Going, Going, Gone!

These poems suggest the struggle against that sort of propaganda isn't dead—it just moved into poetry. Discourse on race and politics has become the province of contemporary poetry, as has reflection on the bleakness of materialism. One track on the CD, R-A-C's "His," recalls her childhood, an upbringing so cruel she finds herself envying the homeless, how they get to start each day from scratch. She looks out at them, and sees a message in their eyes, "begging me to change."

The most important message of the book and the CD is that change is, indeed, possible, and that it's not too late.

Incidental Buildings & Accidental Beauty, edited by the five penny poets; Tebot Bach. 102 pages. $12 softcover; will be available at a release party at a mysterious place in Long Beach; RSVP at (714) 267-9767 or zelsun@home.com; also at the Tebot Bach Reading Series, Fidelity Federal Bank, 19900 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach, (714) 968-0905, Fri., June 29, 8 p.m. Free; The Big Damn Poetry Slam CD, $15, is available at the Long Beach/Orange County Poetry Slam, 210 Promenade, Long Beach, (562) 983-7111, every Sunday at 3 p.m. Free.