Our Fall 2015 Special Tribute Issue to Sumac Magazine features poetry by Floyce Alexander, Carol Bachofner, George Bowering, Joseph Bruchac, Clayton Eshleman, Paul Fericano, Dan Gerber, Jim Harrison, Max Hjortsberg, Richard Jarrette, Gerard Malanga, Rebecca Newth, Sharon Olinka, Paul Pines, George Quasha, Jerome Rothenberg, Christian Teresi, Robert VanderMolen, Diane Wakoski and Diane Wald as well as artwork from Russell Chatham and Jack Richard Smith.
EDITORIAL NOTE
A national literary journal under the Sumac Press banner, Sumac first appeared out of Fremont, Michigan in the winter of 1968. Co-edited by Dan Gerber and Jim Harrison, the journal evolved into nine volumes, the final issue ending a monumentally significant literary evolution-revolution in the fall of 1971. They were not slim volumes. Those nine volumes produced a total of roughly 1,386 printed pages. During that same period of time they also published a number of poetry books by various poets.
The first installment featured mostly poems, one “fictitious essay,” and a 45 page critical prose meditation by Robert Duncan. By the time the ninth volume appeared, Sumac: An Active Anthology, had expanded to include book reviews, more essays, beautifully composed and printed black-and-white photographs (many of them shot by Dan Gerber), and fiction. Thomas McGuane was brought on board to become fiction editor effective with the final six issues.
Sumac was, by turns, precocious, fiercely independent, and uncompromising in the material it chose to print. The editors were not beholden to any literary fad, trend, or poetry school — east coast or west coast. They democratically chose to include a rather large selection of work from what one editor referred to as “the flyover states.” They were by no means geographically or stylistically elitist.
Obviously long out of print, all nine highly collectible volumes may be difficult to find and not easily affordable to most of us. However, there is an anthology that is still in print. The Sumac Reader, edited by Joseph Bednarik, is available to order online or from what remains of a dwindling population of actual bookstores. The Sumac Reader features a well-chosen selection of diverse talent from the original run of Sumac and was first published in 1997 by Michigan State University Press.
W.A.
Poetry Excerpts from this Issue
THE GOLDEN RATIO
by Paul Pines bare limbs just greening taxonomy starkly visible implicate echo of leaves porches at night harboring shadows we walk my old
EPONYMOUS PAUL
by Paul Pines EPONYMOUS PAUL Easter morning the notion of waking to the sound of a trumpet or its corollary the Roshi’s well–timed
FAT TONY BECOMES AN EDITOR
by Paul Fericano Not that good sense has anything to do with poetry but if for some reason I should decide That I’m not completely satisfied with
COUSIN TOMMY EXPLAINS IT ALL
by Paul Fericano Enough already enough with all this Leonardo DiCaprio crap All this stinking garbage about art for fucking art’s sake This is no
Do You Remember This, Katja?
by Richard Jarrette Our destination hovered between Pacific mist and looming clouds conceding a glimpse of arctic blue sky. We half–guess
Unfortunate Dinner
by Sharon Olinka Winter, 1973: her gallery. Margarita smelled of amber. Daughter of an exiled countess. Silver bracelets, three on each wrist.
For A Man With Guava In His Mouth
by Sharon Olinka This is for the day your lips parted, and I sucked guava candy, melting in your mouth. Candy bought the week your mother died.
Metamorphoses
by Christian Teresi The Naga were headhunters, but wrote butterfly On the parched reliefs of temples, and in manuscripts born By monastics that
A Mercy
by Christian Teresi As a boy he hauled full buckets, first light breaching The details of cleared acreage, and thankfully again When the day
God-weather
by Richard Jarrette We could walk freely inside Nebuchadnezzar’s killing furnace most of the time because our God–weather was generally
Requiem — My Virginia Woolf
by Richard Jarrette I didn’t know the contours of my own face till you held it in your hands and said, I’m taking this everywhere. These seven
Half -Haunted
by Carol Bachofner Old Pima came down with the wandering sickness. It edged in when he was digging for water out back. Took over, settled into
Technological Nostalgia
by Max Hjortsberg Remember when you could fix everything yourself ? Some baling twine, a coat hanger, a pair of pliers, and naturally a roll of
The Kitchen
by Max Hjortsberg When you walk through the door of the past be careful not to close it, leave it slightly cracked, allowing the light of the
Winter Morning on the Yellowstone
by Max Hjortsberg Cottonwoods lining the edge of the river the leafless branches white with hoarfrost, a phantom coral reef from a vanished
After The Funeral
by Robert VanderMolen There was talk of fishing, cancer And the stock exchange. The trick Said Denny, is to be a contrarian, Not many have such
After The Fog
by Robert VanderMolen Shaving: If I had a thinner face Like D. H. Lawrence Or Robert Creeley I’d grow a beard (I told her) * There were odd
On Tuesday
by Robert VanderMolen Spotting a van logging Through beeches, where you hadn’t Realized there was a road Staring from your canoe, water lilies
Glen and Tom
by Robert VanderMolen Whatever hotel or town it was He stood on a balcony with a drink After a long day driving in the heat The side of his truck
BRAID
by Floyce Alexander Photo of scalp hung by one nail. Mud–smeared window of the cold house. Some man’s family crowding together. This earth
NIGHT OUT
by Floyce Alexander Screams rattle the amphitheater Of lost dreams. A horror film In progress nears its end. I’m restless; aren’t you, Without
CONVERSATIONAL
by Floyce Alexander I could say little happens here. Snow melts, ice forms. Tornados seldom follow Though cold descends, heat rises Whirring
FROM TERWILLIGER HOT SPRINGS
by Joseph BruChac Those four stones I plucked from the deep bottom of the hottest pool of its healing waters disintegrated in my pocket soon
Pacific Theatre
by Rebecca Newth On the worst day we received a letter for me after the immediate death on Okinawa and the letter said Hi Becky you must be a big
The Forbearance of Dogs
by Rebecca Newth He puts up with so much, and here I am not being facetious, the dirt on his coarse spine my attempts to
A Requiem for Cooking
by Rebecca Newth For behold you look for the dill sauce but it is deep in the cupboard and lo, there is no one to help. Had you
Rod
by Gerard Malanga The sunset coalescing. The twilight waiting waiting patiently. Those commingling voices snagged in some forlorn vista. So many
nd
by Gerard Malanga Photographs have a way of becoming souvenirs of happier times, reminders of a time and place; sometimes the nd as a
Déjà Vu
by Gerard Malanga Lost among the rubble of greed, the deletion of history, pre–history, post–history and beyond the beyond.
Carol Chalik, 1945– ?
by Gerard Malanga She could’ve been famous in her time or in some future time, had someone taken notice, mentored her, paid homage. But I
George Balanchine, 1904–1983.
by Gerard Malanga Elephants are the greatest dancers. George Balanchine knew this. They make no claim to beauty but overwhelm with nimble
Galway Kinnell
by Gerard Malanga Goodbye Galway as my sciatica is acting up, and you turn to laugh. Constant reminders, headaches of so much left
NORTH TOWER Exploding
by Clayton Eshleman 10:28 AM: top of the Tower: the antenna spire begins to descend
A MORNING WRITHING WITH Revelation
by Clayton Eshleman A MORNING WRITHING WITH Revelation [Bacon & Giacometti at Gagosian]
A PERFECT CIRCLE
by Jerome Rothenberg THREE POEMS FROM “A FURTHER WITNESS” for Anselm Hollo in memoriam A PERFECT CIRCLE the protocol of light runs
THE FLOW OF TIME
by Jerome Rothenberg THREE POEMS FROM “A FURTHER WITNESS” for Anselm Hollo in memoriam THE FLOW OF TIME to pose a question & to
AS THE SKY GOES BLACK
by Jerome Rothenberg THREE POEMS FROM “A FURTHER WITNESS” for Anselm Hollo in memoriam AS THE SKY GOES BLACK fixed in place or running
The Maltese M
by George Bowering Surely it tells us something that more people read Paradise Lost than even begin reading Paradise Regained. Things used to
Myth is History
by George Bowering The toilet paper I’ve used during my life — do I owe the earth a tree? Two trees? But wait, haven’t my turds fed the earth, or
Curiosity
by George Bowering The neonate looked up at me with eyes I have known forever. Then clouds, white on top, grey underneath, slid behind those
In winter when the towels get dry just by being in the house
by Diane Wald My undertaker wears a lively cologne. I like it. I believe in his religion, for he has seen a man pack up his falsetto and travel,
if you’re sleeping and not dreaming, you are dead
by Diane Wald i am broken. and my fissures have not been repaired with gold, you can trace your finger along my faults, and cut your fingers on
my good ex-friend godzilla
by Diane Wald i wasn’t aware that kind of ruination could happen his twin had died when they were born but it took him a year to tell me then
Beauty’s Voice
by Diane Wakoski When the night taps on glass and, in the dark, I brush past down comforters, puffy as birds fluffed and huddled
mouth surfing (preverbs)
by George Quasha 1 on the pale trail of the pores on fire Speaking with chilies in your mouth produces
things done for themselves (preverbs) for Susan
by George Quasha 1 last first words We walk together like a field of
Old Books
by Dan Gerber My life’s companions, showing their age — spines peeled back, bindings frayed — stacks of brittle leaves, kept with tape and rubber
Correspondences
by Dan Gerber Natania Darvath’s Songs of the Auvergne in my minds ear while the daylight ghost of a waning quarter–moon drifts just above
Nirvana
by Dan Gerber A hundred quail on the grass outside my window, and the dogs are a little upset, and at least one hundred doves — band–tailed
Vows
by Jim Harrison I feel my failure intensely as if it were a vital organ the gods grew from the side of my head. You can’t cover it with a hat and
A Variation on Machado
by Jim Harrison I worry much about the suffering of Machado. I was only one when he carried his mother across the border from Spain to France in
Spirit
by Jim Harrison Rumi advised me to keep my spirit up in the branches of a tree and not peek out too far, so I keep mine in the very tall willows
Cold Sand before the Fire
by Diane Wald Not sure if the buck in the rose garden is a sign or a just buck in the rose garden. He raises his velvet antlers as if he were
THE GHOSTS OF CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL
by Joseph BruChac The ghosts of the Carlisle Indian School are drinking again tonight down by the church. You can hear them chanting the same
Interview
Dan Gerber Interview
Six Questions for Dan Gerber (interview conducted via e-mail) Wayne Atherton: Sumac Magazine’s first Editorial Note appeared in issue three,
Poet Biographies
Russell Chatham
is a contemporary American landscape artist who spent most of his career living in Livingston, Montana. His work has been exhibited in over 400
Diane Wald
her latest book is Wonderbender, from 1913 Press. Previous books include The Yellow Hotel and, Lucid Suitcase.
Diane Wakoski
her work has been published in more than twenty collections and many slim volumes of poetry. Her selected poems, Emerald Ice, won the William
Robert VanderMolen
lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his last collection of poetry was Water, Michigan State University Press, 2009.
Christian Teresi
lives in Northern Virginia and is the Director of Conferences for AWP. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in several literary journals
Jerome Rothenberg
has published over seventy books and pamphlets of poetry. He is probably best known for his work in ethnopoetics, a term he coined, involving
George Quasha
is a poet, writer, musician and artist. His honors and awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim
Paul Pines
has published eleven books of poetry, a novel, and a memoir. He lives in Glens Falls, New York, where he practices as a psychotherapist and
Sharon Olinka
is the author of The Good City (Marsh Hawk Press) and her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Nimrod, Poetry Wales, New York Quarterly, The
Rebecca Newth
Rebecca Newth: is the author of six collections of poetry. Annie Dillard, Susan Howe, Guy Davenport, and Jim Harrison have praised her work. A
Gerard Malanga
is a poet and photographer who has published numerous books of poetry, including No Respect: New and Selected Poems, 1964 –2000. He was the
Richard Jarrette
is the author of Beso the Donkey (MSU Press, 2010), Gold Medal Poetry Midwest Independent Publishers Association 2011, and A Hundred Million
Max Hjortsberg
is a poet living in Livingston, MT. He was born in 1974. He is the author of a chapbook of poetry, Bonnie & Clyde (An American Daydream).
Jim Harrison
is the author of over thirty books of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Legends of the Fall, Dalva, and Returning to Earth are among his many
Dan Gerber
is the author of Sailing through Cassiopeia (2012) and A Primer on Parallel Lives (2007). He lives in the mountains of Central California.
Paul Fericano
is a poet, satirist, social activist, and co-founder of the parody news syndicate, Yossarian Universal News Service (1980). His work has
Clayton Eshleman
poems appearing in this issue are from Penetralia, to be published by Black Widow Press in 2016. This fall, Black Widow will bring out Clayton
Joseph Bruchac
is a writer and traditional storyteller from the Adirondack Region of northern New York where he lives in the house he was raised in by his
George Bowering
is a prolific Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer. He is the best-known of a group of young poets including Frank Davey, Fred
Carol Bachofner
is the current Poet Laureate of Rockland, Maine. Her poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Connecticut Review, Crab Orchard Review, The Cream
Floyce Alexander
grew up in the lower Yakima valley of Washington state, where his father homesteaded a grape farm after working as a coal miner in Arkansas. His
