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Issue # 46 Spring 2022
Editors for this Issue:
Dorian Gossy
Kevin Stein
Contributors' Notes
Table of Contents
(Click on title of the poem or prose piece to go directly to it.)
Poetry
Patricia Behrens
My Father's Teacher
Gabriella Brand
Big Girls’ Bunk
Merridawn Duckler
Ways in which I Wasted my Youth
Ted Eisenberg
CV
L Henry Farrell
scout pocket
Cheryl J. Fish
Instructions to a Portrait Painter
Howie Good
Resurrection Song
Invisible Man
Alamgir Hashmi
First Information
Michael Hettich
Unspoken
Tim Hunt
The Story
George Kalamaras
Zorba the Greek
To Absorb the Wind
Photo of my Great-Grandmother and Three Children Weeks Before They Board the Boat for the New World, Circa 1918
Greg McBride
Organic Living
Chow Time
Jan Mordenski
An Instrument of Peace
Cutlery
Toti O’Brien
Venus Born
Fred Pollack
Hindemith Flute Sonata
Jessica Purdy
Hide and Seek
After Reading Neruda's "Walking Around"
Keith Ratzlaff
Solitaire
So when I came home
It's My Party
Michael Sandler
Bookkeeping
Terry Savoie
Weeds. The Full Moon. A Single Housefly
The Bird
Carrying Only a Fiver & the Key to the Kingdom
Claire Scott
Gravity Is the Weakest Force
Reed Venrick
The Lottery of ’69
Demetrice Anntiá Worley
What the Heart Wants
Laundromat Lament
Esperance: A Golden Shovel
Dean Young
Pick-up Lines of the Surrealists
Keeping the Band Together
Sally Zakariya
French Bath
Prose
Joshua Beggs
Spit It Out
Tom Barlow
The Reckless Coward
Lewis J. Beilman III
Couldn’t I Just Tell You
Joseph Devon
Second Choice
Salvatore Difalco
Omertà
Ian Goodale
The Queen of the Birds
S Stephanie
When she left
Contributors' Notes
Tom Barlow is a Columbus, Ohio USA author of poems, short stories, and novels. Over 100 of his short stories, some literary, some crime, some science fiction, have appeared in publications including Best American Mystery Stories, Best New Writing, Tememos, Hobart, Forklift Ohio, and The William and Mary Review. See more at tombarlowauthor.com.
Joshua Beggs Joshua Beggs is a graduate from Hendrix College and a current MD candidate at Kansas University Medical Center, with publications appearing in Bamboo Ridge, MAYDAY, Chestnut Review, and elsewhere. In his free time, he volunteers as a Spanish interpreter at his local free clinic, beatboxes for his medical school’s a capella choir, and maintains an ongoing writing portfolio at his very imaginatively named website, joshuabeggs.com.
Patricia Behrens was born in Massachusetts and now lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She is a lawyer and writer and also enjoys open water swimming and exploring New York City on foot. Her work has recently appeared in publications such as Naugatuck River Review, Split Rock Review, and The Literary Bohemian.
Lewis J. Beilman III lives in Tallahassee, Florida. His stories have appeared in Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, ArLiJo, Reed Magazine, and other literary publications. His short story collection, The Changing Tide, was published by Adelaide Books in 2018. His children's book, Little Özil, was published by Adelaide Books in 2021. He is a former first-prize winner of the Fred R. Shaw Poetry Contest
Gabriella Brand’s poetry, short stories and non-fiction have appeared in over fifty literary journals, including Echoes, The Comstock Review, and Red Wolf Journal . Her travel writing appears in The Globe and Mail and The Christian Science Monitor. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and serves as the Poet Laureate of her town. A linguist and an adventurer, Gabriella teaches languages and writing in the OLLI program at the University of Connecticut.
Merridawn Duckler is a writer from Oregon, author of INTERSTATE (dancing girl press) and IDIOM (Washburn Prize, Harbor Review.) New work appears in Seneca Review, Women’s Review of Books, Interim, Posit, and Plume. Winner of the 2021 Beullah Rose Poetry Contest from Smartish Pace. Fellowships/awards include Yaddo, Southampton Poetry Conference, Poets on the Coast. She’s an editor at Narrative and at the philosophy journal Evental Aesthetics.
Joseph Devon was born in New Jersey and majored in Creative Writing at Emory University. He now lives in New York with his two rescue dogs, splitting time between writing and tending to his garden.
Salvatore Difalco is the author of five books, including Black Rabbit & Other Stories (Anvil Press). He lives in Toronto, Canada.
Theodore Eisenberg is married, with four children and seven grandchildren. He retired from the practice of labor law in 2014 to write. While managing the firm, he learned something of how the world works out its practicalities. He also credits aging as a mentor. When words seem too restrictive, he paints. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. His chapbook, This, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2017.
L Henry Farrell is a Vermont carpenter and a former psychotherapist who writes poetry every single night. L Henry earned his MA in literary criticism at a place called NYU many years ago and is trying like heck to criticize less and create more as he wings through his forties. L Henry is very pleased to be first-published here.
Cheryl J. Fish's poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Hanging Loose, Maintenant, Terrain, Mom Egg Review, New American Writing and Poetics for the More than Human World; She is the author of the recent poetry books CRATER & TOWER and THE SAUNA IS FULL OF MAIDS. Her debut novel OFF THE YOGA MAT, the story of three characters turning 40 as the year 2000 (Y2K) approaches, will be published by Livingston Press/UWA in Oct. 2022. Fish is the author of essays and books on African-American travel writing and on environmental justice activism in films, literature and architecture. Fish has been Fulbright professor in Finland, and she teaches at BMCC/City University of New York. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @cheryljoyfishIan
Howie Good is the author of Failed Haiku, a poetry collection that is the co-winner of the 2021 Grey Book Press Chapbook Contest and scheduled for publication in summer 2022.
Ian Goodale’s work has appeared in Web Conjunctions, Drunken Boat, Maudlin House, and The Gateway Review, in addition to other journals. He works as an academic librarian in Austin, TX, where he lives with his wife and children.
Alamgir Hashmi is the author of numerous books of poetry and literary criticism. Among his well-known poetry books are My Second in Kentucky (Vision), A Choice of Hashmi’s Verse (Oxford), and The Ramazan Libation (Arc). His work has also appeared widely in journals and anthologies (the latest being Wild Gods, New Rivers Press, 2021) and won him high honors. He has taught as a university professor in North America, Europe, and Asia. He is also Founding President of The Literature Podium.
Michael Hettich has published over a dozen books of poetry, most recently The Mica Mine, which won the Lena Shull Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. Other books include To Start and Orchard (Press 53, 2019), Bluer and More Vast (Hysterical Books, 2018) and Systems of Vanishing (University of Tampa/winner of the Tampa Poetry Prize, 2014). He has won a number fellowships, as well as a Florida Book Award, and his work has appeared in many journals, including Orion, Poetry East, Terrail.org and The Notre Dame Review. He lives in Black Mountain, NC. His website is michaelhettich.org.
Tim Hunt’s collections include Voice to Voice in the Dark (forthcoming Broadstone Books), Ticket Stubs & Liner Notes (winner of the 2018 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award), The Tao of Twang and Poem’s Poems & Other Poems (both CW Books), and Fault Lines (The Backwaters Press). Recognitions include The Chester H. Jones National Poetry Prize. Originally from the hill country of northern California, he was educated at Cornell University. His final teaching post was Illinois State University where he was University Professor. He and his wife Susan live in Normal, Illinois, which is not hill country.
George Kalamaras, former Poet Laureate of Indiana (2014–2016), is the author of thirteen full-length books of poetry and eight chapbooks, including Through the Silk-Heavy Rains (SurVision Books, 2021), We Slept the Animal: Letters from the American West (Dos Madres Press, 2021), and Kingdom of Throat-Stuck Luck, winner of the Elixir Press Poetry Prize (2011). He is Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne, where he has taught since 1990.
Greg McBride is the author of Vintage Photograph, forthcoming from Pond Road Press, Porthole (Liam Rector First Book Prize for Poetry, Briery Creek Press, 2012) and a chapbook, Back of the Envelope (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2009). His work appears in Alaska Quarterly, Bellevue, Boulevard, GettysburgReview, New Ohio Review, River Styx, Salmagundi, and Southern Poetry Review. His awards include the Boulevard Emerging Poet prize and grants in poetry from the Maryland State Arts Council. A Vietnam veteran and lawyer, he edits the Innisfree Poetry Journal.
Jan Mordenski, an educator and writer from Metro-Detroit, has had poems published in Ireland, England, Australia and Canada. In the U.S. her work has appeared in periodicals such as Aethelon, Tar River Poetry, Worcester Revirew, and Plainsong. Her poem “Crochet” was included in the online series American Life in Poetry. A trained folklorist, Jan has the pleasure of being able to celebrate just about every holiday there is--often in poetry, often off the page.
Toti O’Brien is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish Last Name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician and dancer. She is the author of Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020), An Alphabet of Birds (Moonrise Press, 2020), In Her Terms (Cholla Needles Press, 2021), Pages of a Broken Diary (Psky’s Porch, 2022) and Alter Alter (Elyssar Press, 2022).
Fred Pollack is the author of two book-length narrative poems, The Adventure (Story Line Press, 1986; to be reissued April 2022 by Red Hen Press) and Happiness (Story Line Press, 1998), and two collections, A Poverty of Words (Prolific Press, 2015) and Landscape with Mutant (Smokestack Books, UK, 2018). In print, Pollack’s work has appeared in Hudson Review, Salmagundi, Poetry Salzburg Review, Manhattan Review, Skidrow Penthouse, Main Street Rag, Miramar, Chicago Quarterly Review, The Fish Anthology(Ireland), Poetry Quarterly Review, Magma (UK), Neon (UK), Orbis (UK), Armarolla, December, and elsewhere. Online, his poems have appeared in Big Bridge, Diagram, BlazeVox, Mudlark, Occupoetry, Faircloth Review, Triggerfish, Big Pond Rumours (Canada), Misfit, OffCourse and elsewhere.
Jessica Purdy holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals including SoFloPoJo, Harpy Hybrid, Lily Poetry Review, One Art, Feral, Poemeleon, and Museum of Americana. Her books STARLAND and Sleep in a Strange House were both released by Nixes Mate in 2017 and 2018. Sleep in a Strange House was a finalist for the NH Literary Award for poetry. She is poetry editor for the upcoming anthology, Ten Piscataqua Writers: https://www.tenpiscataqua.com/writers/. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaPurdy123 and her website: jessicapurdy.com
Keith Ratzlaff’s most recent books of poetry are Who’s Asking?, Then, A Thousand Crows and Dubious Angels: Poems after Paul Klee all from Anhinga Press. Poems and reviews have appeared recently in The Cincinnati Review, The Georgia Review, Arts and Letters, Colorado Review, and The American Reader. His awards include the Anhinga Prize for Poetry, the Theodore Roethke Award, two Pushcart Prizes and inclusion in The Best American Poetry 2009.
Michael Sandler is the author of the poetry collection, The Lamps of History (FutureCycle Press 2021). His poems have appeared in scores of journals including Arts & Letters, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and Zone 3. Michael lives near Seattle; his website is www.sandlerpoetry.com .
Terry Savoie's poems have found their way into hundreds of literary journals, anthologies and small press publications during the past forty years. These include American Poetry Review, Poetry (Chicago), Ploughshares, America, The North American Review, The American Journal of Poetry and The Iowa Review among many others.
Claire Scott is an award-winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has appeared in the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.
S Stephanie’s poetry, fiction and book reviews have appeared in many anthologies and literary magazines, including Birmingham Poetry Review, Café Review, Cease, Cows, Clover & Bee, Hole in the Head Review, Iowa Review, One, Rattle, St. Petersburg Review, Southern Indiana Review, The Southern Review, The Sun, Third Coast, and Turtle Island Review. She has three chapbooks of poetry out. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Art and teaches poetry and writing on both the community and college level. Currently she teaches at New England College Institute of Art & Design, lives in Rollinsford, NH, and respects cats. You can learn more about her at: http://sstephanie.com/
Reed Venrick holds degrees from University of Texas, Austin and University of North Carolina; formerly taught English and Linguistics at universities in Japan; currently lives between his farms in Florida and Kittanning, Penn; usually writes and publishes poems with nature and/or historical themes; recently published in Raven's Perch, Cafe Lit, New Reader, and High Desert Journal, and others.
Demetrice Anntiá Worley is the author of a poetry collection, Tongues in My Mouth (Main Street Rag). Her poetry has appeared in anthologies such as 44 on 44, Temba Tupu! (Walking Naked), and Risk, Courage, and Women. In addition, her poetry has appeared in journals such as Reverie and Permafrost. In 2009, her crown of sonnets, "Femicide/Femicidio: The Murdered and Disappeared Women of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico," won third prize in the 2009 Split This Rock Poetry Contest. She is a Professor of English at Bradley University.
Dean Young’s most recent book is Solar Perplexus.
Sally Zakariya’s poetry has appeared in some 90 print and online journals and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Since retiring from the publishing world, she writes at an antique desk overlooking telephone wires and maple trees. Her publications include Something Like a Life, Muslim Wife, The Unknowable Mystery of Other People, Personal Astronomy, and When You Escape. She edited and designed a poetry anthology, Joys of the Table, and blogs at www.butdoesitrhyme.com.
