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| Illustration © David House |
The internet hasn't failed us. It just stopped working for us. At all.
The world wide web and its hydra-like assortment of apps started out as equal opportunity and a way for people to share like-minded interests.
Turns out the gatekeepers were just biding time.
Then the doors shut on us. And the fascists took center stage.
Now the online world has devolved into a series of individual echo chambers.
Some try to break out. Others continue to repost Pepe the Frog memes from 2016. Or Minion memes from 2012.
People are dying in a genocide, yet if we try to talk about it online we are forced to say "unalive." Performative censorship that helps nobody, least of all the victims.
We're wired in to the world's horrors yet more cut off than ever. And yet, if your views can be described as more rhyming with "not-see," you might be more connected than ever (thanks, Elon)!
Is now the time to do a lit zine about it?
Sure. Why not?
I do a zine called Stone's Throw, an extension of Boston's Stone Soup Poetry reading series. I've used it to publish work that means something to me, to make a statement about whatever inspires and/or bugs me in the times I'm forced to live in.
Check out our previous issues via the above link, including the most recent seventh issue, Aim for the Thoughts and Prayers.
I want your words (poems, short fiction, short essays) on life as a global village castaway. Try to keep your work less than two pages. Visual art (drawings, photography, comics) is also welcome. David House will be illustrating the cover to issue #8, but full page artwork is still encouraged. We need back cover art!
What is life like in the internet wasteland? How does it compare to the world outside your door? Are you keeping friends close and your enemies part of your friends list?
Send your responses to this call to me at chadpoetforhire@yahoo.com. Let's get this issue out by the end of the summer or sooner.
Thanks for reading this far.
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