The Bookends Review

– Adam Biggs…

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The day was sweltering. There was a distinct smoky smell of baking skin, of salty sweat breaking through layers of carefully applied make-up and deodorant and cologne. It was the first sunny day of summer and by 11AM it had reached peak temperatures, threatening to break records. On the radio they were calling it an Irish Heatwave as it neared the mid-twenties, encouraging everyone to get their sun-cream on and their swim trunks out, and journey to Dun Laoghaire or The Strand for a day of sea and sand, one not to be missed.

I knew the scorching temperatures were no accident – that they would come on this day seemed entirely appropriate, as I drove away from Dublin, early that morning, overwhelmed by the aroma of sweating leather and the sizzle of metal from my seat belt.…

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for Artie                                                                                  

The plane to Charlotte is late                                                  
and the gate won’t open
for air. Lights pass in the sky,
and one must be the twinkle
in your eye. Travelers hold
little mirrors in their hands, without
reflection, unaware the massive
amount of breathing in this place,
all of us existing in a box
until the mask on a mouth
can’t save us, and more than a plane
goes down. Without notice.
Without time to reach for the hand
in the next seat over. I’m stuck
at this gate between here and there,
just waiting, counting breaths,
while you so quietly moved on.

– Beth Williams

Author’s Note: This poem started when I received a phone call that a friend had died. I was waiting at the gate for my plane and wasn’t able to embrace my emotions at the time.…

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Carolyn Turgeon’s appearance evokes an otherworldly elegance effusive with joy. With her long dark hair, complete with shiny streak of navy blue, red lipstick, and big blue eyes, Carolyn Turgeon seems herself to be a high priestess, the kind of magical creature who would be right at home in her sumptuous fantasy worlds.

Turgeon learned to love reading as an escape from her shy, dislocated childhood. She says, “I loved being alone in my room and reading.”

By chance, Turgeon’s mother brought home a book from the Betsy-Tacy and Tib series once by accident. These books by Maud Heart Lovelace had a tremendous impact on Turgeon’s development as a writer. Protagonist Betsy grows up in a small Minnesota town, reading as much as she can, climbing trees, and hoping to become a writer.…

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Through the window
you’re a deer aligning

with the house’s dense shadow,
a trajectory of my mind

shaping a path to the heavens.
You’re an offering under

the dying grass moon,
every vessel and no body,

a cracked spire
in the wheat-eyed sky.

I look for you in the constellations
of Artemis; I don’t look for you at all.

The mysteries of death
bore me most; I am interested

in the body’s slow refusal to listen,
the final scrim of heat rising,
imminent.

– Angela Sundstrom

Author’s Note: This poem is from my recently completed chapbook, Where the Waters Still. This collection contains work exploring grief, loss, and the body, often through a mythological lens. …

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Worrying, as I listened
to rain take care of itself
outside my walls and curtained windows,
about money,

I was awake,
but I lay still. I’d like to say
that rain dropped down from the indifferent universe,
but, though

the sound of rain couldn’t hear me,
I seemed to matter,
I, myself, seemed
to grow the wealth I needed, while on healthy trees…

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Karolina Zapal is an itinerant poet, essayist, translator, and author of Polalka (Spuyten Duyvil, 2018). Her second book, Notes for Mid-Birth, is forthcoming from Inside the Castle in late 2019. She is collaborating with the poet CA Conrad on translating their book, The Book of Frank, into Polish. Her work has appeared in Posit, Cathexis Northwest, Witness, Bone Bouquet, Adirondack Review, Bombay Gin, Foglifter, and others. She has completed three artist residencies: Greywood Arts in Killeagh, Ireland; Brashnar Creative Project in Skopje, Macedonia; and Bridge Guard in Štúrovo, Slovakia. She served as the Anselm Hollo Fellow at Naropa University from 2015-2017. She now works in Student Services at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities.…

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