Welcome, CrimeSpot readers.

We invite readers of Graham Powell's CrimeSpot.net to follow the conception, construction, and print publication of our crime poetry anthology and keep up with contributors' activities.

Coming to a bookstore near you?

This past week I contacted the staffs of two independent mystery bookstores about stocking copies of The Lineup. I'd be happy to discuss similar arrangements with other independents. Contact me at the e-mail address in the sidebar.

Stephen D. Rogers

I never really wrote much poetry until a poem just came to me one night. I sold that to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and then went on to place another hundred and fifty poems, about a third of them mystery.

A thing I like about poetry is that it allows you to focus the reader. It's like the difference between a long inconclusive fight and a sharp blade to the belly. Despite all the blows that land in a fight, the blade has more impact. With a poem, the reader is less likely to get distracted by dialogue and action and subplots. What's there is real, and it's it.

Robert Plath

Rob Plath is a 39-year-old poet from Ronkonkoma, New York. He has five chapbooks of poetry out: Ashtrays and Bulls (Liquid Paper Press 2003), An An IV Bag Full Of Bile (Scintillating Publications 2007), Whiskey and Clay (Pudding House Publications 2008), Squeezing Blood From The Alphabet (Erbacce Press 2008) and Tapping Ashes In The Dark (Lummox Press 2008). He has one forthcoming called Poems To Jump Start A Deadman In His Tiny Room (Tainted Coffee Press). He lives with his women and two cats in a tiny apartment and tries his best to stay out of trouble.

A.E. Roman

A.E. Roman (Alex Echevarria Roman), is the author of the PWA Shamus Award-nominated Chinatown Angel, the first book in the Chico Santana mystery series, from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur. His short story "Under the Bridge" appears in Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery from Arte Publico Press. He's also a co-author (with Emily Adler) of Sweet 15, to be published by Marshall Cavendish. He was born in New York City and raised in the South Bronx.

Getting Graphic

An ad for The Lineup created by Richie Narvaez

The Advertising Rumpus

Here's the 411 on the advertising for The Lineup chapbook:

Size, Rate
Full page, 4 x 7'', $60
Half page, 4 x 3.5'' or 2x7'', $30

The ads should be sent as high-resolution .jpgs and must be black and white and sent to us with the measurements noted above. Contact us if you are interested in a quarter-page ad. Please pay by sending a check or money order to Gerald So. If you have a journal or chapbook coming up, we are also amenable to exchanging ad space.

I Need an Alibi

I’m not a poet. Despite publishing a handful of poems in small journals, despite long hours spent in workshops and endless revision, I am not comfortable calling myself a poet. I studied under Baron Wormser and Wesley McNair. I used to work for April Ossmann. They are poets. I couldn’t write a decent pantoum or villanelle if you put a gun to my head—and don’t even fucking think about that, buddy. What I am is a writer of crime fiction who happens to have a poetry fetish. I can live with that.

My poetic taste is a weird mix of the pastoral and the dark: Georg Trakl, Charles Bukowski, Anne Sexton, Kevin Young, B.H. Fairchild, James Wright, Kevin Goodan, Mary Oliver, Dawn Potter, Michael Macklin, Simic, Carruth, Plath, Levertov, Pound’s translations of Li Po, Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Robinson’s “Richard Cory,” Cruz’s “Problems with Hurricanes” and Enslin’s “The Town that Ends the Road.” There are stories that cannot be told in prose, images best distilled in verse. Why? I don’t know. That’s just the way it is. Go with it.

So. Crime poetry. I never gave it much thought until sometime in 2006, when Anthony Rainone told me he was working on an article about crime authors who are inspired by and write poetry[1]. There I was: a nobody whose first real crime story would not even see print until several months later, interviewed for an article that included guys like Reed Farrel Coleman, Kevin Young and the man himself, Ken Bruen. It was like sneaking into a Rolling Stones show and getting invited up onstage to jam with Mick and the boys.

Gerald So appeared in that article, too. When he started thinking about what would become The Lineup, he asked if I’d like to help out. I said I was busy, but would get back to him in a week or two. No I didn’t. I said yes right away. It sounded too cool to pass up. Anthony was involved, and Richie Narvaez, whose name was new to me at the time—I’ll tell you right now: Richie’s poetry and fiction kick all kinds of ass. Gerald, Richie and Anthony have done the bulk of the work; I’m sort of like Wally in the “Dilbert” comic strip.

We received hard-hitting poems from some amazing writers: Sarah Cortez, Robert Plath, Stephen D. Rogers, Misti Rainwater-Lites, KC Trommer and Ken Bruen, among others. Some of our poets have already introduced themselves here. I hope the others will do the same.

It won’t be long now until we cut loose The Lineup, so watch your back. Some of these guys would turn you out for a pack of Luckies and half a jug of pruno.

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Patrick Shawn Bagley lives on a dirt road in a one-stoplight central Maine town. He has BFA and MFA degrees in Creative Writing. Patrick’s fiction has appeared in CrimeSpree Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, The Iconoclast and others. He has had poems published in Animus, Off the Coast, Wolf Moon Press Journal and the anthology Reflections on Maine. A novel, Bitter Water Blues, is in the works.


[1] “Raven in a Trenchcoat: Hardboiled & Noir Poetry” by Anthony Rainone (Mystery Scene Magazine #99, 2007)

Standing in The Lineup

Of course, I knew I was innocent, at least on this account. Maybe though, I thought, I'm here undercover, the "shill," so to speak. I wondered if I should affect a limp. Trying to remember other poets who had been falsely accused, the names Villon, Genet, and Pound arose immediately...but even to this day, I'm not sure if "falsely" is the proper word.

Really, I should be back in my sickbed dreaming those feverish dreams of lost love or the whole rehash of a misunderstood childhood...not in a lineup. After all, I'm wearing my house slippers and a bathrobe that is ratty and scarred with all sorts of fluids. Meanwhile, this goes through my mind: There's no need for anyone to get hurt, not here, not right this moment. All the chameleon girls, pretty as pretty can be, blend in...often some small imperfection adds to their perfection. I'm probably the only one here not playing a game, but who cares. Today is another one of those days when poetry gets easily overshadowed by politics and other shooting stars of a media gone wild as western culture.

Tell the guard I want to go back to my cell...another hour there and I'll get to call my lawyer...

Partners in Crime

I'd like to think that my involvement with The Lineup started something like this: We were all in a cinematic holding cell one night, after each of us was hauled in on one charge or another (mine might be, say, indecent exposure), and we're all grimy, beat-up, redolent, but somehow we start talking about poetry. Suddenly the idea for the chapbook came up, and we plotted and schemed, doing a bloodswear right there and then (using an unconfiscated paper clip to prick our fingers), then later we met in dark alleys, Irish pubs, and tea houses to work out the details, and that's how The Lineup happened, apropos of nothing.

But, in actuality, I knew Gerald So from his contributions to the silly, satirical web site AsininePoetry.com I edit. And he knew I was interested in crime fiction from a contribution I made to the mag he edited, Thrilling Detective. So, when he asked me to be a co-editor, a consigliere, if you will, on a chapbook on crime poetry, I was intrigued. Very intrigued.

Crime poetry is an interesting and unsung sub-genre of poetry. I thought, with all the writers we both knew, it could be a nice haul, a cool compilation of hard-boiled verse I'd be happy to have my name associated with. Something worth doing time for. What the hell?

But who was So, really, and who were his partners in crime? I decided to do some, ahem, detective work. G, I knew, edited Thrilling Detective, and was scarily prolific. Just check out the credits on his blog. I knew and liked his wry, melancholy poetry, sure, but I found and enjoyed his short story ''Call Me Cupid,'' which has lovely shades of Spillane.

But I didn't know the other two Jakes from Adam. I did some legwork and found Anthony Rainone's biting noir story ''Power of the Gods'' and genuinely liked it. Bagley, I found was apparently known for being grouchy, which I admired and was sympathetic with, and I loved his mean little story ''In the Ditch.''

So these were the mugs I was throwing in with. Good. They obviously knew their way around. It felt good to be along on the caper with them. I just hoped I'd be able to my carry my weight. One funny fact I should add that might be of interest: I've yet to meet any of these good fellas in person. It's all been a machine-gun round of e-mails and postings. I hope one day soon, before a reading and such, we get to huddle around a table in a dark Italian restaurant, maybe in the Bronx, whatever, checkerboard tablecloth, and commiserate and collaborate over alcohol and garlic bread, all the while nervously watching each other, itchy to see who'll go to the john first.

About Sarah Cortez

The poetry of Lineup contributor (and co-editor as of Issue 3) Sarah Cortez (How to Undress A Cop, Arte Público, 2000) brings the world of street policing to the reader in a way that poet-reviewer Edward Hirsch describes as “nervy, quick-hitting, street-smart, sexual.” Winner of the 1999 PEN Texas Literary award in poetry and other juried designations, Cortez is much in demand as a creative writing teacher. One of her poems was chosen for the nationwide Poetry in Motion program and many others have been anthologized. One of her poems was designated as an Honorable Mention in the 2007 Texas Poetry Calendar (Dos Gatos Press, Austin) by noted poet Kathleen Peirce. Cortez edited Urban-Speak: Poetry of the City (University of Houston, CMAS, 2001) and Windows into My World: Latino Youth Write Their Lives (Arte Público, 2007), an anthology of short memoir written by young men and women reflecting the diversity of growing up Latino in the U.S. Cortez has been a police officer since 1993. She has co-edited two fiction anthologies with Liz Martinez: for Arte Público Press, Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and for Akashic Books (Brooklyn), Indian Country Noir, coming in June 2010.

Sandra Seamans

About a hundred years ago I entered my first and last poetry contest. Of course I won and for only $39.95 the publishers would be happy to include my prize winning poetry in their massive volume of rhymes. I guess that makes me an award winning poet (I have the certificates to prove it, don't cha know.), even though I'm not a published poet since I didn't have the cash to ante up for publishing costs.

So...how did I get included in this marvelous group of poets? I mean, for god's sake, Ken Bruen and me?? If that's not a WTF moment I don't know what is. Truth is Gerald said, "How about it?" and I said, "Oh hell, why not?"

When it comes to writing, I jump in feet first and ask questions later. I'll give anything that takes stringing words together a try. Which is the true story of how a non-poet wound up included in The Lineup. And if Gerald says I held a gun to his head, well, don't believe him.

As for my writing credits, I started out writing letters to the editor of my local paper which turned into a weekly humor column (yeah, another one of those "How about it?" moments). I did the usual slice of life pieces for the regional farm papers and magazines, then about five years ago I discovered the internet. Joined a few writing groups and wound up as co-editor of "A Flasher's Dozen." (I told you I don't know how to say no to writing). But the past two years I've been concentrating on crime fiction and I've been lucky enough to have some of my stories published in places like Out of the Gutter, Pulp Pusher, and Shred of Evidence.

About KC Trommer

Lineup contributor KC Trommer’s poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from AGNI, Antioch Review, Bateau, Concher, Octopus, and MARGIE. A 2007 graduate of the MFA program at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Trommer was the recipient of an Academy of American Poets prize, as well as fellowships from the Maine Summer Arts Program, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Prague Summer Program. She lives in New York with novelist Justin Courter.

Daniel Hatadi: Rookie Poet

I wasted lots of valuable time as a musician, a petrol station attendant, and a programmer in the shady world of gambling before turning my attention to crime fiction. Based in Sydney, Australia, I have published several short stories and articles and I am currently working on a novel. My story, BUDDHA BEHIND BARS, will appear in the second Thuglit anthology, SEX THUGS AND ROCK & ROLL in 2009. I recently won the Spinetingler Magazine Special Services To The Industry Award 2007 for my work at Crimespace.

Poetry isn't something I ever thought I'd do, but having spent a decent amount of time plugging away at songwriting, I found myself drawn to it. My first piece was a crime story written in SMS, which I didn't even realise was a poem until others told me. And it was this piece, as well as my crime fiction output that got me invited to contribute to this anthology.

Misti Rainwater-Lites

My elders weren't very careful with me. They left all kinds of grisly reading material within my reach...When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase, Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss and all those god awful V.C. Andrews books (incest romanticized is one of the worst crimes I can think of). I am not really a fan or writer of any particular genre, certainly not true crime or romance. I mostly read and write poetry. I've got several self-published books for sale (novels, full-length poetry collections, chapbooks, etc.) at lulu.com. I also have chapbooks available through Erbacce Press, Kendra Steiner Editions and Scintillating Publications. I'm one of five women poets featured in an upcoming poetry anthology from Sisyphus Press entitled Sirens. I live in the pits of hell (a small town in East Texas) with my husband and our baby boy. My starry American dream is to someday own an old school motor court called Inn of the Rainbow. All writers will be most welcome.

Putting It Together

Patrick, Richie, Anthony, and I have finished scoring the submissions for a total of 34 pages of work by 14 poets:

Patrick Shawn Bagley
Ken Bruen
Sarah Cortez
Graham Everett
Daniel Hatadi
Daniel Thomas Moran
R. Narvaez
Robert Plath
Misti Rainwater-Lites
Stephen D. Rogers
A.E. Roman
Sandra Seamans
Gerald So
KC Trommer

With front and back matter and ad space, the finished chapbook will be 40-44 pages.

If you'd like to place a crime fiction- or poetry-related ad, contact me at g_so (at) yahoo (dot) com.