AGNI
A literary magazine named after the Vedic god of fire
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AGNI 58

Contents
Editor’s NoteFictionEssaysPoetryArt Feature

Editor’s Note

Noble Rot
by Sven Birkerts

Fiction

Heathens
by Alden Jones
A Cup of Coffee in the Café on Ostozhenka
by Yevgeny Shklovsky
Translated from the Russian by John Mason and Byron Lindsey
The Revived Art of the Toy Theatre
by Debra Spark
That Kind of Nonsense
by Patrick Tobin
Witness
by Liza Ward
Black Fields, Black Horses
by Nance Van Winckel

Essays

Metaphysical Messages: With J. L. B. in Buenos Aires
by Peter LaSalle
Fever
by Alice Mattison
Shadowboxing: Ball’s Bearings and Monster from the Midlands
by Askold Melnyczuk
“I Wish I Could Say the Same”
by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Historical Vertigo: Observations from the Nick of Time
by Mark Slouka
¡Lotería! or, The Ritual of Chance
by Ilan Stavans
Re: No Subject
by Wen Stephenson

Poetry

Night
by Raffaello Baldini
Translated from the romagnole by Adria Bernardi
Sonnenwendenlieder
by April Bernard
Belleek
by Kevin Bowen
Nephew
by Peter Campion
This Blue Vase
by Peter Campion
You
by Stuart Dischell
Covenant
by Len Edgerly
East
by Kirun Kapur
Traveling Light
by Jason Labbe
God Asks
by Ewa Lipska
Translated from the Polish by Robin Davidson and Margret Grebowicz
Private Property
by Ewa Lipska
Translated from the Polish by Robin Davidson and Margret Grebowicz
The Music Lesson
by Ewa Lipska
Translated from the Polish by Robin Davidson and Margret Grebowicz
Akhmatova’s “The Summer Garden”
by Robert Pinsky
Fighting South of the Wall
by Li Po
Translated from the Chinese by Taylor Stoehr
Hollywood Hills
by Robert Polito
Shooting Star
by Robert Polito
Three Horse Operas
by Robert Polito
How Bad Can It Get
by Mark Rudman
Sit Down by the River (Ghazal #262)
by Hafiz-I Shirazi
Translated from the Persian by Robert Bly and Leonard Lewisohn
In the Country
by Joshua Weiner
Twister
by Joshua Weiner
Missile
by Baron Wormser

Art Feature

Breaking Ground
by Rosamond Purcell
AGNI 58
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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
Founding Editor
Askold Melnyczuk
Managing Editor
Eric Grunwald
Associate Fiction Editor
Jennifer Joerg Blum
Associate Poetry Editor
Rachel DeWoskin
Fiction Reader
William Giraldi
Advisory Board
Leslie Epstein, Robert Pinsky, Derek Walcott
Editor Emerita
Sharon Dunn
Editorial Assistants
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
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