Pond 11 - 2015
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Besides being an astronomical term related to the Dog Star “Sirius”, the phrase “dog days” implies a time of laziness and inactivity, supposedly negative traits. Recently on a flight to somewhere, I noticed a latetwentysomething young lady simultaneously work two phones and two laptops, in economy class seating! From the moment she was seated to the moment the plane landed she spastically typed emails, PowerPoints, flicked through Facebook on her phone, and so on. I on the other hand stared out the little window at the pretty clouds and funny patterns on the land below. Weee. Happy happy.
I can’t help but think, like my hero Bertrand Russell in his essay In Praise of Idleness, that laziness and leisure can lead to a better life, and are true marks of civilization and culture. Contemplation. Being in the moment. Becoming one with the sunset. All that hippy-dippy stuff has value. It leads to poems and stories and art and music. And without those, like the poor gal on the plane, we’re doomed to a slave-like desperation of work and more work. So put down that cellphone, close all those browser windows of work-work, sigh a sigh of lazy, and enjoy a dog’s day of mostly poetry carp. - Ken, Editor |
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S H O R T S T O R Y As Peter Gray shows us in Fallout From The Snowden Case, sometimes you just have to make the best of a bad situation.
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P O E M 'What If...' is a popular device in historical writing. Thoreau's Flight To Alaska, 2015 by Ben Heins is the first I've read as a poem, and it works perfectly.
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P O E M I'm proud to publish Megan Townsend's first work, Sacred Space. This more-or-less love poem has such a lyrical quality to it, and such a sense of tempo.
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AUTHOR PROFILE - Mary Carroll-Hackett I'm nothing if not honest. A few issues ago my welcome had a rant about, among other things, MFAs. Well it just so happens two of the best poems I've had the pleasure to review came from Mary, who has an MFA. So I hearby insert into my mouth my foot.
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P O E M Fours Seasons by Lana Bella is a breath of fresh air - simple, classic, and unpretentious.
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P O E M Valley girls don't die, they just morph into Basic Bitches. A humorous poem by Laryssa Wirstiuk.
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P O E M Aside from the last line of my favorite E.E. Cummings poem, I think the last line of Stemming Aspersions by Kevin Heaton is the best I've ever read.
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Supporting Poetry
American Life in Poetry  
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