This Issue
  • Spring 2018
  • Jennifer Reeser
  • Featured Poetry
  • The Poets
    • Partridge Boswell
    • James Croal Jackson
    • Genevieve DeGuzman
    • Benjamin Garcia
    • Alani Hicks-Bartlett
    • Naima Kazmi
    • Joseph McBirnie
    • JB Mulligan
    • Thomas Piekarski
    • Adrian S. Potter
    • Jonathan Riccio
    • Bob Schildgen
  • The Poetry Prize
  • Featured Artist
  • Review: Lovely
  • IthacaLit Interviews
    • Joy Adams
    • Roger Bonair-Agard
    • Lauren K. Alleyne
    • Sara Angelucci
    • Renee Ashley >
      • Essay: A Possibilty of Memoir
    • Eleanor Bennett
    • Ashley Benton
    • Michelle Courtney Berry
    • Remica L. Bingham
    • Shane Book
    • Jericho Brown
    • Susannah Cahalan
    • Helena Cooper
    • Michel Delgado
    • Maxwell Doig
    • Cornelius Eady >
      • Cornelius Eady Part II
    • Bronwen Exter >
      • Music & Poetry
    • Allen Forrest
    • Santee Frazier
    • Griffiths Interview
    • Bruce Guernsey
    • Andre Guruianu
    • Jeannine Hall Gailey >
      • Essay: Light in the Darkness
    • Seamus Heaney
    • Ellen Hinsey
    • Julie Kane
    • Sarah Kay
    • Galway Kinnell
    • Stanley Kunitz >
      • Cleopatra Mathis Poem "Stanley & Elise"
    • James Lasdun
    • Lynn Lifshin
    • Diane Lockward
    • Audre Lorde
    • Benon Lutaaya
    • Fidencio Martinez
    • Colleen McCall
    • Ann McCauley
    • January Gill O'Neil
    • Lin Price
    • Bushra Rehman
    • Jose Rodriguez
    • Jean Valentine
    • Gail Holst-Warhaft
    • Gary Weisman
    • Treacy Ziegler
  • Art
  • Non-Fiction
    • Backstage with Maya
    • I Died a Thousand Times
    • Zino Saro-Wiwa
    • March into the Museum
    • A Wall of Windows
    • Amusling
    • Review: Other Heartbreaks, Patricia Henley
    • Joan Gelfand, On Writing
    • FInding the Incarnate in Poetry
    • Getting There First
    • Caged
    • A Peripheral Audience
    • A Ribbon for the New Year.
    • The Claw
    • Review: Eleanora's Song
    • Art Essay. Ain't No Haint.
    • Review: Waitress at the Red Moon Cafe
    • Arterial Osmosis
    • A Strange Resentment
    • Review: What Glorious Possibilities
    • A Theory of Poetry
    • Women Writing
    • Review: A Lightness, Adele Kenny
    • Kids Believe >
      • Emma Nadine Sheiman
      • Anna Kucher
      • Zofia Anderson Frankel
  • Shop IthacaLit
  • Guidelines
    • About Us
  • Archives
    • Winter 2017 >
      • 2017 Difficult Fruit
      • Honorable Mention
      • Rachel Eliza Griffiths >
        • Griffiths Interview
      • Featured Poetry
      • Featured Art
      • Poets >
        • Ace Boggess
        • John M. Davis
        • Brandon Hansen
        • Josef Krebs
        • Mary Meriam
        • Jessica Lake Mason
        • James Nicola
        • KG Newman
        • Jeanne Obbard
        • Dan Simmons
        • Richard Weaver
        • Anne Whitehouse
      • Art
      • The Poetry Prize
    • Autumn 2017 >
      • Kwame Dawes
      • Featured Poems
      • Eat This Scroll
      • Poets >
        • Akpa Arinzechukwu
        • Caitlin Barrett
        • Natalie Crick
        • Ruth Bavetta
        • Gary Duehr
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Dana Lotito
        • Letitia Montgomery-Rodgers
        • Sam Robertson
        • Barry Seiler
        • Trey Spencer
        • Bruce Wise
      • Difficult Fruit Prize
    • Summer 2017 >
      • Gabriela Mistral >
        • Poetry
      • Eric Sher >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Mahogany L. Browne
        • M Courtois
        • John Davis
        • Laura Foley
        • DM Gordon
        • Lori Lamothe
        • Katharyn Machan
        • Libby Maxey
        • Martina Reisz Newberry
        • Susan Rich
        • Sarah Rubin
        • June Sylvester Saraceno
      • The Poetry Prize
      • Guidelines >
        • About Us
      • Art
      • In the News
      • New Book Gary Beck
    • Spring 2017 >
      • Derek Walcott >
        • Poetry
      • Isaac Cordal >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Partidge Boswell
        • Jeremy Cantor
        • Wendy Chen
        • Risa Denenberg
        • Sandra Faulkner
        • Kirsten Hampton
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Donald Levering
        • George Moore
        • Lesléa Newman
        • Jeannine Pitas
        • Teresa Poore
      • News
      • Guidelines >
        • About Us
      • Art
    • Winter 2016 >
      • The Poetry Prize >
        • Honorable Mention
      • Artist: Greatjoy Ndlovu >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Laurie Barton
        • Cynthia Blank
        • Jane Craven
        • Keith Gaboury
        • Conrad Geller
        • Oliver Hutton
        • Julie Lunde
        • JB Mulligan
        • Dan Simmons
        • Trey Spencer
        • Richard Weaver
        • Guinotte Wise
      • Art
      • JR Tappenden
      • Rhone-Fancher
    • Autumn 2016 >
      • Allison Joseph >
        • Featured Poems
      • Mayuko Fujino >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Gail Gerwin
        • Charles Kell
        • Rose Knapp
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Donald Levering
        • Eric Rawson
        • John Repp
        • John Riley
        • D. E. Steward
        • Lauren Sypniewski
        • Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad
        • Bruce Wise
    • Summer 2016 >
      • Dawn Lundy Martin >
        • Poems
      • Marta Czene >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Merrill Douglas
        • Jane Ellen Glasser
        • William Greenfield
        • Alicia Hoffman
        • Lowell Jaeger
        • Michael Lyle
        • Steve Meador
        • Robert Nordstrom
        • Claudia Stanek
        • Alan Toltzis
        • Evan D. Williams
        • Kobina Wright
      • Art
      • Guidelines
      • Contest
    • Spring 2016 >
      • Dominque Christina >
        • Poems
      • Poets >
        • Alexandra Barylski
        • Destiny Birdsong
        • Emma Bolden
        • Lynne Burnett
        • RG Evans
        • Yolanda Franklin
        • Elizabeth Davies
        • Christine Potter
        • Katie Rice
        • Aviva Siegel
        • John Sweet
        • Lauren Sypniewski
      • News
    • Winter 2015 >
      • The Poetry Prize >
        • Honorable Mention
      • Roger Bonair-Agard >
        • Poems
      • The Poets >
        • Trent Busch
        • Keith Dunlap
        • Gail Gerwin
        • Jeff Hardin
        • Edward Heeley
        • Susan Johnson
        • Rio Jones
        • Jen Karetnick
        • Bridget Meeds
        • Tom Montag
        • Danny Earl Simmons
        • Howard Winn
      • News
    • Autumn 2015 >
      • Sarah Kay >
        • Poems
      • Naomi Edmark >
        • Gallery
        • Interview
      • The Poets >
        • JW Burns
        • Dominique Christina
        • Franny Choi
        • Darren Demaree
        • Gabriel Furshong
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Laura Brown-Lavoie
        • Donald Levering
        • John Repp
        • Clint Smith
        • Danez Smith
        • Brandon Williamson
    • Summer 2015 >
      • Jose Rodriguez >
        • Poems
      • Dion J. Pollard >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Roy Bentley
        • Carl Boon
        • Kevin Casey
        • John Grey
        • Edward Heeley
        • Woodrow Hightower
        • Carol McMahon
        • Daniel Moore
        • Barbara Presnell
        • Stephen Sherwood
        • Shoshauna Shy
        • Laryssa Wirstiuk
    • Spring 2015 >
      • Jericho Brown >
        • Poems
      • Fidencio Martinez >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Ruth Bavetta
        • Merry Benezra
        • Pia Taavila-Borsheim
        • Stephen Cloud
        • RG Evans
        • Lowell Jaeger
        • Sarah Jefferis
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Nikhil Nath
        • K. Alma Peterson
        • Will Walton
        • Anne Whitehouse
      • News
    • Winter 2014 >
      • Santee Frazier >
        • Poems
      • Allen Forrest >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • F. Brett Cox
        • Neil Flatman
        • Gail Gerwin
        • Robert Hardy
        • Susan Johnson
        • William Miller
        • Stephanie Noble
        • Danny Earl Simmons
        • Catherine Simpson
        • JR Tappenden
        • Fritz Ward
        • Kobina Wright
    • Autumn 2014 >
      • Remica L. Bingham >
        • Poems
      • Helena Cooper >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Jyothsnaphanija B
        • Shaindel Beers
        • Alyse Bensel
        • Steve Bunch
        • Gonzalinho da Costa
        • Peleg Held
        • Nels Hanson
        • Kent Kosack
        • Donald Levering
        • Eleanor Levine
        • Mark Murphy
        • Gary Wilkins
    • Summer 2014 >
      • Michelle Courtney Berry >
        • Poems
      • Sara Angelucci >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Glen Armstrong
        • Kylee Bagley
        • C. Wade Bentley
        • Chris Crittenden
        • Darren Demaree
        • Risa Denenberg
        • Howie Good
        • Sarah Jefferis
        • Kathleen Kirk
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Paul Lindholdt
        • Jonathan Scott
    • Spring 2014 >
      • Andrei Guruianu >
        • Poems
      • Benon Lutaaya >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Elizabeth Burk
        • Lindsey Bellosa
        • Gregory Crosby
        • Rachel Dacus
        • R.G. Evans
        • OPW Fredericks
        • Maureen Kingston
        • Victoria Korth
        • Kate Lutzner
        • Lloyd Milburn
        • Eb "Walrus" De Ice
        • Jim Zola
    • Winter 2014 >
      • Bushra Rehman >
        • Poems
      • Ashley Benton >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Dean Baltesson
        • Mark Blaeuer
        • Matthew Conley
        • Colin Dodds
        • Paul Hostovsky
        • Kyle Laws
        • Mercedes Lawry
        • Simon Perchik
        • Danny Earl Simmons
        • Jonathan Waldroup
        • Anne Whitehouse
        • Changming Yuan
      • A Possibilty of Memoir
    • Autumn 2013 >
      • Lyn Lifshin >
        • Poems
      • Sven Fennema >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Luke Armstrong
        • Douglas Cole
        • John Cullen
        • Jessica Dubey
        • James Grinwis
        • Sarah Jefferis
        • Susan Johnson
        • Rose Kelleher
        • Craig Kurtz
        • Kenneth Pobo
        • Michele Reese
        • June Sylvester Saraceno
      • Videopoem
      • Robert Bruce Lehman >
        • Isolated Incidents
    • Summer 2013 >
      • Lauren K. Alleyne >
        • Poems
      • Joy Adams >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Sam Alper
        • Peggy Aylsworth
        • Carly Berg
        • Carol Berg
        • J. Oscar Franzen
        • Joseph Harms
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Sy Roth
        • Sidney Thompson
        • Kobina Wright
      • Kids Believe >
        • Review: Swallowing the Sea, Lee Upton
        • Review: The Music Behind Me, Felice Aull
    • Spring 2013 >
      • Julie Kane >
        • Poems
      • Maxwell Doig >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Jamie Bruno
        • Harmony Button
        • Darren C. Demaree
        • Michaela A. Gabriel
        • Mariela Griffor
        • Lynn Hoffman
        • Charles Hughes
        • Donna Hunt
        • Rob Jacques
        • Donald Levering
        • Karla Linn Merrifield
        • Uche Ogbuji
    • Winter 2013 >
      • Gail Holst-Warhaft >
        • Poems
      • Eleanor Bennett >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Katherine Lucas Anderson
        • Wendy Babiak
        • Stephen Bunch
        • John Cullen
        • Risa Denenberg
        • Katherine Eulensen
        • R. Nemo Hill
        • Heather Lang
        • George Moore
        • Glenn Moss
        • Michael Salcman
        • Jennifer Saunders
    • Autumn 2012 >
      • Shane Book >
        • Poems
      • Gary Weisman >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Carol Berg
        • Brittany Cheak
        • Justin Evans
        • Jane Ellen Glasser
        • Ross Hill
        • Paul Hostovsky
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Donald Levering
        • John Sakson
        • Barry Seiler
        • Barry Spacks
        • Alyssa Yankwitt
    • Summer 2012 >
      • Bruce Guernsey >
        • Poems
      • Michel Delgado >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Rachel Abramson-Dacus
        • Ruth Bavetta
        • KR Copeland
        • George Drew
        • Michaela A. Gabriel
        • Bridget Gage-Nelson
        • Tom Hunley
        • Karla Huston
        • Susan Johnson
        • Adele Kenny
        • Susan Laughter Meyers
        • Michael Young
    • Spring 2012 >
      • Jeannine Hall Gailey >
        • Poems
      • Treacy Ziegler >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • George Bishop
        • Howie Good
        • E.K. Gordon
        • Melissa Holm
        • Erin Hollowell
        • Len Krisak
        • M.K. Meder
        • Karla Linn Merrifield
        • Corey Mesler
        • Mark J. Mitchell
        • Mark Petrie
        • Cheryl Snell
    • Winter 2012 >
      • Renee Ashley >
        • Poems
      • Colleen McCall >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Jesse Anger
        • Carol Berg
        • Broeck Wahl Blumberg
        • Stephen Bunch
        • Chris Chrittenden
        • Sabrina Dalla Valle
        • Jan D. Hodge
        • John Minczeski
        • Jean Monahan
        • Risa Denenberg >
          • Interview
        • George Moore
        • Sheila Murphy
        • Vivian Faith Prescott
    • Autumn 2011 >
      • Katharyn Howd Machan
      • Lin Price >
        • Gallery
        • Bio
      • Madeleine Beckman
      • Kelly N.Cockerham
      • Alex Grant
      • Mike Harrell
      • Rose Hunter
      • Susan Johnson
      • Kathleen Kirk
      • Diane Lockward
      • Douglas Penick
      • Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
      • Uche Ogbuji
  • Spring 2018
  • Jennifer Reeser
  • Featured Poetry
  • The Poets
    • Partridge Boswell
    • James Croal Jackson
    • Genevieve DeGuzman
    • Benjamin Garcia
    • Alani Hicks-Bartlett
    • Naima Kazmi
    • Joseph McBirnie
    • JB Mulligan
    • Thomas Piekarski
    • Adrian S. Potter
    • Jonathan Riccio
    • Bob Schildgen
  • The Poetry Prize
  • Featured Artist
  • Review: Lovely
  • IthacaLit Interviews
    • Joy Adams
    • Roger Bonair-Agard
    • Lauren K. Alleyne
    • Sara Angelucci
    • Renee Ashley >
      • Essay: A Possibilty of Memoir
    • Eleanor Bennett
    • Ashley Benton
    • Michelle Courtney Berry
    • Remica L. Bingham
    • Shane Book
    • Jericho Brown
    • Susannah Cahalan
    • Helena Cooper
    • Michel Delgado
    • Maxwell Doig
    • Cornelius Eady >
      • Cornelius Eady Part II
    • Bronwen Exter >
      • Music & Poetry
    • Allen Forrest
    • Santee Frazier
    • Griffiths Interview
    • Bruce Guernsey
    • Andre Guruianu
    • Jeannine Hall Gailey >
      • Essay: Light in the Darkness
    • Seamus Heaney
    • Ellen Hinsey
    • Julie Kane
    • Sarah Kay
    • Galway Kinnell
    • Stanley Kunitz >
      • Cleopatra Mathis Poem "Stanley & Elise"
    • James Lasdun
    • Lynn Lifshin
    • Diane Lockward
    • Audre Lorde
    • Benon Lutaaya
    • Fidencio Martinez
    • Colleen McCall
    • Ann McCauley
    • January Gill O'Neil
    • Lin Price
    • Bushra Rehman
    • Jose Rodriguez
    • Jean Valentine
    • Gail Holst-Warhaft
    • Gary Weisman
    • Treacy Ziegler
  • Art
  • Non-Fiction
    • Backstage with Maya
    • I Died a Thousand Times
    • Zino Saro-Wiwa
    • March into the Museum
    • A Wall of Windows
    • Amusling
    • Review: Other Heartbreaks, Patricia Henley
    • Joan Gelfand, On Writing
    • FInding the Incarnate in Poetry
    • Getting There First
    • Caged
    • A Peripheral Audience
    • A Ribbon for the New Year.
    • The Claw
    • Review: Eleanora's Song
    • Art Essay. Ain't No Haint.
    • Review: Waitress at the Red Moon Cafe
    • Arterial Osmosis
    • A Strange Resentment
    • Review: What Glorious Possibilities
    • A Theory of Poetry
    • Women Writing
    • Review: A Lightness, Adele Kenny
    • Kids Believe >
      • Emma Nadine Sheiman
      • Anna Kucher
      • Zofia Anderson Frankel
  • Shop IthacaLit
  • Guidelines
    • About Us
  • Archives
    • Winter 2017 >
      • 2017 Difficult Fruit
      • Honorable Mention
      • Rachel Eliza Griffiths >
        • Griffiths Interview
      • Featured Poetry
      • Featured Art
      • Poets >
        • Ace Boggess
        • John M. Davis
        • Brandon Hansen
        • Josef Krebs
        • Mary Meriam
        • Jessica Lake Mason
        • James Nicola
        • KG Newman
        • Jeanne Obbard
        • Dan Simmons
        • Richard Weaver
        • Anne Whitehouse
      • Art
      • The Poetry Prize
    • Autumn 2017 >
      • Kwame Dawes
      • Featured Poems
      • Eat This Scroll
      • Poets >
        • Akpa Arinzechukwu
        • Caitlin Barrett
        • Natalie Crick
        • Ruth Bavetta
        • Gary Duehr
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Dana Lotito
        • Letitia Montgomery-Rodgers
        • Sam Robertson
        • Barry Seiler
        • Trey Spencer
        • Bruce Wise
      • Difficult Fruit Prize
    • Summer 2017 >
      • Gabriela Mistral >
        • Poetry
      • Eric Sher >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Mahogany L. Browne
        • M Courtois
        • John Davis
        • Laura Foley
        • DM Gordon
        • Lori Lamothe
        • Katharyn Machan
        • Libby Maxey
        • Martina Reisz Newberry
        • Susan Rich
        • Sarah Rubin
        • June Sylvester Saraceno
      • The Poetry Prize
      • Guidelines >
        • About Us
      • Art
      • In the News
      • New Book Gary Beck
    • Spring 2017 >
      • Derek Walcott >
        • Poetry
      • Isaac Cordal >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Partidge Boswell
        • Jeremy Cantor
        • Wendy Chen
        • Risa Denenberg
        • Sandra Faulkner
        • Kirsten Hampton
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Donald Levering
        • George Moore
        • Lesléa Newman
        • Jeannine Pitas
        • Teresa Poore
      • News
      • Guidelines >
        • About Us
      • Art
    • Winter 2016 >
      • The Poetry Prize >
        • Honorable Mention
      • Artist: Greatjoy Ndlovu >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Laurie Barton
        • Cynthia Blank
        • Jane Craven
        • Keith Gaboury
        • Conrad Geller
        • Oliver Hutton
        • Julie Lunde
        • JB Mulligan
        • Dan Simmons
        • Trey Spencer
        • Richard Weaver
        • Guinotte Wise
      • Art
      • JR Tappenden
      • Rhone-Fancher
    • Autumn 2016 >
      • Allison Joseph >
        • Featured Poems
      • Mayuko Fujino >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Gail Gerwin
        • Charles Kell
        • Rose Knapp
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Donald Levering
        • Eric Rawson
        • John Repp
        • John Riley
        • D. E. Steward
        • Lauren Sypniewski
        • Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad
        • Bruce Wise
    • Summer 2016 >
      • Dawn Lundy Martin >
        • Poems
      • Marta Czene >
        • Gallery
      • Poets >
        • Merrill Douglas
        • Jane Ellen Glasser
        • William Greenfield
        • Alicia Hoffman
        • Lowell Jaeger
        • Michael Lyle
        • Steve Meador
        • Robert Nordstrom
        • Claudia Stanek
        • Alan Toltzis
        • Evan D. Williams
        • Kobina Wright
      • Art
      • Guidelines
      • Contest
    • Spring 2016 >
      • Dominque Christina >
        • Poems
      • Poets >
        • Alexandra Barylski
        • Destiny Birdsong
        • Emma Bolden
        • Lynne Burnett
        • RG Evans
        • Yolanda Franklin
        • Elizabeth Davies
        • Christine Potter
        • Katie Rice
        • Aviva Siegel
        • John Sweet
        • Lauren Sypniewski
      • News
    • Winter 2015 >
      • The Poetry Prize >
        • Honorable Mention
      • Roger Bonair-Agard >
        • Poems
      • The Poets >
        • Trent Busch
        • Keith Dunlap
        • Gail Gerwin
        • Jeff Hardin
        • Edward Heeley
        • Susan Johnson
        • Rio Jones
        • Jen Karetnick
        • Bridget Meeds
        • Tom Montag
        • Danny Earl Simmons
        • Howard Winn
      • News
    • Autumn 2015 >
      • Sarah Kay >
        • Poems
      • Naomi Edmark >
        • Gallery
        • Interview
      • The Poets >
        • JW Burns
        • Dominique Christina
        • Franny Choi
        • Darren Demaree
        • Gabriel Furshong
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Laura Brown-Lavoie
        • Donald Levering
        • John Repp
        • Clint Smith
        • Danez Smith
        • Brandon Williamson
    • Summer 2015 >
      • Jose Rodriguez >
        • Poems
      • Dion J. Pollard >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Roy Bentley
        • Carl Boon
        • Kevin Casey
        • John Grey
        • Edward Heeley
        • Woodrow Hightower
        • Carol McMahon
        • Daniel Moore
        • Barbara Presnell
        • Stephen Sherwood
        • Shoshauna Shy
        • Laryssa Wirstiuk
    • Spring 2015 >
      • Jericho Brown >
        • Poems
      • Fidencio Martinez >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Ruth Bavetta
        • Merry Benezra
        • Pia Taavila-Borsheim
        • Stephen Cloud
        • RG Evans
        • Lowell Jaeger
        • Sarah Jefferis
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Nikhil Nath
        • K. Alma Peterson
        • Will Walton
        • Anne Whitehouse
      • News
    • Winter 2014 >
      • Santee Frazier >
        • Poems
      • Allen Forrest >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • F. Brett Cox
        • Neil Flatman
        • Gail Gerwin
        • Robert Hardy
        • Susan Johnson
        • William Miller
        • Stephanie Noble
        • Danny Earl Simmons
        • Catherine Simpson
        • JR Tappenden
        • Fritz Ward
        • Kobina Wright
    • Autumn 2014 >
      • Remica L. Bingham >
        • Poems
      • Helena Cooper >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Jyothsnaphanija B
        • Shaindel Beers
        • Alyse Bensel
        • Steve Bunch
        • Gonzalinho da Costa
        • Peleg Held
        • Nels Hanson
        • Kent Kosack
        • Donald Levering
        • Eleanor Levine
        • Mark Murphy
        • Gary Wilkins
    • Summer 2014 >
      • Michelle Courtney Berry >
        • Poems
      • Sara Angelucci >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Glen Armstrong
        • Kylee Bagley
        • C. Wade Bentley
        • Chris Crittenden
        • Darren Demaree
        • Risa Denenberg
        • Howie Good
        • Sarah Jefferis
        • Kathleen Kirk
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Paul Lindholdt
        • Jonathan Scott
    • Spring 2014 >
      • Andrei Guruianu >
        • Poems
      • Benon Lutaaya >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Elizabeth Burk
        • Lindsey Bellosa
        • Gregory Crosby
        • Rachel Dacus
        • R.G. Evans
        • OPW Fredericks
        • Maureen Kingston
        • Victoria Korth
        • Kate Lutzner
        • Lloyd Milburn
        • Eb "Walrus" De Ice
        • Jim Zola
    • Winter 2014 >
      • Bushra Rehman >
        • Poems
      • Ashley Benton >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Dean Baltesson
        • Mark Blaeuer
        • Matthew Conley
        • Colin Dodds
        • Paul Hostovsky
        • Kyle Laws
        • Mercedes Lawry
        • Simon Perchik
        • Danny Earl Simmons
        • Jonathan Waldroup
        • Anne Whitehouse
        • Changming Yuan
      • A Possibilty of Memoir
    • Autumn 2013 >
      • Lyn Lifshin >
        • Poems
      • Sven Fennema >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Luke Armstrong
        • Douglas Cole
        • John Cullen
        • Jessica Dubey
        • James Grinwis
        • Sarah Jefferis
        • Susan Johnson
        • Rose Kelleher
        • Craig Kurtz
        • Kenneth Pobo
        • Michele Reese
        • June Sylvester Saraceno
      • Videopoem
      • Robert Bruce Lehman >
        • Isolated Incidents
    • Summer 2013 >
      • Lauren K. Alleyne >
        • Poems
      • Joy Adams >
        • Gallery
      • The Poets >
        • Sam Alper
        • Peggy Aylsworth
        • Carly Berg
        • Carol Berg
        • J. Oscar Franzen
        • Joseph Harms
        • Sandra Kolankiewicz
        • Sy Roth
        • Sidney Thompson
        • Kobina Wright
      • Kids Believe >
        • Review: Swallowing the Sea, Lee Upton
        • Review: The Music Behind Me, Felice Aull
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        • Katherine Lucas Anderson
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  This Issue

IthacaLit

In the guise of a beggar, Odysseus returned to Ithaca.

One Moment Please

A heart sits by a window listening for a silence 
it can never hear. Who wouldn’t get tired of all 
that beating? Give me a moment please. But that’s 
like asking leaves to stop breaking into the soil 


that grew the tree that grew the leaves. The sun 
like Zeno’s arrow does not pause. So the river 
after storm beats its way back to shore heavy 
with silt, refuse refusing to die. You can hear it 


pumping as it surges into fields rimmed with phoebes 
repeating fee bee bee bee. Mouth a tangerine. 
Overhead an electric buzz too high to see. 
And behind my knee a mosquito, sister to the one 


at my ear, with the same choir director: encore, 
higher pitch please. They tunnel into soft spots 
and drink and drink. The same blood that can’t 
quiet itself as if recording every tremor, every shift.




No Mean

You search for standard deviations even when 
there is no mean. Where on this graph do I belong? 
Half the world outside looking in, half inside looking out. 
And in between a pane, tempered, perhaps a screen. 
It’s academic. An epidemic. Epidermic. A bruise 
on your shin. Your outer integument enfolding. 


Leave that turtle where it is. It knows how to be a turtle 
better than anyone, digging for just the right sand. 
A crowd of one. Searching. Measuring. A place to be. 
The designated denizen. A seesaw balancing itself in rain. 
A glimpse of pond glimpses more than the whole pond, 
framed in beech, in great blue heron, the water in its wings. 


When the bear crosses your path into the high tension 
wires the high tension is not just in the wires. Temperatures 
rising. Breaths disappear. You perceive your perception is off. 
How separate separate can feel. A hundred sprouts of locust 
push through the mother stump. You are covered in trees.
Those who join you join you. Eagles as common as gulls.


There is no death here, just a long dwindling curve. 
You look for what you look for. One embarks then embarks 
again. Clearing land then clearing out when it becomes clear 
there is no clear path ahead. Still you plot each point 
because the current keeps moving even though your life hangs 
in the air like a kingfisher beating both wings to keep still. 




The Shape Of The Jar

For early colonists early mornings, early nights.
So many trees. So many needs. The need to plant
no different from the need to see. Fell, saw, dry, burn. 


Removing trees to remove themselves, some higher 
ground. Or so they say. The past not as solid as the people 
who lived it, who left this barbed wire behind. 


It’s a fluid we pour, stories based on their stories 
that keep changing; it depends on the shape of the jar. 
The old body growing over the young, bark breaking; 


the young breaking free. Why does the wind always push 
its best ideas ahead? Open the window, open the past 
just a crack, sap seeping, your tongue on the seam. 


Crows are happy to tell you the time is now now now. 
But keep sawing. Soon the world will forget you, unless 
it forgets to forget you. Then whose past will you become?




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Susan Johnson has her MFA and PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she teaches writing in the Isenberg School of Management. Her poems have recently appeared in Rhino, Comstock Review, Oyez Review, Pinyon, THEODATE, Bluestem, and Karamu. Her chapbook “Impossible is Nothing” was published from Finishing Line Press.

IthacaLit: Lit with Art, A Journal of Literature & Arts © 2011 All individual works copyrighted by their authors. All rights reserved. Credit IthacaLit.
Photo used under Creative Commons from tekkbabe