AGNI 89
Contents
Editor's Note
Losing, Finding, Improvising
Fiction
If I Survive You
What the Canal Took
by David Hayden
Eyetooth
The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
The Silents
Essays
Now
by Jo Ann Beard
Call Yourself Alive
by Kelle Groom
Thanatophilia: A Travelogue
Cigarettes Coffee Alcohol
by Sam Kahn
The Guava Tree
Poetry
Breakup Scenery
WhatsApp Message Analysis and Response
The Vow
Nat’l Watch & Diamond Exch.
More Than Watchmen at Daybreak
Spring Comes to the City of Lisbon
What an eye can see
Lines along the Shore
Dance
Hare at Dusk
The Closing
Garden
Two Ways
The Path of Names
by Susan Lewis
Gliss Aria
by Sharon Olds
Hyacinth Aria
by Sharon Olds
Like a Sonnet
by Sharon Olds
Mile Markers
by Calvin Olsen
Au Lait
Landscape with Snow and Huddled Trees
by Rob Shapiro
Fish Like These
Forced Confession
Unbroken
Death in My Mouth
Volatile urgencies. Ethiopian cover artist Wosene Worke Kosrof brings an ancient alphabet into our jostling, electric present, infusing AGNI 89 with a directed energy. Jo Ann Beard’s lead-off essay simultaneously inspects and enacts the writing process as she thinks back on the stories her father told about war and loss. Poet Sharon Olds grapples with a mother’s legacy, and sings an aria to the unchanging glide at her own body’s core. Jonathan Escoffery writes about a cash-strapped high school teacher who humiliates himself for pay. And Sam Kahn watches the iPhone replace the cigarette. Eamon Grennan, Grace Singh Smith, Hebe Uhart, Cyrus Cassells, Shauna Barbosa, and many more.
Editor
Sven Birkerts
Sven Birkerts
Founding Editor
Askold Melnyczuk
Askold Melnyczuk
Senior Editor
William Pierce
William Pierce
Poetry Editors
Sumita Chakraborty
Lynne Potts
Sumita Chakraborty, Lynne Potts
Fiction Editor
William Giraldi
Mary O'Donoghue
William Giraldi, Mary O'Donoghue
Nonfiction Editor
Jennifer Alise Drew
Jennifer Alise Drew
Blog Editor
David Ebenbach
David Ebenbach
Social (Twitter)
Rachel Mennies
Rachel Mennies
Newsletter Director
Alison Lanier
Alison Lanier
Marketing
Daniel Pritchard
Daniel Pritchard
Manuscript Reader
Brian Burt
Brian Burt
Galley Editors
Beth Romano
Christian Wessels
Beth Romano, Christian Wessels
Social (Facebook)
Effie Sapuridis
Effie Sapuridis
Editorial Assistants
Audrey Poe
Aanchal Narang
Kayla Kavanagh
Neshat Kahn
Omer Friedlander
Tyler Dunston
Naomi Huan
Leona Brander
Grace Yun
Madhaw Kohli
Audrey Poe, Aanchal Narang, Kayla Kavanagh, Neshat Kahn, Omer Friedlander, Tyler Dunston, Naomi Huan, Leona Brander, Grace Yun, Madhaw Kohli
Advisory Board
Leslie Epstein
Robert Pinsky
Rosanna Warren
Ha Jin
Leslie Epstein, Robert Pinsky, Rosanna Warren, Ha Jin
Contributing Editors
Lucie Brock-Broido
John J. Clayton
William Corbett
Stuart Dischell
Sharon Dunn, ed. emerita
Anne Germanacos
Marie Howe
Diana Der-Hovanessian
Alex Johnson
Dana Levin
Fred Marchant
Fiona McCrae
Gail Mazur
Dzvinia Orlowsky
E.C. Osondu
Lia Purpura
George Scialabba
Tom Sleigh
Sue Standing
Oksana Zabuzhko
Lucie Brock-Broido, John J. Clayton, William Corbett, Stuart Dischell, Sharon Dunn, ed. emerita, Anne Germanacos, Marie Howe, Diana Der-Hovanessian, Alex Johnson, Dana Levin, Fred Marchant, Fiona McCrae, Gail Mazur, Dzvinia Orlowsky, E.C. Osondu, Lia Purpura, George Scialabba, Tom Sleigh, Sue Standing, Oksana Zabuzhko