AGNI 74
Contents
Editor's Note
The Golden Book
Essays
Rangefinder Girl
Shadowboxing: Beating Toms
Driving at Night
by Caryl Pagel
Azeroth
by Jen Percy
Poetry
Variation on a Theme by Sor Juana (with Raquel Rodriguez Cruz)
by Gary Amdahl
Translated by Raquel Rodriguez Cruz
Aesop’s Crows
by Teresa Cader
The Alley of Our Childhood
by Teresa Cader
Rilke Said I and I and Meant Anybody
by Bruce Cohen
An Early November Meditation
I Sat in My Little Boat
Talking to Milosz
The Difference between Art and Artifice
Ewigkeit
by Kevin Ducey
Christmas Dinner
Quarter Horse Curse
It Was a Splendid Mind
by Amy Gerstler
from Phantom Hour
by James Meetze
I Want This Till the End
If Then
Years Later
Strangeness
by Brian Swann
Vertigo
Art Feature
Introduction to the Art Feature
by Jody Servon and Lorene Delany-Ullman
Saved
by Jody Servon and Lorene Delany-Ullman
Conversations
Sifting for fresh versions of the known. An art portfolio of odd objects, served up by Jody Servon and Lorene Delany-Ullman, captures something of the larger idiosyncrasy of this issue, which features, among other offerings, poetry by Amy Gerstler, Sherman Alexie, Carol Ann Davis, and Rainer Maria Rilke (from the German and from the French); fiction by Helen DeWitt and Rachel Swearingen; a generous array of nonfiction by Sarah Braunstein, Jonathan Wilson, Robert Boyers, and many others, as well as a conversation with the startlingly unusual Yahia Lababidi.
Editor
Sven Birkerts
Sven Birkerts
Founding Editor
Askold Melnyczuk
Askold Melnyczuk
Senior Editor
William Pierce
William Pierce
Fiction Editor
William Giraldi
William Giraldi
Poetry Editor
Lynne Potts
Lynne Potts
Asst. Poetry Editor
Sumita Chakraborty
Sumita Chakraborty
Reviews Editor
Rachel Mennies
Rachel Mennies
Editor at Large
Jennifer Alise Drew
Jennifer Alise Drew
Readers
Jessica Keener (fiction)
Mary O'Donoghue (fiction)
Erin Trahan (poetry)
Kim Adrian (nonfiction)
Jessica Keener (fiction), Mary O'Donoghue (fiction), Erin Trahan (poetry), Kim Adrian (nonfiction)
Advisory Board
Leslie Epstein
Robert Pinsky
Derek Walcott
Rosanna Warren
Leslie Epstein, Robert Pinsky, Derek Walcott, Rosanna Warren
Editorial Assistants
Sarah Weinberg
Calvin Olsen
Bryan Coller
Artem Derkatch
Valerie Sarron
Natasha Hakimi
Rachel Jacobs
Mimi Lipson
Sarah Weinberg, Calvin Olsen, Bryan Coller, Artem Derkatch, Valerie Sarron, Natasha Hakimi, Rachel Jacobs, Mimi Lipson
Contributing Editors
Lucie Brock-Broido
John J. Clayton
William Corbett
Stuart Dischell
Sharon Dunn, ed. emerita
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Marie Howe
Diana Der-Hovanessian
Ha Jin
Alex Johnson
Dana Levin
Fred Marchant
Fiona McCrae
Gail Mazur
Dzvinia Orlowsky
Lia Purpura
George Scialabba
Tom Sleigh
Sue Standing
Oksana Zabuzhko
Lucie Brock-Broido, John J. Clayton, William Corbett, Stuart Dischell, Sharon Dunn, ed. emerita, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Marie Howe, Diana Der-Hovanessian, Ha Jin, Alex Johnson, Dana Levin, Fred Marchant, Fiona McCrae, Gail Mazur, Dzvinia Orlowsky, Lia Purpura, George Scialabba, Tom Sleigh, Sue Standing, Oksana Zabuzhko