Issue Forty-Nine!! (PART TWO)

We are pleased to present the second gesture of our 49th issue, this time worn by Operative Dillon, who took the piece to Bonnaroo, in Manchester, TN. Later, we will see exactly what he brought back. We submit:

ISSUE FORTY-NINE POINT TWO (7/15/13):

featuring

“Scientific Method”

by James Tadd Adcox

Operative: Dillon J. Welch (Manchester, TN)

About the author: James Tadd Adcox is the author of The Map of the System of Human Knowledge, available here. He lives in Chicago.

About the operative: Dillon J. Welch lives in a hole in New Hampshire. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Fiddleback, Gargoyle, PANK, Hobart & others. He is Poetry Co-Editor for the online quarterly, Swarm. Find him at: ratrapss.tumblr.com.

Empirical Data #1: Issue 49 (Part One) Action Photos!!

We’re just thrilled to present the first grouping of Action Shots from Issue 49, a three-poem series brought to us by James Tadd Adcox. The first piece is worn here by Operative Afra al-Mussawir in Austin, TX (with commentary by the operative!):

The Vehicle AKA the Wheelchair

If you stare at a wheelchair long enough, will it become a small bird?

*

If you stare at a woman in a wheelchair long enough, will she become nameless and comforting?

Ready to Work Out

and

At the Wheelchair Fitness Center

…where the poem sparked an unexpected and bewildering debate as to whether it was really possible for a bird to remain nameless for long. I got a few “Oh, I like that” and “Yeah, I saw that–what’s that all about?” responses.

BBQ #1

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BBQ #2

*

BBQ #5

Group lunch at the BBQ place after working out. The guy behind the register didn’t see the poem until I turned around to model it for him. His response was: “Yeah, I like that.” The people on line behind me didn’t comment; I think they were too hungry to appreciate The Scientific Method.

Outside Quack’s

I played chess with my friend Victor in this coffee shop, and after he finished squashing me like a bug, I waited outside for my ride home. A café employee bussing tables outside asked me, “So, who won?” I distracted him by pointing out the poem. “I like that,” he said. “About the bird. I like that.” Then he agreed to take a pic featuring the poem and the coffee shop storefront.

Keep Austin Weird

I think sometimes Austinites try too hard.

When I asked the cashier at a department store if he wanted to see the poem on my back, the lady behind me on line piped up. “I read it!” she said. “It’s good,” she assured the cashier.

Outside the Old Toy Joy

It turns out Toy Joy is moving to a downtown location – NOOOOOO!!! I caught them just as they were moving some last items, the hand chairs being the last to get loaded onto to the truck. Total transformation I can handle – even turning into a bird – but moving downtown? I’m gonna miss those chairs. Oh, and the plastic Godzillas in the window display.

Alborz

At the Persian restaurant. I think probably the belly dancer was twirling too fast to catch the poem, but my friend’s cousin took a pic of it for herself. See, I was right: no one can appreciate poetry until after they’ve eaten.

TFB

Breakfast at the Texas French Bread down the block from the old Toy Joy. No one commented on the poem. Adults are not supposed to stare at people in wheelchairs. I wished they would so that I could fly off in a flurry of feathers.*

*No birds were harmed in the making of this photoessay, but brisket was consumed with gusto.

Issue Forty-Nine!! (PART ONE)

It brings us no end of joy to begin here our 49th issue, which will arrive over the next month in three distinct parts. That’s right – our 49th issue is composed of three pieces, a series, each part worn in a different week by a different operative in a different part of the country.

And yet, an element of family.

Tonight, we are proud to present the first part, the first of three methods, three gestures. This time, we have Operative Afra to thank for wearing the story around Austin, Texas. Without further ado:

ISSUE FORTY-NINE POINT ONE (6/24/13);

featuring

“Scientific Method”

by James Tadd Adcox

Operative: Afra al-Mussawir (Austin, TX)

About the author: James Tadd Adcox is the author of The Map of the System of Human Knowledge, available here. He lives in Chicago.

About the operative: Afra Al-Mussawir is a teacher, writer, nonprofit administrator, organizer, and favorite aunt. She is also currently under-employed, so if you would like to offer her a job, she will be your best friend for life (or at least until the next solstice).

This Light: Issue 48 Action Shots

In the midst of the rains that seem to have engulfed New York as of late, we emerge from the waters into the fresh air of Wake Forest, North Carolina, from which hails our latest beautiful series of Action Shots, brought to us by the incomparable Operative Emily Ramser. And so we travel, ever backwards:

The fields, the fields, the fields

From the operative:

“A friend and I drove out to an abandoned golf course to take a few pictures. Sadly, we didn’t find many people interested in reading my back there. In fact, we only stumbled upon a teenage couple making out, who ran away from us, embarrassed, without stopping to read my jacket.”

Anyone Finds Anyone

“My photographer friend wanted to experiment with artistic views, so he had me sit in mud and a drain pipe. Fun times. I was certainly contemplating diving in and becoming water by this point.”

Twins

“When a place becomes abandoned like this, it’s a mystery that anybody finds anybody.”

You Cannot Practice Traveling Backwards in Time

‘Practicing for exams, I have the habit of perching on desks, as my teachers call it.”

There Is No Such Thing As Underwater

“I wandered down to my town’s yearly ‘Meet in the Street’ with David’s piece on my back. I can’t tell you how many people ran after me going ‘WAIT! STOP! I want to finish reading!'”

Other Kinds of Light

“Just another instance of me having to explain the meaning of caliginous to someone.”

Degrees

“Bringing thought into a place of ruin.”

I STAND CORRECTED

“I was letting professors of Southeastern Baptist Seminary read my jacket after an essay reading I attended where a good friend of mine was speaking. Everyone was very impressed with David’s piece, some of the professors in attendance in particular.”

Sweatshirt Eternal

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This phenomenal issue belongs totally to David Tomaloff and Emily Ramser, communicating in unexpected, inter-medial ways. Enormous thanks to them both; and the promise of refreshments should path cross path.

Issue Forty-Eight!!

Hello! And welcome, at long last, to our 48th issue, proof that nothing ever really stands still. It comes to us courtesy of a repeat offender worn on the back of Operative Emily Ramser of Wake Forest, NC. Word has it we were once able to breathe here:

ISSUE FORTY-EIGHT (5/20/13):

featuring

“Underwater Travel”

by David Tomaloff

Operative: Emily Ramser (Wake Forest, NC)

About the author: David Tomaloff builds things out of ampersands and light. His work has appeared in several chapbooks, anthologies, and in fine publications. Send him threats: davidtomaloff.com.

About the operative: Emily Ramser is a poet and writer attempting to become a spoken word poet. Her audiences, though, are not too sure if this is going to work out. She’s been published in a handful of places, but prefers sticking up poems without her name on coffee shop bulletin boards. Check her out on Facebook, Twitter (@ChickadeePoems), or at her blog, www.chickadeesweetie.wordpress.com.

WOLF LEVEL: Issue 47 Action Shots!

The best: we bring to you Action Shots of Rion Amilcar Scott’s story from Issue 47, alongside the astute academic analysis Operative Cassandra Gillig is known for. And I quote:

 

This photo was taken in Hoboken, NJ. New Jersey is the most underrated state in the US. Later this day I went to see my friend Rory’s band play at Maxwell’s, a small yet somewhat famous venue. His parents attended, which I found endearing. They also brought more parents with them. There was a lot of gorgeous dad dancing. One mother stopped me and said, “What is on your back? It is very violent.” Parents just don’t understand!

 

This photo was taken in New Brunswick, NJ, where I live with my husband and three wonderful children. My children asked me about Rion’s poem, and I said “Mommy’s working!” and spanked them and sent them back to their rooms. My youngest, Spencer, is such a troublemaker! I love my family so much! My husband said Rion’s poem is very Kafkaesque and then we started to file our taxes and make a grocery list – he is so good to me, my husband.

 

This photo was taken in a hospital. My friend Jennifer’s kidneys are broken. It is cute because my pancreas is broken, so we have both taken each other to the hospital. I made Jennifer take this photo while she was on morphine and kind of giddy. There are – mysteriously – no other people in this photo. Maybe it was a ghost hospital. Who is to say? Jennifer is mostly better now. One nurse said – as I walked past her in the hallway – ”‘Them wolfs’?  Isn’t it ‘wolves’?” “I don’t know,” I told her, “I’m pretty sure it’s ‘wolfs.’”

 

This photo was taken in New York, NY. I’m all up on Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass read Rion’s poem and was like “Damn.” I was like “I know” and he was like “Do you want to go out to dinner sometime?” and I was like “I can’t, I’m married, you know that” and he put two fingers to my lips and said, “Shh baby never say never” and I was like “I didn’t even say never” then literally he froze into stone and that is how the statue of Frederick Douglass in front of the New York Historical Society came to be. Absolutely do not trust any other account.

 

This photo was also taken in New York, NY. Here you can see how excellent I am at napping in museums. This entire exhibit was paintings of goddamn birds AKA FOR THE BIRDS. A woman in the museum bathroom said, “Well that is just lovely.” I told her, “Go away I don’t want to talk to you!!!” and spit water on her dress. Bird people ew!!!!

 

This photo is a bonus picture that is on some MC Escher shit get on my level.

*

Thank you, Cassandra. Thank you, Rion.
❤

Issue Forty-Seven!!

Our 47th issue comes to us from Maryland by way of New Jersey, where it was worn by intrepid Operative Cassandra through times both thick and thin. You will see them. In the meantime, you will see this:

ISSUE FORTY-SEVEN (4/15/13):

featuring

“Them Wolfs Who Laugh Like Hyenas”

by Rion Amilcar Scott

Operative: Cassandra Gillig (New Brunswick, NJ)

THAT TEXT:

Busted curb trip me, man. Lip split wide open. I let out a blood- raw yelp, blowing red spit bubbles. White wolf by the door laugh. Them wolfs got no compassion.

About the author: Rion Amilcar Scott lives in Beltsville, MD with his wife and son. He tweets @reeamilcarscott.

About the operative: Cassandra Gillig is really hot. Like, really hot.

*

Stay tuned. Later this week, perhaps the best set of Action Shots ever. You may have noticed our slugabugness lately: pardon. Our curator is overworked and deprived of essential vitamins. Rest assured there will always be someone kicking in these parts, as long as there’s a dude with a tiny hammer.

Eat hummus, love thy neighbor.

xo

Issue Forty-Six!!

WELCOME BACK YOU SPRING BREAKERS. With all the debauchery out of your system, we hope you can enjoy this latest issue of the Safety Pin Review, which itself reflects on a heated night from long ago, in that other tropical state: Indiana.

ISSUE FORTY-SIX (3/25/13):

featuring

“Indianapolis”

by J. Bradley

Operative: Dirk Walker (Indianapolis, IN)

About the author: J. Bradley is the author of Bodies Made of Smoke. He lives at iheartfailure.net.

About the operative: Dirk Walker is host of the podcast Inside Joke. When he’s not podcasting, he likes to perform stand up comedy and spin some of the funkiest music the Bible Belt has never heard. You can follow him on Twitter at @dirkwalker.

DISPATCH FROM A HUGE ENORMOUS FAMILY (aka WE WERE AT AWP BUT INVISIBLE)

We are back.

We had a small presence at AWP, in the form of our shy, unassuming yet gleamy-headed curator, who carried buttons and went tracking down SPR contributors, one after another after another. But again, here we are, a couple buttons and many dollars poorer but with just as much enthusiasm as ever.

Here is a modest kind of roundup telling you all of the meaningful and impressive things our contributors are doing:

The SPR gets its luscious right: TWO of our contributors have just-announced Nephew-books from Mud Luscious Press coming out next year:

1) Russ Woods will be publishing Sara (which includes his poem “SALAD” that originally appeared in our quilt), AND

2) David Greenspan’s got How They Strike a Balance, which will bring his published book-total up to like 37 or some shit.

Speaking of that guy, Berfrois is serializing 10 of his poems this month. 3 of them are up right now. A machine, this one.

Ken Baumann’s book Solip is frighteningly close. All eager hands on deck.

Brandi Wells has 5 tiny things in Knee-Jerk that will knock you up and down and all around with dinosaurs and bears and tuxedos and death.

Meanwhile, Operative Delaney Nolan continues to burn and burn.

Sharanya Manivannan won a Best of the Net award for her story “Nine Postcards from the Pondicherry Border,” which previously appeared in Flycatcher.

And Berit Ellingsen continues to do fascinating things with language in Requited, in “Tache Noire,” a story about serial killings but in a way that you certainly haven’t seen before.

Kudos to all.

If you feel you’ve been left out or have something to report, give us a shout. We like shouting, so long as it’s done quietly and with deadly accuracy.

Texan Royalty and the Future of Poetry: Issue 45 Action Shots!

Fresh from the tumbleweed-ridden lands of Austin, TX and the back of Operative Joey, the SPR is proud to present the following, shamelessly political set of Action Shots, premiering with this artful, windswept portrait:

Arms Reaching Out to No One

*

Next, we visit the royal palaces of Texas.

Before the Gates of Montezuma

*

Inside the Gates (A Sacrifice Is Made)

*

On the walls of the palace:

Joey w/ A Bush

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Lighting the Fire of Revolution

*

PIONEERS

*

On his journeys with the story on his back, Joey collected three tales (in his own words):

The Wilted Leaves of the Modern Art

*

1) The first day I wore it a couple of elderly women sitting behind me at a coffee shop asked to take my picture – they said that they loved it.

Shimmery People

*

2) One day as I was walking to a diner a man, who looked rather scraggly, with a staff (although I suppose he called it a bow, does that make it a bow staff?) yelled at me to stop so that he could read it. I bit back the fear, but only for you my good sir [curator/browbeater], and let him approach. He then explained that if some guy kissed him he would probably hit him with the very staff he was toting – he then further related an event in which he did use that staff to hit someone in the head repeatedly – no worries, I made it to the diner.

(EDITORIAL NOTE: This is the kind of people who inhabit Austin, TX. Casual staff-wielders. Probably dressed like the shimmeries in the photo.)

Joey Is Addicted to Firepower

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3) the night of my birthday I was wearing it at a club – two older gay gentlemen asked me about it, and then laughed at the age – saying that they were about 60.

The Faces That Are Always Watching

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Where Children Go to Drown

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Holiday Cheer Lasts Forever

*

Majesty:

The Man Who Learned to Fly

And so we have achieved the power of flight.

Welcome to Texas.

Mucho thanks to Joey Holloway, for wearing Cassandra’s poem; to Cassandra Gillig, for contributing the poem and turning the SPR on its side; and to Chad Redden, for being the muse.

See you next week.