AGNI 58
Contents
Editor's Note
Fictions
A Cup of Coffee in the Café on Ostozhenka
Translated from Russian by John Mason and Byron Lindsey
Witness
by Liza Ward
Essays
Metaphysical Messages: With J. L. B. in Buenos Aires
Poetry
Sonnenwendenlieder
You
East
by Kirun Kapur
Akhmatova’s “The Summer Garden”
How Bad Can It Get
by Mark Rudman
Sit Down by the River (Ghazal #262)
Translated from Persian by Robert Bly and Leonard Lewisohn
In the Country
Twister
Missile
Art Feature
Breaking Ground
The beauty of the book. Fiction by Alden Jones, Liza Ward, Debra Spark, Patrick Tobin, and Yevgeny Schklovsky. Poetry by Robert Pinsky, Robert Bly, Kirun Kapur, Robert Polito, Jason Labbe, April Bernard, Li Po, Ewa Lipska, Peter Campion, Raffaello Baldini (translated by Adria Bernardi), and more. Essays by Mark Slouka, Ilan Stavans, and memoir by Lynne Sharon Schwartz and Alice Mattison. And paradoxically stunning images of old books by photographer Rosamond Purcell in a full-color, glossy 8-page insert.
Editor
Sven Birkerts
Sven Birkerts
Founding Editor
Askold Melnyczuk
Askold Melnyczuk
Managing Editor
Eric Grunwald
Eric Grunwald
Associate Fiction Editor
Jennifer Joerg Blum
Jennifer Joerg Blum
Associate Poetry Editor
Rachel DeWoskin
Rachel DeWoskin
Fiction Reader
William Giraldi
William Giraldi
Advisory Board
Leslie Epstein
Robert Pinsky
Derek Walcott
Leslie Epstein, Robert Pinsky, Derek Walcott
Editor Emerita
Sharon Dunn
Sharon Dunn
Editorial Assistants
Lisa Gordon
Sara Huneke
Kayla Riccio
Lisa Gordon, Sara Huneke, Kayla Riccio
Contributing Editors
Thomas Bahr
Erin Belieu
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
Rosanna Warren
Oksana Zabuzhko
Thomas Bahr, Erin Belieu, 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, Rosanna Warren, Oksana Zabuzhko