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Bellevue Literary Review – Spring 2006

Volume 6 Number 1

Spring 2006

Biannual

Terri Denton

The continuing premise of the Bellevue Literary Review is to express, through words, all the emotion that is held within the manner of sickness. This is not an easy thing to do. Illness, as fiction editor Ronna Wineberg observes, “extends its tentacles past any single episode of disease. There is the crisis, and for those fortunate enough to withstand it, the aftermath.” The Spring 2006 issue promises to explore these two, crisis and aftermath. Among its pages, through fiction and poetry, both are found. Notable fiction entries are Judy Rowley’s “The Color of Sound,” and Joan Melarba-Foran’s “The Little Things.” Rowley writes of an implant that can bring sound to her deaf ears. Easy decision, right? Of literature, she explains, “I locked into the connection between the authenticity of a sound in the fullness of its color and the authentic voice, which exhibits the unique and colorful characteristics of its writer.”

The continuing premise of the Bellevue Literary Review is to express, through words, all the emotion that is held within the manner of sickness. This is not an easy thing to do. Illness, as fiction editor Ronna Wineberg observes, “extends its tentacles past any single episode of disease. There is the crisis, and for those fortunate enough to withstand it, the aftermath.” The Spring 2006 issue promises to explore these two, crisis and aftermath. Among its pages, through fiction and poetry, both are found. Notable fiction entries are Judy Rowley’s “The Color of Sound,” and Joan Melarba-Foran’s “The Little Things.” Rowley writes of an implant that can bring sound to her deaf ears. Easy decision, right? Of literature, she explains, “I locked into the connection between the authenticity of a sound in the fullness of its color and the authentic voice, which exhibits the unique and colorful characteristics of its writer.” Genuine sound, we realize, does not belong solely to those who have perfect hearing. With Melarba-Foran’s “The Little Things,” we’re brought into the world of an alcoholic English teacher. “[…] irony belongs to those,” she tells us, “who barter in language – and alcohol. I drink to make the small things look big, while most everyone else stays somewhat sober, hoping to make the small things look big.” Helen Klein Ross’s poem “To a Child Contemplating Suicide” eloquently brings forth that which we would all like these children to know: “Would that / I could make vivid / The void / You’d make upon leaving / The place you belong.” Medicine and literature, you’ll find, as you read the BLR , make a perfect union.
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