AGNI 55
Contents
Editor's Note
Shadowboxing: The Future of Literature in America
Fiction
I’m Here, You’re There
Poetry
What’s Up
Chercher
Reunion
by Kevin Craft
Harm
It Is Night in My Study
Two Mineiro Poems on the Love of Death
Prologue of the Horses
Great Hill Lyric
by Andrew Feld
Requin
by Carol Frost
Thunderstorm
by Carol Frost
Dichterliebe, for Voice and Piano
The Religion of Art Revisited
Bathers
by James Hoch
Pomegranates
by James Hoch
First Day at San Ramon
Blueprint for Civilization Sometimes Lost in Frivolous Detail
by Mark Irwin
“One Alexander Herzevich”
Translated from the Russian by Maxim D. Shrayer and J. B. Sisson
“Say, desert geometer, shaper”
Translated from the Russian by Maxim D. Shrayer and J. B. Sisson
“Slip back into your mother, Leah”
Translated from the Russian by Maxim D. Shrayer and J. B. Sisson
The Heart
Translated from the Danish by Carsten Rene Nielsen and David Keplinger
Maritime
by Sharon Olds
Unknown
by Sharon Olds
Cold Shoulder
Indeterminacy
Keeping
by John Poch
Shaking the Snow Globe
Affair
The Moderns
Obsession
A Numb Thumb
A Piece of Fruit
The Spinning World
by Ann Townsend
Narcissus and the Aquarium Guide
Something Relentless Pushing Me
Still Life with Gerund
Helen Keller
by David Wojahn
Sawdust
by David Wojahn
Art Feature
On Robert Ferrandini
The Valley of the Blue Moon
Reviews
The Linguistic Blizzard Beating Still
Collective Lives
Our spring 2002 issue reaffirms AGNI’s commitment to up-and-coming writers with fiction by Wendy Button, Daphne Kalotay, and Priscilla Hodgkins; poetry from Brian Blanchfield, Christine Hume, Christine Perrin, and Bryan Walpert; and nonfiction by M. Elaine Mar, Judy Karasik and Debbie Danielpour Chapel, to name but a few. Also work by Natalia Ginzburg (translated by Lynne Sharon Schwartz), John J. Clayton, Osip Mandelshtam (tr. Maxim D. Shrayer), Ovid (tr. Tom Sleigh), and Guy de Maupassant (tr. Matt Yost).
Editor
Askold Melnyczuk
Askold Melnyczuk
Managing Editor
Eric Grunwald
Eric Grunwald
Advisory Board
Leslie Epstein
Robert Pinsky
Derek Walcott
Leslie Epstein, Robert Pinsky, Derek Walcott
Poetry Editor
Michael Collier
Michael Collier
Associate Poetry Editor
Claire Jarvis
Claire Jarvis
Associate Fiction Editor
Jennifer Joerg Blum
Jennifer Joerg Blum
Art Editor
Gerry Bergstein
Gerry Bergstein
Music Editor
Eric Chasalow
Eric Chasalow
Editor Emerita
Sharon Dunn
Sharon Dunn
Editorial Assistants
Kerin Flatley
Greta Hansen
Johanna Slade
Chris Souza
Julia Stevens
Yunshi Wang
Kerin Flatley, Greta Hansen, Johanna Slade, Chris Souza, Julia Stevens, Yunshi Wang
Contributing Editors
Thomas Bahr
Erin Belieu
Sven Birkerts
Lucie Brock-Broido
John J. Clayton
William Corbett
Stuart Dischell
Sharon Dunn
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Marie Howe
Diana Der-Hovanessian
Ha Jin
Alex Johnson
Susan Johnson
Fred Marchant
Fiona McCrae
Gail Mazur
Joe Osterhaus
Dzvinia Orlowsky
George Packer
Solomea Pavlychko
Liam Rector
Scott Ruescher
George Scialabba
Tom Sleigh
Sue Standing
Rosanna Warren
Oksana Zabuzhko
Thomas Bahr, Erin Belieu, Sven Birkerts, Lucie Brock-Broido, John J. Clayton, William Corbett, Stuart Dischell, Sharon Dunn, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Marie Howe, Diana Der-Hovanessian, Ha Jin, Alex Johnson, Susan Johnson, Fred Marchant, Fiona McCrae, Gail Mazur, Joe Osterhaus, Dzvinia Orlowsky, George Packer, Solomea Pavlychko, Liam Rector, Scott Ruescher, George Scialabba, Tom Sleigh, Sue Standing, Rosanna Warren, Oksana Zabuzhko