check it out...

just got my contibutor copy of the Owen Roberts/Compulsive Press and Bill Roberts/Bottle of Smoke Press collaborative effort AggressiveBehaviour Anthology2 in the mail and it's one beaut of a handmade anthology of poetry by some fine fine poets (and there's also some crappy work of mine that somehow made it thru), as well as some truly gorgeous full color artwork by Henry Denander. the production is excellent and striking, and the poets inside include such luminaries as (you'll have to google these, I'm too tired for links): Denander, Locklin, justin.barrett, A.D. Winans, David Barker, Glenn Cooper (I think because Glenn's poems are always so heartbreakingly goddamn good that my mind never lets me remember how much I love his work; the poem "Life" in this anthology is worth the entire cost of admission...seriously, the motherfucker can write a line like everything depends on its landing properly...a boxer with words, that one...), Graziano and many more.

the book documents the ups and downs of a tough world, and the seeming uselessness but undeniable necessity of poetry and art in such a place as this. Owen's own poetry captures the essences of one man's struggle just to come to terms with the frailty of his own nature when faced with the raw impossibility of change that MUST COME or that black robed sumbitch wins...

there is amusement and melancholy and joy and resignation. you might want to pick one up before it is sold out forever: it comes out May 01 in an edition of 100 and you can pick it up H E R E for $8 reg. edition or $25 for the "Deluxe" version (I suggest stepping up to the DELUXE package myself).

support the world of the indy publisher; you could do a whole lot worse with your spare change...