At the NewPages Blog readers and writers can catch up with their favorite literary and alternative magazines, independent and university presses, creative writing programs, and writing and literary events. Find new books, new issue announcements, contest winners, and so much more!
Iron Horse Literary Review‘s latest review features only one writer: Michael Hemmingson, winner of the 2013 IHLR Single-Author Competition. His novella, Still Life with Iguana, “flies through a journalist’s life and career, uncovering the heart of an appealing protagonist and reuniting him with his one true love,” writes Bill Roorbach. It “is told in fragments and blocks and tesserae, a mosaic beautifully rendered.”
The Emerson Society announces three awards for projects that foster appreciation for Emerson.
Research Grant
Provides up to $500 to support scholarly work on Emerson. Preference given to junior scholars and graduate students. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, 1-2-page project proposal, including a description of expenses, by April 1, 2014.
Pedagogy or Community Project Award
Provides up to $500 to support projects designed to bring Emerson to a non-academic audience. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, 1-2-page project proposal, including a description of expenses, by April 1, 2014.
Subvention Award
Provides up to $500 to support costs attending the publication of a scholarly book or article on Emerson and his circle. Submit a confidential letter of recommendation, 1-2-page proposal, including an abstract of the forthcoming work and a description of publication expenses, by April 1, 2014.
Send Research, Pedagogy/Community, and Subvention proposals to:
Noelle Baker ([email protected]) and Kristin Boudreau ([email protected])
Award recipients must become members of the Society; membership applications are available at http://www.emersonsociety.org
Lumina Journal has put forth a special multimedia publication titled Lux. When you receive a copy, you’ll need to download the free app (or any other QR code reading app) to your phone or other mobile device. Then, each page of the book features writing with a QR code; scan it to discover videos, recordings, photographs, and interactive material. Artwork can also be scanned.
“We’re especially excited that we’ll be sharing a radio piece by Rick Moody—and giving you its fantastic prose in print, too, and poetry from Bianca Stone and Ken Cormier that live in the realm of YouTube as much as on the realm of the page.” – Carolyn Silveira, Multimedia Editor
Read more about it and watch a video here.
With the publication of issue 14, Memoir has decided to say goodbye to its years of readers and writers. “Despite the fact that Memoir has continued to grow, that we gain more readers each month and attract scintillating submissions from well known writers as well as new and emerging writers, we will be turning out the lights and locking the office door,” writes Editor Claudia Sternbach . “Our primary source of funding has ended. But we are forever indebted to them for their generosity over these past few years. Not only were we able to publish 14 issues of Memoir, but we were able to offer workshops and publication through our (In)Visible Memoir project. And who knows, miracles do happen. Sometime in the future a Phoenix may rise from these ashes.”
From what I can see, issues are not archived online, and you cannot purchase the issues. However, there is an email address for business inquiries on their new site.
The Winter/Spring 2014 issue of The Southeast Review features the winners of the magazine’s 2013 contests:
World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest
judged by Robert Olen Butler
Winner:
Kat Gonso, “A Pinch of Salt”
Finalists:
Shannon Beamon, “The Skeletons That Make Your Closet”
Kelsie Hahn, “What My Daughter Is Holding”
Alisha Karabinus, “Begin Again With Heat”
Julia LoFaso, “The Envoy”
Heather Michaels, “These External Manners of Lament”
Eliot Wilson, “Costco”, “The Homeowners Association”, “Match.Com: A Lovesong in Two Voices”, and “Uncle Frank Meets Charlton Heston”
SER Poetry Contest
judged by Erin Belieu
Winner:
Elizabyth Hiscox, “Night Being the Consort of Chaos In Milton”
Honorable Mentions Selected by Erin Belieu:
Colette Gill, “Thoughts in a Russian Museum”
Elizabyth Hiscox, “Or What You Will”
Finalists Selected by the Editors of SER:
Rachel Contreni Flynn, “Gratitudes: Detasseling”
Jonathan Greenhause, “All Is Noise & Music”
Elizabyth Hiscox, “Cellular Physic”
Allan Peterson, “Lasting”
Christine Salvatore, “Betrayal”
Vivian Shipley, “No Gold Lamé for Me”
Kathryn Weld, “Seed Bed”
SER Narrative Nonfiction Contest
judged by Diane Roberts
Winner:
Pamela Balluck, “Parts of a Chair”
Finalists:
Elizabeth McConaghy, “Little Gods”
Sam Shaber, “I Am 40”
Stan Lee’s newest creative literary venture has unveiled a line of graphic novels, picture books, digital books and games for kids: Stan Lee’s Kids Universe. His characters include The Fuzz Posse police dogs and Reggie the Veggie Crocodile who becomes an outcast for forsaking his carnivorous family heritage. Yes, for kids, but I’ve got my eye on Monsters vs. Kittens, which explores the similarities and difference between the two. The books are available in hard and soft cover as well as for download on iBook and Kinds. Time to hook a new generation on Stan Lee!
When I turned to Peter Sipe’s Some Material May Not Be Suitable for Children in this month’s Glimmer Train Bulletin, I appreciated his awareness of the fact that not all young readers “enjoy” reading: “The best way to become a good reader is to read, but if you have trouble understanding the words, reading for pleasure may make as much sense to you as recreational dentistry.”
But the last thing I expected this 6th grade teacher to then advise me was not to tell students to use a dictionary when they encounter words in reading they do not know: “‘You go to war with the army you have,’ Donald Rumsfeld once told his troops. Children open books with the vocabularies they have. They can strengthen them on their own—just as in Iraq soldiers scavenged for armor to protect their vehicles—or we can help them get the vocabularies they need.”
He doesn’t shun the use of the dictionary, but his sense of instilling vocabulary power through play is one that can make the difference for struggling readers.
Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their December Fiction Open competition. This competition is held twice a year. Stories generally range from 2000-6000 words, though up to 20,000 is fine. The next Fiction Open will take place in June. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.
First place: Courtney Sender, of Baltimore, MD, wins $2500 for “Even Angels Are Astonished.” Her story will be published in Issue 93 of Glimmer Train Stories. This will be her first major print publication. [Photo credit: Summer Greer.]
Second place: Celeste Ng, of Cambridge, MA, wins $1000 for “Every Little Thing.”
Third place: Andrew Robinson, of Singapore, wins $600 for “Greater Love.”
A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.
Deadline soon approaching! Short Story Award for New Writers: February 28. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5000. No theme restrictions. Most submissions to this category run 1500-5000 words, but can go up to 12,000. First place prize is $1500. Second/third: $500/$300. Click here for complete guidelines.
Stephen Donadio, editor of New England Review, says in the editor’s note that this special 2014 double issue will be his last as editor. Beginning with the next issue, the editor will be Carolyn Kuebler. Donadio says that some may wonder how his last issue came to be a double issue with a special section titled “The Russian Presence.” The section, “centered on recurring themes and patterns in Russian history and culture, contains an exceptionally wide range of writings, many of which appear here in English for the first time. . . Representing the work of more than twenty different authors, the selections gathered here span nearly two hundred years, from poetry by Alexander Puskin (1799-1837) to an excerpt from a contemporary novel by journalist and fiction writer Oleg Kashin (born in 1980). . .”
The Green Mountains Review Fall/Winter issue is in, featuring the winners from the Brattleboro Literary Festival Flash Fiction Contest and the Neil Shepard Prize.
Neil Shephard Prize Winners 2013
Poetry
Doug Ramspeck: “Sacred Music”
Fiction
Erin Somers: “The Melt”
Brattleboro Literary Festival Flash Fiction Contest Winners
Winner
Kathryn Nuernberger
2nd Place Winner
Karen Stefano
3rd Place Winner
Dorothy Bendel
In celebration of the Lego Movie, Lego has taken to recreating famous scenes from literature in (of course) Legos! They are also having a competition and accepting entries from Lego fans. You can see some of their fan “favorites” so far here. [Pictured: The Red Wedding, from A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire book 3) by George R.R. Martin]
American Life in Poetry: Column 464
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
We human beings think we’re pretty special when compared to the “lower” forms of life, but now and then nature puts us in our place. Here’s an untitled short poem by Jonathan Greene, who lives in the outer Bluegrass region of Kentucky.
Untitled
Honored when
the butterfly lights
on my shoulder.
Next stop:
a rotting log.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2001 by Jonathan Greene, whose most recent book of poems is Distillations and Siphonings, Broadstone Books, 2010. Poem reprinted from blink, September-October 2001, vol. 1, no. 2, by permission of Jonathan Greene and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2014 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Look quickly or from far away, and you’ll imagine that this cover of The Southern Review features one of those energy-saving light bulb, but this is what you thought, I encourage you to look closer. The art is done with polyester resin and Philips circular fluorescent tube lighting by Bernardi Roig, titled Pierrot le fou.
Creative Nonfiction has now been publishing “true stories, well told” for twenty years, marking their 50th issue with a very special edition. Here’s the press release:
Twenty years ago, it was a joke, an apparent oxymoron, an idea roasted in Vanity Fair and savaged in Harper’s. It was lambasted by journalists and critics and vehemently rejected by academics. Only outcasts and self-indulgent writers supported it at the outset. Today everybody’s doing it—whether you call it narrative nonfiction, longform, or simply creative nonfiction.
The dramatic, unlikely, surprising—and sometimes amusing—story of the battle that led to the acceptance of the creative nonfiction genre and the establishment of the literary magazine of the same name is told for the first time in the landmark 50th issue of Creative Nonfiction.
In “The Fine Art of Literary Fist-Fighting,” a 12,000-word excerpt of a new memoir-in-progress, founder and editor Lee Gutkind reflects on the unlikely path, starting in the late 1960s, that led him to start Creative Nonfiction, which is published quarterly and has an international circulation of 6,000.
Gutkind recalls his roots in the working-class Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh and the professor at the University of Pittsburgh who, after reading Gutkind’s stories of working at a beer distributor, suggested the unconventional college student might become a writer. Gutkind went on to teach at Pitt; in his memoir, he recalls the battles that took place in the English Department there before the establishment of a Master’s program in creative nonfiction writing.
By the early 1990s, Gutkind had begun to explore the possibility of starting a nonfiction-only literary journal. Denied support by the University of Pittsburgh, he set up shop on his dining room table, where he hand-addressed and stamped copies of the first issue for 176 customers.
Every month Beloit Poetry Journal posts a reflection by a poet on a poem of hers or his from the current issue and invites readers into a conversation with other readers and the poet. BPJ hopes the ensuing discussion enriches readers’ appreciation of the poem and of poetry. For the month of February, Michael Bazzett offers commentary on “The Field Beyond the Wall” and “The Differences.” He comments, “I write because of weird symmetries [ . . . ] Odd little moments that flicker like sparrows through the undergrowth.” Check out his poems available online and join in the conversation.
Big River Poetry Review publishes lots of poems online—eight in January 2014 and nine in December 2013, for example—then gathers them all annually in this journal. This first volume covers the period between the review’s founding in late May 2012 through the end of the year. Based in Baton Rouge, LA and published in an unwieldy eight and a half by eleven format with a bright red cover, it includes 154 poems by almost as many authors. The magazine is open to a wide range of styles, subject matter, and skill levels, including poems that would benefit from being workshopped. Continue reading “Big River Poetry Review – 2013”
Because of its length (about 133 pages), this issue of The Carolina Quarterly relies heavily on the strength of each of its components. Every sentence must move its alphabetical weight, more so than in one of those torrentially heavy volumes that seek to delight and have enough statistical room to dare to dismay—this collection is systematically frank and urgent. Continue reading “The Carolina Quarterly – Fall 2013”
Through this riveting inaugural volume of China Grove, an editorial team rooted in Mississippi unveils the identity of the last of the great Southern literati, Mark Twain’s intellectual property battles, and love stories real and apocryphal, in one polished collection. Continue reading “China Grove – Fall 2013”
Rather than mar pristine journals with my unkempt scribbles, I’ve taken to flagging particularly insightful or arresting passages in them with sticky notes. Suffice it to say, my copy of Field’s latest issue has more flags in it than the parking lot of a Toby Keith concert. Where other journals can feel bloated with uneven material, the new issue of Field weighs in at a lean one hundred pages. Sporting cover art by British artist Gary Hume, as well as poetry and essays by established and emerging writers, the new issue eloquently makes a case for Field’s place near the top of the poetry heap. Continue reading “Field – Fall 2013”
“Unpredictability” is the word editor Nathaniel Perry chooses to describe what unifies the many poems in this year’s issue of The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review. And whether you’re reading quatrains about pay phones, a narrative about catching dinner in a water hazard, or an inscrutable ode to the beauty of inscrutability, the narrators encountered in the new issue are an undeniably unpredictable bunch. Boasting over one hundred pages of poetry, poetry reviews, and conversations about poetics, the staff of the review have done their level best to tide readers over until next year’s issue arrives in the mail. The issue’s unpredictability even extends to its individually illustrated covers, a refreshingly communal touch from such an established magazine. Nearly forty years on, the review is still finding new ways to spice things up under its covers as well. Continue reading “The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review – Winter 2013”
This particular issue of Meat for Tea carries a theme of “Bone.” Visual artists and wordsmiths took every possible definition of that single word, and the editors did a good job weaving together a cohesive, enjoyable 91 total pages of work. A sprinkling of images kept the words from running together, sort of like commercials that I was excited to encounter. Continue reading “Meat for Tea – September 2013”
It would be tempting. Imagine saying,
“Let there be light.” And, poof, there’s light.
The magic word is any word you want it to be—
bucket, for example, or asphalt, and into the world
tumble jet planes, hair dryers, and vegetarian restaurants. Continue reading “Rattle – Winter 2013”
This is one of the most attractive lit mags I’ve viewed. For the astonishing price of five dollars, you can hold in your hands this substantial (eight-inch-by-eight-inch) volume with a technologically progressive cover and an extremely pleasing page design, whose innards are divided between visually striking color art, outstanding poetry, provocative interviews, and stories so good from the first line you want like crazy, but can hardly stand, to reach the ending. Continue reading “Reunion: The Dallas Review – 2013”
A reader who gets a copy of this issue of So to Speak: a feminist journal of language and art will find that it delivers on the promise of its title. A mix of prose, poetry, and images, this print issue from a well-established publication has beauty, intelligence, and provocation. The journal doesn’t insist on any one definition of feminism, preferring instead to take whatever touches women’s lives as its subject. Anyone who cares about women and/or cares about good art will appreciate it. Continue reading “So to Speak – Fall 2013”
If you are a starving artist, take $22 from your last hundred bucks and purchase a subscription to Tampa Review. Every time you behold the volumes, you will feel rich. This journal is one of the most lavish and beautiful publications in the world of literary magazines. Hardcover, with a four-color dust jacket and visual art throughout, the large-format Tampa Review is an instantaneous wow. The dust jacket flaps contain an eloquent orientation to the content, indicating the editorial goal of creating an integrated experience within each single issue. Contributor notes are relatively lavish, providing almost five pages of information about the 55 artists and writers represented in this issue. Continue reading “Tampa Review – 2013”
As a south Texas native who relocated from the state in 1966, I immediately associate the town of Huntsville with its state prison. The Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville is the oldest of the state’s prisons, having been in operation since 1849. The unit boasts two distinctions: it houses the execution chamber where the largest number of prisoner executions in the United States are carried out, and from 1931 through 1986 it sponsored the Texas State Prison Rodeo. The rodeo arena was razed in early 2012, marking the end of a colorful piece of Texas history. Today, according to the Texas prison inmates’ handbook, the authorized team sports available to prisoners are softball, volleyball, and baseball. Continue reading “The Texas Review – Spring/Summer 2013”
Thema’s distinguishing feature—the prompt that drives every issue—is still and always its delightful strength. Like a well-designed skeleton, each issue’s prompt provides a scaffolding from which to build a full body of coordinated limbs, each of which is, in its imperfect excellence, a strapping member of an unexpectedly vigorous whole. You want to examine every one, especially carefully in this issue, since its theme is perception, seeing well: “Eyeglasses are needed.” Continue reading “THEMA – Autumn 2013”
I’m going to refer to this publication as a “class in a book” for its incredible depth and breadth of content (in only 78 pages); ambitious would be an understatement. Transference is a new journal of poetry in translation published by the Western Michigan University’s Department of World Languages and Literature, which includes Arabic, Chinese, French, Old French, Classical Greek, Latin, Japanese, and Russian. Continue reading “Transference – Summer 2013”
Brevity, the staple for flash nonfiction writing, puts forth another fascinating issue, with authors I couldn’t wait to read. Continue reading “Brevity – Winter 2014”
Jersey Devil Press celebrates their fiftieth issue, and they even made a playlist to accompany it, with a song pairing for each of these intriguing stories. Continue reading “Jersey Devil Press – January 2014”
East Coast Ink’s very first issue is themed “New Again,” perhaps fitting for a first issue, perhaps not. In the editor’s note, Jacqueline Frasca writes, “Every one of us has a moment where we recognize, This isn’t me anymore. It can leave you lost, hopeful, hopeless—but whether you perceive it as a misstep, a leap forward, or a tragic mistake, you are one thing for sure: new, again. All over again.” For Frasca, this magazine is an attempt to move forward. But more importantly, it’s a place to showcase authors’ works: Continue reading “East Coast Ink – Winter 2013”
Really System is a brand new journal that publishes solely poetry, offering up four issues a year and seeking “new, interesting writing that exhibits a keen awareness of the forms, patterns, and channels through which we find ourselves connected with other people, other things, other worlds.” Continue reading “Really System – Winter 2014”
Ghost House Review is a new digital publication that claims to put forth “poetry that haunts the heart.” And while I don’t think that is quite the way I would describe the work in this issue, I would say that it is quality poetry. Continue reading “Ghost House Review – January 2014”
Ruminate‘s website is currently down. Because it will take them a while to rebuild the site, they are directing readers/writers to their Facebook page. Submissions are still open, so see the Facebook page for more details and updates.
I always seem to love Ecotone‘s covers, but this one blew me away. I can’t stop admiring it. The colors are brilliant, and it’s perfect for the cover of their migration issue: a young woman carries a suitcase, her head in the clouds. The photograph is titled Head in the Clouds by Alicia Savage.
This cover of Image features James Mellick’s Poseidon’s Phantom: laminated and carved ebonized poplar, bleached ash and maple, copper, 30 x 22 x 12 inches.
Sugared Water‘s inaugural issue cover may not look all that impressive on the screen, but hold in your hands and you’ll see that it is. Every issue is printed and handbound, the cover hand screened and stenciled on recycled card stock.
The Fall 2013 issue of The Antigonish Review features the winners of the Great Blue Heron Poetry Contest and the Sheldon Currie Fiction Contest Winners:
Great Blue Heron Poetry Contest
First Prize: Patricia Young
Second Prize: B.L. Gentry
Third Prize: Sean Howard
Sheldon Currie Fiction Contest
First Prize: Michelle Berry
Second Prize: Heather Debling
Third Prize: Joan M. Baril
The Fall 2013 issue of Ecotone explores the idea of migration with a special themed issue. “No matter the rate of travel, every migration has an end point,” writes Editor Anna Lena Phillips, “whether it’s the boughs of an eastern hemlock or the arms of one’s family.” The issue features Clarisse Hart on diminishing hemlocks, Jan Martijn Burger’s point of origin, Chiori Miya after the tsunami, Andreas Franke’s sinking world, Tim Stallmann’s maps of where people stay, plus new fiction from Elliot Ackerman, Molly Antopol, Juan Martinez, Matthew Schultz, and Andrew Tonkovich and new poetry from Lilah Hegnauer, Hailey Leithauser, Sandra Meek, Dough Rampseck, Martha Silano, Heidi Lynn Staples, Molly Tenenbaum, Lesley Wheelr, and Carolyn Beard Whitlow.
The 2013 River Styx International Poetry Contest winners, judged by Terrance Hayes, are featured in River Styx‘s latest issue:
First Place
Molly Bashaw: “A Talk With Chagall”
Second Place
Lois Marie Harrod: “Woman Finds Her Face”
Third Place
Robert Campbell: “Arrhythmia’
Honorable Mentions
Jennifer Perrine: “Confidence Game”
Robert Heald: “Twelve Dreams About You”
Hayes wrote that the winning poem “stood out because of its scale and range of tone. It is propelled by wonderful imagination, tone and imagery. Lines like this one stayed with me: ‘You would think someone watched over these scenes with a whip made of wheat.'”
The editors of The Baltimore Review are pleased to announce the winners of their winter contest:
Brett Foster, 1st place, for “On the Numbness That Will Be Our Future”
Clay Matthews 2nd place, for “An Angel Gets Her Wings”
Roy Bentley, 3rd place, for “O, Kindergarten”
The final judge for the contest was Reginald Harris.
The poems are included in the online issue launched January 31. The issue also features poems, short stories, creative nonfiction, and a video by Kilby Allen, Janette Ayachi, Gaylord Brewer, Daniel Butterworth, Michael Capel, Valerie Cumming, Anne Goodwin, Peter Goodwin, John Goulet, Piotr Gwiazda, Matt Hobson, Michael Derrick Hudson, Amorak Huey, Brian Maxwell, Sheila O’Connor, Rebecca Orchard, and Margaret Stout.
The next submission period for The Baltimore Review is February 1 – May 31.
American Life in Poetry: Column 464
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
We human beings think we’re pretty special when compared to the “lower” forms of life, but now and then nature puts us in our place. Here’s an untitled short poem by Jonathan Greene, who lives in the outer Bluegrass region of Kentucky.
Untitled
Honored when
the butterfly lights
on my shoulder.
Next stop:
a rotting log.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2001 by Jonathan Greene, whose most recent book of poems is Distillations and Siphonings, Broadstone Books, 2010. Poem reprinted from blink, September-October 2001, vol. 1, no. 2, by permission of Jonathan Greene and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2014 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
At Ball State University, Cathy Day is teaching a special class in creative writing called Literary Citizenship. The advice she teaches is something all writers can listen to. Engage in the community, and see what you can do for the literary world, not what it can do for you. “I’ve started thinking that maybe the reason I teach creative writing isn’t just to create writers,” Day writes, “but also to create a populace that cares about reading. There are many ways to lead a literary life, and I try to show my students simple ways that they can practice what I call “literary citizenship.” I wish more aspiring writers would contribute to, not just expect things from, that world they want so much to be a part of.”
Here’s some excerpts from the main blog post on her page:
1.) Write “charming notes” to writers. (I got this phrase from Carolyn See.) Anytime you read something you like, tell the author.
2.) Interview writers. Take charming notes a step farther and ask the writer if you can do an interview.
3.) Talk up (informally) or review (formally) books you like. Start with your personal network. Then say something on Goodreads. Then Amazon.com or B&N. Then try starting a book review blog.
4.) If you want to be published in journals, you must read and support them. Period.
5.) If you want to publish books, buy books
6.) Be passionate about books and writing, because passion is infectious.
She then goes into more detail about these challenges. Follow what the class is doing on the site, literarycitizenship.com, and join in on their challenges.
The Winter 2013 issue of SRPR (Spoon River Poetry Review) features the winners of the 2013 Editors’ Prize Contest:
First Place ($1000): Jesse Nissim, “Fire”
First Runner Up ($100): Dante Di Stefano, “Praying to Ares After Listening to My Father’s Voice Message”
Second Runner Up ($100): Carol Matos, “Goodbye Charlie”
Honorable Mentions:
Leland James, “A Brief History of the Electric Chair”
Susan Charkes, “Conveyance”
Michael Sukach, “Poetry Critic: a Found Pastoral”‘
Arne Weingart, “Parenthetical”
American Life in Poetry: Column 463
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
This touching poem by Dan Gerber, who lives in California, captures the memory of a father’s advice, but beneath the practical surface of that advice we can sense a great deal of emotion, which shows through a little crack at the moment the father clears his voice before continuing.
Advice
You know how, after it rains,
my father told me one August afternoon
when I struggled with something
hurtful my best friend had said,
how worms come out and
crawl all over the sidewalk
and it stays a big mess
a long time after it’s over
if you step on them?
Leave them alone,
he went on to say,
after clearing his throat,
and when the rain stops,
they crawl back into the ground.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2012 by Dan Gerber, from his most recent book of poems, Sailing through Cassiopeia, Copper Canyon Press, 2012. Poem reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press. Introduction copyright © 2014 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
So it’s been a while since I posted about magazine covers, but don’t worry–I’m not stopping now! The holidays and AWP have put me a little behind with these posts, but there are plenty in store. If only you could see the boxes and boxes of litmags I have to go through! And one of the delights is discovering some amazing artwork and photography and design on the covers:
Room‘s cover features a house with one side removed so that you can see the, what do you know, rooms. The Dollhouse: Blue Night #2 was constructed in 2007 by Heather Benning with wood, plaster, paint, mixed media, and an existing abandoned house.
Salmagundi Magazine‘s cover just looks like fun. It features Untitled (Hunterdon County, NJ) by Meredith Moody from about 1984.
This month, Editor Kirsten McIlvenna brings a fresh round of online literary magazine reviews to Screen Reading. This unique monthly review column explores great reading online, this month featuring a critical look at Brevity, East Coast Ink, Ghost House Review, Jersey Devil Press, and Really System. Engaged Readers. Creative Writers. Start Here.
The Museum of Haiku Literature Award is given to the author of the best previously unpublished work in the latest Frogpond issue, voted on by the Haiku Society of America Executive Committee. The winner featured in the Autumn 2013 issue is John Parsons from Norfolk, England for:
silence of snow
we listen to the house
grow smaller
Liz Windhorst Harmer was awarded with the Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize for her piece “Blip” which is featured in the latest issue of The Malahat Review. It was chosen by the final judge John Vaillant from among 160 entries. Valliant writes, ” The author’s confidence in her story and her craft was evident throughout, revealing itself in the clarity and cadence of the sentences and by a notable (and refreshing) absence of simile and metaphor. The words and what they conveyed were strong enough on their own that there was no need for amping them up with adjectives or outside associations. There is also a lyrical quality in this piece that made me want to hear it read aloud, in other words ‘told’ to me, as opposed to written.”
Finalists:
Robert Colman, “The Word Is Man”
Abigail Gascho Landis, “Inside a River”
Madeline Sonik, “Dead Ewes”
Dale Scott Waters, “The Light, The Light, The Horror, The Horror”
Terence Young, “Almost Home Again”
In issue number 4 of Kugelmass, Editor David Holub writes that this is the last edition in association with Firewheel Editions and Kugelmass co-founder Brian Clements. “The support and guidance Brian and Firewheel have provided Kugelmass from its inception has been beyond invaluable and Kugelmass wouldn’t exist without it,” he writes.
On the website itself, it announces that Kugelmass is on hold and is not currently publishing issues. The blog post reads, “there’s a bit of a transition ahead and an uncertain future for Kugelmass.” Let’s hope it’s not done for good.
Here’s some highlights from the current issue, still available through the website as either print or digital copies: essays by Charlie Geer, Tracy Golden, and Daniel Asa Rose; stories by Jenny Allen, Daniel Brauer, John Henry Fleming, Josh Logue, Andrew Nicholls, Joe Plicka, Ryan Shoemaker, George Singleton, and Lisa Wilde; poetry by Laura Ramos and David Galef; comics by Pat McKay; and photos by Pete Duval.
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Thank you!
december magazine, around since 1958 who published Raymond Carver’s very first published story along with writing from future U.S. Poets Laureate, state Poets Laureate, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award writers, and more, is making its comeback. And while it lay dormant for a little bit, Gianna Jacobson has purchased the magazine and has big plans for its return.
The revival issue has been published with a variety of work from past contributors as well as new writers. Jacobson writes, “As I sifted through boxes and books and journals, taking stock of all that december had been and meant to the literary world, I felt a circus-performer-like surge of adrenaline and committed myself to upholding december‘s legacy . . . As I settle into my role as ringmaster, I invite you to experience and enjoy a rich array of literary and artistic performances.”
This issue features the work of Jack Anderson, Annette Basalyga, Amy Beeder, Marvin Bell, Stephen Berg, Douglas Blazek, Grace Cavalieri, Kelly Cherry, Jaydn Dewald, Albert Goldbarth, H. L. Hix, Karen Holman, Lawson Fusao Inada, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Michael Lally, Michael Fedo, Gary Gildner, Marge Piercy, Faye Reddecliff, Jay Duret, Gary Fincke, Sherri Hoffman, and more.