Essay in THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2018;
(cited in BAE 2015, 2016, 2020); PUSHCART poetry finalist

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Spring 2014

 Editor’s Note

First, a timely ANNOUNCEMENT:  Solsticelitmag will be on a Grub Street panel with Talking Writing on the topic: DigitalLit:  Why Online Journals Deserve More Respect at 3:45 at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston on Friday, May 2nd.   Also, we’ll be a party where editors meet writers on Thursday eve at 7pm.  Go to MuseandtheMarketplace.org for their amazing weekend schedule.

Also, we announce the first recipient of the KURT BROWN Memorial FELLOWSHIP for a student to attend Pine Manor’s Solstice MFA Low-Residency, with which Solsticelitmag, an independent nonprofit, has an informal sisterly connection.  Congratulations to incoming poetry student: Lisa Sullivan.

IN THIS 2014 SPRING ISSUE:

First, our cover:  “Water Issues” photographic fine art journalism by Dominic Chavez.  Click photography for more of this vital series on water pollution in third world countries.

Our diverse fiction ranges from a premise piece by John Brown Spiers, to subtle magical realism by David Low, to the realism of Elizabeth Searle’s not so quiet story of a quiet car, and Eric May’s depiction of the rise of a Southern African American family dynasty, and Catherine Bell’s depiction of the decline of a WASP family fortune.  Also we feature short innovative work, two experimental pieces by Steven Huff, a sexual fantasy by Jenifer DeBellis and a lyrical voice piece by Vincent Craig Wright.

Our culturally relevant nonfiction includes a unique multimedia piece by Thomas Larson, also a brilliant essay investigating African American fatherhood by Trent Masiki; a lyrical piece critiquing the death of JFK by Martin C. Hansen; and finally a provocative essay critiquing psychiatry by Thomas Mallouk.

Also click on our ever-expanding feature: Book Reviews.

And don’t forget our amazing, award-winning Video Performance Poetry.

Thanks to all our fine editors, readers and staff.  Please see their bios on our impressive Staff Page.  And especially, we welcome to our staff our new poetry co-editor Jamaal May.   We TBA, we expect also to be adding three new interns.

Finally, especially, Subscribe for Free.  Receive in exchange tips on submitting to magazines, invites to book parties, lit gossip, profundities, contest dates and winners, and more!  And please follow us on Twitter where we’re poised to share vital info.

Your Subscription is vital to the life of our diverse Solsticelitmag community.

Warmly, Lee Hope

 

Poetry Editor’s Note

Poetry movements are, by their nature, inherently about a narrowing of possibility (let’s all stop doing that and start doing this). What tends to follow such narrowing is a synthesis between 1) what the movement brought into relief, 2) whatever movement it was a reaction to, and 3) the wildcard possibilities explored by daring new poets. When the neo formalism movement subsided, we were left with a field in which the embargo against received form was lifted. It is now no surprise that this issue of mostly free verse also contains a contemporary sestina and sonnet from Stevie Edwards and Sean DesVignes respectively.

I am grateful to be joining on as co-poetry editor at such an exciting time for American poetry. Many boundaries are being crossed, blurred, or obliterated, even while particular styles and aesthetics maintain their fidelity. One need not look further for proof than the conversation that poems by 20-something writers like Nathan Slinker and Franny Choi are having with the 90-something-year-old Simon Perchik. Perchik, who has been described by Library Journal as “the most widely published unknown poet in America,” has an ear for language and unique syntax that, for me, fits well into the shifting, unromantic, but personal lyric style that has me so excited about the next generation of fire-thieves.

As I said to my colleagues when signing on, I have no delusions that I’ll be able to fill Kurt Brown’s shoes, but I hope to make some worthy footprints alongside his.

Jamaal May

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editors' Notes

  • Spring 2014 Editor’s Note
    by Lee Hope
  • Poetry Editor’s Note
    by Jamaal May

Fiction

  • The Uncomfortable Millionaire
    by John Brown Spiers
  • Elevor
    by David Low
  • Table Rock
    by Vincent Craig Wright
  • Dukkha
    by Steven Huff
  • The Hudson
    by Steven Huff
  • THE QUIET CAR
    by Elizabeth Searle
  • An American Family
    by Eric Charles May
  • Before You Can Change Your Mind
    by Jenifer DeBellis
  • House on the Rocks
    by Catherine Bell

Nonfiction

  • Whiskey Under the Mattress, Playboy on the Porch
    by Trent Masiki
  • Orality Hunger (for David Shields)
    by Thomas Larson
  • An Ugly Anniversary
    by Martin C. Hansen
  • Reflections on Psychiatry, the Fear of Insanity, Trauma and Psychotherapy
    by Dr. Tom Mallouk

Photography

  • Water Issues
    by Dominic Chavez

Poetry

  • (Untitled)
    by Serhiy Zhadan
  • ATHEISM
    by Serhiy Zhadan
  • Follow the herd and all occasion for regret will disappear
    by Hsia Yü
  • That was Then and This is Now but We’re Finally in Synch
    by Hsia Yü
  • The Lost Actor
    by Nathan Slinker
  • A Dollop of Meringue
    by Nathan Slinker
  • Off Switch
    by Manu Samriti Chander
  • Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, in Gangnam District
    by Franny Choi
  • Mad Libs I
    by Franny Choi
  • The Resurrection of Captain John Brown
    by Michael Mlekoday
  • Medusa’s Dinner Party
    by Fatimah Asghar
  • In the Psych Ward
    by Stevie Edwards
  • Lumpy, an American Sonnet
    by Sean DesVignes
  • The Ruins
    by Wesley Rothman
  • I await the night with dread; await the night with longing
    by Marilyn McCabe
  • This liquid in state of frozen chaos holds
    by Marilyn McCabe
  • Hidden Valley
    by Ann Douglas
  • River Metaphysics
    by J. Scott Brownlee
  • [With each handful you dead]
    by Simon Perchik

Video & Audio Lit

  • The Ballad of Frank
    by Carla Schwartz
  • The First Draft of Yao Ming’s Retirement Speech
    by Giles Li
  • Ashes
    by Giles Li
  • Night (In 2 parts): After the DSM IV Description of Bipolar II
    by Ed Wilkinson
  • Ten Flowers
    by Richard Cambridge
  • When I Love You Next
    by Marlon Carey


Contributors

Avatar photoAnn Douglas
Avatar photoCarla Schwartz
Avatar photoCatherine Bell
Avatar photoDavid Low
Avatar photoDominic Chavez
Avatar photoDr. Tom Mallouk
Avatar photoEd Wilkinson
Elizabeth SearleElizabeth Searle
Avatar photoEric Charles May
Avatar photoFatimah Asghar
Avatar photoFranny Choi
Avatar photoGiles Li
Avatar photoHsia Yü
Avatar photoJ. Scott Brownlee
Avatar photoJenifer DeBellis
Avatar photoJohn Brown Spiers
Avatar photoManu Samriti Chander
Avatar photoMarilyn McCabe
Avatar photoMarlon Carey
Avatar photoMartin C. Hansen
Avatar photoMichael Mlekoday
Avatar photoNathan Slinker
Avatar photoRichard Cambridge
Avatar photoSean DesVignes
Avatar photoSerhiy Zhadan
Avatar photoSimon Perchik
Avatar photoSteven Huff
Avatar photoStevie Edwards
Avatar photoThomas Larson
Avatar photoTrent Masiki
Avatar photoVincent Craig Wright
Avatar photoWesley Rothman

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