Our original thought for January/February was to feature literature on civil-rights themes honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In a meeting with Kweli board members, the conversation quickly moved to the broader concepts of protest and social justice and morphed into discussion of “Occupy Wall Street.” “Could we put out a call for submissions on ‘occupation literature’?” “Was there such a thing?” We did, and there is. Writers responded enthusiastically, making our selection process delightful, but difficult. Instead of posting one poem in this issue, we made an exception to run three from Ed Pavlic:“ThirstLove,”“Nook and Boon (Of Rock& Hard Places) : ‘Contemplation,’ and “Verbatim : Breaking News ; March 25, 2011.” Then, we got a “bonus.” Pavlic, an award-winning poet and University of Georgia professor, had mentioned our little upstart online literary journal to the visionary poet Adrienne Rich. She offered encouraging praise and wondered, Pavlic said, “if Kweli would be interested in two new poems of hers?” for the social justice issue. Indeed, we are thrilled to present them, “Suspended Lines” and “Undesigned,” in this issue. Our nonfiction piece is “Sheer Like Gauze,” an essay about Darfur that is as lyrical and ethereal as its title, by Jess Hagemann, an award-winning Midwestern writer who is working on a “pseudo-graphic novel with collages.” In fiction, we offer “Straight Dollars or Loose Change,” by LaToya Watkins, a novelist, editor and doctoral student in Texas. Her story enters the life of a woman visiting a brother in prison. Please read these works in our nonfiction, fiction and poetry sections and see the writers’ bios on the contributor’s pages. Angela P. Dodson, Content Manager
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January 31, 2012 Straight Dollars or Loose Change by LaToya Watkins (Excerpt) A sea of orange jumpsuits will soon roll in like some rip tide. I can do nothing but sit and wait. Fifteen minutes feel like fifty. I count the number of water stains on the ceiling. See if it changed any since the last visit. Then I scan the room. The women outnumber the men again. And there are more children here than before. The brother and sister that were carrying on during the bus ride up are now begging their momma for money. Banging on the glass of the vending machine again and again. They stop when one of the guards stomps over and motions for them to sit. Stay.
Found legacies turn up in splinters blood codes, secret sharings
Cracks of light in a sky intent on rain
Sheer Like Gauze by Jess Hagemann (Excerpt) Refugees are the new gypsies: ancestral race uprooted and forced to move. The tents they are given--flimsy as gypsy tents, meant for short-term shelter and easy disassembly. But refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan have lived in these camps for years. The curtains are sheer and through them I see a fading pain, giving way to the emptiness of apathy.
No bricks but tents. Over all of them a star-bright sky. No music but tears. In every tent, a dwindling campfire.
This publication is made possible with a regrant from the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, supported by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
