shady side review summer 2010 issue

Today is the Day -- Ben Kehoe

We've just released our summer 2010 issue at shady side review -- with cover art by Pittsburgher, Ben Kehoe. I love Ben's work. It's dark and surreal and playful. A nice combination. He paints creatures that beg to be touched, but look dangerous to touch, that look as if they would talk to you, but speak in another language.

I'm very excited about the literary work we've published for this issue. The fiction and non-fiction editors featured one author each. Our featured fiction writer is Amber Larson, whose work has a sharp voice and a way of drawing breath in a multitude of ways. Our featured non-fiction writer is Joshua Foster. Foster writes of rural landscape. His work makes you want to meet both him and the people in his life.

For poetry, my co-editor, Athena, and I chose a variety of writers, including: Peter Kline, Kristin Ravel, Besty Snider, Kiki Vera Johnson, JS Walter, and Joseph Reich. I'd like to think we chose work that both shocks and delights. The poems here are about boners, shoes, egotism, and strange love.

That being said, my advice is chose your drink/ cigar / lawn chair / shady place of choice and read: www.shadysidereview.com

Online Literary Magazines as Clubhouses & Spotlighting

What I like about the online venue is the freedom to go from one poet's/ writer's spot to the next. Each online literary journal is like a writer's clubhouse/ fort (this can go for print journals too, but one has to pay their "entry fee" as in subscription to get into print land-- something I am willing to do when I have a steady income or if I fall hard in love with a publication).

I've been looking at reading as play lately. Mostly because when I'm on the internet, I think of it as play, and this past month I've been reading a lot of online literary journals.

And even though, as a reader, it's really easy to get into the online literary clubhouse, it's still fun to be inside. I'd like to start spot-lighting some of the writers I've fallen upon through online journals.

First Spotlight

Whilst internetting this past week, one of my favorite emerging writers I've fallen upon is Melissa Broder. Her book, When You Say One Thing, but Mean Your Mother was released by Ampersand Books in Feb. 2010. The work I've read of hers on On Earth As it Is must be shared: I fell in love with lines like: "I believe god knows these things about me/ so I needn't say them with heart." (From Pennsylvania Prayer). And "She’s been/a bad babysitter. Deliver us/from Burger King with In Touch magazine" (From Prayer of Teenager Waifs).

I am also a fan of her piece on The Del Sol Review in which she again riffs on teenage magazines. I like Broder's work for this reason: it embraces pop culture, and (unlike a lot of the pieces I've been reading lately) she uses narrative while playing with inventive language. She's not trying to be avant garde in the wrong way and she knows how to depict angst as a bittersweet thing.

On the Book Purchase List

I'm very excited about Sara Ries' new book, "Come In, We're Open," and here are the reasons why:

1.) Sara's poetry = very human. Her poems are like those security mirrors in pharmacies, constantly scanning people passing by or checking themselves out to see if everything is alright. And I like that.
2.) I haven't read the book in its entirety, but I read the manuscript as she worked on it at Chatham University. I like to know a little bit of what's behind the cover in also knowing I will be surprised by revisions and what I haven't read.
3.) I'm a huge fan of Sara's work. I can proudly say I was a part in publishing her in shady side review's issue 2, which can be read here: http://shadysidereview.com/i-want-my-city-to-find-me/

I really really can't wait to order my own copy, and when I do I will go here to do it: www.sararies.com
And you should too.

The Applicant

In my recent move to Tyler, Texas I have found myself thinking about my past a lot. My poems have all been reflective pieces that look back.

The air conditioning in my car isn't working, which limits me to my feet, and my feet are mostly swollen. There also aren't many places to walk in the vicinity. My present is at stand still. And I've been experiencing what feels like ennui.

So, I've been applying to jobs. Any job. Recently I applied to The Bank of America for a bank teller position and I failed the personality section of the application. I drank a Rum & Coke to quell my rejected state. I wanted to smile politely and tell people to "have a nice life." (Some of my favorite Ben Folds lyrics.) I want a sense of placement.

In response to my complaint to the world, via facebook, my MFA mentor, Sheryl St. Germain, reminded me of Sylvia Plath's poem, "The Applicant." Listening to Plath's repetition of "will you marry it?" reminds me what it's like to be in customer service. In this search for a job and for placement I've forgotten how important it is to look at the present moment for poems. Rejection can be a good reminder of many things. (Thanks Sheryl. Thanks Sylvia.)