Word~River Literary Review (2012) Beth Mcdonald University of Nevada Las Vegas
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word~river Publications (ENG) Spring 2012 word~river literary review (2012) Beth McDonald University of Nevada Las Vegas John Hill Vancouver Island University Micheline Mayor Mount Royal University Heather Duerre Humann University of Alabama Ryan Leack California State Polytechnic University - Pomona See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/word_river Part of the American Literature Commons, Creative Writing Commons, and the Literature in English, North America Commons Recommended Citation McDonald, Beth; Hill, John; Mayor, Micheline; Humann, Heather Duerre; Leack, Ryan; Stark, Anne; Baker, John; MacKenzie, Lily I.; Nichols, Judith; Devney, Meredith; Markle, Marylouise; Bozzone, Bill; Taylor, Tara; Cabrera, Tina; Kidd, Justin E.; Foss, Richard; Keating, Kevin P.; Burnside, Justin P.; Swetnam, Matthew; Jones-Yu, Sierra; Conard, Kristen; Goode, Star; Madigan, Andrew; Taylor, K. W.; Walker, Allison S.; Pullman, Gary; Zinkowski, Michael; and Nyikos, Susan, "word~river literary review (2012)" (2012). word~river. 4. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/word_river/4 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Publications (ENG) at Digital Scholarship@UNLV. It has been accepted for inclusion in word~river by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Beth McDonald, John Hill, Micheline Mayor, Heather Duerre Humann, Ryan Leack, Anne Stark, John Baker, Lily I. MacKenzie, Judith Nichols, Meredith Devney, Marylouise Markle, Bill Bozzone, Tara Taylor, Tina Cabrera, Justin E. Kidd, Richard Foss, Kevin P. Keating, Justin P. Burnside, Matthew Swetnam, Sierra Jones- Yu, Kristen Conard, Star Goode, Andrew Madigan, K. W. Taylor, Allison S. Walker, Gary Pullman, Michael Zinkowski, and Susan Nyikos This book is available at Digital Scholarship@UNLV: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/word_river/4 word~river literary review~Spring 2012 Front Cover Photo: Valerie Burnside Sabino Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Tucson. word~river literary review Publication of University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of English word~river literary review Volume 4: Issue 1 Managing Editor: Rebecca Colbert Contributing Editor: Susan Summers Nonfiction Editor: Sandra Hooven Fiction Editor: Justin Burnside Poetry Editor: Paul Sacksteder Layout and Cover Design Editor: Molly O’Donnell wordriver literary review is a publication of the University of Nevada Las Vegas Department of English. One issue each year is published in the spring. Copies are available for $10.00 (see the order form at the back of each issue). Submissions will be accepted year round for publication each spring issue (see submission guidelines at the back of each issue or online at http://wordriverreview.unlv.edu). The views expressed within the pages of wordriver literary review are not necessarily those of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or its Department of English. The University and the English Department seek only to provide a venue for the publication of creative works by part-time, adjunct, and full- time contract instructors currently working in university, college, and community college systems worldwide. Contact information: Susan Summers English Department University of Nevada Las Vegas PO Box 5011 4505 Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-5011 Phone: 702-895-4662 E-mail: [email protected] Rebecca Colbert University of Nevada Las Vegas P.O. Box 5011 4505 Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-5011 E-mail: [email protected] © 2012 University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of English All rights reserved ISSN 1947-4881 wordriver literary review 1 Table of Contents Editor’s Note …………………………………………………….4 What the River Knows…………………………………………...5 Beth McDonald The Water Puppets…...………………….….………………........6 John Hill In Interesting Times…………………………………………….14 Happiness……………………………………………………….15 Hangnail………………………………………………………...16 Virus……………………………………………………….........17 Micheline Mayor She Wishes Me Away to the Cornfield………...…….…………19 Heather Duerre Humann When You Left Dad..……………………….…………………..23 A Midwinter Night’s Sleep…..……………………………........25 Ryan Leack The Streets of Huehuetenango………….….…………………...26 Anne Stark Midlife, With Asperger’s………………..……………………...37 John Baker A Doll’s House Redux………………….…………………........39 Lily Iona Mackenzie There She Is……………………….………………………........42 Going to Live with Dugem Dani………………………………..48 Judith Nichols Eulogy on a Name………………………………………………52 Salute Viscera…………………….…………………………….53 Pantoum for the Class of 2000………………………………….55 Meredith Devney Notes from Her Desktop……………………………………….56 Marylouise Markle The Source of Problems………………………………………..60 Bill Bozzone The Funeral …………………………………………..………..68 Tara Taylor Arms and Hands…… …………………….………………........69 Tina Cabrera Long Roots and Deep: The Argument………………………….71 Justin Kidd Expectant……………………………………………………….73 Near Still Life, My Father with Telescope……………………..75 Ultrasound………………………………………………….......76 Richard Foss 2 The Tao of Flitcraft: Some Thoughts on the Ancient Art of the Near-Death Experience……………………………………........78 Kevin P. Keating Handmade Gods………………………………………………...92 Justin Burnside For a Walk…….………………………………………….........124 Matt Swetnam Merchants of Identity………………………………...………..132 Sierra Jones-Yu Strands…………………………………………………………138 Sierra Jones-Yu Let Me Rest………………………………………………........148 Age of Reason……………………………………………........149 Kristen Conard In Praise of the Fool…………………………………………...150 Star Goode A Deletion of Editors………………………………………….158 Andrew Madigan The Curiosity Killers…………………………………………..173 K.W. Taylor Father Figure: Found Poetry Perspectives…………………….179 Allison S. Walker It’s a Wonderful Life………………………………………….181 Gary Pullman Doomsday Locker…………………………………………….184 After Watching My Dog Eat a Bunny………………………...185 Michael Zinkowski That Thing She Did……………………………………………187 Drunk on Highway 82…..…………………………………….188 Buzz Cut……………………………………………………….189 Susan Nyikos A Sower of Verses…………………………………………….191 Dreaming My Ancestors…………………………………........192 Moon of My Solitude………………………………………….193 The Unstrung Bow……………………………………...……..194 Emma Hudson…………………………………………………195 Beth McDonald Notes on Staff……………………………………………........193 Notes on Readers……………………………………………...194 Notes on Contributors……………………………………........195 Submission Guidelines………………………………………...201 wordriver Order Form…………………………………………203 wordriver literary review 3 Editor’s Note I am pleased to present Volume 4 of wordriver, replete with change. This year brings the departure of our founding editor Beth McDonald and the addition of new Fiction Editor Justin Burnside and new Poetry Editor Paul Sacksteder. Both are recent University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) graduates and new adjunct instructors with a fresh eye for literary talent and an enthusiasm for this journal. Like many of our contributors, I have been an adjunct instructor since I finished graduate school nearly two decades ago. I am excited to be part of this extraordinary journal that exists to provide a platform for your writings. You will find many new voices in our pages this year; we received submissions from so many corners of the world. If you have not spread the news about wordriver yet, make this the year that you do, so we will continue to grow. The host of individuals we owe thanks to includes Dr. Christopher C. Hudgins, Dean of Liberal Arts, and Dr. Richard Harp, Chair of UNLV’s Department of English, for their continued support of the journal. Without the diligence of Susan Summers, Budget Technician and Contributing Editor, you might not be reading these pages. In the twilight between issues, Susan and Sandra Hooven, Non-Fiction Editor, pledged to keep the journal afloat and recruited both new editors and contributors. Finally, thanks to Ph.D. candidate Molly O’Donnell for her formatting and copy-editing expertise. We hope you enjoy reading this issue and sharing it with friends and colleagues. Send us your work at http://wordriverreview.unlv.edu and look for yourself in Volume 5! Rebecca Colbert, Managing Editor Spring 2012 4 Beth McDonald What the River Knows it has learned in the whispered confidences of water over rock and sand and in a close continuing intimacy with earth and air it has gathered in half-heard rumors from the wind speaking in tongues singing the music of storm in harmony with thunder it has inherited from the sun passing through oak and alamo through overhanging willow to leave its secrets caught in the confusion of light and shadow it has comprehended through a lack of roots in the deep curves of backwater pools their boundaries banked and grass-grown, seeming solid, offering respite, yet belying the tenuousness of their existence belongs to its mutable currents to white water circumstance to the lean years and the fulsome the snow melt’s prologue to the summer’s inevitable drought is gleaned lightly from the more than occasional traveler rock or leaf, log or man riding the inexorable wave until their journey’s end is the story never ends its epilogue continually is written and erased—what the river knows exists deeper than bones or roots or the telling of earth’s tales wordriver literary review 5 John Hill The Water Puppets I love it when the tide comes in. The water rises clear and cold. It rises so quickly, and, after the first sweeping presence, is so silent. I love the change it visits on the world, making it over; the same things, but different, better. Everyone grumbles: the extra work, the danger,