Winter 2024
Winter 2024 Dedicated to Nicholas Johnson and Maureen Holm, co-founders of BigCityLit HERE by Nicholas Johnson Poetry Fiction Nonfiction Reviews
Not This Time
by Julene Waffle Sometimes I embrace the stillness of winter, let it settle into the threads of my veins, twist itself into the locks of my hair, but tonight I lock it away in the drawer where I keep my lacy things and old letters that belong only to me. I knuckle down and sing
VACATION
by Elizabeth Morse Monica and Joyce set out for mountains in a beat-up SUV. Anytime is a good time for this much-loved excursion. The radio plays songs from years ago, as though time has been sliced open. They talk, and drink bottled water. Monica pulls back her hair, flicking the fastener once, twice. Their words
Entering the Field of Darkness
by Martin Willitts Jr My mother’s age-ravaged memory before she passed away. What a strange phrase, “passed away,” as if floating off. How odd to be less mentioned over time. Winds come; winds go. Winds blow the moon away. Winds blow the yellow off the finches, scatters leaves, memory, sorrow blows them all into a
The Weighing of an Essay
by Kimmo Rosenthal It is interesting that upon tracing the etymology of the word essay to its roots, we come across the Latin word exagium, which means a weighing. The idea of an essay as a weighing of sorts is not surprising. In her illuminating essay on the current proliferation of “personal” as opposed to
TWO POEMS
by Geer Austin Goodbye My name is Jérôme, and I live near the Avenue du Président Kennedy, you said. Your hair was green so I asked you to stay. Yeah but I got a ticket to fly, you said. We were in my apartment on Mulberry Street, watching hipsters clomp up the block. A tricolored
Let’s play a Bayesian game
by Jen Stein Consider that the board is well mapped. In a place where two rivers meet, there is a park with oaks arching overhead, dappled sunlight on a riverbank, a bench, it is June, it is dusk. A broken swing with a wind-driven creak, rhythmic and slow as a sleeping heart. I am looking
Now in Contest, by Richard Levine
Review by Rhina P. Espaillat This recent work by poet Richard Levine is divided into three sections with titles that refer to very different aspects of the human lot: “The Law of Blood and Death,” “The Law of Peace, Work, and Health,” and “The Law of Endangered Environments, Viruses, and Hope.” As titles those are
On the Road with Ray
by Alan Swyer The best thing about being part of Ray Charles’ inner circle – other than spending time with the man justly called “The Genius” – was meeting so many people who were, or at one time or another had been, part of his world. Some, like Solomon Burke, Mable John, and Billy Osborne,
Women on the Ice
by Alice Lowe There was a stretch of time when I opened each week’s New Yorker magazine to the “Goings On About Town” pages to plan imaginary weekend getaways. I would choose a play, opera, or concert for each night of my stay. Mornings were earmarked for long walks around the city, followed by museum