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Magazine Stand :: Booth – 19

Booth literary magazine issue 19 cover image

The 19th print issue of Booth includes interviews with Jo Ann Beard and Viet Thanh Nguyen; a comic by Jesse Lee Kercheval; nonfiction by Jerilynn Aquino, and K.S. Dyal; fiction by Mialise Carney, Courtney Craggett, Sam Fouts, Rachel Salguero Kowalsky, Justin Noga, Adrian Perez, Tim Raymond, Dan Reiter, Claire Stanford; and poetry by nicole v basta, Michael Beard , Willow James Claire, Hannah Cohen, Fee Griffin, Naomi Leimsider, Hannah Marshall, Calgary Martin, Erin Pinkham, Maggie Yang, and Mimi Yang.

Table Talk & Second Thoughts A Memoir by Michael Martone book cover image

Included with this issue is Table Talk &. Second Thoughts a new memoir in prose poems by Michael Martone, serving up toothsome anecdotes of brief encounters with other writers. Each impromptu sketch, spanning 1976 to 2016, traces a memory menu of quotidian details, slightly seasoned, glimpses of the daily downtime between all the bon mots.

Review :: “In January, My Body Becomes a Graveyard of Want” by Sydney Vogl

Booth literary magazine issue 17 2022 cover image

Guest Post by Sophia Kaawa-Aweau

Dreams of relationships past and romances dead are a bittersweet experience; a haunting reminder of what almost was and a bubble of joy amidst otherwise bleak times. In Sydney Vogl’s “In January, My Body Becomes a Graveyard of Want,” the willful delusions of our dreamer manifest in the form of a lost lover.

Vogl delivers a hauntingly charming image of a willfully ignorant romance, which sneaks by the problems present in their bond rather than addressing them. “i don’t want to / talk too loud. i’m worried one of us will wake up. / we walk by a field of tulips & i almost notice / each one is shaped like an open wound, but i don’t.” They happily ignore the disturbances of their flower field, choosing to not address things in fear of waking the other up to the problems present.

It’s a gripping narrative that almost inspires a yearning to experience love and loss so strongly it haunts my dreams. “i wake up / alone. it’s february.” is a line piercing in its finality but perfectly embodies the loneliness and sense of grief that causes her dreamscape to feel like a graveyard.

“In January, My Body Becomes a Graveyard of Want” by Sydney Vogl. Booth, 8 July 2022.

Reviewer bio: Sophia Kaawa-Aweau is a college student, looking to improve her understanding and writing of poetry and literature.

Review :: Two Poems by Maria Zoccola

two poems by Maria Zoccola from Booth online literary magazine link image

Guest Post by Hayley Davis

I came across two striking poems by Maria Zoccoloa while reading Booth online literary journal. I enjoyed the first poem, “helen of troy makes an entrance,” because it is about the beauty of childbirth and compares it to an egg being broken to reveal a baby. The author talks about how she came into this world, a story waiting to be told and with a name meant to be given to her. The second poem I found to be equally interesting. Titled, “loggerhead excavation, tybee island,” this poem is about a biologist hatching babies into the world. It is another poem exploring the gift of life, and how animals and people are born into this world with the intention of living and being free.

Two Poems by Maria Zoccola. Booth, September 2, 2022.

Reviewer Bio: Hayley Davis is 27 years old and living in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hayley is a student at Windward Community College studying for a liberal arts degree.

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