short
stories, and around ten poems each issue. Stirring also offers free
literary critiques and link exchanges.
Erin Elizabeth
Editor-in-Chief, Stirring
http://thunder.prohosting.com/~stirring
Consider this, its the beverage of choice. Coffee and creativity
goes hand in hand. Think about the coffeehouses of the 50's, with
beatniks and other bohemians. Before that, the salons of Paris, the
London of the 1600's, where Samuel Johnson held court and developed the
dictionary.
Endearing
Records is an independent record label, located in the city of Winnipeg
Manitoba. What it produces is some very good and very interesting
pop, art and experimental music. You will probably not find many
"Endearing" releases in your local record store, and that is a pity.
The company is run by Blair Purda and its really a one man operation.
The work load has been such that Blair is closing the company some time
this year. When this happens, it will be a loss. In a recent
issue of "Avant Garde", I listed the address of Endearing Record, if you
don't get it, here it is: www.endearing.com.
I'm giving this information to you to introduce you to another cd which
was just released in January. This disc is by Christine Fellows,
and its entitled "2 Little Birds". This is an incredible cd.
I would say, this shall be the best cd of the year. I know you won't
see Christine at the Grammy's or the Juno's, and this may be a statement
regarding the state of modern music.
The music is dark, haunting and brooding. Everything about it is
dark, the cover of the cd is dark, the contents are dark, even the cd is
dark. I wouldn't call it 'goth', but I would use the word 'gothic'
to describe it. I do mean 'gothic' in the classic sense. It's
the disc to read the Brontë's by. The tone is brought about
by the use of cello and viola and enhanced by the words. There is
even one spoken word segment. It is a disc worth finding and keeping
in your collection.
Douglas
Coupland may be evolving into the Thomas Wolfe of Generation X. As
Wolfe coined 'the right stuff' and 'Master of the Universe', Coupland has
given us 'Generation X' 'Microserf', 'McJobs' and other terms.
His latest book, "Miss Wyoming" may be considered a contrast to "Girlfriend
in a Coma". While the latter was more of a sci-fi dytopia, Miss Wyoming
may be considered a bit of a romantic comedy. It deals with the lives
of two people, a former child pagent winner, sit-com and B-movie actress,
and a drugged out director/producer of action movies. Their lives
meet by accident when the actress' agent points out the director.
However, they have another tie-in Susan was a survivor of a horrendous
crash, and during a coma, the director meets her. The book contains
flashbacks of their lives. Susan's mother moved the family to Wyoming
so that she could have a better chance in winning the state championship.
The book reveals the sleeze factor that is modern entertainment, and not
just in Hollywood. If anything, it reveals the emptiness of life by focusing
on the centre of vapidness, Hollywood.
As I read the book, I began to wonder if the book isn't a continuation
of a quest Douglas Coupland has been on. He seems to be on a pilgrimage
to find meaning to his and his generation's life. While the idea
of finding the meaning of life may be sneered at as some Gen-X whinning,
if there is any generation that needs this quest, it must be this one.
Generation-X may have been conceived in the Age of Cynicism, but it exists
in the age of Irony. In fact this present age may be better characterized
as the Age of Meta-Irony, where even the ironic is ironic. He is
seeking meaning, a quest that may have began with "Life after God".
He may have considered that meaning comes from sacrifice, ,which was the
theme of "Girlfriend in a Coma".
There is one line in the new book, the director looks into the eyes of
Susan and sees fear. Perhaps Douglas Coupland is holding up a giant
mirror to our society and asking us to see the same fear. If we do,
then we must join his quest to find the meaning they have so far avoided.
The stage is illuminated by a single spotlight. We sit at small tables, a latte each between us. We watch a figure move to the stage, a bongo starts beating and a voice speaks:
Coffee…
ahhh
hava
java…
aroma
saturates
nostrils
as
I rest shopped out feet
I
am devoid
of
all ill thoughts
while
enjoying
Starbucked
deep contemplations of life
Many
decisions
made
or waylayed
at
the coffee bar
over
frappes
and
lattes
I
wonder if Chretien
is
contemplating
‘Vive
le Quebec Libre!’
right
now
over
café ole?
Your
wagging of despairing tongues
made
Sartre go down like root beer floats.
Life
was one big computer crash
and
everyone on earth but you
took
credit for infernal wars.
Clouds
shut suns like roll-top desks.
The
momentary glitch of joy,
in
the form of your two little girls,
was
hors d'ouevre too hard to resist,
so
I put my head out to pasture and proceeded with our wedding vows.
The
chrysalis, of course,
was
a worm that showed its spots
soon
enough.
Love
was a corset applied
for
sake of their eyes.
They
would drink black coffee
soon
enough.I wasn't about to be the one
who
kicked the shins of innocence
with
a loaded .45 you promised
you'd
use if life and I refused
to
unwrite wronged etched in stone.
This
is why we didn't last.
Coffee Rings
Turkish Proverb
The
risk of romance
Coffee
rings
on
normal's menu,
no
one orders
crippled
stains.
I
put pain in
an
envelope--drop it off
like
packages.
Cardboard
corners
live
with risk.
Golden
rules
of
feminine
have
all been
broken
by the dark.
A
clearly noisy
rumble
strip
that
traces
pastures
of a tear--
aware
how fast
that
hay ignites--land mines on a conscious road
is
playing pretty
hyper
puppy fetch
with
a cup
of
steaming
something
staining
on
the verge
of
a fall.
Passion's
dove
in
the straw
of
a gilded cage
you've
redecorated
and
reformed as forests ripe
with
waterfalls
and
other shrouds
of
very unexpected lace.
by Janet I. Buck
We entered, standing
elbow to elbow in inert crowds.
Waited for our feet to bully forward,
the dance was paced to
graceful existence.
Superficially, we dipped
into the surface of opinion
using obese questions
and amusing anecdotes.
Striding meticulously through
avenues of discussion,
occasionally pausing to pluck
the flowering humor at our side.
The vibrant laughter
jollied up behind the legs
of exotic waitresses
(urging one another to go beyond
the limits of human compassion).
holding onto their self-respect
for its intoxicating effect.
Gray matter laughed loudest
but the heart, ignoring the tickle,
rhythmically rubbed humor around in circles
until conversation held brief breaths of madness
to keep the innocents perplexed.
One after one,
we stepped outside
alone,
into the waiting arms
of existential trouble.
In the city, one of the most popular night time cafes is called
"Death
by Chocolate". They serve desserts made from ice-cream and
cake
that are molded in the shape of movie stars or exotic themes.
The
menu has a photograph of each dessert so that patrons may truly
appreciate
the artistry that goes into every creation.
there are other places and others thoughts that are expressed through our poems. Here are some contributors who go beyond the coffeehouse stage:
Les Wicks
3/105 Ebley St
Bondi Junction 2022
NSW Australia
Forgive
the Hollow beings because they don't know
&
the gutters shall be filled
with
all the gentle calves
and
the souls of rotten man
that
never fill all the right ways
&
so letting go
is
the answer for you too
so
come skip along
into
the waves of letting go of prophecy
&
no one will ever be
safely
delivered from all of our hands
&
so pathways
are
corpses setting by
waiting
for the rot to come in
pray,
beg, plead to survive
ask
for a little more time
because
the darkness is coming
light
doesn't last forever
Stirring is a monthly, online literary collection which prides itself in
collecting the best of the web's burgeoning writers for publication.
Typically it publishes a script, several short
stories, and around ten poems each issue. Stirring also offers free
literary critiques and link exchanges.
Erin Elizabeth
Editor-in-Chief, Stirring
http://thunder.prohosting.com/~stirring
The work in this ezine is copyright by the various
authors. Respect their right to creative ownership.
"Above Ground Testing" is copyright ©2000. Please write
for permission to copy. Next month's theme, "Spring-new life, renewal,
restoration", anything along that theme.
"Avant Garde Times" is also needing submissions. If you
want to experiment with your writing, send me your work avantgarde@angelfire.com
To contribute, subscribe, enquire about being "site of the month", submit
a classified ad, or just say 'hi' e-mail me at:
pabear_7@yahoo.com