Hauntingly beautiful words that have inspired me until this moment

since I first read them. The author

is a ginger haired fairy queen of a woman. Delicate in appearance

but a true warrior in real life. Her

voice has the quality of butterfly wings brushing you in passing.

But her words have the impact

of a Volkswagen sized meteor.

I just want to say why I think the world of Deanna m Lehman.

Deanna is the author of four books in the KINDERWHORE series.

Kinderwhore, Pandora's Box, Japanese Dreams, and Some Girls Wander.
She also publishes the Razor's Wine. Volume 2 issue 1

was her anniversary issue. I thought I would briefly touch on her
accomplishments. Her poem "Internal Affair" was put to music
and performed onstage in Germany.

And all of this pretty much within one years time. She visited the

New York Poetry scene before returning to where she now calls home.
this is where she met most of the true poets. We as poets tend to forget
how creatively resilient we can be, and how fragile is the art of being human.

Deanna is not afraid to put her true feelings on the line as she shares

her lifestory.

Deanna I might add endures a schizophrenic tainted life. She has

persevered to be not only creatively

productive but the most caring loving person I have ever known.

I also know what it's like to be schizophrenic firsthand, and have to
 wander in and out of that big dark hole of depression.i never had
 the courage to admit it till I met her.

Busy as she is when she writes a book she takes very little time for
anything else. Still she reached out and pulled me out of the
dark hole I was in. How do you thank someone

for giving you your life back?

You can't. This has mythic qualities

but if she should ever ask for it back, you can't say no.

Her accomplishments as a writer pale in comparison
to her accomplishments as a human being.

The KINDERWHORE series is based on real life experiences.
Those she trusted the most took that trust away from her.
I can relate to that. I never tire of saluting her braveness in
surviving abuse at home. She suffered
physical abuse at the hands of her father. He raped

her.she was also raped by her uncle.her mother psychologically tormented
her till she was taken away by the state. She showed extreme courage in
having to hold on to a wild carnival ride through foster care into her teens
and early twenties. She wrote her own survival manual.
Turning the pages through a marriage,
then through many harmful situations and abusive partners.

She has a detailed storytelling technique in her work that I saw go
 from supercharged to amped,

book1 to book2.

She carried her love for poetry publications from high school

to now. The Razors Wine is the epitome of all her hard work till now.
A quarterly publication she puts together herself.she puts a large
part of herself into each issue.

There have been times when she was hard hit and hurting but went

on producing nothing but quality work.

Dale Michels a professional illustrator has as a volunteer

drawn every cover for her.this includes the KINDERWHORE series.

I thought that including some of the 28 or so poets to this write up on

TRW might give a better idea of

the uniqueness of this modern

publication. I've taken 2 or 3 questions from everyone.

First is Dale Michels.

Me: how did the first issue of

TRW come together?

Dale: well it's Deanna's baby, and she asked me if I could do a cover for
it since I'd done cover work for her book.

Deanna wanted something inspired

by a Janice Joplin image with some butterflies pasted around it.

Taking the cue from that I worked two images together. One based
on Janice and another from my archives of a Victorian fairy with

butterfly wings. I made the fairy image seem to come out of the smoke
of Janice's cigarette as if in a daydream of cogitation.

Me: so every cover is planned out?

Dale: there's a core idea that Deanna comes up with to represent the issue
.i use that as inspiration and present her with a sketch which she approves
before I go into finishing it. This is standard illustrator protocol. I was a
professional illustrator in a former life so I can create based on another's ideas or direction...

usually an art director but it could be a client directly.

Me: you've had 5 or 6 of your photographs for cover art published
in one year.thats quite an accomplishment.you share your sisters
 talents and skills. Given Deanna's past history, have you two even met yet?

Misty Mcdaniel: 7 actually and thank you.lol One time when I was 16.

Me:What do you think of the work she's doing with trw?

Misty: I was more impressed than I thought I'd be.

Some of the work was really good.

Me: how did you find out about TRW?

Bart solarczyk: I think on Facebook.

Me: do you want to ask us any questions?

Bart: no I'm just glad TRW exists,

and can be a part of it. it reminds me of the little lit mags that
circulated back in the 80s and 90s.

It carries on that underground tradition.

Me: I think it's evolved past that, thanks for the romantic notion.

I think it's an international contemporary very professionally
done publication with a very modern direction.

Me: how do you feel about the razors wine as a poetry
publication?

Andrew Darlington: I have a special affection for print
magazines. always have. always will.

A carefully handcrafted and beautifully produced magazine like

TRW is very special to me.

Me: how do you feel about the poetry?

Andrew: poetry is the vocabulary

through which we interpret the

world.its an ongoing work in progress.

Me:how did you get started writing in the razors wine?

John Kearns: I met Deanna at a poetry reading in New York City
 a couple years ago...the Saturn series at the Shades of Green Pub.
We both read our work that night. I believe we were both featured
readers that night.

Me: how would you describe TRW?

John: an evlectic mix of contemporary American Poetry with
wonderful artwork reflecting the season of each quarterly issue.

Me: how did you get connected with TRW? How did you meet
our editrix?

Linda Kleinbub: I met Deanna Lehman at Su Polo's Saturn
Series reading. We were drawn to each other's work. When Deanna
started TRW she invited me to submit poetry.

how would you describe her work Linda?

Linda: https://blog.best american 

poetry.com/the_best_american_

poetry/ 12014/10/art-by-linda- 

Kleinbub.html

Me: that's intense 

Linda: Deanna is raw and honest when she writes. She's unafraid
to show her reader her darkest secret,

while letting her light shine through.

Jesse's poetry is exquisite. He uses language elegantly.

I hope that TRW continues to grow by increasing readership and
distribution. As far as Fahrehheit

I'm hopeful that we will continue.

The corona virus hit NYC hard and many bars are closing permanently.

Fahrenheit started in 2002 and I began hosting in October 2018.

Only time will tell.

Me: