iniquity press / vendetta books
Category: poetry books| January 22nd, 2009
Dave Roskos
is a people’s publisher, he’s from the old school where you still use a printer and old-fashioned ink, and staples, and wrinkled poems that come in via the mail, and the poems in BIG HAMMER reflect a vision of America that is unfathomable to those in the suits & ties and even those with the ponytails and the birkenstocks. His poems are written by auto mechanics and plumbers and ferriers and people who know the difference between fuel injection and carburetors. Who still find old tires on the side of the road with some good tread still left on them and know how to get them on the rim and tie a come-along belt to cinch it to get the air in (use soap). Dave Roskos loves poetry and loves making books and loves the written word and he does something about it………….mark weber, 21jan09
Dave Roskos began writing poetry in 1979; co-founded the Proletkult Poetry Circus with Chris Aubry, in 1987 at The Court Tavern; Founded Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books and Big Hammer Magazine in 1988. Has been published around a hundred times; was a regular contributor to Dionysos, The Journal of Literature & Addiction (Addiction Studies Dept., U of Seattle); has two poems in the Meat section of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry; work forthcoming in several more anthologies. Played alto saxophone/screamed, was a core-member of New Brunswick based Noise bands: Black Motorist, The Lotusates, The Dustbunnies, STAR69 (aka F-hole). Was a fringe member of Philadelphia-based DRAGONBALL. Played War Pigs with Alice Donut once. He has a son named Ayler and works as a furniture mover, and is trying to age gracefully and Focus On Sanity.
Big Hammer No. 13
In Memory of my Sister Mary Beth Roskos & of our friend & fellow poet Dave Church, a pure product of America. Front a back cover photos by Donald Eng. Other photos found at flea market. For whom who keeps a record: Angela Mark, Matt Borkowski, rjs, Ken Greenley, Jim Cohn, Ingrid Swanberg, Joseph Dorazio, Tom Kryss, Douglas Blazek, Alan Catlin, Richard Vargas, Sam Friedman, Fredrick Zydek, Stephen Larson, Lamont Steptoe, Troy Edelhauser, Kevin Sweeney, Boni Joi, John Bennett, Beth Borrus, W.D. Ehrhart, Linda Lerner, Yictove, Julie Buffaloe-Yoder, Misa Levey, Miriam Halliday-Borkowski, Lyn Lifshin, Isis Aquarian, Jen Dunford, A.D. Winans, Brad Kohler, Dave Church, Mather Schneider, David Pointer, Andrew Gettler, Marc Olmsted, John Lunar Richey, John Grey, Stephanie Hiteshew, Michael Basinski, M. Kettner, Guy R. Beining, Normal, Bill Barrett, Beth Borrus, Michael Estabrook, Christopher Thomas, Robert Head, Jack Phillips Lowe, Maryellen Lebeda-Parra, Paul Sohar, Janos Lackfi, Mark Weber, Dave Roskos, Kell Robertson, David Elsey, Brendan Kirk, Heath Row, Simon Perchik, Tom Obrzut, Gerald Locklin, Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, Janice Blue, Dennis Wayne, Ed Galing, Todd Moore, Michael Pingarron, Donald Lev, Michael Shores, Cardinal Cox, Joe Weil, Tom Page, B.Z. Niditch, Anthony George. Edited & built by Dave Roskos at POB 54 Manasquan NJ 08736. Copyrite 2009. All rites belong to poets & artists. Special Thanks Brother George (Hoernig III) for scanning the photos & fixing the sink. The Iniquity Press web-page incl. the Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books book-store is here…or send a snail-mail to Dave Roskos at POB 54 Manasquan NJ 08736. iniquitypressAThotmailDOTcom.
Big Hammer is edited & built by Dave Roskos at POB 54, Manasquan, NJ, 08736 Copyrite 2009 / all rites belong to contributors.
20 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Something is Burning in Brooklyn
Poems by Linda Lerner
Published 2009 by Iniquity Press. All poems and art copyright by the artists. ISBN-1-877968-45-5. Layout and design by Angela Mark. Cover by Angela Mark. Title page by Michael Shores. Some of these poems have/will appear in: Mobius, Poesy, New Verse News, The Brownstone Poets, Big Scream, Nomad’s Choir, Northwoods Journal, Rockburts Review, in No Earthly Sense Gets It Right (Lummox Press).
Something is Burning in Brooklyn is a collection of poems situated in a particular place, but could be anywhere in this country. My hope is that people who live elsewhere, who’ve never been to New York City, will find commong ground in the hardships caused by gentrification, have known what it’s like to be targeted as different, other, who have also pursued a dream, however unlikely to be realized, watched a mother slowly loos her grip on reality, as they are transformed to brother or sister by her dementia. –Linda Lerner
Linda Lerner is the author of twelve poetry collections, the most recent Living in Dangerous Times (Presa Press(2007 & City Woman(2006), March Street Press; (both Small press Picks); Because You Can’t I Will, Pudding House, (2005); they also published her Greatest Hits, 1989-2002. March Street Press published The Bowery And Other Poems which was a Small Press Review pick of the month. She has been twice nominated for a pushcart prize. In 1995 Andrew Gettler and Linda began Poets on the line, (http://echonyc.com/~poets) the first poetry anthology on the Net for which she received two grants for the Nam Vet Poets issue. She has given numerous readings in the tri state New York City area as well as around the country. Her poems have / will recently appeared in Tribes, Onthebus, The Paterson Literary Review, The New York Quarterly, Home Plant News, Van Gogh’s Ear et al.
Angela Mark has been exhibiting and publishing her work since 1979. She has created illustrations for numerous books and magazines, including Wisdom Magazine, Byrenlee Press, Spirit of Change, Science Fiction Eye, and Dream Network. She is also currently studying to be a shakuhachi flute master / teacher.
Michael Shores is a fine artist, illustrator, musician and fledgling writer whose real life exploits approach fiction. He was recently voted one of the world’s best erotic artists. His art has been featured in magazines, books and CD’s. More on Angela Mark and Michael Shores can be found here…
8 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
light dark light
by Tom Kryss
Thanks to the editors of the following magazines and anthologies where several of these items first appeared: Bagozine — Split Whiskey Press | Bathtub Gin — Pathwise Press | Big Hammer — Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books | Come Together: Imagining Peace — Bottom Dog Press | Green Birds Skating — Green Panda Press | Guerilla Poetics Project | Poetry Bay | The Clevelanders — Kirpan Press. Print on front cover by Tom Kryss. Copyrite 2009 by Tom Kryss. ISBN-1-877968-44-7
15 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Sun Ra
by Harvey Pekar
Sun Ra, ISBN 1-877968-28-5, copyrite 1975, 2002 by Harvey Pekar. Photos copyrite 2002 by Lamont b. Steptoe. This essay was originally published in Coda 12, issue 139, No. 7 (June-July 1975) Reprinted with permission of Harvey Pekar. Suggestions for further… Space Is The Place. The Lives and Times of Sun Ra by John F. Szwed (DA CAPO Press). Saturn Research, POB 7124, Chicago, IL, 60607. Evidence Music, 1100 E. Hector St. Suite 392 Conshohocken, PA., 19428. Delmark Records/Jazz Record Mart 444 N.Wabash, Chicago, IL, 60611. Harvey Pekar can be reached at POB 18471, Cleveland Hts., Ohio, 44118
“It’s after the end of the world. Don’t you know that yet?”
–Sun Ra
5 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Bits of Birth
Poems by Michael Pingarron
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Introduction by David Cope. Dedicated to David Cope, my first major ear, and Bertha Sanchez, my love and wife. Bits of Birth copyright 1990 by Michael Pingarron. ISBN -1-877968-01-3. Cover photo by Sharon Guynup. Thanks to the editors of the following magazines where some of these poems first appeared: Ball Peen, Big Hammer, Big Scream, Black Swan Review, Lactuca, Linden Lane, Nada Poems, Passaic Review, Some, St. Mark’s Poetry Project Newsletter.
I first met Michael Pingarron years ago, at a party full of yakking poets and artists. He was recovering from a terrible accident, rebuilding his speech and cognitive functions by force of will. His speech was slow; he had to think lond and hard before completing a thought, and yet his ideas came, carefully worded – precise. The party swirled around us – drunken imitations of Shakespeare, arguments over politics, the secret language of the come-on – yet under all this, Michael slowly unraveled all he knew of Machado, Hernandez, Lorca, sharing his heart’s tradition with me, a student of these poetics. Later, when I first saw his writings, the surrealism struck me – I spotted elements of Neruda, intense and bottomless images like Lorca’s in Romancero Gitano. We talked about Lorca’s images, and he has said that Neruda showed him “how the inner self and outer worlds are merely sublime expressions of each other.” Mike has also mentioned Rilke, Vallejo, Whitman and Poe as influences, and has come back time and again to Jack Spicer, citing his brevity and tragic humor. Humor’s a keynote in Pingarro’s poems, too – they’re funny, even in his serious moments. You’ll find the decay of the green world here, the sadness of beauty passing forever, the injustices perpetrated by the rich and powerful, and those tender moments of love for another as well. These Bits of Birth “transform pain creatively.” and display Michael’s will to give this life purpose despite the suffering that is everywhere. David Cope, January 1989
5 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
burlesque
by ed galing
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Burlesque, copyrite 2005 by Ed Galing. ISBN 1-877968-33-1 Cover art by Michael Shores. Title page illustration by Angela Mark. Ed Galing runs Peerless Press at 3435 Mill Rd., Hatboro, PA, 19040. Two of these poems were first published by Ed Ochester and Judith Vollmer in 5 AM. Thanks.
The world of Burlesque, while it was alive, was a fascination roller coaster ride for sex starved individuals during the years when sex was still considered something nobody talked about. Those early times that I lived in, from about 1935 until the start of World War Two, were hectic exciting days. Where else but a burlesque show could one see a bit of skin, laugh at the raucous jokes of the baggy pant comedians, or watch chorus girls doing an ensemble; enjoy stars such as Ann Corio, Margie Hart, Georgia Southern, and many others, do a strut and a strip across the stage to the noise of the drum, and the shouts of us guys who reveled in the naked scene.
In Philadelphia, where I lived, I attended the Troc Theatre, at 10th and Arch streets. This seedy part of the city consisted of jewelry stores, honky tonks, dirty streets, and trolly cars;…and the Troc, with it’s run down building, and full length posters of the strip stars outside, before you walked in and paid your dollar bill…
Although Burlesque has vanished, I have tried to keep it alive in memory, and offer these poems as a kind of fond salute to those days when I was young and innocent. Ed Galing, 2004
6 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Early Stream Of Consciousness And Allied Writing & Other Essays
by Harvey Pekar
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Early Stream of Consciousness and Allied Writing…Page 1. Early 20th Century Russian Avant Garde Writing…Page 21. Andrei Bely…Page 44. Early Stream of Consciousness and Allied Writing was first published in Grinning Idiot Magazine. Review of The Twenties and Before the Storm first published in The Village Voice. Andrei Bely (An addition to “Early Stream of Consciousness and Allied Writing”),” first published in Work in Progress Magazine. Front cover illustration by Angela Mark. Back cover photo of Harvey by Donald Fiene, reprinted from the Comics Journal, No. 97, April 1985. Copyrite 2004 by Harvey Pekar. ISBN 1-877968-32-3
6 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Shadow Of Book
by Jen Dunford
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Jen Dunford’s poetry has appeared in Barbaric Yawp, Big Hammer, and Staple Gun. Copyrite 2008. all rites belongs to poets / artists. ISBN 1-877968-40-4. Introduction by Dave Church. Illustrations by Angela Mark
I came to know Jen Dunford in 1996 while she was a freshman in high shool. At the time I was acting as the poetry editor of the now defunct 24/7 Art Zine. Jen had submitted some poems for consideration. I had never received a submission from anyone that young, and was hesitant at first to include her in a publication not meant for the living room coffee table. I worried what her parents would think. I gave in after deciding that if someone that young took the time to pick up the zine (distributed for free around town), read it and submit work of their own, then that someone wasn’t going to leave it hanging around for their parents to read in the first place. Plus, she stated in her cover letter that she was a fan of William Burroughs. That alone provided me with the final stamp of approval.
I guess you could say that first batch of poems she submitted were the typical “coming of age” poems that all young poets experience. But hers had a sharp edge to them that immediately caught my attention. They weren’t contrived or overly refined replicas of dead poets. They were raw “in your face poems” about life, love, and loss. But what truly made them different was that they transcended the personal by speaking for all of us who at one time or another have experienced that seemingly desperate search for someone to share time and space with. When a fifteen year old kid is writing poetry that breaks through their own shell, you can’t help but take notice and realize they’re already ahead of the curve in the poetry game.
When the poem I selected for publication found its way into print, I received a thank you note from her along with a request to send me more poems she thought might need some editing. For me, it was an unusual request, but one I couldn’t turn down from someone so young and full of potential. It also marked the beginning of a correspondence through letters lasting throughout her high school career and beyond.
I met Jen for the first time when she asked me to give a reading for her “poetry club” at school. She was shy almost to a fault, and very polite – like you would expect a young lady attending a prestigious catholic high school to be. It was hard for me to imagine her as the sometimes “sassy” character who showed up in her poems. It wasn’t at all hard for me though to imagine her going off to college and a career of her choice, and that I would become a good yet distant memory in the years to follow. I never imagined her to “take the road less traveled” onceher high school years came to an end.
I didn’t hear from her again until the fall after her graduation. She phoned to tell me she wasn’t ready for college. She had moved away from her parents and in with a group of friends in a “not so nice” part of the city. She was working at a hot dog stand. I let her know of my disappointment as gently as I could put it, and encouraged her to stay in touch. I think what bothered me most though was her lackadaisical attitude – an attitude that reflected the lifestyle of the crowd she was hanging around with.
I had come to realize that beneath the bravado and precocious insights found in her poetry, she was deepdown a “scared little kid” who lacked the confidence in her abilities to “make it” in the so-called “normal world.” But most of all I worried about her increasing drug use. I had been down that road before and was quite familiar with the bumps and detours along the way. As time passed I began to feel like her surrogate father. I’d get mad and lecture her. To her credit, she never complained or made excuses for the situation she was struggeling with. She never made you think she was feeling sorry for herself. Somehow, her self-deprecating humor managed to carry the day, afford her enough strength to carry on. I remember telling her one day that the day would come when I wouldn’t trust her at all that much because of the drugs. I told her that because I knew it would hurt. And I knew she had to know that kind of hurt before she’d ever get that “monkey off her back.”
I don’t know if any of what I ever said to her really worked, or if it was divine intervention – if there is such a thing. Perhaps it’s more honest to simply say she did it on her own. I don’t know how (in the years that followed) she managed to garner college degrees in english and psychology while suffering a drug habit and practically living in the streets. I don’t know of other hurdles she had to jump over to escape that scene. I’m just glad she made it through to tell us a little bit about it. Dave Church, Providence, RI, August 14, 2008
6 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Teenage Stoned Death Games
by Brad Kohler
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Some of the poems and stories in this chapbook have appeared in the following publications: Backwash Press, Big Hammer, FUCK!, Kendra Steiner Editions Press. Special Thanks: T.M. McDade, Dave Roskos, Bill Shute, Lee Thorn. Cover art by Angela Mark. Words copyrite 2008 by Brad Kohler. Pictures copyrite 2008 by Angela Mark. ISBN 1-8777968-42-0
6 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Uncle Sam’s Portrait
by Ken Greenley
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Illustrations by Angela Mark.
Ken Greenley is a writer living and working in Denver, Colorado. The number of places he’s lived is only exceeded by the number of Jobs he’s had. Greenley like to explore the themes of class division (in a supposedly classless country), the struggle to stay spiritual in the modern world, and first-time experiences of any kind. He thinks art, particulary writing, should combat media brainwashing and examine the clash between what we’re told and what really happens. His work has appeared in numerous small press publications, such as Big Hammer, Philadelphia Poets, and The Bukowski Hangover Project.
Angela Mark runs American Living Press and Shark Art Studios, in Jamaica Plains, MA, with her husband, the artist Michael Shores. Her art work appears regularly in Big Hammer and other Small Press Publications. To see more of her work go here…
6 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
The Energy Of The Flesh
by David Roskos
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Special Thanx: Matt Borkowski, David Aaron Clark, Ken Greenley, Peter Money, Harold Stacey, Lamont Steptoe, John Richey, S. Clay Wilson. Acknowledgements: Some of these poems have appeared (or are said to appear shortly) in the following publications: Arbella, The Aquarian, Ball Peen, Big Hammer, Big Scream, Birth of Tragedy, Black Swan Review, Catalyst, COVER, Down Town, Half Dozen of the Other, Lactuca, Lame Duck, Long Shot, The National Alliance, The New Brunswick Reporter, Untitled, Without Halos. —Thanx. Copyright 1990 by David Roskos. Cover Copyright 1989 by S. Clay Wilson. ISBN 1-877968-00-5
5 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Fall & All
Book One
by David Roskos
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Fall & All Book One, copyrite 2000 by David Roskos. Some of the poems in Fall & All were first published in The Black Swan Review, Big Scream, Big Hammer, New Jersey Bowel & Bladder Control, The Paterson Literary Review, Dionysos – The Journal of Literature & Addiction and in Poets on the line. I’d like to thank the editors of these magazines for their commitment to small press publishing. This one is for Ayler.
5 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
UPTOWN-DOWN!
selected poems
by Matt Borkowski
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
With an introduction by Joe Weil. Special thanks to James Wolffolk, American painter, 1947-1994, who suggested the title Uptown-Down! I was going to call it A Pillar of Salt, or something else, equally ridiculous. Many of these poems have been published in the following periodicals: Arbella, Ball Peen, Big Hammer, Guillotine, Half Dozen of the Other, Long Shot. Much thanks to their editors. I also wish to thank David Roskos, a great editor and a real good friend, whose encouragement has kept me writing many times, when I couldn’t see any reason to continue.—Matt. Uptown-Down! copyrite 1999 by Matthew Borkowski, ISSN 1-877968-22-6. Front cover aerial shot of New Brunswick, NJ, taken by Mike Taylor (aka DiNarco) from the roof of Charlie Ewen’s All Ears Inn on French Street.
Matt is neither a leftist nor a reactionary, neither a street poet nor an academic. He is a great American crank, in the best tradition of W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, Charles Ives, Hugh Selby, Algren…someone truly outside the establishment, including the anti-establishment. Matt Borkowski can not be read in comfort by either the right of the left. He is an ontologist of the dispossessed, the fucked up and broken beyond all class distinctions and political lines.
Borkowski spares no one in the realm of life style leftism, including poets. He is down right brutal. It is the sort of brutality that preys not on the innocent and oppressed, but on the pretentious. We get “Ralph,” the dentist poet who makes people listen to William Carlos Williams before he works on their teeth. We get the reincarnation of Shelley as a surly gas station attendant. We are told the “worst people become poets.” Somehow, we know it is true. Matt doesen’t even spare himself. His poems on his own impotence and sense of failure are forthright in a manner that offers a much needed alternative to the “I love myself” school of poetics.
Borkowski is not a positive thinker. He reminds us that love and integrity are difficult if not impossible, that the world does not easily conform to our expectations. His mission is prophetic to the extent that he is letting us know we have all fallen short of the kingdom. He claims that “only people with no luck/really know luck/only those behind the fence know the distance.” Matt, as I’ve already said, is an ontologist, someone staked always to the ground zero of what it means to exist in a universe of incommensurates. Nothing gels, nothing goes untainted and yet he claims, “a walk is a prayer if taken well.” He is too good a poet to say whether the prayer is answered or not.
Perhaps the walking itself is the answer. To walk with “one foot in heaven/one in hell/upon the earth where all have fallen,” is the poet’s true job. Matt walks with his eyes wide open, and we receive the gift of that journey without having to suffer much of the damage it has cost him. In the end, Matt is vigilant for the rest of us, even when we’d prefer him to be less so. He has stayed awake to tell us that even God is cause for his concern: “I’m worried about God/the luck the poor don’t have, the rottings breasts of light/glimpsed through the window.” Enough bullshit. This is a great book of poems, the best I’ve read in a long time. Enjoy it. Joe Weil – more or less 7/28/98
8 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Collateral Triage
the lost books of rjs (Robert J. Sigmund)
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
The poems, titles pages, notes from Peaces, The Result Is Always Circular, and Energy Crisis Poems are reprinted here in their entirety. Original covers and artwork are not reproduced in this volume. Title of this collection suggested by Tom Kryss.
I’d like to thank rjs, Tom Kryss and Alan Horvath for their Generosity, their Poetry, and all the beautiful books and magazines they’ve made. This book would not have happened without the help of Tom Kryss.
10 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Big Hammer No. 10
January 2007
Home for Lost & Wayward Poems
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
In Memory of Michael Pingarron and Paul Gleason
Front cover photo is taken from the cover of an album entitled God Damn Great Drum Music! Hi-Infidelity Records.
Back Cover Photo of Poet Peter Orlovsky by Allen DeLoach.
I found all the other photos/art at the Flea Market.
Special Thanks to my brother George Hoernig 3, for his photo-shop skills.
Big Hammer is edited & built by Dave Roskos at POB 54, Manasquan, NJ, 08736 Copyrite 2007 / all rites belong to contributors.
10 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Big Hammer No. 12
2008
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
dedicated to the memories of Steven Worowski and Yictove
Front Cover painting by Mildred Crooks.
Back Cover art by Michael Shores.
Special thanks to my brother George Hoernig III for help w/ the photos, designing the covers.
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Big Hammer is edited & built by Dave Roskos at POB 54, Manasquan, NJ, 08736 Copyleft 2008 / all rites belong to poets / artists. ISSN – 1043-1268
“Hold it
This is an opportunity.
What’s our message?”“No message!
Too many messages!
No message!”“A little message won’t hurt…
Let us loiter together
& know one another…”
by Harry Partch
20 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Big Hammer No. 5
2002
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Welcome to Big Hammer No. 5.
Front cover photograph is of the poet Miriam Halliday – Borkowski, in 1992, in the Mission District of San Francisco. I found the Kreymborg poem in a pocket-size Proletarian paperback anthology from the teens or 20s. Can’t recall the press.
William Carlos Williams wrote of Kreymborg: “Crude symbolism is to associate emotions with natural phenomena such as anger with lightning, flowers with love it goes further and associates certain textures with. Such work is empty. It is typical of almost all that is done by the writers who fill the pages every month of such a paper as. Everything that I have done in the past – except those parts which may be called excellent – by chance, have that quality about them. It is typified by use of the word “like” or that “evocation” of the “image” which served us for a time. Its abuse is apparent. The insignificant “image” ma be “evoked” never so ably and still mean nothing. With all his faults Alfred Kreymborg never did this. That is why his work – escaping a common fault – still has value and will tomorrow have more (Spring and All).”
Again, as with No. 4, this issue of Big Hammer is dedicated to the memory of my friend, the poet, Stuart Ross. Thank you for reading Big Hammer.
copyrite 2002 all rites belong to the contributors. ISSN-1043-1268
10 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide. OUT OF PRINT
Big Hammer No. 11
Winter 2007
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
This issue is for Flea Market Vendors everywhere & for anyone who has ever been broke.
I’d like to thank the Contributors for answering the call for flea market poems, stories & pictures. It couldn’ta happened without ya. Thanks Lee Thorn, for publishing a variant version of my poem on page 51 in his magazine FUCK!
Fuck is Good. Order a copy for only 2 bucks. (Lee Thorn, Box 85571, Tucson, AZ, 85754). Thanks Todd & Theron Moore for publishing Cash Money in their magazine Saint Vitus Dance.
Send em 7 bucks for a copy, you won’t regret it: 3216 San Pedro NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87110.
Copyrite Winter 2007. all rites belong to contributors. ISSN-1043-1268
Cover photos: Jim Patton
If I ever get my hands on a dollar again I’m gonna hold on to it like it’s my only friend. –The Mississippi Sheiks
10 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Big Hammer No. 8
April 2005
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
This issue of Big Hammer is dedicated to the memory & legacy of Cleveland Poet & Humanitarian Daniel Thompson. Check out his book from Bottom Dog Press.
Front Cover: Angela Mark
Back Cover: Angela Mark
“Inclusion is always an option.” Beth Borrus said that.
“I urge you all to make magazines.” I said that.
10 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Big Hammer No. 7
2004
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
In Memory of Enid Dame & Charlie Mosler
The inspiration for this Laundromat-themed issue came from David Cope’s poem As the dryers rolled.
I had 3 of my own laundromat poems & figured it’d be a good idea for a collection. Then I discovered another editor had already had this bright idea & had seen it through into print.
I put a dollar in an envelope & wasn’t disappointed. Mail $ 1. to A.J. Michel at PMB 1057, 112 Muir Av., Hazleton, PA, 18201 for a copy of Laundry Basket: Tales of Washday Woe.
Front Cover: Angela Mark
Back Cover: Theodore A. Harris
Big Hammer No. 7 copyrite 2004. all rites belong to contributers. ISSN-1043-1268
10 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Kell Robertson
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
This chapbook consists of 3 out of print chapbooks by Kell Robertson. His first 2 books from the 1960s, which were published by Ben Hiatt on his Grande Ronde Press, & Outlaw Fires, which was published by Tom Kryss, on his black rabbit press, in Cleveland in 1989. There are 20 copies of this chapbook with black covers w/ art attached; 11 copies w/ white covers w/ art attached; & 96 copies with tan covers. January 2009. all rites belong to Kell Robertson. ISBN-1-877968-43-9
Silk sreened front cover art by Tom Kryss.
In memory of Ben Hiatt.
I did write you some stuff about Ben Hiatt didn’t? He was the first guy who really believed in my poetry. Got me started on my magazine…DESPERADO. Anyway man, give him credit for that. Maybe I should dedicate it to all the folks who gave me a shot with my writing. There have been damn few over the years. All the “fugitive” publications. And I’m honored to have Kryss doing the cover. Ride Easy. Kell Robertson, November 20, 2008
8 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
LIQUID JESUIT
by Andrew Gettler
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Some of these poems have appeared in: Beginner’s Mind Press; Boston Literary Review; Caprice; Grist On-Line; Home Planet News; Perspectives; The Register Citizen.
Liquid Jesuit copyrite 2003 by Andrew Gettler. Introduction copyrite 2003 by Linda Lerner. ISBN: 16877968-31-5. Illustrations & collages courtesy of Angela Mark & Michael Shores of American Living Press (Jamaica Plains, Mass): all rites belong to artists. Angela did the front & back cover. Long Live Andrew Gettler.
8 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide
The Pursuit of Happiness
New and selected Poems from Elizabeth, New Jersey
by Joe Weil
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
We thank the editors of the following publications for printing some of the poetry in this collection: Ball Peen, Big Hammer, Big Scream, Palanquin Press, Red Brick Review, Lips, The Black Swan Review, The Paterson Literary Review, New Jersey Bowel & Bladder Control, Bum Rush the Page (Three Rivers Press), Identity Lessons (Penguin Books), Journal of New Jersey Poets, Ode to Elizabeth & Other Poems, In Praise We Enter, A Portable Winter, New Labour Forum.
Other books by Joe Weil: Ode to Elizabeth and Other Poems edited & published by Dwyer Jones, 1995. I’ve Seen the Light. Herschel Silverman’s Beehive Press, 1997. 15 Cinquains for a Rainy Day or Two. Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books, 1998. limited edition of 50 copies. In Praise We Enter. Rain Bucket Press, 1998. A Portable Winter with an introduction by Harvey Pekar. Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books, 1999.
This Book is Dedicated to Maria Mazziotti Gillan who has helped my sorry ass on many an occasion.
8 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
There’s beauty everywhere, we know that. But no one perceives it all. It’s easy to be impressed with towering mountain ranges, but Joe’s knocked out over two old women gabbing over a broken picket fence, or his Uncle Pete not killing a deer after he thought he’d wanted to all his life, or riding home in a Yellow Cab and hanging out in the cool basement with the washing machine rocking on the uneven floor (“a convulsed and bulky tap dancer”) or the Cuban lady “who claims to be a first cousin of Art Linkletter twice removed.”
I like it that Joe’s read a lot, that he’s knowledgeable and not afraid to show it in his work. I like it that he refers to “Amacord” and Braque and Machado and Matthew Arnold and Berlioz and Cuchulainn, and, for that matter, to Roberto Clemente, Thelonious Monk, Dorothy Hamill and Phil Harris. I know who they are, he knows who they are – might as well write about them.
I like Joe’s precision of language, his insights: “I need a place (Elizabeth, New Jersey) where poets aren’t expected / I would go nuts in a town where everyone read Pound…I don’t think Manhattan needs another poet / I don’t think Maine could use me,” and, lower on the page, “Where nothing is sacred, everything is sacred / Where no one writes, the air seems strangely / charged with metaphor.” On the strength of that I recommend his work to you. –Harvey Pekar
Temporary Guaranteed Shelter
by Ken Greenley
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
2004. Illustrations by Mike Romoth.
Kevin Greenley is a writer who lives in Denver, Colorado. The number of places he’s lived is only exceeded by the number of job’s he’s had. Greenley likes to explore the themes of class division (in a supposedly classless country), the struggle to stay spiritual in the modern world, and the growth episodes that occur in childhood. He thinks art, particularly writing, should combat media brainwashing, and should examine the clash between what we’re told and what really happens. He tries to make his material as fuuny as possible, because he finds it hard to make modern life seriously, and considers it his mission “to make people laugh and think at the same time.”
Mike Romoth is a writer/visual artist living in Denver, Colorado. He has worked for over ten years as a freelance editor and writer for an environmental research publication from Lexis Nexis. His indepth knowledge of the on-going War Against The Natural World prompted him to open his studio/gallery Apocalypse Boutique in the year 2000. In the summer of 2002, he had an article on climate change published as the cover story for the Village Voice. He is currently working with the editor of Howling Dog Press on a book length manuscript on global warming and climate change, tentatively titled Imminent Impact: Climate Change and the Crime of the Century. His work is regularly published in the Omega online journal, which can be found at HowlingDogPress.com
8 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
For The Past Lifetime
by John Richey
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
This collection includes recent writings as well as poems previously published in Rolling Stone, Big Hammer, Half Dozen of the Other, and AlieNation (Unreadable Books, 1986). Art: Khue-Tu Nguyen, 1992. Photo: Lynn Forrest, 1992. For The Past Lifetime, 1992 by John Richey. ISBN-1-877968-06-4.
John Richey lives in New Jersey. He is lyricist of Lunar Bear Ensemble and word-collage, tape manipulator for Machine Gun.
Lunar Bear began in the 80’s with John “Lunar” Richey reciting verse along side multi-percussionist Richard “Bear” Graham. Lunar Bear performed often at Rutgers and in NYC (Nuyorican Poetry Cafe, Life Cafe). Lunar teamed up with the Billy Snow’s band, Young Turks, while continuing to do duets with Bear during the 80’s. When Billy left for England, terminating the Turks, – Bear and Lunar formed the Lunar Bear Ensemble. During this time, Robert Musso asked Lunar to join Machine Gun – a NYC Jazz/Avant unit – as the tape manipulating sound and word collagist. Machine Gun released three CD’s which recieved rave press reviews (Rolling Stone/ Spin) and frequently toured of the East Coast. Machine Gun’s final performance was at Holland’s Jazz Marathon in 1995. Upon Bear’s departure to Memphis the Ensemble continued as the Lunar Ensemble. In 2007 they released 
“OffBeat” and in 2008 they released “Acts of Love” During the 90/2000 Lunar performed with one or more musicians at many readings in NYC (Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, The New Museum, The New Music Gallery, Context & Mothe)r. Many of the times the musician had been Jack Petruzzelli (Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright) who works so well in creating “soundscape” collaborations. Much more on Lunar Bear Ensemble and John Richey can be found here…
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Harvey Pekar
on Frank Norris, Daniel Fuchs & George Ade
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Artwork by Angela Mark and Michael Shores.
8 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide
Lyrical Grain, Doggerel Chaff & Pedestrian Preoccupations
by David Roskos
Iniquity Press / Vendetta Books
Some of these poems first appeared in the following publications: Anti-Lawn, Ash, Long Shot, DIONYSOS, The Journal of Literature & Addiction, Bouillabaisse, Down Town, Half Dozen of the Other, Windo Panes, Flipside, The National Alliance, Lame Duck, Lost & Found Times, HEATHENzine, Quimby, Drive-by Books, Nerve Bundle Review, Jack & Jill (Off), The Energy of the Flesh.–Thanks Editors.
Matt Borkowski’s Father in the Hallow Moon used here as an epigraph, reprinted from Ball Peen No. 1.
Copyrite 1996 by Iniquity Press. ISBN 16877968-09-9
Cover by Lorin Hughes
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