Acceptance: Rivets Lit Mag

http://www.rivetslitmag.com/


This relatively new journal just took two of my poems: "Unseen Ghost" and "Doppelganger." Editor Dale Debakcsy apologized for taking too long; but I submitted at the beginning of February and found the response time quite acceptable. One strength of this zine, apparently, is the editor's gracious professionalism.

Another strength, of course, is the poetry. Not only are the words well-wrought, some of the contributors have fascinatingly quirkish pasts. For instance, Hugh Fox has this in his bio:

"Originally from Chicago, childhood immersed in opera, violin, musical composition, symphonies, opera, only child, father an M. D., frustrated violinist, mother an actress who ended up a secretary, so all their theatrical-literary-musical frustrations ended up in Fox who has 110 books published, but still has 40 unpublished novels...as he hits 78 on February 12th..."


Here's another one from Simon Leigh:

"I’m a former university professor, writing full-time in Toronto. From Melbourne, Australia, I was educated way beyond my intelligence at Sydney University, Oxford and the University of New Brunswick. Thirteen years at universities ended in a construction job digging drains, then thirteen years as a racing driver ended in a concrete wall at Mosport. I now ski race and play valve trombone. "


Yet another cool thing about this journal is the black-and-white art that accompanies every issue (three so far). There are intriguing and fairly dark messages in the drawings. On the cover of the third issue, two lovers dance in a whirl while their fingers morph into grasping tentacles.

I think the editor has a penchant for illuminati-style clues. For example, a cryptic latin motto can be found nestled in the site, if you look closely:

Tacitae per amica silentia lunae


This phrase, which means something like "under the friendly silence of the moon" comes from Aeneid and was taken up by W.B. Yeats, who uses it to describe a mysterious and profound quest.

The obscure link to Yeats might also have something to do with occult muses in the form of alternative personalities or daimons:

"In the first decade of the century, Yeats--along with virtually everyone in the artistic world--was still dabbling in the occult, looking for insight and inspiration. In 1906-9 he studied with the Golden Dawn society again and by 1912 he was dabbling in automatic writing and going to seances. In June of 1912, at one of Mrs. Wreidt's (an American medium) seances at Cambridge House in Wimbledon, Yeats began making brief contacts with--among others--a "Leo." In July of 1914, the contact became clearer; this was the voice of Leo Africanus, a geographer and explorer of the Italian Renaissance, offering Yeats insights and advice. If Yeats would write to him, he would respond through Yeats's own hand. A look at this correspondence, published in The Yeats Annual in 1982, gives one an idea of the inception of the daimon theory."

http://www.csun.edu/~hceng029/yeats/lindsley.html


I'm not sure what this intriguing editor is up to, but it's well worth finding out. The poetry is fine, the atmosphere is splendidly idiosyncratic, and you will find no hint of conformity or boredom--even though the name of the journal is a humble construction rivet (which, pardon the pun, is handled by the editor with a nice twist).


OWL