Wild Goose Poetry Review
Spring 2012
One of the joys of editing a journal of poetry is arranging the poems in each issue. I like narratives, and I like contrasts, so I often juxtapose poems that are related in one fashion or another. Not that they were written with another poem in mind, but reading two or more related poems unintentionally creates a community of discourse, allowing the reader to dwell even longer on the particular topic or impressions of the the poems.
So, in this issue, I encourage you to read the first 8 poems in one sitting, as if they were a sequence. I also encourage you to read the 3 poems each by Karla Merrifield, Ronald Moran, and Tim Peeler in one sitting such that you can contrast three very different yet very accomplished contemporary voices in poetry. There are also other connections among these poems, such as the subtle narrative possibilities created by sequencing the poems of Jay Sizemore, Rana Williams, and Natasha Wall.
Of course, whether you see the connections I do or not, I hope you enjoy all of the poems gathered here. And don’t worry about the absence of reviews. They’ll be back. I simply didn’t have as much time for reading new poetry this quarter as I usually do. As always, I (and the poets) hope you’ll take the time to leave a comment and post links to help others find Wild Goose Poetry Review. Your comment won’t show up right away, as I preview comments to assure appropriateness, but it shouldn’t take more than a day or so.
Contents
Glenda Beall, One Flaw
Pris Campbell, Desktop Lover
Russell Rowland, A Look Out the Window
Mimi Herman, Warner Brothers Physics
David Radavich, Agape; or, Sipping Coffee at Starbucks on a Saturday Afternoon
Terri McCord, The Mouse on the Brick Step
Diane Webster, Memoriam
Paul Hostovsky, My Mother’s Whitman
Paul Hostovsky, Homophobia
Marissa McNamara, Quenched
Beth Paulson, Hard Wind
Katie Snyder, Waiting
Karla Merrifield, Untarnished
Karla Merrifield, Woman on Love
Karla Merrifield, Last Applause at the Sportsmans Lodge
Ronald Moran, Declarations
Ronald Moran, When Night Becomes Day
Ronald Moran, Landing Pattern in Mid-Afternoon
Tim Peeler, After God 7
Tim Peeler, After God 8
Tim Peeler, After God 10
Eric A. Weil, On Being Offered My Daughter’s Placenta
Eric A. Weil, Please Phone, Don’t Txt
Jonathan K. Rice, Johnny Hodges
Alarie Tennille, Keeping Cool
Mary Ricketson, Building the House on Hanging Dog Creek
Jay Sizemore, Adult Film Actress
Rana Williams, Dust in the Shower
Natasha Wall, The True Art of Seeing
Lorri Barrier, Spring Afternoon
William Cullen, Jr. Something to Expiate
Wild Goose Poetry Review 
The Desired Effect
The editor placed
the first eight poems
by eight different poets
in a specific order.
I sense the singular
sound of death’s echo.
I can see that echo in
the mirror of my mind.
Was that the effect
you aimed for, Scott?
**
🙂 I’ll read more later.
You’re definitely picking up on some of the same stuff I was. I like to keep an author’s work together; otherwise, I would have included Merrifield’s “Last Applause,” Moran’s “When Night. . . “, and Peeler’s “After God 10” in this sequence. I see the 11 as a sort of imagistic narrative of how awareness of death is an ever-present motivator in life . . . or something like that. Whether one reaches such a coherent reading or not, the juxtaposition of these poems definitely deepens one’s contemplation of an unavoidable subject.