Carve Magazine – Summer 2004

Carve is a slim volume featuring the work of six poets, five of whom hail from Massachusetts, the journal’s former home base. One of the six poets presents “A Birthday Acrostic for Mark Lamoureux,” Lamoureux being a contributor in Carve’s first issue. On the title page interested poets are requested to “please inquire before submitting.” It all lends a certain air of clubbiness to this volume. Still, that sense should not deter anyone from picking up a copy of Carve. These six are masterful poets, pushing language to work in new ways. The poems are oblique enough to maintain interest and challenge, but not so obscure as to alienate. Carve is a slim volume featuring the work of six poets, five of whom hail from Massachusetts, the journal’s former home base. One of the six poets presents “A Birthday Acrostic for Mark Lamoureux,” Lamoureux being a contributor in Carve’s first issue. On the title page interested poets are requested to “please inquire before submitting.” It all lends a certain air of clubbiness to this volume. Still, that sense should not deter anyone from picking up a copy of Carve. These six are masterful poets, pushing language to work in new ways. The poems are oblique enough to maintain interest and challenge, but not so obscure as to alienate. Jess Mynes, in the poem “in West Virginia, in 1938” asks, “suppose it foretells / a multitude / of kissing? / hope is too like despair / accustomed to the open throat / for sorrow is so often a tidy / secret.” In “M,” from a series entitled “Threnodies,” Christopher Rizzo engages in terrific sound play. “Once by the Pacific, Maud cherished / the sea she saw new eyed. An undulation / cryptic, lit glittery and gulls / were prows, proud and crowded in element.” You may not have the special knock to gain entry into this club, but the curtains are pulled back at the window. Take a peek at this elite class of poets. [Carve, 221 W. Lincoln, #2, Ithaca, NY 14850. E-mail: [email protected]. Single issue $5. www.fishblog.blogspot.com] – DM