Fall/Winter 2009-10
tom oristaglio
scott summers
cindy childress
tom rechtin
james b. nicola
debra rymer
doug draime
corey mesler
rebecca schumejda
chris crittenden
arlene ang
joey nicoletti
brad johnson
lorie allred
elizabeth kay
alexander russo
nissa lee
kenneth gurney
jessi lee gaylord
keith brighouse
ajay vishwanathan
ethel rohan
william "cully" bryant
julie steiner
Steiner Interview
by Alex Nodopaka
Jennifer VanBuren
Jai Britton
Alex Nodopaka
Patrick Carrington
Mannequin Envy in memory of poet and artist Douglas Gamrath
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Daniel A. Rabuzzi
Winter Melt Issue 2009
An Autumn Walker Thinks of Crow Claws and Smoked Eel
(Inspired by Christen Koebke’s “Autumn Morning on Lake Sortedam,” 1838)
Passing by thwart thistles, and
A nut-shrike in a hazel thicket,
The walker grips his cane.
“It’s hog-killing season,” he whispers
To the bird.
“I used to catch the blood in a bucket
When I was a boy on my father’s farm
In Jutland.”
Peat smoke, neat’s-foot tang, the deepest
Aroma of earth in the fields
Where lapwings glean.
“It’s ship-wending season,” he says
To a muted goldfinch by the towpath.
“Deal from Danzig, from Riga masts,
Rye and barley, wheat in lasts.”
Scomes in the water, the ripples of diving
Ducks, the scaup linger this year.
“It’s crow-fletching season,” he waves
To the ducks.
“Feathers for the Martin’s-mass ball, and
A new nib for my pen,
Two feet as ear-rings for my missus.”
The tufts on squirrels ripple in the breeze,
Squirrels that watch the walker
From the safety of the trees.
“It’s eel-pritching season,” he whispers
To the squirrels.
“Then to the tavern, eels, smoked, with beer,
On bread…”
On bread as dark as the earth he walks on.
“Autumn Morning on Lake Sortedam" Christen Koebke
Artifice
(Inspired by Pietro Longhi’s Clara the Rhinocerous, 1751)
Rhino returned to Europe,
For the first time since Duerer’s day.
Behold, ladies and noble sirs:
Unadorned, unembellished, obdurate, strong.
Be glad her armor is not made of mirror.
Daniel studied folklore and mythology in college, doing graduate fieldwork in Norway and England before becoming a banker and now a manager in education. He keeps one foot firmly in the lanes and meadows at the back of the North Wind. His fiction and poetry has appeared in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Shimmer, Sybil's Garage, Abyss & Apex, and Scheherezade's Bequest-- Chiaroscuro Press will publish his first novel summer 2009. He is married to a professional woodcarver.
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