Chris Crittenden has, for the last four years, made financial sacrifices to delve into the dangerous crucible where poetry is forged. This �leap of faith�, to redeploy Kierkegaard�s phrase, has resulted in the blessing of purer awareness and the curse of grasping a great ugliness of society: that it seems to hate poets, since they contradict the pablum spewed by norms of consumerism and jingoism. Poets Against The War epitomizes the conflict. Anyway, he soars and sinks to extremes, feeling sometimes like a shaman, or that he channels ancestors or dead relatives. When he's in these states, it�s similar to hypnosis. However, most of his life is relatively peaceful, happy and balanced. He moves in and out of various modes of consciousness and functioning because the human condition flourishes when dynamic. Without his wife and her magical soul�its versatility in engaging and propping his�he would be nothing. If he didn�t act relatively �normal� in most of his social interactions, he would leapfrog into the woods like a desultory leaf nagged by gusts. That�s his biography this time. If he'd written it a few hours later, it would be entirely different�perhaps professional boilerplate, or much less diatribe and more amusing.

Tammy Trendle was born, raised and still resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Her poetry has been published in Thieves Jargon, Andwerve, Denver Syntax, Meat, and included in Spittoon Chapbooks #1 and #2. Tammy enjoys running, yoga, Romero zombie films and has difficulty screwing lids back onto things (especially the cap on her car's gas tank, and the jar of pretzels in the office break room). She works as a litigation paralegal.

The Best of the Net anthology will be published by Sundress Publications in December 2006. In the words of the publishers, "This project will work to promote the diverse and growing collection of voices that are choosing to publish their work online, a venue that still sees little respect from such yearly anthologies as the Pushcart and "Best American" series. This collection will hopefully help to bring more respect to an innovative and continually expanding medium."

I wish the east/west poets all the best! To read more of these nominated poets, click on their names on the contributors' past & present page.