Next... Magazine was a monthly newsmagazine covering poetry in Southern California. It was published between 1994 and 1998. Every issue contained an extensive calendar of poetry events, plus news, interviews, reviews and commentary on the local and national poetry scene.
Although focused on SoCal, Next... covered poetry nationwide, including the National Poetry Slams, Taos Poetry Circus and the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada.
Next... primarily covered performance poetry. This was partially an outgrowth of the calendar; Next... was formed to cover a thriving community of poetry readings in SoCal. It was also a reflection of the current trends in poetry. The mid-90’s were a time of explosive growth in performance poetry and spoken word. From the slams to MTV to Lollapalooza, performance poetry was making its mark on contemporary culture. Next... covered all of these trends. Among the poets and spoken word artists profiled in Next... were Patricia Smith, Gerald Locklin, Henry Rollins, the Watts Prophets, Jeffrey McDaniel, Ellyn Maybe, John Sinclair and Jerry Quickley.
Next... was started by SoCal poets G. Murray Thomas, Lawrence Schulz and Charles Ellik. G. Murray Thomas helmed the magazine as publisher, editor-in-chief and primary financial backer. Through its four year run, many prominent SoCal poets worked for the magazine, including Lob, Victor Infante, Carlye Archibeque and Caron Andregg in managerial positions. Far too many poets wrote for Next... to list them here.
The first issue of Next... was just four pages, photocopied. 500 copies were distributed free throughout the poetry community. It was so popular that the press run on the third issue was 5000. At its peak, 10,000 copies of Next... were distributed free to coffeehouses, bookstores, theaters, bars and classrooms through SoCal.
Despite its popularity, Next... was never financially successful. It never attracted enough advertisers of subscribers to pay for itself. After four years of financial drain, Thomas was forced to give up on the project.
During its run, Next... provided an in depth, ground level view of the changing face of American poetry.
