Table of Contents


Views and Mechanics
Publisher's Note
Editor's Note
Review of The Pittsburgh That Stays Within You
Review of If Instead of Apes We Had Come from Grapes
Review of Anson County
Review of Dissolution of Ghosts
Crossword
(Solution Posted in July. Printable version in pdf format of journal.)
Mar/Apr Crossword Solution
Creative Nonfiction
1998
By Samuel Hazo
Booing the Pope
By Matthew D. Taylor
Sgt. Robert Starbuck, USMC: Elegy and Essay
By John Guthrie
Shrink Wrap, Diet Cokes and a Kazoo
By Sara J. Ford
Poetry
And the Time Is
By Samuel Hazo
In His Winter
By Wanda D. Campbell
Lester
By Thomas Reynolds
Generation Gap
By Valerie Lauria Stanske
Two Poets
By Gary C. Wilkens
Mongolia, 1930
By Gary C. Wilkens
Fiction
A Death in the Family
By John Speeking
Letters
By Suzanne Abbot
Among the Briars
By Pat Tompkins
Filling in the Angles
By Jessica DelBalzo
Miss Mary
By Beth L. Block
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.

Generation Gap
By Valerie Lauria Stanske

The hard corners softened and rounded as the child crept toward him

Here was strength and solid mass made fluid by a baby

As the little one clumsily climbed into the mighty cross-legged lap

a weak shaky smile spread over the large stern face

Tiny shoulders shifted expertly, nuzzling into the giant human recliner

A pectoral for a pillow. A pulsing arm for an armrest

The child, realizing he was finally comfortable, stopped stirring and sat,

peering up at his transfixed elder, barely lifting his pudgy refined chin,

only half toothlessly smiling. Transaction complete. Both parties satisfied.

One empowered by the security of papa’s lap

One weakened, vulnerable, drowned in the warmth of a baby