A Tale of Two First Issues Edited by Hayley Heaton, Cate Peebles and David Sewell, Fou is a beautifully drawn poetry magazine that feels as quaint and whimsical as the Uncle Wiggily board game. Artist Brad Soucy deserves more credit than any single poet for making this first issue stand apart. Most of the poetry is contributed by household names, but there is some stunning work by relative newcomers (newcomers at least as far as a Google search would reveal). I recommend checking out Samia Rahmintoola, Mark Lamoureux and Julie Doxsee first. Then delve into Alex Lemon's dense pieces, and Mark Bibbins' angsty chunk of prose, Suicides of the Nineties. Also worth noting: in my reading experience, Fou is one the first publications to take Tao Lin's poetry to the next level, simply by presenting it alongside other poetry that is just similar enough, rather than presenting it as a droll novelty or burying it among a half a dozen dull imitators. textsound Edited by Anya Cobler, Adam Fagin, Anna Vitale and Laura Wetherington. Generally speaking, I have a harder time believing a poem once I've heard it read aloud, in part because many poems simply aren't written to be read aloud and in part because many poets aren't comfortable enough with their own writing to read the poem aloud. Fortunately, every last poet featured in the first issue of textsound has just the right amount of sincerity in their voice, and confidence in their work. To put it bluntly, I don't get the feeling I'm being apologized to as I listen. Furthermore, the pieces they read (or sing, or chant) are meant to be heard (there is no accompanying text), so rather than turning into a big, self-conscious social event on the Internet, textsound runs on like a word-junkie's Muxtape. Jan Hjort, Edwin Torres, Martin Johs. Møller and Linh Dinh hand in the issue-making performances. The Danes are strongly represented here: poul g. exner's Genkomst sounds a bit like a soothing remix of a Language for Beginners track -- start there. |