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Issue 137

Issue Date: Winter 2001
Editor: Marlene Cookshaw
Pages: 127
Number of contributors: 32

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Cover of Issue 137

The winter 2001 issue embraces poetry and fiction alike, broadly exploring themes such as human interaction, relationships, nostalgia, and experience. With poems from Margo Button, Gerald Hill, Virgil Suarez, Jeanette Lynes, and more, there is no lack of content in which to indulge. Jeff Worley’s poem, “Ice Cream,”provides a commentary on the loss of innocence that comes with growing up. In it, the speaker “[learns] a lesson about love, a lesson / in years to come he’ll willingly forget.” “Late Bloomer,”by Jennica Harper, reads slow and sultry, while “What Do You Call,”by George Sipos, plays with form, each line short and sweet, popping out at the reader.  David Zieroth, whose poem, “Sightings,” is featured in this issue, was winner of the Governer General’s Award for poetry in 2009.  “The Reconnaissance Mission,” by Margo Button bravely explores the stories told after the death of a loved one:

“when my son died, I took his life
and made his story mine, described
a hero—
pale and partial chimera of who he really was,
a body of words,
skewed to fit
my mold, my need”

The fiction included in this issue is poignant and evocative.  Brenda Hasiuk’s “Boy Lost in the Wild,”provides a glimpse into a young man’s moment in the spotlight as he gives a speech about time spent as a young boy in the inner city.This was the title story in a collection Hasiuk published in 2014. The protagonist in Newfoundland author Lisa Moore’s “The Stylist,” lives in the past, with memories of childhood swimming through her mind as she receives a haircut, wanting to reinvent herself after a separation from her husband. “Mount Appetite”, by Bill Gaston, another story included in this issue, went on to become a full-length book, garnering a Giller Prize nomination.

—Abby Neufeld

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