Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Beltway Poetry Quarterly Addresses the War via Poetry
Here's the latest from Beltway Poetry Quarterly, read on and then click on the site:
SPRING 2006 ISSUE OF BELTWAY POETRY QUARTERLY FEATURES POEMS IN RESPONSE TO THE IRAQ WAR
Beltway Poetry Quarterly, the region's premiere on-line poetry journal, announces The Wartime Issue, an anthology of poems by 46 authors from the Mid-Atlantic region, writing in response to the ongoing presence of the American military in Iraq. The issue can be read for free on-line at: Beltway Poetry Quarterly.
In her Introduction to the issue, Guest Editor Sarah Browning writes: "When the politicians are compliant and the press is distracted by the next sparkly thing, the poets continue to believe, to speak out, and to say no to fear."
Poets in the issue are all ages, races, and ethnicities. They are gay and straight, and represent a wide variety of religious faiths. Some have many books of poetry to their name and for some, this is their first publication. The poets also take a diversity of approaches to the war in Iraq, telling the story of the war's impact on individuals, families, and communities at home, on members of the Armed Services, and on the people of Iraq.
Browning's introduction explains: "The poems here tell stories – of loss and of connection despite the anguish. 'A part of us vanishes each day,' writes Adam Chiles in 'Tucson Elegy.' 'We suffer another missed touch,' Venus Thrash tells us in her poem, 'Ritual.' The poems won't let us forget. When the war is, as Reginald Dwayne Betts's 'A Conversation' says, 'tucked into the back pages of the paper,' the poems remind us of the atrocities our own sisters and brothers are committing in our name. Linda Pastan asks what we are capable of. The poems answer, in sorrow: almost anything."
And yet, the poets are also hopeful. Browning writes, "Even in [the poets'] despair and their outrage, they call us, as Melissa Tuckey does in her poem, 'Forsythia Winter,' to 'go ahead, open your hand.'"
Contributors to The Wartime Issue:
Luis Alberto Ambroggio * Suzanna Banwell * Virginia E. Bell * Rose Marie Berger * Reginald Dwayne Betts * Linda Blaskey * Jody Bolz * Kyndall Brown * Grace Cavalieri * Adam Chiles * Kyle Dargan * Joanne Rocky Delaplaine * Zein Al-Amine * Yael Flusberg * Sunil Freeman * Parris Garnier * David Gewanter * Piotr Gwiazda * Leah Harris * Melanie Henderson * Esther Iverem * Reuben Jackson * W. Luther Jett * Fred Joiner * Christi Kramer * Joe Lapp * Mike Maggio * Judith McCombs * E. Ethelbert Miller * Carlos Parada * Linda Pastan * Marie Pavlicek-Wehrli * William Rutkowski * Ann Ryan * M.A. Schaffner * Johnna Schmidt * Jennifer Steele * Jeneva Stone * Venus Thrash * Lori Tsang * Melissa Tuckey * Bill Vander Clute * Rosemary Winslow * Ellen Wise * Marcella Wolfe * Ernie Wormwood *
About Guest Editor Sarah Browning: Sarah Browning is co-editor of D.C. Poets Against the War: An Anthology and coordinates the group of the same name. She is the recipient of an individual artist fellowship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities and the People Before Profits Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in Sycamore Review, The Literary Review, and Shenandoah. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and son.
About Beltway Poetry Quarterly: Since January 2000, Beltway Poetry Quarterly has published poetry by authors who live or work in the capital of the United States. Beltway strives to showcase the richness and diversity of Washington area authors in every issue, with poets from different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, ages, and sexual orientations represented. It has included Pulitzer Prize winners and those who have never previously published. The journal publishes academic, spoken word, and experimental authors--and also those poets whose work defies categorization.
Read Beltway Poetry Quarterly at Beltway Poetry Quarterly
SPRING 2006 ISSUE OF BELTWAY POETRY QUARTERLY FEATURES POEMS IN RESPONSE TO THE IRAQ WAR
Beltway Poetry Quarterly, the region's premiere on-line poetry journal, announces The Wartime Issue, an anthology of poems by 46 authors from the Mid-Atlantic region, writing in response to the ongoing presence of the American military in Iraq. The issue can be read for free on-line at: Beltway Poetry Quarterly.
In her Introduction to the issue, Guest Editor Sarah Browning writes: "When the politicians are compliant and the press is distracted by the next sparkly thing, the poets continue to believe, to speak out, and to say no to fear."
Poets in the issue are all ages, races, and ethnicities. They are gay and straight, and represent a wide variety of religious faiths. Some have many books of poetry to their name and for some, this is their first publication. The poets also take a diversity of approaches to the war in Iraq, telling the story of the war's impact on individuals, families, and communities at home, on members of the Armed Services, and on the people of Iraq.
Browning's introduction explains: "The poems here tell stories – of loss and of connection despite the anguish. 'A part of us vanishes each day,' writes Adam Chiles in 'Tucson Elegy.' 'We suffer another missed touch,' Venus Thrash tells us in her poem, 'Ritual.' The poems won't let us forget. When the war is, as Reginald Dwayne Betts's 'A Conversation' says, 'tucked into the back pages of the paper,' the poems remind us of the atrocities our own sisters and brothers are committing in our name. Linda Pastan asks what we are capable of. The poems answer, in sorrow: almost anything."
And yet, the poets are also hopeful. Browning writes, "Even in [the poets'] despair and their outrage, they call us, as Melissa Tuckey does in her poem, 'Forsythia Winter,' to 'go ahead, open your hand.'"
Contributors to The Wartime Issue:
Luis Alberto Ambroggio * Suzanna Banwell * Virginia E. Bell * Rose Marie Berger * Reginald Dwayne Betts * Linda Blaskey * Jody Bolz * Kyndall Brown * Grace Cavalieri * Adam Chiles * Kyle Dargan * Joanne Rocky Delaplaine * Zein Al-Amine * Yael Flusberg * Sunil Freeman * Parris Garnier * David Gewanter * Piotr Gwiazda * Leah Harris * Melanie Henderson * Esther Iverem * Reuben Jackson * W. Luther Jett * Fred Joiner * Christi Kramer * Joe Lapp * Mike Maggio * Judith McCombs * E. Ethelbert Miller * Carlos Parada * Linda Pastan * Marie Pavlicek-Wehrli * William Rutkowski * Ann Ryan * M.A. Schaffner * Johnna Schmidt * Jennifer Steele * Jeneva Stone * Venus Thrash * Lori Tsang * Melissa Tuckey * Bill Vander Clute * Rosemary Winslow * Ellen Wise * Marcella Wolfe * Ernie Wormwood *
About Guest Editor Sarah Browning: Sarah Browning is co-editor of D.C. Poets Against the War: An Anthology and coordinates the group of the same name. She is the recipient of an individual artist fellowship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities and the People Before Profits Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in Sycamore Review, The Literary Review, and Shenandoah. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and son.
About Beltway Poetry Quarterly: Since January 2000, Beltway Poetry Quarterly has published poetry by authors who live or work in the capital of the United States. Beltway strives to showcase the richness and diversity of Washington area authors in every issue, with poets from different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, ages, and sexual orientations represented. It has included Pulitzer Prize winners and those who have never previously published. The journal publishes academic, spoken word, and experimental authors--and also those poets whose work defies categorization.
Read Beltway Poetry Quarterly at Beltway Poetry Quarterly
