Someone You Love is Still Alive – Ephraim Scott Sommers
Even before I read the poems in Someone
You Love is Still Alive, I heard reports from shootings in schools and
malls, in nightclubs and the bases of armed forces. I remembered hearing
stories from survivors of natural disasters in reports on radio and television.
I remembered how buildings like the Twin Towers in New York City fell. I
remembered the death of Prince. I remembered the crumbling of the Roman
Catholic Church under the sexual abuse claims against priests and bishops. I
remembered the death of my dad, the death of my first marriage, the death of a
dream that would never be. They were just too painful to remember. I am not sure
how to make sense of these events whose presence has become a fixture in my
memory.…
Soft piano music plays from the parlor as Dahlia hovers in the foyer. Her pink lace jacket is distinctly out of style. Her auburn hair is not ineptly styled, but Poppy is eyeing the white streaks with an affected air.
“They’re all in the
parlor,” Poppy says. “The other ladies are already having their biscoff. It’s
fat free,” she adds.
Dahlia’s shoulders
curl forward over her unshapely form. “That sounds wonderful,” she says, eyes
darting.
Poppy exchanges a
look with Daisy, who is idling by the door the parlor, holding a bottle of red
wine in one hand and a bottle opener in the other. “You can open it,” she says.
Dahlia passes Daisy without looking her in the eye.
‘The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion’ By Sonja Livingston
If you think a woman’s quest to find a statue from the church of her childhood wouldn’t be that engaging a mystery, you’d be wrong. In The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion, Sonja Livingston refuses simple devotion as a motive and keeps digging for the source of religious impulse. As she considers her motive for pursuing an old sanctuary statue, she asks great questions: “Why does the faith of our upbringing leave such a deep imprint?” “How does one wooden virgin’s smile capture a girl’s imagination so completely that, decades later, she will spend months tracking it down?” And, perhaps most importantly, “When else did we bow to something larger than ourselves?”…
Konstantin Nicholas Rega is an internationally published poet, a recent graduate of the University of Kent’s writing program, a columnist at Into the Void, a staff writer at Treble, a fiction editor at Crack the Spine, and a host at Livewire 1350. He’s the author of Waterlight Recollections—a collection of short stories now available on Blurb—and Arrows & Bones—a poetry chapbook soon to be published.
In this episode of Cover to Cover with . . ., Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum chats with Konstantin about experimenting with style and personal circumstance in writing, as well as jazz and other music-related topics.
From death, from darkness A new life emerges Sparks and flares teeming with energy Reside upon the amber obelisk Temporal guardian of the landscape Arise as do the sun
Noon; Orange Tree
Hearts of the earth, bloomed anew Endure the iron fist of the meridian Yet you, burnt orange maple Remain position Sentinel with a thousand arms Overseeing creation, benevolent shade
Evening; Red Tree
Bask within the sol of life Tree within earth’s garden Lit aflame, yet ever standing Flares of spirit empower A maroon body of nature As the sun sets, I await a new sunrise
Note: a Troll Kerfuffle is a baked good that half the people served will politely avoid and the other half will insist that some authoritarian action must take place to ensure no one will ever have to be offended even knowing such a baked good exists.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of indifference to logic
(there is no substitution for this, even if forced)
1/2 cup of self-righteousness
1/4 cup of indignation
1/4 cup of capricious behavior
1/4 cup emotional instability
tbsp. of diversion from original
intent
splash of umbrage
dash of social justice
just a pinch of outrage for taste
(warning, some recipes call for a gallon, use sparingly)
Mix all ingredients together to a
batter and begin beating. This step alone may take years to force the batter to
submit.…
