The Southeast Review Onlinetag:southeastreview.org,2009-06-24://12010-07-21T13:11:48ZThe online companion to The Southeast Review.http://southeastreview.org/images/ser.pngMovable Type Pro 4.34-enCelia Leber and Wendy Breuertag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2842010-07-21T04:33:19Z2010-07-21T13:11:48ZSummer 2010 Writing Regimen Contest Winners At the end of every month-long writing regimen for adults, participants are invited to submit up to three of their best regimen-inspired pieces for a chance at publication on southeastreview.org. After sifting through the wide variety of moving, carefully-wrought submissions from our June regimen re-run, we chose one prose piece and one poem to display on our website. We are proud to announce that Celia Leber and Wendy Breuer are our most recent winners.POETRY WINNER: Celia LeberCelia Leber lives in the high desert of Central Oregon, where she practices law and volunteers as a ski patroller. Her work has appeared in the Literary Harvest 2009 Chapbook of the Central Oregon Writers Guild and in Maine Voices: A Celebration of...A Trio of Gulf Coast Poems by Van K. Brocktag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2832010-07-12T04:44:26Z2010-07-19T17:13:30ZVan K. Brock is author of Lightered: New and Collected Poems (2005), Unspeakable Strangers (poems about the Holocaust, 1995), The Window (1981), a chapbook, The Hard Essential Landscape (1979), and other collections. For several decades he was at Florida State University and for a while was co-director of the writing program. He helped found The Southeast Review (then Sundog), International Quarterly (1993-1999), and, in 1973, Anhinga Press, which he directed for 25 years. In 2000, Anhinga Press dedicated Snakebird: 30 Years of Anhinga Poets to Brock and in 2006 named its Florida Poets Series for Brock. His poems from Unspeakable Strangers, (“The Hindenburg” and “This Way to the Gas”) were in the new edition of Charles Fishman’s edition of Blood to Remember: American Poets on...Mare Nostrum tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2812010-07-10T04:31:11Z2010-07-19T05:24:04ZYou want to blame somebody? Fine, good, go for it: BP, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Huey P. Long, Halliburton, the federal Minerals Management Service, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Tea Party—all guilty.Culpability-wise, it’s an embarras de richesse. BP’s so-called “safety protocols” lacked anything identifiable as “safety:" the more you spend on contingency systems, the less money you make. Why fool around with serious disaster plans (such a downer) when the crude’s still gushing and the profits keep piling up and the shareholders are blissed out? Congress capped damages for oil companies at $75 million back in 1990. That was right after the Exxon Valdez slammed into Bligh Reef, spilling 30 million gallons of crude in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Never mind the...Love Letters to the Gulftag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2732010-06-20T00:25:16Z2010-06-24T20:41:07ZI’ve been thinking a lot about Gulf sturgeon lately—these enormous, threatened fish that spawn in the big rivers along the coast. I wrote one of my early short stories about them. Well, a story about a lovesick marine biology student, holed up in an Apalachicola motel while he awaits data for his research project. But it was those sturgeon that came to me first, not my FSU grad student, and it occurs to me that a lot of my work, and much of the work that I enjoy, springs from a similar place. That is, from a desire to shine some light on all that we are losing along the Gulf Coast, as well as all that we have already lost. Threatened wildlife and environs,...Industrial Incidenttag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2762010-06-19T01:38:16Z2010-07-19T07:43:59ZThey suck up ancient creaturesthat ferment beneath the sea.They snare that ooze with cruel drills whiningthrough the stiff Gulf breeze.They want to get it, and sell it, and sell it and sell ituntil it’s all gone.Now our Gulf is an Industrial Incident,please stand back. I know them.They gouge Florida’s ancient dunesthen truck them eastto spread on Miami Beach,which wasn’t a beach,but a mangrove swampwith hidden creatures;a whole world in those leggy roots. They push dry earth into the wet places,execute minnows, frogs,trees, and shady treasures.They smooth it over to hide it good,then build houses on that fake dry place,houses sitting right next to the dry place they dug out, and dug out, and dug outto make it wet. They rip ancient coral from its dark...Wading in the Water: Ode to Dr. Masontag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2782010-06-18T18:46:42Z2010-07-19T07:49:00Z“Wade in the water.Wade in the water, children.Wade in the water.God's gonna trouble the water.”—traditional spiritual Growing up, I spent a lot of my time on Biloxi Beach. When I put my hands over my ears, I hear that wind and water and no other. My identity is so intertwined with that place—those tides and waves, those birds and fish, and the people and culture that attends it—that the most recent disaster feels like a personal assault. That place and I are inexorably connected. Take, for instance, the barrier islands—some in plain sight from the beach, some not—they absorb the brunt of the Gulf’s waves. Because of them, the water of the Mississippi Sound is calm and flat; it looks like a hammered sheet of...The Shining Gulftag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2752010-06-18T01:21:42Z2010-07-19T07:29:33ZThis essay appears in the new anthology, UnspOILed: Writers Speak for Florida's Coast, edited by Susan Cerulean, Janisse Ray, and A. James Wholpart. Learn more about the anthology by visiting UnspOILed.Drought had a choke hold on Tallahassee. The national forest south of town burned out of control most of June. With an evening thunderstorm threatening the festivities at Tom Brown Park, St. George Island seemed a safer bet for fireworks this Fourth of July. God knows my daughter and I needed an outing.“Nice to breathe some fresh air, huh, honey?” I said, watching Lumin stick her feet out the car window as we cruised the familiar route from Tallahassee to St. George: Panacea, Ochlocknee Bay, St. Teresa, Carrabelle, each town like a native wildflower Normal...Hidden Springtag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2742010-06-18T01:11:30Z2010-06-24T19:17:39ZIt was July in the Florida heat when I found a hidden spring off of the Weeki Wachee River, one of many tributaries feeding into the Gulf of Mexico. I wasn’t more than eleven years old but I felt like a conquistador. I crept carefully through the overgrowth that hid the spring so as to not leave a path to my treasure. A solitary boulder jutted out of the crystal clear pool, tempting me to swim to it.The water, on the other hand, stayed sixty-eight degrees year round. On a hundred degree day that was enough to turn my lips blue and cause my teeth to keep rhythm to some tune I couldn’t hear. But I was a wise eleven; I knew I could take...SER Online, Summer 2010tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2432010-06-14T12:37:42Z2010-07-26T15:39:08ZInside this Issue:Connie May FowlerRichard BickelSkip HorackTom DeMarchi2005 Hurricane Katrina Benefit ReadingFrom the Archives: An Interview with Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's BoneAn All-New-Content 30-Day Writing Regimen for Adults starts September 1st, as well as a Young Writer's Regimen Re-Run! And make sure to check out the winning work from June's cycle by Celia Leber and Wendy Breuer!A Tribute to the Gulf Coast, featuring commentary, testimonies, celebrations, and memories of the Gulf Coast region from authors such as Skip Horack, Michael Garriga, Diane Roberts, and more. If you would like to contribute to this ongoing feature of SER Online, Summer 2010, email the editors with your proposed contribution.THE RESULTS ARE IN! To view the winners and finalists of SER's 2010 Poetry, Narrative Nonfiction, and World's...Richard Bickel Slideshowtag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2692010-06-02T20:14:50Z2010-06-15T22:39:06ZDebra Monroetag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1862010-06-01T14:45:03Z2010-07-08T14:00:13ZConnie May Fowlertag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2642010-05-31T15:25:08Z2010-06-16T12:54:29ZInterviewed by Jessica Pitchford Connie May Fowler is an award-winning novelist, memoirist, and screenwriter. Her most recent novel, How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly, was published in April 2010. Her other novels include Sugar Cage (1994), River of Hidden Dreams (1996), Before Women had Wings (1997)—recipient of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Buck Award from the League of American Pen Women—The Problem with Murmur Lee (2001), and Remembering Blue (2006)—recipient of the Chautauqua South Literary Award. She adapted Before Women had Wings into a screenplay for Oprah Winfrey. The result was an Emmy-winning film starring Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Barkin. In 2002, Fowler published When Katie Wakes, a memoir that explores her descent into and escape from an abusive relationship. Her...Ethel Rohan and Marilyn Cavicchiatag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2392010-05-08T15:38:09Z2010-07-21T04:35:43ZBook Reivew: Monsieur Paintag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2382010-05-04T20:11:36Z2010-05-04T21:11:24ZRoberto Bolaño, Monsieur Pain, trans. Chris Andrews. New Directions, 2010, 134pp. Cloth: $22.95 reviewed by Lily Hoang Monsieur Pain is an early Bolaño, written in 1981 or 82, when he was desperate for prize money, which, sure, he won. What is important about this slender novel’s composition date is that it shows Bolaño’s progression as a writer. Here, in this traditional historical novel, there are murmurs of The Savage Detectives, nascent urges towards what would develop into 2666, and yet it is its own book, and like all Bolaño, it is bold and extravagant in its simplicity and entirely “mesmerizing.” Set in Paris 1938, the eponymous Monsieur Pain, Pierre Pain, is a mesmerist, a follower of Franz Mesmer, a believer that supposed magnetic fluids flowing...SER Online, May 2010tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2372010-05-03T21:25:50Z2010-05-17T23:17:34ZAWP 2010 in Denvertag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2362010-05-03T11:29:20Z2010-05-05T02:16:35ZBook Review: The Bride of Etag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2352010-05-03T11:02:26Z2010-05-05T18:27:13ZMary Jo Bang’s The Bride of E reviewed by Brandi George Yes. And yes: “I cross the street. A horn doesn’t stop me. I cross and cross. On the other side I look back to see the commotion. The driver of the car looks at me, the horn still not stopping, meets my eyes. He sees into me and says, ‘Not you, fuck-face.’ Twelve years later I’m a frayed edge. I’m under everything I know” (76). This is a passage from “G is Going,” a section which blurs the lines between poetry and prose. Bang proves that good literature defies classification—it has a mysterious essence. As David Kirby writes in What Is a Book, “great books contain, not many secrets, but too many secrets” (10)....Book Review: Eat When You Feel Sadtag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2342010-05-03T10:44:03Z2010-05-04T21:24:09Z Eat When You Feel Sad by Zachary German Review by Stephen Tully Dierks Just finished reading Eat When You Feel Sad by Zachary German. I liked it. It is a selection of scenes from the life of a young guy initially living at home with his parents, and then, for the bulk of the novel, living in Brooklyn. The author made a conscious decision to present all actions, words, and thoughts in stripped-down, simple declarative sentences. The effect is to strip away everything usually present in literature that does not relate to concrete reality and the experience of being inside a consciousness. For this reader, there is a tremendous feeling of honesty and familiarity as a result of this technique. This is what it...Book Review: during my nervous breakdown i want to have a biographer presenttag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2332010-05-03T10:31:57Z2010-05-04T21:26:31Zduring my nervous breakdown i want to have a biographer presentby Brandon Scott GorrellReview by Stephen Tully Dierks I read Brandon Scott Gorrell’s book of poems, during my nervous breakdown i want to have a biographer present, last night. I had previously seen other work by Brandon on the internet, but this was my first time reading the whole book. I found it to be ‘incredible,’ ‘honest,’ sad, highly ‘poetic,’ and ‘sublime.’ Not to mention very cohesive and commanding as a complete work. The book charts the emotional journey from birth—the birth of poem titles, of poems—through anxiety, sadness, loneliness, love, and despair, to acceptance. In its voice, its extremely creative, at times science-fiction-fueled vision, its relentlessness, and in the beauty of its moments, Brandon’s...Book Review: From Old Notebookstag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2322010-05-03T09:58:33Z2010-05-04T21:36:26ZBook Review: Evertag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2312010-05-03T09:36:15Z2010-05-04T21:32:53ZBook Review: Kamby Bolongo Mean Rivertag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2272010-04-02T02:06:11Z2010-04-30T15:29:22ZRyan Boudinottag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1202010-04-01T13:44:42Z2010-05-04T20:30:08ZSER Online, April 2010tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2262010-03-29T23:30:10Z2010-04-02T14:26:11Z IN THIS ISSUE Interviews with: Wells Tower Shelley Puhak --AND-- Readings by: D.A. Powell Pamela Ball Kim MacQueen Bucky McMahon Janet Burroway Diane Roberts Mark Hinson The artwork you see here is called "Butterfly #2." It was created by photographer Cara Barer, whose work often uses books as art objects. As for our interviews... David Rodriguez asks Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned author Wells Tower a few questions, including: What writerly habit would you most like to break? Trevor Newberry questions Stalin in Aruba author Shelley Puhak about poetry, history, curse words, and the merits of John Grisham. On the podcast front... D.A. Powell reads some of his new poetry. Plus: Mark Hinson, Diane Roberts, Janet Burroway, Bucky McMahon, Pamela Ball, and Kim MacQeen all...D. A. Powelltag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2222010-03-16T21:40:47Z2010-03-30T05:58:05ZTerry Rowletttag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2192010-03-03T14:50:56Z2010-03-03T15:28:18ZJerome Stern Benefittag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2212010-03-02T09:55:39Z2010-04-02T14:36:52ZShelley Puhaktag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1792010-03-01T19:55:20Z2010-03-29T23:50:36ZElizabeth Hegwood tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2182010-03-01T16:09:19Z2010-03-02T21:45:18ZAnthony Varallotag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2172010-03-01T15:57:52Z2010-03-02T21:49:15ZB.J. Hollarstag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2162010-03-01T15:37:38Z2010-03-02T21:43:03ZTina Karelsontag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2152010-03-01T15:29:22Z2010-03-02T21:22:15ZSER Online, March 2010tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2142010-03-01T15:13:00Z2010-03-05T13:19:22ZWells Towertag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1802010-03-01T06:50:44Z2010-03-29T23:48:30ZInterviewed by David Rodriguez Wells Tower is the author of Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, his first collection of short stories, which was published in 2009. He is also the author of many nonfiction articles. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Believer, The Washington Post, Outside, and elsewhere. He received his MFA from Columbia University and is the recipient of The Paris Review Discovery Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and a Henfield Foundation award. He lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and owns a house in North Carolina. An animated short of the title story of his collection can be seen on YouTube. Q: The structure of the book works really well, but I read that after you signed the...Keith Ratzlafftag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2102010-02-23T10:00:00Z2010-03-03T19:46:04ZMargaret Atwoodtag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2302010-02-23T03:15:45Z2010-05-04T20:33:44ZMargaret Atwood is a Canadian author and social campaigner. Atwood is winner of the Arthur C. Clark Award, the and Prince of Asturias award for Literature, and numerous other awards. While she may be best known for her work as a novelist, she also writes short stories and is a poet. She is the author of more than 35 volumes of poetry, children's literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000.Listen as she reads some of her recent work. [download]...Jack Fullertag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.2052010-02-16T22:41:45Z2010-03-03T19:50:11ZSusan Popetag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1962010-02-06T22:26:29Z2010-02-07T02:57:17ZAndrei Codrescutag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1902010-02-01T19:51:39Z2010-03-03T19:50:39ZMary Jo Bangtag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1842010-02-01T19:42:16Z2010-02-05T00:46:58ZJoel Brouwer’s 'And So'tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1822010-02-01T18:49:05Z2010-02-04T22:08:26ZMark Bibbins and Mary Jo Bangtag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1832010-02-01T18:18:54Z2010-03-03T19:52:09Z Mark Bibbins was a founding editor of the journal LIT and teaches in The New School’s MFA program. Individual poems have appeared in Boston Review, Colorado Review, The Paris Review, Poetry, The Yale Review and elsewhere, including the anthologies The Best American Poetry 2004 and Great American Prose Poems. Bibbins received a Lambda Literary Award for his collection of poems Sky Lounge (Graywolf, 2003), and was awarded a 2005 Poetry Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. His most recent poetry collection, The Dance of No Hard Feelings (Copper Canyon Press), came out last year. Mary Jo Bang is the author of six collections of poetry, including The Bride of E: Poems, The Eye Like a Strange Balloon, The Downstream Extremity of...John Manntag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1892010-02-01T17:01:19Z2010-02-04T22:09:40Z Folded in Place The photographs in this series are informed by the varied ways that photography, mapping, drawing and sculpture have each tried to describe the landscape. By incorporating each of these methods, Folded in Place highlights the abstraction of the landscape traditionally offered by these means, while creating a tangible photographic “place” in each image that is occupied by a mapped construction. The images therefore provide precise photographic and mapped information while at the same time offering an abstraction of the landscape itself. The viewer is shown a landscape that is simultaneously understood and unknown, a landscape in which the map obtains a new geography of its own. Click on the image to view more of John's work, or visit his website....SER Online, February 2010tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1882010-02-01T16:47:07Z2010-02-07T03:04:02Z Inside this Issue: Susan Pope Beth Gylys Mary Jo Bang Mark Bibbins and Mary Jo Bang Andrei Codrescu Joel Brouwer’s And So John Mann It’s that time of the year when, for a small fee, we offer you a chance at fame and fortune. Okay, maybe that’s not exactly true. On the other hand, it is contest season and, for a small fee, we do offer publication (all finalists!) and prizes ($1500 in cash!). Find out more here. Or maybe what you’re looking for is a little structure in your writerly life, a little direction, a little something to get the creative juices flowing. Fortunately, The Southeast Review has brand new adult and young writer's regimens starting up April 1. Find out more about...Beth Gylystag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1102010-02-01T11:00:57Z2010-02-05T00:45:09ZEileen Pollacktag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1252010-01-01T17:12:25Z2009-12-31T15:33:05ZCody Milestag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1782010-01-01T17:02:01Z2009-12-30T17:12:47Z “Split” 2009 Digital This piece is part of a series on the theme of divorce and separation, and the people affected by it. My intent was to allow the viewer to come up with his or her own narrative based on the evocative nature of the imagery. Technically, I was experimenting with using traditional painting techniques in a digital medium, trying to make the difference indistinguishable. Cody Miles is an illustrator and designer based in San Francisco. To see more work, visit his website, codymiles.com....Mary Blytag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1142010-01-01T12:42:52Z2010-02-25T15:09:59Z Interviewed by Josephine Yu Mary Bly, a Shakespeare scholar with degrees from Oxford and Yale, is associate professor and head of the Creative Writing program at Fordham University in New York City and the author of Consuming London: Mapping Plays, Puns, and Tourists in the Early Modern City (Oxford 2000). She is part of a prestigious writing family: her father is the poet Robert Bly, winner of an American Book Award; her mother is the writer Carol Bly; and her godfather is the Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet James Wright. So what is perhaps most surprising about Mary Bly is her double life as Eloisa James, the New York Times bestselling author of historical romance novels that defy the conventions and stereotypes of the genre with impotent...Emily Franklintag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1092010-01-01T10:51:28Z2010-01-09T02:03:10Z Interview by Katherine Burgess Emily Franklin writes regularly about food and parenting for national magazines and newspapers. She is the author of two adult novels, The Girls’ Almanac and Liner Notes, and more than a dozen books for young adults, including the critically-acclaimed seven book fiction series for teens, The Principles of Love. Other young adult books include The Other Half of Me, the Chalet Girls series, and At Face Value, a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac. She edited the anthologies It’s a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths about Life in Your Twenties and How to Spell Chanukah: 18 Writers Celebrate 8 Nights of Lights. She is co-editor of Before: Short Stories about Pregnancy from Our Top Writers. Her most recent book, Too Many Cooks:...SER Online, January 2010tag:southeastreview.org,2010://1.1732010-01-01T06:53:51Z2010-01-20T04:55:21Z Inside this Issue: Mary Bly Eileen Pollack Emily Franklin John McNally Susan Vreeland Peter Meinke Barry Hannah It's a new year and in the upcoming months we have a great schedule of podcasts, including readings by Mary Jo Bang, Mark Bibbins, Andrei Codrescu, D.A. Powell, Mary Childers, and many others. If you live in Tallahassee, come see these writers in person at The Warehouse. Follow the reading series here. This month we have new interviews with Mary Bly, Eileen Pollack, and Emily Franklin. From our archives, we have an essay by John McNally and readings by Susan Vreeland, Peter Meinke, and the not-to-be-missed Barry Hannah. Enjoy and happy new year! Artwork by Cody Miles....Carl Mealietag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1572009-12-04T21:18:13Z2009-12-04T18:33:11ZKathryn Matag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1242009-12-04T16:54:57Z2009-12-05T23:16:48ZSER Online, December 2009tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1722009-12-04T15:32:16Z2009-12-30T17:37:46Z Inside this Issue: Carl Mealie Steven Millhauser Thomas Cooper Kathryn Ma Amy Lemmon Chris Jones David Vann December’s the month much of the country receives its first serious snowfall. Down in Florida it means rain and maybe a little nostalgia, and we don’t lose our tans so much as dial them back. Carl Mealie, winner of our Fall 2009 Writing Regimen Contest, understands how the weather can be callous. You should check out his winning story, and if you haven’t already, you should check out our Writing Regimens, currently underway but beginning anew in the spring. This month we also have four great interviews—with Pulitzer Prize-winning Steven Millhauser, Thomas Cooper, Kathryn Ma, and Amy Lemmon. And from our archives, we dug up two wonderful...Steven Millhausertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1212009-12-04T14:46:55Z2009-12-04T21:08:03ZAmy Lemmontag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1112009-12-04T11:39:22Z2009-12-04T15:15:10ZInterviewed by Samuel Lloyd Amy Lemmon is poetry editor for the literary webzine Ducts. Her poetry chapbook, Fine Motor, was published in 2008. ABBA: The Poems, a chapbook written in collaboration with Denise Duhamel, is forthcoming in 2010. Her poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Cincinnati Review, The Journal, and elsewhere. Lemmon is currently working on a prose memoir, Little Star, about parenting a child with Down syndrome. She is Associate Professor of English at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Saint Nobody (Red Hen Press) is her first full-length poetry collection. Q: Where do you like to be when you write? A: As a single working mother with a very hectic schedule I’ve had to learn to write wherever and whenever I can. Nowadays,...Thomas Coopertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1692009-12-02T20:57:48Z2009-12-04T19:04:22ZChad Sweeney and Rhett Iseman Trulltag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1462009-11-07T20:46:06Z2010-03-03T19:53:16Z Rhett Iseman Trull’s The Real Warnings was selected by contest judge Sheryl St. Germain as winner of the 2008 Anhinga Prize for Poetry. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Best New Poets 2008, Prairie Schooner, The Southern Review, and other publications. Her awards include prizes from the Academy of American Poets and the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Foundation. She received her B.A. from Duke University and her M.F.A from University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where she was a Randall Jarrell fellow. She and her husband publish Cave Wall in Greensboro, North Carolina. Chad Sweeney was born in Norman, Oklahoma. He is the author of Arranging the Blaze, An Architecture, and A Mirror to Shatter the Hammer. Chosen for Best...Robert Pinskytag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1452009-11-06T22:12:04Z2009-11-06T14:39:06ZInterviewed by Michael Shea Robert Pinsky is one of the most recognized contemporary poets. He has done more for poetry than possibly any other American in the last 20 years, and his cultural impact cannot be underestimated, ranging from his appointment as Poet Laureate (1997-2000) to his appearances on The Simpsons and The Colbert Report. Currently, Pinsky teaches in Boston University’s graduate writing program and is the editor of the online publication Slate. His most recent collection of poetry is Essential Pleasures. This Tuesday, November 10, Robert Pinsky will be the guest speaker at the Florida State University English department’s annual Writers Harvest benefit. Q: You’re regarded as perhaps one of the most active Poet Laureates in the history of the position, specifically because of...George Singleton: Deadly Readingstag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1392009-11-04T13:07:07Z2009-11-04T12:42:07ZMichael Gills—the irrepressible author of the stunning collection Why I Lie—recounts a night he didn’t drink with George Singleton—remembering it with the enthusiasm and clarity of one who’s looked at a corn tortilla and seen the face of Mary, Mother of God. … July 17, 1988 to be exact—George gave a reading in Winston-Salem. My wife and I drove up, and I was really looking forward to going out drinking with George. But his girlfriend—B., I’ll call her—had absolutely one-hundred percent forbidden the two of us to drink together. So I resigned myself to buying a six-pack, cranking a country station and cruising the back roads home to Greensboro. Only my wife, Jill, for whatever reason, said, “Hell no. We’re driving home. And you’re going...George Singleton: Stalkertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1382009-11-04T13:00:45Z2009-10-31T15:27:42ZOne summer, George shimmied into the crawl space underneath Jim Clark’s house every night for a month straight and sang "Killing for Jesus" at the top of his lungs. —Terry Kennedy, Asst. Director of the MFA Program at UNC-Greensboro [Read more Cult of George]...George Singleton: Sports Reporter?tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1372009-11-04T13:00:45Z2009-11-02T16:00:24ZOne night George was listening to a radio program where people could call and share local high school football scores. He called in and said, “I’ve got a score for you—Fine Arts Center 42, Washington Center 0.” “Wow,” the host said. “I didn’t even know the Fine Arts Center had a football team.” It didn’t, and the Washington Center was for special-needs kids. “Oh yeah,” George said. “They’re just a bunch of skinny artists, but they’re getting better. I’ll call you next week when they play the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind.” —Katie Burgess, once again, studied with Singleton at the Greenville Fine Arts Center [Read more Cult of George]...George Singleton: Petty Thief, Fast Runnertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1402009-11-04T13:00:01Z2009-10-31T15:31:07ZThis from the roast-worthy poet and nonfiction writer, David Kirby. When we asked if he had a George story he said… Probably, the only issue being that all my George stories involve lawbreaking, such as the time I was waiting outside the gas station for him when George comes piling out with his arms full of Cheetos and Funyuns and the owner in hot pursuit… —David Kirby, author of twenty-nine books, including The House on Boulevard St. and, most recently, Little Richard: the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll. [Read more Cult of George]...George Singleton: Ex-Drinker, a story from days of yoretag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1362009-11-03T13:01:45Z2009-10-31T15:24:10ZThis from the roast-worthy writer, Steve Almond: I remember seeing [George Singleton] at some civic lit fest in the South—Nashville or Charlotte, one of those cities with a flower for a theme and lots of corporate sponsorship. I’m taking this elevator downstairs to the lobby and the door opens and there’s George, stinking of cigarettes with a can of beer in his hand. It’s, like, 8am and he starts howling “Steve Almond! Steve Almond!” because, see, the first time we met was in New York, at some Book Magazine junket, where he got plastered and I was (of course) stoned out of my fucking mind. Anyways, down in Nashville or Charlotte or Richmond or wherever it was, George drags me to an abandoned bar in...George Singleton: Detriment to Young Mindstag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1352009-11-03T13:00:45Z2009-11-02T16:01:18ZOne afternoon George looked out the window (creative writing was in a portable classroom), saw the principal headed our way, quickly passed around a pack of cigarettes and told us each to take one. Moments later the principal walked in the door (along with a group of visiting parents) to find us busy workshopping, our Marlboros tucked casually behind our ears. —Katie Burgess, studied with Singleton at the Greenville Fine Arts Center [Read more Cult of George]...George Singleton: Protects us from Drama Teachers Everywheretag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1342009-11-03T13:00:45Z2009-11-03T11:18:23ZOne day we were hanging out at a “classy” bar downtown with the drama teacher who was teaching me and George fake fighting moves. We were asked to leave and went to a less classy bar where George trapped the drama teacher in the men’s room with an orange traffic pylon. When the thespian forced his way out of the toilet, he threw the pylon at George and we moved on to an even less classy bar. —Mark Franks, English teacher at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities [Read more Cult of George]...George Singleton: Snake Handlertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1332009-11-03T13:00:45Z2009-12-30T17:38:03Z I was visiting UNC Greensboro, where George had studied writing. George was giving a reading on campus that week. Afterwards Jim Clark [director of the MFA Program at UNCG] and a bunch of students hung out on the front steps of an old house on Carr Street. He and Jim were close friends and told some wild stories from George’s grad school days. He hung out at Jim’s house a lot back then—the house sat right across the street. In another nearby house’s yard, there used to be a lot of what they called worm snakes, these tiny dark snakes. There must have been a burrow. So one night, George and Jim collected a bunch of them and stood outside the Baptist church on...SER Online, November 2009tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1412009-11-02T13:10:54Z2009-11-18T02:55:27ZInside this Issue: The Cult of George Singleton Jennifer Militello Deborah Ager Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door Leigh Edwards and David Kirby Chad Sweeney and Rhett Iseman Trull Richard Price Quinn Dalton New! Robert Pinsky Christina Storozkova From The Cult of George Singleton: George Singleton. I’ve heard tales all of my writerly life. Bunyan-esque stories. A wild man. A giant personality. A trickster, a wise-ass, a snake-handler, a Guggenpulitzheimer recipient, a bawdy drunk, a newly avowed teetotaler, a genius, a madman. I seemed to be literarily doomed to the role of following him. If I showed up to give a reading, invariably George had just blown through town. I knew that—by comparison—my readings were tame. It was like the audience had just been treated...Introductiontag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1292009-11-02T13:04:11Z2009-11-02T15:39:21Z George Singleton. I’ve heard tales all of my writerly life. Bunyan-esque stories. A wild man. A giant personality. A trickster, a wise-ass, a snake-handler, a Guggenpulitzheimer recipient, a bawdy drunk, a newly avowed teetotaler, a genius, a madman. I seemed to be literarily doomed to the role of following him. If I showed up to give a reading, invariably George had just blown through town. I knew that—by comparison—my readings were tame. It was like the audience had just been treated to the spectacle of a man-versus-bear wrestling match, and now I showed up with a tubercular parakeet in a cage who couldn’t much sing, what with its little parakeet coughs. And so when I finally met George, I was immediately surprised that he...George Singleton: Hail, Great Steedtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1322009-11-02T13:03:38Z2009-11-02T12:46:47ZGeorge Singleton: Tips on Office Politicstag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1312009-11-02T13:01:58Z2009-11-02T16:00:46ZOne day George was driving in the country and hit a snake with his truck. He went back for the dead snake, put it in a duffel bag, and took it home. He had to go to a faculty meeting the next afternoon—George really fucking hated faculty meetings—so he brought the duffel bag with him and kept it under the table. A few minutes into the meeting, he opened it up and started yelling, “Snake! Sweet Jesus!” until he had cleared the room. —Katie Burgess, studied with Singleton at the Greenville Fine Arts Center [Read more Cult of George]...George Singleton: Thieving Matchmakertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1302009-11-02T13:00:22Z2009-11-02T17:24:43ZGeorge inadvertently introduced me to my last girlfriend Ansel when I was working at Powell’s Books in Oregon. The roast’s timing is nuts because I have a whole essay about it (and a comic take on the place of autobiography in fiction) coming out in the September issue of Gargoyle. But here’s the basic story: George sent Ansel into the bookstore for a copy of the 2005 Atlantic Summer Fiction Issue. I was endlessly grateful because I assumed he was playing matchmaker, but he swears the magazine-finding mission wasn’t some cunning social engineering. He’d simply used her name in the short story “Director’s Cut” in that issue and figured I’d give her a copy. I’d met him once before when he was reading in Portland....Jennifer Militellotag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1222009-10-31T17:33:16Z2009-10-31T21:41:28ZInterviewed by Rachel Inez Lane Jennifer Militello is the author several chapbooks, including Anchor Chain, Open Sail. Her poems have been widely published in such journals as The Kenyon Review, The New Republic, The North American Review, The Paris Review, and The Virginia Quarterly Review, and anthologized in Best New Poets 2008. Her work has been awarded grants and fellowships from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Writers at Work, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. She has taught at Brown University, The Rhode Island School of Design, and The University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and is currently a professor at River Valley Community College in Claremont, New Hampshire. Her new collection of poetry, Flinch of Song,...Deborah Agertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1082009-10-31T16:52:25Z2009-11-14T17:06:33ZInterviewed by Brittany Witters Deborah Ager is the founding editor of 32 Poems Magazine. Many poems first appearing in 32 Poems have been honored in the Best American Poetry and Best New Poets anthologies and on Verse Daily and Poetry Daily. Her poems have appearred in Best of the Tigertail Anthologies, Best New Poets 2006, The Bloomsbury Review, New England Review, The Georgia Review, Quarterly West, and elsewhere. She’s received fellowships from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She was a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Midnight Voices is her first book. Q: Though relatively new to the publishing world, 32 Poems has already become a respected source for talented poets. How...Jack Ketchum’s ‘The Girl Next Door’tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1232009-10-31T15:23:22Z2009-10-31T21:39:59ZLeigh Edwards and David Kirbytag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1442009-10-31T14:59:20Z2010-03-03T19:54:14Z Leigh Edwards teaches in the English Department at FSU, where she specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. literature and popular culture. Her book, Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity (Indiana University Press, 2009), examines how Cash’s work and image illuminate key foundational tensions in the history of American thought. Described as “nothing short of fascinating” (Jason Buel, PopMatters), Edwards’ study presents a compelling portrait of Cash and his significance as a cultural icon. David Kirby is the author or co-author of twenty-nine books, including the poetry collections The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected Poems, The Ha-Ha, The House of Blue Light, and The Travelling Library, in addition to the collection of essays, Ultra-Talk: Johnny Cash, The Mafia, Shakespeare, Drum Music,...Christina Storozkovatag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1422009-10-30T23:20:04Z2009-10-30T23:58:30Z “Highway Oases” by Christina Storozkova A Perestroika baby, I was allowed to be fascinated by American culture. From Russia you only know America from Hollywood movies and Pop music videos. With a mind already primed for propaganda I had no hesitation accepting the fantasy, unaware that America not only tolerates propagation of this dream but that its entire economy is dependent upon it. Little did I realize that the American Dream had long been dead, if it ever existed at all. In 1996, the zombie capitalist playground known as Central Florida became my home. I was welcomed by strip malls, convenience stores, fast food establishments, family friendly chain restaurants, and gas stations where 24 hours a day I was free to buy a t-shirt...Sheila Currantag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1262009-10-26T18:51:17Z2010-03-03T20:04:32ZSheila Curran is wife of one, mother of two, sister of nine, and daughter of two unsung heroes, a retired Air Force fighter-pilot/ college professor, Arthur Ranger, and his wife, Celia. Her first novel, Diana Lively is Falling Down, was published when she was 49. Her second book, Everyone She Loved, about a group of friends in a North Florida beach town, came out in June of 2009 and will be issued as a trade paperback by Washington Square Press in March of 2010. Listen as she reads from Everyone She Loved. [download]...William Giralditag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1192009-10-12T00:15:54Z2009-10-13T12:06:56ZGretchen Leglertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1072009-10-11T00:19:50Z2010-03-24T00:58:06ZSER Online, October 2009tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1182009-10-11T00:11:21Z2009-10-31T00:46:00ZInside this Issue: Gretchen Legler William Giraldi Jeffrey McDaniel James Kimbrell Barbara Hamby Jeff Gordinier Sheila Curran William Giraldi Matthew Zapruder For a few days at the beginning of October it seemed as if fall had (finally) come to the Florida panhandle. And then it was summer again and we all crossed our fingers and hoped we’d be able to wear sweaters by Thanksgiving. It would be a lie to say we aren’t hoping our interview with Gretchen Legler, author of On the Ice, brings us a little sympathetic cold front. This month we also have interviews with William Giraldi, Jeffrey McDaniel, and James Kimbrell, as well as podcasts from poet Barbara Hamby and Jeff Gordinier, author of X Saves the World: How Generation X...Jeff Gordiniertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1172009-10-10T23:59:09Z2010-03-03T20:04:44ZJeff Gordinier is the Editor-at-Large at Details magazine. He graduated from Princeton University and he has written for a variety of word-oriented entities, including Esquire, GQ, Fortune, Spin, Elle, Breathe, the Los Angeles Times, Cookie, Crawdaddy, the Offsprung parenting site, PoetryFoundation.org, and Entertainment Weekly. In 2006 he won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for two music stories in Details, and in 2007 he won a second award of special recognition from ASCAP for another Details piece. His work has been published in anthologies such as Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005, Best Food Writing 2006, and Best Creative Nonfiction Vol. 1. He is the author of X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking. Listen to him...Jeffrey McDanieltag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.992009-10-10T20:59:39Z2009-10-11T02:45:19ZBarbara Hambytag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1122009-10-10T16:50:39Z2010-03-03T20:04:53ZJames Kimbrelltag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1042009-10-10T05:17:42Z2009-10-11T00:26:49ZInterviewed by Brittany Witters James Kimbrell is the author of The Gatehouse Heaven and co-translator of Three Poets of Modern Korea. He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a Master of Arts, from the University of Virginia with a Master of Fine Arts, and from the University of Missouri, Columbia with a Doctor of Philosophy. In 2005, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in poetry. My Psychic is his latest book of poetry. Q: Having read My Psychic, I noticed the form of your poetry takes many different shapes, from the blocky paragraph look of “Don’t Drive to the Beach Alone” to the very spacey “My Psychic.” The last poem in this collection, “Up Late, Reading Whitman,” combines...Lauren Grofftag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1132009-10-01T17:31:45Z2010-03-03T20:05:04ZSkip Horacktag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1062009-09-18T19:52:28Z2009-09-19T14:07:30Z The Southern Cross: Skip Horack On His Award-Winning, Debut Collection by Jessica Pitchford Skip Horack was born and raised in Louisiana, attended Florida State University, and practiced law for five years in Baton Rouge. His work has appeared in Epoch, The Southern Review, Narrative Magazine, and other journals. Horack currently teaches at Stanford University, where he was also a Wallace Stegner Fellow. Horack's debut collection, The Southern Cross (Mariner Books, August 2009), was winner of the 2008 Bakeless Fiction Prize. Q: “Chores,” the second story in the collection, was a finalist in our annual World’s Best Short Short Story Contest. It was also your first publication ever. We love to publish emerging authors and see them go on to such success. Can you talk...Kara Canditotag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1052009-09-18T17:50:06Z2010-03-03T20:05:12ZKara Candito’s book of poetry, Taste of Cherry (University of Nebraska Press, 2009), was the winner of the 2008 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in poetry. Her poetry and criticism have appeared or are forthcoming in such journals as Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, Nimrod International Journal, Poet Lore, and The Florida Review, and she has been anthologized in Best New Poets 2007 (Samovar). Candito has been awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize and a scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Listen to her read from Taste of Cherry. [download]...SER Online, September 2009tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1012009-09-17T15:09:22Z2009-10-04T15:42:45ZBrandon C. Smithtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.942009-09-17T13:06:01Z2009-09-17T15:56:20ZSee more work by Brandon C. Smith by visiting his website. “Cow Pulling Unrealized Boats #2,” oil on canvas, by Brandon C. Smith [large image] The Paintings of Brandon C. Smith One needs to spend time with Brandon C. Smith’s paintings to appreciate their strangeness and, ultimately, their appeal. Mimicking the shape of the background treeless hills and employing a palette of meaty pinks, reds, and browns, three large blind cows in dramatic shadow march briskly and ungainly across the canvas from left to right into a vaguely described pool of grayish-blue water. Another set of three cows, up to their shoulders in the distant stagnant muck, sit unmoving, side by side by side. Smith’s powerfully emotive subjects appear still and singular or in groups...Rebecca Wolfftag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.962009-09-17T03:23:08Z2009-09-24T20:32:57ZSandra Simondstag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.982009-09-16T22:04:10Z2009-09-19T13:43:11ZMargot Singertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.932009-09-16T21:34:56Z2009-09-17T16:02:46ZInterviewed by Anne Barngrover Margot Singer is the author of The Pale of Settlement , winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers, and the Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in such magazines as Agni, Prairie Schooner, The Gettysburg Review, Shenandoah, The Western Humanities Review, The North American Review, The Sun, and many others. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Carter Prize for the Essay, and an honorable mention from the judges of the PEN/Hemingway Award. She currently teaches at Denison University, where she holds the Bosler Endowed Faculty Fellowship, and in the low-residency MFA program at Queens University in Charlotte, NC. She lives with...Bill Konigsbergtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.952009-09-16T18:49:29Z2009-09-19T00:36:18ZMatt Bonduranttag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.972009-09-10T21:03:49Z2010-03-03T20:05:24Z Matt Bondurant was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended James Madison University where he recieved a B.A. and M.A., and received his PhD from Florida State University, where he was a Kingsbury Fellow. Matt is a two-time Bread Loaf waiter and staff member, and a Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writer's Conference. His short fiction has appeared in The New England Review, Gulf Coast Review, The Hawaii Review, Prairie Schooner, and Glimmer Train, among others. He has also published poems in such journals as The Notre Dame Review and Ninth Letter among others. Listen to him read from his novel The Wettest County in the World. [download]...Robert Olen Butlertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.852009-09-03T17:41:04Z2010-03-03T20:05:31ZRobert Olen Butler is the author of eleven novels, five story collections, and a book on the creative process, From Where You Dream. In addition to a Pulitzer Prize in 1993 and National Magazine Awards in 2001 and 2005, he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction and an NEA grant, as well as the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches creative writing at Florida State University. Here he reads from his latest novel, Hell. [download]...Donald Ray Pollocktag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.842009-08-18T15:48:26Z2009-08-18T16:22:45ZInterview with Donald Ray Pollock.Shelley Puhaktag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.812009-08-11T19:25:55Z2009-08-11T21:49:18ZSER Online, August 2009tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.802009-08-10T18:39:38Z2009-09-17T16:10:46ZHey! Don’t miss out—an all new Adult Writing Regimen starts up October 1! Inside this Issue: Kirsten Skrinde Julia Hansen Jay Shearer George Singleton Shelley Puhak BJ Hollars Daniyal Mueenuddin Michele Battiste Donald Ray Pollock Robert Olen Butler Rick Moody (podcast) Rick Moody (interview) There’s no better way to polish off a summer than with a refreshing new issue of The Southeast Review. Volume 27.2 has recently arrived and is making its way to contributors and readers. We’re excited to offer a sneak peek here. As usual, in this issue you’ll find the best fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from new and established writers. We’ve got murderers and Little Golden Books characters, babies and French clowns, too many cooks in the kitchen and America’s favorite poem....Michele Battistetag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.792009-08-10T18:04:40Z2009-09-19T13:47:28ZDaniyal Mueenuddintag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.782009-08-10T16:57:15Z2009-08-10T21:02:08Z by Lee A. Carlisle Daniyal Mueenuddin was brought up in Lahore, Pakistan and Elroy, Wisconsin. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, his stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, and The Best American Short Stories 2008, selected by Salman Rushdie. For a number of years he practiced law in New York. He now lives on a farm in Pakistan’s southern Punjab. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, his debut short story collection, was published this February. Q: When you initially wrote and published “Nawabdin Electrician,” did you already have the idea for the larger work In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, into which it would later fit? A: Yes, I’d been thinking for a long time that I wanted to create...BJ Hollarstag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.762009-08-08T15:09:24Z2009-08-13T03:50:00Z You Must Be This Tall to Anthologize: BJ Hollars on the Making of an Anthology by Jessica Pitchford B.J. Hollars is an MFA candidate at the University of Alabama where he’s served as nonfiction editor and assistant fiction editor for Black Warrior Review. He is also the editor of You Must Be This Tall To Ride published by Writer’s Digest Books. He’s published or has work forthcoming in Barrelhouse, Mid-American Review, DIAGRAM, Fugue, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Puerto del Sol, Hobart, among others and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Visit www.YouMustBeThisTallToRide.net. Q: Congratulations on the publication of your debut edited anthology. You’ve got some heavy hitters participating in this book. Can you talk a little about the genesis of the anthology’s theme...John Dufresnetag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.752009-08-03T16:05:31Z2009-08-03T20:24:17ZMarcia Aldrichtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.742009-08-03T14:59:00Z2009-08-03T20:10:54ZKevin Wilsontag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.732009-08-03T14:43:43Z2009-08-03T20:06:54ZNoel Conneelytag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.722009-08-03T14:19:14Z2009-08-03T20:16:54Z Falling Minutes One of Two Noel Conneely Poems Featured in The Southeast Review Volume 27.1 Seeing your minutes fall like Sitting Bull sawthe cavalry in his dream and unable to faceeach day like a Big Horn you will always lose,you make for the cross which is now a roundaboutand you keep circling trying to remember leftfrom right and those with dogs are walking themand even those who never water their geraniumsexpect to be saved and the priest’s wife whodoesn’t know what sin is walks with her bald sonwhose scalp is like a map of Germany beforethe war and her eyes and tongue struggle withaccent and she cannot now win back old friendswho have fallen into the crevices of her longingand even a grin from...Julia Hansentag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.712009-07-31T17:41:38Z2009-08-11T15:03:30ZGeorge Singletontag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.702009-07-31T16:24:39Z2009-08-11T15:21:07ZJay Shearertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.692009-07-31T16:12:05Z2009-08-10T18:56:12Z THE SUMMER OF KEN Nonfiction from The Southeast Review Volume 27.2 For a summer, he lived in our basement. Didn’t pay rent. Held no job. Just smoked cigarettes and stared in the distance and farted around with his dog. He was alien to us—tall and bony and eerie-eyed—the grave, sunken look of a farmer from the Dust Bowl, like pictures we’d seen in social studies books. The leathery, deeply creased skin of his face was mask-like, sort of folded in. Indelible marks of the highway hobo we suspected he’d always been. He had a serious tan, a kind of glaze to him, and slicked his hair straight back like a gangster, a jet black sheet, streaked at the sides with some giveaway gray he...Kirsten Skrindetag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.682009-07-31T15:53:47Z2009-08-10T18:56:56Z CLOWN ALLEY From The Southeast Review Volume 27.2 The clowns stand in a line before us. Today is our first day in costume. Sailor, gladiator, butcher, and dog look ridiculous. The sailor wears small shorts. We laugh. The standing clowns, they do not smile. They bathe in their humiliation. They walk slowly toward us. They stare at us. We laugh harder. Soon it will be our turn. We put on our noses and stand. The red nose, he is my soul. Behind the ruddy orb, the clown is whelped. To be servant of the absurd, maggot of nothingness: such is my destiny. Clown, c’est moi. Today, we do nothing, and our public laughs. Our costumes make the performing. Tomorrow, our costumes will not work...Steve Almondtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.672009-07-27T16:25:38Z2009-08-10T18:04:39ZJosh Goldfadentag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.662009-07-27T15:33:18Z2009-08-10T18:09:48ZEric Puchnertag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.652009-07-21T15:51:43Z2009-07-21T19:31:01Zby J.W. Wang Eric Puchner is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the author of the short story collection Music Through the Floor. His fiction has appeared in a number of prestigious publications, including Zoetrope: All-Story, where I was first introduced to him through the story “Animals Here Below.” Immediately I became enamored with the unique narrative voice, the rich, almost fantasy-like setting, and the deeply flawed but eminently lovable characters. Earlier this year Eric was kind enough to do this interview over e-mail, when he really should have been off celebrating the completion of his first novel. Q. I love the title, Music Through the Floor, but found it unusual because a) it’s not the title of any of the stories, and b) I...Mike Smithtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.642009-07-21T14:56:40Z2009-07-21T23:04:26Zby Brittany Witters Q. One of the first things I notice throughout How to Make a Mummy is that you utilize rhyme, particularly end rhyme, much more so than I have seen in modern poets. It seems that in the scope of modern poetry, rhyming has lost its edge or, dare I say, worth. What does rhyme bring to your poetry (that perhaps other modern poets are missing)? A. While the majority of poems in the book do not possess end rhyme, enough do that I need to own the use of end rhyme as one way of getting at a poem. Some of this is a matter of aesthetic predilection. My concerns are primarily formal, so I am inspired most strongly by the complications...Buddy Wakefieldtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.632009-07-14T15:49:40Z2010-06-01T13:56:29Z by Justin Devane Q. You write fairly lengthy poems. Do you know how long the poem will be when you start it or is its length something that you chose not to have much control over? A. It’s because of the roots of it. I started with writing songs and doing open mikes in college. And the songs were generally about three minutes long. Then I found out about poetry slams where I didn’t have to torture people with my guitar playing or singing. And poetry slams have a time limit of three minutes and all of my stuff fell within the time limit and that ends up being about two and a half pages typically. But within the last couple of years where...Joanna Scotttag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.622009-07-14T15:21:39Z2009-07-14T16:09:06ZInterview by Kavon Franklin Q. The stories in Everybody Loves Somebody span from the late 1910s to the beginning of the 21st century. What time period are you most interested in writing about? A. I usually go out in pursuit of a character first, before I set my sights on a particular time period. But what I love about rendering the context and setting, whether it’s past or present, is building it up from an interplay of invention and fact. Q. So many of your stories are set in a bygone era. How much research do you feel is necessary to accurately portray those times? A. I’d better leave accuracy to the historians. What I hope to do is to persuade readers to be interested...Sarah Vaptag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.612009-07-12T13:53:43Z2009-07-14T20:02:12Z Interview by Jessie King Q: What inspires you as far as the subject matter of your poetry? There seems to be a lot of nature imagery, but the poems don’t necessarily feel naturalistic. What inspires you toward this seemingly contrasting feel? A: My own life, what I see or experience or feel or know or remember…that is where my poems come from, for the most part. Those things combined with other things. There is a lot of nature in my life—I grew up on many acres in a beautiful valley in Montana. I have traveled quite a bit. I lived in Arizona for 7 years. And now I’m living on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. All of those experiences have been intensely connected with...SER Online, July 2009tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.512009-07-06T19:23:55Z2009-08-08T23:38:36ZAnnie Finchtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.562009-07-02T17:17:38Z2010-03-03T20:06:09ZVirgil Suareztag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.522009-06-30T19:56:06Z2009-07-05T14:16:39ZNicki Richesintag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.302009-05-09T00:19:19Z2009-07-05T14:16:17Zby Julianna Baggott Where did you get the idea for this anthology? In many ways, Because I Love Her seemed like a natural follow-up to my first anthology The May Queen. It’s a great evolution for this concept of women in their thirties searching for meaning in their lives. So I thought I could build on our audience fairly easily. When The May Queen was first published Charles McGrath wrote a review “I Confess: One Theme, 30 Writers, a Trend” in the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times. He wrote a great many things I took issue with such as “The difference between a bitch in the house and the May queens is age. The younger writers haven’t yet entered the anger years.”...Richard Lange’s ‘Dead Boys’tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.292009-05-08T00:11:49Z2009-07-05T14:15:51ZSarah Joyce Bryanttag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1532009-04-20T13:32:46Z2009-11-22T14:38:24ZSpring 2009 Writing Regimen Contest Winner: Sarah Joyce Bryant Remnants of a Hurricane By Sarah Joyce Bryant I remember standing, in the field, in the rain, trying to wash away me. *Riff word that inspired this poem was “field” Sarah Joyce Bryant is currently attending Eastern Kentucky University in the MFA Creative Writing Program with a focus on creative nonfiction. She resides in Richmond, Kentucky with her two children. You can see more of her poetry at http://thenightwriter.wordpress.com....Inside the Professors Studiotag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.192009-04-14T22:23:05Z2010-03-03T20:06:18ZDonald Ray Pollock’s ‘Knockemstiff’: Dueling Reviews tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.282009-04-09T00:07:59Z2009-11-01T17:09:58ZD.A. Powelltag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.272009-04-03T00:04:21Z2009-07-05T14:14:32ZFrank Giampietro and Neil Aitkentag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.182009-04-02T22:21:59Z2010-03-03T20:06:28ZDaniel Woodrelltag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.262009-04-02T00:01:43Z2010-06-15T14:43:23ZJohn Struloefftag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.252009-03-30T23:57:38Z2009-07-05T14:13:51ZNalini Jones’ ‘What You Call Winter: Stories’tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.242009-03-26T23:55:05Z2009-07-05T14:13:36ZMiranda July’s ‘No One Belongs Here More than You’ tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.232009-03-20T23:48:50Z2009-07-05T14:12:29ZJanet Burrowaytag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.172009-03-20T22:20:50Z2010-03-03T20:06:34ZRichard Langetag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.222009-03-11T23:41:48Z2009-07-05T14:11:49ZChris Jonestag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1702009-03-03T13:56:56Z2010-03-03T20:06:42Z Listen as Chris Jones, author of Strange Likeness: The Use of Old English in Twentieth-Century Poetry, reads from an upcoming collection of poems. [download]...Dan Chaontag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.162009-02-27T23:19:41Z2010-03-03T20:06:54ZJunot Díaztag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.152009-02-25T23:17:55Z2010-03-03T20:07:03ZDale Pecktag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.212009-02-18T00:37:12Z2009-11-08T13:42:53ZBrad Landtag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1502009-02-10T01:38:51Z2009-11-22T14:24:15Z“We Know How the World Tears People Open”:Interview with Brad Land Interviewed by Nick Young Brad Land studied writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and at Western Michigan University. His first book, the memoir Goat, was a national bestseller and earned praise from USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, and authors Augusten Burroughs and Lorenzo Carcaterra. John McNally called his second book, Pilgrims Upon the Earth, “A fever dream of a novel: heart-pounding, haunting, and hypnotic.” He has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and currently lives in North Carolina. Q: North Carolina went blue last night. How’d you feel about the election? A: I was really proud of this state. I could hear fireworks and...Antonya Nelsontag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.142009-02-07T23:16:27Z2010-03-03T20:07:11ZAshley Capps and Clint McCowntag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.132009-01-28T23:14:48Z2010-03-03T20:07:18ZErin McGraw tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1512009-01-24T02:18:23Z2009-11-22T14:32:17ZDavid Kirbytag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.122009-01-20T23:12:51Z2010-03-03T20:07:26ZArielle Greenberg tag:southeastreview.org,2009://1.1522009-01-07T02:41:08Z2009-11-22T14:26:32ZDavid Vanntag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.112008-12-02T23:11:33Z2010-03-03T20:07:36ZDavid Vann is the nationally bestselling memoirist of A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea, featured on NPR, Voice of America, and Fox News. Listen as he reads from his new award-winning short story collection, Legend of a Suicide....Poets on Process: An Interview with Andrew Hudginstag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.2032008-11-21T00:27:06Z2010-02-17T13:16:55ZInterviewed by Frank Giampietro Download podcast.Hello and welcome to Southeast Review’s Poets on Process. I’m Frank Giampietro and today I’ll be talking with poet Andrew Hudgins, whose volumes of poetry include Ecstatic in the Poison, Babylon in a Jar, The Glass Hammer: A Southern Childhood, and Never-Ending, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, After the Lost War, a narrative, which received the poetry prize and Saints and Strangers, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize. He is also the author of a book of essays, The Glass Anvil, and is editor of a brand new book of James Agee’s poems called James Agee: Selected Poems, published as part of the Library of America’s American Poets Project Series. Hudgins awards and honors...Kenneth Harttag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.1542008-11-20T23:46:29Z2009-11-28T14:11:42ZEthan Canintag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.2042008-11-19T04:32:50Z2010-03-03T20:09:57ZRachel Zucker tag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.1552008-11-14T00:08:50Z2009-11-28T14:12:17ZInterviewed by Rose Bunch The Bad Wife Handbook is Rachel Zucker’s third collection of poetry. Zucker has received the Salt Hill Poetry Award in 1999, as well as the Barrow Street Poetry Prize in 2000. Most recently she was awarded the Center for Book Arts Award for her poem “Annunciation.” She received her MFA in Poetry from Iowa, and currently is working upon her fourth collection of poems, Museum of Accidents. Q: First off, let me just say I love the title. Did you choose this title to play upon the perception of what a good wife is? And if the poems in this collection are the “handbook” for bad wives, what do you think a bad wife can glean from the book as a...Sam Witttag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.1562008-11-13T00:24:54Z2009-11-28T14:13:40ZInterviewed by April Manteris Sam Witt was born in Wimbledon, England, but spent most of his time growing up in North Carolina and Virginia. After graduation from the University of Virginia and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he lived and worked as a free-lance journalist in San Francisco for several years, publishing in such magazines as Computerworld, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Wired. His first book of poetry, Everlasting Quail (UPNE, 2001), won the Katherine Nason Bakeless First Book Prize in 2000, sponsored by Breadloaf. Everlasting Quail was published by UPNE the following year, and he received a Fulbright Fellowship to live and write in Saint Petersburg, Russia for a year. His poems have been published in Virginia Quarterly, Harvard Review, Georgia Review, Denver Quarterly, Colorado...Gretchen Legler and Lisa Zimmerman tag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.2062008-11-12T02:36:40Z2010-03-28T13:08:29ZRichard Pricetag:southeastreview.org,2008://1.92008-10-21T22:07:24Z2010-03-03T20:09:48ZScreenwriter and novelist Richard Price reads from his latest book, Lush Life....