TIST WED R E VI A E R ed by Rose Lemberg Rose ed by y Mark Rich y Mark Rich y Mark Rich y Michele Bannister Jiang y Emily y Michele Bannister y JT Stewart Mills y Stephen y Akbar Ahmed Taaffe y Sonya y Saeed Jones y Liz Henry y Liz y Mark Rich RED ATU b b b b b b edit b b b b b b OOKS OEMS SSAYS E F Windling Terri Solstice at Crow Conversation of in Tones Said Bird-Winged Summer Coast East Bodies Two of The Problem B Magma Grandmother Lands: Promised the Sovereign from Poems Dishpan Sonnets of Change of The Moment in Man He the Do Gay Voices Different Somewhere Suspended Verse of A Book Between: A Mayse-Bikhl is Fire When the Light Only E Statues, Vampires, Undines, Poetry Space...Women’s and Poetry and Race, Writing, P

IN THIS ISSUE e n o Z n o i t c

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d

b

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i Vol. 2. No. 2 Vol. d X Medicine Vision” Vision” Medicine

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c A LITERARY A LITERARY QUARTERLY

s April 2012 2012 April

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“Desert Spirit

C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

Special Focus on Poetry on Focus Special X X

Terri Windling

$4.00

TheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheTheThe Managing Editor ol o pril Lew Gilchriist V . 2 N . 2—A 2012

Reviews Editor Essays Nisi Shawl Undines, Vampires, Statues, and Space...Women’s Poetry h 3 Features Editor by Liz Henry L. Timmel Duchamp Writing, Race, and Poetry h 6 by Mark Rich Arts Editor Kath Wilham Poems Crow at Solstice, by Mark Rich h 7 $4.00 Said in Tones of Conversation, by Mark Rich h 11 Bird-Winged, by Michele Bannister h 15 East Coast Summer, by Emily Jiang h 15 The Problem of Two Bodies, by Michele Bannister h 20

Reviews Grandmother Magma Promised Lands: Poems from the Sovereign of Dishpan Sonnets by JT Stewart h 10 reviewed by Eileen Gunn The Moment of Change, edited by Rose Lemberg h 12 reviewed by Rachel Swirsky H He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices, by Stephen Mills h 16 2 reviewed by Evan J. Peterson Suspended Somewhere Between: A Book of Verse, by Akbar Ahmed h 17 reviewed by Liz Bourke A Mayse-Bikhl, by Sonya Taaffe h 19 reviewed by Amal El-Mohtar When the Only Light is Fire, by Saeed Jones h 21 reviewed Sheree Renée Thomas

Featured Artist Terri Windling h 22

© The Cascadia Subduction Zone, 2012

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In This ISSUE Cover banner collagraph of the Cascadia subduction zone by Marilyn Liden Bode n

n

Cont. on p. 4 p. on Cont.

por estrechar sus formas virginales. formas sus estrechar por

coronadas, espumas de entrechocan, se

like rays of gold… of rays like

rivales, sí entre , olas las que Y

snakes hair their

hermosas, son que vez tal ignorando

waves the over and

regocijadas, mar, el y cielo el entre

waters, the beneath

dichosas y contentas ven vi Así

ocean sonorous of forms svelte

argentinas. risas sus de ecos los

sink ones fair the and

mezclados van olas las de rumor al y

women poets.” women

destrenzados, cabellos los descienden

the color of heaven of color the

literary circles of other other of circles literary

egrinas per espaldas sus Cubriendo

gauze floating light fly let

active participation in in participation active

ondinas. las grupo en mar del surgen

wind the in others

echoing these women’s women’s these echoing

iluminados, sol del rayos los por

dawn, in dressed

constant motion, perhaps perhaps motion, constant

sonrosados, cuerpos sus salpican que

mists blue diaphanous in

jostling each other in in other each jostling

diamantinas espumas entre Envueltas themselves wrap Some

each other in the waves, waves, the in other each

Las hijas de Ran de hijas Las

snow-white swan… snow-white and sing playfully to to playfully sing and

shoulders, polished their to Ferreira’s ondines laugh laugh ondines Ferreira’s

color lend that Bechdel test. sea goddess and Vaz Vaz and goddess sea

waters bright the to each other. They pass a sort of poetic poetic of sort a pass They other. each to “Norse daughters of the the of daughters “Norse

emeralds, as resplendent ing female characters who exist in relation relation in exist who characters female ing

green, clear onward, roll They - featur in poems extraordinary are They

in literary circles of other women poets. poets. women other of circles literary in

fair visions. fair

ing these women’s active participation participation active women’s these ing

nymphs, ocean of dress ethereal

- echo perhaps motion, constant in other

forms, and

to each other in the waves, jostling each each jostling waves, the in other each to

curves swift

reira’s ondines laugh and sing playfully playfully sing and laugh ondines reira’s

3 leap, lightly ondines the

- Fer Vaz and goddess sea the of daughters

sea-foam from

i live in waves or sea foam. Borrero’s Norse Norse Borrero’s foam. sea or waves in live

at dawn’s first rays, first dawn’s at

dines, nymphs or water elementals who who elementals water or nymphs dines,

die and flare

- on or Undines — Uruguay from Ferreira,

stars shining the and

and “Las ondines” by María Eugenia Vaz Vaz Eugenia María by ondines” “Las and

sand, bathes

de Ran” by Juana Borrero, a Cuban poet, poet, Cuban a Borrero, Juana by Ran” de

wave silvered and cool the where

One striking image recurs in “Las hijas hijas “Las in recurs image striking One

shore the At with the ghost of Sappho. Sappho. of ghost the with

The ondines (Las ondines) (Las ondines The to life in the moonlight, and conversations conversations and moonlight, the in life to

or ancient Greek history, statues coming coming statues history, Greek ancient or

stretching out, defining their virgin forms. virgin their defining out, stretching with fantastic elements from mythology mythology from elements fantastic with

foam, shining with crowned twine, and crash of imaginary landscapes, idealized scenes scenes idealized landscapes, imaginary of

other, each with contesting aves, w the how And These poems paint sweeping portraits portraits sweeping paint poems These

beautiful. they’re that ignoring perhaps this work as feminist speculative writing. speculative feminist as work this

rejoicing, sea, and sky between ismo, what might come to light reading reading light to come might what ismo,

fortunate and content live they hus T - modern and romanticism of movements

laughter. silvery their of echoes the ing sexism in the definitions of the literary literary the of definitions the in sexism ing speculative writing.” speculative

and to the clamor of the waves they mix mix they waves the of clamor the to and

century. I wondered in my preface, discuss preface, my in wondered I century. - this work as feminist feminist as work this

down, tumbles hair unfastened their ments in work from the turn of the 19th 19th the of turn the from work in ments come to light reading reading light to come

shoulders far-ranging their vering Co - ele speculative many the by struck was wondered… what might might what wondered…

group. a in gathered rise, undines the American Women Poets, 1880-1930,” I I 1880-1930,” Poets, Women American of the 19th century. I I century. 19th the of

sun, the of rays the with glowing my thesis, an anthology titled “Spanish “Spanish titled anthology an thesis, my in work from the turn turn the from work in

bodies blushing their flecks that women poets from the Americas. Writing Writing Americas. the from poets women speculative elements elements speculative

froth diamantine in rapped W lish, with a particular focus on work by by work on focus particular a with lish, “I was struck by the many many the by struck was “I

I translate poetry from Spanish to Eng to Spanish from poetry translate I - Ran’s daughters Ran’s

y Liz Henry Liz y b

y Undines, Vampires, Statues, and Space...Women’s Poetry Space...Women’s and Statues, Vampires, Undines, Undines, Vampires, Women poets in Spanish America were an alternate lineage, race, or species as an Statues, and Space not working in isolation but wrote and “alien.” And in “El vampiro” I also used the (cont. from p. 3) published in a literary landscape domi- word alien in the line “¿Soy flor o estirpe nated by men. Miriam Díaz-Diocaretz de una especie obscura…,” which taken lit- writes of their “strategic discursive con- erally would be “Am I a flower, or the stock sciousness” — ways in which Latin Ameri- of an obscure species….” Translating that can women poets position themselves as “a mysterious alien being” is a stretch, and their work as part of a larger literary but one that I think illuminates Agustini’s “…they…stake a conversation. By writing with elements of radical positioning of herself as a being claim in a world of mythology and the fantastic from the Old outside of rational human understanding. the fantastic, in an World, Borrero and Vaz Ferreira situate imaginary Utopian themselves on a world stage and in geography where they a history that stretches outside their are free and exist in a particular time and place. They are Alien Other declaring a particular cosmopolitan, chaotic and mutable Eros, blind priest, I long to guide you… educated, elite status, but they also state.” From your all-powerful hands I would pray for stake a claim in a world of the fantas- his sublime body spilling fiery tic, in an imaginary Utopian geogra- over my swooning body on a bed of roses. phy where they are free and exist in a chaotic and mutable state. The electric petals that I hold open, ready, Mercedes Matamoros wrote an offer him full all the nectar-cup of a garden of women; entire book of sonnets speaking as as for his vultures, I’ll tempt them with my flesh– Sappho; María Luisa Milanés wrote a whole swirling flock of rosy doves! of herself as Spartacus. Vaz Ferreira Surrender to the two cruel serpents of his arms wrote of maenads as well as ondines. my tall frail flower-stem…absinthe, honey, They wrote themselves into an alter- spill from his veins, from his mouth… nate poetics, into alternate mytholo- H gies rather than alternate histories. Stretched out like this, I’m an ardent furrow Statues never come to life in where seed could be nourished– 4 these poems, but seem to stand for seed of an alien species supremely mad! an immutable patriarchal reading of history and myth, undermined The Vampire or criticized from a feminine point Embraced by evening’s sorrow, of view. Statues are male: beautiful, I invoked your grief… To feel it was cold, pompous, ridiculous, and wrong to feel your heart! You grew pale, because they’re unmoving. María even your voice, your waxen eyelids, Luisa Milanés ridicules vain Narcus- lowered… and you were silent… You seemed “They wrote themselves sus as empty-headed; Juana Borrero into an alternate addresses a marble statue of Apollo, to hear Death’s footsteps… I, who opened poetics, into alternate describing this god of poem and song your wound, sank my teeth into it - you felt me?– mythologies rather than as sterile, haughty, and cold, while she I bit into you - my golden honeycomb! alternate histories.” celebrates her own creative energy. And sweetly, traitorous, I sucked harder Delmira Agustini writes in “Fiera de from your wounded mortal heart, Amor” of fierce blood lust that drives pierced by my rare dagger, cruel and delicious her to rip out the heart of a statue and with nameless evil, as you bled, sobbing! eat it. And the thousand mouths of my damned thirst Agustini writes also of herself as reached out to that wide open fountain to drink your a vampire or a weird other kind of suffering. being. Here are my translations of her poems “Otra estirpe” and “El …………………………………… How did I become your bitter vampire?… vampire.” I translated “Otra estirpe” Am I a tender flower, or a mysterious alien being as “alien other” though estirpe may who licks wounds and drinks tears? more accurately mean lineage, race, or species. In this case, my reading of

the poem as “science-fictional” meant

that I felt free to play with the idea of n

n

Cont. on p.6 on Cont.

earth!” earth!”

to hear you better on your breast.… your on better you hear to

her protest of being bound “to only one one only “to bound being of protest her

brow fevered my too, rest, can I so

self into space to sail through infinity. I love love I infinity. through sail to space into self

body, marble your to flesh warm my press me let you’ll

- her launch to longs and light, falling their

arms, welcoming your into come me let You’ll

bourou gazes at the stars, the ambrosia of of ambrosia the stars, the at gazes bourou

backward. running turn, will Time alone, us for and

- Ibar de armpit, sweaty unromantic its with

night, of nest hidden the into fall bodies their let stars the Look,

And in the following odd little poem poem little odd following the in And

me. with be will owl, faithful that memory, Only

talk. our hear will one no side, my at one No

silence. in alive night, of made sister, now, Come

to a new life! new a to

centuries. of voice your with me to speak sister, distant far now me, to Come

me lift to wings, Two

wings. newborn two like

passionate, emo make-out session. session. make-out emo passionate,

sun rising the to hands my out hold I’d

conversation in bed, mutual weeping, and a a and weeping, mutual bed, in conversation

soil virgin on alking W

and calls the ghost to her for a whispered whispered a for her to ghost the calls and

would alight on land and greet the dawn. the greet and land on alight would of Sappho’s leap off the cliff into the sea sea the into cliff the off leap Sappho’s of

gull-ship my triumph, of scream a With entirety here. She refers to the mythology mythology the to refers She here. entirety

water. the over skittering venture, we’d the ghost of Sappho),” too long to quote in in quote to long too Sappho),” of ghost the

night of mystery dense the hrough T marque and her amazing “Invocation (to (to “Invocation amazing her and marque

- La Nydia mention to like I’d Finally

to carry me to some other shore… other some to me carry to

5

– ship a or – airplane an make to

wings their join could beach this on i

You refused to cut my anchor rope! anchor my cut to refused You

gulls the all to, wanted they If

night! tropical Night,

The waves The

wings. wounded with gull a like

sea the into falls shout useless The

of wild grass and forest.) and grass wild of Hasta una nueva vida! nueva una Hasta

scent the carry winds (The ascender de habría que las con alas ¡Dos

winds. the on dances that nacidas. recién alas dos fueran si Como

dust the to down right know I Which manos las sol nuevo al tendería Yo

earth! one only To desconocida tierra la e sobr pie De

earth. the to me binds that cord the cut to

Mis gaviotas saludarían el alba. el saludarían gaviotas Mis

And give a shout, a keen-edged shout keen-edged a shout, a give And

arribo de y triunfo de grito un Con and space. space. and

I seize an impossible desire. impossible an seize I aguas. las rasando Viajaríamos existing beyond time time beyond existing

From my seat on the wheel of shadows of wheel the on seat my From

espesa y enigmática he noc la Bajo themselves as artists artists as themselves

radical positioning of of positioning radical

pierces the encircling night. encircling the pierces Que pudiesen llevarme hasta otras playas… otras hasta llevarme pudiesen Que

but in the authors’ authors’ the in but

song sailor’s A barca la o avión el formar Y

fantastic elements, elements, fantastic

alas, sus unir Quisieran

denied to my bitter mouth. bitter my to denied

in their inclusion of of inclusion their in

orilla esta de aviotas g las todas Si

ambrosia divine the devour I eyes my with speculative not just just not speculative

Las olas Las

audience, avid an shore, On I see these poems as as poems these see I

on the restless, roaring waves. roaring restless, the on

“Las olas” without thinking of spaceships. of thinking without olas” “Las

And their light – mysterious flour – falls – flour mysterious – light their And

leaving this world for another. I can’t read read can’t I another. for world this leaving

ground in a tireless mill-wheel. tireless a in ground elements as well as a transcendent vision of of vision transcendent a as well as elements

stars zodiac’s the of grain Golden work from 1919-1930 often uses fantastic fantastic uses often 1919-1930 from work

shadow. in mirrored sea the and sentimental and old-fashioned. Her early early Her old-fashioned. and sentimental

The night hot like an armpit an like hot night The

bourou, is well-known but considered to be be to considered but well-known is bourou,

One of my favorite poets, Juana de Ibar de Juana poets, favorite my of One - The shout The Undines, Vampires, Statues, and Space I gave tentative assent to the idea with- (cont. from p. 5) Honestly, as a science fiction nerd, on out being sure what my “racial identity” is. some level I just get excited whenever a This interests me…because I have memo- poem has stars in it. ries of earlier responding differently to a Liz Henry’s poems, I see these poems as speculative not just similar sort of question. translations, stories, and in their inclusion of fantastic elements, In the 1980s, when I spotted a notice articles have appeared but in the authors’ radical positioning of about a university-sponsored colloquium in Lodestar Quarterly, themselves as artists existing beyond time focusing on Edgar Poe, it entered my head Poetry, Two Lines, Cipactli, and space. They create unreal landscapes that I should submit a paper. Somewhat Fantastic Metropolis, and and speak to imaginary beings specifically to my surprise it met with acceptance. No Strange Horizons. Her for that “strategic discursive positioning” stipend came with acceptance. The collo- poetry collection Unruly necessary for them to escape the bounds quium was being hosted in, of all places, Islands was recently of a strongly male-dominated world of lit- France. released by Aqueduct erary criticism and poetics. Poor though I was, I got there, thanks to Press. At bookmaniac.org, [The full text in Spanish of most of these blind faith, chutzpah, family, and friends. she blogs about feminism, At the University of Nice I gave the paper, writing, and technology. poems is at http://bookmaniac.org/poetry/an- tologia.] “From this dim Thule: Poe and speculative poetry,” the afternoon of April 2, 1987. My short offering followed others by sf novel- Writing, Race, and Poetry ist Brian Stableford and academics John y Dean and David Ketterer, and preceded by Mark Rich one by the main attraction of the after- About a year ago Eileen Gunn invited noon, Brian Aldiss. The other main Eng- lish attraction, Angela Carter, had given “The presentation me to participate in a group interview the final paper of the morning. intrigued me, for concerning racial identity and its relation I had been working with the idea of it showed how to writing. I felt my usual surprise at being “speculative poetry” for some time — for differently I came solicited — which may indicate that my ac- more than ten years, actually, by that day in H at some questions. customed place is in the realm of the ex- France. I had pored over collections of po- Maybe due to what is cluded, or at least ignored, as opposed to 6 etry seeking antecedents to Poe. Byron and called my mixed-race the included. I sloughed off the self-dep- Meredith came close in positing otherness background.…” recating and sometimes butt-of-my-own- cleverness approach that I have adopted as a context for poetic narrative voice: in the past, took Eileen’s questions as se- yet both extended grapples or shepherd’s riously as they seemed intended, and re- hooks back to our consensus world. The sponded as carefully as I could without consensus world of experience exerted an producing an essay for each question. The overpowering weight in times prior to Poe. results went into The WisCon Chronicles, As with Milton before Byron and Mer- Vol. 5: Racial Identity and Writing, edited edith, the imaginative vision given voice in “People in his own by Nisi Shawl. Eileen organized the in- poetry had for its generative instinct the day were often unsure terviews by question rather than by indi- desire to create a work of art that reflected what to make of Poe’s vidual. The group interview read like the back upon the world we know. The poems writings… They placed transcript of a panel discussion, with mul- were illustrative, didactic, indicative, sa- volumes of Poe upon tiple interviewees chiming in, one topic at tiric, pointed. Edgar Poe, consciously or their parlor tables:… a time. otherwise, wrote some of his poems as if these new readers The presentation intrigued me, for it the connection to the consensus world was may not have put showed how differently I came at some not to be assumed. Instead, the disconnec- their fingers upon the questions. Maybe due to what is called tion from our consensus world forced itself source of newness Poe my mixed-race background — a phrase to upon the reader. Poe emphasized not the had been exploring in which I have mixed reactions — I tended relevance, but the severance. poetry, in divorcing his to be clear of mind in certain areas where At the end of the session, after the paper literary world from our others responded with vagueness or si- by Aldiss, a French academic approached consensus one.” lence. Similarly, I was vague or prone to me to say, “This speculative poetry — it is questioning in areas where others were something new, is it not?” All I could do more inclined toward decisiveness. was to respond in the affirmative. That was

Eileen’s overall question was this: “Writ­ as far as I knew, then. It remains as far as I

ing reflects racial identity…yes?” know — just as I still point to Poe as offer- n

n

Cont. on p. 8 p. on Cont. 8 p. on Cont.

shiny trinkets found along the ground. the along found trinkets shiny in the week, during a session at which I I which at session a during week, the in

exchanging in child, Spring’s high school dramatic reading of Poe. Later Later Poe. of reading dramatic school high

child, a feed they that thinking voice I might have expected to hear in a a in hear to expected have might I voice

gifts, solstice of dream walkers The filling. wanting radio and cinema. He used an affected affected an used He cinema. and radio

agape, mouths with around gathering lugubrious-horror tradition of cheeseball cheeseball of tradition lugubrious-horror

children of dream anew, dream they as adopting an approach that drew upon the the upon drew that approach an adopting

dreamings older of mists old off pushing however, he changed his rhetorical stance, stance, rhetorical his changed he however,

year, whitened this of remaining gifts the off pushing ing Poe’s time. When he quoted from Poe, Poe, from quoted he When time. Poe’s ing

— walking thinking, walking, — unrest in dreaming - dur culture, mass early of world the about

ice, salt window, scrape snow, shovel Dean spoke with directness and insight insight and directness with spoke Dean

tree upper the of shelter the below down his own presentation at the colloquium, colloquium, the at presentation own his

gloved and shoed coated, walkers, blackless the And comfortable boldness impressed me. In In me. impressed boldness comfortable

rudeness that appalled me as much as his his as much as me appalled that rudeness turning from this frozen point of rest. of point frozen this from turning

a a — driver cab the to ” Vite! Vite! Vite! “ out calling recurring Such Crow. thinks

with which he spotted our conversation, conversation, our spotted he which with birth, each at and birth, a such at all, us among comes

cab with him, struck by the interjections interjections the by struck him, with cab immortality Such air. open over

the French people. I remember sitting in a a in sitting remember I people. French the promise a like stretches that

perhaps Ugly American in his approach to to approach his in American Ugly perhaps branch bark-thick solid the upon born be to

ican in his pronunciation of French, and and French, of pronunciation his in ican — Year-Child the — child new Spring’s coming

- Amer diction, his in American abashedly over conferring and chirring

- un was John same. the nearly is which cluster who past the of children

there must have been in excess of a dozen, dozen, a of excess in been have must there — them sees she dream in as stately, now Grown

exaggeration on my part: yet at the time time the at yet part: my on exaggeration crow-down. darkest of crowns queenly kingly, grew

the number being a slight slight a being number the — active were tribes Summer the of fledglings when

several million Universities of Paris that that Paris of Universities million several year passing this of times passed to these past

7 um at Nice he was teaching at one of the the of one at teaching was he Nice at um snow, crusting with bowed now boughs near past sees Crow

- colloqui the of time the At literature. and

rest, of point turning this At

i authority on popular American culture culture American popular on authority

— below globe the around pole to pole

was, and I assume still is, a knowledgeable knowledgeable a is, still assume I and was,

stretches that pinion-spread a with skyward pitched

The connection is John Dean. Dean Dean Dean. John is connection The

herself sends who wing-rise, her with shadows thick

What has this to do with racial identity? racial with do to this has What

spreads who day, falling at crows who Dusk,

his literary world from our consensus one. consensus our from world literary his

— quicker sooner, quiver feathers star-flecked Dusk’s When

had been exploring in poetry, in divorcing divorcing in poetry, in exploring been had

— powers failing her of waning the show and slow fingers upon the source of newness Poe Poe newness of source the upon fingers

hours longer for grip her in sunlight hold to these new readers may not have put their their put have not may readers new these

struggles year-striding Earth’s when adornment of the cultured life. Even so, so, Even life. cultured the of adornment

rest, of point turning this At parlor tables: he now ranked as a major major a as ranked now he tables: parlor

They placed volumes of Poe upon their their upon Poe of volumes placed They

her night-sleek wing and cheek and breast. and cheek and wing night-sleek her

temporaries had not recognized his worth. worth. his recognized not had temporaries

again smooth and against slide

James and others puzzled that Poe’s con Poe’s that puzzled others and James -

sleet-spray the let to turns

ingly enamored of Poe’s works, with Henry Henry with works, Poe’s of enamored ingly

boughs, green among high

- increas became readers US Modern, the

perch her upon turns

as our Western world entered the Age of of Age the entered world Western our as

turns, she so and — past the of ages even in

termath of the Civil War and other events, events, other and War Civil the of termath

feels the ancient cold that clutched at year-end hearts year-end at clutched that cold ancient the feels

fascinated by his printed works. In the af the In works. printed his by fascinated -

strike between wind-ruffled scales of silken armor, silken of scales wind-ruffled between strike they felt oddly affected by his readings and and readings his by affected oddly felt they

cloud-shards claw-sharp swift feels sure what to make of Poe’s writings, even if if even writings, Poe’s of make to what sure

shatter now to stinging shrapnel. Crow in pinetop in Crow shrapnel. stinging to now shatter

People in his own day were often un often were day own his in People -

as crystal-coated clouds crystal-coated as — Fall

I still do not know. not do still I — were they where

all that slowness, all that snowless that all slowness, that all

or earlier. Who they were, when they were, were, they when were, they Who earlier. or

whitened suddenness, to follow to suddenness, whitened

of understanding, as Poe, at the same time time same the at Poe, as understanding, of

comes: Winter which with quickness unquiet Such reaching for the same effect, or same level level same or effect, same the for reaching

upon the world, other writers were likely likely were writers other world, the upon

by Mark Rich Mark by

Given the way historical movements come come movements historical way the Given

ing the best beginning-point for the form. form. the for beginning-point best the ing Crow at Solstice at Crow Crow at Solstice (cont. from p. 7) down the winding mountain roads. John Each would be Spring’s chick Dean and I sat in the back, engrossed in cheeping for parental gift of pabulum: lively discussion and oblivious to the ma- all would trade those symbols of a made-believe jestic nighttime mountains. John seized All-Motherhood, arranging them beneath the cut-off tree — with insistent curiosity upon my back- symbols wrapped and ribboned as if ground. How much did my idea of the such old knowledge might be hidden, might surprise. “two worlds” that I perceived in the poetry of Poe arise from my own experience of None are what they think they are. being the product of two worlds? Dream Spring’s chick gives no gift, thinks Crow. A child and waking, yes; youth and adulthood, yes. gives no gifts. Chicks, children, What of Japanese and Anglo-Swiss? As sick ones, poor ones, crows. the little French auto swayed around turns, Crow. I give no gifts I maintained that however interesting an here above them in the tree. I perch unturning idea his was, it failed to apply. What I saw here, just as the year must go unturning, in the poems was what I saw. No doubt that it might then yield, and turn again. I trotted out a dozen arguments or more. No gifts. So I am child. Crow Did I see myself as split between my two is child. Stillness steals upon her: halves? No. Denise occasionally looked visions of a coming season rise and settle, back, amused and astonished at us so volu- there beyond this point of rest: bly entertaining ourselves in back. just sun’s moving slowness in its reaching I was glibly giving John an answer I no east to west. Or just that resting — longer can give so easily. that, itself, that resting. Or the knowing, knowing In Japanese terms, I am Sansei, or third that the rest, the momentary generation immigrant to the United States. rest of all the Earth has come to rest My Japanese grandparents were Issei, first here upon this bark-thick tree, here generation, making my mother Nisei, or even as it has upon the rest of all the Earth. second. Even though my name is purely H English, with my Kikuchi background un- represented, other Japanese-Americans are 8 Writing, Race, was the sole English-speaker present, I still apt to regard me as Sansei. The San- and Poetry believe I heard one of the French con- sei, as it happens, have tended to exhibit strong propensities toward assimilation, (cont. from p. 7) tributors casting aspersion, without direct reference, on Dean’s affected performance. toward burying home-culture beneath the Dean displayed behavior that could make vast available sediment of dominant Unit- him seem an academic charlatan or even a ed States culture. fake. Even so I liked him, perhaps as one A seed being buried, of course, opens specimen of American must almost inevi- the possibility of its eruptive growth. The tably like the only other one present. dirt, and that which passes for dirt, con- Whoever he is, whatever he may be, tains or conceals potential for something wherever he may have ended up, I feel af- utterly unlike dirt. fection for the man because of an episode To be most effective, the speculative poem is “about” our consensus world even “To be most effective, at the end of the colloquium. The orga- while affecting distance or separation from the speculative poem is nizers hosted a meal at a small restaurant it. The poem can be, as I believe Poe’s were, ‘about’ our consensus in the Maritime Alps. The major partici- a meeting place of the deeply rational and world even while pants sat around tables arranged in a large the deeply personal. As a term, “speculative affecting distance or U-shape, with the Aldisses and Carter in poetry” has come, in some sectors, to serve separation from it.…a places of prominence. I recall being fas- as a catch-all, an umbrella beneath which meeting place of the cinated with the finely slivered meats put to gather various sorts of genre-related po- deeply rational and the before us, so different from the mixed etry, verse, verbiage, and nonsense. Yet in deeply personal.” Japanese and middle-American cooking of my youth. The trip down the curving other sectors, sometimes overlapping ones, mountain roads afterwards proved most the term finds use in describing the poem memorable, however. Jean Emelina was that seem to take a step aside — not a step driving, with Denise Terrel in the passen- aside into some genre-related cache of

ger seat. They, the two organizers of the notions and vocabularies, but a step aside

colloquium, were absorbed in the plunge into a world original unto itself. n

n

Poetry.

left him devastated. devastated. him left , and a current project. current a and , Visionary

Magazine of Speculative Speculative of Magazine Poe, its episodes of crumbling and collapse collapse and crumbling of episodes its Poe, Kornbluth: The Life and Works of a Science Fiction Fiction Science a of Works and Life The Kornbluth:

he established the current current the established he C.M. C.M. for underpinnings structural important ternal, womanly aspect of society sustained sustained society of aspect womanly ternal,

co-editor Roger Dutcher Dutcher Roger co-editor Modern Age and the Age of the Masses provide provide Masses the of Age the and Age Modern - ma the While younger. even wife young

The notions underlying my understanding of the the of understanding my underlying notions The

stories. In the 1980s with with 1980s the In stories. and his his and — young died mother’s Poe’s for

several collections of short short of collections several

a terrible ring of symbolic truth to them: them: to truth symbolic of ring terrible a of Nice, 1988. Nice, of

and and Visionary Fiction

d’Etude de la Metaphore No. 15-16, University University 15-16, No. Metaphore la de d’Etude culture, and civility. Events in Poe’s life had had life Poe’s in Events civility. and culture,

Life and Works of a Science Science a of Works and Life

, Centre Centre , Nice de Science-Fiction de International of those who kept and nurtured tradition, tradition, nurtured and kept who those of

C.M. Kornbluth: The The Kornbluth: C.M. of Actes du Troisieme Colloque Colloque Troisieme du Actes in appeared poetry”

nence would greatly diminish the powers powers the diminish greatly would nence

“From this dim Thule: Poe and speculative speculative and Poe Thule: dim this “From Mark Rich is the author author the is Rich Mark

- preemi unquestioned whose industry

Notes ern Age, the captains of commerce and and commerce of captains the Age, ern

in our own years: ignored voices, but vital. but voices, ignored years: own our in - Mod the of captains coming the of one

son (“B.V.”) in Modern years, Alice Notley Notley Alice years, Modern in (“B.V.”) son culture, and civility, while John Allan was was Allan John while civility, and culture,

- Thomp James years, pre-Modern in Poe the women were the world of tradition, tradition, of world the were women the

our times. times. our power of international trade. Symbolically Symbolically trade. international of power

a form that is distinctively appropriate in in appropriate distinctively is that form a father, who represented the burgeoning burgeoning the represented who father,

world-shaking significance. Yet it may be be may it Yet significance. world-shaking warped, on the other hand, by the adoptive adoptive the by hand, other the on warped,

Speculative poetry may not be a form of of form a be not may poetry Speculative joy and hope for the future. His life was was life His future. the for hope and joy past?” past?”

us peer out and perhaps one day escape. escape. day one perhaps and out peer us aunt, and a young cousin who represented represented who cousin young a and aunt, one is future, and which, which, and future, is one

are ones that widen the gate that may let let may that gate the widen that ones are tensely and positively by a mother, a kindly kindly a mother, a by positively and tensely does ‘meaning’ lie? Which Which lie? ‘meaning’ does

that our utterances, our writings, our acts, acts, our writings, our utterances, our that - in shaped was life Poe’s society. civil ern other? Within which one one which Within other?

our Age of Masses cages we can only hope hope only can we cages Masses of Age our - West of roots the watered still elements Which one is “about” the the “about” is one Which

regaining and redeeming of youth. Within Within youth. of redeeming and regaining ing in a world in which certain matriarchal matriarchal certain which in world a in ing which side is more ‘real’? ‘real’? more is side which

no greater than the feeling that age is the the is age that feeling the than greater no - operat Poe’s of too, sometimes, think I “In these dichotomies, dichotomies, these “In

ing that youth presages adulthood seems seems adulthood presages youth that ing of his worldly failure. worldly his of

- feel the age, and youth with Even past? tainly offered frustrating contrast to the fact fact the to contrast frustrating offered tainly

9 ing” lie? Which one is future, and which, which, and future, is one Which lie? ing” - cer most accomplishment artistic Poe’s of

- “mean does one which Within other? the “Allan” part of his public name. The fact fact The name. public his of part “Allan” the

i

more “real”? Which one is “about” the the “about” is one Which “real”? more offered by the miscreant who lent Edgar Edgar lent who miscreant the by offered

In these dichotomies, which side is is side which dichotomies, these In contrast to the promise of comfortable life life comfortable of promise the to contrast

and father? and childhood and again his adulthood stood in in stood adulthood his again and childhood

mother mother — waking and dreams — adulthood years and his adulthood. The poverty of his his of poverty The adulthood. his and years

not point to divisions between youth and and youth between divisions to point not ragamuffin United States of his youngest youngest his of States United ragamuffin

poetry and other kinds of writing, can I I can writing, of kinds other and poetry youthful upbringing stood in contrast to the the to contrast in stood upbringing youthful

poetry, as distinct from other kinds of of kinds other from distinct as poetry, mature Scotland and England of part of his his of part of England and Scotland mature

long interest in and pursuit of speculative speculative of pursuit and in interest long split him apart in many ways. The culturally culturally The ways. many in apart him split

of my mother? In considering my decades- my considering In mother? my of back to Poe, whose personal experiences, too, too, experiences, personal whose Poe, to back

For what is Japanese in me, except what is is what except me, in Japanese is what For How can I know? My mind keeps going going keeps mind My know? I can How

thoughts as they arise provocative ones. ones. provocative arise they as thoughts personal background? personal

cades of this Age of Masses, I find these these find I Masses, of Age this of cades worlds,” in poetry, in the absence of such such of absence the in poetry, in worlds,”

Being myself a writer in the middle de middle the in writer a myself Being - vision between worlds, between the “two “two the between worlds, between vision

Masses.” “health” in our own Age of Masses. of Age own our in “health” I be struggling with the perception of di of perception the with struggling be I -

I call the Age of the the of Age the call I become the almost unquestioned mark of of mark unquestioned almost the become the notion of a split racial identity. Would Would identity. racial split a of notion the

that characterizes what what characterizes that ness of techno-economic “progress” that has has that “progress” techno-economic of ness I may, indeed, struggle internally with with internally struggle indeed, may, I

activities and the sphere sphere the and activities fected the Age of the Modern with the ill the with Modern the of Age the fected - what I call the Age of the Masses. the of Age the call I what

of personally important important personally of the techno-patriarchal mood deeply in deeply mood techno-patriarchal the - activities and the sphere that characterizes characterizes that sphere the and activities

line between the sphere sphere the between line rary Darwin, thanks to Spencer and others, others, and Spencer to thanks Darwin, rary tween the sphere of personally important important personally of sphere the tween

constantly at the dividing dividing the at constantly ing? In the wake of Poe’s exact contempo exact Poe’s of wake the In ing? - - be line dividing the at constantly operate

beings, then we operate operate we then beings, youth and adulthood, dreaming and wak and dreaming adulthood, and youth - erate at all as conscious beings, then we we then beings, conscious as all at erate

at all as conscious conscious as all at tial, in Poe’s work, as the divisions between between divisions the as work, Poe’s in tial, did Chuang Tzu. In our times, if we op we if times, our In Tzu. Chuang did -

another.… if we operate operate we if another.… structure, should be as powerfully influen powerfully as be should structure, - between dream and waking no less than than less no waking and dream between

from one world into into world one from diminishing Western matriarchal social social matriarchal Western diminishing less than did Blake, Wordsworth, and Poe; Poe; and Wordsworth, Blake, did than less

the experience of moving moving of experience the technological-industrial patriarchy and the the and patriarchy technological-industrial visions between youth and experience no no experience and youth between visions

multiple worlds or have have or worlds multiple especially between the growing Western Western growing the between especially world into another. We have felt the di the felt have We another. into world -

“We all operate in in operate all “We life between male and female influences, influences, female and male between life have the experience of moving from one one from moving of experience the have

Why not suppose that this division in in division this that suppose not Why We all operate in multiple worlds or or worlds multiple in operate all We y Promised Lands: Poems from the Sovereign ture, then shakes loose atavistic memories, calls forth the lost ancestors, and brings of Dishpan Sonnets, by JT Stewart, home their names. Museum and horror Lamaya Press, 2010 and memory resonate with one another:

Reviewed by Eileen Gunn We shiver The African-American poet and educa- Discrete signs announce our origins “Each poem, even the tor JT Stewart is one of the founders of Other signs caution us Do not touch shortest—especially the the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop. She Do not touch Alarms will sound shortest, sixteen words has been an inspiration and mentor to me alight with power— and to many, many other writers over her stops the reader in her long career. The poems in the second section, Testi- tracks.… that’s what Stewart’s Promised Lands is a small whirl- monials, are less stories than they are state- poetry is supposed to wind of poems — stories, songs — about the ments or requests. In “Say My Name,” the do. Just pay attention.” African Diaspora. Each poem, even the voice of a restless ghost, a woman thrown shortest — especially the shortest, sixteen overboard from a slave ship, pleads that words alight with power — stops the reader she be acknowledged, the ghost’s story and in her tracks and insists that she pay atten- the poet’s memories melding in an uncan- tion, right now. Be calm: that’s what po- ny way. I am not sure I completely under- etry is supposed to do. Just pay attention. stand it, but it makes my hair stand on end. The first section, Masks/Secrets, is a “Strange Fruit: II” addresses a woman with selection of five short poems that deal magnolia-white skin, or with magnolia- with relations and ties between African- white scars, and contrasts the white flower Americans and Africa–-Africa then, Af- floating in a bowl with the severed head rica now, and Africa-of-the-imagination. of a lynched black man. It is as still and It starts with ancestors and dark ships, lost controlled and as horrific as Billie Holiday, H names and the language of bones. Almost a gardenia in her hair, singing the song the every poem has an individual, not neces- poet references. “Fingers,” immediately 10 sarily the poet, at the heart of it, and a se- following, is a joyous paean to the fingers quence, a motion, in which things change. that play the blues, pull the guitar strings, In “Ancestors,” a girl’s drawing of a basket pound the pulpit, read the bible, shape the contains Africa itself and releases a spirit pastry, and hold the family together. voice that calls to her friends. In “Horn The third section, Blues/Transforma- Men,” an American listens to tenor sax tions, is made up of three longer poems players in a Johannesburg bar: that move away from the individual and (to some extent) from the personal. This hey does not in any way leave them devoid of you ever wonder emotion. “Blue Note Belly Blues” is a poem how they survive that begs to be read out loud. Its epigraph, these quote/unquote black “a call & response, ‘How-I-Got-Ovah’ men jazz jiving they tenor piece,” alludes both to the African/Afri- saxes can-American religious tradition and to in the up-to-date badlands the work of influential black feminist poet of South Africa Carolyn Rodgers; its verses paint complex vignettes that reference slavery, freedom, and black culture. It moves from Africa In the reverie of the poem, she con- and the Middle Passage to slave narratives nects these urban musicians back in time to juke joints to the traditional second line to the bush, across the ocean to jazz, and of dancers at African-American parades through intuition into a network of aspira- and funerals in New Orleans. The refrain/ tion and achievement by people of African response “Think About It,” repeated after

Grandmother Magma heritage. In “History Lesson: Diaspora,” a each verse, implies a public affirmation collection of African masks first evokes in of the verse and creates a brief pause, al-

visitors’ minds the horror of the Middle lowing the meaning of the verse to sink

Passage and its erasure of identity and cul- in, and the rhythm of call-and-response n

n

anywhere. Some folks they fly away fly they folks Some

graspings shifting same these for wings y b feet by

stretch must Waves places. unchanging changingly bus by plane by car by

other in reaches, distant in gone thousands Many

fall and rise must so and thus Murmurs gone thousands Many

now. here being in arrived, have they where

wonder to stop must listeners that its lifeblood: its

time remembered in ever as same the much so on to the exodus of the citizens that were were that citizens the of exodus the to on

— day other any on heard as same the much are as city from a bus full of spirits, then moves moves then spirits, of full bus a from city

intonations such with elsewhere; and there, and II begins with an eerie tour of the flooded flooded the of tour eerie an with begins II

here imparted long have waves as words such with cesses, of pre-Katrina New Orleans; Part Part Orleans; New pre-Katrina of cesses,

rephrasings, and phrasings well-worn in - ex guilty joyous, the nightlife, and music

slaps, and sighs lapping them to imparting by Part I, the visitor revels in the food and and food the in revels visitor the I, Part

hours minutes, seconds, the off marking parts: pre-Katrina and post-Katrina. In In post-Katrina. and pre-Katrina parts:

changing, never also while varying of from New Orleans,” is divided into two two into divided is Orleans,” New from

— before seen has sand stirring the as exactly The third long poem, “An Outsider Writes Writes Outsider “An poem, long third The

sand over skirring never of ways have together, everyone waiting. waiting. everyone together, — of right now right of

waves that way the said Or mothers, grandmothers, and the “us” “us” the and grandmothers, mothers, — one

- every pulls criticism, of word a back ing until the end. end. the until

- tak without poem, the America, black of days of starts the forth, and back augur, and

clear line between the past and the present present the and past the between line clear recall that combing, motions, with

watch children. Then, having drawn such a a such drawn having Then, children. watch dishevelment of vision a meets

hired as day laborers to clean houses and and houses clean to laborers day as hired mirror-gazer morning the way the Said

to push hard to get almost nothing, to be be to nothing, almost get to hard push to trouble. ordinary of signs for

promises of reparation; mothers who had had who mothers reparation; of promises outside sky the scan to wake

Jim Crow laws, centuries of abuse, failed failed abuse, of centuries laws, Crow Jim

denims, worn-down the don to

11

ture distractions, it places past realities: realities: past places it distractions, ture

wake might folk clear-eyed when

- consumer-cul present-day these to Next i day working any — Friday Thursday, Tuesday, a on

cases in wrapped left flutes and horns with Said

warble. dulcet rose-cheeked without

beach condos w/triple garage space garage w/triple condos beach

clanging, bronze-bell without

our for Bee-em-double-yous

singing, ring-ding chiming, a without

lilac and flamingoes pink about

everyday of tones

fantasized all we haven’t

conversation, of tones in Said

ButBut But

by Mark Rich Mark by

in cheek, that the high life has its appeal: its has life high the that cheek, in

Said in Tones of Conversation of Tones in Said

while simultaneously acknowledging, tongue tongue acknowledging, simultaneously while

award. award.

cool

packing ideas into it. Thank you, JT. you, Thank it. into ideas packing

for the James Tiptree, Jr. Jr. Tiptree, James the for

drop super

These poems make your head bigger by by bigger head your make poems These

awards, and short-listed short-listed and awards,

drop boogie

Dick, and World Fantasy Fantasy World and Dick,

and water, to bring peace. And she does. she And peace. bring to water, and

drop bikini

for the Hugo, Philip K. K. Philip Hugo, the for

of the orisha Oshun, associated with rivers rivers with associated Oshun, orisha the of

drop pants

and has been nominated nominated been has and

on Katrina, who has taken on the visage visage the on taken has who Katrina, on

drop ice

Gender Award in Japan, Japan, in Award Gender

and the reader join the second line and call call and line second the join reader the and

bop no

the US the and Sense of of Sense and the US the

follows in a horse-drawn hearse. The poet poet The hearse. horse-drawn a in follows

bop re

the Nebula Award in in Award Nebula the

are in the front line, and Katrina’s coffin coffin Katrina’s and line, front the in are

hop hip

Her fiction has received received has fiction Her

the displaced. The Black Men of Labor Labor of Men Black The displaced. the

Well – isn’t this the home of home the this isn’t – Well

. . 2 Vol Chronicles. WisCon

bereaved, hope to the fugitive, courage to to courage fugitive, the to hope bereaved,

The The of co-editor the and

Away,” a song that offers comfort to the the to comfort offers that song a Away,”

ing it a thorough dressing-down: thorough a it ing

Others and Strategies Stable

can hear the brass band playing “I’ll Fly Fly “I’ll playing band brass the hear can

- giv culture, consumer Miami-Vice-style

of the story collection collection story the of

neral for Katrina herself, and by now you you now by and herself, Katrina for neral

“Promised Lands: Urban Style,” confronts confronts Style,” Urban Lands: “Promised Eileen Gunn is the author author the is Gunn Eileen

The finale of the poem is a musical fu musical a is poem the of finale The -

stanza. The second poem in this section, section, this in poem second The stanza. carries the listener/reader on to the next next the to on listener/reader the carries y The Moment of Change: an Anthology of Speculative Poetry, edited by Rose Lemberg, Aqueduct Press, May 2012, 188 pages, $20.00 Reviewed by Rachel Swirsky In musical theater, there’s a saying: when it is directly relevant to feminism; and of “Literature of the emotions get too strong to speak, you sing. all the genres of speculative literature, po- fantastic allows us to When emotions get too strong to sing, you etry is crucial… create worlds and visions dance. “I think of this collection as a corner- of society, origins, social As a writer who primarily works in stone — a compendium of dreams, oppres- justice, and identity. prose, sometimes my emotions get too sions, hopes, empowerment, yearning, and As such, it is directly strong, and I slip into verse. mature strength that comes from knowing relevant to feminism; that we are here. We speak with voices that and of all the genres of The world is wrong and I am wrung, have been silenced, ignored, marginalized, speculative literature, a bell of cloth dripping salt suppressed, ridiculed, forgotten. We re- poetry is crucial…” into an earth too broken for roots. remember ourselves, constantly remake –Excerpted from “Pieces” ourselves, grapple with theory and life’s by Amal El Mohtar challenges. ‘See us,’ the poets of this col- lection say. ‘Change with us. Walk with us. Dream with us.’… Poetry can be many things. Delicate and ‘We are here.’” precise and measured. Dense and layered I’m here to tell you all your secrets, all your with allusion. underneath. I am the drain, the trap, the But poetry is often seen as embody- grating. You walk over me, uncaring. ing the emotional and the mysterious. Free verse defies grammar. It’s wild. Un- I am vanishing without a name, but before I ruly. Visceral. Intuitive. It mirrors a scatter go I must deliver the messages you gave me to H of stereotypical feminine aspects: moon keep, silent, barred from your knowth. madness, hysteria, unfathomable womanly 12 –Excerpted from “Transbluency: An ways that can’t be reined in by logic. Antiprojection Chant” by Nisi Shawl

V. As the first anthology of its kind, The The haunted girl has mirror eyes Moment of Change takes on the project of sometimes opalescent defining its own genre. Lemberg aspires if you fear forgetting, being forgotten toward a feminist speculative poetry that like barren eggshells is diverse and adaptable. The anthology empty seashells includes a variety of aesthetics — “works flashlights in the fog. that can be labeled mythic, fantastic, sci- Sometimes they’re black gloss ence fictional, historical, surreal, magic if you fear futility realist, and unclassifiable.” It also features absolute as a mine shaft the perspectives of authors who inhabit blank as a brick wall. a multiplicity of points on the kyriarchi- Sometimes they’re simply scarlet. cal spectrum — “poems by people of color Because you know you have it coming. and white folks; by poets based in the US, –Excerpted from “The Haunted Girl” Canada, Britain, India, Spain, and the by Lisa Bradley Philippines; by first- and second-genera- tion immigrants; by the able-bodied and the disabled; by straight and queer poets Rose Lemberg’s The Moment of Change who may identify as women, men, trans, is the first anthology of feminist specula- and genderqueer.” tive poetry. In her introduction, Lemberg Lemberg quotes Flavia Dzodan. “My Reviews writes, “[l]iterature of the fantastic allows feminism will be intersectional or it will be

us to create worlds and visions of society, bullshit.”

origins, social justice, and identity. As such, n

n

by JT Stewart JT by

“Ceremony” from –Excerpted

spectrum.” our hair hair our

on the kyriarchical kyriarchical the on lard

a multiplicity of points points of multiplicity a curl gerry

Cont. on p. 14 p. on Cont. of authors who inhabit inhabit who authors of pomade

features the perspectives perspectives the features vaseline

own genre.… It also also It genre.… own cornroll

by Amal El-Mohtar Amal by project of defining its its defining of project fry

“Pieces” from –Excerpted takes on the the on takes Change of relax

The Moment Moment The kind, its of croquignole

but no one speaks glass. speaks one no but

“As the first anthology anthology first the “As henna

splinters in sky the against augury an scrape to

perm

wings clear with swallows speak would I and

straighten

throat my in breaks voice glass this but

gloves white wear always will

hands their of cup a in sun the hold

you me us of hich …w

it with sing would they that shiningsharp so something

men of sons these tell would I and

by Ursula K. Le Guin Le K. Ursula by

“Werewomen” from –Excerpted

territory that women must fight to access. access. to fight must women that territory

alone.

taken for granted. It’s contested, anxious anxious contested, It’s granted. for taken

moonwalking go to want just I

, the right to speak is rarely rarely is speak to right the , Change of ment

care don’t I it under or it on

- Mo The of poems the In voices. their find

moonwalking go to want I

Before women can sing, they must first first must they sing, can women Before

13

have I to sing?” to I have

by Amal El-Mohtar El-Mohtar Amal by

lieb’s “The Robot’s Daughter,” “what song song “what Daughter,” Robot’s “The lieb’s

i Labor” of “Division from –Excerpted

- Got Phillis asks freedom, Without

the scissors poised to cut.” to poised scissors the perfect name.” perfect

threads; the laps; their in needles the to . She calls my my calls She . me to stars / “sings character

instead gazes the Hag,” Patricia Monagham’s titular titular Monagham’s Patricia Hag,” the

their drop pursuits, manly from away my way.” In “Journey to the Mountain of of Mountain the to “Journey In way.” my

sights their turn smile; needs must to swim.” In darkness, “I must sing to see see to sing must “I darkness, In swim.” to

ladies …The w w ho me taught / me, ted lif / bodies their

with with / “singing princesses drowned Sears,

needles, moons, hair. hair. moons, needles,

River Dolphin” by Cassandra Phillips- Cassandra by Dolphin” River ‘We are here.’” are ‘We

Poetic symbols stand in for femininity: femininity: for in stand symbols Poetic

Often, they sing. In “The Last Yangtze Yangtze Last “The In sing. they Often, us.’… us.’…

anxieties, and passions of the movement. movement. the of passions and anxieties,

attain the stars. the attain with us. Dream with with Dream us. with

Recurring images define the obsessions, obsessions, the define images Recurring

grow wings, take flight, reach for the sky, sky, the for reach flight, take wings, grow ‘Change with us. Walk Walk us. with ‘Change

or loose and liberated. Women Women liberated. and loose or — strained of this collection say. say. collection this of

- con and bound is Hair freedom. for “‘See us,’ the poets poets the us,’ “‘See

–“Self Portrait” by Emily Jiang Emily by Portrait” –“Self Many poems describe the yearning yearning the describe poems Many

through the corridors of dream. of corridors the through

flowing river a as industrious

as bull-stubborn: fire: & by Yoon Ha Lee Ha Yoon by

charge! between Lessons” “Art from –Excerpted

caught woman: for work at

growing up a woman a up growing

water inconvenient: when

of course, it’s the same thing that anyone learns anyone that thing same the it’s course, of

girly bubbles: calligraphy:

and poison their still lifes with crushed smiles crushed with lifes still their poison and

tongues bound in bound tongues

witches’ daughters learn to hide their self-portraits their hide to learn daughters witches’

& rain: speaking two speaking rain: &

melting into smoke into melting

sister. Princess. Witch. Princess. sister.

convenient: sun & moon & sun convenient:

sented by archetypes: mother, daughter, daughter, mother, archetypes: by sented

wood: Asian when Asian wood:

Women themselves are often repre often are themselves Women -

rabbit am: I — fighter a not am I The Moment of Change, We cannot talk of fathers fallible as they are frail, of daughters sad (cont. from p. 13) as they are terrible. Instead, we speak of quarterings, betrayals, wasting madness and cold marriages. Sometimes “voice” is used meta- Like rustling leaves these whine at last to dust phorically; other poems examine lit- in favor of those tales comfortable and beloved as eral linguistic colonization. the youngest girl Papa loved best, his poppet and his jewel. Where are my mothers Perhaps this is why we always come to grief: Cordelia twisting in the air like rags, “The poems not only What will become her wicked sisters strangled on knife and henbane, reflect anxiety about of me us the motley King exiled and world-broken finding voices to sing if I we think upon cold clay, beneath the brewing storms. with, but also concern only in English about their voices being –Excerpted from “The King’s Daughters” –Excerpted from “Ceremony” heard.” by JoSelle Vanderhooft by JT Stewart Lisa Bradley’s “In Defense of Sleek- Armed Androids” deconstructs love-bots The poems not only reflect anxiety as a trope. In an essay about her writing about finding voices to sing with, but also process, Bradley explains that “idealized concern about their voices being heard. able-bodied androids that exist as sex ob- Lemberg lays this down in her introduc- jects” are “attempts to police my desires, tion: “it is not enough for our voices to deny my needs, erase me.” Expressing the simply exist; poets writing from margin- counter-narrative releases revolutionary alized perspectives must also find venues.” potential: “I didn’t know how strongly I When fighting for the right to speak, felt, how rebellious, until the words were one is also fighting for the right to be ac- 1 on the page.” H knowledged. In her “Cinderella” retelling, Sofia Rhei re-imagines the feminine icon as a woman 14 Say my name please. sought by another woman, endowing both Please say my name. Look at me when women with explicit sexuality. you say my name. My name. I wouldn’t have heard how someone –Excerpted from “Say My Name” entered the next cubicle and masturbated by JT Stewart slowly, “By far, the most whispering, between gasps, an striking recurrent theme uncommon name: in The Moment of By far, the most striking recurrent mine. Change is the conflict theme in The Moment of Change is the con- I could only see her strange shoes… with old stories — fairy flict with old stories — fairy tales, myths, tales, myths, classical classical plays — narratives that loom large –Excerpted from “Cinderella” plays — narratives in the construction of what it means to be by Sofia Rhei, that loom large in “a woman.” Poets stage interventions with translated by Lawrence Schimel the construction of these tales. They flesh out their glossed- what it means to be ‘a over moments; analyze their metaphorical While The Moment of Change includes woman.’” imagery; imagine them from new per- poems with strange and beautiful lines spectives; alter their events. (“you looked so thick / and pure, like the Poets describe how unexamined retell- inside/ of a bone,” the fox says to the girl in ings enable these stories to continue polic- Cat Valente’s “The Girl with Two Skins”), ing the boundaries of “womanhood”: its true heft is in how it contributes to the Retelling stories also creates spaces for feminist conversation by putting these di- poets to challenge the traditional, limited verse poems in tension with each other, gender roles of old stories. revealing how the feminist speculative po-

etry movement uses words to describe op-

pression and incite revolution. n

n

Press in 2010. in Press

and poetry, came out from Aqueduct Aqueduct from out came poetry, and

a slim volume of fiction fiction of volume slim a Dark, Drowsy

Through the the Through collection, first Her heat. the

A) writes full time and B) copes with with copes B) and time full writes A)

with her husband and cats, where she she where cats, and husband her with

now lives in Bakersfield, California, California, Bakersfield, in lives now

about A) fiction, and B) the cold. She She cold. the B) and fiction, A) about

Writers Workshop where she learned learned she where Workshop Writers

what it might be to soar? to be might it what

Rachel Swirsky is a graduate of the Iowa Iowa the of graduate a is Swirsky Rachel

consider and above look not you could

land the of valley bush-clad the past further, out Look

on-in.html

gateway. a always is it ana: Ngutu

com/2011/10/not-so-broken-some-thoughts-

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sinkhole, the in bones of tangle the to point you , Thursday, October 27, 2011. 2011. 27, October Thursday, , fettered

fear; your and you between stand taniwha Ancestral - Un Fantastique Broken. So Not Lisa. Bradley, 1.

The darkness in caves is absolute. is caves in darkness The

by JoSelle Vanderhooft JoSelle by

“The King’s Daughters” Daughters” King’s “The all your stone-enamelled expectations. stone-enamelled your all

calcifying rivulet, Every “The Girl with Two Skins” by Cat Valente Cat by Skins” Two with Girl “The

drop. every behind silence the

“Ceremony” by JT Stewart JT by “Ceremony”

cave, marbled red-backed every in darkness the

“Say My Name” by JT Stewart JT by Name” My “Say

eagle, ancient the of shadow long the am I

Nisi Shawl Nisi

rag-feathered, and Talon-fingered

“Transbluency: An Antiprojection Chant” by by Chant” Antiprojection An “Transbluency:

children. of taker the am I

“Hypatia/Divided” by Lorraine Schein Lorraine by “Hypatia/Divided”

by Michele Bannister Michele by

(translated by Lawrence Schimel) Lawrence by (translated

“Cinderella” by Sofia Rhei Rhei Sofia by “Cinderella”

Bird-Winged

15

(translated by Lawrence Schimel) Lawrence by (translated

“Bluebeard Possibilities” by Sofia Rhei Rhei Sofia by Possibilities” “Bluebeard i

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“Art Lessons” by Yoon Ha Lee Ha Yoon by Lessons” “Art dissolving words in my throat. my in words dissolving

tendrils its unacknowledged, grew Silence The by C. W. Johnson W. C. by

Algebra” Feminist a “Towards

the tablecloth onto the plush blue carpet. blue plush the onto tablecloth the

“Self-Portrait” by Emily Jiang Emily by “Self-Portrait”

from falling chopstick, a lost I and

“Berry Cobbler” by Samantha Henderson Samantha by Cobbler” “Berry grains, rice from polysyllables sorted

“Pieces” by Amal El-Mohtar Amal by “Pieces” tongue my consonants, and skin crisp caught

teeth my swallow, to tried nodded, I “Division of Labor” by Amal El-Mohtar Amal by Labor” of “Division

domesticated.

by Lisa Bradley Lisa by

Duck’s your favorite, right? favorite, your Duck’s

though never fully fully never though

Androids” Sleek-Armed of Defense “In

temporarily tamed, tamed, temporarily to wind twice around my ear. my around twice wind to

“The Haunted Girl” by Lisa Bradley Lisa by Girl” Haunted “The

that tentacles can be be can tentacles that temple my brushing tentacles its Silence,

the anthology: the

where she discovered discovered she where vowels stuffed in my cheeks hatching hatching cheeks my in stuffed vowels

A short list of outstanding poems from from poems outstanding of list short A

Writers’ Workshop, Workshop, Writers’ between in fat of bit a — and duck and

graduate of the Clarion Clarion the of graduate My mouth was full of Chinglish defense Chinglish of full was mouth My

University. She is also a a also is She University.

— with my chopsticks my with

by Amal El-Mohtar Amal by in English from Rice Rice from English in

philosophy, or clicking an alien code code alien an clicking or philosophy,

of California and a BA BA a and California of “Pieces” from –Excerpted

spouting or quacking, been have could I

Saint Mary’s College College Mary’s Saint

Change.

blank so stares met I non-Ivy. a

in Creative Writing from from Writing Creative in

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mater, alma my of asked They Rice? Where’s

Emily Jiang has an MFA MFA an has Jiang Emily

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American immigrants, immigrants, American

it was a dinner party, with Peking duck. Peking with party, dinner a was it

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— once Hell into stepped I

But if you would hear it hear would you if But

swallow. cannot I by Emily Jiang Emily by

My voice is in pieces in is voice My

East Coast Summer Coast East y He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices, by Stephen Mills, Sibling Rivalry Press, March 2012, 100 pages, $14.95 Reviewed by Evan J. Peterson Stephen Mills’ first book, He Do the of Doty nor the quiet violence of Siken. It Gay Man in Different Voices, is a volume just is, much like O’Hara. of somewhat cynical queer Americana, Mills is a storyteller, and the book reads remarkable in just how unremarkable it as a single coherent poem divided into dares to be. It’s straightforward and prac- chapters. Besides O’Hara, other influences tical, taking place in that world where even and sly nods are clear. The title is a play the drag queens “[a]re, in fact, not sing- on Eliot’s intended title for “The Waste ing” — our own painfully normal world. Land,” “He Do the Police in Different “What’s noteworthy is The book opens with a poem about Voices.” As with Eliot and Pound, there’s that the poems in this sex, atheism, and death by car accidents. plenty of image rhyme echoing through book are neither eccentric What could be more painfully common? the book, from blunt and sticky race re- nor wild, and totally This is neither the glossy universe of Ken- lations to execution by hanging. The pub- believable.… neth Anger nor the chilling techno-fetish lic execution (read: murder) of two queer Stephen Mills brassily of J.G. Ballard. It’s just unavoidable, as life Iranian boys returns as Mills imagines presents a gay everyman, tends to be. There’s a distinct resignation himself guiltily as Capote. He waits for who at his kinkiest in the description of “a boy with tattoos, his jailed acquaintance, to whom Mills has is still fascinatingly a pierced / tongue, a plaid shirt tied at his been writing to and about, to be hanged — unfabulous.” waist. It was the 1990s.” Of another boy: “so I can have my ending.” He describes “His parents / donated his organs. Or- this man, Edmon, as “like Andy in The gans packed in coolers / and shipped off Shawshank Redemption, except / he isn’t in- as last minute stays of execution.” The nocent.” dead become absorbed into the living in The disarming racial questions posed by ways that make simple sense. The young late poet Reginald Shepherd in his poem H people who populate this poem have sex on the Jeffrey Dahmer murders, “Hy- 16 as an act against doom, against the sudden geine,” return in Mills’ poem “An Experi- accidents that claim Mills’ young friends ment in How to Become Someone Else such as author Jill Caputo, run down in a Who Isn’t Moving Anymore,” the title of crosswalk. which is borrowed from Shepherd’s origi- Later, in “The Ghost of Little Edie nal poem. It’s at once a sequel, an homage, Beale Meets Me in a Gay Bar,” the titu- and an elegy to Shepherd, but the poem lar icon is “a star here, where gay boys love also becomes an elegy to Dahmer himself, the eccentric, / the wild, the unbelievable.” as well as to the community of Milwaukee. What’s noteworthy is that the poems in Mills seeks to understand Dahmer and re- this book are neither eccentric nor wild, frains from glamorizing him. and totally believable. Mills writes narra- Race resurfaces in the final section of tive poems, like his hero Frank O’Hara, the book, the one in which Mills writes “Mills is a storyteller, that give the reader glimpses into a life of his pen pal, an imprisoned porn model. and the book reads as that’s undeniably ordinary. The gay male Mills weighs the pros and cons of being a a single coherent poem world is unabashedly fascinated with fame, porn model himself, rather than an ordi- divided into chapters.” with drama and glamour, and the straight nary English teacher, world knows this. Stephen Mills brassily presents a gay everyman, who at his kinki- because in Hollywood est is still fascinatingly unfabulous. He white ambitious teachers are the only ones who even manages to make extreme fetish sex can save somehow nonchalant, and — most impres- black kids from gangs, violence, their own sively — romantic. He and his partner try families, it on a whim, “the art / of manipulating maybe even hurricanes. space”: “We are not / the same as boys who knock / holes into walls and faces.” This is Again, the everyman ponders extraordi- neither the shimmering steam and sequins

nary and extreme lives, accepting his own

as a shoe that fits. n

n

than poem. than

Cont. on p. 18 p. on Cont.

of an Empire”) that reads better as prose prose as better reads that Empire”) an of pages in rolling, expressive free verse. free expressive rolling, in pages

theme, to at least one piece (“The Passing Passing (“The piece one least at to theme, in the collection, it stretches across three three across stretches it collection, the in

on the breeze—” the on love poetry that brings nothing new to its its to new nothing brings that poetry love the first of these. One of the longer poems poems longer the of One these. of first the

or the scent of summer summer of scent the or “Golgotha”), to bland bland to “Golgotha”), and Heart” My of “walking the streets with the Dahta” is is Dahta” the with streets the “walking

wave or the dip of a wing wing a of dip the or wave schemes that ring false (“Zeenat, Princess Princess (“Zeenat, false ring that schemes which do hit that sweet spot. sweet that hit do which

of light, in the curl of a a of curl the in light, of are taking them away”) to strained rhyme- strained to away”) them taking are three poems, all from the section Pakistan, Pakistan, section the from all poems, three

carried in a certain slant slant certain a in carried and “they “they and Pass” Khaibar the (“At striking failings, however, I want to talk about about talk to want I however, failings,

well. For the feeling feeling the For well. tion. The poems range from the viscerally viscerally the from range poems The tion. Rather than dwell on the collection’s collection’s the on dwell than Rather

say, or cannot say as as say cannot or say, - collec poetry uneven very but interesting

something prose cannot cannot prose something , he gives us an an us gives he , Between Somewhere pended

“I look, in poetry, for for poetry, in look, “I - Sus In Rumi. no is Ahmed Professor I slumped, I sank, I fell free... fell I sank, I slumped, I

Studies. me to far seemed chaos kaleidoscopic

University Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Islamic of Chair Khaldun Ibn University sleeping, lay I as gaped universe the

present he is Washington DC’s American American DC’s Washington is he present weeping Panipat sobbing, was Badr

lence, the third highest civilian award. At At award. civilian highest third the lence,

metrical stress: metrical - Excel of Star Pakistan’s of recipient a and collection.” collection.”

from the forced AA BB rhyme and screwy screwy and rhyme BB AA forced the from mat, an anthropologist, a man of letters, letters, of man a anthropologist, an mat, but very uneven poetry poetry uneven very but

in terms of imagery, “I, Saracen,” suffers suffers Saracen,” “I, imagery, of terms in - diplo a been has he then Since 1966. in gives us an interesting interesting an us gives

approach to his religion, but its best poem poem best its but religion, his to approach Ahmed joined the Pakistani Civil Service Service Civil Pakistani the joined Ahmed , he he , Between Somewhere

is a fascinating look at Akbar’s personal personal Akbar’s at look fascinating a is age of four in then West Pakistan, Akbar Akbar Pakistan, West then in four of age In Suspended Suspended In Rumi.

strongest, Love the weakest section. Islam Islam section. weakest the Love strongest, Born in India in 1943, raised from the the from raised 1943, in India in Born “Professor Ahmed is no no is Ahmed “Professor

History, and Pensées. Pakistan is the the is Pakistan Pensées. and History, heft to resonate down eight centuries. eight down resonate to heft

tions: Pakistan, Love, Islam, Echoes of of Echoes Islam, Love, Pakistan, tions: Afghanistan) has the poetic weight and and weight poetic the has Afghanistan)

- sec five into divided is collection This meaning “Our Guide” in Turkey, Iran, and and Iran, Turkey, in Guide” “Our meaning

poems don’t hit that sweet spot for me. for spot sweet that hit don’t poems theologian, a man known as Mawlana, Mawlana, as known man a theologian,

not quite. Most of Akbar’s Akbar’s of Most quite. not — Rumi (a poet, a mystic, a jurist, and a a and jurist, a mystic, a poet, (a Rumi fable, but not but fable, 17

It’s an unfair comparison: the work of of work the comparison: unfair an It’s - inef almost nameless, almost something

i poet. poet. — known best certainly and — for for — greatest or the scent of summer on the breeze the on summer of scent the or

Muhammed Rumi, perhaps Sufi Islam’s Islam’s Sufi perhaps Rumi, Muhammed in the curl of a wave or the dip of a wing wing a of dip the or wave a of curl the in

opens with a comparison to Jalal al-Din al-Din Jalal to comparison a with opens feeling carried in a certain slant of light, light, of slant certain a in carried feeling

Salahuddin Ahmed’s first book of verse verse of book first Ahmed’s Salahuddin . For the the For . well as say cannot or say, cannot out EvanJPeterson.com. out

David Futterman’s foreword to Akbar Akbar to foreword Futterman’s David ZiReZi. For more, check check more, For ZiReZi. I look, in poetry, for something prose prose something for poetry, in look, I

and founding editor of of editor founding and

Reviewed by Liz Bourke Liz by Reviewed

also an active zine maker maker zine active an also

numerous venues. He is is He venues. numerous

PM Press / Busboys and Poets, April 2011, 152 pages, $15.95 pages, 152 2011, April Poets, and Busboys / Press PM

and in full in in full in and Times York

y Ahmed. Akbar by , Verse of Book A Between: Somewhere Suspended The New New The in excerpted

writing may be found found be may writing

Recent and forthcoming forthcoming and Recent

of the gay community, that it’s unremark it’s that community, gay the of -

and book reviewer. reviewer. book and

of privilege. Mills reveals the true secret secret true the reveals Mills privilege. of

fiction author, columnist, columnist, author, fiction

sex romp or a double-income-no-kids life life double-income-no-kids a or romp sex TV. Welcome to assimilation. to Welcome TV.

Evan J. Peterson is a poet, poet, a is Peterson J. Evan

a tell-all or a fairy tale, not a drug-addled drug-addled a not tale, fairy a or tell-all a dreams that have been replaced by reality reality by replaced been have that dreams

life for what it really is: average. It’s not not It’s average. is: really it what for life murders). It’s an elegy for the Hollywood Hollywood the for elegy an It’s murders).

to show the average American gay man’s man’s gay American average the show to occasional random car accidents and serial serial and accidents car random occasional

of kinky sex.” sex.” kinky of

Ultimately, Mills’ most audacious risk is is risk audacious most Mills’ Ultimately, fear an old fashioned gay bashing (or the the (or bashing gay fashioned old an fear

lucky, a moment or two two or moment a lucky,

). Watchmen” Watching mous partner for years, though they still still they though years, for partner mous

brutality, and, if one is is one if and, brutality,

(“Imagining Your Penis in Blue After After Blue in Penis Your (“Imagining - monoga same the had they’ve because

by fears, occasional occasional fears, by

the superhuman power to escape to Mars Mars to escape to power superhuman the It’s a book for people who don’t fear HIV HIV fear don’t who people for book a It’s

world, but punctuated punctuated but world,

While Watching Watching While ) and men have have men and ) Misery” sex weddings and, soon, same-sex divorce. divorce. same-sex soon, and, weddings sex

chores like the straight straight the like chores

kidnapped by their fans (“Missing You You (“Missing fans their by kidnapped post-Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell world of same- of world post-Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell

full of brunches and and brunches of full

trasted to the zone in which authors are are authors which in zone the to trasted or two of kinky sex. This is a book for the the for book a is This sex. kinky of two or

domestic and predictable, predictable, and domestic

usually less than. Ordinary gay life is con is life gay Ordinary than. less usually - brutality, and, if one is lucky, a moment moment a lucky, is one if and, brutality,

unremarkable as hell, hell, as unremarkable

ing, as opposed to our lives, which are are which lives, our to opposed as ing, world, but punctuated by fears, occasional occasional fears, by punctuated but world,

community, that it’s it’s that community,

metaphor and analogy; it’s always thrill always it’s analogy; and metaphor - of brunches and chores like the straight straight the like chores and brunches of

secret of the gay gay the of secret

Hollywood continually surfaces for for surfaces continually Hollywood able as hell, domestic and predictable, full full predictable, and domestic hell, as able

“Mills reveals the true the reveals “Mills

Suspended Somewhere Between: A Book of Verse, to such a fine point is the concept of alienation reduced; for (cont. from page 17) there is no shame like the shame of Some beggars swayed taking them away to the slaughterhouses. gnarled dying tree-trunks meanly clothed in winter leaves through which dim-glowed “At the Khaibar Pass” is the third poem the night-lights of bazaar nocturnality; to close its fingers in my gut and pull. It’s a some beggars dressed in tiers “‘they are taking them striking, vivid piece situated in the Khaibar of foreign suiting and fat of Lahori (more often transliterated Khyber) Pass be- away’ is a shocking, ghee… arresting piece of work. tween Pakistan and Afghanistan, a medita- … the repeated refrain tion on the transience of empire. of ‘they are taking Dahta (or Daata) Ganj Baksh, “the mas- them away / to the Like wind they came, like water they left, ter who bestows treasures,” as Abul Hassan slaughterhouses’ beats the thousands of soldiers, the thousands Ali Ibn Usman al-Jullabi al-Hajvery al- of years, like a bell inside your th Ghaznawi was known, was an 11 -century brain…” passages long gone, long forgotten Persian Sufi and scholar, a holy (indeed, in this catacomb of desire and history. saintly) figure. His monumental tomb in Lahore is the object of pilgrimage — accord- ing to the Internet it is the most popular The poem ends: shrine in the city. The experience of being part of the crowd around al-Hujwiri’s tomb …silence beyond and silence behind on Thursday night (Jomay raat) comes viv- to this end idly to life: the poor and the wealthy, the teasing imagination leads us; local and the international. As does the and leaves us.” sensation of being part of something more:

H They were all there: The poetry in this collection spans the 18 love remains love however crudely exhibited length of Akbar Ahmed’s life, which is faith turns to love now nearing its seventh decade. At times however clumsily expressed fascinating, at times bland, one might be love creates faith tempted to see in his poetry a reflection of from whatever quarter coming. the man himself. That man is not, it’s clear, a poet first. But there are poems here that reward reading, nonetheless. “they are taking them away” is a shock- “The poetry in this ing, arresting piece of work. Located in the collection spans the 1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation/Indo- length of Akbar Ahmed’s Pakistan War (during which numerous life… atrocities were committed, including the That man is not, it’s murder of a large proportion of the Ban- clear, a poet first. gladeshi intellectual community by West Liz Bourke is reading for But there are poems here Pakistani-supported irregulars and the a postgraduate degree in that reward reading, rape of an estimated two hundred thou- Classics at Trinity College, nonetheless.” sand — 200,000! — women), the repeated Dublin. She spends her free refrain of “they are taking them away / to time (what there is of it) the slaughterhouses” beats like a bell inside reading, getting beaten up in your brain: a variety of martial arts, and falling off perfectly good who was martyr walls. When not courting which one saint death by bruises, she reviews

depended only for Tor.com, Ideomancer, and

on the language he spoke: Strange Horizons. n

n

valise, in which are leaves of loose paper. loose of leaves are which in valise, Cont. on p. 20 p. on Cont.

crumbs on a seashore, and to read is to eat. eat. to is read to and seashore, a on crumbs sway. In one room, you find a half-open half-open a find you room, one In sway.

lection, braided into bread or scattered as as scattered or bread into braided lection, through open windows. Curtains shift and and shift Curtains windows. open through

- col this in food made often are words Her you can hear the wind breezing cool cool breezing wind the hear can you

at how apt are the connections afterwards. afterwards. connections the are apt how at with many rooms. The ceilings are high; high; are ceilings The rooms. many with

you to swallow all at once and only wonder wonder only and once at all swallow to you You wander around a deserted house house deserted a around wander You

on synagogue on poem on heart, forces forces heart, on poem on synagogue on tell a dream. a tell

etery Theater,” lays ghost on grave on stage stage on grave on ghost lays Theater,” etery instead, to tell this collection as I would would I as collection this tell to instead,

- “Cem favorites, my of One sequence. a But none of that is enough. Let me try, try, me Let enough. is that of none But

associations that cannot be untangled into into untangled be cannot that associations to hold between my thumb and forefinger. and thumb my between hold to

skills lies in layering a complex density of of density complex a layering in lies skills ately intimate with a volume thin enough enough thin volume a with intimate ately

single poem: one of Taaffe’s extraordinary extraordinary Taaffe’s of one poem: single - immedi feel to me leading understated,

is similar to the experience of reading a a reading of experience the to similar is about its materiality is appropriate and and appropriate is materiality its about

experience of the collection as a whole whole a as collection the of experience tion between family members, everything everything members, family between tion

Even this analogy is not enough. The The enough. not is analogy this Even - conversa murmured a like feels often

the scene play out.” play scene the

swallow and set you free. you set and swallow author’s grandfather. In a collection that that collection a In grandfather. author’s

words: you are watching watching are you words:

sense that the last page turned you into a a into you turned page last the that sense at Westminster Synagogue, taken by the the by taken Synagogue, Westminster at

You are not reading the the reading not are You

When you wake, it is with the confused confused the with is it wake, you When the cover of the Czech Memorial Scrolls Scrolls Memorial Czech the of cover the

with warmth, with color. color. with warmth, with

rain, violins and lemon tea. lemon and violins rain, - thread for a spine, with a photograph on on photograph a with spine, a for thread soup

you flushes with life, life, with flushes you

beautiful: a saddle-bound chapbook with with chapbook saddle-bound a beautiful: to remain full of domovoi and challah and and challah and domovoi of full remain to

the empty room around around room empty the

I could tell you that the book itself is is itself book the that you tell could I fall empty and quiet again, you want them them want you again, quiet and empty fall

The moment you touch it, it, touch you moment The

propriate to clap. to propriate up, because you don’t want the rooms to to rooms the want don’t you because up,

“You reach for a page. page. a for reach “You

- ap be would it not or whether of certain more as your reaching for the pages speeds speeds pages the for reaching your as more

- un and breathless you leave will that fools find yourself thinking of that girl all the the all girl that of thinking yourself find

dybbuks, angels and golems, ancestors and and ancestors golems, and angels dybbuks, a soul-singe, a gasp, an ache of loss. You You loss. of ache an gasp, a soul-singe, a

lit stage, a one-woman play of demons and and demons of play one-woman a stage, lit burn each scene’s end will leave you with: with: you leave will end scene’s each burn

19 a brilliant actor donning masks on a low- a on masks donning actor brilliant a Girl” just in time to anticipate the sharp sharp the anticipate to time in just Girl”

single warm voice that reads like watching watching like reads that voice warm single You think of Andersen’s “Little Match Match “Little Andersen’s of think You

i

with bone and bread for its pages. Here is a a is Here pages. its for bread and bone with ing, writing their names in ash and clay. clay. and ash in names their writing ing,

is a collection of fire and ink ink and fire of collection a is Mayse-Bikhl - laugh grieving, baking, talking, reading,

A A truth: the you tell could I yet. it shared watching young people and old people people old and people young watching

to articulate to you, someone who has not not has who someone you, to articulate to ing women give poems to other women, women, other to poems give women ing

which marked me in ways I must struggle struggle must I ways in me marked which - watch are You out. play scene the ing

elsewhere in a different language, and and language, different a in elsewhere - watch are you words: the reading not are

port about an experience that took place place took that experience an about port es with life, with warmth, with color. You You color. with warmth, with life, with es

- re a mundane, the to marvellous the of - flush you around room empty the it, touch

ing that what is required is a translation translation a is required is what that ing You reach for a page. The moment you you moment The page. a for reach You

- feel myself find I same. the much is work able to imagine it otherwise. it imagine to able

To attempt a review of Sonia Taaffe’s Taaffe’s Sonia of review a attempt To rest will be determined, and you will not be be not will you and determined, be will rest

sense to a listener. a to sense as you pick up one paper, the order of the the of order the paper, one up pick you as

to narrative, to something that will make make will that something to narrative, to peculiar to dreams, you know that as soon soon as that know you dreams, to peculiar

already taking over, yoking your noumina noumina your yoking over, taking already

played out before them. With the logic logic the With them. before out played

low-lit stage…” low-lit

finding that the gear-grinding day-brain is is day-brain gear-grinding the that finding

ence never knew any story but the one that that one the but story any knew never ence

actor donning masks on a a on masks donning actor

scribbling it down while still fresh, and yet yet and fresh, still while down it scribbling

formed changed each night; but the audi the but night; each changed formed -

like watching a brilliant brilliant a watching like

a fierce, vivid dream, wishing to relate it, it, relate to wishing dream, vivid fierce, a

the order in which these scenes were per were scenes these which in order the -

warm voice that reads reads that voice warm

the reader. It is like having woken from from woken having like is It reader. the

sponded to a scene they had rehearsed; rehearsed; had they scene a to sponded

its pages. Here is a single single a is Here pages. its

language of the book or the language of of language the or book the of language

out one card at a time. Each card corre card Each time. a at card one out -

with bone and bread for for bread and bone with

in spite of not feeling fluent in either the the either in fluent feeling not of spite in

allowed the audience to pick up and call call and up pick to audience the allowed

collection of fire and ink ink and fire of collection

the operative word: one must try to do so so do to try must one word: operative the

tered a deck of cards onto the stage and and stage the onto cards of deck a tered

is a a is Mayse-Bikhl A “

attempt an act of translation. “Attempt” is is “Attempt” translation. of act an attempt , where two actors scat actors two where , Pick-up 52 called -

To review a good book of poems is to to is poems of book good a review To You remember that you once saw a play play a saw once you that remember You

Reviewed by Amal El-Mohtar Amal by Reviewed

tober 2011, 32 pages, £6 pages, 32 2011, tober Oc

y A Mayse-Bikhl, Mayse-Bikhl, A Press, Papaveria Taaffe, Sonya by A Mayse-Bikhl Consider these lines from “Hershel Said”: (cont. from page 19) Papaveria Press’s description of this Dreidel with demons, groschen collection says the poems are “curated” by from a table, long coat flying Rose Lemberg, and the metaphor is apt: I “…one of Taaffe’s as stories stretch and braid am left helpless before the inevitability of extraordinary skills lies like challah for the rising… one poem’s following the next. The whole in layering a complex … is a move from echoes, ghosts, haunting, density of associations Like matzah all year round, the truth. and desolation to nourishment, fantastika, that cannot be untangled joy, and fulfillment, while passing through into a sequence.” a quiet carnival of characters. But the way The movement from image to image is one poem prepares the next has all the el- cinematic, a slow pan over a room, seam- egance of ligament, the beauty of a muscle less as the spill from one line to the next: flexing into motion: I think in particular “A Mayse-Bikhl is lovely; spinning demons to a stationary coin on of how the “You are a demon, dressed in it is tremendous; it is a table, left behind a long coat indicat- yesterdays” of “Sheydim-Tants” leads into a work to be cherished ing leaving, leading to a story pulled into “Of Chasing After Yesterdays,” how the as much as lauded, and dough, and the whole to be consumed former’s “season that never stays” gives way I consider it a small while being immersed in the scene. to “sheets cold and full of broken leaves, / treasure.” Each of the twenty poems in A Mayse- dead flowers, fool’s gold strewn in my Bikhl is short, none longer than a page and empty bed.” a half, most only one page or less. Conse- I love that this collection has taught me Amal El-Mohtar is a quently the density of each poem makes new things, though I do not dare to pre- two-time winner of the it feel like a chapter, but more: in so many tend that I have reached all these poems’ Rhysling Award for Best of these pieces, each line contains a whole dense layers; every reading has helped me Short Poem and has been story ambered in an image to stop the to uncover a new one without detracting nominated for the Nebula heart. from the awe and pleasure of the first. award. She is the author A Mayse-Bikhl is lovely; it is tremendous; H of The Honey Month, a Cold hangs like glass on the air. it is a work to be cherished as much as collection of poetry and Every lover’s letter is a golem. lauded, and I consider it a small treasure to 20 prose. Her poems have Pomegranates bloom in the open streets have and hold: an heirloom given to me in also appeared in multiple like graffiti. passing by a stranger with whom I would venues online and in print, be friends. including Stone Telling, Welcome to Bordertown, and Mythic Delirium. She also edits Goblin Fruit, an online quarterly dedicated to fantastical poetry. The Problem of Two Bodies by Michele Bannister We shall not dwell in more detail, lemma-led and wistful, there is the commute, here the commutator; no longer can I convolve this life, project my hope, sum every fleeting arc to a bound orbit: it resolves nothing. Michele Bannister lives If I follow you, I fall adjunct to ambition, in Australia, where she if you follow me, no chance to keep your calling – is working towards her it is a null set, the space of which I speak, doctorate in astronomy. the intersection of hearth and home and happiness. Her work has appeared This the price of scribing and scrying the universe: in Strange Horizons your continent here, mine half a planet away, and Stone Telling, and and travel that takes even light seconds, all held between. is forthcoming in

Ideomancer, Jabberwocky,

and Inkscrawl. n

n

Aqueduct Press. Aqueduct

mile road chained to a truck by three white white three by truck a to chained road mile

, is available from from available is , Lullabies

clearly has more to tell us. tell to more has clearly

black man who was dragged down a three- a down dragged was who man black

Shotgun Shotgun poetry, and stories

is an exciting work from a poet who who poet a from work exciting an is Fire is

Written in memory of James Byrd, Jr., a a Jr., Byrd, James of memory in Written

collection of her own own her of collection

When the Only Light Light Only the When turned. have pages the

cycle “Jasper, 1998: III” is the strongest. strongest. the is III” 1998: “Jasper, cycle African descent. The first first The descent. African

whose images and ideas linger long after after long linger ideas and images whose

desires can be. Of the three poems in this this in poems three the Of be. can desires produced by people of of people by produced

creates a series of psychological portraits portraits psychological of series a creates

we are reminded of just how cruel some some cruel how just of reminded are we fiction, fantasy, and horror horror and fantasy, fiction,

and and — the poem, “Mississippi Drowning” “Mississippi poem, the

where “pavement becomes skin tight” and and tight” skin becomes “pavement where

some of the best science science best the of some

perhaps best portrayed in in portrayed best perhaps — that journey that

today, where backs must sing or break, break, or sing must backs where today,

series, a collection of of collection a series,

the beauty, the darkness, and the cruelty of of cruelty the and darkness, the beauty, the

today, not of Jim Crow slavery days but but days slavery Crow Jim of not today, for the Dark Matter Matter Dark the for

human, Jones takes some of the wildness, wildness, the of some takes Jones human,

publisher known especially especially known publisher He writes of dark Mississippi roads of of roads Mississippi dark of writes He

who and what we are, and how best to be be to best how and are, we what and who

poet, writer, editor, and and editor, writer, poet,

coming-of-age, coming-to-terms with with coming-to-terms coming-of-age,

is an award-winning award-winning an is

Drawing on the common themes of of themes common the on Drawing

Sheree Renée Thomas Thomas Renée Sheree

to finish what we will not do. not will we what finish to

the lullabies of lint.” of lullabies the

dead the expect who

er’s lament and the instructions to “learn “learn to instructions the and lament er’s

living, the of weight the

- lov disgruntled a at laugh but help cannot

blazing.” In “Sleeping Arrangement,” one one Arrangement,” “Sleeping In blazing.”

dens of bridges, rusting under under rusting bridges, of dens

among lovers, when our sky is “burned to to “burned is sky our when lovers, among

- bur the of writes He ourselves. of and ers

Jones reminds us of those perfect moments moments perfect those of us reminds Jones

- oth for hold we expectations and desires

sweet passion and laughter. In “Meridian,” “Meridian,” In laughter. and passion sweet

its myriad faces, but also of the impossible impossible the of also but faces, myriad its

ness, there are also memorable moments of of moments memorable also are there ness,

The poet not only writes of desire and and desire of writes only not poet The

- dark is there while And do. poets good

promises and delivers more. delivers and promises

and our grasp on it in the magical way that that way magical the in it on grasp our and

journey…” reading the collection to see if the poet poet the if see to collection the reading

iar and unfamiliar, rearranging the world world the rearranging unfamiliar, and iar

and the cruelty of that that of cruelty the and lines leave readers excited to continue continue to excited readers leave lines

- famil is poems his of landscape The boys.

the beauty, the darkness, darkness, the beauty, the strongest clutch of kudzu, and its final final its and kudzu, of clutch strongest

cowboy boots and dance with blue-black blue-black with dance and boots cowboy

some of the wildness, wildness, the of some The poem is graceful and stealthy as the the as stealthy and graceful is poem The

21 learn the electric slide, we wear snakeskin snakeskin wear we slide, electric the learn be human, Jones takes takes Jones human, be

are rich and verdant. In his poems we we poems his In verdant. and rich are

are, and how best to to best how and are,

i

very well. His imagination and his work work his and imagination His well. very and flourish within… flourish and with who and what we we what and who with

Jones “wears the word” and he wears it it wears he and word” the “wears Jones open, them pry crevices, kiss to was age, coming-to-terms coming-to-terms age,

this work and in many that follow, Saeed Saeed follow, that many in and work this wanted ever I’ve All themes of coming-of- of themes

narrator saunters into overgrown grass. In In grass. overgrown into saunters narrator “Drawing on the common common the on “Drawing

desires. Jones writes: Jones desires. selves standing in a field of thistle as the the as thistle of field a in standing selves

air “crowded with want” to reflect on other other on reflect to want” with “crowded air - them find readers Gown” Evening Stolen

the narrator reaches beyond the summer summer the beyond reaches narrator the line to the roots of forsythia.” In “Boy in in “Boy In forsythia.” of roots the to line

“soil recoils” and “pines turn their backs,” backs,” their turn “pines and recoils” “soil - gaso “fed and down” face portrait family

den, the narrator is unapologetic. Though Though unapologetic. is narrator the den, abuse, the young narrator “…turned the the “…turned narrator young the abuse,

- gar life’s in status outsider supposed its of work possibly exploring seduction and and seduction exploring possibly work

clever tangle of desire and craving. Aware Aware craving. and desire of tangle clever In “Terrible Boy,” a quiet, unsettling unsettling quiet, a Boy,” “Terrible In

South’s fertile earth, to create a sultry, sultry, a create to earth, fertile South’s imagined voice even more powerful. more even voice imagined

siren of about seven million acres of the the of acres million seven about of siren work’s haunting refrain, making Byrd’s Byrd’s making refrain, haunting work’s

fully takes the well-known demonweed, demonweed, well-known the takes fully leaves this horror in the spaces around the the around spaces the in horror this leaves

ourselves.” ourselves.” very first page. In “Kudzu” Jones skill Jones “Kudzu” In page. first very - African-American cemetery. Jones’s poem poem Jones’s cemetery. African-American

hold for others and of of and others for hold explosive reading experience from the the from experience reading explosive broken apart, his torso dumped before an an before dumped torso his apart, broken

and expectations we we expectations and twenty-six poems, Jones’s volume is an an is volume Jones’s poems, twenty-six of his tragic ordeal, Mr. Byrd’s body was was body Byrd’s Mr. ordeal, tragic his of

of the impossible desires desires impossible the of . Composed of of Composed . Man Black a at Looking of in church pews. Conscious during most most during Conscious pews. church in

myriad faces, but also also but faces, myriad on Raymond Patterson’s classic, classic, Patterson’s Raymond on 26 Ways Ways 26 songs, ring shouts and Dr. Watts hymns hymns Watts Dr. and shouts ring songs,

writes of desire and its its and desire of writes fers readers his own sensual and wise take take wise and sensual own his readers fers call-and-response of chain gangs and work work and gangs chain of call-and-response

“The poet not only only not poet “The Rutgers MFA graduate Saeed Jones of Jones Saeed graduate MFA Rutgers - me for miles,” Jones writes, employing the the employing writes, Jones miles,” for me

Memphis poet and and poet Memphis Fire, is Light Only chilling testimony. “Hear me, Jasper. Hear Hear Jasper. me, “Hear testimony. chilling

When the the When chapbook, poetry new his In men in Jasper, Mississippi, the poem is a a is poem the Mississippi, Jasper, in men

Reviewed by Sheree Renée Thomas Renée Sheree by Reviewed

Sibling Rivalry Press, November 2011, 44 pages, $12.00 pages, 44 2011, November Press, Rivalry Sibling

y Jones, Saeed by , Fire is Light Only the When The Desert Spirits of Terri Windling

Terri Windling is our splen- symbolizes the importance of ‘acknowl- did artist of the interstitial in edging difficult passages of life, as opposed multivarious forms (editor, vi- to fearing, repressing, or ignoring them; cel- sual artist, essayists, author). ebrating the strength and wisdom that comes Her visual art work is poetry from hard experience.’” Female figures are in three dimensions — as paint, often depicted with one breast exposed to ink, collage. For years Terri indicate transformation, “‘shedding human spent her winters in Tucson, consciousness or returning to it from a primal Arizona — where she developed animal state.’ Both male and female figures a deep bond to the Sonoran are sometimes horned, as an indicator of desert and the multicultural healing spirits. Many have one eye that American Southwest, the muse is either shut or concealed. Reminiscent for the paintings featured here. of Odin’s blind eye gazing into the spirit Kit Fox Terri says, “I didn’t find my own world, these figures look into the ‘Wilder- style until I moved to Tucson and started se- ness World,’ the realm of spirits, ancestors, riously painting in oils. In the desert light, and myth.” my palette, technique, and imagery abruptly Sometimes words can be almost deci- changed.” phered in Terri’s paintings, written in ink The animal series of paintings shown onto the paint or scratched into the back- here was born of an “eclectic range of in- ground. Although a word here and there fluences from Mexican Surrealism (Re- may be readable, they do not form coher- medios Varo and Leonora Carrington) to ent thoughts and are not meant as literary. Bill Worrell and Holly Roberts. The stron- Rather, they show the artist’s vision of the H gest influence of all, though, was the des- blurring of boundaries between stories and ert itself, the greens and browns and blues visual arts. 22 of the Sonora, the endless skies and the “The words are intended to evoke ancient mountains that change with every shift stories, distantly recalled and half-forgotten. in light, the javelinas and jackrabbits and My desert paintings are rarely illustrative roadrunners…the coyotes that sang… and of any single folk tale, but of generations of the blend of cultures — Native American, stories, layered one on top of the other — the Latino, and Anglo — that have made the mingled stories of indigenous and immigrant desert their home and embodied it in sto- groups, woven together, affecting each other.” ries, songs, and art.” Each painting conjures two elements: a The series includes spirits native to the figure who lives somewhere in the inter- land and is inspired by its mingled folk- stices between reality and myth, and the tales and myths. Some are protective fig- embodiment of the landscape, its stark ures, but tricksters abound throughout, too beauty and inscrutability. (both benevolent and malevolent): “heal- “I think of myself as a landscape painter of ers, muses, and oneiric shape-shifters be- sorts, even though my work is figurative, be- neath the desert moon.” cause each figure embodies my feelings about a The desert palette is the ground upon particular piece of land, at a particular time which the work builds symbolic meanings. of day. To me, the land and the myths that it “These iconic paintings share a number of contains are inseparable.” recognizable elements that form a kind of symbolic language. Many of the figures [All quoted text from “Once Upon a Time: An are wounded, which in Terri’s iconography Introduction to Terri Windling’s Art” by Ellen Steiber Read Ellen’s essay on Terri and her work here: www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galterri.html.

Front Cover

Featured Artist Desert Spirit — Medicine Vision http://www.terriwindling.com/] n

n

The Spirit of Sabino Canyon Sabino of Spirit The

Spirit of Air of Spirit

Coyote and the Dog Spirits Dog the and Coyote

23

i

Old Coyote Woman Coyote Old Snake Shaman Snake New Poetry Collections from Aqueduct Press

Unruly Islands collects 36 poems suffused with science fiction, revolu- tion, and digital life on the edge. Annalee Newitz, editor of i09, says of the collection, “Liz Henry’s poetry is always moving, funny, and weird, regardless of whether she’s flying us on a rocketship through a science fictional social revolution or telling us a wry story about being an adoles- cent embezzler. This collection is like a monster cyborg mashup of Walt Whitman, Joanna Russ, and the Internet. Which is to say: Fuck yeah!”

A roadmap to what diverse, intersectional feminist speculative poetry is and what it can become.

“We seek out change to dream ourselves into the world. But even though we are in the world, our voices are folded into the creases. We speak from memory of stories told sidewise. We speak from pain; is that serious enough? The world has not been welcoming, but what other world is there? “Literature of the fantastic allows us to create worlds and visions of society, origins, social justice, and identity.” Available May 2012 www.aqueductpress.com

$4.00 The Cascadia Subduction Zone PO Box 95787 Seattle, WA 98145-2787