Winter 2015: Poetry

Conversation between Magician and Tattooist

by Christine Gray

Disappearing Act: Anorexia Nervosa

Indulge me. What you see is mirage, 
a swimming into tedium. Two weeks
is all I need for craving to dissipate
and perfection to settle in. Time stretches
sharply into thin marrow, the space
between lungs. Look away gasping into
a split second, a vanishing. Substance.
Simplicity. Ritual. Optical
illusion. The difference between ice and bone.
Awe can equal both horror and amazement.
The blithe disbelief, the stares swallow me whole.
Perceived applause for my oppressive self-control.

Reluctance: Self-injury

It is no more than accident really.
Possession. She is a cruel muse that fishhooks
me from the safety of void. Blade in hand,
together we string symphonies in scarlet, 
salt and saline. Gushing. Beyond naked now,
inside seeps out. Carving stars and stones
into sleeves and bracelets. Resistance
becomes habit, a ponderous guilt grows
subtly into this maze of henna and scars.
She and I become indistinguishable
in our cages. To be reborn you must die.
Blood is the memory of being alive.

Poetry Through the magic of language, 20 poets challenge us to write and live bravely.		Prose Five risk-taking voices burn with the fire of transformation.		Artwork Four artists share their diverse sensibilities as confident mark-makers.		Young Voices With clear eyes and articulate voices, five young women confront terrifying aspects of human experience.		Contributors Meet the authors and artists – from first-timers to well-established – who grace our sixth issue with their voices and visions.

LETTER FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR POETRY         A Great Wild Goodness by Annie Lighthart         Going South by Christine Gray         a welcome week by Hannah Sams         Ophelia, at Fifty, in a Blue Blow-up Canoe by Deborah Dombrowski         A Passing Music by Barbara LaMorticella         Girl Fishing with Grandpa by Helen Kerner         Perimeter by Amy Schutzer         Two Poets in the Weight Room by Tricia Knoll         Skeletons by Christa Kaainoa         A Poem for Dany by Suzy Harris         Lineage by Amy Schutzer         The Bucket by M.K. Moen         Bernier River by Christine Dupres         Silence by Margie Lee         Advice by Donna Prinzmetal         Sometimes at Night by Jennifer Pratt-Walter         Fissure by Elizabeth Moscoso         Whale by Cathy Cain         In the Modern World by Annie Lightheart         Love poem to an acquaintance by Allegra Heidelinde         Dialogue between Magician and Tattooist by Christine Gray         Under the sign of the water bearer by Jennifer Kemnitz         city spacious heart by Pearl Waldorf PROSE         Bless Our Great Nation, Zambia! Zambia! by Gypsy Martin         Liminal by Stephanie Golisch         The Tomorrow Fire by Kelly Coughlin         Ablaze by Heather Durham         Left As It Was, It Would Come Apart by Jackie Shannon-Hollis ART         Sibling 1 by Michelle Latham         Sibling 2 by Michelle Latham         Sibling 3 by Michelle Latham         Totem by Kelly Neidig         Stratum by Kelly Neidig         Swift by Kelly Neidig         Breaking Free by Erin Leichty         Capture Threads by Erin Leichty         Hardware by Erin Leichty YOUNG VOICES         Visions on the Playground by Meghana Mysore         Chasing Thunder by Berkeley Franklin         Elegy for Christy by Lily Boyd         Social Media by Maya Coseo         A Hundred Acre Wood by Audra McNamee CONTRIBUTORS