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Forklift, Ohio – Winter 2007

A Journal of Poetry, Cooking, and Light Industrial Safety

Number 16

Winter 2007

Annual

Rachel Yoder

I have carried Forklift, Ohio on my person at all times for the last month. Aside from revealing that I’m a nerd, this also indicates that Forklift is the perfect accessory for any engagement (poetry is this season’s trendy clutch). It’s dense (70 poems in 146 pages), and fantastic for show and tell with like-minded nerdy writer-types.

I have carried Forklift, Ohio on my person at all times for the last month. Aside from revealing that I’m a nerd, this also indicates that Forklift is the perfect accessory for any engagement (poetry is this season’s trendy clutch). It’s dense (70 poems in 146 pages), and fantastic for show and tell with like-minded nerdy writer-types. “Look at this cool journal,” I said to my friend Mark, first showing him the 1950s-style illustration of a nuclear bomb bunker, then the photo of prize-winning sheep at the Ohio State Fair, and finally the random excerpted indices (“‘Wild’ units (See Freaks),” etc.). Then I said, “Listen to this,” and read him the poem I happened to be on, Zachary Schomberg’s “The New Life.” It began, “Your limbs / will be torn off / in a farm accident.” When I was done, Mark said, “Hey, not bad,” paused, then added, “That was actually really good.” This sums up my overall reaction to the poems in Forklift – Hey, not bad; in fact, actually really good. Forklift is the kind of journal that you can open up to any page and find something surprising, interesting, musical, funny and/or weird. Like Mathias Svalina’s opening poem, “Creation Myth,” which begins, “In the beginning there was a void. There was a tuba. The tuba wanted to play some polka.” Or Sommer Browning’s, “We make love. We watch more television.”: “You pull up your bowling alleys disguised as khaki pants and reach for my boat disguised as a hand.” Other poets I enjoyed (among the many) in this issue: Kevin Oberlin with his poems in chart form, Richard Siken, and Allison Titus. And let’s not forget the recipes: “Port Wine Reduction in a Ton of Butter with Pumpkin Ravioli or Dead Animal of Your Choice” by Rebecca Loudon and “Punked Out Pumpkin Chicken Chili” by Ariana-Sophia Kartsonis. The final word on Forklift – yum.
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