Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726

Pif Magazine
1426 Harvard Ave. #451
Seattle, WA 98122-3813

PAST ZINE REVIEWS	MORE ZINES

Dinomentia
Edited by Dino Baskovics
Reviewed by Tom Hartman

Dinomentia Edited by Dino Baskovics Email the Editor

Dino Baskovics's madly heterogeneous dinomentia (the "webzine for the wacked head") would seem an unlikely place to find worthwhile poetry. But there it is, just waiting to be discovered, in Termini's Corner, the second link down in the table of contents.

Edited by New Yorker Matthew Thorburn, Termini's Corner is, in essence, a 'zine within a 'zine, an oasis of serious writing in the midst of the general wackiness Baskovics seeks to cultivate. Poetry is king here, and Thorburn has a keen eye for well-crafted shorter verse; for example Amanda Lea Johnson's "Talking to You is Like Sleeping":

The exact opposite of silence
Or the I don't have to be thinking all of the goddamn time
The way I thought it would feel under the quilt until I lay there
Sounds of women walking on stone in heels
Talking to you is like watching
2 boys smash green cherry tomatoes in the bare late-November garden

Johnson's poem is just one of the gems in the Winter 2000 TC, titled "The Place Only You and I Know: Selected Poetry in the Spirit of St. Valentine." Another fine poem is Jay Leeming's "Morning":

Six AM, and you wake me with kisses,
already full of that joy
with which you bless restaurants,
shoes, aduki beans
and your hat with a bell on the end.
Today I'll pick you up from work
in my car that could break at any time.
We'll drive through the city
to the place that everyone passes
but only you and I know.

The only problem with Termini's Corner is that there isn't enough of it: each quarterly update is fairly skimpy – which may be due to a shortage of submissions, or perhaps Thorburn has a mandate to keep this section fairly modest in scope. Thankfully, TC's index page includes links to 5 issues worth of material, dating back to Summer '99. In addition to Johnson's, Leeming's and the other "love poems," be sure to read Laura Klynstra's painterly prose poem, "Stony Harbor" (Autumn '99) and Renee Sedliar's "My History with Explosives" (Summer '99). In contrast to the relative sobriety and consistency of Termini's Corner, the rest of dinomentia is a wildly mixed bag of features, off-the-cuff social commentary, rants, spews, sports, wine [!], record reviews – you name it. While some readers will find the unabashedly schizophrenic mix of content charming, others, no doubt, will be put off by the lack of editorial focus. In truth, there's plenty here that's fairly disposable, or, worse, juvenile. Click around enough, however, and you'll find some bits that are worth reading; for example, Aimee Von Ende's "Wines of a Lesser Grape" column (which this month focuses on the by-the-jug pleasures oenophiles will find at Macaroni Grill), and Tom Analog's review of A Night at the Playboy Mansion, the latest offering from DJ Dimitri from Paris. If your tastes run more toward the rant/spew side of things, you'll find plenty of comedy chestnuts in Bascovic's own "Meet Dino" section. Suffice it to say that, overall, you're more likely to enjoy the bulk of dinomentia if you're in the 18-25 age group. Thorburn's Termini's Corner, however, is a real find – a good read for all ages.

Tell us what you think. Email talkback@pifmagazine.com

Want Pif to review your zine?
See Review Suggestions for more details.

Tom Hartman has been a regular contributor to Pif since 1999. He lives in Philadelphia.