Views and Mechanics Publisher's Note Editor's Note Review of A Man Without a Country Review of Gail's Place Review of Three 1-Act Plays Review of Yesterday's A Dream Crossword (Solution Posted in May. Printable version in pdf format of journal.) Jan/Feb Crossword Solution Creative Nonfiction Imagining Nora By Lisa Norris Loving the Fat Girl By Christina Fisanick Nate's Fish and Poultry Shop By G. David Schwartz The Folly of Valentine's Day By Andy Martello Poetry Hawk King By Wanda D. Campbell After the Rain By Wanda D. Campbell You Cannot Fold the Flood. By Mariela Perez-Simons And Darkness Fell By Beth L. Block Demise of a Family Resort By Carolyn Howard-Johnson The Asparagus Cutters By Joe Wilkins Fiction Voices By Ed Boyd Little White Sambo By Brett Alan Sanders Dies Irae By Timothy Reilly Follow By Dawn Paul Crumbs By Kim Tremblett Cover Art Photography by Seth Brown About the Contributors © 2006, River Walk Journal and respective authors and artists. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission. River Walk Journal, Inc. Board of Directors Chairman - Elizabeth Ross Vice Chairman - Joseph Koch Secretary/Treasurer - Geri Stock-Ross Editorial Director - Patti Kurtz, DA Literacy Director - Bill Mausteller Policy Director - PA State Rep. Jess Stairs Advisory Board Chairman - Patti Kurtz, DA Asst. Chairman - Dan Lachenman, PhD Samuel Hazo Christopher Leland Edwin Yoder Joseph Bathanti Journal Staff Publisher - Elizabeth Ross Editor-In-Chief - Joseph Koch Sen. Fiction Editor - Patti Kurtz Sen. Poetry Editor - Neeldhara Misra Sen. Creative Nonfiction Editor - Brenda Coxe Contributing Editor - Robert Dittman Publicity Director (PA) - Geri Stock-Ross For information about submissions, visit http://www.riverwalkjournal.org/submission.html. Questions about promotions, subscribers' services, and advertising should be sent to publisher@riverwalkjournal.org. River Walk Journal, Inc. is a non-profit corporation run entirely by volunteers. For information about volunteer opportunities and internships, visit http://www.riverwalkjournal.org/volunteer.html. |
Editor's Note Hello folks, and welcome to our early spring issue for 2006. When I first sat down to write this, I was going to say “March/April issue”, but I see no reason not to make mention of spring a little early. I don’t know about you, but this winter has been very, very odd for me; a return to more predictable weather, routines, and solar radiation will be welcome. Spring and Renewal go together like chocolate and…well almost anything. So do RWJ and Revisions. To date, approximately 40% of what we have published has been pieces that needed to be re-worked by the author or poet (in case anyone missed that little datum on our main page). Dawn Paul’s piece “Follow” is a more obvious “journey” piece, but only on its surface. The protagonist goes for a winter hike in the mountains, and what she finds during the journey and at its end is both thought-provoking and just a bit mysterious. Timothy Reilly’s “Dies Irae” is more amusing, but no less intriguing than “Follow”. “Dies Irae’s” protagonist struggles mightily not with a mountain, but with the no less intimidating world of professional concert musicianship. Ed Boyd’s “Voices” is an offering from a first-time writer, a wonderful piece about nostalgia, memory, and coming to terms with the past in our fantasies. Brett Alan Sanders’ piece “Little White Sambo” is a bit darker, treating on the implications of the unseen and often unchallenged thinking that can drive friends from different cultures apart, sometimes forever. For our poetry lovers, we have five more this time around, two from Wanda D. Campbell, one from returning contributor Joe Wilkins, and one each from Mariela Perez-Simons and Carolyn Howard-Johnson. I’ve always loved poems because of my love of the martial arts and their philosophies. The minimalist beauty of a good poem often echoes (for me at least) the clean, truthful lines of martial arts forms. In all five of our latest poems du jour, the minds behind them have succeeded in capturing unique life moments perfectly, which otherwise no one would ever have know, and the lucky readers would then be just a bit less. I would say more, but that would ruin the never-repeated satori moment that comes with the first read. Since this issue is appearing just after February, and since Andy Martello is always worth a read and a chuckle, we decided to run “The Folly of Valentine’s Day”. Andy’s customary warm wit spotlights the flaws in the arguments that the gift industry uses to make what is meant to be (on the surface) a “warm fuzzy” day and turn it into a nerve-jangling nightmare. Then Andy shows us that thankfully things don’t have to be that way. Our other creative non-fiction offerings include Christina Fisanick’s “Loving the Fat Girl”, G. David Schwartz’s “Nate’s Fish and Poultry Shop”, and “Imagining Nora” by Lisa Norris. I find it wonderfully strange as I write this, that the staff, Ms. Ross and I had all agreed that we wouldn’t have a theme for this issue, and in a strange way, we’ve ended up with one anyway. As I look back at what I’ve written here I realize that we’ve compiled not “Coming-of-Age” pieces, but “Coming-into-Life”. Everything in this issue (I swear, none of us did this on purpose) is about the journey between one stage of being into the next. I hope I’m not the only one who’ll find that just a tiny bit amazing once the computer is turned off, the printout or PDA put aside for a while. Literature is Life. Live to read. Joseph Koch |