Blackbird, In Previous Issues, v16n2

IN PREVIOUS ISSUES

Blackbird publishes new issues twice a year. The notion of “issue” is both a nod to the print journal and a way for us to call attention to the new work of a limited number of writers. However, publishing online allows us keep all issues available for reading, listening, and viewing. On this page, we wish to point you toward some of the content you may have missed but which still lives in our Archives.

		Norman Dubie Blackbird began publishing Norman Dubie’s book-length futurist poem, The Spirit Tablets at Goa Lake, with “Book of the Jewel Worm” in v1n2. The other two sections, “Book of the Jaspers” and “The Book of Crying Kanglings,” appeared in v2n1 and v2n2 respectively. Additional work followed: five poems in v7n1, seven poems in v10n1, four poems in v11n2, three poems in v12n2, and one poem each in v13n2, v14n2, and v15n1.

		Tomas Tranströmer Blackbird published Nobel Prize-winning author Tomas Tranströmer’s poetry, newly translated by Patty Crane, along with the original Swedish excerpts from Tranströmer’s 1996 book Sorgegondolen (Sorrow Gondola) in v10n1. In the same issue, Jean Valentine offers a letter to the Nobel laureate. In v12n2, David Wojahn provided a compelling meditation on literary friendship and correspondence in “Unlikely Magic, on Airmail: The Letters of Robert Bly and Tomas Tranströmer.”

		Amina Gautier Blackbird featured Amina Gautier’s story “Childhood, Princesshood, Motherhood” in v16n1. She is the author of three short story collections: The Loss of All Lost Things, Now We Will Be Happy, and At-Risk, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Ficiton in 2011. Gautier is also a recipient of the 2016 International Latino Book Award, the 2016 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Book Award, and the 2016 Royal Palm Literary Award.

		Peter Taylor Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Taylor’s long story in two parts, “The Oracle at Stoneleigh Court,” appeared in Blackbird v7n1, along with “Peter Taylor Remembered”—a collection of essays by John Casey, David Lynn, and Blackbird senior editor Mary Flinn. Taylor’s story “His Other Life” was published in v12n1. In the same issue, Blackbird published an interview between Ben Cleary and Peter Taylor, originally recorded in 1988.

		Nicky Beer Blackbird first published Nicky Beer in v8n1 with four poems accompanied by audio readings. In the same volume, Beer was one of four writers to be featured in the segment “Tracking the Muse” with her essay “From Murderously To Mussel.” She was featured in v9n2 as part of “Levis Remembered,” in a talk originally given in 2010 celebrating VCU’s acquisition of the Levis papers. Her nonfiction piece “Frauds and Doppelgängers: The Poet in Recent Fiction” was published in v11n2.

		Kelly Cherry Blackbird first published Kelly Cherry’s prose in v7n1 with the nonfiction piece “The Achievement of George Garrett.” Cherry’s short story “On Familiar Terms” was published in v10n1, and her reading of the piece was featured in v11n2. Cherry also appeared in v13n2 with her short story “The Starveling,” as well as in a recorded panel discussion from the April 2014 Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry event. Her review of Duffie Taylor’s 7000 Sparrows was published in v16n1.

		Hal Crowther Hal Crowther’s nonfiction was published in Blackbird v1n1, accompanied by an interview. He reviewed the work of Robert D. Richardson in v6n1. “In Defense of Straight-Chuters,” appeared in v9n1. “Out of Date: The Joys of Obsolescence” appeared in v11n2 and “The Heaven of Animals” was featured in v14n2. Blackbird’s archive also includes two readings as a part of the Poetic Principles series. The reading at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts appeared in v4n2 and the reading at the Library of Virginia is featured in v14n1.

		Bruce Bond Blackbird first published Bruce Bond’s work in v7n1 with the poem “Hunger.” In v9n2, three selections—sections 8, 11, and 13—from a then-unpublished collection, For the Lost Cathedral, appeared. The collection, which examines the tensions inherent in spiritual devotion, was published by Louisiana State University Press in 2015. The poem “The Tree of Forgetting,” was published in v12n2, and the poems “Allegiance” and “Ventriloquist” appeared in v14n2.

		Erica Dawson Erica Dawson’s poems “OCD” and “Placebo” were published by Blackbird in v2n2, when Dawson was still a graduate student at Ohio State University. A recorded reading of both poems appeared in v3n1. “Florida Funeral,” “Gave Proof,” and “Langston Hughes’s Grandma Mary Writes a Love Letter to Lewis Leary Years after He Dies Fighting at Harper’s Ferry” appeared in v10n2.

		Catherine Pierce Catherine Pierce’s work first appeared in issue v5n1 of Blackbird with the publication of the poems “Domesticity” and “This is Not an Elegy.” Her chapbook Animals of Habit was reviewed in v5n2, and three more of her poems appeared in v6n2: “In Which I Imagine Myself Into a Film Noir,” “In Which I Imagine Myself Into a Slasher Flick,” and “In Which I Imagine Myself Into a Western.” In v10n1, five poems from her collection The Girls of Peculiar appeared, and three more poems appeared in v12n2.

		Susan Elbe Blackbird first published Susan Elbe’s poetry in the fall of 2006—“Eden in the Rearview Mirror” and “With a Leaf in Her Fist” appeared in v5n2. A review of her collection Eden in the Rearview Mirror was published in v7n2. The poem “The Dressmaker’s Daughter” appeared in v10n1. We note with sadness that Susan Elbe died suddenly in September 2017. We will miss her poetic voice.