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Freedom-Granting Poetry by Bethany Bowman

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

The Main Street Rag forwent their usual beautiful photographic cover art for a cartoon version of Donald Trump behind bars with the Fall 2020 issue. It seemed pretty appropriate, then, that I ended up opening the issue at random to find Bethany Bowman’s “Sometimes After Getting Off the Phone,” which begins with the speaker getting off the phone with their father “who confesses to voting for / Donald Trump to reverse Roe v. Wade” and observing a friend being confronted about her right to choose with her abortion in the 70’s.

The poem begins in a tense spot but we’re given relief, along with the speaker, in the form of animal facts given by the speaker’s son. These facts lead to biblical lessons and connections being “fed to the dogs” as the speaker realizes “you’ve always been filled with the spirit— / no external male force, no deity can grant it / or take it away.” There is power in this realization, a freedom granted from the sins stacked on women’s shoulders from the beginning of time.

While Trump may be behind bars on this issue’s cover, there is freedom to be found in the writing which Bowman graciously reminds us of.

The Main Street Rag – Fall 2020

This issue’s featured interview is with Doralee Brooks, whose poetry is also included. Also in this issue: creative nonfiction by Frederick W. Bassett; fiction by Nathan V. Baker, Mari Carlson, Linda Griffin, Alan Nelson, and Eudora Watson; and poetry by Joan Barasovska, Rachel Barton, Ranney Campbell, Maria Ceferatti, Sally Dunn, Caroline Goodwin, Cleo Griffith, Dorinda Hale, Dennis Herrell, Zebulon Huset, Craig Kittner, Mike Jurkovic, and more.

The Gettysburg Review – 33.1

The Gettysburg Review is out and features paintings by Tollef Runquist, fiction by Julialicia Case, Martha Shaffer, Kirsten Vail Aguilar, and Andrea Marcusa; essays by Elizabeth Kaye Cook, Kathy Flann, Don Lago, Christine Schott, Rebecca McClanahan, and Melissa Haley; poetry by Christopher (c3) Crew, Peter Grandbois, Despy Boutris, Douglas Smith & George Looney, John Hazard, Brian Swann, Maura Stanton, Cindy King, John Brehm, and more.

Anomaly – No 31

In the new issue of Anomaly: comics by Tamara Jong, Jennifer Murvin, Chloe Martinez, Andie Frein, Amelia L. Williams, and Alina Viknyanskiy; poetry by Tian-Ai, Stephanie Jean, Shay Alexi, Saddiq Dzukogi, Noor Ibn Najam, Noʻu Revilla, Michal Jones, KL Lyons, Irteqa Khan, Ima Odong, Heather Simon, Eunice Kim, Chavonn Williams Shen, Bailey Cohen-Vera, Asmaa Jama, and Amanda Holiday, fiction by Laurence Klavan, LaToya Jordan, and Carson Faust; and nonfiction by Tasha Raella, Jody Chan, and Anjoli Roy.

Raleigh Review – Fall 2020

This issue’s featured artist is Janice Joy Little. Fiction by Peter D. Gorman, Trina Askin, James Hartman, Melissa Reddish, and Katherine Conner. Poetry by Melissa Kwasny, Nan Becker, Dionissios Kollias, Colin Bailes, Rob Shapiro, Kabel Mishka Ligot, Hussain Ahmed, Johnny Lorenz, Darius Simpson, Camerin McGill, Jai Hamid Bashir, Melanie Tafejian, Maxine Patroni, Alaina Bainbridge, and Gabriella R. Tallmadge. Check it out at the Raleigh Review website.

The Lake – November 2020

The November issue of The Lake features Jean Atkin, Joe Balaz, Carol Casey, Robert G. Cowser, Sarah L. Dixon, Edilson A. Ferreira, Nels Hanson, Dierdre Hines, Beth McDonough, Roger Mitchell, Ronald Moran, Angela Readman, Maggie Reed, David Spicer. Reviews of Natalie Scott’s Rare Birds: Voices of Holloway Prison, Ric Cheyney’s In Praise of Nahum Tate, Terry Tierney’s The Poet’s Garage.

Into the Void Magazine – #17

Welcome to a great issue full of vivid, haunting, charming and thought-provoking pieces with a stunning cover image by Jeff Corwin. Fiction by George Choundas, Kathie Giorgio, Rosalind Goldsmith, Alice Ting Liu, Chris Neilan, and Alexander Woods; nonfiction by Audrey Burges, Marie Kilroy, and Ellis Scott; and poetry by Dianna Vagianos Armentrout, Swapnil Dhruv Bose, James Butler, and more.

Hole in the Head Review – November 2020

Issue 4 of Hole in the Head Review celebrates our first year. Featuring works by K. Johnson Bowles, Anna Birch, Bob Herz, Christopher Volpe, Ann Pedone, Richard Foerster, Hannah Tarkinson, James Crenner, Zoo Cain, Brendan Constantine, Norma Greenwood, Douglas Cole, and Stuart Kestenbaum. Special Prose Poem Mini Chapbook edited by Peter Johnson, including annotated correspondence of Russell Edson and works by Cassandra Atherton, Nin Andrews, Denise Duhamel, Gerald Fleming, Jeff Friedman, Holly Iglesias, and Anna McDonald.

Hanging Loose – Issue 111

Our 54th year of continuous publication! Cover art and portfolio by William Linmark. Poems by Sherman Alexie, Indran Amirthanayagam, Jack Anderson, Martine Bellen, Polly Buckingham, Liuyu Ivy Chen, Jiwon Choi, Robert Clinton, John Corley, Sam Cornish, Harley Elliott, Gerald Fleming, Justin Jamail, Daniel Johnson, Faye Kicknosway, David Lehman, Michael Miller, Frank Murphy, and more. Read more at the Hanging Loose website.

A Speaker to Root For

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

During the first few months of the pandemic, I couldn’t read anything. My attention span was gone and anything I did manage to read left my mind immediately. But that ended when I sat in the park and read Dorothy Chan’s Revenge of the Asian Woman (Diode Editions, 2019) from cover to cover. My locked-away ability to read had found its key. Already a fan of Chan’s work, this just helped solidify my love for her poetry even more, and I’m always more than happy to check out any of her newly published poems. The October 2020 issue of Poetry gives the gift of her poem, “Ode to Chinese Superstitions, Haircuts, and Being a Girl.”

The poem flows in a rush, like a held breath finally exhaled. Chan begins with the Chinese superstition “it’s bad luck / to get a haircut when I’m sick” and leads into the role the speaker fulfills as a daughter, as a girl, as someone who “always bring[s] / the party, cause[s] the trouble . . . .” While there are specifics tied to her own self, culture, and family—her brother’s fate, her mother’s thoughts on her future, her father’s opinion on how “good Chinese girls” wear their hair—Chan leaves the reader plenty of room to relate to her words. If we don’t feel like her, we can still root for her and her “short skirt,” her “forehead forever exposed.”

The Bitter Oleander – Fall 2020

The Autumn 2020 issue of The Bitter Oleander features an interview with the Danish poet Carsten René Nielsen, including a selection of his prose poetry translated by David Keplinger. Also in this issue: fiction by Michael Pearce, Kelly Talbot, and more; essays by Will Stone; and poetry by Dolores Etchecopar, Stephen Tuttle, Madronna Holden, David Cholrton, Matei Vişniec, Silvia Scheibli, Patty Dickson Pieczka, and others.

Sky Island Journal – Fall 2020

Sky Island Journal’s stunning 14th issue features poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from contributors around the globe. Accomplished, well-established authors are published—side by side—with fresh, emerging voices. Readers are provided with a powerful, focused literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally. Always free to access, and always free from advertising, discover what over 75,000 readers in 145 countries already know; the finest new writing is here, at your fingertips.

Split Rock Review – Issue 15

The new issue of Split Rock Review features work by Ted Kooser, David Axelrod, Lauren Camp, William Woolfitt, Celia Bland, and many more writers and artists, including fiction by Adrian Markle; nonfiction by Anna Oberg and Wendy Weiger; a comic by Don Swartzentruber; art & photography by Aaron Burden, Leah Dockrill, Natalie Gillis, and more; and poetry by Ellen Rogers, Connie Post, Jenny Wong, Rebecca Yates, Emry Trantham, and more.

Poetry – October 2020

The October 2020 issue of Poetry is out. Work by Maya C. Popa, Ed Roberson, Dorothy Chan, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Chester Wilson III, Oli Rodriguez, Tianru Wang, Nathan Sppon, heidi andrea restrepo Rhodes, Cathy Song, Orlando Ricardo Menes, Martin Dyar, Ingrid Wendt, John Lee Clark, Jennifer Jean, Adrienne Su, Tom Pickard, Katie Hartsock, and more.

The Aurorean

The final issue of The Aurorean is out. Featured in this issue are David Jordan and Connie Jordan Green. Also included: Barbara Saunier, Joe Fitschen, Lee Rossi, Patrick Harkins, Thomas E. Schmidt, Dennis Ross, Sam Robertson, Jan Shoemaker, Joanne Stokkink, Holly Day, Anne Meis Knupfer, Robin Smith-Johnson, Thomas Griffin, Andrea Potos, Russell Rowland, Max Roland Ekstrom, James Croal Jackson, James B. Nicola, Mark C. Jensen, Ed Meek, Cynthia Brackett-Vincent, and more. Plus, a selection of haiku.

Apple Valley Review – Fall 2020

Featuring short fiction by Kevin Bray, Morgan Cross, Adam Luebke, Tove Ditlevsen (translated from the Danish by Michael Goldman), and Epiphany Ferrell; an essay by Samantha Steiner; and poetry by Liana Sakelliou (translated from the Greek by Don Schofield), DS Maolalai, Emily Hyland, Antonio Machado (translated from the Spanish by Thomas Feeny), Tiffany Hsieh, and Joseph Zaccardi. Cover artwork by Konstantin Somov. More info at the Apple Valley Review website.

Four Poems from Cimarron Review

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

The Spring 2020 issue of Cimarron Review is a slim one, but here is still plenty in its pages to keep a reader company, including a fine selection of poetry.

This selection includes Ethan Joella’s ruminations on the titular magazines that his “wife’s mother read in the hospital,” and a desire to destroy them to protect his wife in her grief. Joella creates a tender piece that focuses on his wife’s love for her mother, as well as his love for his wife.

Leslie McGrath asks one eight-word question in “Pink Inquiry,” a poem that makes impact with its simplicity. Christopher Brean Murray reflects on his childhood dogs “Duke & Pam,” and the way he has “never been able / to get into a poem the way” he felt about them. What results is a sweet poem about the three finding warmth and comfort in one another.

William Reichard in “Tinnitus (in Four Movements)” describes his relationship with the ringing in his ears, using the sound of cicadas as a way to lead this exploration. I read the fourth movement repeatedly, pulled in. “There was no escape from / the pulse of his own blood,” it reads, the stanza itself feeling as inescapable as the sound.

Take some time to visit the poetry in this issue of Cimarron Review, as well as the five pieces of prose also inside.

The Massachusetts Review – Fall 2020

In the Fall 2020 issue of The Massachusetts Review: fiction by Gwen Thompkins, Alanna Schubach, Andrea Maturana, Kathleen Hawes, and more; poetry by Marcela Sulak, Emily Schulten, Lance Larsen, Esther Lin, Brooke Sahni, C. P. Cavafy, and others; and nonfiction by Karen S. Henry, Ammiel Alcalay, Margaret Lloyd, and more. Plus, photography by Paul Should and a novel excerpt by Giacomo Sartori. .

EVENT – 49.2

EVENT’s latest offering is jam-packed with a tantalizing assortment of literary goodies. Poetry by Bára Hladík, Alpay Ulku, Alan Hill, Patricia Young, A. Molotkov, Dominik Parisien, and more; fiction by Jason Jobin, Kari Teicher, Fraser Calderwood, and Wayne Yetman; and nonfiction by Scott Randall. Plus, four reviews of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction titles. Read more at the EVENT website.

Boulevard – Fall 2020

Boulevard No. 106 contains a fantastic and diverse slate of great writing, including the winning story from the 2019 Short Fiction Contest by Sena Moon; a Boulevard Craft Interview featuring a conversation between J. Ryan Stradal and Beth Dooley; new poetry from Shara McCallum, Eloisa Amezcua, Molly Brodak, Doug Ramspeck, Katherine Smith, Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet, Dara Elerath, and Jeannine Hall Gailey; new fiction from Ron Austin, Matthew Di Paoli, Christine Sneed, and Adam Roux; essays by Christine Spillson, Jodie Varon, Matt Jones, Brandon Parker, and Min Han; and a new symposium about re-examining history. Plus, fantastic, and striking cover art by Xizi Liu!

About Place Journal – Oct 2020

“Works of Resistance, Resilience” is comprised of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and visual art by 83 writers and artists. The issue has five themed sections that explore what it means to live in America at this time of profound reckoning. What does resistance look like? Can resistance contain love, power and empathy? In this age of collective anxiety, the writers and artists from around the world attempt to answer what it means to live and survive during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. The Works of Resistance, Resilience will rekindle our desire to learn and thrive and to discover what is needed to change our relationship to the earth and to each other. More info at the About Place Journal website.

World Literature Today – Fall 2020

San Juan, Puerto Rico, takes the spotlight in World Literature Today’s annual city issue with a powerful selection of poetry, stories, and essays by 17 writers. Other highlights in the autumn issue include Fabienne Kanor’s essay on uprooting the fetishes of white supremacy; interviews with Natalie Diaz and Margaret Jull Costa; a stunning poem by Achy Obejas on “the universe at absolute zero”; fiction by Vi Khi Nao and Lidija Dimkovska; and much more. Reviews of new books by Elena Ferrante, Mia Couto, Kapka Kassabova, and dozens more make WLT your go-to guide for the best in international literature

Understorey Magazine – Issue 18

Understorey Magazine Issue 18 is out. Read for examinations on the many ways science and technology affect our everyday lives. Poetry by Moni Brar, Daze Jefferies, Kimberley Orton, Dawn Macdonald, Kayleigh Cline, and I. Sabrina Samreen; fiction by Gail Willis; and nonfiction by Jeanne Kwong, Sima Chowdhury, Stacey McLeod, and Rita Kindl Myers. Plus, interviews with Maryam Heba and Chelsey Purdy.

The Georgia Review – Fall 2020

The Georgia Review’s Fall 2020 issue is out with new work from Kaitlyn Greenidge, Wayne Koestenbaum, Sally Wen Mao, Charles Baxter, Marianne Boruch, Yona Harvey, and many other compelling voices, both emerging and long-established. Special features include a portfolio of artwork from the High Museum of Art’s exhibition Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Children’s Books and a translation of Vinod Kumar Shukla’s masterful short story “College.”

Cimarron Review – Issue 211

Issue 211 of Cimarron Review features poetry by Bonnie Auslander, Clemonce Heard, Leslie McGrath, Emily Franklin, Chris Haven, Matt Morgan, Laura McKee, Bryce Berkowitz, Elisabeth Murawski, Jan Beatty, Kayla Sargeson, and others; fiction by Andrew Geyer, Molly Anders, and Steven Wingate; and nonfiction by Ephraim Scott Sommers and Caroline Sutton. This issue’s cover art is “River Fog” by Richard Speedy.

The Baltimore Review – 2020

This year’s print collection of The Baltimore Review is now out. It includes poems, stories, and creative nonfiction published in The Baltimore Review‘s Summer 2019 Maryland Writers Special Issue, Fall 2019, Winter 2020, and Spring 2020 online issues. Work by Sandy Longhorn, Tim Griffith, Maggie Andersen, Jennifer Lang, Kathleen Hellen, Kris Faatz, Michael Downs, Grace Cavalieri, Stephen Tuttle, Libby Heily, Emily Stoddard, Diana Xin, Omer Friedlander, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Avra Margariti, Naomi Cohn, and many more.

Valley Voices – Fall 2020

The Fall 2020 issue of Valley Voices features poetry by Paul Mariani, Gary Fincke, Janet McCann, Luci Shaw, Marge Piercy, Ted Kooser, D. S. Martin, Walter Bargen, Virginia Sullivan, Ed Madden, Le Hinton, Joseph Pearce, Jean-Mark Sens, John J. Han, and more; memoirs by Billy Middleton, Frederick W. Bassett, and Carol Coffee Reposa; and articles & interviews by Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Adam Gussow, Joseph Millichap, Janet Greenlees, Dominic Reisig, John J. Han, Gab D. Smith and Thomas H. Sayre, and David Tisdale.

The Shore Poetry – Fall 2020

The autumn issue of The Shore features gorgeous and dynamic poetry by Melissa Crowe, Lisa Ampleman, Susan Rich, Taylor Byas, Joely Byron Fitch, Emma Aylor, Jill Mceldowney, Samuel Adeyemi, Taylor Fedorchak, Susan Moon, Owne McLeod, Oluwadare Popoola, Isaac George Lauristen, Duncan Mwangi, Adam Day, Natalie Young, Dan Wiencek, Andy Keys, Vincent Poturica, Katherine Fallon, and more. The issue also features digital art by Joe Lugara.

Leaping Clear – Fall 2020

Leaping Clear - logo

Take the time to enjoy and be nourished by the art and writing in this new issue of Leaping Clear. There is humor, poignancy, power, ecstasy, calm, and beauty to be found in essays by Elizabeth Fletcher, Liz Woz, Ranjani Rao, and more; fiction by Taffeta Chime; and poetry by Alan Cohen, Carla Sarett, Fran Markover, J. P. White, Linda Parsons, Sandra Fees, Wayne Lee, and more.

Overlooked Beauty

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

Now more than ever it’s important to find the beauty in whatever is around us. As writers, as artists, and as humans struggling through a traumatic period of time, it’s necessary to find bright spots. The Fall 2020 issue of Still Point Arts Quarterly puts this into practice, the theme of the issue being “The Secret Life of Objects.”

Throughout the pages, writers and artists look at what’s around them and capture their beauty. Adrienne Stevenson writes an ode to a “Kitchen Timer,” an appliance one doesn’t have to think much about until it’s gone. Kathleen Miller draws pared-down sketches of telephones, boats, pitchers, eliminating the details to follow Georgia O’Keeffe’s sentiment of “get[ting] at the real meaning of things.” Most of MJ Edwards’s compelling photography focuses on treasures of trash found on the beach, as they wonder about the “untold stories” the objects carry with them.

Art can be found in the everyday items around us, the objects easily overlooked. Don’t forget to look around you and find the beauty and inspiration they can hold.

Service Workers’ Words

Magazine Review by Katy Haas

Since March, we’ve been relying heavily on service workers, those operating the essentials while the rest of the country slows or stops. The second half of the Fall 2020 issue of Rattle features work by poets who have served long periods of time as service workers.

In this section, readers can find Marylisa DeDomenicis’s “Excuse Me” and Jackleen Holton’s “The Hunter,” both of which discuss working in a restaurant. DeDomenicis writes of the prevalent racism in the kitchen where the speaker works, and Holton focuses on the sexism and harassment the women face at the restaurant where her speaker works. In both of these, the other workers advocate for each other when the higher-ups either do nothing or contribute to the problem. The speaker in DeDomenicis’s piece sticks up for the bullied Mexican bus boy, and the waitresses in Holton’s piece work the buddy system together so they’re never alone, lessening the severity of their harassment.

Laurie Uttich’s “To My Student with the Dime-Sized Bruises on the Back of Her Arms Who’s Still on Her Cellphone” stuck out to me most starkly. In this poem, the speaker notices her student’s bruises and implores that she put down her phone, her abusive boyfriend on the other end, so she can trade it for a pen and “Take a piece of the dark and put it on a page.” Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf stand by as supporting characters, offering comfort and a room of one’s own. Uttich’s use of language as the poem addresses the student is clever and flows quickly, familiar images flashing through the lines.

While we continue to rely on service workers to keep the world running, make sure to take time to hear their voices and their stories in their own words.

Still Point Arts Quarterly – Fall 2020

The Fall 2020 issue homes in on “The Secret Life of Objects.” Featured artists include Cary Loving, Birgit Gutsche, Aaron M. Brown, Jeffrey Stoner, and more. Featured writers include Dawn Raffel, Judith Sornberger, Emily Uduwana, Kathleen Aponick, William Doreski, Keltie Zubko, Adrienne Stevenson, Susan Currie, and others. Find more info at the Still Point Arts Quarterly website.

Spoon River Poetry Review – Summer 2020

The Summer 2020 Issue of SRPR is out. In this issue, you’ll find cover art by Brittany Schloderback; the SRPR Illinois Poet Feature with new poetry by Simone Muench and Jackie K. White, with an interview of the poets by Carlo Matos and Amy Sayre Batista; and new poetry by Jose-Luis Moctezuma, Paul Martinez-Pompa, Julia Wong Kcomt translated by Jennifer Shyue, Michael Leong, Emily Carr, and more.

New England Review – 41.3

New England Review Volume 41 Number 3 is out. Featured work by May-lee Chai; Jeneva Stone; Laurence de Looze; Alyssa Pelish; John Kinsella; Clifford Howard; and translations of Scholastique Mukasonga, Karla Marrufo, and Nelly Sachs. Fiction by Kenneth Calhoun, Meron Hadero, Kate Petersen, and Kirk Wilson; poetry by Anders Carlson-Wee, Victoria Chang, Justin Danzy, Elisa Gabbert, torrin a. greathouse, Christina Pugh, and more; plus cover art by Heidi P.

Kaleidoscope – No. 81

During periods of unrest and uncertainty, when ominous dark clouds roll in and the sky becomes black, it can be easy to give in to feelings of despair. Kaleidoscope contains stories of adversity but it also offers hope. Featuring the essay “Between Rooms” by N. T. McQueen, the story “Mother Bear” by Melissa Murakami, and the essay “Nacre Upon Nacre” by Jenna Pashley Smith. In addition to these three, this issue contains an array of thought-provoking poetry and other wonderful stories of fiction and nonfiction. Issue 81 brings the promise that storm clouds will dissipate and the sun will shine again.

Jewish Fiction .net – #25

This Rosh Hashana marks exactly ten years since the founding of Jewish Fiction .net! Since our first issue came out on Rosh Hashana 2010, we have published over 430 works of fiction never before published in English, which were originally written in sixteen languages. We are a truly international journal with readers in 140 countries. Our new, 10th-anniversary issue of Jewish Fiction .net is now out and features 18 first-rate works of fiction originally written in Spanish, Yiddish, Hebrew, and English. We hope this special issue brings you pleasure, intellectual delight, entertainment, and comfort during this challenging time.