Hello Panoply World!

In this semi-post-Covid world, we’re pleased to share the results of our second biennial contest! Our theme was “Feast,” with a lovely and energizing variety of facets to that stone. Remarkably, on this comparatively short list of pieces, we have two dealing with Russian culture. We’re also pleased to share a piece of bona fide cowboy poetry from a bona fide cowboy poet! Pardon the disproportionate sidebar, but we encourage you to explore cowboy poetry. You might be surprised by the craft but also by the voice, perspective, and subject matter. Whatever your taste, we hope you enjoy Issue 18! We extend our heartiest thanks to all submitters and contributors and especially shout out to our contest winners, Pete Mackey, Issa M. Lewis, and Gabrielle Langley.

Issue 19 is planned for early September, with our Call for Submissions due out July-ish. Don’t forget about our weekly Editors’ Choice videos, the first of which is planned for May 21.

Stay healthy. Keep reading and writing!

All our love,
Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

 

Contest Winners
First Place: Silence – Pete Mackey
Second Place (tie): The Juiciest Pear – Issa M. Lewis and Russian Novel – Gabrielle Langley

Additional Pieces
The Bells of St. Mary’s – Mark Madigan
Beside – Susan Kay Anderson
Bubbe and the Snow Maiden, Vitebsk, 1903 – Mikki Aronoff
A Celtic Spell – Pratibha Castle
Dinner Parties – Rosanne Ehrlich
Eating the Heifer – Sean Sexton
The Eternal Mother – Vanessa Watters
Fat Family – Robert Nisbet
Fire and Ice – Alexis Rhone Fancher
First Holy Communion – Mary Leonard
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Summer Days, 1936 – Karen George
In My Mother’s Kitchen – Marianne Forman
Like Fingers – Britton Pontoux
My Blue Heaven – Katherine Nelson-Born
November Seeds – Karla Linn Merrifield
sacrificed into residue – Perla Kantarjian
Safe House – Ysabel de la Rosa
Silver Links – Annette Sisson
Stalk Talk – Jennifer Maloney
We All Bought Tickets to the Allusion – Jonathan Yungkans
Why I Leave the States – Bonnie Jill Emanuel

 

Artwork © Ryn Holmes, 2020

Wait, what? 2021?

Congratulations, you made it. But let’s not fool ourselves that a page-turning is alchemy …

No matter the date or circumstances, we love to bring you “a wide array of fine writing.” We do notice incidental motifs in our submissions. This time, it’s insects and long, winding sentences. Of course, there are plenty of other fine works of all types included!

As always, we thank our contributors for favoring us with their talents. (You’ll notice more than one debut writer this time!) And of course, we thank you, readers, for spending a little time here. We hope you continue to find this publication uplifting and enriching.

All our best for a fine year!

Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

Contents
1997 – Tony Gloeggler
Aphrodite and Mars – Jakub Svanda
Argyle Forest – C.B. Crenshaw
Awakening – Stephanie L. Harper
but i am only fiercely dreaming – Perla Kantarjian
Celestial Navigation – Diana Dinverno
The Child Born – Virginia Laurie
climb, fall, sober-up – Kelli Allen
Creatures in the Last Hour – Julia Watson
The Depth of Water – Marsha Lewis
Every Dream Holds a Meaning – Sophie Aay
Fireflies – Moinak Dutta
First Artists – Kelly DuMar
First Flight – Nathan McMullen
For Me and For Greta Gerwig – Naomi Hurley
Heisenberg in the Suburbs – George Franklin
Her Face Streaked with Tears – Zvi Sesling
hesperides – Kolbe Riney
Himself – Stephen Ground
Homeless  – Sekhar Banerjee
the hour before – Mike Jurkovic
I Am Not Writing About the Rose, I Am Making it Bloom in the Paper – John Milkereit
In His Dream – Ann Howells
Inventory – Stacie Kiner
Kulturaustausch – Sean Kelbley
‘Merica the Insidious – Mike L. Nichols
Pairing Mantids – Paul Jones
Paper – Hugh Anderson
Path of the Dragonfly – Marc Janssen
A Published Poet’s List – Rha Arayal
The Rabbit Looks Away – Issa M. Lewis
Rainbow Connection – Jaelyn Singleton
The Reception – Leonard Temme
Red Dress – Katie Mcilroy
River – Mallory Kellum
Ryou-Un Maru – Joseph E. Arechavala
The Simian Line – Joanne Clarkson
Sorrow – Bruce Meyer
Spider – Robert Okaji
Split – Francine Witte
Sweet Retreat – Emily Jacko
Table – Catherine Arra
Tea As Indicator for Weather – Lenny DellaRocca
Tragedy – Sheree LaPuma
Twilight – Makenna Dillon
Where To Find My Body – Cleo-Paulo Valentino
White Tulips – Carter Vance
The Writer – Kelsey Hontz
Year of Firsts – Joseph Kerschbaum
You Tell Me It’s the Worst Album Ever – Kate LaDew
You Must Share the Secret of Eternal Life With Someone You Love – Sandra Cimadori
Zen Shirt – Joseph Hardy

Photo courtesy of and copyright ©2020 Ryn Holmes.

Welcome to Issue 16! We hope you have remained hale and healthy through this crazy time of year. Loaded with verbal endorphins, this issue should help you maintain your artistic and spiritual health. 

One thing we continue to learn is how permanent art is in our lives. Sometimes we overlook it; sometimes we misunderstand it; sometimes it moves us profoundly. With all the basic underpinnings of art and the human condition, expressions change, formats change, and so on. But what lies beneath the white spaces, the compositions, the rhythms and contours, is that eternal element of what it means to be alive. 

So whether today finds you up or down, ecstatic or forlorn, attentive or distracted, remember that the world of art, of human expression and interpretation, with all its crazy mutations and side tracks, will be with you always. 

Here’s a tiny utterance among the eternal voice, with thanks to our contributors, whose words breathe life into our days. 

Make it a great day. Stay healthy!

Best wishes,
Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn

 

Contents

#11 – Ann Pedone
After Crossing the International Date Line – K Roberts
As Kids Back Home –  Mark Madigan
Barroom Dust –  Ana M. Fores Tamayo
Bell the Cat – Emalee Long
Buckboard – Mary Anna Kruch
Calendar Pages Yellowing – Steve Gerson
Can You Download Whatsapp So We Can Text While I’m Here – Jimmy Fay
Cleaning Helga’s Grave – Kevin Ridgeway
Cream No Sugar – Michael Estabrook
Cyclic Convulsions – Casey Roland
Dawnlessness – Nancy K. Jentsch
Drama – Edward Kos
Eulogy – Joel Fishbane
Fall Dinner – Martina Reisz Newberry
Father’s Foreign Cars – Gabrielle Grilli
Fissure – Syd Shaw
Grandma’s Song – Irene Fick
The High Priestess – Sherre Vernon
His words are plump – Sabina Khan-Ibarra
The History of Emptiness – Jack Ritter
I love what you did with your eyeliner – Sambhranta Bashy
I Went West – Ben Mast
In the occasional contact with life – M. Ait Ali
Jerome – Sally Vogl
JiM “80” – Max Heinegg
Let My People Go – Mark Hammerschick
Letter to My Iranian Lover – Alicia Viguer-Espert
Marvelling Upon Your Rouge Halo –  Andrew LaFleche
Melody in Shades of Blue – Sophie Foster
moonlit eve – Victor Pambuccian
My dead father visits me on my birthday every year – Scott Ferry
My Window (Champaign, Illinois) – Gerald Friedman
Network Opportunity – Tobi Alfier
No Escape – Elya Braden
Old Man Winter on the Marsh – Stephen Scott Whitaker
On Reading “Skeleton Keys” by Brian Switek – Roberta Schultz
One hundred dollars – Michael Griffith
Orpheus Calls Their Bluff – Julian George
Penitence – Brigidh Duffey
Porcupine – Dave Gregory
post newtonian – Alan Gann
Prowl Me Gently – Sarah Pobuda
Robot Factory – Patrick T. Reardon
Sack and Hammer – Kristin Fullerton
The Sermon: First Baptist, 1988 – James Miller
Solanaceae Battles – Frank Babcock
Soundtrack – Gena Killion
Stealing – Michele Randall
This Flag Is Not Waving – Jack Mackey
Tongues of Fire – Ann Howells
Unwilling/Vacillating/Waiting – Scott Wiggerman
We could use poems right now – Hari Bhajan Khalsa
What Are You Glittering About? –  Marianne Lyon
What the Breeze Brings –  Steven Deutsch
Writing Night – Robert Nisbet
The Winding Road of Sunshine and Snow – Daniel Paton

 

 

Welcome spring! And welcome to Issue 15. Our theme for this issue is “Paper.” We encountered some lovely, expansive interpretations which we hope you’ll enjoy. While the world is abuzz with constraint and restraint, we hope this respite rejuvenates your spirit and lessens any burden you bear.

Once again, we tout the artistry of Editor Ryn Holmes, whose original photography graces our masthead. Pretty inventive and quite original!

It’s been a strange spring. We do hope this finds you healthy and fit, in all senses of the words. Some of us are facing difficult circumstances. We send what we can: our deep love and support. Take your solace, faith, and hope where you can find it and make it. We look forward to seeing you again for Issue 16 and beyond. 

As always, we thank our readers and contributors. Peace to you.

Stay healthy.

Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, Editors

Contents
Anonymous – Pavle Radonic
Aphasia – Anna Winham
Armchair Tourist – Sandy Deutscher
Body Memory – Karen George
Censoring Letters Home – Jim Ross
Cleaning House for Mother and Me – Karen Mandell
Future Textbooks – Warren Woods
The Grey Heron – Mark Heathcote
A Heads-Up Dream for Peace – Mark Blickley
I am – Mandira Pattnaik
In the Wind – Hugh Anderson
Inheritance – Dorian Kotsiopoulos
A Lesson in Colors – Kimberly Williams
Making Books at Hull House – Cynthia Gallaher
Making Do – Michele Waering
My First Poem, Age 12, For Sharon – Steve Gerson
My Mother Reads the Obituaries Out Loud – Susan Barry-Schulz
Nakamura Lock – Rich Renner
Ode to the Tree – Deonte Osayande
On Reading the Sky Between Essays – Vivian Wagner
On transcience – (Rizla™) – Henry Bladon
Paper Skin – Alan C. Smith
A Poet Reads on Instagram – Aileen Bassis
The Poet’s Writing Shed – Robert Nisbet
Polish Dining Ring – A Msou
Précis – Betsy Mars
Prosthetics – Brian Rihlmann
Sharing My Canoe – William Doreski
Snail Girl – Chuka Susan Chesney
Spaghetti – Samn Stockwell
Thin Sheaf – Susan Tepper
Tit for Tat – Lindsey Heatherly
Uncharted Waters – Christine Rhein
Underneath Your Sleeve Sketches – Roz Weaver
Uproot the Hobbling Magic – Hibah Shabkhez
Venus Did What? – Karla Linn Merrifield
Weeks of Repetition – Sudanshu Chopra
Writing Space – Angela Weiser
Yellow Wallpaper* – Holly Van Hare

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

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
Window – Mzwandile Poncana
Windows Taught Us One Thing – Jonathan Yungkans
you lift your finger carefully as if heavy with paint – Kate LaDew

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

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