#1

is a 50-page zine of poetry and essays. As the title suggests, this zine features content with political flavor. Art with political content is always difficult to do well; it can be too tempting to use poetry to impart an ideological lesson. The funniest poem in this issue is “State of the Nation” by Michael Ceraolo, which is a rant about the fulfillment shenanigans that he was forced to go through when he attempted to subscribe to the Nation magazine. Seth Ferranti, who serving 25 years in prison as a drug war prisoner, contributes several eloquent poems on prison life. “Strip search” turns commands from a prison guard into a sad commentary on prison life. This zine commits a misdemeanor by sprinkling cartoons by some artist throughout the magazine. It’s hard to say who the cartoonist is because the cartoons are reduced to fit under the poems and all the writing is illegible. [CM]