Golden Handcuffs Review

 

One morning, while bemoaning to myself the deteriorating state of the American mosh pit, I checked my P.O. box and was surprised to find the fifth issue of Golden Handcuffs Review, a professionally-made, widely-distributed journal of contemporary poetry and prose, with a strong emphasis on poetics and criticism, not to mention an EAN barcode. Not realizing that the magazine would have anything to say to me, I was surprised and engrossed by the second piece in the issue, Jesse Glass's 30-page poem on Phineas Gage, the rail foreman who took a spike through the brain in a freak accident in 1848, survived without noticeable physical difficulty, and was utterly transformed in personality. This risktaking acknowledgement of darkness and difficulty recurs throughout the issue, not only in the "creative" works, but in the essays, particularly Jaclyn Cole's and Jason Macey's interview with Toby Olson. Beautifully bound in politically charged covers, this journal is as bold as it is dignified. Furthermore, it's $6.95 for 240 pages, and none of them are ads for spray colognes. --JP



Scan from issue #5




Issue 6 of Golden Handcuffs Review is now available—check out the cover. Golden Handcuffs Review appears twice a year. Each issue is $6.95; an annual subscription is $12. The magazine is distributed through Ingram and Small Press Distribution. Check out their web site at goldenhandcuffsreview.com, or write to Golden Handcuffs, Box 20158, Seattle, WA 98102. Be sure and see this page from issue 5.