Getting to Funky Town: On Lyric and Fantasy in Micah Ling’s Flashes of Life
Lucy Tiven12.10.15
Ekphrasis takes on pop icons from David Bowie to Otis Redding in Micah Ling’s latest collection. Lucy Tiven reviews.
Tiny Rocks: Miniatures, Macabre, & Meaning-Making in Sarah Jean Alexander’s WILDLIVES
Lucy Tiven04.23.15
“Alexander’s poems oscillate between emotional realism and surrealistic image.” Lucy Tiven reviews.
What About Nathan? On Top Dogs, Underdogs, and Sore Losers
Lucy Tiven03.12.15
What is an underdog? What is a sore loser? Where do either fit into our contemporary consciousness? Lucy Tiven considers these questions and others in relation to Nathan the Bloodhound, Elvis Presley, Kanye, Paul Gösch, and the author herself.
One Prism of History: On Desire and Secrecy in Wendy Ortiz’s Excavation: A Memoir
Lucy Tiven12.22.14
Identity, fallibility, and self-discovery weave a provocative intuitive fabric for Wendy Ortiz’s memoir centered around a relationship with her teacher. Lucy Tiven reviews.
Language Game or Echo Chamber? A Review of Emily Skillings’s Backchannel
Lucy Tiven11.24.14
Can a bird still be powerful in a poem? Emily Skillings’s chapbook Backchannel provides positive evidence. Lucy Tiven reviews.
Against Easy Answers: Eating Pho with Dodie Bellamy
Lucy Tiven10.23.14
Dodie Bellamy sat down to lunch with Fanzine’s Lucy Tiven in San Francisco to discuss cults, narcissism, drugs, and her latest book, The TV Sutras.
Borrowed Furniture: Poetic Failure and Gift Etiquette in Mike Young’s Sprezzatura
Lucy Tiven10.07.14
Beauty, information, Craigslist, and appetizers flex together as a vibrant heart in Mike Young’s Sprezzatura. Lucy Tiven reviews.
Born to Be Wild: Melissa Broder’s Poetics of Ritual Illumination
Lucy Tiven09.11.14
Despite its rampant darkness (or somehow in light of it), Melissa Broder’s Scarecrone is rich in spirit, fire, awe. Lucy Tiven reviews.
How Truly Unreal They Are: An Interview with Brad Warner
Lucy Tiven08.21.14
Lucy Tiven takes an eye to Hardcore Zen, a documentary by Pirooz Kalayah exploring the intersection between Buddhism and punk.
On Distance and Departure: A Review of Spencer Madsen’s You Can Make Anything Sad
Lucy Tiven07.07.14
Lucy Tiven unpacks the threads of affection, love, masturbation, and humanity alive in Spencer Madsen’s You Can Make Anything Sad.