California Quarterly, 45:2, Summer 2019, Edited by Nancy Cavers Dougherty

The second issue of the California Quarterly vol. 45  in 2019 (Summer) was edited by poet Nancy Cavers Dougherty and is now being mailed to members and authors. The issue is free to members and authors of poems, who receive one free copy, while the Editor has five copies at his/her disposal for promotional purposes.


EDITOR’S NOTE

What I love about poetry is its variety of voice, of ideas, its sheer range of form, and ever-fresh use of language. The poems in this issue well display this! Here are poems about destiny, free will, nature, faith, longing, remembrances, and from as far away as Kosovo to home state California. Nature features in many of the poems. It is clear that nature involves us, humankind, as part of the equation. There is exuberance of Earth’s belly first cries spring in “Unlikely and Least” (Raphael Block), and the wonder of gardening in “The Art of Transformation” (Charlene Langfur). Solace is found in companionship “By the River” (Milly Brown). In “Faded,” Raleigh Scott Wood addresses what is lost by ceaseless building, soon the sycamores will have no sky. And Fred Yannantuono asks what’s ahead in “Unsure of What the Sea’s Insurgence Plans.”

Taking to the sky, the bird of “American Kestrel” (Joyce Snyder) reminds us of the utter/balance with the world/around him. John Forrest Harrell writes, The moon drips eerie, wistful loneliness in ”Karmic Strings.” I can’t help but relate to the beautiful sounds that Margaret Rooney evokes in “Cellist,” my thanks! In “Amelia Earhart,” Reza Ghahremanzadeh finds inspiration and hope.
Interesting word choices abound: milkened sky of “Out Park Presidio” (John Briscoe), shrug-hop of “Feeding Time in the Valley” (Arlene Downing-Yaconelli), leaf-hood of “Vine in Leaf” (Doreen Stock) and others to discover.

Thank you, talented poets, for your magnificent poems! And a heartfelt thanks to all our readers! I wish to especially thank poet and longtime California Quarterly President, Editor and Treasurer, John Forrest Harrell, for his many years of devoted service to this journal. We wish him well with more time for his writing and more years as our Treasurer.

Nancy Cavers Dougherty
Sebastopol, California
Editor of CQ Volume 45, Number 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Unlikely and Least - Raphael Block 7
Moon Music - Mark J. Mitchell 8
Out Park Presidio - John Briscoe  9
Crepuscular - Reza Ghahremanzadeh 10
I’m Only Thinking... - David James 11
Instinctual - Amy Trussell 12
After Sorrows - Jackie Huss Hallerberg 13
All the Weight - Holly Day 14
Venice - Ken Autrey 15
Aftershock - Michael Cadnum 16
Unsure of What the Sea’s... - Fred Yannantuono 17
My Husband Is a Gypsy - Marcia B. Loughran 18
Vine in Leaf - Doreen Stock 19
Bear Lake, Idaho - Ana Manwaring 20
American Kestrel - Joyce Snyder 21
Afterwards - John Terenzi 22
Karmic Strings - John Forrest Harrell 23
Faded - Raleigh Scott Wood 23
We Were Speaking of Picasso - Doreen Stock 24
By the River - Milly Brown 25
Grand Canyon Treasure - John Forrest Harrell 26
Travel Time - C. Fausto Cabrera 27
Stealing Fire - Raphael Block 28
News - Andrew Vogel 29
Prayer Rug - Fahredin Shehu 29
Le Onde - Paolo Staglianò 30
The Waves - Margaret Saine (tr.)  31
Interlude - John Forrest Harrell 32
The Parade - Gregory Natt 33
Without Device - Margaret Rooney 34
The Dilemma of the Quercus - Ana Manwaring 35
Faith - Jackie Huss Hallerberg 36
Invisible Silence - Linda Ibbotson 37
Something Cold Hit the Window - Pamela Stone Singer 38
The Art of Transforming... - Charlene Langfur 39
Image of our Winterreise - Fahredin Shehu 40
Veteran’s Day, 2018 - Thomas A. West, Jr. 41
Scent - Laura Blatt 42
Votive - Andrew Vogel 43
Out of the Loop - Kate McNairy 44
Amelia Earhart - Reza Ghahremanzadeh 45
Folk Song - Mark J. Mitchell 45
How to Live - Marilyn Robertson 46
Television - Kate McNairy 47
The Player King and His Troupe...- Robert Cooperman 48
Free Will - d.p. houston 49
Beachcomber - Bray McDonald 50
Feeding Time in the Valley - Arlene Downing-Yaconelli 51
Cellist - Margaret Rooney 52
Sky Burial - Pamela Stone Singer 53
History - Gregory Natt 54
Momentary Sighting - Marcia B. Loughran 55
The Rain in Santa Clarita - Michael P. Montgomery 56
Common Prayer, Sutro Heights - John Briscoe 57
 Ramble in a Coastal Wood - Deborah Taylor-French 58

Cover Art: Lettuce Christine Walker


THE EDITOR

NANCY CAVERS DOUGHERTY

Nancy Cavers Dougherty recently joined the CSPS Editorial Board; she is the editor of the second issue of 2014. Originally from Massachusetts, her interest in the arts has led her to watercolors, ceramics, snow sculptures, and most recently poetry and collage. She is the author of three chapbooks; Tape Recorder On, Memory In Salt, Levee Town and a collaborative work, Silk. Her poetry has appeared in descant, Language and Culture, Compass Rose, Westview, Big Scream, The Pinch and other journals as well as several anthologies. She has served on the Sonoma County Poet Laureate Committee as the 5th District representative. She holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Sonoma State University and works as an advocate and supporter of several local organizations, with a focus on mental health and art therapy programs. Most recently, she has edited the fourth issue of the CQ for 2017 (Vol. 43, No. 4).