What? Not Perfect?

According to Neale Donald Walsch, God is purported to have said:

"Because you believe in human imperfection, and since you believe that you have received this characteristic from me [God], you have felt perfectly free to pass it on to others. All the while you have expected the same thing of others that you have been told I expect of you: perfection. And so it has come to pass that humans have gone through life demanding perfection of those whom they, themselves, have called imperfect --namely humans"

Well this human editor is not perfect and as such needed the time (almost two months) to get myself together to put out this wonderful new edition of Asili...with a little help from my friends.

We paid tribute to Adrian Castro in our last issue, and what do you think he has done? He has put out a new book, Wise Fish: Tales in 6/8 Time. See his page for the particulars.  Well done, Adrian.

Preston Allen has stirred up enough literary dustdevils to finally get recognized in Nazareth [in Miami's NewTimes]:

Come with Me, Sheba by Preston L. Allen, BEST BOOK BY A LOCAL AUTHOR. Another convoluted Magic City tale, written in a style that lurches between Charles Willeford's blunt prose and Carl Hiaasen's hysteria, the story Allen has concocted is unmistakably Miamian. A mystery man, an oddball millionaire, and a violent criminal who goes by the unfortunate nickname "Lethal Coon" revolve around the title protagonist in this adrenalized revel by the author of Hoochie Mama and Churchboys and Other Sinners... Miami New Times

Congratulations, Preston!

Eunice Tate has also been busy. She has a new book out, Scraping My Heart depicting:

the painful yet healing journey of a mother who survived the most painful experience imaginable, burying one's own child. Through her words, we are able fully understand the depth of the bond shared between mother and son and how that bond helped her in moving through her pain... [Reviewed by] Sherman (Florida)

Eugene B. Redmond is having a documentary made of his life and accomplishments transcribed in celluloid -- "The Arkansippi Bard". Congratulations Gene. 

Al Young just returned from India and a major poetic junket and is on his way to do a Jazz and Poetry concert in Seattle.  There is talk of a "Retrospective" in the works for one of America's most prolific poets and novelists.Well done and welcome back, Al.   Wait a minute, this is just in:

Underscoring the importance of poetry and the literary arts, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on May 12th 2005 appointed Al Young as California's Poet Laureate. Again, well done and congratulations, Al.

What a group!!! Now for this issue.

Al Young keeps a steady pulse with more poetry from his volume, The Sounds of Dreams Remembered." He gives us three pieces: Snowy Morning Blues, another outstanding tribute to J. P. Johnson and the immortal Langston Hughes; Solaris and Water, Fire, Air, The Earth, The Wind. I know you will enjoy each of these. Peabody Award winner Quincy Troupe submits for our consideration, So What, Images & Remembrance, Witnesses and Signals & Demarcations, each wonderfully crafted, haunting and provocative. East St. Louis Poet Laureate Eugene Redmond reverts to type in four funky pieces, Southern Sound, Lyrics for Leon for the great yodelling jazz singer, Leon Thomas, Sound of a Heart-Train for the incomprable John Coltrane and the legendary Johnny Hartman and In the Fleshflame that is Her Face, one of my all time favorites.

Geoffrey Philp is Blind in St. Thomas, takes us through a Baptism @ St. John's, and ponders the Democracy Blues. Preston Allen pushes the envelope in the delightful "Little Birdy."

Michael Hettich takes us Behind Our Memories, dares to tell us Stories We Can't Tell, and finishes us off with Black River.   Great stuff. Max Pierre who has been away for sometime comes back to tell us that he had to Runaway To Look for My Broken Heart. He is poignant in the poem, Solitary Drinker and mystical in The Tree and The Wind. Its good to have you back, Max, with your trilingual self.

Evelyn Escoto continues to sizzle with MOO, Fairy Princess, Go Suck it and Pop Tarts. This young woman is too fresh! CM Clark is positively incandescent in the Season of Smoke and Tigers and lyrical in Cantata.

Welcome back to Eunice Tate, one of my favorite poets. She stays in good form with her two pieces, A Short Poem and Silent Murders. Great job, Eunice. Fred Wolven "kicks it up a notch" with No, I was not Your Kokopelli Man and The Cat Outside His Door, #1 and #2.

Bob Moorman enshrines an old flight jack in the piece, Fly-logeny and exalts his Legends Lost...We are pleased to introduce Changolita, poet and anthropologist, who gives us the unrepentant Delta Dream.

Adrian Castro completes his epic Cantos in this edition and paves the way for more brilliant submissions from his new book. Your editor humbly submits the sixth installment in the saga of the boy avatar, Shango, in Ogun Oni're. Shango faces his severest test to date when he awakens his arch enemy, Ogun.   Let's have some fun with this issue!