Between the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election, fascist flags in Charlottesville, and thousand-year rains in Texas and Louisiana, Summer 2017 has been one to remember. Such times have a way of knocking us off balance and sweeping us up into the passions of the crowd.
Moments like these are a good time to pause from the immediate front-page issues before us and to reflect on the human condition. And one longstanding way to do that is through literature. With that in mind, we are presenting this new issue of BoomerLitMag.
We continue to find compelling poetry and short prose in our submissions box. Both prose pieces we chose for this issue explore the parent/child dynamic. Ursula Abdala’s “Paola” captures an especially precarious moment. In this story, a now-grown daughter is confronted with the mother who gave her up at birth and now wants a relationship with her—but is that even possible? “The Wrong Way,” by James Mulhern, is the well-observed story of a young boy at the moment he understands that his father has feet of clay. Plagued by ambivalence and psychological distance from his father, his reaction to unwelcome news is poignant.
In this issue’s poetry, we have a diverse range of styles and poets—from the lyrical to the ironic, the dreamlike to the narrative. The poets include a college student and nonagenarian. We find this all very heartening as poetry continues to thrive among all ages and sensibilities. Specifically, you’ll be navigating Lake Superior again with Kate Hallett Dayton (who first appeared here in Winter 2016), experiencing what it’s like “When You Have Two Homes” thanks to the lyrical Rachel Abrams and take brief, ghostly explorations of primal human experiences in the poetry of Simon Perchik.
So get off social media and your favorite news sites. Find a quiet place. Fix yourself a cold drink. Enjoy some excellent writing. Take some reflective time and then carry on. Rejoin the conversation refreshed.
Happy reading, and Like us on Facebook,
Leonard Lang and Stephen Peters, Editors