Five poems by alum Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. (poetry, ’09) appear at Drunken Boat:
In Spare Relief
The dead ones are the pretty ones, said Lily,
with space, quiet, the occasional guide or guard, their gods
graceful and monochrome in niche
or in this narrative band of soft stone
all pavilion and demons, as in the poems.
Continue reading online…
Alum Laura Van Prooyen (poetry, ’10) provided a poem and commentary for Poetry Daily’s Poet’s Pick. Her chosen poem is “Holy Sonnet: XIV” by John Donne.
“Having grown up in a Dutch Calvinist home, the literature of my childhood was scripture. Every night at the dinner table, my mother read Bible stories of journeys, plagues, and trials, meant to inspire and instruct. The Psalms, many of which I was required to memorize, were my first poems. Language and rhythm got into my blood. However, the rigid parameters of my religious tradition and my family’s commitment to them prompted in me a battle. I felt constrained by narrow interpretations of Right and Wrong and grew to be an irritating thorn, poking: What if? Donne’s restless, searching energy in “Holy Sonnet: XIV” has become, for me, a new psalm. I am drawn to the music of doubt and discontent, to the deep-rooted struggle with faith. I understand the speaker’s impulse to implore a triune God to alter, forcefully, his soul.”
You can read the rest of Laura’s commentary (and the poem) online…
A story by alum Alain Park (fiction, ’13) appears at Four Way Review:
A woman stands alone in the surf. She’s up to her mid-thighs in the water, warm Gulf of Mexico water, and she can feel the strong undertow of the sea. It pulls her legs and sucks the sand from under her feet. It’s tremendous—this undertow—a force of nature—powerful. But, she’s determined to stand in it. So, she does.
She’s not entirely alone. Her lover is near, standing behind her on the dry sand, holding a bag of beach supplies. She calls for him to come to her and though at first he doesn’t move, eventually, after she throws him a stare, he does. He might be a boyfriend—most would describe him as such—but that sounds too serious for the woman so she says lover, even though they’ve been in each other’s lives for years. It’s okay to say lover, since it’s been off and on. This is what she tells herself.
Continue reading online…
A poem by alum Jennifer Sperry Steinorth (poetry, ’15) appears at Four Way Review:
Water and Island
pressed between blue pages a few hours
on our old boat which is not ours my leg
over the bow you in the stern with the kids
in the stern I’m reading poems you’re not
the sky a depression of noon wilting
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Two poems by alum Jennifer Givhan (poetry, ’15) appear at Four Way Review:
NOCTURNE
Then I remembered: Mama wasn’t gone but safe, in her bed, turning in sleep. It was I who went away—from Chopin in the bones, palms heavy with dates like dark purple fingers reaching toward sand, toward fruit sickly sweet outside Mama’s bedroom window turned mine, her girlhood unloosed in mine, on the ground, rotting yellow.
Continue reading online…
An interview with alum Serene Taleb-Agha (fiction, ’12) appears at the website of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College:
You studied engineering at Berkeley, correct? As you pursued a degree in the sciences, were you drawn at the same time to literature? Or did writing come later? Are they (engineering and MFA) mutually exclusive to you, or did you find a place where the two meet?
I have always loved books and literature. As a kid, reading was practically a matter of survival. I remember writing my first adventure stories at the age of ten, and I kept a journal and a suite of pen pals for years until school, and then work, took over my life. But I also had this logical, analytical side that really enjoyed science and engineering. So while I’ve turned away from it as a career, figuring out how the interlocking pieces of the universe fit and come together has always been a big part of my thinking. The struggle to figure out the world we’re born in, even while there’s all this ordinary drama complicating our lives—that fascinates me.
Continue reading online…
A poem by alum Laura Swearingen-Steadwell (poetry, ’14) appears at The Collagist:
Out of town, down
along the cliffs and walls
sunken in surrounding earth,
ahead for miles, the towns, farms,
vineyards, and gentle hills of Umbria,
gold and orange, soaking up the open sun,
Continue reading online…
Two poems by alum Melissa Roberts (poetry, ’12), Afterwards and Loneliness, appear at The Collagist:
Afterwards
The room feels small or large
depending on how small you are within it
and whether or not a man is touching you
while you’re thinking about something else—
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Three poems by alum Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (poetry, ’05) excerpted from her upcoming book The Greenhouse appear at The Collagist:
(When the giant sacrifices himself for the boy)
(and on the screen
the men marching toward him all the pieces
falling from his metal body
steaming in the snow)
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Two poems by alum Kathy Alma Peterson (poetry, ’07) appear at IthacaLit:
Sleight with Homage to Linen
Without ransack a theft can go undetected
for months even years may pass before
trained eyes miss the heirloom watch hands
(arms, really) frozen at the moment it was lifted
(taken from the bureau where it was to be for life)
Continue reading online…
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