The MacGuffin – Spring/Summer 2008

I have long been a fan of this dependable journal. I like knowing what I’m reading (“poetry,” “fiction,” “creative non-fiction,” “essay,” and “art”).

I have long been a fan of this dependable journal. I like knowing what I’m reading (“poetry,” “fiction,” “creative non-fiction,” “essay,” and “art”). I like what the editor, in the world’s shortest introductory note, refers to as “artistry.” I like the straightforward and appealing presentation. And I like the solid, worthwhile work. This issue’s standouts include a short story by Vishwas R. Gaitonde, “The Wrath of Allah,” who manages to weave complex social, political, and cultural themes together into a short, convincing narrative that unfolds in the time it takes to journey overseas; an utterly astounding photograph, “Victoria Tree Trunks,” by poet (not photographer!) Sarolina Chang; a strong, decidedly post-9/11 story by Ron Savage; and poems by Richard E. Mezo, Michael Spring, and Leslie Ullman. Ullman’s poem, “By Night, Penelope,” manages to take familiar images (by which I mean classic) and give them a fresh presentation, transforming the myth in the process: “unstitches the shoreline, the sea, the barely / visible mountain – all that binds her / to her halted story and to the suitors / who dwell below her chamber / banging their goblets and cursing.”
[www.schoolcraft.edu/macguffin]