About the Fake Zodiac Signs
The Fake Zodiac Signs started to take shape in the Spring of 2017. They were created with the help of a warm and welcoming community of writers, poets, artists, and friends in the Massachusetts North Shore region. Helpful ideas and feedback came from colleagues and audiences at the Salem Writer’s Workshop, Incessant Pipe Poetry Salon, Walnut Street Café, Mercy Tavern, The Cellar Continues at Beverly Depot, Zumi’s Espresso, Salem State University Library, Porter Mill Studios, and the late lamented White Rose Coffeehouse. Inspiration also came from Jorge Luis Borges, Stanislaw Lem, Douglas Adams, and Malcolm Miller.
Some of the Fake Zodiac Signs have been previously published in Meat for Tea: the Valley Review. (It was the “Lotus Blossom” issue, Volume 12, Issue 2, June 2018, the one with Ganesh on the cover.) Many thanks to Elizabeth MacDuffie and Mark Alan Miller for their expert editing and design.
About the Author
Peter Urkowitz lives in Salem, Massachusetts, where he works in a college library. He was drawn into the local poetry scene after the death of a poet friend, when the community came together to remember and reflect. He has published poems and art in Meat for Tea: The Valley Review, Oddball Magazine, Sextant, and the Lily Poetry Review.
See more of his artwork on Instagram under @purkowitz.
About the Cover Artist
Drew Meger is an artist creating hand-carved madness in Salem, Massachusetts. See more of his amazing work at The Corey Press.
About the Publisher
Meat for Tea Press was founded by Elizabeth MacDuffie and Alexandra Wagman. They are a non-academic affiliated press committed to recognizing and featuring the work of the artists, writers, and musicians living in western Massachusetts and beyond.
About Malcolm Miller
Malcolm Miller (1930-2014) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, served in the United States Navy, and graduated from McGill University in Montreal. He was the author of 58 books of poetry, three published by mainstream presses. The rest were self-published in Salem, hand-typed on a portable typewriter, printed as simple stapled chapbooks at local company Deschamps Printing, and hand-sold to interested readers. Malcolm was semi-homeless for many years, walking everywhere, writing all night at coffee shops, sleeping by day in libraries. For the last decade and a half of his life, Malcolm typed up the manuscripts for his books at the kitchen table in Peter Urkowitz’s apartment. After he passed away at age 83, his friends started a number of projects to remember him and collect his poetry. That effort is ongoing today.
Introduction to Malcolm Miller, Poet of Salem, by Rod Kessler
The full documentary film Unburying Malcolm Miller by Kevin Carey and Mark Hillringhouse can be viewed on YouTube. (DVDs also available for sale)
Fake Zodiac Signs 