Brendan Merritt has been the poetry editor(among other sundry tasks) for Paradigm Shift for over a year now, and has up till now , not subjected any of our readers to his poetry. Well times are Weird, so this weirdo is going pro. Brendan lives and writes in Upstate ny, where he is surrounded by strip malls, urban decay and growth(yes both at the same time). He maintains his sanity(this is questionable) by Writing poetry, driving everyone else around him insane by babbling about computers and absorbing as mush obscure information as is possible in his spare time. His literary interests range from 19th century Fin de sicle French(and English) decedent poetry, 20th century Beat poetry, Po-mo critical Theory, Cyberpunk fiction, SF, Gothic Horror and Occult fiction.. He is survived By His wife carol, her horse, their two dogs and Two cats.

He can be reached by the following methods

E-mail: kali93@bestweb.net

ICQ#20814048

(The following piece is the result of my first attempt to use a voice recognition dictation utility. This was an interesting thing that happened when the software could not make out what I was saying, and took it's best guese. For example, it heard the word "surreal" as "serial". I think this type of thing might be an area of exploration for anyone interested in cut ups and other poetry manufaturing techiques. - B)

  
  Come forward
     All saints
        All the doves are released at once
             Keep on pushing 'cause they won't
             pull you up
             a mask
             catastrophic device
             What secrets dose it hold

                     She struggles in her
                           Sleep
                                with small
                                  abortive kicks

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