the father they invent // every day to give themselves something / to look up to must still be here : inside me // a half-believed-in faith that for every / action an equal & opposite : that the un- //stable core of us decays a bit less violently / than it used to :
John Sibley Williams
JOHN SIBLEY WILLIAMS is a poet and book publicist residing in Portland, OR. He has a MA in Writing and presently studies Book Publishing at Portland State University, where he serves as Acquisitions Manager of Ooligan Press and publicist for Three Muses Press. His poetry was nominated for the 2009 Pushcart Prize, and his debut chapbook, A Pure River, was published in 2010 by The Last Automat Press. Some of his over 100 previous or upcoming publications include: The Evansville Review, Rosebud, Ellipsis, Flint Hills Review, Euphony, Open Letters, Cadillac Cicatrix, Juked, The Journal, Hawaii Review, Cutthroat, The Furnace Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Aries, and River Oak Review.
half-life of a different country
Index of Unfinished Things
by John Sibley Williams
a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished — Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb” not far off / a refinery flares methane. targets scatter at a rifle’s clap & clamor. another empty silo at dusk & nothing / to be done about it. tonight the night dismantles / into its constitutional elements. white […]
What Is Light? by John Sibley Williams
What is rain to us soaked to bone who could enter the warmest house but who linger unchained in this open field? * What is faith to us sequestered in a windowless room- aglow in neon and lamps without shades and a gavel driven into a wooden table in a room without room? […]
The Language of Shadows by John Sibley Williams
Act I Evening cannot fully digest its own seeds or come to terms with its darker progeny so choking on each bite it devours what came before, what it knows as simple prey. And day grows old in its father’s mouth until even upon a stepladder light can no longer reach the highest cupboards where […]
Contributor Bios for Issue 5 Spring 2012
Issue 5 Spring 2012 ALYSE BENSEL is currently pursuing her MFA in poetry at Penn State. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Cider Press Review, The Summerset Review, and Foothill Poetry, among others. When not engaged in her teaching and studies, she volunteers for a cat rescue and participates in a work-share program at a local CSA farm. […]
MAYDAY Magazine: Issue 5 Spring 2012
FEATURED ARTIST Sheng Qi Painting without Colour: A Gallery NONFICTION Helen DeWitt Experimental, Interstitial, and Hybrid an interview with Helen DeWitt conducted by S. P. MacIntyre Alan Heathcock Never Not a Writer an interview with Alan Heathcock conducted by Okla Elliott Amy Holwerda Like the Wine of Our Red Alaska FICTION WinLo333 Sob Stories Gerard […]
