Cantos: a Literary and Arts Journal
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Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal EDITOR John J. Han ASSISTANT EDITOR/INTERN Jessica L. Kostelic EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Mary Ellen Fuquay Douglas T. Morris COVER ART COVER DESIGN Carol Sue Horstman Jenny Gravatt Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal is published every April by the Department of English at Missouri Baptist University. Its goal is to provide writers and poets with a venue for their artistic expressions and to promote literary awareness among scholars and students. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Missouri Baptist University. Compensation for contributions is one copy of Cantos, and copyrights revert to authors and artists upon publication. SUBMISSIONS: Cantos welcomes submissions from the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of Missouri Baptist University. Send previously unpublished manuscripts as e-mail attachments (Microsoft Word format) to the editor at [email protected] by March 1 each year. However, earlier submissions receive priority consideration. We do not accept simultaneous submissions; by submitting, you certify that the work is your own and is not under consideration elsewhere. Poems should consist of 40 or fewer lines; limit up to five poems per submission. Prose submissions should be fewer than 2,000 words; we consider up to three works from each author. Essays included in the section “On Writing Creatively” (2,500-5,000 words each) are normally written by invitation. Established writers and poets who wish to provide our readers with creative writing tips are welcome to contact the editor before submission. Accepted manuscripts are subject to editing for length, clarity, grammar, usage, conciseness, and appropriate language. Along with your work, please submit a 50-150 word biographical sketch in third-person narrative. SUBSCRIPTIONS & BOOKS FOR REVIEW: Cantos subscriptions, renewals, address changes, and books for review should be mailed to John J. Han, Editor of Cantos, Missouri Baptist University, One College Park Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63141. Phone: (314) 392- 2311/Fax: (314) 434-7596. Subscription rate for both individuals and institutions: $5 per issue purchased at MBU and $7 per mail-ordered issue. ISSN 2327-3526 (print) ISSN 2327-3534 (online) Volume 19—2013 www.mobap.edu/cantos CONTENTS Poetry 4 Six Haiku Ben Moeller-Gaa 5 “St. Louis Poem” and “the art” John Samuel Tieman 7 “Shadow Box” and “Suspension of Disbelief” C.D. Albin 9 Too Close for Comfort (senryu sequence) Charlotte Digregorio 10 “Momentary Solace” and “Flag Day, circa 1975” Linda O‟Connell 11 Four Haiga Gretchen Graft Batz 15 “On Watching an Old Horse Graze” and Other Poems Mary Kennan Herbert 17 “At a Taco Station in Mexico” and Other Poems Gregory Ramirez 19 “Ah, Lazarus” and Other Poems Anna Roberts-Wells 21 Poems and Images Carol Sue Horstman 25 “Useless Fruit” and Other Poems John Lambremont, Sr. 28 The True Teacher Landon Bland 29 Three Poems in the Style of Li Po Todd Sukany 30 “Moving On” and Other Poems Dale Ernst 32 “Bare Prayer” and Other Poems Mark Tappmeyer 35 “The Crosstown Pickup League” and Other Poems Stephen Manning 37 “Curious Captive” and Other Poems James Maxfield 39 “Time Has Arrived” and Other Poems Marcel Toussaint 42 “Robot Guy in Outer Space” and Other Poems Terrie Jacks 44 Poems and Images Donald W. Horstman 47 Collection of Short Poems multiple authors 48 Cold Spring: A Poetic Exchange John Samuel Tieman & Walter Bargen 49 “Ode to Shade” and Other Poems Charlotte Digregorio 54 “Azalea‟s Covetous Caress” and Other Poems Faye Adams 56 Body and Soul Jane Beal 58 “Amusement” and Other Poems Mark Burgh Short Stories 61 Understanding Ties Bethany Altis 62 Black Friday Victoria L. Scheibe 64 The Time of War Alex “Brick” Mathis 66 The Homeless: Matt Bri Jones Nonfiction 68 A New Beginning in a New World Marcel Toussaint 70 Changing Faces, Facing Changes Robert David Grotjohn 72 My Walk with Nina Bill Byrne 74 Diversity and the Gospel Andy Chambers 76 Proof of Al-gebr Plot James Maxfield 2 Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal 78 Above, Under, and Through Marcel Toussaint 80 My Full-Serve Summers Bill Byrne 83 American Horizons: The Civil War Monument Timothy S. Sedore 90 Life Abroad @ Handong Cordell P. Schulten 95 A Cat Present for Miss Betty Betty Hindes 98 Book Review Ashley Anthony 100 Book Reviews Jessica L. Kostelic 102 Book Reviews John J. Han On Writing Creatively 110 So You Want to Be a Poet John Lambremont, Sr. 118 Haiku and Me: A Short Essay Ben Moeller-Gaa 123 Concise and To the Point: Writing Style Matters John J. Han 130 Haiku as a Playful Tool for Writing Instruction John J. Han Photo Art Ryan Schues sler 7 Delicate Arch 18 Flame 27 Fresh Rain 38 Grandma‟s Garden 48 Little Mushrooms 53 Large Mushrooms 57 Mushroom 65 Passion Flower 71 Plumeria 75 Somewhere in Canada 77 Stray Cat 79 Puget Sound 82 Summer Lotus 99 Blooming Lotus 101 Day Lily 137 Notes on Contributors 144 From the Intern’s Desk Jessica L. Kostelic 3 _________________________________________________________Poetry Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words. —Edgar Allan Poe Don‟t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. —Anton Chekhov A bird doesn‟t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. —Maya Angelou 4 Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal Six Haiku Ben Moeller-Gaa power lines over the tree under the moon radio towers floating in a stream of clouds lilacs the same bee in every bloom late autumn one last note on the wind chime laughing with a live tv audience from ten years ago clear fall sky someone‟s red balloon drifting. 5 “St. Louis Poem” and “the art” John Samuel Tieman St. Louis Poem for Simms carrying out our recycling I meditate on the Jewish graveyard down the rise so I pray the Pater Noster for a dead Jew I know and find the Latin cold as snow I traveled the whole world just to marry the gal next door I live a mile from the old digs just up the street from where I was Confirmed just a long walk from the family plot at half past three Phoebe sleep talks to not a soul I know which is why I wonder at half past nine about temples and churches and neighbors turned wives about why we bury our own so close to home 6 Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal the art i I‟ve never written a poem that said what I meant one means as much as shrapnel one means as little as ink ii I wish I had wisdom instead I have lines silent as a blackboard in summer loud as a glacier breaking away iii I‟ve never known a poem to stay where I left it a prisoner climbing a fence a landing light in the sky 7 “Shadow Box” and “Suspension of Disbelief” C.D. Albin Shadow Box He brought home no war stories from New Guinea, only his uniform and few items now mounted on velvet in the shadow box—dog tags and souvenir bullet, service medal, marksman‟s badge. A sparse collection, so after he passed we added the flag, tightly folded, and fading photo of him still stateside— thin, boyish in uniform, spectacled. We grandchildren knew only the older man, the jaunty gait and soft laugh, face a bit like Astaire‟s, so we never thought to ask what kind of war he had, or what dreams so often woke him to sweat drenched bed-linens inside a clapboard house of shadows. Ryan Schuessler, “Delicate Arch” 8 Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal Suspension of Disbelief that willing suspension of disbelief… which constitutes poetic faith. —Samuel Taylor Coleridge The sophomore from Introduction to Fiction has just been suspended, my class the only one he cared to pass. I leave a message on his machine, send an email saying we should meet, discuss a path to reinstatement, but I doubt he‟ll reply. He was prone to skip, offer excuses, turn in last-minute stories absent of polish but alive enough to pull me beyond the page and into someone else‟s life. Caught up in promise, I would credit him for possessing gifts beyond his classmates‟ reach, perhaps because he made me consider myself twenty years before, a poorly read sophomore from the Ozarks sitting with seniors and grad students who thought me a hick. Still, I shielded a hope of writing truly about hill people, even helping them find eloquence in a dialect our nation had shamed through caricature. This wayward student, raised in a ridge town near my own, brings those memories back, prompts one more call, another hope against hope. 9 Too Close for Comfort (senryu sequence) Charlotte Digregorio sultry day motorcyclist with tattoos directs me walking through the zoo i keep my problems in proportion beyond, at the psychic fair getting a reading on the psychics respite at the greasy spoon… a man relishes his promotion café next door… caught in the firing line of the poetry slam 10 Cantos: A Literary and Arts Journal “Momentary Solace” and “Flag Day, circa 1975” Linda O’Connell Momentary Solace When stepping stones become roadblocks and problems pile mountain-high instead of trying to move them, I conjure a retreat in my mind. Proceed to the virtual ocean, lie down and float in the sea, dissolve knotted-up tension, drift shapeless, get quiet, release concerns that confound and boggle, allow rip currents to tug them away. I surrender my worries to the spirit, feel my master‟s hand at bay.