Iris Literary Journal: Volume I, Issue 1 - Spring 2020

By Iris Literary Journal

Cover art by Nava Gidanian Kagan

Poetry from Buffy Aakaash, Alan Gann, Joseph Hardy, Rubin Hardin, Nicholas Roberts, and Allison Riddles.

Visual Art from Nava Gidanian Kagan and Daniel Garner

Creative Nonfiction from Beth Chardack and Judith Kalman

Fiction from Owen Smith and Gregory Stephens

Drama from Jerome

• Language: English
• Publisher: Iris Literary Journal
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781735692319

Book preview

Iris Literary Journal

Iris Literary Journal

Volume I, Issue 1 - Spring 2020

Assure Press

Iris Literary Journal

Volume I, Issue 1 - Spring 2020

Cover Art: Nava Gidanian Kagan

Editor-in-Chief: Darius Frasure

Assistant Editor: Aerial Hobson

Assistant Editor: Camika Spencer

Iris Literary Journal is published quarterly in print and ebook.

Each journal includes poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, and visual art--which includes photography. Some of the work may not be entirely in English. For more information, visit the website of Iris Literary Journal: www.assurepress.org/iris

Publisher’s logo

An imprint of Assure Press Publishing & Consulting, LLC

www.assurepress.org

Publisher’s Note: Assure Press books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information please visit the website.

Copyright © 2020 Assure Press

ISBN-13: 9781735692302

eISBN-13: 9781735692319

Contents

Iris Literary Journal

Poems

Amore

Buffy Aakaash

At the Maypole

Buffy Aakaash

welded

Alan Gann

No Biz Like

Alan Gann

crushed

Alan Gann

For The First Time The Golem Is Angry

Rubin Hardin

Leaving Grace

Joseph Hardy

I am a sitcom

Nicholas Roberts

Poem suggested by an Appalachian folk-ballad

Nicholas Roberts

May Kansan Not Rest In Peace

Gerard Sarnat

Climate Changes Fears

Gerard Sarnat

Trickle Down Phylum Effect

Allison Riddles

When there is no cure

Allison Riddles

Creative Nonfiction

The Yellow Dress

Beth Chardack

Strange Bedfellows

Judith Kalman

Visual Art Gallery

Laying On The Entrance

Nava Gidanian Kagan

Golden Clown's Back

Nava Gidanian Kagan

Stormset

Daniel Garner

Endeaure

Daniel Garner

March

Daniel Garner

Fiction

Mind the Gap

Owen Smith

Making Do with the Residue (Caiseas Hill)

Gregory Stephens

Drama

The Button

Jerome Berglund

Contributors

Iris Literary Journal Logo

Volume I, Issue 1 - Spring 2020

passion

Poems

Amore

-Buffy Aakaash

---

Drunk on heavenly amber

That ancient yellow gem

of the earth wafting

from his neck dancing

for a moment away

from the world of

linear progressions.

I could not turn away

and brushed his sweet

lips with my own

into a union with

the whirling scent

of sunshine together.

With nothing to lose

expectations grow

running head on

my desires into a wall

of personal refrain.

At the Maypole

-Buffy Aakaash

---

This time is not for us

but for you and I,

Grandmother says,

as she spins the fibers

beneath our foundations

into subtle yarn,

which in time

to drums diverges:

---

two short tales,

loose ends to the stars,

whole and unfrayed,

unafraid of gods and goddesses

to take in hand,

to run and dance,

to feed us all into the weaving

before we have any inkling.

welded

-Alan Gann

---

pale as peach

bent

and bent again

a study in desire

frozen

mid reach and twirl

hibiscus neon

and sweating drums

---

tom swift

would trade his flying

bicycle

for a wink

perfect words

to coax a smile

loosen her bolts

to tumble uninhibited

down the hill

---

after Study in Arcs by David Smith

(1957, Steel painted pink, 25’ x 25’4" x 7’, Storm King Art Center)

No Biz Like

-Alan Gann

---

Will you be our Bozo—

let us paint your face

a permanent grin?

If you knock knock,

we promise to answer

and you will never be able

to tell our laughter

is not one hundred percent

diamond-cutting-glass real.

Will you dance

in baggy yellow pants

purple polka dots

floppy shoes

size twenty-two?

Will you play the ukulele

and warble songs

that were old

before we were young?

You don’t have to

be very good—

most of our residents

neither see nor hear

particularly well,

just need something bright

an impression

of what they remember

from when they could

remember.

crushed

-Alan Gann

---

       between eyes and infinity

between lips, breasts, thighs

crushed between her and her sister

---

to live and die a dragon slaying hero

ferrari passing checkered flag

surgeon making love to the scalpel’s edge

---

after a long drink she crushed me

an empty can of diet coke

tossed me in the recycling bin

For The First Time The Golem Is Angry

-Rubin Hardin

---

Ask me for grit. I’ll hand you the dust of a dead golem. Call it the ashes of my ancestors.

Call it a yahrzeit. Mold me into clay, to protect your community. I’ll tell you everything you could be doing different. But if you try to mold me into a tombstone. I’ll pour lava down your backs. You’ve built synagogues that my family cannot enter. You’ve called us golems for