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Some Other Angel

Daniel was already home. “Hi,” he yelled from the kitchen as Em wrestled her overcoat onto a hanger in the overfull front closet. What the hell was he doing? Breaking rocks on the counter? “Hi,” she yelled back, unwinding her scarf. “Annie call?” Wham. Wham. Wham. “No,” Daniel called back. Wham. “What are you doing?”…

Little Girl in Blue, 1918

The girl in a blue dress is standing on pink tile and gazing back at the artist as if looking through him for a place to rest. The day is brilliant with Mediterranean light Modigliani fled for the gravity of dark hotels, human throats elongated like sunflowers on the back streets of Paris, barefoot girls—this…

Tim Seibles, Contributor Spotlight

Contributor Spotlight Tim Seibles is a commanding, dynamic presence, particularly when he reads his poetry. Tall, charismatic, he stands behind the podium and gives animated voice to poems that are, at turns, grave, inventive, and hilarious. His primary subjects from the start have been sexuality and race, and somehow, Seibles has always been able to…

The Excitement Begins

On the day before his fiftieth birthday, Bill Lander received a letter from a woman he had never heard of-Amber Harding-saying she’d be pleased to come to Wallace to meet him and be his birthday date. She noted the time she’d arrive on the train and said she’d have no trouble recognizing him. “I’ll just…

Clever and Poor

She has always been clever and poor,        Especially here off the Yugoslav Train on a platform of dust. Clever was        Her breakfast of nutmeg ground in water In place of rationed tea. Poor was the cracked        Cup, the missing bread. Clever are the six Handkerchiefs stitched to the size of a scarf        And knotted at…

Contributors’ Notes

MASTHEAD Guest Editor Gary Soto Executive Director DeWitt Henry Editor Don Lee Poetry Editor David Daniel Associate Editor Jessica Dineen Editorial Assistant<</strong> Jodee Stanley Founding Publisher Peter O'Malley Editorial Interns: Michelle Heller and Robin Troy. Poetry Readers: Rebecca Lavine, Mary-Margaret Mulligan, Leslie Haynes, Tom Laughlin, Renee Rooks, Lisa Sewell, Karen Voelker, Tanja Brull, Brijit Brown,…

Creatures

Elna had once said that beautifying was nothing more than grabbing Mother Nature by the throat and showing her who was boss. When Shelly arrived for her appointment, her friend was vigorously at work on an alabaster-complexioned teenager. Testimonies of terse, coiled ringlets spiraled downward at the girl’s ears and the back of her neck….

Ten Miles an Hour

The weird thing about the place was the speed of light— eight, nine miles an hour, tops. Isweartagod! It was beautiful, though, the way it felt slowing over you like a balmy breeze—light slow enough to catch in a, in a cup, light you could smear on a slice of bread like jam, light you…