Gargoyle – Number 48

Gargoyle 48 confuses me. The cover is entirely taken up by a photo of two women in low cut shirts looking like they want to punch me. On the back, I see names such as E. Ethelbert Miller. The first page is a long political quote from Gore Vidal. The non-fiction reads like fiction, the poetry reads like prose and prose reads like poetry. I think Gargoyle would be pleased with this review. They seem to strive to be surprising and fresh. Their website explains that issues have been published on cassette tapes and that others have featured writers from Charles Bukowski to Rita Dove.

Gargoyle 48 confuses me. The cover is entirely taken up by a photo of two women in low cut shirts looking like they want to punch me. On the back, I see names such as E. Ethelbert Miller. The first page is a long political quote from Gore Vidal. The non-fiction reads like fiction, the poetry reads like prose and prose reads like poetry. I think Gargoyle would be pleased with this review. They seem to strive to be surprising and fresh. Their website explains that issues have been published on cassette tapes and that others have featured writers from Charles Bukowski to Rita Dove. The key word here is eclectic, and at 362 pages, Gargoyle 48 contains plenty to be excited about. Sarah Wolfson offers up two engaging and irreverent prose-poems about meat tenderizers as home decorations and animal taxonomy: “The white elephant is mislabeled as such. The title sticks. Every one hereafter is severely disappointed by what is only a light pinkish area around her eyes.” Ron Androla offers up four quirky poems, one of which begins, “george harrison is ash, / entirely molecule-sized,” while Neil Boyack gives us a great, disquieting short-short titled, “A Chair in the Shower.” I could go on, but I am already out of space. Gargoyle is a magazine to pick up, flip to a random page and know you will find something interesting if not excellent. I am ashamed that I’ve lived in D.C. this long unaware of Gargoyle’s existence. [Gargoyle, P.O. Box 6216 Arlington, VA 22206-0216. Email: [email protected]. Single issue: $10. www.atticusbooks.com/gargoyle/gargoyle.html] – Lincoln Michel