Maybe the chief joy of reading through our submissions pile is coming upon a piece that we can’t stop reading, that we just can’t out aside. Editors can articulate all sorts of thoughtful measures to consider as they read through the so-called slush pile, but the pleasure of not wanting to stop reading is the very first obstacle a writer has to pass. If that unexplainable spark is not there, even if the writer’s craftmanship is obvious, we have to pass on the piece. It’s not the only measure, but it is the first.
Anne E. Noonan’s memoir “Unfolding” is a case in point. The personality we meet in her opening lines carries us through a series of fraught moments as she and her daughter both grow into a deeper and deeper understanding of one another and of themselves. It’s a wonderful piece, as is Jeffrey Hammond’s “Long in Tooth,” an essay/memoir exploring the nexus of aging and our cultural obsession with the perfect smile. Our selection of non-fiction is rounded out by Rita Ciresi’s contribution to the “What We’re Reading” department, her review of The Middlepause: On Life After Youth, by Marina Benjamin, certainly an excellent addition to the themes touched on in this issue. We were delighted to find two pieces of short fiction we couldn’t set aside, Wim Hylen’s “The Law of Return” and Jody Strimling-Muchow’s “Old Bucket.” In “The Law of Return,” which is somehow reminiscent of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Hylen takes us into the world and personality of an elderly attorney about to represent his (perhaps) final client by being true to himself in a way he couldn’t have expected. Strimling-Muchow’s story, whose protagonist is a hardbitten Boomer hipster down at the heel, rounds out the themes of aging and the mother/daughter relationships visited elsewhere in our selections.
Helping create that desire to keep reading are pieces with some punch that are accessible while thoughtful, and works that can be enhanced by reading them aloud doesn’t hurt, either. This issue, we present the poetry of Molly Likovich whose works not only show the influence of poetry slams but seem like they’re being read aloud even when you’re quietly reading them to yourself. On a more quiet note, acclaimed poet and novelist Marge Piercy provides a look back at childhood and later life adventures–which may not be so different. The poetry of Carl Boon uses his keen eye and sense of history to give us fresh insight into the unseen inner life of his poetic characters. Rounding out the issue, Lisa St. John takes on the conventional view of how to fit in and leaves us searching for a blueprint while Andree Rose Catalfamo gives voice to the personal and the political in two poems.
Happy reading, and Like us on Facebook,
Leonard Lang and Stephen Peters, Editors