summer 2010

“The ocean, I am thinking about the poor massive ocean…” writes Athena Fliakos in “Confessions Of a Beautiful Little Fool.” In fact, many of the writers in Chaparral’s summer issue are thinking of the ocean. For these writers, the ocean is a place where the simple act of change makes a kind of beautiful music. Some of the works here, like Keith Onstad’s “Grand Theft Jerusalem,” make formal gestures resembling the wild sea. Others, like Jessica Piazza’s sonnets and Charles Kraszewski’s epic, take up the ocean as image or metaphor. In both cases, the writings in this issue inhabit an untamable and oceanic spirit. What’s more, the writers here—many of whom are educators, community organizers, translators, letterpress printers, editors, social workers—serve a spirit of transformation, both in their poems and prose and in what they do everyday in the world. Let Chaparral’s summer issue be a small testament to our poor massive ocean, to what we must do and undo, to the necessity of transformation.

Ching-In ChenRummage: Haibun
Incantation 5b
Incantation: Intimate Installation

Ching-In Chen


Jessica PiazzaAntlophobia
Thalassophilia

Jessica Piazza


Fiona SpringLettre Sauvage Interview
Resemblance
Inventing the Harness

Fiona Spring


Keith OnstadGrand Theft Jerusalem

Keith Onstad


Athena FliakosConfessions Of a Beautiful Little Fool

Athena Fliakos


Charles KraszewskiThe Yaps and Growlings, This Burly Surf

Charles Kraszewski


Joshua Jennings WoodWhales
The Exchange

Joshua Jennings Wood


Yvette JohnsonLetter Home
Dancing

Yvette Johnson


Rosina TalamantesYellow
Flight

Rosina Talamantes


Marjorie BeckerSuddenly the Future
He brought her grapes,
Since Anything Can Always Always

Marjorie Becker


Jackson WheelerMy Brother’s Transfiguration as a Welsh God

Jackson Wheeler