A Letter Turns Into a Ghost

It's terrible when the post office turns against you. Nothing you can do but assemble a robot pit bull to chase the mail deliverer around. You'll congratulate yourself for the shreds of blue uniform on your lawn. You'll always be brought to the front of the line by nervous postal clerks. You'll be whispered about in rooms filled with Christmas packages and boxes of sex toys. Your metal beast will turn against you someday. It will realize that no one was going to send you a letter anyway. You pretend to have friends but those are only mannequins, dressed the way you like. This letter that will never come will turn into a ghost and haunt you. It will cause the robot's circuits to misfire. To chomp you and chew off your legs.

If Poetry Journal Seeks Poems for Second Issue

If Poetry Journal is now seeking poetry for its second issue. If you would like to submit 1-5 poems, please e-mail them to me (Don Illich) at ifpoetryjournaleditor at gmail dot com. No attachments, please put your poems in the body of your e-mail. Basic cover letter preferred. No previously published poems. Each contributor will receive one contributor's copy. The deadline for poetry submissions is May 1, 2008.

Prose Poem

Dynamite allowed itself to be misused by the harp, which wanted to become an angel. The explosion sounded much sweeter than its simple strumming. The angel wings would fit over its body very nicely. Dynamite, on the other hand, knew it was on the side of the devils and loved this fact. So many other instruments had passed on to its fiendish, despicable known, all for the benefit of their self-image and the truth that we're always more loved when we're gone.

Sandra Beasley's New Book

I encourage everyone to advance order Sandra's new book, "Theories of Falling," which will be out this Spring. See http://www.sbeasley.blogspot.com.

More Publcity for If Poetry Journal

More publicity about If Journal from one of its contributors, Greg Luce:
http://enchiladasblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/publication.html

The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel - Second Floor,
edited by Reb Livingston & Molly Arden
ISBN: 978-0-6151-6437-3
Publication Date: December, 2007
216 pages

Available at Lulu for $16.99: http://www.lulu.com/content/1191170
Available Soon at Amazon and B&N for $16.99

Featuring Sexy By:

Eric Abbott * Deborah Ager * Malaika King Albrecht * William Allegrezza * Molly Arden * Cynthia Arrieu-King * Robyn Art * Sandra Beasley * Aaron Belz * Erin M. Bertram * Mary Biddinger * Ana Bozicevic-Bowling * Timothy Bradford * Joseph Bradshaw * Jason Bredle * Jenny Browne * Jenna Cardinale * Bruce Covey * Phil Crippen * Susan Denning * Michelle Detorie * Laurel K. Dodge * Mark DuCharme * Peg Duthie * kari edwards * AnnMarie Eldon * Jill Alexander Essbaum * Julie R. Enszer * Noah Falck * Michael Farrell * Katie Fesuk * Adam Fieled * Alice Fogel * Elisa Gabbert * Eric Gelsinger * Scott Glassman * David B. Goldstein * Dean Gorman * Anne Gorrick * Lea Graham * Kate Greenstreet * Piotr Gwiazda * Shafer Hall * Josh Hanson * Nathan Hoks * Donald Illich * Salwa C. Jabado * Charles Jensen * Jim Kober * Ron Klassnik * Jennifer L. Knox * Dorothee Lang * Sueyeun Juliette Lee * David Lehman * Reb Livingston * Rebecca Loudon * Justin Marks * Clay Matthews * Kristi Maxwell * Gary L. McDowell * Erika Meitner * Didi Menendez * Michael Meyerhofer * Steve Mueske * Gina Myers * Cheryl Pallant * Shann Palmer * Alison Pelegrin * Simon Perchik * Derek Pollard * Andrea Potos * Cati Porter * Laurie Price * Jessy Randall * Kim Roberts * Anthony Robinson * Carly Sachs * John Sakkis * Allyson Salazar * Christine Scanlon * Margot Schilpp * Morgan Lucas Schuldt * Patty Seyburn * Peter Jay Shippy * Evie Shockley * Alex Smith * Hugh Steinberg * Nicole Steinberg * Alison Stine * Mathias Svalina * Erik Sweet * Eileen R. Tabios * Bronwen Tate * Molly Tenenbaum * Chris Tonelli * Letitia Trent * Jen Tynes * Michael Quattrone * Ashley VanDoorn * Fritz Ward * J. Marcus Weekley * Betsy Wheeler * Theodore Worozbyt * Kim Young

If Poetry Journal Is Out!

See my new Web site for If PoetryJournal, which is now out at www.ifpoetryjournal.blogspot.com. Please e-mail me at ifpoetryjournaleditor@gmail.com if you'd like a copy (41 pages packed with poetry), which is $5. Poets in this journal include: Reb Livingston, J.D. Smith, Grace Cavalieri, Amy King, Jack Martin, Jessica Piazza, Kim Roberts, and many others. I think it's a good mix of traditional and experimental work with an emphasis on humor and the surreal. Thank you!