Word For/Word #19

Issue 19 of Word For/Word is long overdue, but it is under construction and will be worth the wait, as it will feature new poems by Annah Browning, Kathleen Rooney, Cindy St. John, Joshua Kryah, Shira Dentz, Kristina Marie Darling, Kevin O'Rourke, William Cordeiro,Derek Henderson, Brad Vogler, Lynn Strongin, Gautam Verma Emileigh Barnes, Tim Shaner, Jeff Harrison, Dorothee Lang, Moriah L Purdy, Rachel May, Brian Strang,, Crystal Gibbins, Brian Lucas, and Mike Sikkema, plus reviews of new books by Arianne Zwartjes, Arpine Konyalian Grenier, Charles Bernstein, and Kent Johnson.

In the meantime, here’s a preview of issue 20.

A LONG-ABANDONED BREATH, by Wes Bensen

A long-abandoned breath
heard between apologies
unmaps the world.

I switch on the kitchen light.
Appliances emerge
as if by choice.

With regard to supplication
I’m dead to difficulty.
Am I what I think I am.

Am I error’s dancehall:
low-ceilinged,
refrigerator-growled.