This issue of The Midwest Quarterly is a powerhouse, and I am proud to have my poem included in it. My own poem centers on the Viking funeral Tim and I provided, on our anniversary, for the wedding dress, inherited from my great-grandmother and worn at our wedding. It was too tattered and fragile to be worn again, too precious to send to the landfill.

This issue arrived in my mailbox on Friday. I have enjoyed each of the poems, and I would like to call out “Aristeia” by Lynn Glicklich Cohen and “Fathering” by Patricia Clark for special praise. Each poem surprised me with its ending and delighted me with its language.

In the week ahead, I am looking forward to reading the scholarly articles, particularly the one by Daniel Dougherty titled “You Are Now in the Power of Stardust: Crime and Punishment in the Golden Age of American Comic Books.” (Coincidentally, I have been working this week on a rare-for-me poem centered on the figure of Batman, based on a photograph I took last summer of a Gotham-embellished pickup truck tailgage. I was a reader of Batman and Superman comics long ago, so I feel ready for scholarly insights on this topic.)

If you are interested in looking into this issue, copies can be ordered from The Midwest Quarterly’s website.

(For more images of the antique wedding dress of my own poem, please see these earlier posts: “Anniversary Poem and Wedding Dress Adventures” (published on August 7, 2013) and “The Wedding Dress Afield: LP Version” (published on August 28, 2013).)

LESLIE