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Maurice Greenia, Jr. Collections
Poetic Express Volume 07

In 1992, I moved down to my favorite neighborhood in Detroit.  The New Center, Cultural Center and the Cass Corridor are all close by.  I also worked with the Space Gallery and the Michigan Gallery.  All issues were done on Bristol paper except for Number 2.  Numbers 1 and 2 were created in Athens, Georgia. Number 8, was done in New York City.

Number 6 is a May Day issue (including a MAY-POLE poem).  Number 7 has "the credits" in the form of a cartoon.  This issue and Number 5 deal with my 1992 preoccupations: The Imaginary States (of America) and the United Imaginations.  Number 9 looks as though I spilled some coffee on the master copy.

Number 12 has a shape cut out of the top/center.  Variations in copies were created as I placed various backgrounds behind the issue when I printed it.  Number 13 has a rubber stamp "shark collage" called negotiation. Number 14 has a photo of me with my parents when all three of us were young, especially me.

SURREAL THEATRE'S "hole in the ground" series ends after three more single panel "panoramas."  In Number 5, I shift the story from playing in holes in the ground to "What do these characters do for work, for money?"

The poem on staring certain animals straight into the eyes is included in Number 3.  In the same issue, the king of the world, incorporated has parallels with certain forms of bigotry, although I didn't intend it that way.  I was thinking of the "puppets and the puppeteers."  Now, I see it as a poem about the "one percent." Occupy life!  Give the scoundrels and thieves their due.

In Number 10, the 6th annual dedications issue features three poems. Dedications in this volume include at liberty for Leonard Peltier, a Native American political prisoner and harvests for Benny Carter, a long-lived jazz composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. Then there was Mojo Mist Eclipse, written for Bob Kaufman, a great American poet.  Issue Number 10 in Volume One is dedicated to Bob Kaufman, upon his passing.

In Number 13, the Emotional Digest speaks of care, Hope and Love. This love poem was later singled out by Jacques Karamanoukian in my major French language article.

Personal Favorites: Number 8's In the Middle of the Night is a good night poem influenced by being in New York. Number 11's poetic manifesto is exactly that! Number 14's the surprise is only partially about "the great and horrible obvious."

SURREAL THEATRE favorites include Numbers 1, 3, 4, 9 and 12.

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