BigCityLit - New York Edition

This first issue of Big City Lit™ is actually its fourth. We compiled September, October and November (each issue more accomplished than the one before) at a suburban cyberhouse not of our own construction where, predictably, the accommodations became inhospitable and the landlord invasive. Rather like having to prepare two Thanksgiving dinners, one in the City and another at the in-laws' place in Jersey, and then serve them simultaneously, we hustled to prepare two December issues, each with its own separate menu, so that no guest or contributor, here or there, would be disappointed. Yet, guests and contributors who RSVP'd to Jersey were told that dinner had been canceled; no gracious redirection to the City dinner--just the typical divorce mischief. So be it. The table here is lit and laden. What's more, we begin our resumption with an archive, our larder, well-prepared and well-preserved.

In This Issue

'Degrees of Apprenticeship: The MFA,' the first in our feature series focusing on MFA programs, presents selected poems contributed by students, grads and faculty from Brooklyn College with remarks by Senior Poetry Editor, Nicholas Johnson (a 1980 alumnus) and a preface by Director, L.S. Asekoff, plus student reviews of "Flashes Amid the Thunder," our selected highlights from the first four issues of RATTAPALLAX, the journal Time Out called, 'the visceral multimedia hit of poetry.' Juxtaposing essays, 'Why Do an MFA?' and 'A Master of Free Arts,' articulate considerations involved in the choice. Brooklyn Poet Laureate D. Nurkse also contributes work.

Live Performance

D. Nurkse and the Brooklyn College poets appear in live recording session on Monday, December 18, 7:30 p.m. at the KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street in Manhattan. Rattapallax 'Flashes' poets appeared in live recording session on Monday, November 13, at Caffè Taci (110th & B'way) and later at The Underground Lounge (107th & WEA).

Series

Poet-in-Residence Veronica Golos profiles the new 14th Street Y, while Elena Kondracki evokes brick and mortar with a series review of a recent event there. Paul MacDonald writes on the ambitious 17-venue First Annual New York Music and Poetry Festival (November 10-12), and Director, Ed Friedman offers retro- and prospective in his essay on the annual New Year's Day reading at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church. 'Global Warming' at CBGB's is this year's edition of Bruce Weber's highly successful alternative event.

Reviews

Larissa Shmailo's review of Transcriptions of Daylight, a first book of poems by Michael T. Young (Rattapallax Press, 2000), is complemented by her interview with the author, just returned from his West Coast reading tour.

New Year's Eve Special Poetry Feature

We conclude the year 2000 and bridge to the January issue a day early with 'Global Poem Zones,' a collection of poems and essays by poet, painter and master traveler Patrick Henry, along with Martin Mitchell, Robert Minhinnick, and others, from nearly all of the world's 24 time zones, together with an article by Ram Devineni, co-coordinator of poetry festivals in nearly 150 cities worldwide for 'Dialogues Across Civilizations,' a United Nations project which takes place the last week in March. Joyce Carol Oates will be among those reading at the U.N. itself.

Pretty

Bridge: A River
Cheryl Yellowhawk

The strength of one frail hand in a dim room
Somewhere in Brooklyn, patient and assured,
Restores my sacred duty to the Word.
-- Derek Walcott

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