happy (belated?) birthday siren

*

If I get this posted by midnight (I've been watching Stephen Colbert a lot lately, which has interrupted a few relationships of mine, like my long-standing nightly dates with Charlie Rose, and now it seems I can't type a few sentences past 11:30...) I can still say happy birthday Siren. The first issue went up online three years ago, and the sixth issue went up recently. Bravo to all sixty-one writers and artists who have made it grow.

*

More news about the little magazine in the next few days.

*

sufferin' til suffrage

*

siren's new issue!

*

photo by Gundega Dege

*
Finally... it's issue six!

POETS Michelle Bitting * Mark Cunningham * Valerie Fox * Amy King * Ryan Laks * Gareth Lee * Karyna McGlynn * Natasha K. Moni * Sally Molini * Cait Rappel * Paul Siegell * Elizabeth Volpe

ARTISTS Gundega Dege * Matina Stamatakis * Lafayette Wattles

& News & Notes from former contributing authors and artists Arlene Ang, Kristy Bowen, Stephanie Dickinson, Jehanne Dubrow, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Ira Joel Haber, Dorianne Laux, Rachel Loden, Kiki Petrosino, Peter Schwartz, and Alex Stolis
*

art by Matina Stamatakis

**

google boggle

*
Check out Siren, certainly, especially as soon as the brand new issue goes up, but if and when you do, for now don't travel there via Google. If you follow the link there, it will take you to some spam site, which I'm pretty sure is responsible for the nasty little worm that got into my computer recently. I reported it to Google, and I'm supposed to hear from them by tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully they'll fix the problem soon. But until then, just follow the link on this blog, or type it in: www.sirenlit.com. A few other people have had the same problem -- that's how I found out about it -- but if you go to Siren through Google after tomorrow and are directed to any site other than the journal, please let me know. You can get to my email through my profile page. (Thank you, xo.)
*

between starshine and clay

*
For Women's History Month:
*
untitled by Lucille Clifton
*
won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
*
*
Also see Clifton's poems, "blessing the boats," "a dream of foxes," "poem in praise of menstruation," and essays about Clifton's representation of "the female experience," here.
*
(Some time in March I hope to post a women's poetry reader. Any suggestions?--Let me know.)

rebel fronts

*
For Black History Month:
*
America
by Claude McKay

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

*
see also "Africa," "The Lynching," and "The City's Love."
*

my sweet lovable pittsburgh steelers

*
are going to the Super Bowl again. Even though I'm only one of a gazillion fans, when you're raised in Pittsburgh the relationship you develop with the Steelers and all their many accomplishments can feel very personal. 'So I think how nice of them to do this.

Climate change, an awful economy, eight-years-of-Bush/Cheney-fatigue-syndrome, and other global maladies. But tomorrow the Steelers are in the Super Bowl and that just makes me very happy.
*