Best Poetry Magazine

Get your heads out the damn gutter right now! Despite its suggestive title, tongue is a magazine that specializes in the words of local creative minds. Believe it or not, this city has an eclectic poetry scene. And with all the spoken-word nights that circulate from all points of town throughout the year, tongue is just the publication we need to sort out the occasions and highlight the aesthetic attitude that goes on at these events. Published by poet Kim Cotton (better known to all the hepcats and hepkittens as the sultry kim c.), tongue is a literary quarterly that gives regional wordsmiths the opportunity to see their words on the printed page. Okay, so it may not be the Paris Review we're talking about here, but it does offer willing and curious Houstonians the chance to sample the city's poetry culture. And it's not just poetry the magazine is down for; tongue publishes fiction, art, photography, commentaries -- even a whole stage play here and there. So far, you can get it only at a few places, like Brazos Bookstore, Cafe Artiste and the Oscar's Creamery on Westheimer. But if you're a person who craves creativity from a hometown point of view, you gotta spend the $3 and get some tongue. (Once again, get your damn heads out the gutter!) For more info on the magazine and Houston poetry in general, log on to Cotton's Web site at kcotton97.tripod.com/ Houstonspokenwords.html.