by Sari Krosinsky
Daily Lobo
Walking down Central Avenue is a good way to meet an eclectic assortment of interesting people - Central Avenue monthly magazine and open mic are each also a great way to encounter an equally diverse collection of poetry.
The June issue of Central Avenue includes poems representing a variety of genres. Themes include love, anti-war, Chicano pride, landscapes, ars poetica (poems about poetry) and others.
Most of the poetry is free form, but there are also list poems, a prose poem, and several poems with A Coney Island of the Mind-style zigzag format. The magazine has featured poets from a variety of poetry movements, including slam poets and academic poets.
As mixed as the content of Central Avenue is, Dale Harris, Central Avenue co-editor, said it still strives for an underlying unity.
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"We may keep a submission for months waiting for just the right issue to put it in," she said. "Hopefully, you have some of the poems speaking to each other."
The magazine was founded last December, following in the footsteps of an earlier publication Willow Street. Harris said the two magazines share the same format and some of the same organizers, but "there's a lot of different input into this evolution of it."
Central Avenue attempts to fill a role that complements Albuquerque's vibrant poetry scene, which includes several monthly slams, weekly open mics and regular readings sponsored by UNM's English Department.
"It's a place where a lot of poets who perform and put their work out in different venues can come and do something new that they're working on, or something experimental - something a little different," Harris said.
The monthly open mic provides a relaxed coffee house setting. Harris contrasted Central Avenue to the expanding use of online media.
"It's old fashioned and has a simple integrity to it," she said.
But Central Avenue is more than just a local venue. The core of the magazine is central New Mexico, and it also brings in contributors from all over the country.
"It has a lot of extended family, so to speak," Harris said.
The magazine's focus on printing quality poetry - as opposed to a focus on genre, locality or name recognition - is part of what makes its eclecticism work.
"It's veStrange Attrary interesting to see well-known, published poets in the same forum as first timers," Harris said.
Submissions to Central Avenue are reviewed and selected by an editorial board and student submissions are warmly invited.
The next Central Avenue reading is 7 p.m. tonight at R.B. Winning Coffee Co., 111 Harvard Drive. The June issue will be available at the reading for $3. Annual subscriptions are $15.
For more information, contact Dale Harris at poetdale@yahoo.com.
