Summer 2013: Poetry

Savory

by Pat Phillips West

The oven set to 350 degrees, she sautés shallots
and white mushrooms, listens to tree frogs’
relentless chirping. Across the road
in the wetlands, trees brown and bare only the day before
now scatter-shot with pink and white blossoms.
She beats eggs, cream and milk,
rests the whisk against the side of the orange bowl.
Time does a lazy soft-shoe, she’s back in the sixties
with her older brother at that restaurant
where he ordered frog’s legs and went on and on,
dizzy from his daring choice. She told him,
For a no-nonsense, every-hair-in-place
bank manager, you must feel about as wild
as a naked, tripping hippie. He choked on his martini,
shook his finger side to side, electric-blue eyes watering.
She layers bread, spinach, sautéed items
in a Pyrex dish, covers with liquids, lets sit
for twenty minutes. Then sprinkles the strata
with coarsely shredded Fontina making a smiley face.
When he’d taken that first bite, he smiled
and raised his eyebrows, Tastes just like chicken, Sis.
Here try some. Took a long time to make him stop
introducing her as his baby sister. He was grown,
out of the house before she could remember.
Once he brought her Mexican jumping beans,
put them in a pie pan on top of the stove. She giggled
until he told her there were worms inside.
When he served in Korea, he sent aquamarine, kimono-style
pajamas that she hated to outgrow. Not long after
the frog-leg dinner, he walked her down the aisle
and just as she was getting to know him
he died of cancer at forty-four.
Listening to the non-stop chorus, she flips through
cookbooks, reads, Gather (while the sun is shining)
one gallon of dandelion blossoms. She earmarks
the wine recipe for a summer day
when she will dance barefoot on the lawn
toasting the memory of her brother.		

Poetry Rich, strong, poignant, humorous and inspiring. We’ve caught twenty never-before-published poems by sixteen unique voices.		Prose Seven talented women search for themselves in their bodies, their family, themselves.		Artwork Established dynamos and aspiring voices add colorful visions to our third issue.		Young Voices Language leaps off the page in the poetry and prose of five young authors who delight in sensory detail.		Contributors Meet the authors and artists who make this Summer 2013 edition a rich, varied and engaging experience.

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS POETRY         Abandoned Church by Tanya Jarvik         Commencement by Kelly Running         Depoe Bay by Wendy Thompson         Directive by Cristina White         Hawk Moth by Wendy Thompson         How to Recycle Love Letters by Jennifer Dorner         I Swapped a '74 Mustang for This by Jennifer Fulford         Polaroid of My Mother by Cindy Stewart-Rinier         Lover, Molester, and Maidens (Haibun) by Margaret Chula         Savory by Pat Phillips West         Seascape by Marjorie Power         Suspended by Grace Kuhns         The Hand-Off by Pattie Palmer-Baker         The Ride by Linda Ferguson         The Ticking Shirt by Tricia Knoll         Three Facts about Sperm by Ursula Whitcher         Three True Stories by Penelope Scambly Schott         Today at the Library by Pat Phillips West         Trapped Birds by Grace Kuhns         You, who will be alive and reading after I'm gone by Penelope Scambly Schott PROSE         After the World Ends by Kait Heacock         Something Permanent by Ashley-Renée Cribbins         Your Hand at Your Throat by Karen Guth         Black Sharpie by Anne Gudger         Diagnosis by Helen Sinoradzki         For He's a Jolly Good Fellow by Laura Stanfill         Breathing Underwater by Valerie Wagner ART         Unity by Anne John         Rearguard by Anne John         Speculation by Anne John         Wire by Jocelyn White         Taitian Trio by Nani Chesire         Catch Your Breath by Nani Chesire YOUNG VOICES         We Will Read to You by Rebecca Cleveland-Stout         Strawberry Party by Natalie Lerner         A Young Night by Clara Beaumont         Beach Wanderer by Isabella Waldron         Light and Dark by Colette Au CONTRIBUTORS