Hi and welcome to Lightwood, Issue # 14, Summer 2023 (or for many readers, Winter 2023).
One of the great ways to help heal the world’s chaos is by tapping into our creativity, sharing it and nurturing it in others. Lightwood’s mission is to continue this, and we hope you find it an oasis and a sense of community. Enjoy reading our latest issue, spread the word to others so that they can experience Lightwood.
And think about contributing, either by submitting your writing and/or artwork (or encouraging others to submit) or by donating any small amount to help us sustain the magazine.
Stay well and let’s continue to discover the road that brings wellness to the world.
Laurence Carr, Publisher
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Welcome to Lightwood, Issue #14, Summer 2023.
Hi and welcome to Lightwood, Issue # 14, Summer 2023 (or for many readers, Winter 2023). One of the great ways to help heal the world’s chaos is by tapping into our creativity, sharing it and nurturing it in others. Lightwood’s mission is to continue this, and we hope you find it an oasis and…
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Happy Birthday, Paul McCartney// The Rock n Roll Curmudgeon Rides Again/an essay/review by Mike Jurkovic
Paul McCartney @ 81 Honestly, I’ve been obsessing over the following hypothesis forever, but most stridently since Friday, July 17, 2009. It was opening night at Citi Field, a truly, for-the-ages show Emily and I were fortunate to attend with our two great friends Jodie and Jeff. Even with a dicey mix along the first…
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Porous and Prompt/ two poems by Sally Van Doren
Porous For the moment, this wet moment in the waning minutes of July, we’re hydraphiles, lapping up the water the sky has sent our way nearly every day, soaking the roots of the hydrangeas which are blooming like no other summer, curing the withered dogwood which looked like it was on its way out at…
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Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Part 2, a totally subjective retrospective by Mike Jurkovic
The Rock n Roll Curmudgeon Rides Again Author’s Disclaimer: I want to thank all the readers and viewers of Lightwood for makingPart One of this essay the most read article in the least amount of time in Lightwood’sgrand literary, three-year history. Now if only I could pay the mortgage with all those clicks, views and…
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Donegal Silkie/ Poem by Dennis Doherty
I’d said to the waiter, “Well, we’re in Donegal. Might as well try the Silkie.” Warm, a bit raw and painful. Still, I had another whiskey. This one rubbed knowingly at my throat and dropped to my belly with intent. He asked if I liked the Silkie. I searched his eyes. “Very much.” “Come with…
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Good Humor/ poem by Jo Pitkin
In summer, just as twilight snuggled in each night, we waited in blueing light for the twinkling of bells. A silly jingling tolled out like a cathedral’s carillon ringing, calling believers in their flip-flops to gather. Grabbing quarters bright as chrome, we scrambled outside and raced to catch the slowly passing truck. In our neighborhood—then…
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New Poems/ poems by Steven P. Klepeis/ book review by Laurence Carr
Mixing world mythology, scientific observation, meditative thought, and personal outlooks in one book of poetry can be tricky, but Southwestern writer Steven P. Klepeis threads this needle to create a lucid, multi-layered collection of poems. The book, with the rather pedestrian title, New Poems, is published by Resource Publications (an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2023)…
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Standoff With a Blue Heron/ poem by Betty MacDonald
Startled, he unfurled his sail-like wings and rose from where he stalked the grassy bank. “Hey!” I yelled. The blue heron took off flying low across the pond. “You!” It’s hard to know what words to use when a wild bird of prey no matter how astonishingly beautiful, is eyeing beloved koi. The truth is…
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I Hated Uniforms/ poem by Lucia Cherciu
I was taller than all the other girls in school and that uniform didn’t help: a navy jumper out of rough fabric, over a long-sleeved blue shirt. I had only one uniform, which got washed once a week. Fabric threadbare, I patched it and wore it again. Leaving the iron imprint on it by mistake…
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Immigrant Prodigal Daughter/ poems by Lucia Cherciu/ book review by Laurence Carr
As editor and publisher of Lightwood magazine, I’ve appreciated the poetry of Lucia Cherciu for a long time. Along with reading much of her work, I’ve heard her read live (and on Zoom) and have shared the mic with her on numerous occasions. I’ve always been taken with her work and how she can find…
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What I Do In the Dark/ poems by Noah David Roberts/ book review by Robyn Hager
In Noah David Roberts’ fifth collection of poetry, they shock their audience with a collection haunted with memories of the past, an instability of the present, and a future strangled in the grips of hope and fear. Each poem melds the profound and the natural into one, letting the reader invest and take as much…
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Slow to a Trickle/ micro-fiction by Jess Nadelman
She stood under the Residence Inn metal awning, waiting for the third NYC deluge of Tuesday to slow to a trickle. She had what one called an “interesting” face. Most prominent were her Veggie stick legs, wrapped in Saran Wrap tight black leggings, attached to 2023’s version of platform boots. James was waiting for his…
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Anticipating Reading Jane Kenyon’s Last Book of Poems/ poem by Matthew J. Spireng
I consider the Japanese cherry tree in my yard, that it may not bloom again, that the sudden burst of flowers witnessed spring after spring may not appear, that I’ve noticed no buds this April and fungi grow white on its limbs. I know though birds may sing from the branches, they will be the…
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By Chance/ poems by Emily H. Axelrod/ book review by Alec Solomita
By Chance is published by Kelsay Books, 2023, (61 pages, ISBN:978-1-63980-282-1) “By Chance” To begin at the ending. Fall descends softly, the sweet warmth of summer lingering until the equinox, when day and night align in perfect symmetry before tipping toward the dark. So goes the final poem in Emily Axelrod’s latest book. Despite its…
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Skin/ poem by Maggie Hall
Skin There are seven colors in the rainbow There are six colors of skin Genetics dictate, pigmentations divide If I eat too much carrot will my skin change color, and if so, am I any different from you? It’s not the shade of a child’s skin. It is the fear a child learns which their…
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In January, the Geese by B.J. Buckley, winner of the Comstock Review’s 35th Anniversary Chapbook Contest/ a book review by Mary Beth Hines
Grounded in rural Montana and Wyoming, B.J. Buckley’s collection In January, the Geese (Comstock Review, 2022) shares a world unfamiliar to many, through poems that resonate across place and time. Her language, like the land and its flora, fauna, and people, is at once muscular and tender. She spares nothing in graphic detail of life and death…
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Lightwood congratulates poet Ken Holland
Congratulates to Lightwood poet and reviewer Ken Holland, for receiving the First Place Award in the New Ohio Review’s annual poetry contest, judged by Kim Addonizio. The poem, “Lucidity” along with another poem, “Betwixt and Between” have been published in the New Ohio Review and can be read through the links below. And read more of Ken Holland’s poems…
Lightwood 
Larry, Another great Lightwood number. Congrats!! David
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Enjoying this very much, Larry. Thanks!
Dennis
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