Does This Count? Poetry From a Non Poet Issue 2
Don Leach
12 pages
https://www.instagram.com/notmovingpics/
http://notmovingpictures.blogspot.com/

Does This Count? is a US-sized half-fold, black and white zine of short poems written in one day from a non-poet.

If you’ve followed this blog and my reviews for a while, you know how I feel about poetry: slightly intimidated with a generous helping of fascinated. I think that’s why I got right into this zine as, on the inside front cover, Don ponders what it is to be a poet. Does simply writing poetry do it, or is there something else involved? Publishing? Acknowledged as good by peers?

Don doesn’t come to a conclusion – and I feel glad about that.

From there we go into the poems. Each page features two or three poems written in different fonts and accompanied by simple line art to make it very easy to tell them apart. They are written in a 5-7-5 syllable haiku style, which I quite like for its strong capacity for both depth of thought as well as depth of humour.

The poems were a mixed bag for me. Some felt absolutely complete and powerful, leaving me thinking about what the words meant to me personally and what they made me feel. Others felt incomplete like the barest moment in time. Yet other still lead me to turn them around in my head, gaining meanings that might not have been intended but worked for me. A mixed bag that I’ve come to expect and even enjoy in poetry.

The back features a little bit more about how this zine came to be: in an inspired session over the course of one day. I won’t go into all the details here, but I rather like the story of songwriter Robert Pollard ‘turning on the faucet’. It reminded me of a lot of writer advice that basically all boils down to ‘just get it down on the page’.

All up, I enjoyed this zine. The title definitely caught me, and the whole concept kept me reading. That someone even created this zine made me feel more comfortable with the occasional poem I write in my journal every now and then. I’d actually quite like to check out the first issue and am curious to know if there will be more to come after this. Check it out. No reason to be intimidated.

“Does any of this even matter? I’ve no idea. I just write what I write.”

Fuck You
Weirdo Brigade
https://linktr.ee/WeirdoBrigade

Fuck You is a US one-page-folded, full colour mini zine basically repeating the title in fun, colourful ways.

I write a lot of serious reviews here, but I have been absolutely full-on cranky all week, so I wanted to check out something that made me laugh. I’m all for spreading sunshine, but I have some saltiness too, and this zine fit my mood perfectly.

Fuck You is a quick read mini with different ways to say ‘fuck you’ set with colourful drawings and backgrounds. There’s no real start or end other than the front and back covers. I don’t know if WB had anyone in particular in mind when they made this, but I love how general it is. If I was a bolder person, I could absolutely see myself carrying multiple copies and handing them out to people who were being… less than kind.

There are no zinemaker details on here, which is usually a sticking point of mine. With this zine, however, I think it’s fitting. The message is the message, and it feels complete just as it is.

There’s something about swear words and rainbows paired together that makes me smile. Paired with a cranky week, this zine made for the perfect release of feels in zine form.

Mummies: A Zine About the Dead
Arinn Westendorf
https://www.arinn.com/
https://linktr.ee/ari.nn

Mummies: A Zine About the Dead is an A6, black and white zine about various mummies found around the world.

An educational zine about mummies with perzine elements included. Count me in.

Mummies opens to some socials details (thank you!) and a cover page before launching right into what we’re here for: mummies! Each spread features a drawing of the mummy on one page and a short description on the other. The description includes the mummy name, approximate date of death, date of discovery, and location followed by what the featured mummy means to Arinn.

Something about Arinn’s drawing style reminds me of Bedtime Stories on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/BedtimeStoriesChannel) – haunting and a little cold, which is so appropriate for the subject matter. Having the drawings of the mummies to go along with the details is a great idea and not only makes it have more impact with the readers but also gives the zine a complete feel that the zine would definitely lack without them.

Mummies aren’t really a passion of mine by any means, but I found this zine a very interesting read. I liked getting a glimpse of knowledge about the mummies and to see them, but more interesting was the impact that each mummy had on Arinn and Arinn’s fascinations with mummies overall.

Mummies: A Zine About the Dead is an interesting mix of educational, art, and perzine. Check it out.

The Lost People: How Pop Culture Helped Me to Deal With Trauma
Marvellous
https://twitter.com/Marglow3
https://www.instagram.com/badquilla/

The Lost People is a full-colour A5 zine about processing childhood trauma and abuse through pop culture.

Marvellous opens the zine with an introduction to himself and how being an abuse survivor has defined him. Talk about being hooked in the first few paragraphs. Marvellous really spoke to me straight away when he wrote about carrying several identities within them:

“I’m the child who wasn’t listened to, I’m the teenager who is always hurting, I’m the young adult who was trying to not let himself drown in the pain of abuse.”

As a child abuse survivor myself, this resonated so much with me. It is one of those things in my life that I just took for granted as part of myself and how I think about myself but never really thought of beyond that. Seeing it on the page like that, written by someone else, was really beautiful to me and was yet another reminder of how powerful zines and shared experiences can be.

From there, Marvellous writes about processing trauma through pop culture. I was delighted to find more similarities between us. While I always knew the movie Spirited Away (and all Miyazaki films really) had a powerful impact on me, it was interesting to take in the story through Marvellous’ interpretation.

Marvellous also processed trauma through other movies and books as well. Because of the strong connection I have to Spirited Away, I found myself eager to write down the things I hadn’t seen and read so I could do so later.

The design of this zine is quite well done with the colours of the background soothing words about an intense journey. Watercolours keep you flowing forward and typed words with a mix of written parts here and there keep variety on the pages.

The Lost People is a good zine about how pop culture can actually help us but also represents a zine for abuse survivors wanting to reach out. I’m a little wary of these subjects for my own mental health, but I found this to be a fairly gentle reaching out. Marvellous expresses himself in a way that resonates rather than triggers bad memories (at least, that was my personal experience).

This is a good zine to check out and one that I hope Marvellous expands further in the future if he cares to do so.

Nice Bum, Where Ya From?
Ryan Pocket Thoughts
https://www.instagram.com/_my_name_is_ryan_/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/pocketthoughts/

Nice Bum, Where Ya From? is an 11cmX9cm full colour zine of art revolving around funny rhyming pick up lines involving backsides.

It’s Friday, and I’m in a cheeky mood (pun fully intended), so I decided to pick up one of Ryan’s zines for some smiles and laughs. I was not at all disappointed.

Nice Bum, Where Ya From? launches right in, carrying on from the funny rhyme (and hairy bum) right on the front cover. From there we are treated to six pages – each featuring a bum-related rhyme and a related drawing. They range from (for me): “Did he really write that?” to “I really need to stop laughing in the next five minutes”. That probably says something about my (low) maturity levels, but… I don’t care. I appreciate the laughs so much.

Ryan’s art style is realistic, colourful, and just plain awesome. Do some pics get a little naughty? Well, about as much as you’d expect from a zine with a hairy bum on the cover. But I think it’s all great. My favourite is the one with a Valentine’s Day flair, but I will say no more on it… You’ll have to see for yourself.

I love Ryan’s zines. More often than not, they remind me not to take myself or whatever I’m making creatively too seriously. His zines remind me to smile and laugh. Definitely grab this. And maybe one for a friend who needs a laugh too.

Fritkot 1-3
Antek
a.blampied(at)hotmail.be
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/pleasetakeonebooks

Fritkot 1-3 is a set of three A6, full-colour collections of photomontages.

One more thing to love about zines is zines like these ones making me feel like I have a cool art exhibition right in my hands.

Fritkot 1 opens with a welcome note from Antek letting the reader know that this is a selection of photomontages from the collection they have been creating over the past five years. What follows is a list of the title of each piece included followed by Antek’s sign of.

We then launch right into twelve (in each issue) pieces for the reader’s enjoyment and contemplation.

Zines like this used to intimidate me because, with little to no guidance, I was afraid of getting the ‘wrong’ interpretation from things. However, these days, I enjoy the mystery and finding my own meanings.

While not every piece strikes me, what I like, I really like. For example, ‘Suburban Street’ in issue two features a graveyard with a cityscape (clearly my description does it absolutely no justice), made such a huge impression on me I found myself losing time just looking at it and thinking about what I felt it was ‘saying’ to me.

Further, while no issue has a theme as such, issue three interested me a lot. The front and back covers imply otherwise, but the pieces inside really gave me the impression of being in the world but not being in the moment. Being too focused on superficiality or small things to see the bigger picture. Am I right? Am I wrong? It doesn’t really matter. I’m enjoying the journey of thinking about it.

Fritkot is an interesting series of photomontages that can prod your mind if you let it. If you like photomontages and collages or would like to start checking them out, then have a look at this series.