Introduction to Issue 37
These words from Abraham Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address seem more poignant and appropriate than they should these days, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure….”
We have an autocratic, indicted, convicted of fraud and defamation of character over a sexual assault, former president who is almost certain to be spending the rest of the next year in court trying to defend the indefensible. It is clear, as the great Projectionist, that all the things he accuses his opposition of (enemies) are his own faults. He has made it explicit that he intends to arrest, incarcerate, and probably execute people who have defied him in the past. The most likely marked for death include the former leader of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the current president and, no doubt, Hillary among many others. His enemies list is long and detailed and you can bet, like Santa Claus, he’s checking it twice. Nice is not a factor. And who would dare try to stop him carrying out his stated plans?
As we speak, his minions, and evil enablers, are plotting a revenge tour the like for which has never been seen in our country. It is clear he is not, nor ever has been a politician, but a cult leader who is not, nor has been in his right mind for some time. And yet, there he is on TV every day, reinforcing his position which could not be more Unamerican if it tried.
If there is any doubt in anyone’s mind about the existence of evil in this world, all one has to do is follow the everyday activities of this man on his chaos crusade. Just look at his scowling visage on the Never Surrender-I Am the Devil Incarnate and I Had to Surrender to Have This Promotional Never Surrender Mug Shot Taken. If all he did from now on is cripple the democratic process, our institutions such as the House of Unrepresentatives, he would be on the top ten list of the most dangerous people in America. Now the sky is the limit. He’s #1!
It has long been assumed that this man would be truly dangerous if he ever got organized and understood how the executive power could be used to further his autocratic agenda. Apparently, he has found the right enablers and is enacting the once unthinkable in these former united states: the dismantling of democracy.
So where are the poets in Captain Chaos’s world? On the outside, as always. What we must do as thinkers, writers, and creators is persevere in cultivating an understanding of the world we live in and as Ezra Pound suggested “make it new.” It is not an idle observation that in countries where autocrats have taken over and ruled for years, is to round up all the thinkers: the philosophers, the poets, the journalists and either lock them up or execute them. With the new technology and the ability of the NSA to monitor or lives, it would be no small task to find these “undesirables,” shut down their forums, find their books and burn them. Can concentration camps be far behind? Be assured this forum will not persevere once the pogroms begin. Be forewarned. And never forget whatever he says about anything, the opposite is true. Always.
But until then, we have our usual wide array of voices from all over the world. Our aim is to be both eclectic and accessible. Read and find out for yourself if we have succeeded.
What Your Editors Have Been Up To:
Available From Roadside Press with a cover by our art director Gene McCormick
Bar Guide for the Seriously Deranged by Alan Catlin (Roadside Press)
$15.00
Low stock
Exterminating Angels How Will the Heart Endure?
Regular price $19 Regular price $23.00
www.kelsaybooks.com
On Amazon from Impspired Press
Listening to a Moonlight Sonata
Paperback
$10.99
Jennifer Lagier
Weeping in the Promised Land
$20.00
Order from Kelsay Books
Order from Amazon
Jennifer Lagier
Postcards from Paradise
$20.00
Order from Amazon
One of our local open mic moderators, longtime supporter, and fellow Schenectadian has won a literary award we’d like to share with our readers.
First Prize
Jackie Craven of Schenectady, NY, won First Prize for WHISH, earning her publication as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection in April 2024, a $1,000 advance, and 53 copies of her book.
Jackie Craven writes poetry and prose steeped in magical realism. Recent poems appear in AGNI, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Cincinnati Review, New Ohio Review, Pleiades, Ploughshares, and many other journals and anthologies. She's the author of the collection Secret Formulas & Techniques of the Masters (Brick Road Poetry Press) and two chapbooks, Cyborg Sister (Headmistress Press) and Our Lives Became Unmanageable (Omnidawn award for fabulist fiction). After completing a Doctor of Arts from the English Department at UAlbany, she worked for many years as a journalist covering architecture, art, and travel. She lives in Schenectady, New York; Cocoa Beach, Florida; and on Zoom, where she hosts a long-standing open mic for writers.
Judge’s Comment: “It’s rare to find such perfect prose poetry. The poet’s abrupt swerves and disruptive metaphors drop readers off cliffs, repeatedly. Marvelous work.”
On a sadder note: I am truly sorry to note that my friend and fellow poet Mike Estabrook passed away suddenly this past Summer. He will be missed. We have also recently lost former contributor Mike James.
