Mary Karavos is a Paper Fiber Artist, a graduate in Fine Arts from the Ontario College of Art and Design, with a year of advanced studies at the OCAD College in Florence, Italy. The Florentine light and color and her love of paper inspired her to develop a unique style of collage that produces images

During my 78 years on this planet I can think of only three people who knew everything. I mean, whatever the subject, they could expound on it they could quote from it. It got so that when ever I saw one of them coming I would cross the street to avoid being lectured “to,” or

I’m stuffed into a silver suit….is it enough to be the attendant pumping gasinto a car driven by someone who worksthe night shiftat a factory making partsfor one small componentin a rocket engine?

Ric ponders the nature of zealots; struggling to be in the present; disposing of the ashes of a cremated friend: the psychology of suicide: and phosphorescent creatures from the sea.

Ric Mastens regular poetry column focuses on issues of loneliness, enjoying his beard, and a cat with more than nine lives.

Salmon Coming HomeCameron La Follette After A WhileVeronica A. Shoffstall Words & One-LinersRic Masten

NO SLAM DUNK in a candid moment mother once said Show me a man who thinks hes in control and Ill show you a clever woman. and certainly she was the sovereign head of the kingdom I came from I didnt go to college. I was sent! off to study optometry groomed to step into

I like this, the second book by Ric Masten, even better than the first. What makes it more appealing to me are the arrangements of poems into groups, such as Personals, I should have slept on it, and Words for survival. I find it tastier to have a medley of poems about family relationships, writing

From Robert Carroll, The Art of the Brain, Los Angeles, CA: Bombshelter Press 2004. http://artofthebrain.org www.bombshelterpress.com 44 pp $8 (including S/H) POETRY AND HUMOR ARE HEALING Ric Masten NO SLAM DUNK

Brad Walton writes poetry (mostly in prose format) that beautifully describes how our experiences and awarenesses through the heart inform and enlighten our lives. The poem that gives this book its title is my favorite.