WALKING ON THIN ICE

back cover ArtCrimes #1 1986 collage by smith

an on-line article this week on Cleveland poet/publisher Mark Kuhar mentions my 20 year publication of 21 issues of ArtCrimes:

from CoolCleveland.com 9.12-9.19.07

On ArtCrimes:

And then there’s the matter of ArtCrimes. Kuhar inherited the venerable “who’s who in Cleveland poetry and literature” series from Smith, who created and curated it. Smith left Cleveland with his wife Kathy Ireland Smith during the last year. Smith’s ArtCrimes anthologies spanned 20 years and 21 editions. When Smith decided to leave the city, “He gave them all to me to sell,” Kuhar says with a smile. “He said, ‘You’re the man that’s gonna handle it!’ and he gave me 20 boxes worth of those poetry anthologies. Dave [Ferrante, owner of Visible Voice] said he wants to get some of those up on his shelves.”

If you haven’t experienced ArtCrimes, you are missing the quintessential cult classic journal of the region – a blunderbuss of independent thoughts and ideas from the pens of current and former Clevelanders. The limited edition lit/art publication began during the mid-1980s and came to an end with last year’s final (and in some ways, most impressive) missive, Duck & Cover. Since that time, Kuhar has thought about reviving the dormant series, but the time has to be right. “Steve told me that he’s done putting them together, but said if I ever want to revive ArtCrimes to go ahead and do it. We may do that at some point through deep cleveland press, but we are booked with projects through next year, so ArtCrimes needs to rest on its laurels for now.”

ArtCrimes features work from writers Charles Bukowski and the late poet laureate Daniel Thompson through Cleveland’s present day writers; their insights will rock your world. All 21 volumes of ArtCrimes are available through deep cleveland press, and are discounted when sales are bundled. And once they’re out of print, they’re gone forever. For details, visit deepcleveland.com/artcrimes.html.

front cover ArtCrimes #1 1986 collage by smith