Our Fall 2010 Issue features poetry and translations by Steven R. Weiner, Adam J. Sorkin, Dan Sociu, J.B. Sisson, Russ Sargent, David J. Rothman, Oliver Rice, Janice Miller Potter, Simon Pettet, Mihaela Niţă, Dan Murphy, Paul Muldoon, Thomas R. Moore, Cory McClellan, David McCann, Richard Martin, Taylor Mali, Jami Macarty, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Mark Hedden, John Harris, Jody Gladding, Laura Delia Quintero Garcia, Kathleen Ellis, John Driscoll, M.D. and Paula Cisewski. Artwork by Norman Lundin, Kimberly Convery, Wayne Atherton and Andrew Abbott. Reviews by Adam Tavel, Claire Hersom, Michelle Demers, Melissa M. Crowe and Wayne Atherton.
Poems
Panic Grass and Feverfew
by Gibson Fay-LeBlanc After a quiet flash: a second sun rose and fell and flattened four square miles — half–grown potatoes cooked in the
Guide
by Gibson Fay-LeBlanc She led me in among the voiceless things. A long hallway, of course, and locked doors. She asked me to describe their pins
from “The Bare Necessities”
by Simon Pettet Two oranges, incense, a little fire water Some tastefully–wilted flowers, A perpetually shining bowl Two cups
A Vow
by Simon Pettet Each portion of perfect beauty is acutely noted, deftly remarked upon and not at all dismissed Clap hands mouth clichés. When did
Some Musings in the Solarium
by Simon Pettet lizard sits on a rock lizard sits sun’s hot sun refracted to lizard through the spotlessly–clean high–rise
Ode to the Romance of the Thief
by Paula Cisewski But if he was hungry the thief or his children were hungry who said he has children better if he has the thief stealing the
Melusina
by J. B. Sisson “You’ve got the breasts of a mermaid,” he said and added, “She just called. She wants them back.” A fantasy implodes with one
Tulip
by J.B. Sisson In 1666 there lived a duke whose angels told him, “All the world is crude. Ignore the fools who call you Monsieur Prude. Proud
Baby the Crime
by Janice Miller Potter of a century happened just like that at your dad’s estate sale a snapshot of you at six months fell from a box that
Plenitud (Plenitude)
by Laura Delia Quintero Garcia Crisantemo de vértigo espino de placer galanadura deja que ahuyente tus inercias
Apenas Ayer (Scarcely Yesterday)
by Laura Delia Quintero Garcia Apenas ayer nostalgia de hojas ahogado por el polvo atado bajo el sol ardiendo sueños olfateando nubes Ahora
Realidad (Reality)
by Laura Delia Quintero Garcia No fue un dolor previsto tampoco intuición premonitoria maduraba el amor como madura el aire con la fruta como el
Amo La Noche (The Night I Love)
by Laura Delia Quintero Garcia I love the night–lit passages that the roots take the labyrinth of dreams skeleton of time where I search
What Bread to Eat
by Taylor Mali I don’t want to tell you what you already know so I won’t tell you you’re going to die. Even so there was a time when such a
The Entire Act of Sorrow
by Taylor Mali Because men murder their wives every day; because when a woman dies and it looks like a tragic accident, a botched burglary or
Memorize This Sentence for Casual Use in Conversation
by Taylor Mali If you were the type of person who could, without the slightest hesitation, open your mouth and utter forth one beautiful sentence
Maine Burial Plot
by Thomas R. Moore Granite posts square a God’s acre, a tiny plot of blueberries and asters beside a crushed– stone drive to three new
In the Gully
by Thomas R. Moore After I set my book aside and turned off the Sox in the fifth when Ortiz whiffed for the second time, I dreamed of whales,
Will
by John Driscoll, M.D. This morning I sank into myself Putting aside the cigarettes and whiskey I dropped like a stone leaving but a vanishing
Ventriloquist
by John Driscoll, M.D. He whispered seamlessly to his wooden man whose lips moved, eyes bobbed and who was painted into a black suit effortlessly
Urban Hymn
by Dan Murphy — Es mejor vestir Santos que desvestir borrachos
Eve of the Battle, Take II.
by Dan Murphy He’s hungry, I think and like a combine will eat anything. Wheat, grasshoppers. Dirt clods. Or like an ocean, swollen, its
MOVING VIOLATION
by Paul Muldoon WE WERE BUMPER TO BUMPER DOWN BY THE OUTLET MALL YOU PUSHED THROUGH IN A JUMPER TWO SIZES TOO SMALL I CAN’T ISSUE A FINE LIKE A
BRAND NEW SKINS
by Paul Muldoon I WAS PINNED ON THE HARD SHOULDER MY HEART WEIGHED DOWN BY A BOULDER THAT EASTER SUNDAY AFTERNOON MADDIE PULLED UP LIKE A GODDESS
Hard Wood
by Jody Gladding Ash say ash a fire laid with three logs because a fire must
Paper Birch
by Jody Gladding to read this I have to gather the pages it’s called a signature
Nesting Ravens
by Jody Gladding Yes nesting but you didn’t come here for a sign in the slate there’s a deeper question you
Devious in His Carpenter’s Pants
by Oliver Rice Suppose the doctor is running late. Suppose, meanwhile, extrospective, I cross the street, stroll into the park, wishing to be in
Chapped Lips
by Cory McClellan I can’t talk to you anymore, annealing tunes of hypomania has made me thirsty. Home remedies for cracked vermilion: praying in
Nervous Tic
by Cory McClellan It begins like a stutter in a nursery rhyme. Eye volumes fluctuate with capillaries colliding queries of lost keys against o r
Shock
by Cory McClellan Turn off the lights. Undress with caution. You’re wearing the electric touch of abandoned hair dryers. Drag your feet across
The Beast
by Steven R. Weiner The single throat in the painted wood car Screamed for adventure Defying gravity’s intense external response Rejoicing in the
The Bliss of Indigo Trees
by Richard Martin It pays to sleep in a warm room And review poor decisions Before nodding off The mind in a stew of mind Casts shadows of light
This Much
by Mark Hedden By catsup, by fish, by coffee bitter and black, My mind this morning a shredded cobweb. O Woman, lean back. Be quiet, one moment
The Explorer
by Mark Hedden It is so easy to forget what brings you here. For three years now I have been sitting in this room Listening to the sounds
When I Suck Your Nipples
by Dan Sociu I’m a comic–book character — bubbles come out of my mouth inside which nothing’s written. — translated by Adam J. Sorkin, Dan
The way home is no longer the way home.
by Dan Sociu One night my wife and I carried ten bucketfuls of shit — I think we haven’t spent such a good time with each other since ’98: we
In the morning I wake up with fear of life
by Dan Sociu In the morning I wake up with fear of life, At night I go to sleep with fear of death. And it doesn’t seem to portend a good day,
Birdsong and the Old Night
by David J. Rothman Just before the dawn the songbirds sing As if they are so happy to be alive, Mused some idiot who didn’t know anything About
What Must Be Done Again Today
by David J. Rothman It was a time of happiness. Each day The sky would open like a great blue wing. At night rain fell, a gentle rain. We
The Great Green Wave
by David J. Rothman The snake still walks on his belly, The almond tree grows out of the ground Like black iron and men and women still love And
Babel, Interuptus
by Kathleen Ellis At the Tower they are babbling again. A girl blurts out Beasts! for we are like them. We are not men or women of our word and
Shared Premise
by Jami Macarty A spoon stirs inside a woman’s stomach. A woman is confused. A woman wants to be loved. A woman wants to fix what’s wrong. A man
Lunar
by Jami Macarty Baja California Sur, Mexico 1. Limpets dangling from the backdrop — Here’s the
The Fall
by David McCann All of it? Yes, all of it. I want all of it off. So he did it. This is what she paid him for, how he made a living. Her
72 nd St.
by John Harris A summer sublet. 72nd St., Three stories up. An ancient railroad flat, Filled with listing bookcases, stifling heat, Uneven
Reviews
Hearth
by Simon Pettet Talisman House Publishers, Jersey City, New Jersey, 2008, 178 pages, paper, $17.95, ISBN:
Safe Harbor: Port Veritas Poetry Anthology Volume I
ed. Nate Amadon, Moon Pie Press, 2008, 84 pages, paper, $12, ISBN: 978–1–60643–187–0 Buy the Book It is impossible for
Please
by Jericho Brown, Western Michigan University, 2008, 69 pages, paper, $14.00, ISBN–10: 1–930974–79–5 Buy the Book In the
A Darker, Sweeter String
by Lee Sharkey, Weld: Off the Grid Press, 2009, 96 pages, $15.00, ISBN–10: 0–9778429–1–6, ISBN–13:
Crucifixion in the Plaza de Armas
by Martin Espada, Smokestack Books, 2008, 66 pages, paper, $7.95, ISBN: 978–0–9554028–1–4 Buy the Book Whether the Ponce
An Apron Full of Beans: New and Selected Poems
by Sam Cornish, CavanKerry Press Ltd., 2008, 179 pages, paper, $16.00, ISBN: 978–1–933880–09–9 Purchase Book As the first
Poet and Translator Biographies
Steven R. Weiner
is a nurse, nurse practitioner, hospital administrator, a father, and a poet. He studied poetry at Binghamton, the New School, and in workshops,
Adam J. Sorkin
Adam J. Sorkin recent books of translation include Memory Glyphs, a volume of three Romanian prose poets (Twisted Spoon, 2009); Ruxandra
Dan Sociu
was born in 1978 in Botoêani in the north of Romania. His first book, borcane bine legate, bani pentru înc² o s²pt²mîn², came out in 2002 (jars
J.B. Sisson
has published poems, short stories, plays, essays, and translations from French, German, and Russian in magazines such as Poetry, The Paris
Russ Sargent
is the proprietor of Yes Books in Portland, Maine. His translations of Venezuelan poet Manuel Ruano have previously appeared in The Café Review.
David J. Rothman
is co–founder of the Crested Butte Music Festival ( www.crestedbuttemusicfestival.com,) Founding Editor and Publisher of Conundrum Press,
Oliver Rice
has received the Theodore Roethke Prize and twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His poems have appeared widely in journals and
Janice Miller Potter
is the author of Psalms in Time, Finishing Line Press, 2008. She was the 2005 recipient of The Sara Henderson Hay Poetry Prize, given by The
Simon Pettet
is an English–born poet, long–time resident of New York’s Lower East Side. His newest title, Hearth, is available from Talisman
Mihaela Niţă
a friend of Dan Sociu who is a student in Bucharest.
Dan Murphy
received the Academy of American Poets Prize in 2006 for the poem, “Faithless 11,” and recently graduated with a Master’s degree in English from
Paul Muldoon
was born in 1951 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and educated at the Queen’s University of Belfast. Since 1987 he has lived in the United
Thomas R. Moore
lives in Brooksville, Maine. He taught English for forty years, most recently at Maine Maritime Academy. His poems have appeared in Worcester
Cory McClellan
was born in Casa Grande, Arizona. He received his M.F.A in Creative Writing Poetry from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst in 2004.
David McCann
is the Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and director of the Korea
Richard Martin
poetry books include White Man Appears on Southern California Beach and Modulations. His poems have appeared in ACM, The Café Review, Exquisite
Taylor Mali
was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. His work has appeared in anthologies and other
Jami Macarty
lives on the coast of British Columbia and in the desert of Arizona. When a desert dweller, she teaches therapeutic movement and skeletal
Gibson Fay-LeBlanc
his poems, interviews, and reviews have appeared in magazines including Boston Review, The New Republic, and Tin House and in anthologies
Mark Hedden
lives with his wife Carol at the end of a dirt road in Vienna, Maine. She weaves and he writes; writes mostly about prehistoric petroglyphs in
John Harris
is very active in the literary community of Los Angeles, California. He was owner of the legendary bookstore, Papa Bach’s, and in 1972 founded
Jody Gladding
is a poet and translator living in East Calais, Vermont. Her most recent poetry collection is Rooms and Their Airs. She has translated many
Laura Delia Quintero Garcia
is a poet from Sonora, Mexico where she has taught literature in the secondary school system for 35 years. She has received a variety of
Kathleen Ellis
is the author of four poetry collections, Vanishing Act, Entering Earthquake Country, Red Horses, and The Calamity Jane Poems. (The latter two
John Driscoll, M.D.
practiced cardiology in Portland, Maine for thirty years after receiving degrees at Yale University and Tufts University Medical School. He is
Paula Cisewski
is the author of two books: Ghost Fargo (selected by Franz Wright for the Nightboat Prize and forthcoming early 2010) and Upon Arrival (Black
Artist Biographies
Reviewer Biographies
Wayne Atherton
Adam Tavel
his poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in Night Train, The Apalachee Review, Poet Lore, Bad Subjects, and The Explicator, among others, and
Claire Hersom
is a native Mainer with three books of poetry to her credit, the most recent, Drowning: A Poetic Memoir, was published by Moon Pie Press in 2008.
Michelle Demers
holds an M.F.A in poetry from Vermont College and has been published in Leaves by Night, Flowers by Day; Collecting Moon Coins II; Diner; The
Melissa M. Crowe
earned a M.F.A. in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Georgia. Her poems have appeared in Atlanta