LITERARY ARTS REVIEW SPRING 2008 I VOLUME 34 I ISSUE 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM LITERARY ARTS REVIEW Office of Student Media HUC 135, 1530 Third Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35294-1150 phone : 205.934.3216 fax : 205.934.8050 [email protected] www.uab.edu/aura $10 SPRING/SUMMER 2008 I VOLUME 34 I ISSUE 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM Copyright © 1974-2008 Aura Literary Arts Review. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way, shape, or form without the express written consent of the artist. All rights to the work revert to its creator after publication in this magazine. To reach an artist regarding republication of material, contact The Office of Student Media, HUC 135, 1530 Third Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1150. ISSN 0889-7433 LITERARY ARTS REVIEW VOLUME 34, ISSUE 1 SPRING/SUMMER 2008 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF nathan prewett MANAGING EDITOR jazmund walker FICTION EDITOR jonathan scott POETRY EDITOR lionel copeland ART EDITOR kambre bell COPY EDITOR miles walls FACULTY ADVISOR tina harris STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOR amy kilpatrick Aura Literary Arts Review is a semi-annual publication funded through the Board of Student Publications at the University of Alabama at Binningham. Aura Literary Arts Review is staffed entirely by graduate and undergraduate students of the university. Al1 proceeds from advertising and from the sale of the magazine go to help Aura. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES All submissions should be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Without this, the staff will neither offer a response nor return the submission. Please do not send previously published work or simultaneous submissions; both will be automatically rejected. Submissions by UAB students, faculty, staff and alumni are primarily considered. Aura Literary Arts Review supports the literary and artistic talents of the resi­ dents of Alabama. Any submissions from outside the state of Alabama will not be considered.Other submissions are considered as space permits. All submissions of relatively great length (short stories, essays, plays, etc.) should include a copy of the work in electronic format. Submissions of poetry should not include more than five poems and should not total more than ten (10) typed, double-spaced pages. Visual artwork of all forms is accepted. Please include the artist's name on each page of written work or on the back of each piece of visual artwork (if this is possible). Contact information and a short biography for the artist should be included. OTHER INFORMATION Opportunities for advertising and sponsorship are available. Subscriptions to Aura Literary Arts Review are also available. Please contact the magazine for more details or visit online at www.uab.edu/aura. CONTACT INFORMATION Aura Literary Arts Review University of Alabama at Birmingham HUC 135 1530 Third Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35294-1150 Phone; 205.934.3216 Fax: 205.934.8050 Email: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS POETRY TITLE PAGE Queendom 12 Jonathan Scott Star Lady 14 Hermitess 16 Upon Hearing It Too Many Times 17 Ken Abbot Bright Nuggets on a Rocky Stream 19 Not All of Them Left: A Sestina, Circa 1934 21 My First 23 Myra Walker-Williams If I Could Turn Back Time 24 Code 143 25 The Murder of Uncle Bill 27 Chris Mahan Doors 6o William Virgil Davis Do You? 61 A True Story 62 Mon Petit Amour, Mon Petit Mort 63 Mark Trammell And Heaven To Boot 64 Jennifer Crossley 5 Senses of You 96 Lauren Markham Let Me Be 97 I Know A Lady Who Sings 98 Joseph Farley emesis 99 The Midnight Path 118 Lindy Owens A Brown and Speckled Sparrow 120 Fredrick Zydeck Winter 121 Louis Faber Referral to the "Specialist" 122 Lowell Jaeger I Live in a House of Origami 124 Skye Joiner To Live in By Living Without 125 CREATIVE NONFICTION TITLE PAGE Polaroid Angel 127 Jim Owens What We Know 133 Chris Mahan FICTION TITLE PAGE Poolside 29 Kelly French Trait's Pond 42 Jason Slatton Pictures of Living 101 J.C. Freeman Raccons 107 Richard Dokey VISUAL ART TITLE PAGE Downtown 28 Allison Bliss On the Boat Docks 82 St. Vincent 83 Going to D.C. 41 Holly S. Schwalen Downtown D.C. 84 Father and I 65 XiaoJinZou Reflection 66 The Kite 67 Principle 68 TITLE PAGE Faceless 69 Rachel Johnson Untitled 70 Time 71 Orangey (Capitalism in the State Series) 72 Jonathan Hicks Alex (Capitalism is the State Series) 73 Nigga Please (Smoke, Dresden Influences 74 Series) Nigga Please III (Smoke, Dresden 75 Influences Series) Untitled 2006 76 Alexander Mcalpine Lady in the Mirror 77 The Blue Chair 2007 78 Moses 100 Buchart Gardens 79 Alyssa Mitchell Alleyway 94 Eye of the Tiger 95 Arc 132 Watergrass So Amy Kilpatrick Inquiro 81 Yui-Hui Huang Hope 8s Alex McClurg Eid mubaarak 86 Miles Walls Kul 'aam wa 'antum bikhair 87 Tiger 88 Jeff Chambless Giraffe 89 Field 90 Oak 91 Cahaba 126 Beneath An Overcast 92 Nathan Prewett Overcast Above the Oaks 93 Untitled Monoprint 106 KathyBaty Spirit :l32 Chad Johnson COLOPHON Aura literary Arts Review is printed by Alabama Web Press in the quantity of 500 copies per issue. Paper used for text is 70# Cougar Opaque Text, White. The cover is printed on 8o# Dull Cover, White. This issue is 144 pages in length. The edito1ial process is performed with QuarkXPress 71 running on a Dell Precision 360 PC with Microsoft Windows XP. All visual artwork was submitted electronically and toned in Photoshop CS. Fonts used are the following: Papyrus for Aura name; Mailart Rubberstamp for cover, title page titles; Georgia for body text and notes on contributors body text; lane-Narrow for title, author/artist, pullquotes; GemFont One for page numbers and genre headings; Ambrosia for back cover quote. Front and Back Cover art by Xiao Jin Zou. EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION For two years, I have served as the fiction editor for Aura. Along the way, I've learned a little bit about publishing and a lot about editing. As an aspiring writer myself, I used to wonder what sort of creature was prying open the envelopes containing my manuscripts. Surely some multi-armed arthro­ pod with letter-opener claws gleefully scissoring reams of my very best efforts along with the efforts of others. And I imag­ ine tears of wanton ecstasy streaming from glassy, opaque eyes. Then, at the end of the day, this creature sweeps up the shredded paper like so much dead hair at a barber shop and takes it home in wheelbarrows to wallow perversely in piles of unread stories and poems and essays and letters from his own mother. While I am still convinced there are such creatures out there, I have come to recognize the genuine difficulty of selecting one piece over another. And, there is the added pressure of the knowledge that somewhere some young writer is imagining me. What sort of ogre am I? Am I using her manuscript to roast spitted boars? I have learned that each envelope contains not only someone's story, but it also represents my own responsibility to the greater artistic community. I consider it my duty as an editor of creative writing to give each submission thorough consideration, knowing that this is only a fraction of the effort that went into its composition, never mind the courage it takes to lick the bitter gum, seal that effort, and entrust it to the care of some invisible entity. In other words, as an editor, I reverse my imagination. What sort of creature reluctantly fed a swatch of her soul into the thin grimace of the blue, postal drop-off bin and walked away with pretzeled guts? Surely someone just like me. So, congratulations to those whose efforts have been rewarded by this publication. Moreover, congratulations to those who try again-it is the far more difficult accomplish­ ment and the far more rewarding. -:Jonathan Scott, Fiction Editor 12 I Aura Poetry/Barksdale Maynard Winner Jona~han Scott Queendom I. "Pray for the believer that his belief be simple and harmless for should the snow besmirch all dirts, blind all sight?" Says Yavanna. She is golden with adamant irises. She is earth And all things grown. She sings and heron wings stretch From the blades of her shoulders to each horizon. Her song is lord. Voice of the ageless ash. "Pray for the sinner that his sin be simple and harmless for should the grit clog all gears, all become pearl?" Says Yavanna. Wisdom as moonless midnight looking beyond Andromeda to Beginning. Wisdom as coronal Sol, evidence Only in eclipse. She opens her mind, time genuflects. Her thought is lord. Idea of the godless bang. II. She takes Bourbon off Canal. Hurricane flagellates walk Sloshing margaritas-tall spires, Steeples crowned By salt-on her flip-flop toes As she passes. Mild nausea. Alleys blur, names, landmarks. Her ankle twists, stiletto snap, Fall to the stones. Cut lip. Tongues Blood-piss and tin-she tastes A minor miracle slipping, Taste of foretaste, a prophecy Filling her mouth, gagging word Of power, "Gone," Says Yavanna. A minor miracle slipping Away. Aura Poetry/Barksdale Maynard Winner I 13 She goes two flights up Through a splintered green Door. Nausea. Spin. Kitchen table upended, coffee Carafe broken, sprouting slivers From the ecru shag. A slice Into the toe of the foot with the ankle Thumping, thumping now To the pulsing, cayenne sting of stab, Bleeding-piss and tin-she Falls again. She had left Aule by the river, she left it With Aule begging, "Try once More," but gone, Gone. Now she, whose tears are loss, Weeps.