the East European issue : Each "page" is a kind of a sort of this is what I do/this is what I like - Each headline poet invites another poet to share a page; or, the editor asks a poet to join the headliner. The poet/s also have available to them space for written prose regarding something related to poetry. Few choose the last option. Most prefer to showcase their poetry - which is, customarily, the best of their work. But this issue is not the stardard issue.
The East European issue is about uninformed people who think we are Jewish because only Jews have 'difficult' names. This is especially true in America's South where the 'enlightened' think we are foreigners (locally, a first grade elementary teacher renamed my son "John Howard" because "now that you are in America your children need American names" ). However, the ignorant also have their say : 'Horvath' in my part of Dixie is usually spelled with a 'w' or without the "r"; and, I often get requests to bring my violin to a party ('because Gyspies play so beautifully').
It is not all their fault.
PoetryRepairShop v06.03 (the East European issue) : contents
Daughters are told that they must 'date men who believe in God,' because as, every one knows, people with our kind of names are heathen communists. But, many of us DO 'marry' out of those names; we become proxy Americans fearing the rule of the mob. Or, we become alien to our own kind, denying that once a grandmother or mother or aunt had been East European. We become estranged from the tastes and habits of our heritage. As simply as holy men become saints, become icons, become 'pictures'.
Many of us survive in America...second generation ( "second wave" ) immigrants who cannot help but be influenced by the lives and beliefs of those family members who first arrived in America - even those of us whose grandparents arrived. Certain traits, mannerisms, if not the name itself, single us out in a crowd. Think of American movies about world war two movies...almost always a character named "Kowalski"; he is all too often a slow, lumbering, big-shouldered, unlearned man represents that East European flavoring in the "melting pot".
If you"ve ever been asked "what kind of name is that" or "where does your name come from" then the Fast European issue is dedicated to you. It's all about alienation and estrangement. about call and echo rather than call and response. It's a poetry of times and places long ago that harbor in our souls. It's a poetry that repairs the mind; that begs your attention even though it is not made to conform to standard New England colloquialisms; but, rather, in the language of heritage and community strained.
Here at this marriage of men and women dedicated to remembering, join us; have a glass of wine, relax, we offer you our hearts and our blood to drink...
