Pretty strange range of stuff happening here. On the one hand, poems so full of dark, convoluted imagery that trying to see what’s at the heart of them is like trying to see fish at the bottom of a muddy lake. On the other hand, poems so shallow and silly, it feels like the writer has sucked all the water out of a lake so she could say, ‘Take a look at the fish in here.’ Get this: “Support your local fisherman/sing a different Tuna/…I don’t wnat to Carp, but I have a Haddock/from banging my head against brick Walleys/just for the Halibut.” In the midst of this uneven barrage of poetry are three wonderful stories, one by Ruth Latta and two by Sylvia Adams. Each of these stories is a quirky short about the strange evolution of relationships. In “Bottles” a high-powered government official, Liam, gives no money to his soul-mate, Susannah, who consequently takes to rummaging for returnable bottles in parks and garbage recepticles. One day, on a walk together, Susannah points out a returnable bottle to Liam, and from that day forth, they never go out of their apartment together without a plastic garbage bag to collect bottles in. There’s also an interview in here with ex-skinhead photographer Gavin Watson. “Something” editor Stephen Martin has a special interest in skinheads, being one himself, and he finishes off the issue with an ode of sorts to skinheads, which is a really bad poem, but might make a pretty good song.
lit mag / 40 pages / Publisher: Electric Garden Press / Main Creator: Stephen D. Martin (editor) / $2, 2 for $5, 4 for $10 / P.O. Box 78, Stn. B, Ottawa, ON, K1P 6C3