POETRY:
Edie Rhoads
Telephone Call
Christmas Fern
Tara Bubriski
Cans
Lee Anderson
A Cent‐Sorry Sonnet
Jay Parini
A Winter Wreck
Carrion
Anaïs Mitchell
His Kiss, the Riot
Adrie Kusserow
Attiak Refugee Camp
The Hunger Sutras
Robert McKay
Dream Poem
David Cavanagh
Love Poem with Elbow
Gas Up
Jo Robin
my faucet mouth
Tina Escaja
Desmontas
David Huddle
Mother Song
A Muse
Stephen Callahan
Two Poems
Peter Schumann
Cantastoria
Galen Peria
untitled #52
Mickey Western
May all God’s Children Come to This
Hatsy McGraw
In Your Small Plot
God on the Bathroom Floor
FICTION:
Marc Estrin
An excerpt from the novel, ‘When the Gods
Come Home to Roost’
THEATRE:
Stephen Goldberg
An excerpt from the one‐act play,
‘Flying on the Bright Wings of Despair’
Editor’s Note:
I arrived in Burlington from southern Vermont in the fall of 2007, only to discover that the largest city in the state had no literary magazine. This fact always mystified me; especially since from the moment I arrived I’ve been meeting wonderful new writers, poets, playwrights – practically stumbling across them in the street. Their words have come to me in many forms: from hearing them sung in folk operas, to hearing them screamed from Iraq veterans at Firehouse Gallery readings during the Combat Paper exhibit. One of the poems in this magazine was culled from a letter to the editor of Seven Days; many were sent to me from writers I knew only from their books, who were kind enough to take a chance on a new publication. To all the contributors I extend my warmest gratitude for allowing me to present their work here.
I often hear that we are living through the moment in history when print publication is ‘dying’ – as if print is wearing a thin gown, lounging on a veranda, gazing at its own setting sun. But I don’t often see anything done about it, other than a shrugging of shoulders and murmurings about how the internet is good for the environment and saves time and money. This part of the country is remarkably fertile – here are some of its fruits.
– B.A.
CONTRIBUTOR’S NOTES
ADRIE KUSSEROW’s first book is Hunting Down the Monk (BOA, 2002). Most recently her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry 2008, Salmagundi, Harvard Review, and
The Sun.
LEE ANDERSON is the proprietor of Radio Bean and ¡Duino! (Duende) and is the curator of the Swimming Man Messtival. He is currently, and continually, becoming increasingly aware of Destiny and how puny a part of it he is.
TARA BUBRISKI is originally from Southern Vermont but has spent the past four years living in California. Tara works at The Sustainability Academy in Burlington, VT, where she sometimes collaborates with her ten year old friends on stories about mute rappers, vegetables, and dirt biking. Tara writes, takes pictures, sits in the woods, and grows food.
STEPHEN CALLAHAN is a philosopher and jazz composer who operates the Aesthesian Press in Burlington, VT. Many of his poems have been collected in his book Qualia.
LIZA CANNON (Illustrator) is an implant‐turned Vermonter who paints, draws, illustrates, sculpts, etches, blockprints, and sings in the shower. She has written and illustrated a book, Sophie and the Chair, and worked as an artist‐in‐residence on the Vermont Joy Parade tour. She can be found this summer wearing overalls and handkerchiefs in her newly planted garden, or practicing on her borrowed accordion.
DAVID CAVANAGH’s books of poems include Falling Body (2009) and The Middleman (2003), both published by Salmon Poetry of Ireland. His poems have appeared in leading journals in Canada, Ireland, the U.S., and the U.K., and in anthologies such as The Book of Irish American Poetry from the Eighteenth Century to the Present (U. of Notre Dame Press), and Salmon: A Journey in Poetry (Salmon).
TINA ESCAJA is originally from Spain and is Professor of Spanish at the University of Vermont. She has published extensively on gender and contemporary literature from Latin America and Spain, and is currently the President of the AILCFH (International Hispanic Women’s Association). As a writer and scholar, Escaja has authored/edited more than 10 volumes of works that include poetry, essays, plays and fiction.
MARC ESTRIN is a writer and political activist. He helped found the Burlington Peace & Justice Center, and is the author of many novels and memoir, including Rehearsing with Gods, The Good Doctor Guillotine, and Insect Dreams.
STEPHEN GOLDBERG, born in Queens, NY, began his creative life as a jazz trumpet player. His first stage pieces were influenced by the 60’s ‘happenings.’ During this time he was musical director of the Nimbus Dance Theater Company in NYC. He came to Vermont with Nimbus
Dance Theater Company to do residencies at Johnson State College. His first play, Sand Trap, (1983) was written in St. Croix and later performed in Burlington.
DAVID HUDDLE is the author of The Little Bone, The Story of a Million Years, La Tour Dreams of the Wolf Girl, The Writing Habit, and other books of poetry, fiction, and essays.
HATSY MCGRAW has written poetry for twenty years and has published in several literary magazines. In 2005, she graduated from Vermont College’s Writing for Children/YA program. Hatsy and her husband, painter Tom McGraw, live in Windsor, VT, where they raised their two children. She also works as a librarian and a novice jewelry‐maker.
ROBERT MCKAY’s essay on Kierkegaard and Joanna Newsom recently appeared in Visions of Joanna Newsom from Roan Press. Robert lives in and around Burlington, VT. He works in restaurants, on farms and with young people.
ANAIS MITCHELL is a songwriter based in Vermont. ‘His Kiss, the Riot’ is from her folk opera interpretation of the Orpheus myth, Hadestown.
GALEN PERIA was born one day before and 54 years after Chuck Berry. Also an actor and songwriter, Galen graduated from the New York Film Academy. His film ‘Elephant Shoes’ was a finalist for the Cannes Film Festival in France.
EDIE RHOADS studied at the University of Virginia andcompleted her MFA as a New York Times Fellow at NYU.Her poems have appeared in Blackbird, Indiana Review, and
Post Road. She works at an elementary school in Burlington.
JO ROBIN is a singer and songwriter. She currently takes up space in Burlington, VT, where she performs feats of musical mediocrity and unparalleled poetic profanity.
JON TURNER is an Iraq veteran that has taken up art and writing as a method of healing. He and his partner Catherine are the Artistic Directors of the Green Door studio. Recently Jon led a writing workshop at the University of Iowa.
JAY PARINI, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College. He has published twenty books, a mix of poetry, fiction, and non‐fiction, including The Last Station, which was recently made into a film. His new and selected poetry is The Art of Subtraction (2005).
MICKEY WESTERN is an itinerant professor of poetry at Burlington College, as well as a songwriter with a few albums under his belt. His novel Notes from Spaceship is available from Minimal Press.
PETER SCHUMANN was born in 1934 in Silesia. He studied and practiced sculpture and dance in Germany, moved to the USA in 1961, and founded Bread and Puppet Theater in New York City in 1963. From hand and rod puppet shows in the streets to giant puppet parades, Schumann addressed local injustices as well as the Vietnam War. In 1970 Schumann and the company moved to Vermont. There he continues to build puppets, create shows and giant outdoor spectacles and perform locally and internationally, and to bake bread, grow garlic and split firewood.
BEN ALESHIRE (editor) is a writer and artist based in Burlington, Vermont. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Green Mountains Review, est, Seven Days, and Burlington Poetry Journal. His play, ‘Gauvain the Good Knight’, won the 2009 Nor’Eastern Playwright Competition.
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