Rattapallax 11

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Centenary of Pablo Neruda
Martín Espada, Marciano, Luciana Souza, Marjorie Agosín, Nicomedes Suárez-Araúz, Edward Hirsch, Edwin Torres, Cecilia Vicuna, Ivón Gordon Vailakis, Kyi May Kaung & Emma Sepúlveda

9 Young Poets from Chile
Gustavo Barrera, Carlos Baier, Javier Bello Alejandra Del Rio, Lila Diaz, Damsi Figueroa Rodrigo Rojas, Rafael Rubio & Leonardo Sanhueza. (Spanish & English)

Fela Kuti & AIDS
Antibalas, DJ Spooky, Breyten Breytenbach, Timothy Liu, Toni Blackman, Sapphire & Clara Sala

Roger Bonair-Agard, Charles Bernstein, Hedi Kaddour, Brenda Coultas, Lyn Heijian, Fernando Sanchez Sorondo, Andre Luiz Pinto, Elena Alexander, Charles Martin, Philip Nikolayev, Fernando Paixao, Emily XYZ, Martin Smartt Bell, and many more. Artwork by WK Interact, Abe Lincoln Jr. & others.

Rattapallax 11: A number of literary magazines claim a focus on international writing; Rattapallax is one of the few that truly feels like it does. This issue features poets from Chile, works in translation (often side-by-side with the originals), and a section (with accompanying CD!) celebrating Pablo Neruda. The poems here tend toward the political, as in Urayoan Noel's "Puerto Rican Pastoral": "This is the death of my chloroform island: / Puerto Rico / drowning in sanitary odes / Puerto Rico / the naked smiles, the failed city, / the 7-Eleven / the formless prophecy of starlight that explodes." Rattapallax is a good choice for those with a taste for the experimental, or for rhythmic poems with a righteous, streetcorner sensibility. (Tom Savage, "City of God": "Who sweeps the streets in the city of God? / Who does the laundry in the city of God? / Who runs the gyms in the city of God?") But fear not if you like your poetry a bit more conventional; there are poems for you too. Fredrick Zydek's "Mammoth Hall" is a museum meditation on the passing of time and the mortality of us all: "We will be gobbled into the dreams of stone, / a massive nothinglessness fading like autumn." Ah! -- - Jennifer Gomoll from NewPages