Big Allis, 1989–2000 (ed. Melanie Neilson and Jessica Grim)
Founded in New York City by Melanie Neilson and Jessica Grim, Big Allis generated a dynamic forum for contemporary writing by emerging and established experimental poets with a specific focus on innovative poetry by women. The magazine published nine issues over its twelve year run. Grim co-edited the first seven issues with Neilson, who was then joined by associate editor Deirdre Kovac for the final two issues. Tracing an exuberant range of language and post-language practices throughout the nineties, Big Allis sketches a decade of vibrant poetics radiating around NYC, the Segue Foundation, and the Ear Inn reading series. In the words of Bruce Andrews, the magazine offered “a rematerializing, multitorquing, postpatriarchal language-centered rebellion.” Like its supergenerator namesake, Big Allis conducts massive amounts of sheer energy in each issue — read as a whole, the magazine’s arc is nothing short of electrifying.
While the first six issues were side-stapled with matte stock covers, the remaining three were perfect bound with glossy covers. All covers were designed by Jean Foos, often using found and appropriated imagery. By following this link, you may find her commentary on the magazine alongside a series of recollections by editors Jessica Grim and Melanie Neilson, as well as contributors Bruce Andrews, Tina Darragh, Rob Fitterman, Lyn Hejinian, Jena Osman, Joan Retallack, James Sherry, and Rod Smith.
Issues are available for browsing or download below. You may also download the entire set of nine issues here: ZIP, 133 MB. Download links for searchable PDFs of each issue follow. Original pagination noted in the contents, which retain the format of the original tables.
Big Allis 1, 1989 [PDF, 19 MB]
Photograph by Hope Sandrow, Keiko.
Contents
| Jean Day |
six poems |
p.1 |
| Gail Sher |
from Kuklos |
p.7 |
| Fiona Templeton |
from YOU – the city |
p.12 |
| Sally Silvers |
Selected movement descriptions |
p.14 |
| Tina Darragh |
“increase ‘long’ simultaneously with ‘fine’” | p.16 |
| Jessica Grim |
Aquatic Fetish Trunkation |
p.21 |
| Pat Reed |
two poems |
p.25 |
| Dorothy Trujillo Lusk |
Historical Necessity and First |
p.27 |
| Leslie Scalapino |
from The Pearl (a comic book, the form of the novel) |
p.35 |
| Hannah Weiner |
from Pictures and Early Works, 1972 |
p.43 |
| Eileen Corder |
Branche |
p.46 |
| Melanie Neilson |
Wheelie (or Suture Self) |
p.50 |
| Laura Moriarty |
Luz and Rosie |
p.53 |
| Diane Ward |
from Crossing |
p.58 |
Big Allis 2, 1989 [PDF, 16 MB]
Photograph by Hope Sandrow.
Contents
| Lynne Dreyer | from Conversation Pieces | p.1 |
| Carla Harryman | from The Words |
p.4 |
| Sheila Murphy | three pieces |
p.9 |
| Jerry Estrin | from The Park |
p.12 |
| Chris Tysh | from Coat of Arms |
p.19 |
| David Sternbach | S-E-L-F H-E-L-P |
p.23 |
| Jena Osman | three poems |
p.30 |
| Abigail Child | Skate |
p.38 |
| Kathryn Macleod |
from Houseworks |
p.43 |
| Bruce Andrews |
Did You Really? |
p.48 |
| Brita Bergland |
two poems |
p.54 |
| Beverly Dahlen |
Untitled (Potrero Hill) |
p.56 |
| Lyn Hejinian & Carla Harryman |
from The Wide Road |
p.63 |
| Contributors’ Notes | p.67 |
Big Allis 3, 1990 [PDF, 17 MB]
Frame enlargement from Elmar Klos film, The Highway Sings, 1937.
Contents
| Diane Ward |
from Milky West |
p.1 |
| Steven Farmer |
from World of Shields |
p.5 |
| Karen MacCormack |
four poems |
p.15 |
| Charles Bernstein |
Heart in My Eye |
p.20 |
| Jessica Grim |
two poems |
p.23 |
| Jean Day |
two poems |
p.26 |
| Steve McCaffery |
C3H5O3(H2 PO3) |
p.29 |
| Laura Moriarty |
An Interrogation of Pleasure |
p.32 |
| Julia Steele | untitled poem |
p.43 |
| Norma Cole |
language/with a vision of partial detail |
p.46 |
| Mary Angeline |
from Preface |
p.51 |
| Joan Retallack |
ditto Marcel Duchamp?/ditto ditto Gertrude Stein? |
p.54 |
| Rosmarie Waldrop |
from Patient Definitions |
p.59 |
| Contributors’ Notes | p.63 |
Big Allis 4, 1991 [PDF, 17 MB]
Photograph by Mary Foos, 1990.
Contents
| Rae Armantrout |
two poems |
p.1 |
| Margy Sloan |
Rest |
p.3 |
| Elizabeth Willis |
Paraleipsis |
p.5 |
| Johanna Drucker |
Critical Field |
p.13 |
| Elaine Equi |
Home Remedy |
p.15 |
| Mary Rising Higgins |
18 Haiku |
p.19 |
| Colleen Lookingbill |
from Incognita |
p.20 |
| Lynne Dreyer |
from Easy Winners |
p.27 |
| Adeena Karasick |
from Archètorture |
p.29 |
| Dodie Bellamy |
from The Letters of Mina Harker |
p.33 |
| George Therese Dickenson |
from Interpreter of Dreams |
p.36 |
| Melanie Neilson |
two poems |
p.39 |
| Beverly Dahlen |
For Laura Moriarty’s like roads |
p.43 |
| Contributors’ Notes |
p.51 |
Big Allis 5, 1992 [PDF, 15 MB]
Detail of stereoscopic photo of Niagara Falls from the collection of Julie Weiss.
Contents
| Maggie O’Sullivan |
Narrative of the Shields |
p.1 |
| Andrea Hollowell |
from Logic in the Light of Day |
p.5 |
| Jean Day | from The I and the You | p.8 |
| Harryette Mullen |
from S*PeRM*K*T |
p.16 |
| Rachel Careau |
four poems |
p.18 |
| Jeff Derksen |
from Interface |
p.22 |
| Tina Darragh |
adv. fans |
p.26 |
| Michael Anderson |
four poems |
p.30 |
| Gail Sher |
from La |
p.34 |
| Jackson Mac Low |
from Twenties |
p.42 |
| Stacy Doris |
from The Frogs |
p.49 |
| Fiona Templeton |
four pieces |
p.52 |
| Bill Fuller |
from Times Itself |
p.57 |
| Contributors’ Notes | p.66 |
Big Allis 6, 1993 [PDF, 17 MB]
Kathy Grove, The Other Series: After Muybridge, 1990.
Contents
| Juliana Spahr | The Letter | p.4 |
| Ulla Dydo |
Stop Look and Listen: A Digression on the Picture of a Page by Gertrude Stein |
p.15 |
| Rob Fitterman / Kim Rosenfield |
The State of Things Called Recent1 |
p.28 |
| Martine Bellen |
An Artificial Murasaki Shikibu Nikki and Commentary |
p.32 |
| Bruce Andrews |
Primum Mobile 10 (from Lip Service) | p.37 |
| Sianne Ngai | Four Forms | p.42 |
| Jeff Derksen | Temp Corp | p.46 |
| Alan Davies |
two poems | p.58 |
| Lori Lubeski |
from You Torture Me | p.60 |
| Bob Harrison |
two poems |
p.62 |
| Peter Seaton |
six poems |
p.65 |
| Catriona Strang | from Low Fancy |
p.71 |
Big Allis 7, 1996 [PDF, 20 MB]
Photograph by Zoe Leonard, Beauty Calibrator, Museum of Beauty, Hollywood, 1993.
Contents
| Jean Donnelly |
five poems |
p.1 |
| Laurie Price |
three poems |
p.3 |
| Ann Lauterbach |
two poems | p.6 |
| Charles Bernstein |
five poems | p.13 |
| Joan Retallack |
The Earlier Names Are Almost Forgotten |
p.18 |
| Deirdre Kovac |
Mannerism |
p.26 |
| Gail Sher |
from George Tooker: Marginalia |
p.30 |
| Anne Tardos |
seven poems | p.34 |
| Hannah Weiner |
Ubliminal |
p.41 |
| Mark DuCharme |
two poems | p.44 |
| Elizabeth Fodaski |
from The Anatomy of Associative Thought |
p.49 |
| Stephen Ratcliffe |
from Sculpture (Part I) |
p.53 |
| James Sherry |
Clean Speak |
p.56 |
| Tom Beckett |
untitled |
p.58 |
| Caroline Bergvall |
Hands On, Catullus |
p.59 |
| Michael Gottlieb |
The River Road, Parts: 11-17, 19 | p.63 |
| Stacy Doris |
from A Girl’s Thoughts | p.67 |
| Rod Smith |
three poems | p.72 |
| Contributors’ Notes | p.78 |
Big Allis 8, 1998 [PDF, 25 MB]
Photograph by Roni Horn, You Are the Weather, 1994-1995.
Contents
| FEATURE: 14 FROM GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND | ||
| Catherine Walsh |
from City West | p.1 |
| Drew Milne |
from Optic Fire (The Slaughter Bench) | p.7 |
| Andrea Brady |
five poems | p.12 |
| Caroline Bergvall |
Eclat, Pt. 2 (Original Walkman Mix) | p.15 |
| Aaron Williamson |
from A Martyronomy | p.17 |
| David Kinloch |
from Fifth Quarter | p.19 |
| Karlien van den Beukel |
from Bathing Suites | p.25 |
| Rob McKenzie |
from Kirk Interiors | p.27 |
| Helen Macdonald |
two poems | p.29 |
| John Wilkinson |
from Saccades | p.31 |
| Sarah Law |
Compulsive Read |
p.34 |
| Tertia Longmire |
four poems |
p.36 |
| Ken Edwards |
from Bird Migration in the 21st Century |
p.39 |
| Miles Champion |
Very Strong and Very Weak |
p.44 |
|
|
||
| Juliana Spahr |
from Live |
p.49 |
| Noah de Lissovoy |
two poems |
p.61 |
| Bruce Andrews |
two poems |
p.64 |
| Graham Foust |
from The Rubella Wheel |
p.70 |
| Stephanie Strickland |
two poems |
p.72 |
| Bob Harrison |
Building Exit |
p.75 |
| Lisa Robertson and Christine Stewart |
Primitivera Perturb |
p.77 |
| Rodrigo Toscano |
O Sacrum Convivium |
p.84 |
| H.T. |
System of Issue |
p.86 |
| Alison Lune |
nine poems |
p.87 |
| Heather Ramsdell |
two poems |
p.91 |
| Liz Waldner | from Abecederium, Initial |
p.99 |
| Contributors’ Notes | p.100 | |
Big Allis 9, 2000 [PDF, 16 MB]
Digital photograph by Joyce George, Signpost, 1999.
Contents
| Deanna Ferguson |
thresholes |
p.1 |
| Steve McCaffery |
What As Poetic |
p.12 |
| Judith Goldman |
The Real Devotion of Events |
p.18 |
| Gregory Brooker |
The Secret Books 30-35 |
p.27 |
| Amy Sara Carroll |
two poems and S (lino print) |
p.34 |
| Chris McCreary |
two poems |
p.38 |
| Catriona Strang |
seven poems |
p.42 |
| Linda Russo |
Poetics: figures e through l |
p.49 |
| Steven Farmer |
from Parts / Din |
p.52 |
| Andrew Levy |
six poems |
p.56 |
| Christian Bök |
from Eunoia, Chapter I |
p.64 |
| Nancy Shaw |
four poems |
p.70 |
| Jason Nelson |
from Recent Patents, 1862 |
p.74 |
| Aletha Irby |
from Moon Haiku |
p.77 |
| Heather Fuller |
two poems |
p.78 |
| Dorothy Trujillo Lusk |
Decorum (Typical) |
p.87 |
| Contributors’ Notes |
p.90 |
With special thanks to Melanie Neilson for supplying the full run of Big Allis and to Amelia Bentley for her tireless work on this release.
