Congrats, Letter eX

By Tim W. Brown

Whenever an institution reaches a landmark in its history, one is tempted to examine its

impact, both on the community it serves and on the individual. The tenth anniversary of Letter eX

affords such an opportunity. Looking back, I note that my life in Chicago and growth as a writer

exactly coincide with the existence of Letter eX. Indeed, you could say that we came of age

together.

It was the week after Christmas, 1984, when I landed in a near west side loft on

Sangamon Street. I had just returned to my home state from Moscow, Idaho, where I was

attending graduate school at the University of Idaho. A writing program wash-out with visions of

the bohemian lifestyle, I lived smack in the middle of the Fulton Market meat-packing scene, a

place that makes the Wicker Park of today look tamely suburban. Apart from a few artists and

musicians living in the vicinity, my neighbors consisted mainly of hookers plying their trade at

Lake and Halsted or homeless living under viaducts and in bombed-out cars.

My roommate Mark Hedl played drums in a band that rehearsed in our living space.

Despite solid songwriting and a sexy lead singer, his band never quite took off, like an airplane

forever stuck taxiing on the runway. For myself, when not entertained by arguments among band

members or from finding severed pigs heads outside my front door, I passed the time writing

crappy, immature poetry that resulted in a fistful of rejection slips.

As someone with literary pretensions, I kept my eye out for sources of information that

discussed the local scene. It was at Barbara's Bookstore on Wells Street where I first encountered

Letter eX ten years ago. Here, finally, was what I was seeking: a forum for local poets and

writers, published by young people who were passionate about poetry.

What I found most refreshing was the open-minded attitude of Letter eX -- certainly not
without its cliquishness, but decidedly nonacademic. This meant a lot to someone like me, who

had recently come from a college town where you didn't count for shit if you didn't write ultra-

conventional free verse or weren't an aspiring literary critic spouting deconstructionist theory. It

was easy to connect with a publication whose outlook amounted to "anything goes but that

academic nonsense."

I still have a copy of Letter eX from its first year. Dated November, 1985, it's a single, 11-

by-17, folded sheet of paper packed on both sides with tiny typewritten text, very different from

the present 24-page newsprint tabloid of today. Its writers and editors are also very different than

today's staff, although some contributors and many of the poets discussed should be familiar to

anyone involved with the present Chicago poetry scene. Sharon Mesmer and D. Pintonelli are

listed as editors; Matt Straub is credited with Art and Layout.

Exhibiting a remarkable continuity over the years, the issue features several of the same

columns and departments found in Letter eX today. These include a calendar that lists a mere 11

readings. The only regular reading series listed takes place at Link's Hall and features such folks

as Connie Deanovich and "Mark Kelly Smith," as his eminence is referred to. There is the Ex Out

column, containing an overview of poetry in Paris, France, written by Carl Watson, plus some

miscellany from Pintonelli; a performance review of a reading given by Robert Creeley at the Art

Institute; a letter to the editor from Mary Shen Barnidge complaining of a reviewer's treatment of

a show at Weeds; and a lead story consisting of a review of a new study of Ezra Pound's poetry.

Finally, in a section under the heading "Puck's Column" you find the following:

Along with new reading series we've spotted some newer magazines:
Tomorrow Magazine has its second volume out, is available at Guild and
submissions can be sent to 212 N. Sangamon, Chicago, IL 60607. Editor
T.W. Brown.
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This blurb marked my first appearance in Letter eX.

The debate over performance poetry already was raging in late 1985, as evidenced by

several pointed comments contained in the issue. Today, its harshest early critics are resigned to

the fact that performance poetry is here to stay, and you seldom read in Letter eX any stage-

versus-page articles anymore. But in the publication's first few years of existence the split was

endlessly argued over. On one side were the performance poets led by Marc Smith, who

championed the oral interpretation of poetry, playing up its connection to the bardic tradition. On

the other side was a group which sought to defend the craft of writing poetry against the

corrupting influence of performance. This latter bunch included the Letter eX crew, who largely

were grounded in the New York School and Language Poetry. As Smith called them in a 1989

letter to the editor, "your pseudo New York/Columbian connection." He was referring to the fact

that many of the first-generation eXers went to Columbia College. To complete the equation,

most of them emigrated to New York City in the late 1980s, where they have since settled into the

scene there.

Deborah Pintonelli, Sharon Mesmer, Carl Watson and Lydia Tomkiw, to name the main

few of the original staff, might have all left town, but we're still living with their valuable legacy,

which was to promote what I term "community-based poetry." When I use this phrase, I mean the

poetry that has risen spontaneously at off-campus venues like bars and cafes, around personalities

like David Hernandez and Marvin Tate, or from a need to express a specific political or ethnic

viewpoint. To understand how I'm defining "community-based poetry," you only have to look a

couple of miles west of Columbia College, at UIC, site of the other university writing program in

Chicago, to see the insular, academic alternative.

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 That Letter eX intended to "serve as a forum for discourse between poets" allowed the

various poetry tribes around town to discover and appreciate one another. The mutual respect that

arose, however grudgingly in some cases, was instrumental in fostering no less than a poetry

renaissance in this city. Since 1985, we've seen the advent of the Green Mill's Uptown Poetry

Slam and the consequent spread of performance poetry to every major American city; the rise,

fall, and subsequent rise again of Guild Books metamorphosed into the Guild Complex, the

premier literary organization in Chicago at present; Neutral Turf, a yearly attempt to bridge the

many fissures in the poetry community; and the annual Underground Press Conference, created in

response to the recent national explosion in micro press publishing.

Not to mention the efforts and achievements of a list of organizations and individuals who

have contributed to our poetic enrichment over the years, like, for example, Tim Andersen, who

ring-mastered at the Get Me High Lounge and later Batteries Not Included; Gregorio Gomez,

who continues to direct the anarchy at Weeds; Michael Zerang and Leigh Jones, who ran great

performance spaces (while they lasted) at Link's Hall; Guild Books, whose noble cause was finally

overcome by neighborhood economics; Michael Warr, who is a booster of poetry every place he

goes, every single minute of the day; Luis Rodriguez, who has generously given his time taking

poetry into prisons, homeless shelters and schools; Patricia Smith, Jim Banks and Lisa Buscani,

who all added class to performance poetry; Jean Howard, who pioneered the combination of

poetry with video; Cin Salach and Kurt Heintz, who enhance their words with a dancing display

of light and sound; Thax Douglas, who brought insane, late-night poetry cabaret into the clubs;

Lorri Jackson, promising rock-and-roll poet, who tragically died of an overdose; Batya Goldman,

who last year envisioned hundreds of 'zinesters peaceably assembled; and a host of others who

continue their literary labors by giving readings, holding open mics, and publishing their work in
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local journals like Hammers and Tomorrow Magazine or with presses like Tia Chucha and Carlos

Cumpian's MARCH/Abrazo. Still other poets have come and gone over the years, but

nevertheless have left their marks on Chicago poetry.

I try to call to mind some of the names of Letter eX writers who documented all of this

activity, a couple of dozen poets and writers in all, some of whom I never even met in person,

although we often corresponded by mail or through the pages of the publication: Elaine Equi,

Roman Stoad, Angela Hricsina, Jacqui Disler, Mary Hawley, Beatriz Badikian, Barry Cassilly,

David Meyers, Karen Nystrom, Doran Edwards, Tom Sanfilip, Bob Caskey, Mitzi Fine, Sara

Davis, Gloria Klein, David Gecic, Dwight Okita, Cathleen Schandelmeier, and, finally, C.J. Laity,

present editor of Letter eX, who is guiding the publication into its second decade as leader to a

third generation of staff. All told, they were an exceptionally selfless bunch who dedicated

themselves to recognizing (and debating) the accomplishments of Chicago's poets.

What we find ten years later reflected in the pages of Letter eX is a poetry community

whose members have matured, both as writers and in their writing careers. In addition to

publishing many poems, stories and articles, a number of us have written and published whole

books in the small and not-so-small press. We have made the rounds at all of the gone, forgotten

venues as well as the newer, trendy ones, starting from Lincoln Park and Hyde Park, to Lakeview

and Rogers Park, then finally to Bucktown and Wicker Park, and leading who knows where next.

We are applying for and receiving grants from state and federal arts agencies. Some of us are

scoring large sums from corporate donors and trust foundations to help fund our ambitious

literary projects. A select few of us even manage to make a living off our poetry, either with grant

help or from scrapping by on readings or free-lance writing. Hell, some of us are breaking down

and teaching at the university, which used to be the enemy, but now is gradually coming under
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control of sixties survivors and therefore increasingly receptive to the diverse points of view we

espouse.

We all have matured as people, too, rising up the corporate ladder, pursuing relationships,

having children, buying property. I'm reminded of a poignant conversation I had with Eddie Two-

Rivers last year, when he spoke with amazement at how he had become a home-owner and was

even participating in his block club's activities. Like Eddie, I feel amazed that I'm married and find

myself the owner of a high-rise condo, which is worlds away from the far-below-code warehouse

that greeted me when I first came to town. I suppose it's only a matter of time before my wife and

I decide to have a child.

Such milestones in life can only inform and enrich our literary productions. I look forward

to reading and listening to the poems that result. And I look forward to reading in future issues

what Letter eX has to say about it all.