2010 IIii

Submissions Meet the Editor-in-Chief January 2018 March 2019 May/June 2021 Meet the Associate Editor July 2021 November 2019 January/February 2019 Book Review - Lyn Lifshin's "Ballroom" March 2020 September 2021 May 2020 Book Review: Amy Holman's Wrens Fly Through This Opened Window July/August 2018 Book Review: Kit Kennedy Reviews Heller Levinson September 2012 Book Review - Patricia Carragon Reviews Leigh Harrison November 2012 January 2020 March/April 2022 Book Review - Dean Kostos "Rivering" May 2013 Book Review: Hochman Reviews Ormerod Summer Issue 2013 September 2020 November/December 2018 McMaster Reviews Szporluk July/August 2014 November 2014 Book Review: Wright Reviews Gardner Stern Reviews Katrinka Moore May 2015 Hochman Reviews Ross July 2020 Tocco Reviews Simone September 2015 Simone Reviews Cefola May 2016 Bledsoe Reviews Wallace November 2016 January 2017 May 2017 Wehrman Reviews Dhar July 2017 September 2023 March 2024 May 2019 July 2019 September 2019 November 2023 March 2021 November 2021 WINTER 2022 Hochman Reviews Metras May 2022 November/December 2022 January/February 2023 March/April 2023 May 2023 July 2023 May/June 2024 July 2024 September 2024



 

First Literary Review

2010 IIii

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Love at dusk

It was the night of red dresses.

Unsheathe the minnow pail.

Bait the hook. Hello and kiss me.

I was ruined before I met you.

Will you marry me?

It's who we are; who we will become.

Let's grow old together.

What'll the grandchildren say?

Ask SpongeBob SquarePants. Pee Wee Herman.

I love you.

You are a feather duster, my endless pillow.

                                                              -George Spencer

George Spencer lives in Ecuador part of the year.  He used to paint and sculpt but began writing about 5 years ago. He started the first poetry slam in Quito. He co-produces the Thin Air Poetry Cable Show, and co-hosts the Phoenix Reading Series and the ABC No Rio Poetry Series.  He is the Publisher/Editor of the hard copy/internet magazine http://faroutfurtheroutoutofsight.com/.  Recent poems are in Adirondack Review, Spinozablue, Fieralingue (Italy) and Retort (Australia).


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Casanova's Farewell - Two Views

He:

Why does she always have to cry

when sentiment is such a bore?

I'll tell another juicy lie

then short...and sweet...and out the door!

She:

I always fall for his caress

and ride him till my body's sore,

then watch him leap my crumpled dress,

throw shallow kisses from my door.

I don't disguise my deep distress

or smile like some Parisian whore,

or own the truth that I suppress --

the truth is that...I just want more!

                                                 -Shellie Enteen

(Originally published in "Fruit of the Banyan Tree," 2009)

                                                           

Shellie Enteen, RA, LMT, lives in South Carolina where she has a holistic health practice and teaches professional aromatherapy.  Shellie received a BA in English Literature from New York University.  Her poetry has appeared in magazines and in the collection "Fruit of the Banyan Tree", published by the Ruminators, poets of Greenville, SC.  More about Shellie at http://www.astralessence.com/


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summer evensong

  

moonbeams falling

on pale alabaster

skin

 

cicadas offering

their summer evening

canticle

 

citronella candles

keep mosquitoes longing

for sweet crimson

nectar

 

shadows tango

across white

gauze-voiled

chamber

 

murmurs of the heart

spill out of dream

flow onto fever-filled

lips

 

lovers embrace

                                              -Brenda J. Gannam

Brenda J. Gannam, Arab-American poet, artist, and writer hailing from Savannah, Georgia, has been a member of the New York creative community for more than 20 years.  As a student of French, Arabic, Russian, and German, Brenda is drawn to the metaphysical, spiritual, and symbolist aspects of such poets as Akhmatova, Szymborska, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Rilke, Peguy, Gibran, Rumi, Al Khoury, Masefield, McCrae, Pushkin, and Pasternak.

 


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Hiking Brokenback Mountain

The trail was narrow. I followed you up Brokenback
Mountain like a stunted shadow. I carried
my field guide for wild flowers, their names—tokens
of their faces: black-eyed Susan, butterfly weed,
foxglove. The path was steep. I had to walk
slowly, catching breath, and fell behind. It took
a while for you to notice. On hikes you never talk.
You lose yourself in the grandeur of where you look;
that day—the sun filtering through the fire
of turned leaves, the outcroppings of limestone
stippling the mountainside, a hawk’s sweep. The air
was crisp with frost. I had never felt more alone
than on that mountain. I should have known better.
Nothing would be in bloom in late October.

                                                         -Jane Ellen Glasser
 
 

Jane Ellen Glasser’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals, such as Hudson Review, Southern Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Georgia Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review and Poetry Northwest. In the past she reviewed poetry books for the Virginian-Pilot, edited poetry for the Ghent Quarterly and Lady Jane’s Miscellany, and co-founded the nonprofit arts organization New Virginia Review. A first collection of her poetry, Naming the Darkness, was issued by Road Publishers in 1991. She won the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry 2005, and her award-winning book, Light Persists, received an honorable mention in the 2007 Library of Virginia Literary Awards. Her chapbook, On the Corner of Yesterday, was recently released by Pudding House Publications.

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Like Being Called “Cat” That Saturday in Montreal

never before

or since. The

name like a

tongue sending

chills thru

fingers. Cat.

I felt sleek and

wild, mysterious,

able to spring

and dart, wriggle,

slide from any

cage or curl

into his skin,

press close to

whatever warmth

I needed for as

long as I did

                                   

                          -Lyn Lifshin

 

Among Lyn Lifshin's recent books: THE LICORICE DAUGHTER: MY YEAR WITH RUFFIAN, Texas Review Press and from Black Sparrow at Godine: ANOTHER WOMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE ME, PERSEPHONE, BARBARO, BALLROOM.  Her Web site is   http://www.lynlifshin.com/


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Why Women Poets Don't Need Underpants

Taught early on the art of compression

lady poets - thanks to Emily D -

learned to leave the impression

that the essence of any idea is suggestion

 

Taught to tease, to tempt, to hint at desire

saying nothing directly about need,

they enjoy the ambiguity of personal attire

 without that errant dangling modifier.

                          -Arthur McMaster

Arthur McMaster is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet.  He also writes short stories and stage plays.  His poetry and fiction have appeared in Poetry East, Wisconsin Review, North American Review, and Subtropics.  His poetry chapbook, Awkwardness, was recently selected by the South Carolina Arts Commission's Poetry Initiative.  Having previously taught creative writing for Furman and USC Upstate, Arthur now teaches writing and literature courses at Converse College.


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