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THE WOMAN NEXT TO THE BED SABRINA TOM She had just gotten off the plane and was still wearing her bridal sari, which was heavy and cumbersome as she sidled next to him on the couch, folded her hands in her lap, and listened to him explain the rules and rituals of the show. He had memorized each woman’s name and pointed them out to her. Sometimes he repeated a name twice and in this way she learned a little more about her husband’s interests.... MORE A SECRET IN PLAIN VIEW DANE CERVINE I come here every year, where my wife was born and raised, where her mother settled as a war-bride from England, where most of her family has remained in layered threads of conservative values, catholic mores, and a good dose of common sense. This year, there is a small reunion of the English side of the family at a Marriott’s Best Western, with an indoor pool and fun-center for the kids, and a solid restaurant for the adults. It was on the first night at dinner I was reminded that, yes, we are sexual beings. Even here. That the secret is sometimes in plain view.... MORE FROSTING CYNTHIA NEWBERRY MARTIN It was overcast and warm. Also, sticky. And still. Too still. I sniffed and inhaled the smell of rain. That was easy. But there was something else. A sweet smell—a smell like frosting in the bowl with the oven door open and the cake coming out. The smell of tornado.... MORE HOLY GOODS A POEM BY MEREDITH MARTINEZ THE DAUPHIN MILES KLEE Note his shrunken black bright pinhead pupils, forever seeing a world too bright; the insolent angle at which he carries his head, as though stuck fast between fury and sleep; the bleated, moronic stabs of laughter in Sunday Mass, with a fast rope of drool lunging for earth. His patient attendants, who have known only nonchalance in their charge, report a new vile streak and lewd invitations, a brazen appetite for groping.... MORE THE PRESIDENT’S DREAMS A POEM BY GREGORY LAWLESS A CASE STUDY IN ACCIDENTS STEPHANIE JOHNSON The Mother taught her the words to Rolling Stones songs and tucked candy cigarettes into her book bag. The Mother cut crooked bangs into the daughter’s hair and shadowed her eyes so she could look like Debbie Harry. The first time someone called her a slut, the Mother laughed. Honestly, she said, have you even kissed a boy?.... MORE ALLEGORY KIKI PETROSINO When Dante was young, he could help God without speaking. God would arrive at the breakfast table, putting His books & papers down. He’d drape His suit jacket over the back of His chair. Come & help me He’d say, letting His hand drop. Dante was so small, he’d have to reach up for the hand.... MORE CROSSING THE BORDER CURT ERIKSEN Though it is darker down here by the creek, in the shade of the alder and ash that grow so thick along the banks, the early sunlight is beginning to filter through the yellowing leaves and I can see the water glint and sparkle as it pours and splashes over the rocks. They’ve never even seen a picture of their only grandson, and now my father may not open his eyes again..... MOREBomb.htmlBomb.htmlBomb.htmlSecret.htmlSecret.htmlSecret.htmlFrosting.htmlFrosting.htmlFrosting.htmlHoly.htmlHoly.htmlDauphin.htmlDauphin.htmlDauphin.htmlDreams.htmlDreams.htmlAccidents.htmlAccidents.htmlAccidents.htmlAllegory-3.htmlAllegory-3.htmlAllegory-3.htmlBorder.htmlBorder.htmlBorder.htmlshapeimage_6_link_0shapeimage_6_link_1shapeimage_6_link_2shapeimage_6_link_3shapeimage_6_link_4shapeimage_6_link_5shapeimage_6_link_6shapeimage_6_link_7shapeimage_6_link_8shapeimage_6_link_9shapeimage_6_link_10shapeimage_6_link_11shapeimage_6_link_12shapeimage_6_link_13shapeimage_6_link_14shapeimage_6_link_15shapeimage_6_link_16shapeimage_6_link_17shapeimage_6_link_18shapeimage_6_link_19shapeimage_6_link_20shapeimage_6_link_21shapeimage_6_link_22shapeimage_6_link_23shapeimage_6_link_24
MOST READ IN 2008 1. Plum Island by Andrew Coburn 2. Single Life #8 by Amy Groshek 3. Kitchen Poems by Corey Mesler 4. Short-Term Memory by W. Hanigan 5. Crow by Ramesh Avadhani 6. Things We Find by Virginia Bell 7. Parallel Conservatory by Clare Kirwan 8. Like Joe Hill by John M. Anderson 9. Heywood Broun by Jeff McMahon 10. Unsafe on Our Oars by Barry BallardPlum.htmlCapacity.htmlKitchen.htmlMemory.htmlCrow.htmlThings.htmlConservatory.htmlKhrushchev.htmlContradiction-3.htmlhttp://www.contrarymagazine.com/indexA06.htmlshapeimage_7_link_0shapeimage_7_link_1shapeimage_7_link_2shapeimage_7_link_3shapeimage_7_link_4shapeimage_7_link_5shapeimage_7_link_6shapeimage_7_link_7shapeimage_7_link_8shapeimage_7_link_9
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REVIEWS AN INSURGENCY IN LETTERS From A to X: A Story in Letters is marked by the passion and fury of war, the agony of imprisonment and separation, and the despair of dusty towns wiped out by battles between Western helicopters and homegrown insurgents.... John Berger reviewed by Frances Badgett. DEWITT HENRY AND HIS CHARGES The major grace of this essay is its indirection: it tells of the ostensible birth of Ploughshares, but with the actual purpose of dwelling on Ruth’s birth and David’s arrival, which come to mean more to him than lit-mag fame.... Dewitt Henry reviewed by Thomas Larson. MUST LOVE DOGS One has to believe that dogs are thinking, feeling beings in order to enjoy this novel, and readers also have to accept that these are very special, highly intelligent dogs.... DavID Wroblewski reviewed by Shaindel Beers. ENGLISH POETS IN IRELAND Without fuss or fanfare we are brought deep into the textures and colors, the fabric of an Englishman living in Ireland’s life.... Mark Roper reviewed by Grace Wells. AFTER THE FLOOD The mud angels, mostly art history students from Europe and the United States who showed up in Florence after the news of the flood’s devastation reached them, are perhaps the greatest testament to the primacy of art in Florence. Thirty-three people died in the flood, and the city had to dig itself out of mud, debris, and disease. And yet it was the thousands of pieces of damaged artwork that drew, without prior organization, the angeli.... Robert Clark reviewed by Laura M. Browning. YOUNG MEN AND A NEW ANXIETY To have Google anxiety, you have to be convinced that you are actually the sort of being who could be picked out and displayed for your uniqueness. Someone with my common name, in contrast, will invariably find it difficult to be noticed by Google’s algorithms, no matter how many national epics one may have written.... Keith Gessen reviewed by David M. Smith. ALSO: MARILYNNE ROBINSON DONALD HALL DONNA STONECIPHER ZACHARY SCHOMBERG  FROM THE EDITOR SKATEBOARDING WITH MOULOUD We are always searching for the next book that will hook us with its first line and carry us, outside of time, to its final period. But who would expect that hook in the first line of an essay, an essay translated from the French, an essay about a cat?.... MOREReviews.htmlBerger.htmlBerger.htmlBerger.htmlHenry.htmlHenry.htmlWroblewski.htmlWroblewski.htmlWroblewski.htmlRoper.htmlRoper.htmlRoper.htmlClark.htmlClark.htmlClark.htmlGessen.htmlGessen.htmlRobinson.htmlHall.htmlStonecipher.htmlSchomberg.htmlMouloud.htmlMouloud.htmlMouloud.htmlMouloud.htmlshapeimage_10_link_0shapeimage_10_link_1shapeimage_10_link_2shapeimage_10_link_3shapeimage_10_link_4shapeimage_10_link_5shapeimage_10_link_6shapeimage_10_link_7shapeimage_10_link_8shapeimage_10_link_9shapeimage_10_link_10shapeimage_10_link_11shapeimage_10_link_12shapeimage_10_link_13shapeimage_10_link_14shapeimage_10_link_15shapeimage_10_link_16shapeimage_10_link_17shapeimage_10_link_18shapeimage_10_link_19shapeimage_10_link_20shapeimage_10_link_21shapeimage_10_link_22shapeimage_10_link_23shapeimage_10_link_24
THE DAUPHIN MILES KLEE HOLY GOODS MEREDITH MARTINEZ CROSSING THE BORDER CURT ERIKSEN A CASE STUDY IN ACCIDENTS STEPHANIE JOHNSON THE PRESIDENT’S DREAMS GREGORY LAWLESS ALLEGORY KIKI PETROSINO A SECRET IN PLAIN VIEW DANE CERVINE FROSTING CYNTHIA NEWBERRY MARTIN THE WOMAN NEXT TO THE BED SABRINA TOM FROM THE EDITOR REVIEWS MARILYNNE ROBINSON DEWITT HENRY DONALD HALL DONNA STONECIPHER JOHN BERGER DAVID WROBLEWSKI MARK ROPER KEITH GESSEN ROBERT CLARK ZACHARY SCHOMBERG Dauphin.htmlDauphin.htmlHoly.htmlHoly.htmlBorder.htmlBorder.htmlAccidents.htmlAccidents.htmlDreams.htmlDreams.htmlAllegory-3.htmlAllegory-3.htmlSecret.htmlSecret.htmlFrosting.htmlFrosting.htmlBomb.htmlBomb.htmlMouloud.htmlReviews.htmlRobinson.htmlHenry.htmlHall.htmlStonecipher.htmlBerger.htmlWroblewski.htmlRoper.htmlGessen.htmlClark.htmlSchomberg.htmlshapeimage_11_link_0shapeimage_11_link_1shapeimage_11_link_2shapeimage_11_link_3shapeimage_11_link_4shapeimage_11_link_5shapeimage_11_link_6shapeimage_11_link_7shapeimage_11_link_8shapeimage_11_link_9shapeimage_11_link_10shapeimage_11_link_11shapeimage_11_link_12shapeimage_11_link_13shapeimage_11_link_14shapeimage_11_link_15shapeimage_11_link_16shapeimage_11_link_17shapeimage_11_link_18shapeimage_11_link_19shapeimage_11_link_20shapeimage_11_link_21shapeimage_11_link_22shapeimage_11_link_23shapeimage_11_link_24shapeimage_11_link_25shapeimage_11_link_26shapeimage_11_link_27shapeimage_11_link_28shapeimage_11_link_29