Reviewers (see
Contributors page):
EN - Eric Nolan; GK -
Gina Kokes; JG - Jamey Gallagher;
JHG -
Jeannine Hall Gailey;
SR - Sima Rabinowitz; TD -
Terri Denton
Edited by Denise
Hill
Field
Number 68
Spring 2003
This issue of Field contains mostly poems along with four
‘review essays.’ The poetry here is sprightly and
thought-provoking., a nicely put-together collection. There are many
brilliant poets featured, several of whom I’d never read before, so
this was a pleasure. Among my favorites were Charles Wright’s
“Buffalo Yoga Coda I” and Alice Friman’s “Invitation #2.” Both deal
with, in a sense, what is undone. From Wright’s “Coda I”: “he speaks
about the undone nature of our words, / That which we leave unspoken
is like the hail from last night’s storm / Still clustered and white
/ in the shadowy tall grass, as yet unreached by the sun.” In
Friman’s poem, she muses about an unconsummated date with a lover
and the way with which we spend our moments: “The time devoted to
writing this / Could have been heaven on a hammock / Kissing the no
out of your mouth.”
Other gems include Carol Simmons Oles’ “An Excuse for Not
Returning for your Memorial Service.” She writes about loss of life
and lost second chances. Her narrative speaks to those of us who
have willed time to suspend itself, or at least rewind. She writes
to her lost friend, “and it’s too dark now to find your house.”
Camille Norton muses, in “Monday Music” of life as felt by the
fingers of a pianist: “I wonder why it is I know so little / about
the black keys / how they marry and come apart / in the history of a
scherzo.” All of the poems in this issue are delightful to read,
counting Bruce Beasley’s “The Atoms of Unmeaning” and Frannie
Lindsay’s “Remains.”[Field, 10 North Professor Street, Oberlin, Ohio
44074. E-mail:
oc.press@oberlin.edu. Single issue $7.
www.oberlin.edu/ocpress/Main/field.html] - TD
Lynx Eye
Volume X, Number 2
Spring 2003
There is a certain thrill in discovery; one that kicks your
heartbeat up just a bit and leaves you clamoring for more, one that
makes you think and, perhaps, makes you glad that this ‘discovery’
was ever put there for you to find. This, the first issue of Lynx
Eye that I’ve had the joy of reading, did just that for me. A
compendium of short fiction, poetry, art and prose,
Lynx Eye is a delight.
The “presenting…” section introduces us to three poems by Faith
Gardner who, in her bio, notes that she “…assembles torpedoes for
her humble living.” This got my attention, as did her poem “Heaven
to Floor” – “feasting while endlessly desiring more / more truth,
more connection, less disguises / It all shines darkly from heaven
to floor.”
Most of the writing in this issue of Lynx Eye is serious,
with one quite notable exception. Terri G. Scullen’s “A Christmas
Tale” won 2nd place in their Captivating Beginnings Short
Story Contest. This hilarious story of an older sister’s upstaging
of a Christmas dinner by going into labor had me in stitches. Noting
that her sister’s due date was a week earlier, narrator Ellie
remarks that the sibling in question “probably crossed her legs and
held her breath to propel the possibility of just such a
self-centered holiday sendoff.” Ellie’s other troubles include, but
are not limited to, a boyfriend who left her for a librarian “one
overdue book at a time.”
Other gems in this issue are Gerald Wheeler’s poem “X-Ray,”
involving the doubts and fears of a childhood spent wearing
‘seconds’ from the discount department store, and Maureen A.
Sherbondy’s unsettling poem entitled “Removal.” [Lynx Eye,
ScribbleFest Literary Group, P.O. Box 6609, Los Osos, CA 93412-6609.
Single Issue $7.95.] - TD
The First Line
Volume 5, Issue 1
Spring 2003
This tiny zine has a fabulous premise: each story must begin with
a line the magazine has selected, hence the name, The First Line.
The idea has always intrigued me, seeming that the stories come from
near and far yet share a theme. But as Rob Keast’s essay, “The
All-Important Lead” explains, I was, perhaps, wrong to assume a
shared theme. Mr. Keast’s essay is written about the differences
between the first line in newspapers and the first line in
literature. While the news lead in is essential to its being read,
he says, it’s not so the case in literature, where first lines are
often forgettable and forgivable. This essay, found in the back
pages, should actually be read first.
The stories are wonderful. Laila Strickland’s “Open Mic Night at
Beethoven’s Tenth” leads you, initially, to believe that that you
know exactly who fathered the child that narrates the story. In the
end, you don’t know. It’s a gorgeously written story. Then there’s
Janet Scouten’s “Missing Ties” which leads you through a young man’s
search for his birth father. In Caroline Taylor’s “The Incident of
the Rose”, we learn of loves lost and the wish of a child to find
her dead mother’s true love. And “Composition” by Laura L. Jaworski
is simply brilliant, exploring issues of, well, composition and
discarded characters.
After reading these stories and the others included, I’ve
concluded that my assumption of a shared theme was, perhaps, not so
far off. All of these stories deal with loss and a search for truth.
Funny how it works that way. [The First Line, P.O. Box 250382,
Plano, TX 75025-0382. E-mail:
info@thefirstline.com. Single issue $2.
www.thefirstline.com] - TD
Mars Hill Review
Number 21
Summer 2003
At first glance, the Mars Hill Review
might seem to be your standard Christian publication. That, it is
not. Between the covers you will find poetry, prose and interviews
that feature coming to terms with your personal faith, the doubts
that pervade us all in our search for religious meaning, and a
wonderful essay that compares God to Superman. This essay, “God in a
Cape” by Gary D. Robinson does a pretty convincing job of melding
the two. He writes of the possible impetus of Superman’s creators to
integrate their Judaism into a Christian culture. Of the 1978 movie
about the Man of Steel, he writes: “a theologian interviewed by the
Wittenburg Door complained that the average American Christian
confused the cross with Kryptonite and the empty tomb with a
telephone booth.” His essay tells how Christianity and the tale of
Superman are intricately and immovably linked. “They water it down”,
he says, “and wrap it in red and blue swaddling clothes, place it in
a rocket, and send it hurtling to the earth.”
Also included in this issue is an interview with writer Lauren
Winner, referring to her book Girl Meets God. A former
Orthodox Jew, Winner’s conversion to Christianity was circuitous
route. The magazine tells us the she is “a highly intellectual
academic whose pivotal moments in her conversion to Christianity
involve a dream featuring the actor Daniel Day-Lewis and her love
for the admittedly middlebrow Mitford novels about a small Christian
community living in the south.” Makes you want to read more, doesn’t
it? It shows that this Christian publication should be prescribed
reading for those of us in search of God. [Mars Hill Review, P.O.
Box 10506, Bainbridge Island, WA 984110-0506. 1-800-990-MARS.
E-mail:
info@marshillreview.com. Single issue $12.
www.marshillreview.com] - TD
The Literary Review
Volume 46, Number 3
Looking for fresh new stuff on Baroness Elsa von
Freytag-Loringhoven? Then this issue is for you. The "Dada Queen" is
the focus this time, with her image on the cover, four of her "exhabitionist"
poems, an introduction by her biographer, a review of the biography,
and several photos of the baroness's artwork. Championed by such
figures as Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemmingway, and The Little Review
(which was one of the first literary journals to publish Dada poetry
and artwork), scorned and censored by many others, the Baroness is
considered (by Linda Lappin, the reviewer of the biography) as "the
great aunt of contemporary performance art." Some linked her nude
public appearances and emotionally-charged poetry with madness,
others to genius. Whatever the truth, she was a very visable figure
of the New York literary scene who has since been mostly forgotten
in a world where crazy unpredictable women are not welcome. Here is
one of her poems in full, entitled, "She." "Moon / Tops /
Olive / Firridge / Hazy / Waked - / Blue / Squats / Snow - /
Stirless / Brush / Blacks / Mute - / She / Strips - / Naked."
I had a bit of trouble pinning down the rest of the journal.
Certainly there was a strong element of the experimental, including
a short piece by Rick Moody dealing with the troubles of one young
chap capturing a plastic bag in the wind. Several other of the
stories ran along this vein, in the lineage of Borges, Barthelme,
Hannah, but what I found lacking was what is usually the saving
grace of the style: humor. Also, the creed of Barthelme had been
ignored: "What do wacky modes do? Break their hearts." But scattered
throughout the issue were pieces attaining to more traditional
values, including twelve pages dedicated to the poet John Kinsella
and his Wheatbelt, America observations. Also noteworthy from the
traditional corner is a poem by Bob Rogers called, "In Season" about
bumping into an old acquaintance from the local poetry circle in the
produce section. "He told me he wasn't writing anymore: 'The older
you get the less you have / to say.' The world was no longer a
place of mystery and voices for him, I could tell." [The Literary
Review, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison NJ 07940. E-mail: tlr@fdu.edu.
Single issue $7.oo.
www.theliteraryreview.org] - EN
The
Yale Review
Volume 91, Number 2
April 2003
A few things worth writing about in this issue of the
well-established journal from New Haven. Debora Greger contributes a
fine poem written from the endangered swamps of northern Florida,
entitled, "Florida Apocrypha." It starts: "A Whooping Crane / had
been sighted near St. Augustine. / Hand-reared, escaped / from a
small flock of birds nearly extinct, / only to be shot ." Also in
poetry, a less quirky, but worthy piece from Charles Simic, "Party
Fiend" is about the awkwardness of entering a party full of
strangers. Here the narrator expresses his self-doubt of accurately
arriving at the correct house: "In any case, here I am worrying /
How many matches I dare waste / Reading the names over the
mailboxes." Among the essays, including a long-winded forty-pager
meditating on three photographs, I found "The Complexity Complex,"
by Edison Miyawaki, a quick and interesting read about a 20th-century
mathematics personality, John van Neumann, whom I knew nothing about
previously. Side note: whatever the subject in The Yale Review,
be prepared for a small dose of literary history. Noteworthy in
reviews, Elaine Blair takes on Richard Powers latest novel with a
vengeance, and a wired (as usual) Chaucer scholar finds fault with
W.S. Merwin's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,
pointing out that Merwin breaks the end-rhyme scheme in his attempt
to make the poem readable. Skip the single piece of fiction, don't
miss the letters from Elizabeth Bishop's stay in Brazil - vivid
stuff. [The Yale Review, Yale University, PO Box 208243, New Haven,
CT 06520-8243. Single issue $9.oo.
www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/yr] - EN
Borderlands:
Texas Poetry Review
Number 20
Spring/Summer 2003
The most recent issue of Borderlands
offers a solid selection of fairly diverse, serious poems, along
with a series of photographs, an essay, and artwork by Young June
Lew. Many of the poems deserve a second reading. Highlights include
Virgil Suarez’s vivid “Medicine Cabinet” and Eleanor Stanford’s
beautiful and melancholy “Chronology.” Two poems by Susan Austin
provide enigmatic and powerful imagery, natural details evoking
emotional responses. In the editorial note, k. bradford and Amy
Schrader try to maintain that these poems are a reaction against the
war because “it is a radical act to tell the story of peace,” but
none of the poems are overtly political, and they stand better on
their own than as a collective call for peace. There are many
talented poets working today, and a good number of them are
represented here. The artwork by Young June Lew, featured on the
cover and in black and white reproductions in the middle of the
journal, is very interesting-- bodiless portraits in mixed media.
[Borderlands, P.O. Box 33096, Austin, TX 78764. E-mail:
borderlands_tpr@hotmail.com. Single issue $10.
www.borderlands.org]
― JG
Other Voices
Volume 16, Number 38
Spring/Summer 2003
This issue of Other Voices is a collection of mostly
conventional short stories. “Elephant’s Pride,” one of my two
favorite stories, by Heather Swain, follows a young traveler in
Phnom Penh. This story does what all of the others at least attempt
to do: it captures real people going through trying times. “Body
Language,” by Joan Wilking, is the most structurally interesting
story, dealing deftly and uniquely with cancer. There are very
short, decent stories by Steve Almond and Greg Ames. An impressive
selection from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie concerns a wronged African
wife living in America. The end of the journal includes an interview
with Josip Novakovich and three short book reviews. There’s a lot of
valuable writing here. Some of the stories seem a little too
conventional, too well rounded and carefully developed. In a few, I
found myself knowing what was going to happen to the characters and
not particularly caring. For the most part, though, these are solid
stories. [Other Voices, University of Illinois at Chicago,
Department of English (MC 162), 601 South Morgan Street, Chicago, IL
60607-7120. E-mail: othervoices@listserv.uic.edu. Single issue $7.
www.othervoicesmagazine.org]
― JG
Mississippi Review
Volume 31, Numbers 1 & 2
Spring 2003
This prize edition of the Mississippi Review
is remarkable for its cohesion. There is a clear editorial presence
here, and it comes as no surprise that Frederick Barthelme and Mary
Robison selected the winning stories and Angela Ball selected the
winning poems. These practitioners obviously value both unique
approaches to material and interesting subject matter. There is more
depth than trickery in all these stories and poems. The poems almost
all share a refreshing sense of humor, absent in more serious (and
less enjoyable) journals, and range from James Grinwis’s bizarre
quasi-homage to hats, “A More or Less Temporary Disorder,” to Marc
Jampole’s “Dot and Sylvia,” a serious poem concerning less than
perfect lives. The fiction selections are all interesting. The
prizewinners in both the fiction and poetry competitions were
deserving. Marlys West delivers potent and enigmatic poems that
fracture with imagery. Lisa Glatt’s winning story, “The Geography of
the Mall,” follows a young woman dealing with both her parents’
divorce and a father’s debilitating disease in fascinating ways.
“Int. Los Angeles—Across, Others” was told effectively in the second
person. The story “An Hour in the Day of Creation” was formed from
minimalistic sections potently put together. [Mississippi
Review, The University of Southern
Mississippi, Box 5144, Hattiesburg MS 39406-5144. Single issue $12.
www.mississippireview.com]
― JG
Nimrod
International Journal
Volume 46, Number 2
Spring/Summer 2003
The theme for this issue is “Who We Are,” which is about as broad
a topic as there can be. Nothing really “unifies” these stories and
poems. Many of the poems are less than exciting and many of them are
too baldly emotional for my taste. There are some interesting poems
here, though, including Virgil Suarez’s two opening pieces,
“Tamarind” and “Orange Pickers,” and “Red Barn” by Ray McManus,
which is very seriously dark. The nonfiction piece in this issue,
“My Trianon: A Palimpsest” is an interesting look at a woman’s
immigrant family history and personal debility.The piece of writing
I enjoyed most was “The Escape Artist,” by David Cranes, which
begins “They say it can’t be done, but in the end, nothing contains
us.” [Nimrod International Journal, The University of Tulsa, 600 S.
College, Tulsa, OK 74104. E-mail: Nimrod@utulsa.edu. One-year
subscription $17.50.
www.utulsa.edu/nimrod/]
― JG
Indiana
Review
Volume 25, Number 1
Summer 2003
There is an almost overwhelming amount of quality writing in this
twenty-fifth anniversary issue of Indiana Review. There is
work from heavy hitters like Sherman Alexie, Stuart Dybeck, Angela
Ball… the list goes on and on. Each of the stories in this issue is
interesting in its own way. They include “Trim and Notions” by
Rebecca Meacham, a sometimes funny look at impending single
motherhood, and an incredible story called “To Hell and Back” by
Michael Martone that I won’t even try to explain, but which should
definitely be read. My favorite poems included “A Short History of
Arm-Horses” (“These horses/ Obey horse instinct and coarse whim.
These wild/ Horses rub her neck.”), and “Flight into Egypt,” Peter
Cooley’s admonishment to fathers. But there is really too much
quality work here to single out anything. [Indiana Review, Indiana
University, Ballantine Hall 465, 1020 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington,
IN 47405-7103. E-mail: inreview@indiana.edu. Single issue $8.
www.indiana.edu/~inreview]
― JG
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