Winter 2014: Poetry

After the Storm

by Linda Strever

A tree aims its huge cluster of trunks skyward
from white ground. It stands unscathed
in a meadow, the surrounding forest laid waste
all night. A woman comes out of the splintered trees,
tall boots cracking through crust, long black coat
scraping behind her as she strides through knee-high

snow into morning. Sun glints along the edges
of her bootprints. She carries a large case, approaches
the tree, sets the case down and steps back, careful
to stay in her footprints. She surveys the expanse
of trunks, many dwarfing her body, others as slender
as her legs and arms. She takes her time.

From the woods come echoes like whipcracks,
like the groans of sinking ships, now and then
a thundering crash that shakes the land beneath her.
Still, she examines this tree that’s untouched, watches
it shed remnant ice in sunlight. No other sounds—
just loud breaking, soft melting. She listens.

When she’s ready, she steps forward slowly, quietly,
opens the case and lifts out a great bow. She’s made it
herself: from wood, hair, shell, hide, gold, silk, bone.
She draws the bow across each trunk, waits as the tree
tunes itself. The larger the trunk, the lower the sound,
each a reverberation that carries across the clearing,

travels into the woods. Deeper than whalesong, higher
than eagle call, all the notes in between. Tree and woman
compose as they play, are played: rondeau for earth
and sky, rhapsody for a new day, requiem for the forest.

Poetry Multi-faceted, poignant and inspiring. We’ve caught thirteen never-before-published poems by twelve master-class voices.		Prose Five women share their talent and themselves in new, surprising and heartfelt ways.		Artwork Established craftswomen and aspiring visionaries add colorful richness to our most recent issue.		Young Voices The lyrical language of five young poets will delight you.		Contributors Meet the authors and artists who make the Winter 2014 edition a rich, varied and engaging experience.

LETTER FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR POETRY         After the Ice Storm by Linda Strever         Waiting for a Diagnosis by Linda Strever         Anticipation by Penelope Scambly Schott         How to Survive the Loss of Your Best Friend by Diane Averill         Current Conditions by Carol Ellis         For a Hot Shot by Susan DeFreitas         Focal Distance by Jenna Thompson         Bridge by Jennifer Liberts Weinberg         Motherhood by Elizabeth Stoessl         Nice Girl Regrets by Pattie Palmer Baker         Lost Child Lullabye by Tiah Lindner Rephael         To Inhabit the Body by Willa Schneberg         Love Letter by Annie Lightheart PROSE         Like Water and Stones by B.E. Scully         Messages by Mary Mandeville         Fear Jars by Jessica Zisa         Pie by Susan Lehman         Confinement by Valerie Wagner ART         Where the Buffalo and Unicorn Once Roamed by Katie Todd         Midwestern Dreamin' by Katie Todd         Monday's Child by Sarah Fagan         Sweet Tea by Sarah Fagan         The Daydream by Kendall Madden         Beatrice by Kendall Madden YOUNG VOICES         Chinese Mangos by Sophia Mautz         The Bridge by Kate LeBlanc         Ephemeral by Jillian Briglia         The River by Sheila Panyam         Compost by Sophia Mautz CONTRIBUTORS