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Subject Line: Gumball Bulletin: plants that look like states Sherry of Kentucky Wrote: Did I fall off your mailing list? Or have I just been in limbo? Missed notification of Summer issue. Looks great! I love FLASH. --- Ahoy Sherry! Let the limbo end! Gumball Poetry Bulletin - August 5th, 2000 ---New Issue: plants that look like states ---Guest Editors ---Flashers in the park ---Gumball Gets Fifteen Minutes ---Plumbing 101 ---The case of the mysterious SASE - you decide its fate. ---Dear Mom, having a great summer, please send cash. ---Subscription info and AOL Links PLANTS THAT LOOK LIKE STATES Welcome to the new issue, Summer 2000: Plants that look like states. Blame longtime Gumball Poetry ravers, Laura Moulton and Ben Parzybok for the beautifully imaged but oddly titled cover art. Want fancy webmagic: hit the refresh/reload button on your browser for a new photo, there are 13 in all: http://www.gumballpoetry.com/?gb83 MEET THE EDITORS This issue two guests and past participants in the gumball experience were kind enough to help comb through the GBP submissions for just the right mix. Then, to relieve the anxiety of the experience, they flew straight to Belize. We received their tropically tinged editors' notes by postcard: --> ROGER DUNSMORE The old Mayans baked the limestone for their great buildings, so that it would soften and be easier to carve. They also lived in close proximity to fer de lance, the deadly poisonous snake with its skin covered with diamonds. They used turquoise for dental work and the spine of the stingray for medical blood-letting--out the penis for men, out the breast for women. Poems "work" in many ways. I look for those which contain this bloodletting, this turquoise in the teeth, or those filled with baked stone. --> JENNI FALLEIN Reading poetry is like taking a riverboat into the interior of a mangrove jungle. You want a good guide. You can get there because enough of the undergrowth has been hacked away with a sharp machete. You hope for some surprises--a cowhorn orchid with one last bloom the color of cream or sapwing bats startled out of sleep and flying at the young woman awkward in her low-cut blouse and on her honeymoon. You believe the guide is honest, and the story about the jaguar tooth around his neck is his own. You like it that he is barefoot, but knows enough to take the fat lady's sandal and smash the poisonous snake that sleeps on the steps of the Sun God temple. He's not pretentious. Right away, he tosses the dead snake in the bushes, tells you that it is common, then shows you the leaf that dyes your fingers the color of the red hibiscus that is everywhere. THIS ISSUE IS BOND, JAMES BOND >READ: -------> "The Bee-Bearded Man's Only Son" by Jim Zola This is the day the bee-bearded man's only son is to wed a girl from a town that knows nothing of bees. The son himself feels no affection towards the bees, but out of a sense of decency and heritage has taken his father's trick one step further, wearing a suit of bees and a top hat that sets the wedding crowd to murmur. more --> http://www.gumballpoetry.com/poetry0007/zola.html?gb83 ------->"After Separation" by Roger Pao Water stains sink wider across the ceiling to reveal a half-naked woman she is a beached swan uncast in bronze a nouveau taxidermy experiment left rusting under the sun more --> http://www.gumballpoetry.com/poetry0007/pao.html?gb83 ------->"Seeing You, Weeping, in My Dream" by Erin Elizabeth I saw you rise from my sleep last night with wings of peeled onions, their teary parchment arced triumphantly from your shoulder blades, fanning the air like taut, tropical fronds. When I told you to be free, I never meant like this. more --> http://www.gumballpoetry.com/poetry0007/elizabeth.html?gb83 Plus excellent work by: - Greg Bachas - Richard Ballon - Priscilla Barton - Carol Case - Martha Clarkson - Philip Dacey - Laurel K. Dodge - Erin Elizabeth - Gary Hardaway - Tasha Klein - Christopher Luna - Roger Pao - Anthony Robinson - John Rumming - Jim Zola Not sure where to begin? Try our randomizer: http://gumballpoetry.com/cgi-bin/randlink0007/rand_link.cgi?gb83 FLASHERS IN THE PARK Gumball Poetry bares it all with a new flash section. What's flash? One, it's a lot cooler than naked guys in a park. Two, you'll just have to see for yourself. Web artist Greg Pearlman is featured. http://www.gumballpoetry.com/flash/index.html?gb83 GUMBALL GETS FIFTEEN The fickle spotlight was turned on Gumball Poetry for a moment this summer. GBP was featured in an NPR article, won a Best of Portland write-up in the _Willamette Week_, and was touted in _Shout_ magazine of New York. What a lot of fun. Get the links and read all about GBP's newly inflated ego: http://www.gumballpoetry.com/news.html?gb83 PLUMBING 101 Gumball Poetry publisher Ben Parzybok is at home today attempting to install a bathroom sink with virtually zero plumbing knowledge (or aptitude, some say). Got a plumbing tip? Feel compassion? Email him pronto at http://www.gumballpoetry.com/contact.php THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS SASE - you decide its fate Dear readers, while we receive submissions of various nature all the time, recently we received something that caused us much head scratching. The letter consisted simply of a Self-addressed stamped envelope. No poetry. No request for guidelines. No nothing. Was the envelope itself a submission? We're wondering what you would do, readers. Here's your task: Write the letter back to the mysterious submitter and we'll send it back in the SASE - plus we'll publish it in our Gumball News section. I'm not talking one or two letters here. We want one from everybody. The more letters in that envelope, the more loved that nervous submitter will feel. Email letters here: http://www.gumballpoetry.com/contact.php SIDE NOTE: We accept poetry, artwork, flash and mini-sculpture submissions. For guidelines go here: http://www.gumballpoetry.com/guidelines.html?gb83 and our postal address is here: PO Box 15278 Portland, OR 97293 DEAR MOM, HAVING A GREAT SUMMER, PLEASE SEND CASH. We're having a great summer. We've got four or five new requests for machines that we've yet to answer. We're swamped. Want to help Gumball Poetry hire an office manager? Send cash. No, just kidding... No wait, we *are* serious. No, hahahah. Just kidding. This is a free magazine, of course. Actually, really, don't send cash. Checks are just fine. Address them to Gumball Poetry, PO Box 15278, Portland, OR 97293. - steamed broccoli and beans for everyone! The Gumball staff ------------ AOL LINKS ---------------- Gumball Poetry Home flash at Gumball Poetry Gumball Post - an online poetry workshop ------------ Subscription ------------ You receive the Gumball Poetry Bulletin because you, or a dear, well-intentioned friend of yours, signed up for it. If you'd like to unsubscribe from this list go to: http://gumballpoetry.com/bulletin.html Enter your email address, select 'unsubscribe' and click 'Yes!' Thanks for playing! ----------------------------------------------------------- Gumball Poetry - poetry in gumball machines and on the web http://gumballpoetry.com rot your teeth - not your mind. ----------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2000 Gumball Poetry. All rights reserved.