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

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Spring 2022

The poet Natalka Bilotserkivets was an active participant in Ukraine’s Renaissance of the late-Soviet and early independence period.

We’re fortunate at Solstice to count two translators of her work, Ali Kinsella and Dzvinia Orlowsky, as members of our community.

Ali and Dzvinia’s most recent book, Eccentric Days of Hope and Sorrow: Poems by Natalka Bilotserkivets (Lost Horse Press, 2021), brings together a selection of Bilotserkivets’ poetry written over the last 40 years. In our Reviews & Interviews section, you’ll find a marvelous conversation in which Ali and Dzvinia discuss their work with Jennifer Martelli.

Our Poetry section includes a Ukraine Spotlight—a mixture of astounding new work, curated by guest editor Sam Cha, along with a pair of Bilotserkivets poems from the Solstice archives (translated by Ali and Dzvinia).

Poetry in Translation is a Solstice specialty, and this issue is no exception. To cite just one example, I’ll share the outstanding opening of “The Great Plan B” by Justyna Bargielska, translated from Polish by Maria Jastrzębska:

On my ninth birthday the scoutmaster
gave me a card with the number of days
I’d already lived.

Our Spring Issue also marks the debut of a new member of the Solstice community, contributing editor Zibiquah Denny. “The Takeover,” appearing in Nonfiction, recounts her memories as a thirteen-year-old witnessing a direct action by the Milwaukee American Indian Movement (AIM), as “several carloads of Native people broke into the old abandoned Coast Guard Station (CGS) on Lake Michigan on the east side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in August of 1971.”

I’ll close this note with a shout-out to one of the short stories in our Fiction section: “Boomtown Girl” by Shubha Sunder. It’s the title piece from Shubha’s forthcoming collection, which won the 2021 St. Lawrence Book Award and is due out later this year from Black Lawrence Press. Congratulations, Shubha! Solstice is honored to be the home of this story.

Crafting this issue, story by story, essay by essay, and poem by poem has been a delight. I want to thank Lee Hope, Solstice’s founding editor, my predecessor as editor-in-chief, and current Fiction Co-Editor, for her patience and care in passing the baton. I also want to express my gratitude to Solstice’s staff and community, who make my job enjoyable and easy: William Betcher, Barbara Siegel Carlson, Richard Cambridge, Ewa Chrusciel, Eileen Cleary, Anjali Mitter Duva, Robbie Gamble, Amy Grier, Richard Hoffman, Jill Johnson, Peter Katz, Megan Leduke, and Andrai Whitted, as well as Ali, Dzvinia, Jennifer, Sam, and Zibiquah. My deepest thanks, as well, to the donors who’ve supported our mission and the readers, contributors, and submitters who make each issue possible.

Ilan Mochari

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editors' Notes

  • Editor’s Note
    by Ilan Mochari
  • Reviews and Interviews Editor’s Note
    by Ilan Mochari
  • Poetry in Translation Editors’ Note
    by Barbara Siegel Carlson and Ewa Chrusciel
  • Poetry Editor’s Ukraine Note
    by Robbie Gamble
  • Guest Poetry Editor’s Note
    by Sam Cha
  • Nonfiction Editor’s Note
    by Richard Hoffman
  • Fiction Co-Editors’ Note
    by Anjali Mitter Duva

Fiction

  • About Face
    by Andrew Furman
  • Visiting Hours
    by Lew McCreary
  • Fish
    by John Blair
  • Boomtown Girl
    by Shubha Sunder
  • Fishy
    by Wendy Tong
  • Unlike Some People
    by Bill Gaythwaite
  • The Ghost That Shaped the Skin
    by Shastri Akella
  • The Elpenoriad
    by Chris Huntington

Nonfiction

  • The Takeover
    by Zibiquah Denny
  • The First Time I Told Someone
    by Richard Jeffrey Newman
  • Half Empty, Half Full
    by Lena (Sunada-Matsumura) Newlin
  • A Fable for Yesterday
    by Alexis Lathem

Photography

  • Ghosts: War Artifacts
    by William Betcher

Poetry

  • Terror Management Theory
    by Quintin Collins
  • Elegy as a Room for My Dead
    by Quintin Collins
  • etymology ft. urban dictionary
    by Quintin Collins
  • Five Short Essays on Open Secrets
    by MC Hyland
  • Essay on Paper
    by MC Hyland
  • Poem Misquoting Paul’s Letter to The Corinthians
    by Keith Kopka
  • What the Seven Taught Me About Love
    by Foolan Flopez
  • unquenchable
    by Livia Meneghin
  • Wound City Diptych
    by Ellen Austin-Li
  • Wedding Portrait
    by T. R. Poulson
  • Desert Crossing…
    by Marcie Rendon
  • Threads
    by William R. Stoddart
  • Untitled
    by Suzanna Slack
  • Six
    by Ellen June Wright
  • Blue
    by Cathleen Cohen
  • Soil Horizons
    by Cole Depuy
  • Dollar Store Wine
    by Hugo Paz
  • Homecoming
    by Mariya (Masha) Deykute
  • Sonnets in Astana 4
    by Mariya (Masha) Deykute
  • Sonnets In Astana 5
    by Mariya (Masha) Deykute
  • Featured
    Spotlight on Ukraine
    Child in a Lightbulb
    by Oksana Maksymchuk
  • Spotlight on Ukraine
    Hope Was a Thing with Pink Feathers: Oksana Baiul
    by Dzvinia Orlowsky

Poetry in translation

  • Three Poems by Mariangela Gualtieri
    by Mariangela Gualtieri and Cristina Viti
  • Three Poems by Justyna Bargielska
    by Justyna Bargielska and Maria Jastrzębska
  • The Shark
    by RoodlyLaurore and Jerrice J. Baptiste

Reviews & Interviews

  • Interview
    My Deniversity – Knowing Denise Levertov with Mark Pawlak
    by Richard Cambridge
  • Review
    World Happiness Index by Kathleen Aguero
    by Jennifer Martelli
  • Interview
    It’s All Just Writing: Defying Genre in The Yellow Book
    by Ilan Mochari and Sam Cha
  • Interview
    Five Questions for Erica Charis-Molling
    by Robbie Gamble
  • Interview
    Five Questions for Quintin Collins
    by Ilan Mochari
  • Review
    Eating Lightbulbs and Other Essays by Steve Fellner
    by Amy Grier
  • Interview
    Five Questions for Robbie Gamble
    by Eileen Cleary
  • Interview
    Translating a Ukrainian poet whose “urgent, evocative lyricism spoke directly to my heart.”
    by Jennifer Martelli, Dzvinia Orlowsky and Ali Kinsella
  • Interview
    Five Questions for Jonathan Papernick
    by Ilan Mochari and Jonathan Papernick
  • Review
    Made Man by Jendi Reiter
    by Robbie Gamble


Contributors

Avatar photoAlexis Lathem
Avatar photoAli Kinsella
Avatar photoAmy Grier
Avatar photoAndrew Furman
Avatar photoBill Gaythwaite
Avatar photoCathleen Cohen
Avatar photoChris Huntington
Avatar photoCole Depuy
Avatar photoCristina Viti
Avatar photoDzvinia Orlowsky
Avatar photoEllen Austin-Li
Avatar photoEllen June Wright
Avatar photoFoolan Flopez
Avatar photoHugo Paz
Avatar photoIlan Mochari
Avatar photoJennifer Martelli
Avatar photoJerrice J. Baptiste
Avatar photoJohn Blair
Avatar photoJonathan Papernick
Avatar photoJustyna Bargielska
Avatar photoKeith Kopka
Avatar photoLena (Sunada-Matsumura) Newlin
Avatar photoLew McCreary
Avatar photoLivia Meneghin
Avatar photoMarcie Rendon
Avatar photoMaria Jastrzębska
Avatar photoMariangela Gualtieri
Avatar photoMariya (Masha) Deykute
Avatar photoMC Hyland
Avatar photoOksana Maksymchuk
Avatar photoQuintin Collins
Avatar photoRichard Cambridge
Avatar photoRichard Jeffrey Newman
Avatar photoRobbie Gamble
Avatar photoRoodlyLaurore
Avatar photoSam Cha
Avatar photoShastri Akella
Avatar photoShubha Sunder
Avatar photoSuzanna Slack
Avatar photoT. R. Poulson
Avatar photoWendy Tong
Avatar photoWilliam Betcher
Avatar photoWilliam R. Stoddart
Avatar photoZibiquah Denny

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