THE ROBERTSON CONNECTION: PILOT & CHICAGO REVIEW

For those in the Buffalo area, Matt Chambers & Andrea Strudensky, co-editors of the annual poetry journal PILOT, will be launching their inaugural issue at 7:00 pm, Friday, Sept 1 at Rust Belt Books on Allen Street. The launch coincides with the launch of Sarah Campbell's P-Queue. Though I haven't yet seen the current issue of P-Queue, both mags are astonishing - each of them powerhouses pack'd with innovative verse from both established and emerging poets.


The first issue of Pilot features work by Boi-Lucia Gbaya, Allen Fisher, Alan Halsey, Lisa Robertson, Jeff Derkson, Rachel Zolf, Chris Fritton, Karen Mac Cormack, Ashton Royce, Angela Szcsepaniak, Rodrigo Toscano, Kevin Thurston, Geoff Hlibchuck, Derek Beaulieu, Adrian Clarke, Redell Olsen, Ric Royer and Tony Lopez.

The mix, decidely Brit heavy, is a wonderful blend of verbo-visual work. Further, this issue includes an audio CD which contains an improvisational spoken word piece by poet, performance /visual artist Mike Basinski. For further information contact the editors at: 306 Clemens Hall, English Department, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260... or via email at: mjc6@buffalo.edu. Well worth taking the time to inquire




CHICAGO REVIEW. 51:4/52:1. Spring 2006. As always, essential reading. Sizable portion of this one devoted to Lisa Robertson, thus a pleasure to read in conjunction with PILOT. Includes a Robertson checklist, an interview with Robertson by Kai Fierle-Hedrick & essays on (around) Robertson by Benjamin Friedlander, Christine Stewart, Jennifer Scappettone, & Joshua Clover.

Robertson on the syllable, a passage from Fierle-Hedrick's interview: "About syllables - I mean that nubby material edging up of consonants against airy vowelness in a line. How for me a line has to have a presence in this way - this sound structure I go for at first intuitively, then tweak by making small moves and shifts and adjustments so there is no sonic flattening within a line. It has to, for me, have this sort of full knobbly quality..."

Also included in this issue of CR are poems, essays reviews unrelated to Robinson. For further info, google the site.