Kim Cooper
4.8.2010
Theo Hummer
Assignment 9
The literary journal that I read was the Apple Valley Review. This journal is an online literary journal and is published twice annually; once in the fall and once in the spring. The edition that I read was this years spring edition. Each issue of the Apple Valley Review contains short fiction, poetry, and essays. The journal is edited by Leah Brown but all the rights are held by the individual authors featured in each issue.
One aspect that I really enjoyed about this journal is that the authors featured in it were not big name writers; many of them were still working on getting their degrees and or teaching as a main profession and writing on the side. The quality of the work is extremely high; all the poems were creative, crafty, and raw, but were produced by people who weren’t necessarily “writers.” I think this brings a level of authenticity to the journal. There is a sense that each poem is written because someone felt absolutely compelled to do so, that the poem had taken full control of them and it needed to be written, not because it was their job to write. There is a natural vulnerability in each different work.
A lot of the poems in this journal feel as if they would fit right into our American Poets in the 21st Century book. All of them have a standard form: poems set in stanzas of varied lines moving horizontally down the page. This is another reason why I enjoyed this journal so much. I am not a big fan of concrete poetry that we studied earlier in the semester and I have an extremely hard time identifying with it when I get a headache trying to figure out in which direction I should be reading. The content of all the poems in this journal is relatable and honest; the simplicity of the structure compliments that honesty really well and does not take away from the importance of the meaning.
There appears to be a common them of “change” throughout all the works in this edition. That change comes in several different forms: death, coming of age, relationships, how people around you change. Each poem not only has a message, but a lesson imbedded in it as well. A good example of this, and my favorite poem from this journal is called, Childhood by T.J Jarret. The poem describes an event, more specifically a death in the family, which allows your parents to forget that they are parents, and become smaller than you: “ But soon they will grow comfortably into a space without you. No accounting of parental failures nor any list of wrongs can prepare you for this….You are allowed to lift them in your arms. How small they’ve become. How Happy, how light.” This image struck me, that people would need a reminder that it’s okay to take care of your parents, that when life comes full circle, it’s your parents that need to be cradled and held. I think the concept is fascinating and that her imagery is remarkable.
If you’re interested in the Apple Valley Review, the link to the online journal is here! http://www.applevalleyreview.com/
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