Our Winter 2015 Issue features poetry by Doug Anderson, John Blair, Marcia F. Brown, Douglas K. Currier, Craig Evenson, Leonore Hildebrandt, Didi Jackson, Major Jackson, M. P. Jones IV, Robert Kennedy, Greg McBride, Wang Ping, Kevin Rabas, Tom Saya, Adam Scheffler, Rachel F. Seidman, G. H. Smith, Kevin Sweeney and Mimi White. The issue features artwork from Charles Farrell and Kate Knox, reviews by Megan Grumbling, Cathleen Miller and Julie Poitras Santos and an interview with Wang Ping by Timothy Gillis.
In Memoriam
Jim Koller
May 30, 1936 – December 10, 2014
Poetry Excerpts from this Issue
Disagreeable Things
by John Blair Too much furniture, too many pens. Too many monks cribbing nickels, and sleeping in parks. Kenko in his idleness squats in the
The Instinct to Swarm
by Wang Ping The ones in the brain that allow us to make decisions, not just about what to order for lunch, but about basic perceptions — making
In the Heart of Things
by Wang Ping We surrender Even if we don’t know how No thought No thunder No flight from hope to despair No silence No sorrow Time folds and
“That’s Funny”
by Craig Evenson will hold, for life in general, the way an appended amen suspends a second thought, but won’t explain how it moves in oceans
Terminal Moraine
by Leonore Hildebrandt I worry about gutters, the washed–out road, corroded pipes. And squirrels — they are everywhere — on edge, just like
Your Husband was a City in a Country of Sorrow
by Didi Jackson Your husband was a city in a country of sorrow. You wanted a door, you climbed a wall instead. As some trees stay green all year,
Ode to Mt. Philo
by Major Jackson After avocado–colored inclines, after dawdling ascents over fern & foliage, after long trillium gazes and careful
Inscription
by Major Jackson Five gold wash crystal pearls on a wrist. Her seraph–skin glistening when a spigot is turned off in the apartment next
Sentiment
by G. H. Smith What was it, muse, you so desperately wanted me to say? You tried everything to no avail. Even now steeped in well–earned
Disambiguation
by G. H. Smith The time has come to put away childish things. You laugh, but when were we ever punctual? Look, the ferry is engaged in foreplay
What Happened to Mrs. McNair?
by Kevin Sweeney I blame myself. My overwrought wise–guy persona can’t resist a good joke, so when a new family buys the big house on
Pedagogical Metaphysical Poetical Blues on Wednesday
by Kevin Sweeney Pedagogical Metaphysical Poetical Blues on Wednesday After the Latest Snowstorm The girl who says she has written two books is
I Need a New Belt
by Kevin Sweeney I need a new belt. The old one is fraying at the edges though it doesn’t matter since I’m too fat and usually don’t tuck in my
Tanka
by Mimi White when I saw the boat tipped on its side a ghost entered our story it did not matter that the tide would right it Tanka
Wish Lantern Over Muscongus Sound
by Rachel F. Seidman We know nothing about currents of wind or water. We have only hope and intuition. And a slightly risky faith that our
You are dead, Lewis Carroll
by Adam Scheffler You are dead, Lewis Carroll, the young man said And yet your hands are so strong You are juggling two chairs, a saw, and your
Un-Relatable Poem
by Adam Scheffler A man cobbles together his life together as best he can, skimming these shark–abandoned waves but must so many pastimes
I Have Lots of Hearts
by Adam Scheffler I have lots of hearts, it’s grisly. I leave them bloody, soaking the pillow. I keep them in a drawer where they turn gray. It’s
How is it?
by Tom Saya How is it all those worlds out there don’t collide, obliterating each other? or given the great distances, how is it without
Fayetteville Drum Room, 1995
by Kevin Rabas That night, I snuck into the practice room, the drums crumpled up. I had sticks. I played the low tom first, called on my heart
Debtless
by Kevin Rabas When the loan officer shakes my hand, his hand is a big mitt, ham shank, boxer’s big thick grip, and, though he’s kindly, he’s
My Son
by Greg McBride A toddler sprawls across his mother’s slim and lovely lap, his hair a reddish gold, his face a whim of freckles. His hands softly
Moving Day
by Greg McBride It was a moving day, the barn–raising commune of that time. Afterward, we all milled about her new apartment, mugs and
Buddies for Life
by Greg McBride Buddies for Life summer 1961 Squealing rubber slick out of McDonald’s, our gang of four sixteens, two cars, tears
Exile
by Robert Kennedy Listen. The key is turning In the derelict lock. Remember. The exile is strange And knocks softly on the door, Not wishing to
Darkroom
by Robert Kennedy Once familiar objects turn hostile In this cubic void of dark space. Bloodless hands reach from angular sleeves, My throat
Field Grief
by M. P. Jones IV Late in the darkness startled by the sound of what could have been the bleating of a young calf the one my father bottle fed
Checklist
by Douglas K. Currier Start by giving away the good things, the accumulated of value. Choose carefully, and do it slowly. Say that you are
The Day the Wind Took Up and Carried
by Marcia F. Brown Barely dawn and a new bird with a lunatic song is perched outside my window — six startling–shrill
e. e.
by Marcia F. Brown i. i. think u.u. would have loved this texting tweeting like a broken bird scattering the chaff
Window
by John Blair We whistle tunes while God’s work gets done above us in trees locked in screes of bagworm silk and dead leaves, streetlights
The Lantern Man
by John Blair There was in every hollow A hundred wrymouthed wisps. Dafydd ap Gwilym (trans. Wirt Sikes, 1340)
The Other Side
by John Blair Much there is that is unbeautiful, much there is that rubs the eye raw like sand and knuckles. In some farflung plane of penury
The Disclaimers
by G. H. Smith This is not a poem about the inevitability Of old age, decrepitude, and death. You won’t find a single Reference to lost
The Blade Came Too Close to My Own Throat
by Didi Jackson The blade came too close to my own throat. I walk as far away as I can from the home of your hands. Here, in the dark, I
The Border
by Doug Anderson They come across by light of cell phone, by blood trail, by the gleam of the coyote’s incisor, by the eye in the dollar’s
Interview
Wang Ping Interview
Wang Ping
A Chinese Immigrant in America Seeks to ‘Create a Wave’ and, Ultimately, a Tsunami Wang Ping, 47, is the author of several books of
Reviews
Wolf Centos
by Simone Muench, Sarabande Books, 2014, 66 pages, paper, $14.95, ISBN: 978-1-936747-79-5 Buy this Book The ancient form of the cento provides a
Parallax
by Sinéad Morrissey, Carcanet Press Limited, 2013, 69 pages, paper, £9.95 ($15.56 USD), ISBN: 978-1-84777-204-6 Buy the Book Hold your finger out
Down
by Sarah Dowling, Coach House Books, 2014, 88 pages, paper, $17.95, ISBN: 9781552452981 Buy the Book Sarah Dowling’s Down ends with a process
Poet Biographies
Mimi White
is the author of two chapbooks of poetry, Into The Darkness We Go and The Singed Horizon, which was selected by Robert Creeley for the 2000
Kevin Sweeney
has published two books of poems, Rags of Prayer and Ordinary Time, both from Moon Pie Press. He received a master’s of fine arts from the
G. H. Smith
has had work published in The Los Angeles Times, The Atlanta Review, StoryQuarterly, the anthology Husbands and Malfeasant Dogs, and elsewhere.
Rachel F. Seidman
is the associate director of the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina, where she also teaches history and women’s
Adam Scheffler
grew up in California, received his master of fine arts in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and is currently finishing his doctorate in
Tom Saya
was educated at Indiana University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has taught English at Miami University of Ohio and is
Kevin Rabas
co-directs the creative writing program at Emporia State University and co-edits Flint Hills Review. He has published five books: Bird’s Horn;
Wang Ping
is the author of several books of fiction, non -fiction, and poetry. Her writing has won the Eugene Kaden Award, the Asian -American Studies
Greg McBride
is the author of Porthole, winner of the 2012 Liam Rector First Book Prize for Poetry (Briery Creek Press, 2012), and a chapbook, Back of the
Robert Kennedy
is a retired college lecturer in English living in Scotland. He has published work in numerous anthologies and literary magazines, including
M. P. Jones IV
recently received a master’s in literature from Auburn University where he read for Southern Humanities Review. He is founder and editor-in-chief
Major Jackson
is the author of several volumes of poetry, including Roll Deep, Hoops, and Leaving Saturn, which was awarded the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and was
Didi Jackson
has poems that have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Ploughshares, Green Mountains Review, and Passages North, among other publications. Her
Leonore Hildebrandt
is the author of a letterpress chapbook, The Work at Hand, and a full-length collection, The Next Unknown. She has published poems and
Craig Evenson
is a schoolteacher. He divides his time between the nine-year-old children and the dogs, cats, woman, and parrots with whom he shares a house.
Douglas K. Currier
is a former college professor and poet living in Burlington, Vermont. His work has appeared in the anthology Onion River: Six Vermont Poets and
Marcia F. Brown
is the current Poet Laureate of Portland, Maine. She is the author of four poetry collections, including When We Invented Water (Moon Pie Press,
John Blair
has published five books, including two poetry collections, The Occasions of Paradise (U. Tampa Press, 2012) and The Green Girls (Pleiades Press,
Doug Anderson
has had recent work in Prairie Schooner and Cutthroat and work forthcoming in the Massachusetts Review. His most recent book, Keep Your Head
Artist Biographies
Reviewer and Interviewer Biographies
Julie Poitras Santos
has poems that have appeared, or are forthcoming, online in La Fovea, the Wesleyan University Press blog, and The New Guard: Bang! Her visual
Cathleen Miller
holds a master’s degree in poetry from Temple University. Her poems have appeared in Chain, EOAGH, The Fanzine, and other journals. She
Megan Grumbling
has published poems in Poetry, The Iowa Review, Crazyhorse, and other journals. She is currently collaborating on the modern opera Persephone in
Timothy Gillis
is a freelance writer and photographer whose work has appeared in The Portland Daily Sun, Dispatch Magazine, Magnitude, The Portland Forecaster,