Graffiti From an American Refugee
Pockets
https://www.instagram.com/pocketsthepoet/
Graffiti From an American Refugee is an 11cm x 9.5cm accordion fold, black and white zine of poems.
When it comes to reviews of poetry zines, I always preface the review with letting you know that I know nothing about poetry other than what I like. I took a poetry unit at university, and I still know nothing about poetry. Now with that out of the way…
Usually I jump right into what comes after the cover at this point, but – as is habit – I looked at the front and then the back. And I have to mention the back, which is one of the coolest introductions to a person I’ve seen. I won’t quote it, because I enjoyed it so much I feel like that would be a spoiler, but it felt like ‘punk poetry’. Comfortable and cool.
Inside Graffiti From an American Refugee, you find four poems. To me they read like slam poetry. I read the words and could almost hear the emphasis on certain words and almost see someone in front of a mic delivering them. I couldn’t always quite get into a rhythm as such, but the messages were clear and left me feeling inspired.
Aesthetically this zine is fun. The accordion fold is different than the usual fold, the type is easy to read, and there are a few images to help keep visual interest.
All up, I enjoyed this a lot. Not finding a rhythm here or there didn’t stop me from getting into the overall feel of this zine. It was interesting and fun – one to check out and see if you like.