APRIL 2023

Cuckoo by Joe Sparrow | 5 out of 5

"Dorothy Weaver is an anxious 19-year old still living at home with her mother and failing a vocational art course when memories of a mysterious childhood event start resurfacing. Something about a meteor in the garden… Now, she and others have begun manifesting strange powers.

Are these powers a gift or a curse? Psychic phenomenon or mass delusion? Either way, Dorothy is changing - but into what?"

Book of Extraction: Poems with Teeth by Adrian Dallas Frandle | 5 out of 5

"Book of Extraction: Poems with Teeth is a ceremonial poem sequence that encounters the body as a site of loss and regeneration, faith and doubt, trauma and hope, through excavating meaning from the mundanities of a broken society and healthcare system. Using a variety of forms and voices, the poems perform a liturgy from the humble rites and horrors of the dental procedure to ask what of the self can be saved in a world where so much is built around loss? Let us begin with our teeth…"

AT THE END THE WORLD REALLY ENDS by Helena Pantsis | 3.5 out of 5

"An experiment in Microsoft Word, ‘AT THE END THE WORLD REALLY ENDS’ utilises only shapes and text to extend poetry to a visual feat. Examining a series of topics, the isolation of the format is intended to highlight the intersectionality of identity, mental illness, and class division amongst others, culminating in a thread of works that exist both separately and as a cohesive view of the previous few years of the author’s life. Works can be viewed in any order and can also be read in various ways."

twelve ways to occupy a body by sloane angelou | 4 out of 5

NOTE: it wasn't posted with a description so i will simply say that it was a chapbook that i enjoyed!

Golden Record by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell | 5 out of 5

"It is an amalgamation of words and images brought together to become more than the sum of their parts, exploring the body as the site and host of all pleasure and pain, and, as its name pays homage to, a collection of dispatches from life on earth."

The Paradox of Getting Better by Raven Lyn Clemens | 4.8 out of 5

"In three vignettes, a young adult deals with different stages of their life, trauma, and mental illness. As their identity transforms, so does their perspective. An intense, incisive look at what it takes to keep surviving."

Fruiting Bodies by Ashley Robin Franklin | 4 out of 5

"Frances, her brother, and his annoying friend Trent have their Pacific Northwest road trip derailed when a wrong turn strands them in the rain-soaked woods. Luckily, they’re found by a beautiful, friendly stranger who is eager to help them—but is her convenient arrival their salvation, or something else entirely?"

Fart School by Mel Stringer | 4 out of 5

"Mel is excited about moving to Brisbane and starting art school! She imagines collaborating with other artists in a vibrant community, honing her craft, and becoming an accomplished artist. But it turns out that art school isn't quite the same in real life. Can Mel finish college with her love of art still intact?"

Sugar & Other Stories by Joy San | 5 out of 5

"A devoted yet amoral creature ensures a girl's blood sugar stays up. A gory ritual creates a charming woman's perfect smile. A neglected and overworked wife is slowly subsumed by violent fantasies. In this collection of short horror comics, cartoonist Joy San masterfully explores the ways in which we contort and control ourselves, balancing the bloody and brutal with unexpected levity."

your teeth are rotting. by zero cecil c. | 5 out of 5

"your teeth are rotting. is an art zine about malpractice & incompetence in the dental industry, and also a lot about hallucinating because of it.

are you also sick of seeing rotting teeth in mirrors that may or may not exist? have complaints against every dentist in your small town? showed up to an appointment that cancelled on you right then and there? well, hopefully you answered no, but if not -- commiserate in an 18 page piece with morbid humor, surreal photos, and a lot of complaining."