Summer 2011

Thoughts from the Editor
~ Kate Lydon

Book Excerpt: Memoir
from Brian Hudson's story of a working class British lad,
'Whe' Yu' From?'

Here on the southern fringe of greater London, I was to experience war, with the sirens and air-raids, the blackout and shortages. We lived in the path of the German bombers headed for London and close to Biggin Hill, one of the most famous of the British fighter aircraft bases that sent up Spitfires and Hurricanes to intercept the enemy planes. With my father a soldier serving overseas, my mother faced war on the home front alone with me, her infant son.

Stories: Creative Nonfiction

Home (Wr) Ec
~ Sandy Lichtenstein

I’m waiting for the plumber to come.

Your sink is still clogged?

No, he fixed that a few weeks ago. It’s the toilet.

Don’t you have a plunger?

I’m queen of the plungers, but this is different.

Looking for Many Mansions on the Moon
~ Barbara Fryrear

Mary Ellen told me about sending Walter out in a storm for the doctor when she went into labor with one of them. “As soon as I heard the screen door slam,” she said, “I tried to call him back. I got into the bed I’d prepared and spent the rest of the time till the baby came trying to untie the laces on my high-top shoes. The doctor came in time to cut the cord.”

Birds of a Feather
~ Katie Rose Convery

Across the school yard I saw her, a sloe-eyed stranger with yards of patent-leather-black hair touching to the waistband of her dove grey uniform and ruler-straight bangs framing a rosy-cheeked roundy-face. I slyly sauntered closer, shyly circling until she noticed me.

Iguanas I Have Known

~ Joan Anderson

I could see the iguana through the open doorway, and found myself compelled to stare at him. He started making strange movements, so I quickly looked away.

“Why is Achilles nodding his head up and down?” I asked.

An Abundance of Roses
~ Jackie Kearins

I ordered silk flowers and a large vase and made a huge arrangement of pink, red and white roses for her. Seventy in all, plus one to grow on… When I spoke to her on her birthday, she had received them and was very pleased. I know this because she said, “There are a shit load of roses in this vase! Christ, I’m old!”

Riding the Waves
~ Mary Porth

I always enjoy the odd occasions when my family stays at hotels. We never rent more than one room, so at different times over the years we’ve had both double beds filled, chairs pushed together, and the odd port-a-crib or sleeping bag set up on the floor. . . . Usually, when we’re all tucked in, I smile and take a satisfied inventory of sleeping bodies. It’s comforting having everyone within arm’s reach. I’m like a mother duck counting her ducklings or a border collie rounding up her sheep.

That sense of security and control is a mirage though.

Book Excerpt: Fiction
Morning in Glamorgan: a preview of the comic murder mystery
Off Center
~ Kate Lydon

Mother had always said, you may marry a good man, but your only true love is a cad. Mother's cad had been a Mr. Dwyer, who had always brought Lucy butterscotch candy and told her to go play while he and Mother visited, but that had been ages ago when she was a child. Lucy had never had a cad of her very own.

Short Story: Fiction

A Quiet Naked Sunday
~ Virginia Strong Newlin

David made some other objections which just meant he was scared. So was I, of course, but somehow I thought I should overcome that, that it was important to go to the nude beach now that I’d decided to, and I told David not to worry, we would wear bathing suits

So okay then, David said. I’m game if you are.

Reviews

Notes on the Poetry of Kay Ryan
~Joe Quinton

Ryan, National Poet Laureate 2009-2010, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry 2011, has been acknowledged as one of the greats in American poetry, yet her first published work was only made possible by the gifts of friends. Since then she has published seven books of poetry, most recently the one that won her the Pulitzer Prize, The Best of It: New and Selected Poems.

A Review of Diane Ackerman's One Hundred Names for Love
~Janice Ewing

They led a rich and tumultuous life, filled with travel, adventure, learning, and most of all – language. Their world changed, suddenly and catastrophically, when Paul suffered a massive stroke. . . .

Poetry

Harris Cohen: 3 Poems
     Air Show
     Road Rage
     Intimidator

Marjorie Tudor:
     A Reverie, a prose poem

Deborah Purdy:
     The Walk, a poem

Joe Quinton: 4 Poems
     an untitled poem
     TEN WINDOWS
     DREAM
     PENTECOST

Dori Hoch: a Poem
     Tiny Treasure

Contents:

Summer 2011