On Line Press Kit - Jan McLaughlin

photo by Brian Fass
From "Dark Cities: a Film Poem"

IN QUOTES

in the words of a filmmaker

"Despite the video not exhibiting much poetry beyond satire, the jury awarded it one of the highest scores of the whole preview process."

Kurt Heintz, Chairman, Guild Complex Chicago Poetry Film / Video Festival on McLaughlin's 20:00 video The Psychic Poets' Show

in the words of an editor

"Jan McLaughlin freezes you in her frame, animates you with new passions, then returns you to the daily world with a freshened eye for detail."

Dennis Gaughn, Editor, Go!Poetry.com

in the words of a critic

Re:Verse ".seems born of a discontent with the literary status quo a worthwhile, interesting debut."

jwcurry, editor, Mondo Hunkamooga No. 7

in the words of poets

"Like Cavafy, Jan meshes both demotic Greek and common vernacular: I love her mix of sophistication with the erotic. Who cares who calls this [poetry] or prose...it is exceptional writing of a very, very high caliber. The named things and places, the detail and color, the energy moving the reader to the next line is fabulous. You read through [her work] almost in one long breath because the writing is so crisp, so succulent."

Leonardo DellaRocca, journalist, About.com poetry correspondent, and President, Hannah Kahn Poetry Foundation

"[Jan's] incredibly active imagery burns "I Also Want" deep. I haven't seen much of this where the metaphor is say, "stamp" but is meaningful because an action (licking it) somehow animates the images. Instead of static pictures, they act and are acted upon. Though I've seen this, never have I experienced an entire cohesive poem with the added factor of dynamism. This compares to a static though meaningful poem like a still photo to motion pictures...."

Mark Sparkman, poet

"Captivatingly romantic and sexy."

Kim Hodges, poet

"An outrage to the senses, and
the senses love every moment."

Morris Vieshevski, poet

Jan reads

____________________________
she dances her poetry in that dress
with a Madonna microphone
across the room and up onto a chair
lightly among the hard words
burglar's guts

Michael McNeilley,
late Editor of Zero City

in the words of a regular guy:

-----Original Message----
From: E.Smith
To: <xxxxxxx@msn.com>

Date: Sunday, September 06, 1998

Subject: Your poetry

I have just read your poems on the Blowout.com adult site. They are excellent, and the best sensual poetry I have read, anywhere.

I admit that they aroused me. Thank you for posting them.

E. Smith, male

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IN THE PRESS

"Noticed: Steeds for Those Who Hate the Herd"

                      by Maria Ricapito

Sunday, October 12, 1997, p 4 (Inaugural Style Section of The New York Times)

          JAN McLAUGHLIN, a freelance sound mixer, likes to drive her 1953 pickup truck between her home in Brooklyn and favorite Manhattan restaurants like Fannelli's and Stingy Lulu's.

          "It's a very magical experience driving it," she said, "People smile and give me the thumbs up."

          For all the money that Ms. McLaughlin has poured into maintaining her 44-year-old Ford F-250, which is mustard yellow with fenders splashed with brown primer paint, she figures she could have bought a new sport-utility vehicle and joined the thundering herd of soccer moms in the station wagon of the 90's.

          But Ms. McLaughlin is part of a small but hardy contingent of New York City residents who have one-upped the owners of Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeep Grand Cherokees in the urban macho department. Adopting the vehicle of ranchers and carpenters for Inner-city use, they present one of the most unlikely vehicular style statements around town.

     "I feel this need to be very strong in New York," said Ms. McLaughlin, 42, "and the truck helps me in some way to get in touch with that. It's kind of like being a cow girl in the city, on the urban frontier."

     Martha Stewart buffs her countrified image by driving on of her two Ford pickups on SoHo furniture-shopping expeditions. Her employee, Heidi Petelinz, the research editor of Martha Stewart Living, does her one better: she parks a 1989 red Mazda pickup on the streets of Chelsea, and uses it to commute to a weekend home in Beacon, NY....

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USA Today

"Cover Story: A poetry revival is in motion / The new rage: Poetry slams"
        by Craig Wilson (USA Today). Tuesday, January 19, 1993, p 1D. Excerpted.

          NEW YORK. When velvet-voiced Maya Angelou reads her newest work at Bill Clinton's inauguration Wednesday, she'll share with millions the art form Carl Sandburg once said "is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable."....

          The poets at the Knitting Factory range from the professional to the professional eccentric. The subjects range from Hercules on a Harley-Davidson to the bums in Tompkins Square Park.

          The basic rule of writing remains. Write what you know....

          . . . . One young poet, who has just shaved her head, waxes poetic about that, sharing some, but thankfully not all of her "1,000 reasons to cut off your hair."

     "I'm stronger without hair. I'm a living, breathing F--- y--!," concludes Jan McLaughlin to the cheers of her audience . . . .

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