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Summer 2014: Prose


Prose Section Artworkfor - Summer 2014 Issue

Introduction

The six prose pieces in our Summer 2014 issue portray women in action. They take to the road via bike, ’68 Skylark, or a “bad-ass, quad cab, diesel Silverado.” They meditate upon Mt. Hood, upon Lord Shiva, upon the carcass of a tiny owl. They face the dangers of flash floods in extreme terrain, of bears and careless drivers, of life on the streets peddling fake drugs and taking real ones. They carve out their spaces to contend with grief and loss, with social norms and expectations. Through their actions, the narrators of these pieces examine ways of being a woman, a sister, a mother, a child, a lover, a friend.

And, each narrator struggles with her actions in her own way. “Tribes” tells the story of a young woman whose “adventure” – living life on the streets of Los Angeles – belies the darker reasons that she finds herself homeless and struggling. In “Carnage,” the narrator bikes for her life, though she also believes this could be her destruction. Two women strike out on a humorous camping adventure in “Owyhee Barbie,” but behind the humor is a genuine interest in subverting tropes related to sex and gender. The narrator of “Permeable Divide” searches for some means for handling grief in the observance of nature. In “Pepper Anderson Meets the Amazon,” the narrator examines what it has meant to grow up a girl of her time, frustrated by physical and social restrictions. And in “The Day I Stopped Typing,” the narrator finds solace for her loss through the everyday comforts she has carefully established.

Though many of the pieces read like fiction, it seems significant that these six pieces are all nonfiction. We laugh and suffer with these narrators. We dream their dreams and fear their fears. We experience their confusion, surprise and sorrow. They are not sentimental, but we come away from these pieces with our own sentiments shifted, having learned something about being these particular people in the world. That, after all, is what we seek in the best stories of any genre.

Michelle Fredette and Tiah Lindner Raphael
Guest Prose Co-Editors




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Poetry Thumbnail Art   Prose Thumbnail Art   Artwork Thumbnail Art   Young Voices Thumbnail Art   Contributors Thumbnail Art
Poetry

Sweet, evocative, haunting: Delight in 19 poems to please every palate.

 
Prose

What does it take to be a woman, sister, mother, child, lover and friend? Share the struggles six non-fiction writers have with these roles.

 
Artwork

Five local artists, a variety of media, and new insights into our world. Enjoy the unique visions of these extraordinary women.

 
Young Voices

Savor the poetry and prose of five talented young authors whose voices you will want to hear again and again.

 
Contributors

Meet the 25 authors and 5 artists whose voices and visions enliven the fifth edition of our journal.

Table of Contents Button
LETTER FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR

POETRY

        Out of Eden by Melanie Green

        Under the Tongue by Cindy Stewart-Rinier

        it wasn’t the rain by Ann Sinclair

        And the King Was in the Counting House by Geraldine Foote

        Aurelia Aurita: Moon Jelly by Lois Rosen

        What Cape Alava Was Like Then by Linda Strever

        ʻAʻā by Burky Achilles

        Still Life With Cabbage by Margaret Chula

        Mother of the Drowned Child by Penelope Scambly Schott

        Summer, When Green Turns by Cindy Stewart-Rinier

        Relic by Jennifer Foreman

        From the yes column of “is there a god?” checklist by Jennifer Foreman

        Binders Full of Women by Shawn Aveningo

        Even in February Every Woman Wants to Be a Feast by Claudia Savage

        Weddings I Have Ruined by Tanya Jarvik

        Thicker Than Water by Claudia Savage

        Weekend Wayfarers by Elizabeth Stoessl

        Wordscape by Tanya Jarvik

        Talking Herself into Onward by Melanie Green

PROSE

        Tribes by Thea Constantine

        Carnage by Heidi Beierle

        Owyhee Barbie by Marylynne Diggs

        Permeable Divide by Kamala Bremer

        Pepper Anderson Meets the Amazon by Linda Ferguson

        The Day I Stopped Typing by Kate Comings

ART

        Brooke by Oriana Lewton-Leopold

        Elizabeth by Oriana Lewton-Leopold

        Silence Considered by Carole Murphy

        The Egg Sisters by Carole Murphy

        Garden Gate by Koka Filipovic

        Purple Shade in the Garden by Koka Filipovic

        Untitled with a Flamingo by Amy Robinson

        It's My Party by Amy Robinson

YOUNG VOICES

        A Work of Art by Leilani Garcia

        What the Bees Did to Me by Colette Au

        Things I never said by Molly Benson

        Wabi-Sabi by Janet Webster

        Foresters by Sophia Mautz

CONTRIBUTORS