home - submissions - contact

Spring 2008

Poetry

VanBuren's picks:

Antonia Clark
Brad Johnson
Dale McLain
Roger Pfingston

John Anderson
Cristina Baptista
Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
Michael Brownstein
Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Alison Eastley
Brent Fisk
David Fraser
Krikor der Hohannesian
Amy MacLennan
Lisa Markowitz
Damon McLaughlin
Micki Myers
Roger Pfingston
Heather Schimel
Rachel Stewart
Lafayette Wattles

Flash Fiction

On Debunking Modern Art

Alex Nodopaka

Pushcart Nominees

Editors

Jennifer VanBuren
Jai Britton
Patrick Carrington

Haven't yet ordered your copy of our first anthology

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate:
Special Reduced Price: $9.00

Download is still free.

Don Snell

All of the paintings shown in the following galleries are available. You can contact the artist through his website: donsnell.com

AN ARTIST MAKES A STATEMENT:

It was never my intention to be an artist. But I read "Lust for Life." The idea of drawing naked females was of great interest to me. Besides I had no marketable skills so I took the vow of poverty and became an artist.

Having said that, I must note that my first life career choice was acting. My problem was that I don't work well with other people. I solved one problem with my camera. Females would without hesitation pose nude. I played to their vanity. So far my career has been uneventful. But when you consider I am 82 and still producing great works of art, things have not been all that bad.

(written on a 2004 painting)

WHEN I visit old friends and see my early work, I am always surprised by what I did 30 or so years ago. A part of the surprise is how similar my current work is to what I have done in the past. My technique is more developed, but my subject matter has not changed that much. I am still involved with the figure and my work usually has strong sexual overtones.

I do not draw on nature for my inspiration. My art is conceived in the studio. I do not use models. I paint with my canvas stretched and stapled to the studio wall. As soon as I finish a painting, I photograph it. Putting the canvas on a stretcher comes last.

I find it difficult to discuss my work. I know I have strong feelings about religion, sex, love, government and justice. Since all things are subjective, these elements vary depending on what I happen to be doing at the moment.

- Snell

---

Two Poems:

I walked backwards through time
Stop and go
Go and stop
A dead dog barked an insult
People chanting “shit” in Latin were shot trying to cross a toll bridge that was still to be completed
The president was on TV and kept saying “everthing is just fine”
all the while being buried by the homeless up to his neck in an ant hill
Prozac went on sale
Laugh-In reruns on TV were a big hit once again
Cars had three gears in reverse
In the west, a big crack opened and California disappeared
Congress voted for a national “Hot Dog Eating Contest” and raised their salaries
The national anthem was played backwards for retarded people attending NFL football games
The American Indians, in the dead of night, put a Port-O-Potty on Custer’s grave
The voting age of females was reduced to 12: if you can menstruate,
you can vote
A drug-sniffing dog was caught dealing
Bored, I put a stamp on my forehead and mailed myself to a high school reunion
where no one knew who I was

Don Snell, November 2006


i was
laughing
walking
talking
passing gas
saying yes
when i
meant no
thinking out
loud
about a pre-paid
VISA journey
with no end.
when
i turned the corner
there it was
an armless shadow
broken
weeping
half-dead from
waving
good-bye.
the center of the
universe is
that-a-way
i’ll go there
and
start again.

Don Snell, December 2006