 Arlington Literary Journal an ejournal also known as ArLiJo, is located in Arlington, Virginia and is sponsored by Gival Press. The intent of ArLiJo is to feature a variety of authors/poets/artists from around the globe whose work provokes readers to contemplate issues, etc. The work chosen promotes understanding and sensitivity across borders, even if initially the work may cause one to take a double-take. Staff: Editor-in-Chief, Robert L. Giron Associate Editor, Sarah Fannon ArLiJo has reverted to a publication by invitation only. Any work published shall remain the property of the author/poet/artist and for any previously published work to appear the author/poet/artist must still retain the copyright of the work. Please note that ArLiJo is an ejournal. Payment for publication is a book from a selection of books published by Gival Press. |
W. F. Lantry Featured on ArLiJo Issue No. 70 A Forward Spring Nominated for the 2014 Pushcart Prize It’s time to toss the almanac aside: this early March, our cherry blossoms swell four weeks too soon, crocus and paperwhites already past their peak. We walk our wood at seventy degrees, our springtime rites pushed forward, or just lost. Birdsongs foretell uncertain summer, and the warming air brings clouds of insects swarming everywhere along the riverbank, seeking damp shade. Bare ruined trees define a broken arc above the current. Once a maple stood holding the bank intact, but now its bark hangs like torn parchment, as bent limbs cascade in unison towards the water’s crest. Eternal signs diverge: a sparrow’s nest, half finished, can’t be hidden by the shoots of leafless sycamores, and this floodplain is scarred with angled oaks that had withstood a hundred thunderstorms and blizzards, rain enough to change the river’s course, their roots intact, their trunks broken halfway, each crown still resting where the wind had blown it down. And under one, the white bones of a deer lie scattered: hooves, a broken leg, a spine. Perhaps the herd, frightened, misunderstood a new path for the old, followed a line leading into a fence: the signs aren’t clear or I can’t read the meanings they’ve implied. Copyright © 2014 by W. F. Lantry. Biography: W. F. Lantry, a native of San Diego, received his Maîtrise from L’Université de Nice and PhD in Writing from University of Houston. His poetry collections are The Structure of Desire (Little Red Tree, 2012) winner of a 2013 Nautilus Award in Poetry, a chapbook, The Language of Birds (Finishing Line Press, 2011), and a forthcoming collection The Book of Maps. Recent honors include: National Hackney Literary Award in Poetry, CutBank Patricia Goedicke Prize, Crucible Editors' Poetry Prize, Lindberg Foundation International Poetry for Peace Prize (Israel), and in 2012 the Old Red Kimono LaNelle Daniel and Potomac Review Prizes. His work has appeared in Potomac Review, Asian Cha, Atlanta Review, Descant, Gulf Coast and Aesthetica. He currently works in Washington, DC. and is an associate fiction editor at JMWW. Visit this author's homepage at http://www.wflantry.com
Richard Peabody Featured on ArLiJo Issue No. 70 Flirting with Disaster more exquisite than you can imagine glittery plumage in the bar mirror impossibly high heels and red leather so bloody intoxicating claims to be bi likes to keep her options open an equal opportunity master eggs benedict and gin you slip quickly into her sensual orbit figured she’d be rowdy disaster saw you coming before you were born you shiver when she presses her thorax inevitably close whispering, “Such a good boy.” Copyright © 2014 by Richard Peabody. Rules for Experimental Writing Talk to the monsters under your bed Visit a slaughterhouse Drink kerosene Eat Darvon and mothballs Burn your math books Handcuff a lover to the bed rail Add bacon Watch an autopsy Tour the Holocaust Museum Catch an anaconda in the Everglades Have a C–section Dig up a coffin Oh wait, these are the rules for writing realism. Copyright © 2014 by Richard Peabody. Shiny Time Machines Nothing but oldies on the jukebox. Nancy Sinatra and her feisty boots. A sanitized 50’s and 60’s corporate mimic of American Graffiti and Happy Days. Neon in red, pink, and blue. The irritating buzzing that makes little kids scream to drown it out. High school kids into Limp Bizkit don—t really get with the program. Though it’s clear management has made every effort to appeal to Boomers. My root beer float so stuffed with vanilla that gravity sinks it to the bottom geysering the soft drink over the top like a frosty Old Faithful. Copyright © 2014 by Richard Peabody. Season of the Witch Nominated for the 2014 Pushcart Prize When they told me the seasons were changing I wondered what they would change into. Would seasons actually trade places? Would summer become winter? Did the seasons have to maintain the same order every year? Didn’t that get awfully boring? What if Earth seasons could swap with Martian seasons? Wouldn’t springtime on Mars be cool? What if spring turned into a pretzel? Or summer into a polar bear? Maybe the seasons could change into people? There was the Snow Queen after all. And Persephone. My grandparents liked Florida because they said it only had one season. Florida chooses to be summer all year round. Maybe I will change into autumn. Then my leaves could blanket the ground and crackle as the wind blows them off down the street. Copyright © 2014 by Richard Peabody. Biography: Richard Peabody is a founding editor of Gargoyle Magazine and runs the small press Paycock Press, established in 1976. His latest release (April, 2015) will be The Richard Peabody Reader from SFWP's imprint Alan Squire Publishing. The 400-page collection of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, edited by Lucinda Ebersole, with an introduction by Michael Dirda, will be launched at the 2014 Association of Writing Programs Conference in Minneapolis. Also see a sample of his work on the following page: Poetic Voices Without Borders |
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