White Cat Publications has announced the release of the first issue of Nain Rouge Magazine, a Journal of Art, Poetry and Prose. Editor Mark Durfuee, his team of dedicated associated editors and crew, and the contributors have created a wonderful presentation which illuminates both the brooding darkness and hidden lights of urban life. This first of issue of Nain Rouge includes contributions from around the world, and in it the inestimable Mr. Durfee and his team display the richness of their talents for perspective, rhythm and synthesis.
Nain Rouge is a mult-cultural labor of love, reflecting the belief that in order to restore the vitality of our cities, we must first see them as they are percieved through the eyes of their diverse inhabitants, then discover a vision to rebuild them anew as seen through the prophetic eyes of poets, writers and artists. Cities are the beating hearts of the world’s nations, and who better to listen and strengthen that collective heart than the world’s creative community?
From Editor Mark Durfee’s Editorial:
“A short explanation on the name of the journal, though we have poetry from all over the world, we are based in Detroit. Few outside of Detroit are aware of Les Nain Rouge. Which literally translated means The Crimson Dwarf. One of those creatures no one knows where they come from or where they hang out, but have been reported by people through out history. There are oral histories from The Tribes of the First Nations who inhabited this area of the small imp. The first appearance ever noted by a European was when Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac who founded Detroit had his ass kicked and the area cursed by the little fella (probably for disturbing him at his leisure). Over the past three hundred years there have been various sightings of his rouged assed self. Almost every time a disaster was about to occur, it was spotted. As noted above, then when the British burned the town down in the war of 1812, prior to the race riots of 1943, and as far as my knowledge goes as late as 1996 when a tornado blew through here and leveled a large portion of Hamtramck and killed five people in Grosse Pointe by blowing them into Lake St Clair. Nain Rouge perhaps still holds a grudge and his curse is more potent than the one Bobby Lane put on the Detroit Lions football team, which only lasted for 50 years.”
You can download a free PDF of the issue here: Nain Rouge
