Ploughshares Spring 2019 Edition

I finished reading Ploughshares Spring 2019 Edition on the flight home from Canada last week. It was a wonderful visit with family and friends and it reminded me of my entire extended network and the love I'm lucky to have. But my grandmother's house is the one my mom grew up in. We spend weeks during summer and winter breaks visiting as children. I slept in a room with my daughter that I've shared with my sister more times than I can count. If my daughter hadn't been there, I'm not sure I'd know quite how to "adult" in the space.

And so it was only fitting that I read "The Enchanted Tiki Room" by Daniel Chacon while there. In it, a man visits Disneyland where he runs into various versions of himself from the past. As he comes to grips with his own questions and dismay at the priorities of his younger self, his younger selves look for answers from the man. 

I also laughed through Brock Clarke's "One Goes Where One is Needed" about a former American administrator in Iraq who becomes a ski instructor when his skills are no longer needed (or wanted). And because I met a lot of very ineffective civilians in my time there, this was extra funny, but also very sad. 

I really liked the sweet but sad story "A Private River" by Alice Elliott Dark about an elderly couple and all the things the man wishes he could do but can't now that his freedom is limited by his cognitive decline. 

"Malcriado" by Edgar Gomez was a sad story of a young man coming coping with his family's failure to accept his sexuality. That this was nonfiction was touching in its vulnerability. 

"Jose's Girls" by Jonathan Winston Jones, also nonfiction, was also poignant in its analysis of the effects of drug abuse on communities and families. I loved Jones' moments with the Deputy Chief of Police in which the grandfather is seeking a way to extract Jones' sister from a bad situation and the Deputy is not sympathetic. Asking if there is anything the family can do, Jones interjects "I know what we could do. Let's get a working list of all the rich white people in our town who do drugs with impunity and we'll make a mural on Main Street."

Also loved "Color Therapy" by Marie Mutsuki Mockett about the change of color in leaves in Japan. I had never thought about leaves changing color and am woefully uninformed about the climate of Japan in general. So this was informative and really cool as the author seeks out the color red which is also my favorite fall color. 

So basically, I guess I liked all these stories. And this was a great edition. There was some really excellent poetry in this edition as well. Here are some mentions:

Ars Poetica - Sara Borjas
The Vault - Andres Cerpa
Delta Delta Delta - Tiana Clark
After the Breakup, I Encounter My Whiteness Again - James Allen Hall
Two Gifts - Safia Jama
Moon Cricket - Julian Randall
Cover the Mirrors - Callie Siskel

4/5 Stars