Spring 2018
Spring 2018
The Spring 2018 Relief, which features striking cover art by Brenton Good, contains nearly fifty pages of writing more than the previous volume, including exciting new voices in fiction, and a graphic narrative by Suzanne Rhee. Poetry offerings are highlighted by sestinas by Tania Runyan, new work from Jeremiah Webster and Jeff Newberry, and a wide range of beautiful poems from around the country. Relief continues to engage superb CNF writers; we’re proud to publish challenging new work by D.L. Mayfield, Carly Gelsinger, and essays by poets Julie Moore and Susanna Childress. 2018 comprises one of our most complete and energizing issues to date.
Daniel Bowman, Jr.
From the Editor's Desk
Poetry
James Allman, Jr.
Salt
Chris Anderson
Transfigurations
You Never Know
Ben Egerton
/si:dz/
Laurel Eshelman
The First Mulberry
Rachel E. Hicks
It Wasn't Odd
Just Before
Meredith Stewart Kirkwood
What I Think It Will Be Like
to Be Married to You
Jeff Newberry
Satin Flowers in Graveyards
Aubade on Black Rock Mountain
Kimberly Ann Priest
On Needing Someone to Be
a Little Like God //
Consider the Loquat
Jeannie Prinsen
Lakeside, with Jonathan
Jim Richards
Pure Speculation
Tania Runyan
You'll Know When It's Ready
Sestina for Flu Season
Courtney O'Banion Smith
The Viewing
Jeddie Sophronius
Conversation with a Bleeding
God in My Arms //
Death of the Chinese in Me
Marjorie Stelmach
Salt
Vinegar
Prasanta Verma
Expand-istan
Lighting
Steward
Jeremiah Webster
Letter to My Grandson
(Who is probably a cyborg) //
New Normal
Gospel
Creative Nonfiction
Susanna Childress
Age Appropriate
Carly Gelsinger
Believing Will Never
Come Easy Again
D.L. Mayfield
The Irritable Woman:
Some thoughts on mothering,
pride, ambition, and despair
Julie L. Moore
Silent Night
Fiction
Laura Arciniega
The Shell
Sarah Davis
What She Must See
Hillary Jo Foreman
Victoria! Victoria.
Andrew Koenig
The River
Lisa Muir
Waiting on Trillium
Reviews
Christie Purifoy
A Review of Jessie Van Eerden’s
The Long Weeping: Portrait Essays
Comics
Suzanne Rhee
Endurance