Winter 2014: Young Voices

Chinese Mangoes

Poetry by Sophia Mautz

In an iris of the night,
waxy white light hums
brokenly over a hard metal sink.

Four girls are awoken by Beijing heat.
With crescent moons purple under their sleepy eyes,
they tiptoe clumsily into a modest kitchen,
stealing four large mangoes
from an ice bucket.

They are unsure how to peel them;
that duty had always been left to their mothers.
But now, isolated in dusk
with the cool fruit tempting them,
they use their fingers.
Blue nail polish chips
as they recklessly peel the mangoes,
unable to wait any longer
to taste the soft, flame-colored flesh.

Finally they lean
over a grandfather’s wide cooking sink,
each holding a juicy, freshly peeled, misshapen,
dripping mango.

In quiet suctions they rip
the flesh from its forgiving pit,
craning their necks like swans
towards fat elbows
to taste the dew trickling down,
too sweet and too crisp to fathom.

Liquid yellow moon outside,
are you watching over them?

One day these girls will venture into the dappled world -
will the mangoes then be as sweet
and crisp
and cool?

Four girls in the humid night
silently succumbing
to the sweetness of the mango
moon hanging in the
blackberry night. 

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