Next Words Review

Reviewed: Next Words

Issue: 2014

Next Words is a literary publication of the CalArts MFA program (link), a magazine which features the work of graduating students. It's the practice version, let's say, of CalArts lauded publication, Black Clock (link). That being said, Next Words offers some pretty vibrant writing. It reminds me of farmer's market produce; it's fresh, raw, covered with warts, and suspect to the latest trends – or, it's the rainbow kale of the literary world.

Contained in vibrant pink colors which are wood-blocked (not really) with black ink reproductions of Rider Tarot (link) deck cards, is a body of work by the student's of CalArts, work that includes excerpts of novels, flash fictions, poems, and some really lame experiments. It's a free-for-all, which, bolstered as it is by some stronger works, adds up to a holistically pleasing reading experience.

The authors are arranged alphabetically, grouped into “chapters” according to the first letter of their respective last names. So, Djinji Jimenez's novel excerpt is in chapter J, which is titled with a “J” written in 60-point font, which, if nothing else, is pleasing to the eye. Modes of organization can seem arbitrary, so throwing everyone into their alphabetic category adds a sense of equality via randomness to the various works.

Not everything is equal here, however. By page 23 we come across our first shitty poem, in the “C” chapter. “C” for Cheap Concept, in my opinion, but the author, Joey Cannizzaro calls his “poem” “Hyperphonic Translation” which is subtitled: (every youtube video trending on 11/2/13 played simultaneously). It yields all the banality you would expect, with lines like:

forgetting and

dropping in

the middle of the road

out of control

inside the radio

dizzy money

on video” (24)

This goes on for 180 lines. At least they get a paper MFA degree to show for their time at CalArts.

But I'm being overly cynical, because, misguided poetry aside, this journal contains many works worthy of a reader's time. Prior to the “C” chapter, the “B” portion of the book offers two brief and rhapsodic works that glory in language and texture. The texts feel living, partially due to the fact that these are young writers throwing all their feelings on paper – perhaps – but also do to some serious skill with sentences. in Ani Bakhchadzyan's “Information Age” -- one of many “novel excerpts” -- we get the gnarled interiority and free indirect discourse of a man who plans to kidnap and molest a masseuse: “There she was. Every glance, every encounter, contained within it a dark, expanding universe of intimacies, exploding like dandelion fluffr at her slightest breath. Dressed in all leather with a whip and cat ears” (15). In KT Browne's flash fiction, “Ecotone,” we are offered something that seems like the result of a creative writing experiment: Pick a word you like and use it as the triggering agent for a story. The word “Ecotone” yields an adolecent dreamscape of fractured love and sensual awareness, harbouring strange lines like, “When Cheech sleeps she spans strange distances quickly; speeding down lanes, speeding forth through seasons, she goes incautiously into the black. Often in these dreams Cheech finds herself in strange motels” (17). A little melodramatic, yet undeniably flavorful! Like rainbow kale.

Language like this is on display throughout the journal. Flipping to “K” you might find a wonderful flash fiction by Clay Kerrigan which recounts pastoral childhood with language packed with charm and luster: “I've got rubber dinosaurs and African mega-fauna in clusters, a thte foot of trees and over sprays of moss” (64). These shorter pieces are the best this journal has to offer, especially when authors don't lapse into formal experimentation.

Stats:

Content: Everything you can imagine. Though nothing is longer than six or seven pages. Poetry, experimental, flash, novel excerpts. The better question is, what is not here.

Quality: Mid-range, raw, with bright moments juxtaposed against misfiring experiments.

Submissions: Because this seems like a one-off produced to feature CalArts MFA graduates, submissions must be relegated to those who attend the MFA program.

X-factor: If you're not an MFA student at CalArts, then you have a better chance of being published alongside Jonathan Lethem in Black Clock.

Score(on a scale of 1-11): 5

Other info:

Next Words

CalArts

Edited by: Emma Kemp and Adriana Widoes