Fall & Winter 2003

Volume 21, No. 1 & 2

Fall & Winter 2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIAL FEATURE: Jane Hirshfield On the Nature of Language and Art
Language Wakes Up In The Morning: A Meander Toward Writing					Jane Hirshfield
Jane Hirshfield, a contributing editor of Alaska Quarterly Review, is the author of five collections of poetry: Given Sugar, Given Salt (finalist for the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award), The Lives of the Heart, The October Palace, Of Gravity & Angels, and Alaya, as well as a book of essays on poetry, Nine Gates. She also edited and co-translated two poetry anthologies: The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Komachi & Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan and Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women. Her work has appeared in many publications including in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Nation, The American Poetry Review, Best American Poems, and Alaska Quarterly Review.
FICTION
Blackdamp	Shauna Seliy
Shauna Seliy’s recent stories have appeared in Other Voices, Hawaii Pacific Review, Meridian, and The New Orleans Review. “Blackdamp” was the 2003 winner of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award for fiction.
Gaining Ground	Robin Black
Robin Black has reviewed books for ELLE magazine and for The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Gaining Ground” is her first published story in a national literary magazine.
In Our House	Mary Kuryla
Mary Kuryla’s stories have appeared in Alligator Juniper and The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses XXIII. She also wrote and directed the feature length film, Freak Weather, which premiered in the Toronto International Film Festival.
The New Bear	David Rutschman
David Rutschman’s stories have appeared in Forklift, Hanging Loose, and The Southeast Review.
Walk Back to a Bonewhite Sun		Michael Buckley
Michael Buckley’s first published story, “The Meticulous Grove of Black and Green” appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review and was selected for inclusion in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003. “Walk Back to a Bonewhite Sun” is his second published story.
Talking Hands, Blue Eyes				Evan Morgan Williams
Evan Morgan Williams’s stories have appeared in The Portland Review, Northwest Review, Blue Mesa Review, and Best of the West 5.
Distortion	Ellen Hunnicutt
Ellen Hunnicutt is the author of the novel, Suite for Calliope (Dell paperback), and her story collection, In the Music Library (Ecco paperback), won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her recent stories appear in StoryQuarterly, River Oak Review, and Crab Orchard Review.
Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction		Charles Yu
Charles Yu’s work has appeared in the Harvard Review.
Did Something Happen?					Stephen Elliott
Steve Elliott has recent work in GQ, McSweeney’s, The Sun, Adbusters, and Fourteen Hills. He is the author of several novels including What It Means to Love You and A Life Without Consequences, both published by MacAdam/Cage Publishing.
Orient				Douglas Light
Douglas Light’s first published story, “Three Days. A Month. More.” appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review and was selected for inclusion in both the 2004 Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003. “Orient” is his second published story.
Five Things About Chickens				Drew Perry
Drew Perry has recent stories in Black Warrior Review, The South Carolina Review, River City, and The Nebraska Review.
Where Are You Going?	Gretchen E. Henderson
Gretchen E. Henderson has published an essay in Slant and a poem in California Quarterly. This is her first published story.
Every Silly Thing				Diana Joseph
Diana Joseph’s new story collection is called Happy or Otherwise (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2003). Recent stories have appeared in Threepenny Review, Puerto del Sol, and Mid-American Review.
The Music of Hair		Joe Meno
Joe Meno's stories have appeared in TriQuarterly, Washington Square, Other Voices, Gulf Coast and have been broadcast on NPR. His most recent novel is How the Hula Girl Sings (HarperCollins) and his online serial, The Secret Hand, runs through Playboy magazine at playboy.com.
PHOTO ESSAY
Cancer Journal			Richard J. Murphy
Richard J. Murphy is the photo editor of the Anchorage Daily News. "Cancer Journal" begins on the winter solstice 1998 when Murphy's wife, Bonnie Bernholz, learned she had breast cancer. It continues through her year-and-a-half battle with cancer, her death in 2000, and the lives of Murphy and their son, Wil, following her death. Murphy prepared this photo essay for Alaska Quarterly Review from his journal, which is part of the permanent collection of the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. The project was made possible, in part, through the support of the Decker-Morris Gallery in Anchorage.
MEMOIR
From Mirrors: A Memoir				Steve Fellner
Steve Fellner’s narratives have appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, North American Review, Northwest Review, Mid-American Review, and Puerto Del Sol.
Trains				Deborah A. Lott
Deborah A. Lott is the author of In Session (W. H. Freeman) and her essays have appeared in Salon, The Los Angeles Times, Lear’s Magazine, and Psychology Today. Lott’s short childhood memoir, “Elephant Girl,” appears in Gray Wolf Forum.
POETRY
Guest Editor: Michael Ryan
Michael Ryan is the author of three volumes of poetry; an autobiography, Secret Life; and a collection of essays about poetry and writing, A Difficult Grace. In spring, 2004, his memoir, Baby B, will be published by Graywolf Press and his New and Selected Poems will be published by Houghton Mifflin. Among the many distinctions for his work are the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, a Whiting Writers Award, National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Yale Series Of Younger Poets Award. He is Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of California, Irvine.
Anna’s Hummingbird Eclipse				Tom Babayan
Tom Babayan worked for six years as a field biologist in desert and wetland habitats of the West. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Many Mountains Moving, Blue Mesa Review and South Dakota Review.
Provo Canyon, 1951		Ruth Anderson Barnett
Ruth Anderson Barnett has published a chapbook, The Stripper in the Mojave, and poems in Prairie Schooner, Nimrod, Virginia Quarterly Review, and other magazines and anthologies.
He Taps the Cage Again Kite Sonnet The Magician’s Box Horse with Lowered Head				Allison Benis
Allison Benis has poems published or forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, Indiana Review, Quarterly West, and Prairie Schooner.
FromIf I Take You Here,a poem sequence				Martha Carlson-Bradley
Martha Carlson-Bradley has published poems in New England Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Carolina Quarterly, Marlboro Review, poetry East, and other magazines. Her chapbook, Nest Full of Cries, was published by Adastra Press.
After Your Death Tres Gatos Last Stanza Sleepwalker			Douglas Brayfield
Douglas Brayfield is a psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles.
Indication				Laton Carter
Laton Carter’s work has appeared in Ploughshares, Chicago Review, and Notre Dame Review. His first book will be published by The University of Chicago Press.
In Praise of My Filet Mignon Poem for After Peter Dies Flight of the Birdfish				Gary Clark
Gary Clark is Director of Development for the Vermont Studio Center, a community of visual artists and writers in Johnson, Vermont.
The Wish Touchstones					Don Colburn
Don Colburn is a reporter for The Portland Oregonian. His poems have appeared in The Iowa Review, Ploughshares, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Prairie Schooner.
Ethereal Skirt My Daughter’s Sadness, a Causal Analysis On the Mend	Sue Cronmiller
Sue Cronmiller currently serves as program director and managing editor for Humanities Out There, an outreach program to disadvantaged schools in Orange County, California.
It Was My Favorite Things That He Played Pregnant Woman Came Home In the Haircut Place You		Chris Davidson
Chris Davidson plays guitar with the rock band the Santiago Steps.
Undertaking		Susan Davis
Susan Davis lives in Long Beach, California, with her two daughters.
Redress		John Donoghue
John Donoghue teaches electrical and computer engineering at Cleveland State University. His poetry has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Willow Springs, The Lancet, and his book, Precipice, was published in 2000 by Four Way Books.
Listener's Guide (Chopin)		Mark Dow
Mark Dow’s work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Boston Review, Chicago Review, Faultline, and Conjunctions.
Solfeggio		Ellen Dudley
Ellen Dudley is the author of Slow Burn (Provincetown Arts Press, 1997). Her poems have appeared in TriQuarterly, Agni, and Massachusetts Review.
Magnetic Fields in a Galaxy of Mutants		Roger Fanning
Roger Fanning’s first book of poems was a National Poetry Series selection. His second book, Homesick, was recently published by Viking-Penguin.
The Bees Letter		Jonathan Farmer
Jonathan Farmer’s interview with Louise Glück was published in The Writer’s Chronicle, and he has essays and poems forthcoming in The Marlboro Review and The Carolina Quarterly.
Cab Driver Chimney Swifts Motel Piano		Ricia Gordon
Ricia Gordon’s poems have appeared in New England Review, Calliope, Marlboro Review, Worcester Review, and other journals.
Toy Store The Hectic Lives of Rocks		James Kelly
James Kelly is a systems administrator and network engineer for a small computer services firm.
Memento Mori From the Far Country, Home The Other Dead			Pamela Kircher
Pamela Kircher’s book Whole Sky was published by Four Way Books in 1996.
Love and Work and Play Two Moons Claw-Foot Hammer Two Little Indians Harvest Moon		Diane Kerr
Diane Kerr’s poems have appeared in Kalliope and Southern Indiana Review.
Ode to My Cat Euclid		Noelle Kocot
Noelle Kocot is the author of 4 and The Raving Fortune, which will be published next year. She has received the S.J. Marks Award for her work from American Poetry Review and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
July 4th			Joy Manesiotis
Joy Manesiotis is the author of They Sing to Her Bones (New Issues, 2000), which won the New Issues Prize in Poetry.
Four Darks in Red, 1958 Untitled, 1968		Caley O'Dwyer
Caley O’Dwyer’s Full Nova was published by Orchises Press in 2001. Other poems based on Mark Rothko paintings will appear in an upcoming issue of Prairie Schooner.
Amnesiac Poem for a Dog Man, Mine	Marcia Pelletiere
Marcia Pelletiere’s poems have appeared in Southern Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and Painted Bride Quarterly.
Relief Who Sits Behind You?		Martha Rhodes
Martha Rhodes is the author of At the Gate and Perfect Disappearance. Her third book, Mother Quiet, will be published in 2004.
Greeting Visitors Photograph, for a Class on Perspective Minor Parts		Mathew Schwartz
Mathew Schwartz’s four poems in this issue are his first national publication.
Crows The Yellow-Eyed Grass The Swimmer			Diane Swan
Diane Swan’s poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Ms., Boston Review, and other magazines.
Down			Daniel Tobin
Daniel Tobin’s first book of poems, Where the World is Made, won the Katherine Nason Bakeless Prize. His second book of poems, Double Life, is forthcoming in 2004 from Louisiana State Press.
Her Obstacle Course Eulogy for a Blueberry		Beth Understahl
Beth Understahl works as a research analyst at a legal consulting firm.
Ghosts in Roses Outing		Tracy Ann Zank
Tracy Ann Zank’s poems have appeared in West Wind Review, Rattle, Lynx Eye, and Sweet Annie Press.