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BIKINI KILL: TUNEWISE CAT
ABOUT BIKINI KILL Bikini Kill is a feminist punk band that was based in Olympia, WA and Washington, DC, forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early 90’s via their political lyrics, zines and confrontational live show … Bikini Kill believed that if all […]
SKULLZ AND STRIPES: RANTWISE CAT
The United States government disgracefully and appallingly targets the bulk of its tax revenue toward bombing babies rather than on rearing them in creative, compassionate climates. In other words, the United States government prizes warfare above welfare. The US is the terrifying antithesis of what the propaganda purports it to be. Propaganda would have us […]
SANDRA CISNEROS: SCRIBEWISE CAT
ABOUT CISNEROS Sandra Cisneros is the author of several books including The House on Mango Street, Caramelo, Loose Woman, and, most recently, Have You Seen Marie? Sandra has been writing for more than 45 years, publishing for more than 35, and earning her living by her pen for more than 18 years. Her books have […]
JOY DIVISION: TUNEWISE CAT
HISTORY OF JOY DIVISION “Joy Division only released two albums but they led the way out of punk rock…” “This story begins on July 20th 1976, when the Sex Pistols played at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, supported by local bands Slaughter and the Dogs and the Buzzcocks (making their debut). According to legend, this gig inspired […]
CHARLES BAUDELAIRE: SCRIBEWISE CAT
LES FLEURS DU MAL Baudelaire’s poetic masterpiece, the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal, consists of 126 poems arranged in six sections of varying length. Baudelaire always insisted that the collection was not a “simple album” but had “a beginning and an end,” each poem revealing its full meaning only when read in relation to […]
FRIDA KAHLO: ARTWISE CAT
ART Drawing on personal experiences, including her marriage, her miscarriages, and her numerous operations, Kahlo’s works often are characterized by their stark portrayals of pain. Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, ‘I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.’ Frida […]
ISSUE 29: EDITOR’S SCRATCHING POST
” “So whaddaya say we swill some brewskies, listen to our Cure vinyl and read the new issue of Clockwise Cat?” CATATONICALLY SPEAKING Fall may very well be that time of year when things commence their decay, readying themselves for a recycling back to life after a stay in oblivion’s glacial climes. But I say, let fall be […]
ISSUE 29: REVIEWS AND INVECTIVE
This, the 29th issue of Clockwise Cat, is laden with venomous invective and enriching reviews! Our treasured scribes searingly satirize e-books, contemporary poetry, political approaches to immigration and abortion, the educated class, environmentalists (or, rather, enemies to environmentalists), and holiday bigotry. Satirical savvy gives way to more pointed polemics such as that written by Edwin Young […]
ISSUE 29: VERSE
The vivid versifiers that populate Issue #29 have scribbled out lines and phrases that will rearrange your brain. We are thrilled, as usual, to feature ALL of these fine ink-slinging fools, but must call special attention to two of them: Juliette Klein, and Isaac Kirkman. I won’t spoil the Juliette part too much – you’ll […]
Almost like William Shatner – NOT! (Film Review) by Kurt Cline
Star Trek into Darkness: The Sequel to the Prequel and Why It Leaves Us Stranded in the Dark Well, I was game, and why not? I’ve shelled out hard cash to see all the other Star Trek movies, regardless of how disappointing they were. In fact, I had come to expect disappointment. But here I had […]
Poetics 1 (Meditative Polemic) by Kurt Cline
“Those who have suffered understand suffering and thereby extend their hand…” –Patti Smith It is not what is said so much as how. Language a series of vantage points. Poetics a series of strategies for producing valances sometimes shaped like words which refer simultaneously in multiple, even apparently contradictory, directions, to other networks of syllables […]
Wolfgang Carstens’ & Janne Karlsson’s Enjoy Oblivion (Chapbook Review) by David McLean
Enjoy Oblivion is a short chapbook from Wolfgang Carstens that is well-illustrated by Janne Karlsson’s excellent drawings. A lot of poetry collections deal with the embarrassing process of mourning the departed, who are often even pictured as residing in some bizarre “afterlife” with some mysterious and incoherent ontological status where they do all sorts of […]
Michael McAloran’s Abattoir Whispers (Book Review) by David McLean
This is one of Mc Aloran’s best books of prose poetry. The text, as often is the case, providing almost metatextual commentary on the thought, fragmentary since it is operating without the standard illusory surface effects of the allegedly “internal” psychic language that create the aura of normalcy that surrounds the drooling about seagulls trees […]
The Power of the Top 1% (Polemic) by Edwin L. Young, PhD
1. How does the top 1% control the populace of the US and other nations? a. Corporate CEO s b. Generals c. Presidents and Governors and the levels immediately below them d. Top administration in higher education e. Owners and heads of major media channels i. The true intentions and goals of the top […]
George Will’s Words of Folly (Polemic) by Rudy Ravindra
Sexual assault is the new name for rape. Rape by any other name is still rape. This crude word denotes a cruel, barbaric, and inhuman act. Any type of word play does not diminish the traumatic effect of this heinous crime, certainly not by indulging in euphemisms. In an effort to shield the perpetrator, some […]
Monster Required (Polemic) by Michael Andreoni
Early Training I guess Mrs. Patterson was used to having things her way. She held the dollar out at arms length as if there wasn’t any question of me walking away without it. She got that part right. A dollar was a Baby Ruth, a Sweet Tart, and fifty cents left to jingle around in […]
Reframing the Debate (Satire) by Matt Kolbet
Recently, (the last n years), some politicians and constituents alike have adopted an anti-immigration stance, and have employed fierce rhetoric in presenting their side of the issue. Often these speakers are also strongly against abortion. Somehow though, the confluence of the two issues, immigration and abortion, have been overlooked by parties in opposition to both. Reframing the debate could […]
The Seasons that Don’t Change (Satire) by Matt Kolbet
It’s autumn again, and soon weekends will be filled with harvest festivals, Oktoberfest beer, and contemplation of Halloween costumes, strategic trick-or-treat routes and enough candy to turn onlookers diabetic. But soon after the last pumpkins have been carved into frightening faces, or thrown in the backyard mulch, the nation will turn from secular celebrations to […]
My Lifelong Agony and Hope for the Future (Polemic) by Edwin L. Young, PhD
It is peculiar. From my earliest days I had this paradoxical love for and understanding of people (as a child that understanding was inchoate). As I was growing up, I began to observe and try to understand the social institutions in my small town and try to understand the many ‘disordered’ people within it like […]
A New Use for Contemporary Poetry (Satire) by Douglas J. Ogurek
Mr. Cid Vic, Manager – Household Appliances Home and Yard Haven 1231 Mark Drive Union Heights, New York Dear Mr. Vic: My wife uses baking soda for a lot of stuff: freshen the fridge, clean the counter, bake cookies. She uses it when she takes a bath. It’s also a great antacid, and if we […]
More Teachers Like You (Polemic) by Francis Hahn
After the very nice gentlemen from KOB 4 News interviewed me on Monday about the AP bonus, I had one half-joking request: just don’t make me look too foolish. They reassured me that it was not their intention to do so. On the contrary, it was nice to have a school story that wasn’t about […]
Reuben Wooley’s The king is dead (Book Review) by David McLean
we are all we have ever been. print on pages are survivors out of context. it is all there is & we have caused too much pain I burn the past in making it & the future is none of my concern. Reuben Wooley’s new book, his debut collection from Oneiros Books, is a collection […]
AP Bonus? No Thanks. (Polemic) By Francis Hahn
On Wednesday, June 25th, I was informed by the Human Resources Director at the Taos Municipal Schools that I had been selected to receive a $5000 ‘AP Stipend.’ According to Matt Pahl the Policy Director at the NM Public Education Department, AP test score data from 2012 qualified me to receive the money. Basically, because […]
Puma Perl’s Retrograde (Book Review) by David McLean
This is Puma Perl’s second full length collection of poetry. Moving backwards through memory, but not getting worse, as the title might imply. I am assuming that it is not used in the medical sense or the original astrological sense, but maybe in the musical sense, of imitation, or the metamorphosis of organs in botany […]
