Meet Oscar Wao: an extremely overweight Dominican ghetto nerd with a penchant for fantasy and a jones for the ladies. Born for failure, thanks to the fuku, or family curse, Oscar struggles through life in New Jersey as a social oddity. Expected to be a ladies’ man as a birthright, Oscar is a disgrace to his machismo-dominated culture. To cope, he retreats into comic books, Twilight Zone episodes and thousands of pages of his own writings. When enchanted by the beauty of a woman, he comes on strong, in the most aggressively nerdy way possible – like an elephant at a tea party. Oscar’s methods of fitting in – taking up jogging to lose weight and secluding himself to nights of wild writing in an attempt to become the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkein – make him the laughing stock and, therefore, subject to even more ridicule. But a trip back to the island reconnects him with his roots and the family fuku, but also spurs the changes he has craved his entire life.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is as much an American story as it is a Dominican one, as much fantastical as it is real. It’s the inner pages – the generational tale of Oscar’s mother and grandmother – that let the reader in on the family history, the curse and all the misfortunes that Oscar haplessly was born into. Although we know from the title of Oscar’s eventual demise, it doesn’t make it any easier that he finds love and finally loses his virginity before falling victim to the fuku.

Junot Diaz’s brilliance comes from his lush, but pounding use of language – Spanglish basted in Dominican colloquialism. His heavy-handed prose carves away at the pains of life and history, a machete carving up pieces for all to examine and judge as he or she wishes. The story is revealed and over in an all-too-brief 335 pages. Fresh, energetic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Junot Diaz’s New York Times bestselling brief wondrous life of Oscar wows!

The Brief Wondrous Life of OscarWows!
A review of New York Times bestseller The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1690528/the_brief_wondrous_life_of_oscarwows.html

Thank you for making our celebration of National Poetry Month a smashing success! Going into April, I hadn't written a poem in well over a year. But the talented writers, photographers and artists who submitted their work inspired me to the point that I began to write poems again - with a fury.The result? Apotheosis, a chapbook of seven poems. Order your copy today!

Grateful to the artists of the world,

Tamryn Spruill

By Jesi Bender

As I lay me down to sleep

Perfumed

With a voice that burns off like smoke

In the dark, under grey-blue sheets

I look at the outline,

How your face cuts the air

I pray the Lord my soul to keep

All I see is the pink, fleshy insides of your eyes

And the memories projecting from therein

The corners from where every tear was torn

Veins pressed against the white, like hollow/hallowed reeds

Sick and tired from this modern discontent

And if I should die before I wake

Retract into youth

As I fall asleep

Originality/A purity escaping, gasps and grasps

Sometimes I feel carved out

Like a silhouette, skin over air

I pray the Lord my soul to take

An artist from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Jesi Bender graduated with a B.A. in English and Fine Arts from Cornell University in 2007. Her first book, entitled Oppressed by the Notion of Beauty, will be released by December 2009.

Contact: Jesi Bender * Email: jesibender@gmail.com.

By Tamryn Spruill

Click here for audio version!

Little Nobodies wing past

In the wee hours of morn

On way from Bardo to

Rebirth. Awaiting a host to

Implant life, orgasms galore.

With ova and seed, they’ll mate –

Gestate, and then be born.

But no being lolls here, for

My glands are immoderately worn –

Unused, yet terribly shorn.

Contact: Tamryn Spruill * Website: www.wordnerdeditorial.com

Email: info@wordnerdeditorial.com

By Stacey Lee

These photographs tell a story of discovery of self and innocence of youth. Eighteen months old, Noble's curiosity leads him into a world of exploration. In these photos, I combine the element of simplicity with the raw curiosity of a child.

Story of a Little Boy 1Story of a Little Boy 2Story of a Little Boy 3Contact: Stacey Lee * Email: sgirl777@hotmail.com