Summer 2013: Poetry
Today at the Library
by Pat Phillips West
I stumble upon a poetry reading on the second floor mezzanine. The coordinator hands me a flyer as Jimmy Santiago Baca takes the stage – wide steps, almost a swagger. I skim his bio: abandoned at age two, raised briefly by grandparents then sent to an orphanage. A runaway at thirteen, zipping in and out of trouble. Prison’s where he first learned to read. Shaken by the voices of Neruda and Lorca he started writing. I lean against the back wall, watch his full, sensual lips curl into a smile, almost smirk. I feel like a co-conspirator. He clears his throat, scans the room with laser-blue eyes. Poetry saved my life. He reads a poem about giving away everything he has, the line, I love you, repeats three times. I listen to his sweet, soul-filled voice. My eyes close and here’s where it all silks down. A steamy jazz club. Swaying to the music, his hand on my skin. I lean into him. Jimmy, the taste of his name on my tongue . . . There’s an explosion of woo-hoos, whistles, applause. I open my eyes. He steps from behind the podium, laughs like a full winter moon if it took a mind to have a good guffaw.
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Rich, strong, poignant, humorous and inspiring. We’ve caught twenty never-before-published poems by sixteen unique voices. |
Seven talented women search for themselves in their bodies, their family, themselves. |
Established dynamos and aspiring voices add colorful visions to our third issue. |
Language leaps off the page in the poetry and prose of five young authors who delight in sensory detail. |
Meet the authors and artists who make this Summer 2013 edition a rich, varied and engaging experience. |
![Table of Contents Button](../Images/2013 2-Summer/S2013-TOC.jpg)
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 |