In a time of political fears and disturbances, the opening poems by Mary Soon Lee and Genevieve Leone are likely to resonate with many readers. They don’t address today’s fraught times directly. But Lee’s poem examines how we build our own emotional prisons and may choose to retreat to safe internal space, seeking security; Leone’s piece reflects on a contemporary visit to the haunting remains of an important Nazi headquarters, where the horrors of past violence and delusions of history meet personal memory and response.
In the other poems this issue, three poets (Konstantinos Patrinos, Stephen Price, and Allen Shadow) use the lens of dreams and imagination to uncover feelings about relationships, while another return visit to our magazine by Marge Piercy shows her acute eye in two new poems–one about teeth and aging and one about childhood.
Prose has its own themes in two stories with very different pacing and tone. In “The History of the Telephone,” a short story by Barry Kitterman, a wrong number generates an odd, long-term relationship, revealing the ways in which people can connect and find solace in what might otherwise seem a very ephemeral situation. In Elizabeth Rosen’s story, “The Manatee,” an unusual appearance of this aquatic mammal along Chesapeake Bay unleashes more than environmental questions for the story’s main couple and their mentally declining neighbor.
All of these works, as in every issue, are making their worldwide publication debut.
Be well, stay safe, help each other.
Leonard Lang, Editor
New Books from Our Contributors
- A debut collection of poetry by Philip Jason, I Don’t Understand Why It’s Crazy to Hear the Beautiful Songs of Nonexistent Birds, was published in August, 2024, including work first published in BoomerLitMag. Jason notes that all the proceeds from this book go to help a friend of his contending with cancer. https://www.unsolicitedpress.com/store/p485/philjasonpoetry.html
- Alexis Levitan’s collection of chess-related stories, The Last Ruy Lopez: Tales from the Royal Game came out in November, 2023.
Contents
Prose
Barry Kitterman
• A History of the Telephone
Elizabeth Rosen
• The Manatee
Poetry
Mary Soon Lee
• So This is the Prison
Genevieve Leone
• The Cellar
Marge Piercy
• Are they really me?
• By the tracks
Roxanne Cardona
• What They Said about My Mother
Allen Shadow
• Dream and Dream and Dream
Konstantinos Patrinos
• After All These Years You Came Back
Stephen Price
• Trespassing
Holly Payne-Strange
• Cinnamon
Ujjvala Bagal Rahn
• Wheelchair Handles
Anne Rankin
• Only Love
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