Welcome to Issue V, Volume IX: May 2018 of Connotation Press: An Online Artifact. At the end of March we did a little fundraising to help cover our operating expenses for the next year. Kaite and I are in the middle of some significant but wonderful changes in our lives related to where we live, which are going to be a little expensive. We have always funded the magazine ourselves. Since people regularly ask us what they can do to help, in an attempt to hang on to a little of our money for the move and rather than stage a full-scale fundraiser, we reminded folks we have a donation button.
THANK YOU to the following amazing friends who answered the call and helped us raise half the funds necessary for the next 12 months of publication. It means the world to us and we can’t thank you enough:
Paul Beckman, Andrew Stancek, Jonathan Cardew, Stephanie Bordeaux, Nancy Bouwsma, Katherine E. Young, Emily Bertholf, Sarah Wheeler, Maryann Corbett, Richard Foerster (twice!), Nicholas Baker, Faye Rapoport DesPres, Kristen Kleist, Julie Brooks Barbour, Anthony Press, Katherine Reeves, Ellen Wheeler, Sharon Koffel-Weinstein, and our tax person Kimberly Robidoux, who, for the ninth year in a row, did our taxes for the cause.
YOU ENTIRELY ROCK! Seriously, your kindness and generosity are like a much needed hug after an especially long and difficult day. And it was not lost on any of us that many of you have donated to Connotation Press in the past, too. Amazing. Thank you, friends. From all of us at Connotation Press to all of you, all our love.
And now, especially since you all helped pay for it, lets kick this pig and see what it’ll do.
May is traditionally a slow month for us. What I mean is, we always run a full issue but the various pieces tend to arrive on my electronic doorstep a little later than usual. Most of the editorial staff, for the most part, are a bit tired from a year teaching, and this year was no different, but I was entirely tickled when it all finally showed up. Including, and I kid you not, the last column offering that I received about an hour ago. HA!
Even with Hoppy journeying to Morocco for a reading, A Poetry Congeries with John Hoppenthaler is wonderful this issue with stunning new offerings from Charles Harper Webb, Emma Bolden, Seth Pennington, Myronn Hardy, Melissa Crowe, Ron Koertge, and Danielle DeTiberus. So much good here. And don’t miss John’s preface. It’s short and sweet, and in a sweet, genuine way encapsulates just a hint of what it’s like to put out a column of this caliber bi-monthly, year after year.
Up next this month, Al Maginnes directs his lovely obsession on music to neglected masterpieces and up and comers. Al takes a look at the work by The Mamas and Papas, Buddy Charles, and Tennessee Jed Fisher. I love Al’s take on the work of The Mamas and Papas, and Buddy Charles, but it was an special pleasure getting turned on to Jed Fisher’s music. I LOVE THIS COLUMN!
Book Review Editor Julia Bowsma's increase from one to two reviews a month has been a welcome breath of fresh air to the magazine this year, and this month is no different. First, Janeen Rastall reviews Trish Hopkinson’s new chapbook, Footnote, which sounds wonderful, then Julia herself reviews Cynthia Dewi Oka’s second collection, Salvage. She writes, “To read Cynthia Dewi Oka’s second collection of poems, Salvage,… is an experience akin to entering a dream world, both lush with threat and glistening with beauty.” I can’t wait to get my hands on this collection.
And finally, coming in at the eleventh hour, John Turi delivers his Drinker with a Writing Problem column in the nick of time and this one is a lot of fun. John douses his educated palate with a delicious Limoncello from Italy by Roberto Peveroni. YUM! And in addition to his usual look at the aqua vitae, John includes a delicious Limoncello recipe you can try at home. Woohoo!
That’s it for now. We’ll be back again on the 15th with our Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction columns, what I've read of which has absolutely floored me, so come on back now, you here!
All best,
Ken Robidoux
Publisher/Founding Editor-in-Chief