Amarillo Bay Contents
Volume 12 Number 1
We are pleased to present the third issue of our twelfth year, published on Monday, 2 August 2010. We hope you enjoy browsing through our extensive collection of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry! (See the Works List to discover the over 450 works in our collection, including the ability to search through the issues.)
Fiction
The Accident
by Marie Coyle
Marie Coyle
Marie Coyle has a B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire. She has taught middle school English in the Bronx, NY, and Rockville, MD. Contact her at marie.e.coyle@gmail.com.
"When did you buy that cheese?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"No reason."
"Oh, there's a reason."
"No."
"Say it."
Sarah ran her hands through her hair. "It's just, it's like, half gone already. That's a lot of dairy."
"Well, not everyone's a psycho-anti-dairy activist," Alex said cheerfully, grating carrots.
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Jesus or Juju
by Roger Poppen
Roger Poppen
Roger Poppen took up creative writing after retiring as a professor of behavior analysis. He has published one novel, Mister Lucky, and several shorter works in online and print magazines, including Flashquake, Long Story Short, The Cynic, and Ducts, as well as Amarillo Bay. More of his work may be seen at http://mypage.siu.edu/drrock/
But Jesus, and Jake—dead now these eighteen months—were silent. Cissie knew that all she had to do was pray for forgiveness, ask with sincerity and contrition, and it was done. But she felt no absolution, no sense of calm. The feeling of shame remained. She closed her eyes, curling on her side in the comfortable 'S' position that brought on slumber, but again saw William's eyes and felt herself yield to him.
The glowing red numerals on the bedside clock read 5:17. More than an hour before her usual rising time, but sleep was impossible. She sat up and switched on the bedside lamp, put on her glasses, and picked up the book that lay atop the covers on the empty side of the bed. She opened it to the page she'd bookmarked but got no sense of the words, no connection to what she'd read last night before falling asleep. She was cold—she always turned down the thermostat at night—and had to use the toilet. Sighing, she swung her feet over the edge of the bed and felt for her slippers.
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Safe Haven
by Susan Dugan
Susan Dugan
Susan Dugan lives in Denver, Colorado, and writes everything from newspaper and magazine articles to advertising copy, radio scripts, fiction, and poetry. Her short stories have appeared in literary magazines including eclectica, JMWW, Carve, RiverSedge, Prosetoad, Amarillo Bay, The Saint Ann's Review, River Oak Review, and Echoes. She writes about her journey practicing the spiritual psychology A Course in Miracles in her blog: http://www.foraysinforgiveness.com/. A book of her personal essays, Extraordinary Ordinary Forgiveness, has been accepted for publication by O-Books.
In the alley, just past a bed of daffodils squashed by melting snow, Bathrobe barks and tugs on her leash, nearly strangling herself in a fruitless effort to launch her loaf-like frame. And then I hear it, too: little chirping sounds emanating from somewhere inside the dumpster. I yank on my dog's leash and peer over the metal rim, expecting to see a stranded starling. A bundled-up baby stares back at me. In my peripheral vision, the high hedge protecting the Sherman's yard absorbs a life-size smear of dark fabric, the snap and rustle of limbs.
"Holy Christ," I say, because things like this do not happen in my neighborhood. The baby—perhaps responding to the look of horror on my face or sensing its impending guest appearance on the nightly news—opens its tiny beak and wails.
I rush inside with it nestled against my forearm, an unlikely quarterback, Bathrobe yipping at my heels. I lay it down on the couch and peel away the plaid woolen car blanket to reveal a beautiful white satin gown tied with red ribbon. It takes me a moment to recognize it as the same American Girl costume (part of Kristen's Santa Lucia outfit) I gave my granddaughter Catherine the Christmas she turned eight. Beneath the doll clothes the little girl has been wet a while. She has not yet lost that scalded, cone-head look.
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The Texture of a Moment
by Carrie Milford
Carrie Milford
Carrie Milford is a senior in the University of Pittsburgh's Creative Writing program. A native of Pittsburgh, she has also lived in California, Washington, D.C., and London. Besides writing, she enjoys traveling, reading, and Mexican food.
"Beautiful kids." She was wrapped in a puffy blue coat and a long white scarf that she fiddled with, twirling the loose strings on the end around her polished fingernails. "Are they yours?" She didn't look at Jim but instead stared straight ahead.
"Yes. The one in the red coat is Lana and the one in the green is Maria. Twins." Jim pointed to each of them as they raced up the ladder and down the slide, Maria yelling at Lana to watch out for the lava at the bottom.
"They're very cute. How old?" The girl rubbed her palms against her jeans.
"Just turned five last week."
"That's a good age. Good age." She seemed to consider good ages and bad, right and wrong, all encapsulated in her faded moss eyes that finally turned to face Jim.
"Yes, it is. They don't know how to exist in the world as they should yet. It's nice." Jim met her gaze.
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U Askt If I Was Alright
by Richard Jespers
Richard Jespers
Originally from Wichita, Kansas, Richard Jespers holds a graduate degree in English from Texas Tech University. Stories most recently receiving honors can be found in Boulevard ("My Long Playing Records" was a 2008 Pushcart nominee), Blackbird ("Basketball Is Not a Drug" was anthologized in Dzanc Book's Best of the Web 2008), and The Ledge, where "Engineer" was published as an award winner early in 2009. In the same year, he was awarded a two-month residency at Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he worked on a novel, tentatively entitled <crablegZdotcom>: A Novel For Voyeurs. He lives in Lubbock, Texas.
Reply to: pers-924***6258@crablegz.com
Date: 2008-12-15, 5:15 PM MST
I saw that there was something different about you the moment you came in. You walked confidently and had a very serious expression on your face. You were almost hard to look at . . . maybe even a little scary (those intense eyes). I mean, you seemed really tough in your pea coat, black gloves and turtleneck. But your quick smile (yes, I'm sure) told me you had, well, a soft side. Your broad shoulders and strong legs also stood out. You looked straight at me and said, Pardon, could you tell me which isle has the antacids? I told you isle A against the wall and off you went saying thank you very much. When you returned to check out, there were two kids in front of you and they were giving me a hard time about my hair, which you will remember was chartreuse (now orange). You let out a sigh and they noticed you standing behind them. You shot them a look (it wasn't mean or dirty, just grown-up) and they immediately paid for their stuff and left without uttering another word. You askt very kindly if I was alright. (I love your deep mellow voice!) I hesitated because I had never seen anyone with that much presence. (And you said not a word!) You askt me again, Are you alright? I said yes and felt myself blush (my neck always feels like it's on fire). You said, Kids . . .
I askt who you were. You said you were a PhD student at the university, 'no one of consequence.' You paid for your items (a box of Band-Aids® and a bottle of Gaviscon®) and walked out. (Hope you don't have a wife and/or kids, tho I do like kids.) Wow! I have no idea who you are but you left a lasting impression. Superman, Spiderman, and Hulk--step aside! If you happen to read this, tap me please.
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Creative Nonfiction
Molly's War
by Lynn H.W. Banowsky, M.D.
Lynn H.W. Banowsky, M.D.
Dr. Banowsky was the primary driving force behind the founding of the Texas Transplantation Society and served as its first president in 1987.
He graduated from high school in Stephenville, Texas in 1955 and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, Austin. He trained at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, completing a residency at the VA Hospital and the Charity Hospital there. Dr. Banowsky completed a urology residency at Tulane University and taught there before moving to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, where he established the renal transplant program and was a member of the team who did the first kidney transplant in the state. He moved to the Cleveland Clinic, where he was chief of the section of renal transplantation. He returned to Texas in 1977 to become the director of the renal transplant program at the UT Health Science Center. In 1983 he established the Renal Transplant Program at what is now the Methodist Specialty and Transplant hospital in San Antonio, and was named surgeon emeritus of the Texas Transplant Institute when he retired. Dr. Banowsky participated in many committee and community activities, and is a past recipient of the Kathryn Dial Murray Gift of Life Award from the National Kidney Foundation. Since retirement, Dr. Banowsky has published memoirs of his childhood and experiences from his medical career in Amarillo Bay ("The Penalty of Success," November 2009); in Quirk: the Literary Journal of the University of the Incarnate Word and the Palo Alto Review. He resides in Lawton, Oklahoma, with his wife, Tonya L. Riley-Banowsky. He enjoys fly fishing, the outdoors, and their rottweiler named Baby. He can be contacted at lynn.banowsky@gmail.com.
Her name was Molly, and it was her first visit to our kidney transplant clinic.
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Poetry
Cedars of Lebanon
by Richard Fein
Richard Fein
Richard Fein was Finalist in The 2004 Center for Book Arts Chapbook Competition. He will soon have a Chapbook published by Parallel Press, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has been published in many web and print journals, including Southern Review, Morpo Review, Danse Macabre, Smartish Place, Perigee, Skyline, Oregon East Southern Humanities Review, Touchstone, Windsor Review, Maverick, Parnassus Literary Review, Small Pond, Kansas Quarterly, Blue Unicorn, Exquisite Corpse, Terrain Aroostook Review, Futurecycle, and many others. He also has an interest in digital photography and has published many of his photos. Samples of his photography can be found on http://www.pbase.com/bardofbyte.
a soft breeze whispers over these somber acres while going
past stones placed ninety years ago, past stones over those who lived ninety years,
past stones standing alone, past family plots completely filled with stones,
and family plots yet only half filled but with the surrounding grass patiently waiting.
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Dinner with my Mother
by Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink is an undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nick has previously been published by the Catholic Daughters of America, Pank Magazine and Laurus for which he received the Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Poetry.
She tells me my father is a drinker;
like I haven't heard it before,
but she looks older than I remember.
She munches her cornish hen with short breaths,
the way she has since I was small—
as if she didn't eat it quickly
someone would take it from her.
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My Father's Town
by Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink is an undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nick has previously been published by the Catholic Daughters of America, Pank Magazine and Laurus for which he received the Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Poetry.
The Czech town that goes by my father's name,
is a village that begs for vodka and tall tales—
but the taverns have all closed shop.
They say that the last of my family left when the booze did.
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Prairie Chicken
by Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink is an undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nick has previously been published by the Catholic Daughters of America, Pank Magazine and Laurus for which he received the Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Poetry.
in the middle of March,
if you stand in that treeless field a mile from the highway,
right as the sun comes up on the short grass plains,
you can see the prairie chickens dance.
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Praying the Rosary for Jacob
by Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink
Nick Allen Herink is an undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nick has previously been published by the Catholic Daughters of America, Pank Magazine and Laurus for which he received the Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Poetry.
November 4, 1998
I.
They are
sent in
single
file,
he follows last, twill pants chaffing against his chubby thighs.
He crosses himself with the holy water
drawn with his index and middle fingers—
forehead,
chest,
left—right, he's done this before.
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Ledge Flight
by Diane Webster
Diane Webster
Diane Webster works in the production department of the local newspaper office. She enjoys drives in the mountains where she looks for opportunities to photograph wildlife or scenery. Her poetry has been published in Bellowing Ark, Illya's Honey, Philadelphia Poets and other literary magazines.
wind rushes past
like rain water through gutters,
but the eagle does not soar,
not even a robin darts away.
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Mercy
by Gale Acuff
Gale Acuff
Gale Acuff has had poetry published in Ascent, Ohio Journal, Descant, Adirondack Review, Worcester Review, Defined Providence, Brownstone Review, Danse Macabre, Maryland Poetry Review, South Carolina Review, Poem, Carolina Quarterly, Florida Review, South Dakota Review, Santa Barbara Review, and many other journals. She has authored three books of poetry: Buffalo Nickel (BrickHouse, 2004), The Weight of the World (BrickHouse, 2006), and The Story of My Lives (BrickHouse, 2008).
bedroom and listen to it machine-gun
the roof. I'm closer than anyone else
in the house to Heaven this way. My dog
is afraid of thunder and lightning and
scratches at the door because he's afraid.
I'm thirteen and want him to be a man
about it. I shove the aluminum
door against him and knock him off the back
porch. That doesn't stop him.
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School Spirit
by Gale Acuff
Gale Acuff
Gale Acuff has had poetry published in Ascent, Ohio Journal, Descant, Adirondack Review, Worcester Review, Defined Providence, Brownstone Review, Danse Macabre, Maryland Poetry Review, South Carolina Review, Poem, Carolina Quarterly, Florida Review, South Dakota Review, Santa Barbara Review, and many other journals. She has authored three books of poetry: Buffalo Nickel (BrickHouse, 2004), The Weight of the World (BrickHouse, 2006), and The Story of My Lives (BrickHouse, 2008).
to see what it's like when nobody's there
and I can have the place all to myself,
no students, no teachers, no principal.
Sometimes a door is left unlocked and I
can walk right in and make myself at home
but I don't—it's too much like church in there.
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Request via Villanelle
by Mark Connors
Mark Connors
Mark Connors, age 40, has had a number of poems published over the last few years, most notably alongside Andrew Motion in The Word 2008 (York St John University Press) and in anthologies for Poetry Today (1996, 1998). In 2009, he had four poems published in The Word and was asked to read a selection of his poetry on world book day at the York Literature Festival.
Why here? Only the two of us know.
The cliffs of Slieve League are where I should be.
After that great send off you promised me,
drag my urn up One Man's Path. Let me go;
release me here, above this silent sea.
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Suffer the Children
by Ron Yazinski
Ron Yazinski
Ron Yazinski is a retired English teacher who lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania with his wife Jeanne. His poems have or will soon appear in Mulberry Poets and Writers Association, Strong Verse, The Bijou Review, The Edison Literary Review, Lunarosity, Penwood, Chantarelle's Notebook, Centrifugal Eye, amphibi.us, Nefarious Ballerina, The Write Room, Pulsar, Menagerie, H.O.D., and Crash. He is also the author of the chapbook Houses: An American Zodiac, which was published by The Poetry Library and the book of poems South of Scranton.
And he asked, "How old were you when you first tried?"
For a second, I didn't know what he was getting at,
Then I remembered his file.
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Works List
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Useful Links
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Works by Issue
Works are published the first Monday of February, the third Monday of May, the first Monday of August, and the first Monday of November.
| 2010, Volume 12 |
Number 4, 1 November — Next Issue Number 3, 2 August —Current Issue Number 2, 17 May Number 1, 1 February |
| 2009, Volume 11 |
Number 4, 2 November Number 3, 3 August Number 2, 18 May Number 1, 2 February |
| 2008, Volume 10 |
Number 4, 3 November Number 4, 18 August Number 2, 19 May Number 1, 11 February |
| 2007, Volume 9 |
Number 4, 12 November Number 3, 6 August Number 2, 7 May Number 1, 5 February |
| 2006, Volume 8 |
Number 4, 6 November Number 3, 7 August Number 2, 8 May Number 1, 6 February |
| 2005, Volume 7 |
Number 4, 7 November Number 3, 8 August Number 2, 2 May Number 1, 7 February |
| 2004, Volume 6 |
Number 4, 1 October Number 3, 2 August Number 2, 3 May Number 1, 2 February |
| 2003, Volume 5 |
Number 4, 3 November Number 3, 4 August Number 2, 5 April Number 1, 3 February |
| 2002, Volume 4 |
Number 4, 4 November Number 3, 5 August, Number 2, 6 May Number 1, 4 February |
| 2001, Volume 3 |
Number 4, 5 November Number 3, 6 August Number 2, 7 May Number 1, 5 February |
| 2000, Volume 2 |
Number 4, 6 November Number 3, 7 August Number 2, 1 May Number 1, 7 February |
| 1999, Volume 1 |
Number 3, 1 November Number 2, 2 August Number 1, 3 May |