Still Poly/Not Poly: Further Adventures in Relationship Structure Ambivalence
Kirsty
https://www.instagram.com/mskirstyface/
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/foreverincomplete

Still Poly/Not Poly is a black and white A6 zine about Kirsty’s relationship with relationships, changing views of polyamory,

I’ve reviewed the previous issue Poly/Not Poly: Adventures in Relationship Structure Ambivalence here: (https://www.seagreenzines.com/zine-review-poly-not-poly-adventures-in-relationship-structure-ambivalence/)

I quite enjoyed Poly/Not Poly and was happy to see another zine about the topic. Still Poly/Not Poly was made two years after the first, and, in Kirsty’s usual style, gets right to the topic into the introduction. They write about how things can change in relationships and how, even though they no longer feel the same way on a lot of points, this zine is meant to be an addition rather than a replacement. It may seem a small thing, but I love this to bits and pieces because it sets from the beginning the fact that people can grow and change.

When I started reading this, I immediately remembered how much I like Kirsty’s writing style. They have a way of writing that is so clear, so open and self-aware… Their writing made me think about how some experiences in life must be accompanied by deprogramming our own minds from what we’ve been trained to think and believe.

Kirsty talks about struggling with the ‘monogamy guilt’ (my term, not theirs) as well as their relationship anxiety that stems from internal worries as well as from fears over judgement from others. I feel like, regardless of topic, those feelings are utterly and completely relateable.

“I feel very lucky to have had both of them in my life and I feel proud of myself for fighting my brain for that.”

I think this zine could be one to help people navigate through the very complicated waters of what many of us are taught we ‘should’ want and have in relationships and figuring out what we really do want in relationships. Kirsty doesn’t present this zine as any sort of guide by any means, but, in a way, I see that as all the more reason that it’s helpful.

It’s certainly has me thinking about a lot of things.

Still Poly/Not Poly is another great read from Kirsty that helped open my mind and gave me new perspectives about my own feelings about relationships. I think this and the previous zine are excellent reads for anyone who wants to examine relationships and how they view them.

The Earlham Review no. 1
Tim Cook
https://www.theearlhamreview.com/

The Earlham Review is a black and white A4 size zine chock full of chippings of text and pictures arranged into its own magazine of organised chaos.*

I haven’t written these words in a while, but wow, it’s hard to know where to start with zine.

As you can probably see from the cover, The Earlham review dives right into an assortment of clippings from different sources put together to create all new bits and pieces. I can easily imagine one or more people sitting at a big table covered in text and image clippings, going through it all to create sentences that make sense.

There are longer fake news articles like ‘Two Years ‘Hard’ For’ by Constance Cox-Cumming, as well as small little snippets of fake news one-liners like “South American black widow spider living in bunch of shop bananas frightened of being sent to special detention cobweb”.

And there are 24 pages of this.

My favourite part is the cut and paste “Profile On Badminton Star Betty Cylinder”. With so many little clippings from so many different sources, it makes for an amusingly confusing assortment of ‘facts’ from “Birthplace: Studio flat in Chelsea” to “Superstitions: Sleeping”.

The slight drawback is that what makes it awesome is also what makes it slightly visually overwhelming. When there’s so much on a page going in quite a few directions, then it can all feel a bit in your face at first glance. That being said, it’s worth diving right in and seeing the massive assortment of little cut and paste treasures are on offer.

I am in absolute awe of how much time and effort it must have taken to put this together – and there’s a second edition out, too! I’ve read through it several times and still keep going back to it for ‘one more look through’. I’m probably repeating myself at this point, but there’s so much!

The Earlham Review is certainly an interesting zine that takes cut and paste with a large side of collage to a whole new level. I’m by no means some zine-reading giant, but I think it’s worth noting that I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It’s a zine that’s interesting no matter what level you take it – flip through or reading every single strange and often amusing combination of words.

One to check out.

*I know ‘organised chaos’ is an oxymoron, but I can’t think of a better phrase.