Press Release


For Immediate Release 12/2000

New Issue of La Petite Zine
Marks Rick Rockwell's Poetic Debut!

NEW YORK, NY - The literary webzine La Petite Zine announces the publication of its fifth issue, which includes writing by the star of Who Wants to Marry A Multi-Millionaire.

Rick Rockwell, the stand-up comedian, burst onto the scene after his appearance on the controversial Fox "reality-TV" program, which aired on February 15, 2000. The aftermath and fallout from the show was one of the most historic-and infamous-moments in television. Rockwell addresses the ill-fated marriage aftermath to nurse and Playboy Playmate Darva Conger in a haiku, which was sent to the magazine last fall.

"He sent me the poem after I had solicited him last summer," Daniel Nester, La Petite Zine's editor-in-chief, said. The email solicitation was sent out to over 50 celebrities for the "Famous People Haiku Project," an ill-fated plan that received no responses, save for a note from MIT linguist Noam Chomsky and a "cheeky and sarcastic" note from Rockwell.

"A few months later, out of the blue, he sends me a haiku. It was pretty good, and we didn't have any haiku for our "East Bank" section, which showcases Eastern poetic forms, so I went with it."

As far as Nester knows, the poem marks Rockwell's literary debut. The haiku, quoted here in full, reads as follows:

love on television
not as strange as concept seems
but Darva present

"It's actually 18 syllables, but who's counting?" Nester said, who was ecstatic to receive a submission "from a real famous person."

A haiku is a Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables - a total of 17 - traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.

"In this case," Nester asserted, "Darva is a season, probably a bitter winter."

La Petite Zine is a web-based literary magazine that features poetry, fiction, and scripts, which for its fifth issue features writing from playwright Coleman Hough, fiction writer Dickson Musslewhite, and poets Carley Moore, Stuart Lishan, Jim Cory, and Charles O'Hay.

"We're a serious literary magazine," Nester said. "When you think about it, Rick's got some real poetic promise. I hope we'll receive some more poems in the future-maybe some drawing from his experience playing a role in 1998's Return of the Killer Tomotoes! or 1991's Killer Tomotoes Eat France!"


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