The picture here is really, really old. This issue must be at least four years old. My rating is based on issue 21 which is the Feb to March 2008 issue. Fantastic resource for the arts. It looks great and the editorial is brilliant.

Aesthetica Magazine is Good.

Aesthetica Magazine is a bi-monthly magazine featuring poetry, short fiction, art work and reviews from artists and writers all over the globe. You'll find a variety of subject matter, as well as work from a well-established writer right next to that of a writer who's being published for the first time. The magazine's sturdy A5 format makes it comfortable to throw into a handbag or satchel, so you can read it on the tube or the train, and the pieces are short enough that you should finish by the time you reach your destination. Aesthetica is available bi-monthly. You can order it through the Aesthetica website or buy it at certain bookshops, which are listed at the Aesthetica website.

Aesthetica Magazine - The magazine begins with the standard editor note/letter:

'Look around you, look at the diversity, and look at the beauty. This world is synergized, pulsating, and breathing great inhalations of variation. This is a wonderful thing.' Cherie Federico.

The first poem that really jumps out at me is Aryan Kaganof's Tombstone Dues. The poem focuses on the disillusion of modern life coupled with September 11th. The poem breathes a complex aspiration of modernity and humanity in South Africa.

Kaganof introduces the poem with, 'I woke up at nine but stayed in bed until after eleven on the morning of The Beginning Of The End.I did not know it then I was thinking about my baby, how far away she was.' From this stanza we can imagine the bed and the distance.

Another poem was E. M. Hunter Scott's 'Deep and Black.' It has an excellent rhythm that takes you on a journey. Hunter writes,

'Deep and Black. Deep and Black
she ran over the stones
Deep and Black Deep and Black
she sang to the sea
Deep and Black Deep and Black
carried my lover away from me.'

The movement of the words replicates the sea. You can imagine a rocking boat.

There is also humour in Aestheitca in the form of Haiku by Owen Roberts. He writes,

'YOUTH

stuck
at a kitchen table
with two 16 year old
teenagers

the room is large
and the conversation
is very small'

All I can say about that is that we have all been there at one stage or another. There seems to be a balance throughout the poetry section that mixes the serious with the smooth and the funny with the meloncholy. Aesthetica celebrates the true meaning of poetry in all its many forms and varieties. It something that you will return to over and over again.

The fiction begins with a piece called 'The Black Road' written by Victoria Whelan. It is almost Poe like with its dark underlying moments. It takes place in Yorkshire on a winter day. The story sends chills down your spine. This followed with Sue Hyams' 'Virus', which tricks the reader until the very end with a cliffhanger. It is the type of story with the voice made so accessible that for 20 minutes you become the main character and live out her fate. It brings your imagination to its knees.

The artwork is fantastic with examples of fine art and photography.

All in all this issue of Aesthetica is a pleasure to read and breathes new life into the genre. It is great to see nearly 80 writers/artists from all over the world together in one volume.