Fall 2023
Fall 2023
With the figure in Tracy Bull’s striking cover art, we find ourselves exploring the edge of displacement and discovery in the 2024 issue of Relief journal. Throughout this latest issue, there is a sense that we are all simply looking for the next safe stone to stand on. Whether we’re grappling with vulnerability in Tania Runyan’s “In Search of Earthquake Kate,” looking at death through the eye of the yovobird in Jonathan Allston’s “Patriarch,” or just “missing the solace of a mother” in Rhett Watts’s “Floating Arms,” we are all learning where we go next. If you still find yourself emerging from the edge of a dark wood, you’re in good company here, and we invite you to step to the next safe stone with us.
Daniel Bowman, Jr.
From the Editor's Desk
Poetry
Jeffrey Alfier
Before Reaching Port Byron Under a New Moon
After Reading Trakl’s Among the Red Foliage Full of Guitars
Zachary Bartles
The Automatist
Maryann Corbett
On the Overuse of Sturgeon’s Law
Jeff Gundy
Property
Lament
Kathleen Hirsch
The Mary Poems - The Bowl
Laura Hogan
Mary, Wife of Clopas
Via Negativa: Corpse Flower
Marcia L. Hurlow
Displaced
Debra Kaufman
When You Invite in a Dream
Candice Kelsey
Palm Sunday Sestina at the Farmer’s Market, Santa Monica
Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde
Coastal Town of Hemiplegia
Justin Lacour
Wednesday, 3:14a.m.
Michael Lauchlan
After Cursing a Virus
V. P. Loggins
Polyphony
Marjorie Maddox
Transference of Power
Linda McCullough Moore
A Jigsaw Puzzle for the Junior Theologian
Marda Messick
Black Hole Remix
Vicki Nyman
Sunday
James Owen
Self-Portrait as One of the Rulers of the Synagogue, Jairus by Name
Jenna Rindo
On the Border
When asked why you write poetry, answer instead why you grow flowers
Michael Salcman
Catechism
Deborah J. Shore
The Gift
Kerri Snell
Monument
Meghan Sterling
Self-Portrait as Snow Bank
Daniel Tobin
At Bury Ditches
Flaw
Rhett Watts
Floating Arms
Jane Zwart
Faith Healing
Survey of Jacob Wrestling an Angel
Creative Nonfiction
Anne Calandro
Life con Moto
Morning Melody
Teresa H. Janssen
Journey Home
Adam Lalley
God’s Node
Danielle Porter
On Paying Attention
Alexis Stratton
Labyrinth
Fiction
Jacob Reecher
Catch it Falling
Lauren Woods
Manna
Jonathan Allston
Patriarch
Brianne Holmes
To Live