awarded the Erbacce Press 2009 Poetry Award;
and a full-length collection, knuckle tattoos, has just
been released by Erbacce Press.

She performs her work in many venues, in and out of
New York City, and was recently included in the Bowery
Poetry Club's yearly New Year's Day Alternate Poetry
Marathon. Upcoming features include a knuckle tattoos
book launch party at the Bowery Poetry Club (March 7).

Puma Perl

Rob Plath has no wife, just a cat. Someone asked him
the other day if he was educated at Pelican Bay. His
latest book, A Bellyful of Anarchy (published by Epic
Rites Press), is shaking things up a bit.

David S. Pointer lives in Murfreesboro, TN with his two
daughters. He has a new chapbook at alt-current.com
and a forthcoming chapbook from New Polish Beat.

R

Matt Ryan's work has appeared in numerous journals,
including Pindeldyboz, Opium, elimae, Word Riot and
Ghoti. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee, editor for Best
New Writing, and an English professor at Concordia
University St. Paul. He holds an MFA degree in Writing
from Spalding University.

S

Paul Sexton is a poet and Open Mic Host residing in
Arlington, Texas. He has continuously hosted weekly
and monthly open mics for nearly 15 years, keeping
him surrounded by creative, inspiring folks, regard-
less of how other parts of life and survival might be
playing out.

Paul's work has appeared in: The Word, Venue, Arts
DFW, Thunder Sandwich, Unlikely Stories, Tongue,
Freezone Quarterly, DEATHLIST 5, Mad Swirl, and
the anthology In Our Own Words: A Generation De-
fining Itself (Vol 3, 2001). Paul has also released a
full-length poetry novel (April 2009), entitled Her
Soul Bled Out (available from Lulu.com).

Paul Sexton

Chloe Simonne can’t stop writing vulgar things. She
wants to stop. Her writing has appeared in The Sun
Magazine, Black-Listed Magazine and Opium Poetry;
and her latest work can be read at Gloom Cupboard
and Amphibi.us. She resides in Seattle, WA.

Chloe Simonne

Willie Smith is a nano-poet hanging by the skin of his
teeth to the belief that suicide is not a viable option.
His novel Oedipus Cadet is available from Amazon
and Black Heron Press. His earlier story collections
Solid Gas, Go Ahead Spit on Me, Execution Style and
Stories from the Microwave are collector's items.

His work has previously appeared in the toilet, the
trash can, the shredder and at the bottom of various
birdcages too numerous to mention here.

Willie Smith

John L. Stanizzi is an adjunct professor of English
at Manchester Community College (CT) and teaches
English at Bacon Academy in Colchester CT, where
he also directs the theater program.

A former Wesleyan University Etherington Scholar,
Poet in Residence at Manchester Community Col-
lege, and a Poet in the Schools in the Middletown
Public Schools, John was also named the 1998
New England Poet of the Year, by The New Eng-
land Association of Teachers of English.

His poems have appeared in Passages North, The
New York Quarterly, Tar River Poetry, Rattle, Spoon
River Quarterly, Poet Lore, The Wild Goose Review,
Stone Country and many others. He has twice been
nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

John's first book, Ecstasy Among Ghosts (published
by Antrim House Books) is now in its third printing.
His second book, Sleepwalking (Antrim House) was
released in October 2009. In December of the same
year, Garrison Keillor read a couple of John’s poems
on The Writer’s Almanac.

V

Ross Vassilev was born in Bulgaria and now lives in
Ohio. He's a poet and the editor of Opium Poetry 2.0
and Asphodel Madness blogzines. He's been pub-
lished here and there.

Y

In another life, Scot Young used to be a construction
worker, but for the last 20 years he has been paid to
hang out with kids. He started writing poems again
after a 30 year absence and has published one or
two. Possibly the only school principal in America
to own all of Christopher Robin's books, Scot also
occasionally teaches a poetry class to the school's
"Breakfast Club," as well.

He once sang with Kenny Loggins and wrestler Dirty
Dick Murdoch, but mainly, Scot just puts bread on the
table. His publishing notes can be found online at:
http://scotyoung.wordpress.com.  He is also the editor
of The Rusty Truck.