Crab Creek Review: Notes on Contributors: Autumn/Winter 2003

CHRIS ANDERSON, Corvallis, Oregon, is a Professor of English at Oregon State University and author of several books, including Edge Effects, a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in creative nonfiction. A book of his poems, My Problem with the Truth, is forthcoming. He is also a Catholic Deacon. "A strong memory led me to the word 'Confirmation,' which then began to resonate as a pun, as what can we really confirm? What can we really know? I meet with a wonderful writer's cooperative at a local tavern called 'Squirrels.' 'BLT' describes a recent experience I had there by myself one day-an experience of grace maybe? Or foolishness? What moves us?"

ANGELA BALL, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is an editor of Mississippi Review and professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Writers.

DANIEL CREASON BARTLETT, Port Neches, Texas, has recently published work in Chiron Review, Parting Gifts, Suddenly V, and The Dictionary of Literary Biography. He has taught literature, creative writing, and rhetoric, and acted as editor of Sojourn: A Journal of the Arts. "Through many revisions of 'It's Not Saving the World,' the narrator's voice has been the stable and driving element. In fact, this voice has managed to drive itself beyond this story, which I now understand to be part of a novel-in-progress. Thanks for reading."

EMILY BEDARD, Seattle, Washington, has been published in the Indiana Review and has work forthcoming in Lit Rag and Asheville Poetry Review. She is currently working on a manuscript of poetry called "Cargo" and has recently finished a collaborative screenplay entitled "June Black," written with her sister, Bridget Bedard.

MARK J. BURNS, Yakima, Washington, teaches language arts at West Valley Junior High School and creative writing and journalism at Heritage College. His poetry has appeared in English Journal and Washington English Journal. "'After Kidney Stones, I Watch Crows' evolved from my realization of the truth about suffering leading to heightened sensitivity and pathos. I'd always considered crows beautiful but obnoxious-loud and overly loquacious-but on an afternoon walk after days of discomfort, I saw them in a new light."

D.S. BUTTERWORTH, Spokane, Washington, teaches writing and literature at Gonzaga University. His poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, The Seattle Review, The Alaska Quarterly, The Windless Orchard, Plainsongs, and other magazines. Algonquin Books published my non-fiction book Waiting for Rain.

JAIME CURL, Elma, Washington, is a recent graduate of the Eastern Washington University MFA program. He is the managing editor of Willow Springs and has work forthcoming in Midwest Quarterly, LitRag, and Sycamore Review. "I was interested in the idea of a speaker, for whom the lines between the inner and outer landscapes are blurred, and who can't find comfort resting in either."

DAVID DALESSANDRO moved from Rochester to New York City in 1973 to attend the New York Studio of Drawing Painting & Sculpture where he studied under Leland Bell, Paul Georges, and many second generation Abstract Expressionists. More of his work can be seen at www.geocities.com/ddaless879.

KATHLEEN FLENNIKEN, Seattle, Washington, is an editor at Floating Bridge Press and a teacher with Writers in the Schools in Seattle. She received a 2002 Artist Trust GAP grant to work on a manuscript. She has poems forthcoming in Hayden's Ferry Review and Prairie Schooner. "Can you tell I hate flying? A near-death experience brings clarity."

LAURA GAMACHE, Seattle, Washington, lives with her husband and dog and reads, writes, teaches poetry, and remembers to breathe. "In October 2001, my daughter Julia and I took SCUBA diving lessons. The open water dives in Elliot Bay terrified me, but both of us got our Open Water Diver ratings."

WILL HOLMAN, Towson, Maryland, is a writer, photographer, and architecture student entering his sophomore year at Virginia Tech. His poems are all "memories of high school."

JOHNNY HORTON, Seattle, Washington, plays the part of coordinating editor at Seattle Review. He received his MFA in poetry at the University of Washington.

TOM C. HUNLEY, Tallahassee, Florida, is a member of the creative writing faculty at Western Kentucky University and the editor and publisher of Steel Toe Books. He has poems forthcoming in Antietam Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, and Hawai'i Review, among others.

MICHAEL JONES lives with his wife, Natasha, dog Chenghis, and cat Charlie in Edmonton, Alberta. About "Out of of Place," he writes, "I wanted to explore the difference between need and love in a new marriage."

MICHAEL KREBS, Cranford, New Jersey, splits his time unevenly between playing with his two children, working on a first novel, building a news monitoring business, and other interests. His poems have appeared in many reviews and magazines, and he has published some chapbooks in an effort to raise money for Greenpeace. His poem "was inspired by watching people thrashing and threading their way through the marked swimming lanes in an olympic-sized indoor pool, and I was simply reminded of how fragile we are in our grand role of the current world's lead predator. This weakness is outside of our general anthropocentric arrogance. I like the things that have the scent of authority-'adult swim' sounds so exclusive, doesn't it?"

AMANDA LAUGHTLAND lives in Edmonds, Washington with her partner, and works as a "public services assistant" for Sno-Isle Regional Library System. Her poems have appeared in small magazines like Bellowing Ark and Nerve Cowboy. She also writes book reviews and recently landed one in the December 2002 issue of The Progressive. "'Langour' is loosely based on a dream. I hope the poem has a somewhat cinematic feel."

STEPHANIE LENOX, Moscow, Idaho, is completing her MFA at the University of Idaho. Her poetry has appeared in Bellowing Ark and is forthcoming in Raven Chronicles. "Much thanks to neighboring dog Rufus, whose noisy co-dependency inspired this poem."

LINDA MALNACK, Seahurst, Washington, won the Willow Springs Poetry Award in 2000 and the William Stafford Award in 1998. Her poems have appeared in Calyx, Seattle Review, and Southern Humanities Review, among others. "'Green Flower' is an almost verbatim exchange with my younger son, who started drawing when he was three and hasn't stopped since. I wrote 'Questions the Art Docent Asked' after volunteering as art docent in my older son's 1st grade class. I'm fascinated by what children 'see' when looking at art; this poem is an extrapolation of what one boy might have said if he could put his feelings into words."

GERRY MCFARLAND, Seattle, Washington, lives with his wife, walks his dog, writes, and teaches human service work. He has had poems in Pacific, Exhibition, Convolvulus, Switched-On-Gutenberg, Poetry on the Buses, and Bellowing Ark, among others. "This is a poem about the pleasure of driving out to the country house of some good friends, Rick and Linda, with my girlfriend at the time, who later became my wife. Rick died in 1996 and Linda moved to Montana. The poem is dedicated to them."

WILLIAM MEYER, JR., Beaumont, Texas, is a free-lance writer, poet and artist. His work has appeared in some 200 magazines and journals worldwide.

DAVID MORSE, Storrs, Connecticut, has published articles in Boulevard and Green Mountains Review, among others. He is the author of a novel, The Iron Bridge. "'Grasshopper Trapped' is part of a still hopping collection of poems about domestic entrapment and pleasure."

ELISABETH MURAWSKI, Alexandria, Virginia, is the author of Moon and Mercury and a chapbook, Troubled by an Angel. Her work has appeared in the Yale Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Field, among others.

XI MURONG, born in China, is now an art professor in Taiwan. She has published several books of poetry.

JOANNIE KERVRAN STANGELAND, Seattle, Washington, recently had her chapbook, Weathered Steps, published by Rose Alley Press. A Steady Longing for Flight won the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award in 1995. Her work has appeared in Fine Madness and Heliotrope, among others. "'From the Earth's Own Rooms' was inspired by a television show on salt mining that included a long segment on Wieliczka. After that, a stanza lodged itself in my head and would not leave."

DANIEL STEWART, Boise, Idaho, teaches creative writing through the Log Cabin Literary Center as a member of Writers in the Schools. He published his own zine, 3 Syllables, from 1995-1998. His poems have appeared in Talking River Review, cold-drill, Boise Journal, streetmag, Connections, and Cabin, among others.

JEFF VANDE ZANDE, Bay City, Michigan, has appeared in College English, Passages North, and in Transient, a chapbook out from March Street Press. Partisan Press published his second chapbook, Last Name First, First Name Last. Tornado Warning (March Street Press), his latest, was released in March of 2003. "Both of my poems came from experiences I've had since becoming a father. Fatherhood has really started to change what I write about. I worry, though, about falling into sentimentality."

JIANQING ZHENG, Greenwood, Mississippi, is a poet and translator. He currently works as an associate professor of English at Mississippi Valley State University where he edits Valley Voices. "No matter how long the road of life is, you have to take it."