AGNI 77
Contents
Editor's Note
Notebook: Style
Fictions
My Beautiful Life
Medium Tough
Fetch
Tarping the Wheat: The Wages of Sin
Jackrabbit, Lizard, Rattlesnake, Saguaro
Oakland Gomorrah
Poetry
Near the Border
Waiting for the Hummingbird
Karl Lagerfeld Meets Voltaire and the King of Prussia in the Hallway
The Fast Friendship of Voltaire and the King of Prussia
Leda, Later
At first I didn’t see the contours of the problem.
by H. L. Hix
The Making of a Prophet
Lady Xoc
by Dana Levin
The Importance of the Right Punctuation
“Cold prickles my scalp”
Translated from Russian by Deborah Marshall and Douglas Penick
Myodesopsia
by Carol Moldaw
One Too Many Samurai Movies
by Jordan Smith
New Faces of Belfast
Between the Landwehr Canal and the Spree
Translated from Lithuanian by Rimas Uzgiris
The Riverbed
by David Welch
The body eclectic—artist Fabio D’Aroma’s expressively cartoonized bodies and physiognomies catch the flavor of an issue featuring Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s surgery memoir, as well as meaty and muscular fiction from Tiphanie Yanique, David Hernandez, E. C. Osondu, and Melanie Rae Thon; essays by Lia Purpura and Elvis Bego; poetry by Dana Levin, Jordan Smith, Peter Balakian, and Carol Moldaw; and much more, including translations from the Lithuanian, French, Japanese, Danish, and Russian.
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
Prose Editor
Carissa Halston
Carissa Halston
Readers
Jessica Keener (fiction)
Mary O'Donoghue (fiction)
Erin Trahan (poetry)
Jessica Keener (fiction), Mary O'Donoghue (fiction), Erin Trahan (poetry)
Advisory Board
Leslie Epstein
Robert Pinsky
Derek Walcott
Rosanna Warren
Leslie Epstein, Robert Pinsky, Derek Walcott, Rosanna Warren
Editorial Assistants
Alison Lanier
Julie Moon
Leanne Hoppe
Johanna Pittman
Sarah Huener
Paula Simone Campbell
Catherine Flora Con
Jannell McConnell Parsons
Alison Lanier, Julie Moon, Leanne Hoppe, Johanna Pittman, Sarah Huener, Paula Simone Campbell, Catherine Flora Con, Jannell McConnell Parsons
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