Tryst News & Reviews

ISSN 1545-2859

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April 2007. After a small sabbatical, we're preparing to release Issue XVII, our Fifth Anniversary Issue. It will be released in May/June, 2007. We want to thank all our contributors for their patience and our readers who have sent us numerous emails, in so many words, writing how much they missed Tryst. Wait no more: Lo-and-behold! we're here, we're prepared and we're armed with pens, paper and a growing staff. ~Tryst Editors

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-NEWS-

Tryst's New Editors: We have onboard two more editors: Dorothy, Associate Editor, who will assist in selecting the poetry; Diane, Associate Editor, who will assist in selecting fiction, poetry, and bringing in feature writers. We're still seeking a Book Reviewer, Art Director and Marketing Director. We're expanding and we're looking to the future permanence of our online journal.

Congratulations: to the following Fiction Writers who were nominated in storySouth's Million Writer's Award: Rochelle Mass, "Off-Shore Promises" (Issue XIV); Jennifer Kerr, "Kid" (Issue XV); and Tom Sheehan, "Shag DeBrillen, Brickie" (Issue XVI)

Remembering: There is no sadder news to bear than the death of one of our own. Robert Rosenberg, the editor of Ariga died Wednesday, October 25, 2006. I received news via email from his wife, Sylvia sometime in November. Ariga was one of the first places I ever submitted poetry to and had published. A man of few words, he was nevertheless generous with his praises and often inquired about my writing. I sent him work when I felt I had written something worthy, which wasn't often but he prodded me on, inspired me to maintain a healthy attitude about writing, submitting and editing . What writer could have asked for a better editor? I will miss Robert, because he was more than just an editor, he was kind, and well-loved by a community of writers, editors and readers.

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- BOOK RELEASES-

John Sweet: "give a poor man god and watch him starve" new poems from Severed Tongue Press $6.25 + shipping, 86 pp, perfect bound available directly thru lulu.com

Stephen Mead: CD, "Safe & Other Love Poems", in addition to an illustrated book called "Selected Works". http://www.lulu.com/stephenmead

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SITE REVIEWS

Beside the White Chickens How could you not love a journal whose title was borrowed from a line in William Carlos Williams' famous poem, "Red Wheelbarrow?" A new journal that debuted Fall of 2006, this site seeks minimalist poetry. The site itself is minimalist, sparse with white window on white background; but, the poems in this first issue, while minimalist in style are anything but minimal in thought. This is the place to take a break from the quotidian, the daily chores, the traffic at standstill... Pour a glass of wine, in the quiet hours and listen to Susan Constable's, "birds sing in my bones."

Epiphany Arts Another journal dedicated to Poetry, Art, Music? I mean what more could you ask for? Not only is the site simply beautiful, they have a staff list an arm's length, poetry contests and simple submission guidelines: "No profanity, obscenity, or racial, sexual, or religious slurs." It works for me. But the most eye-catching spot on this site is the "Amber Alert" (in the scrolling marquee) on the home page. The amber alert is activated when a child has been abducted. I'm proud of this site; if I had five thumbs they'd all be up high.

Shit Creek Review It's not what you think and maybe it is. The title might be off-putting, but the journal is anything but another excuse for publishing "crap." If anything...the message here is that they're not pretentious. Perhaps, the founders wanted to be billed as playful with a bucket of humour thrown in, but SCR appears to have a very serious side: Accepts only very highly polished work; "definitely do not seek poems about toilet issues," which I misread as "toilet tissues." Okay, fine, but what exactly are toilet issues, "issues" being the operative plural noun here? I didn't know people had toilet issues. Perhaps they're referring to "issues that people read on the toilet"? In any case, happy sailing to the crew.

ALMOST FULL BY Don Schaeffer

Review of Almost Full can be read here:
http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/almostfull.htm

ISBN 0-9770380-6-8
61pp, $15, Softcover

Available through:
Owl Oak Press
101 Calle de Quien Sabe
Carmel Valley, CA 93924

Sample Poem: "Social"

The fully fattened spider
dies with compliance
following the ancient spider code
hung paralyzed amid her teeming babes
the very protein of her body
giving lessons to the cannibal future.

The salmon eagerly punches
toward death. That is his wedding day
with all the pumped up fishy fantasies
stored in his milky brain. He perishes
stuporous in one and final lastitude .

As for me,
goodbye will
turn my eyes to you as the future shrinks.
I will be nothing and you will be all.

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