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BRAVE NEW WORD magazine: ISSUE 6

ISSUE #6

Editors note:

I'm gonna be a bit minimal this time. It was fun. Making this issue was really satisfying experience. I've met lots of interesting people, got so many ideas i'm almost overwhelmed. It is really good. I'm proud of this issue. It came together naturally as mesmerizing kaleidoscope with intense humming.

The submission flow was tight but relatively clean. 52 letters if being exact. Rather big number for a niche poorly named online magazine which is barely indexed in Google and barely exposed (hey, i'm in charge i can be honest). Even rejected submission weren't that bad. Just not something that can be used in BNW with maximum result. And I had a really funny discussion on politics of including bio and photo on one of the posts in the submission calls groups. Anyway...

Look at the line-up - all top-notch hardcore funkateers!

***

Table of Contents:

1. Siobhan Elvis Atkins - Five Asemic Pieces
2. Peter Carlaftes - Three Poems
3. Drew Pisarra - Goo-goo Story 
4. Carlo Parcelli - Wakey! Wakey!
5. Jenne Kaivo - Science don't lovers just grew on the eyes
6. Jim Andrews - from Aleph Null 2.0
7. Michael Stewart - QR poem
8. Don Kingfisher Campbell - Eight Poems 
9. Rafael Gonzalez - Makings Buttons
10. Rie Sheridan Rose - Spam Poem 
11. Larry D. Thacker - Two Poems
12. Dylan Kinnett - If You See Something, Say Something 
13. Edward Kulemin - Crumpled Poems

lurf

betty goes to the museum - appendix - overview

part thirteen of thirteen

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what did we learn from betty’s trip to the museum? the artworks and books betty encountered represented what might be characterized as different degrees of “seeing” and “reading” which can be listed as follows: a - that which can not not be seen - nester sakato’s pictures - although they might not be very interesting, the simple colors immediately impress on the spectator’s eyes, so long as they are not completely blind. a colorblind person might not see the same colors as others, but will still see a solid shade. b - that which can be seen - john 53’s pictures - the simple childlike drawings register , even if the intent of the artist - are the figures cats, dogs, children? - can not be divined. c - that which can be seen, but not in detail - c c cuthbert flashing video covering wall - the pictures move too quickly for the human eye to register in detail or sequence , although the eyes of other creatures might. d - that which can be seen, but is not - m d foster pictures of oysters and clams. they could be examined in detail, but the repetitious details would not be retained. now we come to that which can or can not be read. the key is language, and not language as a concept but particular language which the particular observer can or can not read. e- that which can not not be read - a a adams slogans on wall. as betty can read english and the slogans are short, it is almost impossible for her brain to not register the offensive (to her) slogans, much as she might like it not to. if the slogans were longer, something like “learn to respect men as god commanded, you stupid feminist slut whore” she might have been able to keep from fully registering them. nine words is considered to be the upper limit of words which can be grasped “at a glance” - the “seven plus or minus two” theory. if the slogans were as short, but in a language betty could not read, the offensiveness would not have registered. f - that which is assumed to be language, but can not be read - the slogans in various languages, in the exhibit by daphne edwards-soraya. these might (or might not) be offensive to persons understanding the language. betty can only take it on faith that they have meaning to anybody. g - that which is known to be language, but can not be read - the copy of death in venice/der tod in venedig. h - that which is recognized as probably being or “looking like” writing, but can not be read - b b bashevski’s stories. i - that which can be read - novel #1. the book was boring but betty might have been able to read it if were some sort of school assignment, or on a desert island. j - that which can be looked at, and its concept “grasped”, but not actually read - novel #2. novel #2 is a single word, repeated a million times. no one could actually “read” it - they might run their eyes over it with a gun at their head, but could not “read “ it in any real sense. k - that which can be read, but only with a supreme effort of will - novel # 3. at 1500 pages, it might be “read” under extreme duress, but it would probably be impossible for anyone to actually absorb or retain any meaning. l - that which is recognized as “writing” - as letters and numbers - but can not be read . novel #4 - typewriter monkey novel. can absolutely not be “read” in any sense, by any human. m - that in which there is nothing to read - blank book - novel #5 some other gradations besides these might be suggested. we hope you found this at least a little bit informative or interesting! the end

betty goes to the museum - 12. novel #4 and novel #5

part twelve of thirteen

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as betty sipped her tea and chewed on her sandwich, a man and then a woman came into the cafeteria holding dripping wet umbrellas., so she deduced it was still raining heavily outside. she eyed novel #4 and novel #5 and wondered if they were as stupid and boring as the first three. probably, she thought, there was a reason someone had left them behind. succumbing to her mild curiosity, she picked up novel # 4 and opened it. it began… iimtgeo0975 4fbp642kiol mre9765cv-432ql9glopt rew0987 nmvbed cloievtfewsaxrpl mut430nbe6loh gt0oppuyytwq34 0mnb6vcdd xiktredwg ,krvewdo iytr 9 kytr =kliyrqqas lotyr33329op okmuyrvdklpitecb lohytb bm06reqikg recuimplmj ytrdcvew qs762cbji 97j,lptr3… and seemed to go on like that for 675 pages. only novel #5 was left at the table. betty could not remember if the bookshelf in the break room had held more. a novel #6, #7, etc. she picked up novel #5. i bet i can guess, she thought, what it is. it will be either a single letter or number repeated endlessly, or it will be completely blank. it was completely blank. at least, thought betty, it really is blank, and does not have a note or preface explaining that it is forcing the reader to confront the emptiness of the universe, or of their brain, etc. i should be a conceptual artist myself, she thought. * betty decided she had had enough of the museum, and wanted to get back to her apartment in time to watch the third rock rerun which was always on at 6:30. it was still raining outside, but not so hard as before, and she went home. appendix - overview

museum camp

betty goes to the museum - 11. novel #3

part eleven of thirteen

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betty began to read novel #3. bob was just a guy, a lot like other guys. he had a friend named jeff, who was also just a guy, like a lot of other guys. jeff lived with his girl friend, named adelaide, who had a big ass and kind of a nasty disposition. jeff was out of work and adelaide was getting tired of supporting him, and let jeff know it. jeff had a little mustache, which he spent four minutes each morning trimming. jeff had met bob in high school, where they became friends because they both liked werewolf movies, the lower budget the better. as time went on, bob lost his interest in werewolf movies and became addicted to porn, but he and jeff remained friends. neither bob nor jeff had much success with girls, although jeff had a little more than bob, but they both liked beer. they bought cheap brands of beer, and agreed that people who drank imported or designer beer were stuckup assholes who didn’t know shit. about beer or anything else. when they got out of high school, bob got a job at eddie’s pizza and jeff got a job at subway’s. when jeff lost his job at subway’s he continued to be supported by adelaide, who had always made more money than jeff in her job as a life coach. adelaide had had weight and skin problems through junior high and high school and had never been very popular. adelaide had had a friend named bonnie in high school, who also had skin problems but was anorexic. bonnie moved to another state when the two girls were sixteen, and they never saw each other again, but kept in touch by texting. adelaide began studying very hard to get into college and she and bonnie lost contact after a while. bonnie fell in with a bad crowd, and dropped out of school. bonnie met a guy named doug, who was a total loser. doug liked violent porn and cheap gory horror movies and video footage of car crashes and other gruesome occurrences. but doug had a soft spot for animals, and would take in stray dogs and cats, although his stepmother gave him a lot of grief about it. doug’s stepmother was named jennie may and she was only two years older than doug. but when jennie may’s girl friends began ragging on her and suggesting that she was fucking doug, she did not see the humor and would get really mad. one of jenny may’s girl friends was named marcia. marcia weighed two hundred and fifty pounds and had studied to be a hairdresser but she was kind of clumsy and not very good at it. eventually she got a job in a barber shop - an old fashioned place in the crummiest part of the old downtown that actually called itself a “barber shop”. jenny may and the other members of the gang gave marcia a lot of shit about working in a “barber shop”. marcia had a younger brother named roger who never addressed her as anything but “fatso” and dreamed of being a rap star and/or a porn star. marcia’s and roger’s mother was named noreen and she was a devout christian who read the bible every day and went to bible study groups. noreen also liked to bake cookies, and everybody who tasted them agreed that her peanut butter chocolate chip cookies were the best they ever ate. noreen had a younger brother named oscar who had disappeared when he was sixteen. when marcia and roger weren’t fighting, they enjoyed speculating on oscar’s fate, with marcia opining that he had fallen into the clutches of a hannibal lecter/john wayne gacy type who had slowly tortured him to death, and roger leaning toward a scenario in which oscar joined a pack of wolves or feral dogs and ran with them and became only half human. it hurt noreen that marcia and roger would find humor in such imaginings, but she had learned from experience that she had little influence on her two monstrous offspring, and she would try to ignore them as she read her bible. noreen also had an older brother named tom, and tom had a friend named jack. * so much for this, thought betty. she flipped through the 1500 pages, and the whole book seemed to be in the same vein… the young woman behind the counter called to betty that her sandwich was ready. 12. novel #4 and novel #5

betty goes to the museum - 10. b b bashevski

part ten of thirteen

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to begin at the beginning, click here

after her disagreeable experience with the so-called artworks of a a adams - whoever or whatever a a adams might have been - betty decided to quit the museum, unless it was still raining heavily outside. she made her way back to the entrance by carefully following the exit signs, but when she did she was greeted by the sight of an ongoing monsoon. she decided to return to the cafeteria, and perhaps purchase something with some nutritional value, if anything answering that description was reasonably priced. the cafeteria was empty of other customers. betty ordered another cup of tea and a lettuce tomato and avocado sandwich on 12 grain bread. she took a seat while the sandwich was being prepared, and she noticed that someone had left a pile of books on one of the chairs at the table. betty picked a slender volume from the top of the pile. it was a copy of “der tod in venedig” by thomas mann, and there was a picture on the cover of a gondola in a canal sailing past an apartment building, so betty recognized the book as a german edition of “death in venice”. betty could not read german, although she thought she could recognize it as such, and she did not have a passionate desire to read “death in venice” in either german or english. the next book in the pile was also a thin one, with the title “stories” by b b bashevski, and it had a cover picture of a buddha-like red silhouette on a black background. betty opened the book. except for the title page, which simply read “stories by b b bashevski”, and the numbers on the bottom of the pages, betty could not read any of the book’s contents. the pages were filed with what looked like “writing”, though betty could not be sure. there seemed to be a variety of different scripts alternating through the book, with each particular script covering eight to twelve pages, and betty assumed that each group of similar looking pages was one of b b bashevski’s “stories”. some of them looked to betty like chinese writing, others like arabic writing, and others like egyptian hieroglyphics, but since betty could not read any of these scripts, as far as she knew they could have been arbitrary squiggles. the book of b b bashevski’s “stories” was handsomely printed on the finest paper, but betty was not intrigued by its arbitrary squiggles, so she put it aside with “der tod in venedig” . there were three other, thicker, books on the chair and betty picked them up and placed them on the table. we should mention that betty had no notion of taking the books with her after finishing her tea and sandwich, and would have happily surrendered them to anyone who might show up to claim them. when she looked at the three thick books, she recognized them as part of the series of books she had encountered back in the break room when she was part of the installation, eating white cake with chocolate frosting. the three books had the same plain white covers as the books in the break room, and they were labeled novel #3, novel #4, and novel #5. betty’s sandwich was not ready yet, and she picked up and opened novel #3. novel #3 was the fattest novel in the bunch, at about 1500 pages. 11. novel #3

betty goes to the museum - 9. a a adams

part nine of thirteen

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betty woke up. the video installation of c c cuthbert, cora the chimp, the contest… all were gone… rubbing her eyes, she seemed to still be in the room that had contained the clam and oyster photos of m d foster, but the art on the wall had changed… the wall was now covered with small white plaques, each containing a few words in clear bold letters. betty looked at the plaques. she could not read them all at once, but the message on each one as she scanned them was short and unmistakable. get down, bitch back in the kitchen on your knees learn some respect you naughty girl those lips for a reason betty had seen quite enough, and took her widened eyes away from the wall. she looked around the room. there were no other spectators, but a young woman, dressed in what might have been a guide’s, or guard’s uniform, was placing some brochures on a table betty had not noticed before. “excuse me,” betty addressed the young woman, “but do you work here?” “yes, i do,” the young woman replied. “i realize you just work here,” betty told her, “but i just want to say i find this exhibit terribly, terribly offensive - i can not believe i an actually seeing it.” the young woman seemed unperturbed by betty’s outburst and handed her one of the little brochures. betty looked at the brochure which was labeled “the ferocious feminist art of a a adams”. “i am sorry you feel that way, “ the young woman said to betty, “but if you look at the handout, you will see that a a adams is actually making a statement by portraying - “ but before she could go any further, another young woman, in a similar uniform, appeared and interrupted her. “laura! we are going to have to shut this one down!” “oh? and why is that?” “because the director just found out that a a adams is a hoax. it is a prank played by a couple of frat boys at the university of texas.” “hmm,” replied laura. “yes, something like this happened before.” she turned to betty. “well, we will be taking these down, i am sorry you had to see them.” “i am sorry, too,” betty responded. “and i am even sorrier that i will not be able to un-see them. “ and with that betty left the room. as she did, she could hear the two young women talking behind her , but the only words she thought she could make out were “lawsuit” and “just work here”. 10. b b bashevski