Volume 99, Number 1/2

Volume 99, Number 1/2

pl9912-lg We turn not older with years, but never every day.
—Emily Dickinson

Cover Caption: c. 1885-1895 “Four women bicyclists, with man and child,” by William H. Seaman, courtesy of The Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

 
 
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Editors’ Page

This is the fourth issue that we’ve edited under what might be called new leadership and management. On a Saturday morning you might find the three of us sitting at a local cafe in downtown Washington. We take special care not to spill coffee on the manuscripts or leave a page covered with a sweet pastry fingerprint.

Around our feet are often several packets of submissions. Yes, we like to believe we stand on top as well as behind our decisions. We talk, laugh and debate about the merits of the poems before us. Now and then we invoke the “passion” rule or what some in Washington might expect from the executive branch of our government. This means one editor can overrule the other two. This rarely happens. We like to feel we represent a happy regime, which brings us to this issue and the “state” of poetry. In 1988 David Lehman launched The Best American Poetry series. As one of our contributing editors we feel he has a hand or two on the pulse of every metaphor. For our “Poets Introducing Poets” section Lehman selected the work of Jay Leeming. Each couplet bouquet by Leeming is filled with a sweet surprise.

I think you will see from this issue that we continue to publish exceptional work being produced by poets today. We select work we hope provides you with pleasure. Turn each page and imagine yourself out for a nice bicycle ride like the women on our cover.

 

Poetry

Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts, Nancy Naomi Carlson, Gerry LaFemina, Eve Jones, Kathleen Spivack, and others.

 

Poets Introducing Poets

David Lehman introduces a portfolio of poems by Jay Leeming.

 

Reviews

Starry Messenger by George Keithley
Bend by Natasha Saje
Black Swan by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
Even’s Red Dress by Diane Lockward
The Porcelain Apes of Moses Mendelssohn by Jean Nordhaus