Sixpack, a Teeny Tiny chapbook
words by Amanda Laughtland, pictures by Jen May, $1
—an 8-page, one-eighth-size poetry chapbook

Okay, Mandy Laughtland is a really good poet. She writes these brutal, funny short poems that just kill me. She does a regular poetry zine called Teeny Tiny that she makes by folding one sheet of paper, and she also puts out special chapbook editions. In the chapbook Sixpack, we have six of her affecting short poems with quirky little drawings by Jen May. Here is a line from "Tree Falling in the Woods" that I especially love: "but every day has happy hour—foam laces the sides of pint glasses whether you and I are there to empty them or not." Also, I don't know if you guys can see this too clearly in the scan, but Jen bound each book with thread and a beer bottle cap!

Slip Into Something Human #1
by Tracy Youells, $2
—a 16-page, half-size collection of poems

I met Tracy Youells at the Philadelphia Zine Fest and we had a spirited conversation about DIY publishing and poetry. She's a kindred soul! You could call the first issue of her poetry zine, Slip Into Something Human, the anatomy issue. In an untitled poem she doesn't say the word heart, but instead puts a picture of one, "bloody and wet," right in the middle of the text. Another untitled piece opens by telling us that Gray's Anatomy illustrates "how to open a back,/ revealing the first of five glorious layers of muscle." Far from gory, this is a love poem, ending with the beautiful lines, "To love someone in the dark,/ to see with fingertips,/ is the best protection we have from being crushed by the landscape."

Slip Into Something Human #2
by Tracy Youells, $2
—a 16-page, half-size collection of poems

Tracy opens the second issue of Slip Into Something Human with a passage from Shopenhauer that instructs us to consider life's miseries to be part of the natural order. The approaches the truth head-on, but she is human and compassionate, reaching out to a lost soul on the street in one, a widowed diner dish-washer in another. "On Moving On" is probably my favorite, a soft, sad meditation on the tendency we humans have to collect, like crows.

Slip Into Something Human #3
by Tracy Youells, $2
—a 16-page, half-size collection of poems

The new issue of Slip Into Something Human is the car issue. I don't mean that to sound trite, because it certainly isn't. "The Pavement Eater" is nearly something a child would say about a big destructive machine, but it's too sinister—this pavement eater "vomits a gusher of rock and dirt," "regurgitates human traffic." There is also a loving, funny tribute to working on a Chevy, and—my favorite in this issue—"Damage done," about a traffic accident and a split-second decision.

Tinned Soup & other writing
by Jo Mundy for Loveanarchist Press, $2.50
—a 16-page, half-size poetry zine

Jo Mundy is the driving force behind Australia’s Loveanarchist Press. Her zine Tinned Soup is chock-full of a variety of things (like tinned soup, eh?), including a few vignettes, bright little scenes that hint at whole untold stories behind them. When Sport Was Life is my favorite piece, a fine example of taking things keenly, painfully felt—unrequited love, raw physicality, the discipline of athletics—and giving them wings. She also includes an interview with a zinester she did to introduce her writing class to the concept of zines, and a CD and a zine review. And she throws in a teensy issue of 160—poems of exactly 160 characters—for free!

Word Addicts 160 #3
a Loveanarchist Press publication, $2.50
—a 16-page, quarter-size, multi-contributor poetry zine

160 is a clever writing experiment that Shelley and Jo, the Australian writer gals who run Loveanarchist Press, do with their writers group, The Word Addicts. All poems must have 160 characters, kinda like a text message. Good, right? This is an inventive exercise that got interesting results out of giving langauge a little squeeze. Nine poets are respresented.

Word Math: A Collection of Found Poetry
by Katie, $2
—a 24-page, half-size zine

This little book is a collection of found poetry (which are like word collages, basically) and it is the first zine I ever made. It was featured in a 2004 exhibit on underground art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. It has a beautiful cover illustration by Lesley Reppeteaux, a painter and illustrator who lives in Los Angeles. Fall of Autumn produced a podcast of me reading one of the poems—it’s a funny one I made from Craig’s List personal ads. You can download and listen to it for free.

yoohoo haiku!
by Missy Kulik, $1
—a 24-page teensy haiku collection with an illustrated cover

Missy, the artist/haikuist of Ahoy There!, has compiled some of her unique haiku to make up this zine. At just under 3 by 3 inches, this is one of Missy's delightful “minis.” It has 21 poems, all showcasing a sweet personality, and I hope she won’t mind my sharing this one with you as a teaser because it's one of the funniest things I’ve read in a while:

guess how old i am
guess how old i really am
don’t ask me again