Illustrations by Jeremy Mericle

When I asked him to draw the cover for issue one all I told him was I needed something that would take up the whole cover and not leave too much white space. Not that I dislike voids but I just felt like having something big with a logo feel to it. Jeremy is a versatile illustrator. A graduate of MIAD (Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design) he came to the conclusion that most of the modern art coming from academic institutions relies less on anything put on canvass and more on what the artist puts on paper in mission statements. Illustrators have the luxury of allowing stories to dictate goals. As an illustrator his preference for narrative allows him to work with short fiction but his knack for picking out interesting images enables him to work with poetry as well, in fact, his thesis was drawing illustration for the poetry of Omar Khayyám. Another example of this is his work for Jonathan Lohr’s first chapbook Watertown’s Plank Road. The images Mericle chose from the short manuscript demonstrated his skill as an illustrator as well as the understanding and insight that is required to work with poetry in order to enunciate, but not overshadow, the written word. In addition to these contributions he also drew an excellent illustration for the story "Flying Saucer Nights" by Jim Hazard in Burdock the Two. He is currently at work on his own children's book.

Burdock 5 gets some press!

I'm so lazy with updates but luckily the Shepherd Express is on the ball. Click the blog title for the article. It's a nice write up. Thanks to Aisha for taking the time to do something I should have done! With any luck in a few days I should have some contributor info up.

Contributor information for Burdock 5

Here is the promised contributor info. Some of it is very brief but I had to make do with what was given to me.



Michael S. Begnal Lives in Raleigh N.C. where he is mastering a southern accent. He has written two collections of poetry Lakes of Coma (Six Gallery Press) and Ancestor Worship (Salmon) and a long poem Mercury the Dime (Six Gallery Press)




James Blessington Was a runner up for the Wisconsin Arts Board grant in 2006. He writes novels and short prose (when goaded) He is currently putting the finishing touches on a novel about Joe Delany.




Jim Chapson Lives in Milwaukee and works at UWM. He has a book coming out on Arlen House Press called Daphnis and Ratboy. He is also the author of several chapbooks such as The American Coot, Sentimental Journeys, and is a regular contributor to Burdock.




Tyler Farrell's first book Tethered to the Earth is available on Salmon press. He has poems in issues 3-5 of Burdock. In 2008 he was the featured poet at Milwaukee's Irish Fest which is the largest Irish festival not held in Ireland.




Jennifer Kraft, aside from Burdock 5, has been published in the Portland Review. She lives in Milwaukee and attends UWM.




Thomas Kovacich Lives in Milwaukee and is a member of Gallery 218. His primary mediums are painting and sculpture. His artwork appears inside the pages of Burdock 5.




Dolly Lemke is currently attending Grad school at Columbia in Chicago. She has work in Burdock 4 as well. She rides the train back to Milwaukee though whenever something interesting is happening up here.




Jonathan Lohr's First chapbook, Watertown's Plank Road, came out earlier this year on Teppichfresser Press. He is the editor of B-Squad and fan of Brewer's baseball. He also appears in Burdock 4.




James Liddy (1934-2008) James inspired many people to write their own poetry and to read the work of others with more passion and care. He wrote many books in life and two more are set to be released by Arlen House shortly. He was a regular contributor to Burdock and a great friend.




Kristin Ravel is going for a Master of Fine Arts degree at Columbia Chicago.




Joe Reipenhoff is from Milwaukee and is currently the editor of GreenGallery Press. He works in the legal field but has practiced as a photographer, film and videographer, music composer and producer, and most recently as a writer.




Andrew Terhune is originally from Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently in Chicago seeking his MFA at Columbia College and has previously been published in Columbia Poetry Review, Glass, Reconfigurations, and O Sweet Flowery Roses.




Nathan Theis is a film student at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.




Paul Vogel Published two collaborative books of poetry with James Liddy centered on Osip Mandlestam - Sophias and Death Row. He is currently a grad student at UWM.




Shannon Ward is an instructor of creative writing at North Carolina State University, and from 2005-2007, was assistant editor at Longleaf Press. She has work in The Fifteen Project and the forthcoming Spring 2009 issue of Tar River Poetry.





PS: If I got something wrong or you'd really like to know more about one of the contributors (i.e. address, favorite color, dress size, credit card info) let me know burdockmagazine@gmail.com .

Gabe Spangler, who has poetry in issues 1 and 4 of Burdock, filmed and directed this video for Ifihadahifi.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU5qx7VvbU4

Happy Halloween!

5 and 15

There are now enough submissions to fill Burdock 5 so the window is closed.
More info on the release reading will be forthcoming but thanks to all those who submitted.

In addition to this piece of news I have poems up on the 15 Project. Cast your eyes on yonder links section.

Taking Submissions

The next issue of Burdock is going to be done this fall. In order to avoid the pitfalls of self publishing people are encouraged to submit short fiction (very short, like, half a page to 2 pages short) or short poems (also very short - under 10 lines).

If you have any accompanying illustrations keep in mind that it will be printed in black and white and will most likely appear very small.

I'll stop taking submissions when I'm all done filling pages.

Send what you have via email at burdockmagazine@gmail.com or you can do it the old fasioned way and mail it to 2979 N. Bremen apt. B Milwaukee, WI 53212.

No freaks.

The Lit World

I’ve never personally met Tim Miller so I can’t make any wise cracks about his personal habits all I can do is review this very excellent book The Lit World. The book is subtitled “Poems from History” to give you some idea of the contents. I’m actually a harsh judge of contemporary poets writing historical poems probably because of my attempt at a History major. And though you can fall out of love with a program you can’t fall out of love with a subject. Here’s a story. In High School anytime we got an exchange student from Europe the first thing he or she’d do is critique the student body for its lack of general historical knowledge until they met the handful of history buffs every high school has. I’d say the fact that anyone with the ability to recall historical data earns the label of “history buff” does a better job illustrating my point. We tend to operate as if we are somehow separate from all that’s happened prior to our existence. (Okay that was more of a blathering but,)Miller is doing something different. The chronological arrangement of the poems coupled with the range of topics, from Creation to WWII, threaded together with scenes of violence and death, demonstrate an attention to craft as well as human nature. Some personal favorites in the book are “Hart Crane”, “The Death of Marcus Licinius Crassus” and “Tecumseh”. The first deals, not with the death of poor Hart, but with one of his last real nights alive banging a drum on the roof of a Cathedral. The second reveals just how superficially humans can live and die and how it is really nothing new at all. The last reports a vow of righteous hatred and intended conflict. Each poem amounts to more than a profile and the add up in the telling directing the reader all the way to the climax in Hitler’s Bunker which is examined in five separate parts.
The language is engaging and the prose style pays off. Were these pieces presented differently they would probably not be as good and the reader would get stuck on the intended delivery of a particular syllable and miss out on the content. It's interesting to think how the author might intend to read these pieces aloud but then the voices here is going over long dead, even ancient subject matter.
How do I describe this book? Try Cormac McCarthy in a time machine writing in the style of Max Jacob for a series of associated press articles. Maybe that’s close…probably not. I’ll stick to the traditional review. Check out Mike Begnal's blog over in yonder links section he has a much better review of this book.
Tim Miller has appeared in Burdock 2 and 4. He lives in Brooklyn New York. He’s got a website too.