The Other Press

April 15th to September 9th, 1982 Page 3

      

 

Okay..here is what happened)
whey back in the dit

recesses of time, the 1960’s
and early 1970’s, poetry

in size (slowly) and dusti-
ness (quickly) until in the
fall of 1981 someone de-
cided to do something a-

The demise, thankfully
‘temporary, of the review
left behind a dusty pile of
submissions. The pile grew

noring its collective right
brain approach to existance.
It left off from publishing
the Otherthan Review.

 

 

 

 

 

was very popular among a — bout it. Actually it was
high school and college es Pe probably several people.
people. Something about Be : Maybe it was Zeitgeist, that
the density and rythym of Mee mystical old enigma that
poetry seemed to commun- \ m5, hangs around groups that

icate-a-profundity. Those
times were times when
people were actively seek-
ing a depth to life and,
experience. —

Concepts that many seem
to cring at today, like truth
and beauty, were freely and
unabashedly examined. Po-
etry was and is. a particu-
larly effective means to

_examine the meaning of

meaning, truth, beauty,
pain and anything else that
we feel.

In popular psychological
scientific terms, poetry is a
right brain function. The
right brain deals with the
holistic, artistic approach to
existance.

Well, for a few years
prior to the fall of 1981, the

- Other Press and its incest-

uous parent, The Other
Publication Society (both of
which are unashamedly a
little left of the political
centre), seemed to be ig-

 

 

 

|by lan Hunter

The Otherthan Review,
the Other Press Publication
Society’s ‘‘unethical and
omniverous’’. poetry pam-
phlet published pretentious-
ly by previous presses has
been prominently placed on
the pages of the O.P. this
year.

Primarily, the principal
point behind placing the
poems in the paper in the
first place was because of
all the prolific poets that
have been sending poems
to us for the last few years.
| Five years ago, when the

first Other Press Poetry
Review was put out, a chain
of events was started which
caused ripples in poetry
circles around the world.

Poetry and prose from
Portugal to Port Moody
came through the door of
the O. P. Poetry Review
after Otherthan Review af-
ter Otherthan Review
(three) were put out with an
other than regular pattern.

But attrition in the O.P.
took its toll and the original
creators passed on the le-

 

gacy of this publication
to new Other Pressers.

Due to the fact that to
put out a book one needs a
lot of time, dedication, or-
ganization and money; and
due to the fact that the
O.P. staff had none from
the time the last Otherthan
was put out; and also, due
to the fact that this last
issue left the legacy of a
two thousand dollar over-
draft, no further issues
were put out. That was in
1978. ;

Today, poetry is still be-
ing sent to the Other Press
with the far off hope of
being published. As a re-
sult of this there is in the
office of the O.P. a box
(16’’ x 10’’ x 12’’) packed
full of poetry.

A solution had to be
found. Letters, with self
addressed envelopes were
not being answered... some
were not even being open-
ed. A creative way to
dispose of this stuff. was
found.

Publish it in the O.P.

This solution, it turns

 

out, is not as easy as one
would at first assume.

To be fair to the poets,
who would not be overjoyed
to learn that their prized
poems, the works of art
that they had slaved weeks
and months over, would
only get as far as a rinky-
dink college newspaper, a
statement would have to be
included at the end of
every Otherthan Review
Page ‘‘to be published in
book form évery Decem-
ber.’’ This gets into the

problem of putting out a.

book again.

Another problem is that,
in order for good, publish-
able poetry to be separated
from mediocre, unpublish-
able material, there has to
be a readership and edit-
orialship established to de-.
termine the difference.

Rejection and acceptance
notices must also be sent to
all of those who have made
contributions to the above

. mentioned box. All of this

takes organization.
Luckily, another series of
events has made possible

 

 

 

are trying to raise some
sort of dust cloud and
somehow shape it.

In any case, it was de-
cided to revied the Other-
than Review to publish
what deserves to be pub-
lished and to stimulate
some poetic appreciation in
the student population. The
first objective has been
accomplished, the second
objective was also accomp-
lished, but with several
qualifications.

| had the honour and
sometimes the pleasure of
editing the poetry. | found
within the poetry here pub-
lished some good poetry
and some that affected my-
self and others, in ways
that we couldn’t completely
explain. Poetry is like that;
the art of it can be ex-
amined, enjoyed and an-
alysed, but never com-
pletely explained.

these other tasks.
Event, formerly a poetry

_and literary magazine pub-

lished from the Surrey cam-

pus of Douglas College, is
now solely the property of
Kwantlen College. That
leaves Douglas College with

_nothing but its student

handbook. Enter Otherthan
Review.

The first meeting of the
Otherthan Review was last
September, consisting of
Terry Glavin, founder of the
O.P. and creater of the
Otherthan Review, Bill
Main, english instructor,
John Keith Gilbert (alias
Jody) future Otherthan Re-
view editor, and lan Hunt-
er, driving force.

At this point we decided
that Jody would go through
the material with the help
of a couple of readers, and
that lan would draw up a
budget for the publication.

It was, more or less,
agreed that we would pub-
lish the accepted material
throughout the year and
publish it in book form
when we had _ enough

 

 

 

In a drawer, ina box, ina mess; POETRY!!!

money and material. So
that is why you have been
cultured to death over the
past few months.