The Summer 2012 issue of Amethyst Arsenic, a great online poetry and art journal, is now available, featuring poetry from Cassandra de Alba, Mary Kovaleski Byrnes, James Caroline, Meaghan Ford, Hannah Galvin, Casey Rocheteau, Rene Schwiesow, Steve Subrizi and many more. Plus, art from Pauline Lim, Ivan de Monbrison and Jessica Pinsky. Also, yes, I have three pieces in it: “1638,” “Wedding Song,” and “Meditation: Monarch Mountain.” Here’s a taste:
Meditation: Monarch Mountain Aspens white-barked, gold. Winter is coming, early snow on Monarch Pass.
New Year's Eve, 2009: whiteout. Tractor-trailer, tin-thin guardrail, thousand foot drop: fear slicker than the road. Stop along here, child. Stone spine of America. These hills are our bones.
I know, I’m biased, but the truth is that energetic, innovative online publications like AA are the most important things driving literature these days. The grand old legacy pubs haven’t ceased to exist or to matter, but many of them, if not most, have ceased to be vital and forward-looking, to the point where many of our best new writers submit to new generation indie publishers exclusively. This is why S&R launched its own lit journal – we want to be a meaningful part of the future of what’s best in creative writing.
So my self-pimping aside, click over to Amethyst Arsenic and give some of these authors a few minutes of your time. You can follow the mag on Facebook and Twitter, and if you like what you see, please drop a note in there to tell editor Samantha Milowsky that you appreciate what she’s doing. I know I sure do.
Nice poem, Sammy.