Special FeatureJoanna Valentemichael e woods, special feature, poetry

michael e woods: Paying for My Father’s Remains

Special FeatureJoanna Valentemichael e woods, special feature, poetry
michael e woods: Paying for My Father’s Remains
Jamison McAndie

Jamison McAndie

Paying for my father’s remains

 

this is why i wanted a pit in the last bite, a shovel and a gavel

this is why i wanted a leather briefcase

this is why i wanted the tomatoes to stop budding, why i winter wanted the boil

this is cavity why i wanted birth

 

this hoax of honesty is why i wanted

grandma is this a second wanted, why this is why

i wanted a pit and bucket

this is why i looked for wanting in the grip

 

this is a lacquer look i wanted why

finish this is why i wanted dirt

this is why i wanted a drill bit finger tapping on the table

this a dropped penny

 

this is wanted i thought: some tube-sock highway and a body

this is why i wanted at least the cardboard box

this is why i wanted to leave the office

this father’s ashes i wanted why


in this room i thought, why is this a want to buy

here is a handshake: why is this a wanted smile

this is why i wanted a cremation and a pit
this is why i wanted the car keys and another scream into quiet lobby

 

this is why i wanted a breath and a fan, a beak and a toga, a bit tongue, or here

this is why i wanted to come along. come alone now,

this a long come here

michael e woods used to live with a family of raccoons. He edits the Columbia Poetry Review and teaches at Columbia College Chicago where he is an MFA candidate. He received the Merrill Moore Prize for Poetry in 2015 from Vanderbilt University. Recent work appears in The Rising Phoenix Review, The New Territory, and Eclectica Magazine. Forthcoming works can be seen soon in Solidago Journal, The Prodigal's Chair, and The Nassau Review. Find him online @michaelewoods.
 

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Catherine Esposito Prescott: To Forgive Us Everything

Catherine Esposito Prescott is the author of the chapbooks Maria Sings (forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press) and The Living Ruin (Finishing Line Press).  Recent poems have appeared in Pleiades, Southern Poetry Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Poetry East, MiPOesias, and elsewhere.  A graduate of NYU’s MFA program in Creative Writing-Poetry, Catherine is cofounder and curator of the SWWIM reading series.  She lives in Miami Beach with her husband, two sons, and daughter.

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteCatherine Esposito Prescott, special feature, poetry
Catherine Esposito Prescott: To Forgive Us Everything
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Ashley Mares is the author of Maddening Creatures (Aldrich Press, forthcoming), The Deer Longs for Streams of Water (Flutter Press) A Dark, Breathing Heart (dancing girl press), and Killer (Ghost City Press, forthcoming). Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Stirring, Whiskey Island, Sugar House Review, Glass Poetry Press, Prelude, PANK, and others. She is currently completing her J.D. in Monterey, Ca, where she lives with her husband. Read more of her poetry at ashleymarespoetry.wordpress.com and follow her @ash_mares2. 

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Ashley Mares: Unclean Hands
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Maximilian Heinegg: Believe Our Ashes

Maximilian Heinegg's poems have appeared in Columbia Poetry Review, December Magazine, The Cortland Review, Crab Creek Review, and The American Journal of Poetry, among others. As a singer-songwriter, his records can be heard at www.maxheinegg.com  He lives and teaches English in Medford, MA.

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteMaximilian Heinegg, poetry, special feature
Maximilian Heinegg: Believe Our Ashes
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Adam Hughes is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently Allow the Stars to Catch Me When I Rise (Salmon Poetry, 2017) and Deep Cries Out to Deep(Aldrich Press, 2017). Born and raised in Central Ohio, he now resides in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains where he is pursuing an MFA at Randolph College. Should you google him, he is not the Adam Hughes who draws near-pornographic depictions of female superheroes. This particular Adam Hughes cannot draw.


Special FeatureJoanna ValenteAdam Hughes, poetry, special feature
Adam Hughes: Discovery Channel