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The Southern Review is one in that clutch of legendary literary journals, which in many decades of existence have unfailingly proffered the work of America’s finest writers. Continue reading “The Southern Review – Winter 2004”

Established back in 1948, the tiny literary magazine known as The Carolina Quarterly is a model of humility: a pamphlet-style book not even a hundred pages long, yet filled with writing of such distinction that the reader is provoked to the kind of loving pondering elicited by publications of the snazzier variety. After careening straight through this winter issue, I found myself turning it over and over in my hands in wonder. Continue reading “The Carolina Quarterly – Winter 2004”

A wry anecdote appears in Ed Readicker-Henderson’s “How to Go to Hell” in this issue of Motionsickness. Continue reading “Motionsickness – Number 6”

The Laurel Review is unpretentious and reliable, qualities not to be underestimated in these precarious times, especially when that means poems like Susan Ludvingson’s “Barcelona, The Spanish Civil War: Alfonso Laurencic Invents Torture by Art”: “We know the body can be made / to lose its recollections birthed in music / its desire for bread / and sex, its only remaining wish / confession // Who’d have guessed how easily / the brain opens its many mouths / to red.” Continue reading “The Laurel Review – Spring 2004”

I have always loved The Antioch Review and this “All Essay” issue deepens my appreciation. The editors succeed in demonstrating that “essays…comes in all forms and about all subjects” and in meeting their goal to “highlight [the essay’s] diversity and vivacity.” This would make a fine volume for any workshop in the essay’s strengths and varieties and is exceptional reading for any devotee of serious nonfiction. The thirteen essays include political/social analysis (Bruce Jackson, Bruce Fleming, Michael Meyers and John P. Nidiry, Irwin Abrams), personal essays (Floyd Skloot, Nick Papandreou, P.F. Kluge, Paul Christensen, Carol Hebald), … Continue reading “The Antioch Review – Spring 2004”

With new editors each time, Hunger Mountain can be vastly different from issue to issue, and that unpredictability can be exciting. Guest editors Syndey Lea’s and Jim Schley’s vision for this all-Vermont special edition to “keep the door open” led them to the discovery of writers they had not known, a celebration of writers who seem “insufficiently applauded” and to what managing editor Caroline Mercurio calls “a few treasured Vermont favorites” (Ruth Stone, Hayden Carruth). Continue reading “Hunger Mountain – Spring 2004”

This issue features the winner of the magazine’s 2003 Maclean Hunter Endowment Award for literary nonfiction, an essay contest judge Andreas Schroeder calls “beautifully calibrated.” Continue reading “PRISM International – Winter 2004”

Field is a journal with an admirably clear and consistent editorial vision. Continue reading “Field – Spring 2004”

This spring issue of The Greensboro Review contains two short stories that are simply breathtaking: Adam Berlin’s “The Karaoke Bet” and Matt Valentine’s “Zohra.” Berlin’s piece, in its portrayal of a soulless, lustful bookie is worth close study by any aspiring short story writer, so perfect is its characterization, voice, plotting, and overall thematic significance. Continue reading “The Greensboro Review – Spring 2004”

If you’ve ever wondered where all the Dorothy Parkers have gone, they’re submitting poems to Light, wearing glasses, seldom receiving passes, and all. Continue reading “Light Quarterly – Winter 2003/2004”

At first glance, Sycamore Review seems a typical literary journal, divided into the usual blocks: poetry, fiction, interview, review. A deeper look reveals an eclectic and engaging selection of work. Smart but not obtuse, the poetry is well-crafted with diverse subject matter – mortality, refugee camps, a child’s collection of pets – but my favorites are the witty pieces. One standout is Mary Jo Firth Gillett’s “On Being Asked by a Student How You Know When a Poem Is Done” (“I say, when you’ve given up searching / for something to rhyme with orange because / you’ve eaten the orange.”) Continue reading “Sycamore Review – Winter/Spring 2004”

Always surprising and unconventional, this issue of Salt Hill is even edgier than usual, with Thom Ward’s “imaginary” scholar Dr. Arnold Schnagel and Schnagel’s parody of reviews and critiques (like this one!) of the work of “imaginary poet” Jan DeKeerk whose very real poetry is translated here (from Flemish) by Schnagel; and Steve Almond’s interview with novelist and screenwriter Tom Perotta (“Q: But you don’t behave badly?” A: Well, I’m a fiction writer”); and Denise Duhamel’s poem “Lost Bra,” thirty-four couplets, every line of which ends with the words “Maidenform Bra.” G. C. Waldrep contributes three poems with his signature merger of the sacred and the profane (as it happens, a story about Waldrep’s conversion to the Amish is featured in the latest issue of Poets & Writers and provides a context for his work). Poet Miles Waggener contributes excellent translations from the Spanish of three poems by Jaime Siles — poems that at moments sound as raw as Peter Cooley, who also has a poem in this issue, and a verse or two later as erudite as Jorge Luis Borges: “Hace que deulen hasta los pronombres/It hurts right to the very pronouns.” There’s never a dull moment at Salt Hill. [Salt Hill,  Syracuse University, English Department, Syracuse, NY 13244. E-mail: [email protected]. Single issue $8. http://students.syr.edu/salthill/] – SR Continue reading “Salt Hill – 2004”

There is always something for nearly every serious reader in Prairie Schooner. It’s not because Raz lacks a consistent editorial vision. On the contrary, issue after issue the journal feels whole and unified. It’s more because her vision is large and generous. The prose is especially strong this issue, with a tender and memorable story by Tamara Friedman (“Stealing Sherisha”) and a fine example of literary journalism by David A. Taylor, “Nailing a Freight on the Fly: The Federal Writer’s Project in Nebraska.” Taylor’s essay is a solid and pleasingly humble combination of competent research, travel writing, and literary history. Continue reading “Prairie Schooner – Spring 2004”

The same mistakes is not…a mistake. In fact, it’s a provocative and successful theme, beginning with editor Kent Bruyneed’s witty introduction and his description of these writers “doubting and soaring.” The poems and stories in this issue share a casual energy that is more difficult to achieve than it may at first seem, elevating mistakes to art. Continue reading “Grain – Spring 2004”

The poetry of Diner reflects the journal’s title: hearty, digestible, eschewing the frou-frou. Sometimes the fare seems a bit undercooked; you want to tweak a line here or cut a word there, but the read is a good experience. There are two featured poets/translators (Blue Plate Specials): Annie Finch and Dzvinia Orlowsky. Continue reading “Diner – Fall/Winter 2003”

Size and shape matter — literally and metaphorically. And because they do, Sentence is off to a great start with this inaugural issue. The journal has an inordinately pleasing size and shape, both literally and metaphorically. With an announced bias for work that does not veer toward sudden fiction, editor Brian Clements describes the journal’s purpose as “a full-service forum for readers, writers, critics, and scholars of the prose poem tradition…critical and scholarly essays, translations, occasional interviews, a bibliography of recent criticism…and our ‘Views and Reviews’ section where you can vent your most dearly held opinions…Sentence will have the widest scope.” Continue reading “Sentence – 2003”

What Blue Collar Review succeeds in doing, I think, is putting a human face on nearly every problem you’ve seen on the nightly news in recent years. War, layoffs, violence, crap jobs, bad schools: these are the subjects of the poetry published here. I have to be honest: not every piece is very well crafted, but what some poems lack in skill they make up for in conviction. As I write this, the U.S. is attempting damage control on the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, and Mike Maggio’s “Collateral Damage” is an impressive litany of mind-numbing public apology snippets that certainly fits this situation as well. An excerpt: “(we swear on our mothers) / (we swear on the flag) / (we swear on the bible) / (we swear on the corporation) / (we’re sorry).” Amy E. Oliver’s “Professional Chef,” about what really goes on in restaurant kitchens, took me back to my waitress years (“the sick onion grease stench” indeed!), and I admired the quiet dignity of Jeff Vande Zande’s “Losing Work,” about a laid-off man fearing loss of respect by his family yet finding support from his wife. If you like poetry by and for the people, you’ll want to pick up a copy of this magazine. [Blue Collar Review, Partisan Press, P.O. Box 11417, Norfolk, VA 23517. E-mail: [email protected]. Single issue $5. http://www.Partisanpress.org] – JQG Continue reading “Blue Collar Review – Winter 2003-04”

I had a sense of déjà vu while reading The Tampa Review. I held the large slim 7×11 hardcover and remembered beautifully illustrated fairy tales books from my childhood. Although The Tampa Review is not filled with whimsical tales, the cover artwork by Florida artist James Rosenquist along with the black and white photos in the journal creates a book of beauty. Continue reading “Tampa Review – 2005”

My background for loving art is completely pop-music based, so of course some aspect of me is eternally High Fidelity bound to rank and list and award and order all that I read. It is in this vein that I have to be completely, over-the-top hyperbolic and reverent and honest: Swink is certainly the best new literary magazine of the year, and if the last few years hadn’t been so great (One Story, Land-Grant College Review, further back to McSweeneys and Tin House) this journal would take the prize for best in a few years. Continue reading “Swink – 2004”

High-toned and academic, I can rely on the Yale Review to update me on the latest theories about contemporary opera, dance and art, as well as literature. The poetry and prose here are fairly traditional in form and erudite (bone up on your mythology before reading) yet rewarding. Continue reading “The Yale Review – January/February 2004”

High-toned and academic, I can rely on the Yale Review to update me on the latest theories about contemporary opera, dance and art, as well as literature. The poetry and prose here are fairly traditional in form and erudite (bone up on your mythology before reading) yet rewarding. Continue reading “The Yale Review – January/February 2004”

In this issue of the feminist (and I use that term in the best possible way) journal Calyx, fertility, childbirth and motherhood are recurrent themes, in pieces such as the poems “Your Underwear Showing,” “Womb of Womanhood,” “Rags of the Moon” and prose pieces “Rest Stop” and “Forfeiting Motherhood.” Continue reading “CALYX – Winter 2004”

This issue of the Eugene, Oregon-based Northwest Review is heavy on short fiction and light on poetry, which I, as a poet with poetry-advocacy issues, must disapprove of. However, the fiction and essays are quite lively, including Michael Mattes’ wonderful “Miles and Miles” about a frustrated comic book artist attending a wedding in Chicago. Continue reading “Northwest Review – 2004”

For a magazine justly famous for pioneering the way for experimental verse, Fence displays a surprisingly delicate balance of avant-garde and traditional work, with poets ranging from Mary Ruefle to Nancy Kuhl to Ray DiPalma. So, those of you who shun the hip pyrotechnics of the cutting edge, do not be scared away; see as evidence these opening lines from the wonderful “Mr. Mann Finds a Photograph of Daedalus”: “He had always believed the old stories. / Wolves in the forest. Children eating / candy houses. The savage etiquette / of queens . . . ” Continue reading “Fence – Fall/Winter 2003-2004”

If you’re looking for perfect prose, look no further. This journal of short fiction has achieved a solid reputation in the literary field for good reason. Continue reading “Glimmer Train Stories – Spring 2004”

Beloit Poetry Journal excels at showcasing fresh voices with original and sometimes difficult things to say. They never exhibit the mediocre or merely pleasant, and I think that is a particularly trustworthy (and brave) stance for a journal’s editors. The dark side of sexuality and language is explored in this issue of the predictably good Beloit Poetry Journal, in poems like the exceedingly creepy “Molester” by Jeff Crandall and the delicate but heart-wrenching “Helen Keller Dying in Her Sleep” by Julianna Baggott. Continue reading “Beloit Poetry Journal – Spring 2004”

This new literary magazine, by the same people who run independent Red Hen Press, brings to life the vibrant literary scene of L.A. Continue reading “The Los Angeles Review – Winter 2004”

Clearly I can’t claim that Call is, as well, the best damn debut of the year, but an argument can and should be made that: 1. It’s very, very good, with some brilliant work within (this means you T. R. Hummer); 2. All this neighing about the poor state of the literary condition seem, if not exaggerated, then at least nonsensical: if Call and Swink can both debut, we’re all fine. Continue reading “Call: Review – 2004”

This is a very fine literary journal. It has solid, considered and considerable writing throughout, the presentation is clean, there’s a great section of photography in the middle, there’s a good balance of poetry and prose, there’s no one single style to force an analysis of what type of writing is being championed. It’s good. There are some pushes, too, of course, into stranger and murkier corners. Continue reading “Oyez Review – Winter 2003/2004”

The Georgia Review represents a conservative, old-guard-style approach to literature, and the names of contributors are among some of the most elite in the literary world – Richard Howard and Michael Collier among them. While nothing in this issue will shock you, The Georgia Review represents very fine work. Continue reading “The Georgia Review – Winter 2003”

The Sewanee Review, for those of you not familiar, is one of the bastions, along with the Southern Review, of regional literary culture in the South and one of the reasons people talk about “Southern writers.” I always read the essays in the Sewanee Review with as much interest as the featured poetry and fiction because they stand out as vibrant and gripping. Continue reading “Sewanee Review – Summer 2003”

This annual journal of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and photography, published out of the Prescott College for the Liberal Arts and the Environment, presents fresh voices that in this edition tend to focus on issues of social justice and responsibility, including, of course, environmental issues. I especially liked Susan Thomas’ poem “To Anna Karenina,” in which the speaker addresses and compares herself to Tolstoy’s famous tragic heroine, and Jendi Reiter’s poem “Hansel and Gretel: The Mother Speaks,” in which the speaker justifies to herself her decision to kill her children.  Continue reading “Alligator Juniper – 2003”

The eerie black and white cover photograph (“Drunken Dream, Fatigue, 1936” by Koishi Kiyoshi) of Hotel Amerika sets the self-conscious tone for this issue.  Only the sophomore issue from this new publication out of Ohio University, it includes poetry, fiction, translations and essays from a broad mix of emerging, mid-career and mature poets. Continue reading “Hotel Amerika – Fall 2003”

The Chattahoochee Review has put out a sparkling issue, with dazzling poems and evocative nonfiction. In “Swimming at Sounion” (in the Greek headlands), Stephan Malin paints a work of stunning description, creating the sensation of swimming through clear water surrounded by blueness.

Continue reading “The Chattahoochee Review – Fall 2003”

StoryQuarterly, an annual lit mag out of Chicago, is a tome of pure fiction that, if somewhat uneven, is never dissatisfying. Continue reading “StoryQuarterly – 2003”

This little journal is subheaded “The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic,” and the absolute best praise I can give is that I’m vehemently not a fantasy reader, but pretty much every story I opened to in the magazine kept me reading all the way through. Continue reading “On Spec – Winter 2003”

Unprepared for the edginess of this journal, I almost stopped reading Ink Pot less than a quarter of the way through. What a mistake that would have been. This is a journal brimming with life, its poems, stories and flash fiction crackling with energy. Continue reading “Ink Pot – December 2003”

Perhaps I’m just slow, but apparently Missouri, a state I know nearly nothing about, is where good writing, if not comes from, then at least is published. We all know the Missouri Review is the [insert whatever glowing adjective you’d like here] literary magazine in the world, but Pleiades, published in Warrensburg, Missouri, is a close close second. Continue reading “Pleiades – 2004”

Michigan Quarterly Review always features interesting essays, and this issue is no exception; my favorite was George Watson’s essay, “The Cosmic Comic,” on the life and writing motivations of Douglas Adams. Two new poems by Adrienne Rich appear here as well, and the rest of the (sadly, very few) poems are excellent, including Donovan Hohn’s “Ars Poetica” and Charles Harper Webb’s “My Wife Insists That, On Our First Date, I Told Her I Had Seven Kinds of Hair.” A few lines from that poem: Continue reading “Michigan Quarterly Review – Winter 2004”

If the heavy theme of this issue, Integrated Education in America, puts you off, the author of its first essay will draw you right back in. Toni Morrison’s memoir on segregation in the American South is characteristically unflinching and beautiful. Equally compelling is a collection of collages by Romare Bearden from the 1960s, which depict, cubistically, the agonies and ironies of the African American condition at that time. A suite of reactionary poems by Kevin Young accompanies them, adding an additional layer of interest. Included, presumably, by virtue of their merit, not their theme, Quan Berry’s poems are an elegant, tightly crafted delight. Continue reading “Virginia Quarterly Review – Winter 2004”

This is, in my mind anyway, the most classically high-brow literary-and-arts magazine on the market, though that opinion may only be because when I was in college I was not invited to join the Phi Beta Kappa society, the group that publishes this quarterly. And while I’m certainly a fan of ignoring those who snub you, it’s impossible to keep an antagonist front against this consistently brainy, ever clever, and intensely smart magazine. Two admissions: I’m bound to love anything Sven Birkerts writes, and his essay on Flaubert is, as ever, graceful and superb. I’m also, as of late and right along with most of the rest of the conscientious country, horrifically fascinated by all stories pertaining to farming in the US, particularly stories that detail the literally near-unbelievable industrialization and specialization processes that have taken place since, roughly, Nixon. So Richard Manning’s “Against the Grain,” the lead essay here, is disgustingly enthralling. But there’s plenty beyond that, as well. Richard Lucas’ visual essay “Roma Ineffabile” is ghastly and addictive and, like any good art, asks more questions of the viewer/reader, and acts as a vein in a copper valley. Kay Ryan’s “Nothing Getting Past” is, like all of her poetry, prickly, dense and wise, and Diane McWhorter’s “Talk” is great, great fun. The only bad part? Not enough new, unknown writers in this particular issue. Next time – always next time. – WC Continue reading “The American Scholar – Winter 2004”

This substantially-sized, yearly MARGIE: The American Journal of Poetry encompasses a wide range of subject matter and styles, from experimental to traditional. Continue reading “MARGIE – 2004”

If the measure of a great record is the ability to play it straight through without skipping a track, the same rule can be applied to lit mags. Even the most highly-regarded among them are spotty, at times, best when read non-linearly, piecemeal. Not so with Glimmer Train, one of the most consistently edited journals out there. Continue reading “Glimmer Train Stories – Winter 2003”

Flyway is one of those literary magazines that you wish the better financed, sleeker, but ultimately less earnest journals would try harder to imitate. Continue reading “Flyway – Spring/Fall 2003”

Other Voices is the perfect title for this journal from Chicago, for a provocative sense of voice is exactly the thing one carries away from its pages. Of the eighteen stories featured in the Fall/Winter issue, thirteen are first-person perspectives, and the intimacy of these narratives is so cumulatively bewitching that one has the sense of having dwelt for a time in a chamber of souls. Continue reading “Other Voices – Fall/Winter 2003”

This issue commences with a wonderful essay by Jane Hirshfield on the nature of language, “Language Wakes Up in the Morning: A Meander Toward Writing,” which playfully begins by describing a personified language as it goes about its day. Guest poetry editor for this issue, Michael Ryan, chose a variety of poems about loss, from a litany of everyday lost things in a little girl’s life (“My Daughter’s Sadness, a Casual Analysis”), to a mournful meditation on the brief lifespan of a hummingbird (“Anna’s Hummingbird”), to the effects of the death of a loved one (“After Your Death,” “Poem for After Peter Dies”). The art work in this issue, Richard J. Murphy’s series of black and white photographs titled “Cancer Journal,” also chronicles loss in the photo essay that movingly portrays a woman’s struggle and eventual death from breast cancer. The work throughout the issue is full of arresting images and heartbreaking moments, especially “Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction,” the piece by Charles Yu about a young man’s relationship to his mother.  Continue reading “Alaska Quarterly Review – Fall/Winter 2003”