Photograph © 2019 Ryn Holmes

Welcome to Issue 14. For those of you returning, we thank you for joining us once more. For you first-timers, we hope you enjoy what you find here. One special feature of posting an issue just after New Year’s Day is that we compile it over the holidays, smack-dab in the middle of the season, our spirits growing and flowing. It’s a gift to and from so many, and the warmth it brings to us is one of the highlights of the holidays.

You may have noticed we switched our masthead theme from flowers to abstract photography by Co-Editor Ryn Holmes. Pardon the plug, but it’s fascinating, innovative stuff. You’ll see more of these as the issues continue.

Meanwhile, Issue 14 should keep you artistically occupied and satisfied. We tend to see motifs from issue to issue. One of this one’s is women’s experience and consciousness, particularly as girls become women. Not all is princessing, it’s clear. But the art is just as sparkling. Naturally, the fine work here covers a, dare we say it, panoply of subjects, something for everyone.

We must admit that due to a glitch in our submissions process, we received far more submissions than usual, a good problem to have! That helps explain why we’ve included more contributions than usual. They’re all so deserving and gleaming.

Thanks again for your support and attention. 

Best wishes,

Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

Table of Contents

2059: Cut Off – Alan C. Smith
Airness – Pablo Saborío
Apollo 11 – Sharon Scholl
Augury – Greg Friedmann
Being Made Ready – Maria Berardi
Beneath My Feet – Sarah Valeika
The Birds – Ian Ganassi
Borrowed – Sean Bolton
A Child Says Morning – Max Heinegg
Civilized – Daniel Edward Moore
Crumbling – Stephen Ground
Dawn By The House of Stone That Jack Built – Vassilis Zambaras
The Days We Meet – R.T. Castleberry
Dying in Paradise – Christy Bailes
Endurance – Molly Fuller
Exit Wounds – Andy N
Feeling Empathy Outside of Santa Maria del Fiore – Adam Webb
Fell in Love with You – John Grey
Finches Prefer Chopin – Raymond Byrnes
Half Light – Doug Bolling
Hard Jazz – DS Maolalai
He’s Dead – Patricia Walsh
Heather in Bloom, Morning – Gerald Kells
A House of Your Own Making – James Diaz
In Line at Banco Central – Tim Hawkins
In Memory of An All-Girl Band (A Cento) – Andrew Sunshine
In the Fog – Steve Klepetar
Is Your Forgetfulness Normal? – Barbara Daniels
Kitsch – George Franklin
Last Days of June – Corbin Louis 
The Last Voyage – Howie Good
Leave-takings – Robert Nisbet
Lines Composed on First Regarding Godzilla after An Uneasy Serenity of Fifty Years – Bruce Robinson
Lullaby for a Politician – Jennifer Bradpiece
The Made and the Unmade – Carolyn Adams
The Music at Montreaux – Matthew James Friday
My English Teacher – Michael Minassian
My Mother’s Ghost Knits a Scarf of Chain – Robert Okaji
Mystery Confirmed – Megan Wildhood
Near Salt River Road: An Elegy for S.D. – Rita Chapman
Nectar – Christopher Wilson
No end to wonder – Hugh Anderson
Pantoum of the Thoughts That Have Been Turning Over in My Head Since I Moved Out a Month Ago – Jacob Bennett
Pareidolia – Megan Merchant
Parallax View – Betsy Mars
Pathing – Vivian Wagner
Patriot’s Chain – Anthony Dennis
peace has its season – Disha Trivedi
Pink Bee – Cliff Saunders
an excerpt from “A Place, A Feeling, Something He Said To You” – Alexandra Naughton
Playing Guitar at Ritter Park – Ace Boggess
[A position we’ll all get] – Blake Francis
Praying Mantis – Penelope Schott
Raven – Kathryn Jordan
Record Low – Russell Rowland
Refugee/fugitive – Sean Urbina
Salsa – Jacob Butlett
Sarabande – Robert René Galván
She Takes a Taxi – Gemma Cooper-Novack
Shifting, Too Anxious to Be Fully Aware – Jonathan Yungkans
That Other Guy – Lenny DellaRocca
This can’t be right – Giovanni Mangiante
Time Flies – John O’Hare
Tuesday in the Home Town – Tom Willemain
Two – Nitya Gupta
Vasculitis – Jared Pearce
Violation – Claire Massey
Warren’s Weathered Barn – Keith Moul
We’re Just Talking – Melissa St. Pierre
What Jesus did do – Dennis Finnell
What Words Cost – Sandy Coomer
When a ’54 Fender Stratocaster Becomes a Fetish – Karla Linn Merrifield
When Coburg Lake Became a Kyrenia Wedding – Angela Costi
Wildfires in Iraq – Sarah Mills
You Cannot Strike a Bargain – Nancy Levinson

Photo by Andrea Walker

Greetings in summer! We hope that during the heat of the season, you took time to savor the simple beauty of things. They abound! Issue 13 abounds with simple beauty as well, for which we thank our contributors. This issue includes an unusual number of longer pieces, many pop culture allusions, and a higher quantity of pieces with real attitude, verging on irreverence! As usual, we think you’ll enjoy the wide variety of themes, styles, and voices.

Look for Editors’ Choices weekly beginning in September. We’ll also have a new chap book review and our annual nominations for the Pushcart Prize, a real highlight for us all. Thanks for reading Panoply. Stay cool and reverent.

Best wishes,
Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

Table of Contents

13th and Island Detox – Robert Rickelman
After 10 days roughnecking Oklahoma oilfields – Steve Gerson
After a Revolution – Susan Tepper
Agony of the Leaves – Blaise Allen
And So She Missed Early Spring – Amy O’Hearn
And Then She Walks Away – Kathleen Hogan
Avalon – Patricia Nelson
Before Sweat Had a Name – Katherine Hoerth
Bottled Ship – Aris Kian
Burial Site – Remi Recchia
Cactus Flower – Tova Feldmanstern
Chasing Grace – Lauren Scharhag
Coughing at the Wake – Linda Johnston Muhlhausen
Cynthia – Lenny DellaRocca
Daughters, spring – Arlyn LaBelle
Day 63 – Robert L. Penick
Dream Back – Timothy Pilgrim
A Dress to Die For – Sarah Brown Weitzman
The Epicurean Candidate – Nick Romeo
Epiphany – Sheila Black
Faye Taking a Breath – Rikki Santer
Feeder – Max Heinegg
Generations Heeling – Greg Maddigan
Green Pastures – Seth Grindstaff
Grief in 3 Years – Nicole McCaffety
hatchlings – Leo Levinsky
Hermits – Jessica Sommerfeldt
How to Live Stoned – Bob Hoeppner
It’s Aye Been – Carol Stewart
Joint Custody – Sherri Wright
Knock, Knock. Who’s There? Blasphemy, Who? – Jennifer Maloney
Learning by Heart – Laura Foley
Linnets – Hilda Weiss
Looking for Tommy Underwater – Zack Hutchinson
lord and taylor – Wayne-Daniel Berard
Loug Kya Kahen Gay – Laiba Fatima
Love Letter to the Blues – Adrian Potter
Museum – Diana Donovan
My Block of Time – Barbara Crane
My Way – Patricia Carragon
The One Who Always Gets Away – Philip Kobylarz
Outer Banks Beach – Ed Ahern
The Palm Reader of Hempstead – Gianna Sannipoli
Pass – Chad W. Lutz
Perfect Date Night – Lucas Shepherd
Why We Stopped in Petra – Andy Oram
Protected – Frances Koziar
Reflection – Laura Johnson
Reindeer Beards – Susan Kay Anderson
The Return – Karen McAferty Morris
road-house – Stephen House
Silver – Robert Nisbet
Snowdonia – Alan Parry
Stranger – Jason Emde
Suburban Wild – Joanne Furio
Summary in Free Verse 2 – Ann Mikusinski
Synesthesia – Gage Crowder
There Were So Many Apples – Elena Nailyevna
These Days – Erika Noel Johnson
Through the Keyhole – Christie Marra
Understory – Stephanie L. Harper
We Were Sitting by the River – Alec Solomita
What a Middle Name Is – Liam Strong
 Windows Taught Us One Thing – Jonathan Yungkans
you lift your finger carefully as if heavy with paint – Kate LaDew

Photo by Andrea Walker

Spring has sprung throughout North America. Trees have been in bud here in Pensacola for a few weeks now, the joy of rebirth and renewal. Our contributors renew our own spirits, and we hope they renew yours as well! 

Once again, we happen upon bunches of work that touch on certain themes. Coincidence is nearly a rule here at Panoply! Issue 12 features a clutch of poems about sex; another about family; another about home towns, both current and former. And of course, there are a host of other wonderful works on a variety of other themes, all flowing with art and wonder. We hope you enjoy the issue!

Issue 13, unthemed, is scheduled for publication around August 23, with our Call for Submissions, July 5-28. We’ll update our announcements as those dates approach. As usual, we’ll be posting our weekly Editors’ Choices starting before the end of May, followed by a chapbook review in late June. Thanks to all for submitting; thanks to all for reading.

Best wishes,
Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

Contents

#38 – Brendan Connolly
Amid the Alien Corn – David Swerdlow
Among Stones – Jeff Hardin
April Snow – Ginger Dehlinger
Aqua Pura – Charlotte Hamrick
Being a Bishop – RC DeWinter
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered – Patricia Carragon
Caminata – Lorraine Caputo
Caught in a Snare – Gloria Nixon-John
County High Point – Craig Finlay
Delphi Falls – Ellen Austin-Li
Footprints In the Snow – LindaAnn Lo Schiavo
Galahad – Patricia Nelson
The Hostages – Niles Reddick
How to Tell an Old Man He Can’t Climb a Tree – Brooke Schifano
I Saw Myself – Jacquelyn Shah
I Didn’t Know Snow Then – Lauren Davis
In the knee-high grass of Eastern Montana, Independence is a luxury few can afford – John McDonough
the irreversible future – Mike Jurkovic
Japanese Kites – Peter Scacco
The Joys of Sex – Ciara Dall
A Kind of Nothing is Prominently There Instead  – Nancy Jentsch
Lazarus Explains – Bruce McRae
Legend – Max Heinegg
Like the Big Bang – Catherine Arra
Mother’s Fudge – CL Sostarich
My First Death – Ellen Sander
Naive and Sentimental Sonnet #10 – Thomas Zimmerman
Newton Corner – Andrew Furst
Night Eagle – Dee Allen
Night Watch – S.E. Clark
Noah’s Ark – Betsy Mars
A Note on North Stars – Emma Johnson-Rivard
The Patriots – Traci Mullins
Pleasant Lane – Jeremy Voigt
Promise #9 – Tony Burnett
Reconciling with Home – Brian Fanelli
A Ribbon at at Time – Ann Howells
Saturday Morning Remorse – Adrian Potter
Sex at Sixty – Cheryl Caesar
The Shape of Rain – Lois Harrod
Show Me the Way – David Lohrey
A Simple Gesture – Robin Wright
Smile – Billy Thrasher
Sorrow Bed – Kimberly Becker
Something There is that Doesn’t Love a Neighbor ~ – Ken Gosse
Special Carousel – Gary Glauber
Spend Less Time with Nightingales and Peacocks. One is Just a Voice, the Other Just a Color – Rebecca Macijeski
Spider Catch – Mark Youssef
Stenciled With Palm Trees and Flamingos – Francine Witte
Sugar – Christian Fennell
Summer Festival – Paula Kaufman
Thanksgiving – Joy Gaines-Friedler
They’ll Call Me Deserter – Darwin Pappas-Fernandes
Tornado Watch – Carl Boon
Tune – Gale Acuff
Wasco Woman – Penelope Schott
Without Speaking – Eliana Swerdlow
Your Son’s Birthday Party – Kimberly Wright
Your City, My Unincorporated Town – Laura Voivodeship

Welcome to Issue 11, our “Untamed” issue. What a treat it’s been to read the wild rambles of our contributors. We’ve got lots of work related to relationships, not one but two references to a garrote, some super-quirky humor, LGBTQ work, hippies, women’s consciousness/ascension, childbirth, end-of-life issues, and more! Our contributors sing.

This is our first-ever contest, one that’s brought us all some fine work. We thank all who submitted and congratulate our prize winners and all whose wonders appear here.

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful 2019! Thanks for reading Panoply.

Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

Contest Winners
First Prize – A Further Response from the Hornet’s Nest – Robert Okaji
Second Prize – Untamed – Dianalee Velie
Third Prize – At The Scottish Gallery a Baobhan Sith Takes a Pass on a Local Vicar – Linda Kennedy

Additional Contents
450 – Frances An
Apologia for a Fetish – Bingh
Archangel – Steve Deutsch
Arthritis – Pat Hanahoe-Dosch
Artisan – Karen McAferty Morris
At the Edge – Gloria Nixon-John
Ballet: The Second Lesson – Pliés – Victoria McGrath
The Bear in the Labyrinth – Carol Flake Chapman
Bitter Vision – Wendy Vergoz
Bride of Porcupine – Kathryn Almy
bull market – Anne Casey
Child’s Play – Neil Flatman
Dress Code – Brad Garber
Feral – Gabrielle Langley
Flight – Christopher Wang
Four o’clocks – Robert Nisbet
The Garrote – Aaron Brame
Good Morning – Neil Harrison
The Heart of the Marrow – Eva Rosenn
How to Be a Leopard Seal – Carla Myers
In Praise of Reason – Stephanie L. Harper
Just Supposing – James McKee
Opossum – Julie Stewart
The other we eat is the tale we know best – Kelli Allen
the pegasus clock in ICU15 – AM Roselli
Persephone Coaches Hades – M.S. Rooney
Pine Twig Nest with Reindeer Moss – Gail Comorat
Reuven Rubin’s Orange Groves near Jaffa 1928 – Mare Leonard
Scene #3 – Thomas Dedola
Train Ride with Hair on Fire – Martha Kalin
We were once men – Jack Ritter
What If They Could Be Wild? – Irene Fick
Wolf Call – Christy Wise

Join us in celebrating our newest issue. Buoyed by the continuous flow of fine work we have received over the years, we’re refreshed and fulfilled to offer Issue 10.  

Panoply continues to evolve. We added a guest editor and somewhat tightened up our requirements for inclusion. We have always striven to be inclusive rather than exclusive, but found ourselves overwhelming our readers! We’ve had to turn aside so much worthy work. This was a painful if undesired and unplanned conclusion. Penance aside, we’re thrilled and uplifted to bring you Issue 10. Even with our changes, we continue to read blind, focusing on the writing, not the writer. We relish the results and hope you do too.

Look for more innovations soon; we have a few editorial and publishing tricks up our sleeves. And of course, we’ll be posting Editors’ Choices shortly, followed by our nominations for the Pushcart Prize. 

As usual, we thank our contributors and readers, who keep this going, both as a tangible result and as a spiritual journey. Peace and love,

Andrea, Emily, Jeff, and Ryn

Contents

43 Howland Street – Samn Stockwell
All Saint’s Day, Saint Mary’s Basilica – Tobi Alfier – Editors’ Choice
Anastasia – Patricia Nelson
And Down the Street Was the Armory – Tyler Simnick
Are We Not Acceptable, Moon? – Mark Kerstetter
Bad Mammo – Meg Files
Business Casual – Bruce Robinson
香烟 Cigarette – Andrew Slugantz
Curveball – Brittani Rable
The Danube is Not Blue – Irene Fick
Doubt’s Shadow – David Aghram
Fact – Daniel Dissinger
Flood Cough Case 34671, CDC Report, Accomack County, VA Following Hurricane _____. – Stephen Scott Whitaker
For Me, Talking with God – Sarah Dickenson Snyder – Editors’ Choice
Foreshadowing – Carol Deering
The Gardener – Emily Vizzo
Getting Gunned (Life as a Female Prison Psychologist) – Patricia Black-Gould
Group Therapy – Logo Wei
Heart Events – Howie Good
The Hobo – Jacob Butlett
Imprint – Raymond Byrnes
A Jolly Day on Route 95 – Francine Witte
Kyoto After Rain – Peter Scacco – Editors’ Choice
Kilter – Mercedes Lawry – Editors’ Choice
The Last Passerine and the Shadow of Unknown Trees – Jonathan  Andrew Perez
Medusa Unbound – Issa Lewis
Monet’s Portrait of His Wife on Her Deathbed– Robin Wright– Pushcart Prize Nominee
My Niece is at the University (University College of Swansea, Wales, 1960) – Robert Nisbet
No Songs About This Childhood – stephanie roberts
Not a Japanese Poem – Scott F. Parker
Notes from a hospital visit, necessarily in verse – Judith Arcana
Offshore in a Paddleboat – SB Merrow
Old South Carriage Tours – Gianna Russo
Pictures of Asphodel – David Bankson
PKD, A Visitation – Jacob Borchardt
Questionnaire – Francine Witte
Radio – Maximilian Heinegg
Salvage – Laurinda Lind
Sawtooth Mountains, 2017 – Allison Campbell
Scale Model – Nate Maxson
Self-Portrait with Bandage; 1889 – Ann Howells – Editors’ Choice
Shakespeare’s Lust – Brenda Yates
Skimming – Olivia Kiers
Stroller Season – Jennifer Wholey
The Women Who Made Harpsichords – Con Chapman
You, The Marble – Leah Baker
Youth Is the Only Covenant We Can Never Keep – Paulie Lipman

Photo courtesy of Andrea Walker

We hope you enjoy this issue of Panoply. We told you we’d interpret the theme broadly. And along with our submitters, we did! Some clear Biblical allusions appear, complemented by far-ranging discussions of one or both genders. Some angst, some play, some tenderness, all good stuff! As usual, we thank our submitters, contributors, donors, and readers.

Issue 10 is due in August and will be un-themed. Look for a chapbook review in late June. We also have a surprise announcement upcoming, so stay tuned.

If you like what you see, please consider making a donation. Just click the PayPal link in the right-hand margin. We appreciate your support! Don’t forget to Like our Facebook page: Panoply Facebook Page.

Best wishes always,
Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

Contents

About Your Topaz – William Doreski
After the Fire – Leah Mueller
The Anthology – Evgenia Jen Baranova
The Apple’s Tale – Judith Montgomery
Brand New Mr. Baptist – Ailin Luca
Dead for Beauty – Rachel Dacus
Dear Adam, – Elaine Mintzer
Dissipate – Steve Gerson
The Engagement – Morrow Dowdle
Eve – Sneha Subramanian Kanta
For Mr. and Mrs. D. – Angela Kubinec
From Those Who Came Before – Shawn Aveningo Sanders
The Gift Horse – David Allen Sullivan
Glancing Back – Robert Manaster
He Left the Cabin Angry – Gudrun Bortman
Joanne Recalls the Last Real Sunday – John Grey
Let’s Say – Bruce Robinson
Little Red-Haired Skater – Ann Howells
Liz Taylor’s Talents – Sean Murphy
Midnight at the Keyboard – Cat Dixon
Millennial Pink (Undergrad Indigo) – Laura Maria Grierson
Morning – Sam Gilpin
Mother, Dark and Near – Lauren Davis
My Faith – Tricia Knoll
My lover tells me how to move my hands – Megan Merchant
Native – Heather Truett
No Verse, There is None – Leigh Holland
Overheard – Jeff Burt
Pastoral – Kevin Rippin – Editors’ Choice
Polarity – Kalehua Kim
Ravenous – Tom Laichas – Editors’ Choice
Red – Tomas Kurth
Red Wallpaper – Ron Burch – Pushcart Prize Nominee
Rembrandt’s Woman Bathing (1654) – Carol Henrikson – Editors’ Choice
Sarah Schulman – David M. Harris
The Sermon – Robert Nisbet
Shakti Appears – Ian Be
stardust – ali lanzetta
Still Life as Poem #2 – Michael Dwayne Smith – Editors’ Choice
This is What a Young Man Looks Like When His Heart is Full Grown – Lois Roma-Deeley
Turn for theWorse – Paul Reyns
Valentine’s Day – William Wells
The Weekends are Long Without You – Henry Giovannetti
Without Explanation – Carol V. Davis

Happy New Year to our friends in the literary community! We hope you passed the holidays in fine fashion and are looking forward to a wonderful 2018. We sure are! And to kick it off in style, we’re honored and proud to present Issue 8. Once again, it’s chock full of artistry, beauty, and fine craft from a wide array of writers. (Oddly but proudly, we boast a few pieces about fathers, particularly fathers and their tools. But not all are paeans!) We thank you for your interest in Panoply and hope you enjoy Issue 8!

If you like what you see, please consider a donation. Just use the PayPal link located in the right margin.Feel free to like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/panoplyzine/

Best wishes,
Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Co-Editors

Table of Contents

Poetry
Acceptance – Mark Mansfield
The Ambassador of Mirrors – Ray Marsocci
and you, little bird – Lisa Reily
Another Massacre and Driving Home (after Nazim Hikmet) – Patricia Nelson
Biscayne Bay Lies Still, Like Glass – David Colodney – Pushcart Prize Nominee
Celebrity Celibacy – Carl “Papa” Palmer
Civilization in the Here and Now – John Grey
Conversations with Water – Tyrek Greene
A Day from the Window – Alexander Menachem
Dear Dad – Emily Gates – Editors’ Choice
Departure – Sue Scavo
Dinner Time in the Alzheimer’s Wing – Sherri Wright
Driving Down the Mountain at Sunset – Laura L. Mays Hoopes
Elemental – Alan Girling
Empty – Steve Gerson
Evening Walk – Joan Mazza
Fado: The Missing Key – Joe Amaral
A Father’s Shovel – Frank Babcock
The God Kvasir – Bill Garten
Grit: The Resilience of New Yorkers – Kathleen A. Lawrence
The Hail – Jacob Butlett – Pushcart Prize Nominee
The Harrow – Bill Newby – Pushcart Prize Nominee
Helsinki – Robert Okaji
Hidden – Hannah Rousselot
How to Be a Malacologist – Stephanie L. Harper
In the Heaven of Hopscotch – Anne Higgins
In the Orcan Field – Michael Cooper
In the Women’s Locker Room – Carolyn Martin
Intersection, Midtown Atlanta – Jude Marr
It Wasn’t You – Sarah Brown Weitzman
Knees – Sandra Lindow
A Lasting Rhyme – Richard King Perkins II
Leaving Louisiana – George Such
Mimaropa – Michael Mira
Mortician – S. J. Wojo
Mother Tongue – Toti O’Brien
My God – Ion Corcos
A New Hope for a New Zion – Charles McCaskill –Pushcart Prize Nominee
On Meeting Plato in Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs – Robert Klein Engler
Osoberry, Overripe – Paula Persoleo
Passing By – Irene Fick
Penny/Heart – James Croal Jackson
The Poison Garden at Alnwick Castle – William Reichard
Port – Laura Madeline Wiseman
The Prairie – Bridget Fertal
Prayer – Darian Kuxhouse
Rite of Passage – Susan Holck
Scholars Hence – Mike Jurkovic
Scratch in My Throat – Hannah A’Enene
Skyscape – Emman Usman Shehu
Some Things Must Be Believed to Be Seen – Kevin Brown
Stripping Scrap Wire – Michael VanCalbergh
Surviving Snappers – Ed McCourt
Toy Park – Beau Boudreaux
Truncated – Devon Balwit
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – Ann Howells – Editors’ Choice
The Wardrobe – Gareth Culshaw
When Someone Dies – Carla Schwartz
When We Were Together – Colton McLaughlin
The Wolves – Alexandra Gaines

Prose
Adjacent – Mercedes Lawry
Fire – Nancy Tingley
Flavia – Linda McMullen
Fishy Viscera – Tee Linden
If I Could Tell You – Rachel Inberg
Iowa’s Promise – Chila Woychik
A Letter – Leonardo Boix
Mother (Inspired by Grace Paley) – Diane Gottlieb
Motivation – Robert L. Penick
Open Letter, Open Sea, Open Love – Christopher Stolle
Peaches – Hal Ackerman
Resistance – Tony Burnett
Speculative Real Estate – Jen Sage-Robison
The Whole Goddamn Thing – Howie Good

Issue 7 sets a precedent for Panoply. Actually, a few. The bounty of works here in this double issue is due of course, to a bounty of deserving work by our contributors. We cast a wider net during our calls for submissions, receiving about 3 times our historical norm! You’ll notice a whole section for prose, and as you scroll, some great works by young writers. In fact, we’re proud once again to debut some wonderful new voices (regardless of their age).

Since there’s so much, here are some browsing tips (in order of appearance):

• Humor – Downgrade, This Isn’t the Story I Intended to Write, The Waffle House Index, Zeng Shangyou
• Love/Romance – My Lover and I
• Pastoral/Nature – Looking Down on Newgale Beach, Path, Perfect Rain, Zen Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts
• Social/Political – Karuizawa Tales, Like a King
• Edgy – Cage Match, Finals, Stalker in Orange, Tawny Kitten
• Characters – Dear Harold, Everyday Blessings, Firebrand, A Girl Called Rose, Mrs. Neustead, Prize Fighter, White Sheets, You, Frank & Mia & Me, Heroes, Loving Spoonful, Padlock, Patriots, A Slice of Lemon on the Side
• Loss/Death – Intuition, Lament, Moth-Hour, Nowhere, South Dakota, Poem for Honduras, Proper Etiquette for the First Year of Mourning, You

As always, we thank our contributors for uplifting us! And we thank our readers for giving us purpose. Feel free to tell your friends and give us feedback! Look for Issue 8 around year-end.

Best wishes,
Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Co-Editors

Poetry

The actor who only gets to play a hitman – Jonathan Jones
After – Patricia Anderson
Afterbloom – Lawdenmarc Decamora
and the crows fall – AM Roselli
Astronautics (or, an email I sent to neil degrasse tyson while sitting in whole foods) – Lily Tice – Pushcart Prize Nominee
The Berryman Trick – Tim Kahl
camera obscura – Claudia Radmore
Cezanne – Patricia Nelson
Cheri’s Montana Lounge, Chester, Montana – Michelle Hartman
Cornflower – Madison White
(the crisp settle of the door) – DC Reavis
Elkhorn Avenue – Cameron Morse
Escape from Ellenville – Mike Jurkovic
Everyday Blessings – Sally Zakariya
Firebrand – Thomas McDade
Folclore Tale – Leonardo Boix
Fragile – Mary McKeel
A Girl Called Rose – Bella Smith
The Guitarist – Steven Reese
A Haiku Year – Kendra Leonard
Harvest Moon – Jared Pearce
Home Remedies – John Repp
How Long is this Sentence? – Gary Twynam
Interlude at a Closed Chevron, 11:42 pm – Alicja Zapalska
Intuition – Laura Foley
An Invitation – Paul Lubenkov
Karuizawa Tales – Robert Hoffman – Editors’ Choice
Kathleen Remembers the Flood – John Grey
Lament – Anne Whitehouse
Late Night Talk Show Fantasy – Jennifer Dotson
Like a King – Ion Corcos
Looking Down on Newgale Beach – Robert Nisbet – Editors’ Choice
The Man Cooks Greens While Thinking of Words – Tobi Alfier
Moth-Hour – Claire Scott
Mrs. Neustead – Jim Zola
Nowhere, South Dakota – Andrew Kruse-Ross
Numbers – Isabella Colalillo Katz
The Oboe Will Shine Tomorrow – Devon Balwit
The Old In-Out In-Out – Yu-Han Chao
Once Upon a Time – Baisali Chatterjee Dutt
Passenger – Charles Kell
Path – Steve Gerson
Perfect Rain – Terry Brix
Poem for Honduras – Heather Truett
A Priest and an Indian Walk Into a Bar – Jessica Mehta
Prize Fighter – Martin Hopson
Proper Etiquette for the First Year of Mourning – Jacqueline Jules
Rich Farm Land Drew Settlers to Hess – Ryan Clark
Running at 6:45 on a mid-November morning – Brett Cortelletti
Sunflower Ghosts – Robin Gow
Swift Action – G. Louis Heath
Testament – Deborah L. Davitt
Touch This Elephant – Robert Beveridge
Transfusion –Virginia Boudreau
Van Gogh Paints a Self-Portrait – Ann Howells
The Waffle House Index, or: (if the Waffle House is closed the populace is shrinking) – John McCracken
Walking Stick, A Prayer – Keith Moul
Wave – Alan Gann
What I’ve Lost – Carl Boon
Where My Muse Comes From – Daryl Sznyter
While You Were Trying To Be Cool I Was Snorting Flintstone Chewables – Kristian Kuhn
White Sheets – Shelby Curran – Pushcart Prize Nominee
Winter Plunge – Eileen Malone
You – Anthony Carl
Zeit Heist – Nick Romeo
Zen Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts – Mary Buchinger

Prose

The Bedouin Woman’s Smile – Nektaria Petrou – Editors’ Choice
Cage Match – Jodi Sh. Doff
The Dap – Rosanne Ehrlich
Dear Harold – Christine Seifert
Downgrade – Lois Morrison
Finals – Marie Anderson
For Summer – Anusha Srinivasan
Frank & Mia & Me – Charles Leipart
Heroes – Blake Benson
Letters from My Grandsons – Sherri Wright
Loving Spoonful – Alexander Jones
The Moonshine Ruby – Travis Kennedy
My Lover and I – Maggie Boals
One Smoothie is a Tragedy – Matt Dube
Overhead – Soramimi Hanarejima –Editors’ Choice
Padlock – Beth Gordon
Patriots – Stephen O’Donnell
A Slice of Lemon on the Side – Kristen Olsen
Spillage – G. Emil Reutter
Stalker in Orange – Maddie Woda
Tawny Kitten – Tina Bubonovich
This Isn’t the Story I Intended to Write – Guy Biederman
Tollbooth – Kelsey Maki
Wild Cat Menagerie and Great Intercourse Circus – Catherine Moore
Winter Plunge – Eileen Malone
Zeng Shangyou – Jack Feerick

Photo courtesy of Andrea Walker

Welcome back to Panoply. We’re thrilled and honored to share our first themed issue, this one related to “daylight.” Our contributors responded with inspiration, which we hope will prove illuminating. So many of these pieces bask in the light, but a few may surprise you. Daylight can play many roles. Enjoy exploring the dark side of the light.

Once again, we thank our readers, our contributors, our benefactors, and all of you who share in our joy in creating and sharing Panoply. 

Issue 7 will arrive in the fall, un-themed. Look for that Call for Submissions to open in late June. And don’t forget we’re now reviewing chapbooks, with our first review nearly secured for later this month. In the meantime, take a breath, take a walk, soak up a little Vitamin D. Happy reading.

Please like our Facebook page: Facebook Panoply Page

Best wishes,

Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn
Editors, Panoply

Contents
Anoesis – John C. Mannone
April Morning – Virginia Barrett
Arrival – Robert Miltner
As the Parking Lots Lights Flicker – Ki Russell
August – William Blome
Blackbird: Watcher in the Desert – Delores Merrill –Editors’ Choice
Blown Away – Joan McNerney
By the Light of Dawn – Natalie Crick
Chasing Pictograms – Richard King Perkins II
Covered – Sarah Clauson
Daffodils for Papa – Mikaela Curry
Dawn – Sarah Snyder
day – light savings – Ren Weber
Day/ Breaks – Julie Naslund
December Daylight – Patricia Nelson
Desert Wild Flowers – Mike Beck
devil as night / god as day – Kris Tammer
Glance – Barbara Lawhorn
Gulls – J. Thomas Burke
Harbinger – Jenifer DeBellis
Heliotrope – Cathryn Essinger
In a Winter Window – Susan Huebner
It’s Like This – Ivy Page
Joy – Jenny Benjamin
Keske XIV – Jennifer A. Reimer
A Lace Stone Wall at Randall’s Ordinary – Eleanor Kedney
Little Birds – Lauren Scharhag
Marriage – Michael Blaine
Morning – Aaron Dargis
Morning – K. Carlton Johnson
Morning in the North Country – Tom Montag
Nankoweap – Rick Kempa
Natural Light – Neil Leadbeater
New Year’s Day Miscalculation – Lynn Houston
Northwest Winter Day – Joan Moritz
On the Funeral of a Rice Farmer – Ryan Thorpe – Editors’ Choice
Once Planed Straight – Steve Gerson – Editors’ Choice
One Memory I Had of Summer – Gina Ferrara
Past Noon – Ann Howells
Patterns of Intimacy – Heather Gemmen Wilson
Phengophilia – Michael Estabrook
Photo of Mom on the Beach 1950 – Kathleen Strafford –Editors’ Choice
Poems – Lola Haskins
The Position of the Sun – Sabrina Hicks
Rain Delay – Early Innings – Bruce Robinson
Self-Portrait – Kirsten Hemmy – Pushcart Prize Nominee
A Shaft of Sunlight – Patrick Dixon
Silly Drunk Mentioning – Kristin Fullerton –Editors’ Choice
Soham – Lloyd Milburn
Sunken Ships on Fire – Devon Balwit
Sunrise on Llŷn – Aziz Dixon
Synthesis – Carol Berg
The Third Wish: New Dawn – Rachel Dacus
This Morning – Steve Klepetar
This World’s Light – Lois Harrod
Thursdays, 4-7 – Mercedes Lawry
Venusian Engagement – Rachel Reese
vulture sets the world ablaze – Sanjida Yasmin
Wedding Portraits – Diane Kendig
Welcome – Mary Ellen Talley

Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn had a ball at Say the Word in Niceville, FL, joining our gracious hosts Sarah Clauson and Rachel Reese, along with a wide array of talented poets for a night of joy, good cheer, observation, and speaking out. What a way to kick-off Poetry Month! Here we are just before the festivities began.

Ryn, Jeff, and Andrea at Say the Word in Niceville, FL

Again, we thank those who have donated to our financial cause:

• Tobi Alfier
• William Blome
• Alan Harris
• Sabrina Hicks
• Carolyn Martin (twice!)
• Tracy Mishkin
• James Penha
• Rachel Reese
• Plus newcomers Eleanor Kedney, Bruce Robinson, and Alec Solomita

If you’d like to donate to our financial cause, feel free to use the PayPal link in the right margin.

We’re finishing up Issue 6, the “daylight” theme, which is due on or around May 5. See you then! Thanks for visiting Panoply!

Yours always,

Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn
Editors