FEATURE
National Poetry Month: [ANNA] by Julie Carr
[Anna] by Julie Carr Finds a bird’s nest in a pile of leaves. Tightly wound scraps of the news. Carries it into the house and sets it on the table. After a while, she goes back out to play. The game she’s playing is called “Anna.” It’s a game in which...
National Poetry Month: MALAMUTE by Jehanne Dubrow
Malamute by Jehanne Dubrow Honduras, 1947 Someone brought winter to the tropics. At first, it slept near the roots of a strangler tree, curled under chairs, licked salt from sweating ankles. It was content. Table scraps fed its belly. Breezes carried the...
National Poetry Month: { } by Rachel Springer
{ } by Rachel Springer { } This is my war face whispering for you to get wet. Dark hair pelts you, pots & pans & pigtails clamoring. Had I a horse, I’d hold you to that. Slab on slab of hearing you call daddy, I say fuck me in that order. You give...
National Poetry Month: ROOM WITH TWO WINDOWS by Sarah V. Schweig
Room with Two Windows by Sarah V. Schweig When he left, I was what was left. When two trees fell, I saw them falling. The noise of the street quiets the mind now the trees and wind are gone. Today I watch a man saw away the dead branch he’s standing on....
National Poetry Month!
For many poets, the start of National Poetry Month signals a time to create new work, and to develop their craft in unexpected directions. For those of us at the Black Warrior Review, the month of April also signals an opportunity to appreciate and re-engage with the...
40th Anniversary Feature: A SUGGESTION FOR DEPARTING
BY AMBER VOGEL The passengers gather. The conductor smokes The last of his cigarette, leans from the door, And flicks the end away. Your steps Quicken. You are clutching your ticket And your magazine. You stop. You wheel Round, panicked by yet another Vagrant...
40th Anniversary Feature: THE HORSE ON THE POND
by JIM HILGARTNER BWR Genre Editor, Fiction, 1996-1997 Cutting cordwood on the ridge Where the wind sweeps snow From fallen leaves and bracken, I paused, and stood holding the saw. Blue mountains shone Distant in the blue air. And at my feet an old plow horse,...
40th Anniversary Feature: DAN KAPLAN
By DAN KAPLAN BWR Editor, Fiction, 2003-2004 What is that jingle again Who is roofer to the world. Re: Beethoven and the electric toothbrush: not true. Over the afternoon, masses disagree with heat. How easily it fits into any briefcase or purse. What we are...
40th Anniversary Feature: THE SHADOW ROOM
By B.J. HOLLARS BWR Genre Editor, Nonfiction, 2008-2009 From the interior of The Shadow Room, I watch his shadow fade. Though not yet two, Henry understand the intricate process: how we tuck ourselves into the darkened room in the children’s museum, slap a...
40th Anniversary Feature: KING OF HEARTS, QUEEN OF SPADES — an excerpt from Hex
By SARAH BLACKMAN BWR Genre Editor, Fiction, 2005-2006 My father stared at me. You can imagine: his hands on either side of his plate, his chop growing gray as it leaked into the peas. We sat that way. Then my father lifted his fork and knife and cut a bite out...