JOHN AMEN and THE PEDESTAL MAGAZINE

This is my fabulously talented friend John. John publishes the gorgeous and exciting online literary magazine Pedestal Magazine http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/, which includes poetry, fiction, interviews, reviews, audio/video, an art gallery, a bookstore, classifieds, and a forum in which readers can share their thoughts.This is one of the most beautiful and well-organized literary websites I’ve ever encountered. I can’t begin to imagine the time and skill it takes to develop and constantly update such an ever-changing collection of fine literature and visual art. In addition, he did the work associated with becoming a non-profit, which means readers can now support this important work with tax-deductible donations, and he’s also applied for and received grants for the site, as well.

I asked John to say a few words about The Pedestal Magazine—what got him started on this path and what keeps him going. He replied: Regarding The Pedestal Magazine, I had always wanted to launch a literary review. I didn’t know about online literary magazines, though, until I began to encounter them in late 1999. I was immediately struck by the novelty of online publishing, the adventurousness of it, that it involved a kind of pioneering energy, and I was quickly seduced, if you will, to go in that direction. The first issue of Pedestal came out in December 2000. Not long after that, we went non-profit, enabling us to accept donations and apply for grants. We’ve published some wonderful poetry and fiction in 5+ years. The endeavor continues to be exciting and fresh…and challenging. In December, we’ll release our 6-year anniversary. I feel that the magazine has gone through several incarnations. My hope is that there are many more to come.

Did I mention that The Pedestal Magazine is one of the very few literary publications that PAYS its writers? More on The Pedestal Magazine from the excellent online publication The Drunken Boat:http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/pedestal.html

John has an article in Poet’s Market 2007. Since most of you certainly have purchased your latest Poet’s Market by now (or is it “just me”?), you will encounter this worthwhile piece.


Utne Magazine, one of my favorite magazines, reviewed The Pedestal Magazine. The review is posted on the website, and I’ve reproduced it here:

The Pedestal Magazine, Web site review--By Leif Utne, Utne MagazineDecember 18, 2002 Issue

Looking for a little literary respite from our usual diet of media and political news, we recently happened across ThePedestalMagazine.com. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, this handsomely designed e-zine just completed its second year in publication, an impressive feat in itself for a free (and ad-free) professional web zine in the post dot-bomb era. Updated bimonthly, the Pedestal offers a rich array of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and visual art. The current issue (October 21-December 21, 2002) features a penetrating interview with Pulitzer prize-winning poet Maxine Kumin along with five previously unpublished poems from her forthcoming book Bringing Together: Uncollected Early Poems 1958-1988, due out from Norton in June 2003. Writers will enjoy the Pedestal's discussion forum, which has attracted an impressive community of scribes.--Leif Utne

John Amen is a poetic force to be reckoned with even apart from his magazine. His bio from his own website, www.johnamen.com:

John Amen is a writer, musician, and artist. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Christening the Dancer (Uccelli Press 2003) and More of Me Disappears (Cross-Cultural Communications 2005). His work has been nominated for various awards, including the Kate Tufts Award, the Lenore Marshall Award, the Oscar Arnold Young Award, and the Brockman-Campbell Prize. In addition, he was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His work has appeared in various journals and magazines, and he is featured in The 2007 Poets Market. His first solo music CD, All I'll Never Need, was released by Cool Midget in 2004. Amen travels widely giving readings, doing musical performances, and conducting workshops. He founded and continues to edit the award-winning literary bimonthly, The Pedestal Magazine.

An interesting interview of John can be found here:
http://www.radiocad.karoo.net/wah2/JohnAmen/JohnFeature.htm

His books have received the fine reviews they deserve, for instance, this review by C.E. Laine in Verse Libre Quarterly:
“In these poems, it is as though the reader holds hands with the poet, exploring observations, insights, and a deeply personal history together. Amen makes clear how one can study the same pattern or object in different lighting; he shows us how the shadows tend to shift. He puts on the coat of a storyteller, giving us narrative that doesn’t leave its imagery behind. In poems like “Verboten”, we glimpse something of Amen’s history, intertwined with events that marked the world forever, as we see the effects of the Holocaust in the unique cast of Amen’s light.” Read the complete review here:
http://celaine.com/content/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=44

Read other reviews of this book here:
http://mainstreetrag.com/Reviews_2006.html
http://www.ravenchronicles.org/Reviews/reviewgailey5amen.html
http://poetrybay.com/Winter2006/review-o'donnell.htm
http://www.subtletea.com/collinkelleyjohnamenreview.htm

John’s first book, Christening the Dancer, from Uccelli Press http://www.uccellipress.com/ was a book I was avid to read as soon as it was published, since I had begun looking John’s poems up on the web and reading all I could find. His book was published to enthusiastic reviews, to which I add my heartfelt “amen” (uh, sorry, but it’s my blog).

"John Amen is...unflinching as he propels us into a visceral exploration of life, death, and what falls between...The best poetry tears through the toughest defenses to find its target, and Amen delivers with verse that resonates long after the book is closed." --­Kimbra Martin, Small Spiral Notebook

Many more reviews of this book are linked to from here: http://www.johnamen.com/reviews.asp

John’s poems can be found online in dozens and dozens of online publications including the following:
http://www.albany.edu/offcourse/fall04/j_amen.html
http://www.thundersandwich.com/ts16/amen.html
http://www.poetrybay.com/winter2005/amen.htm
http://www.sidereality.com/volume1issue4/poemsv1n4/manicsummer.htm
http://www.2river.org/2RView/6_3/poems/amen01.html
http://www.2river.org/2RView/5_4/poems/amen01.html
http://www.threecandles.org/archive/jamen.html
http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/amen.html
http://www.niederngasse.com/magazine/poetry/amen_editor_issue.html
http://www.melicreview.com/archive/iss19/po_john_amen.htm

John’s books are available for purchase from his own website:
http://www.johnamen.com/books_writings.asp as well as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

John is also a songwriter and you can find out more about his music, hear clips, and order his CD here: http://www.johnamen.com/music.asp or here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johnamen

Did I mention he paints, too? See his vibrant paintings here: http://www.johnamen.com/art_gallery.asp You can see why this polymath megatalent is an artist after my own heart.