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Poiesis Review #6: A Literary Journal

Poiesis Review #6: A Literary Journal Poiesis Review 6 header banner

Poiesis Review #6: A Literary Journal
Various Authors

Poiesis Review #6 cover artwork

Luminaire Prose Award gold logo and link Luminaire Poetry Award gold logo and link

Poiesis Review proves that there are wonderful editors left in the world. This journal has genuine heart and concern for its writers and the promotion of their work. That makes a big difference to me when I’m deciding which journals to promote and where to send my dollars.”
—Julie Buffaloe-Yoder,
author of Price Reduced Again



Welcome to our first issue of Poiesis Review that contains fiction and creative nonfiction right alongside the poetry you’ve always loved. We’ve expanded the journal to contain prose, and now this beast of a journal sits pretty at 200 pages of writing by some of the best writers in the independent press today. There are lots of literary journals out there, so why take a chance on this one? Because, after 20 years in the small press, Poiesis Review is one of the only literary journals in existence that features a blend of today’s up-and-coming promising rookies alongside the staples and legends of the last few decades in the literary underground. You can buy in confidence knowing that nowhere else will you find such a smattering of the writers’ spectrum or such a truly accurate cross-section of all walks of the literary world—what five-time Pushcart Prize nominee and Wisconsin Regional Writers Association Award winner, Charles P. Ries, called “young blood running with old blood.” We are proud to be one of the holdout bastions representing the full and true independent press.

The Featured Writers in this issue are Norman Mailer Award finalist Nathan Graziano; Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate, two-time NEA Fellowship recipient, and Pushcart Prize nominee Sean Brendan-Brown; and multiple Pushcart Prize nominee and three-time PEN grant recipient Doug Draime. Their work is showcased beside 37 other artists and over 100 pieces of writing, including two of Alternating Current’s six 2013 Pushcart Prize nominations, the two grand-prize winners and four honorable-mention winners of our 2013 Luminaire Award for Best Poetry and Best Prose, and stunning cover and back cover art by the tremendously talented Terry Fan. This journal is hands-down one of the finest collections to which we have ever had the pleasure of affixing our name. If you’ve been wanting to give Alternating Current a try but didn’t know where to start, then this is the place.

Content warnings: coming soon

2013 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Prose

1st Place: “Vandals” by Nathan Graziano
2nd Place: “Near to Him” by Charles P. Ries
3rd Place: “Our Place” by Neil Serven

2013 Luminaire Award Winners for Best Poetry

1st Place: “No Sad Songs in the House of the Sun” by Shauna Osborn
2nd Place: “Influences of Light” by Charles P. Ries
3rd Place: “Another Birthday” by Sean Brendan-Brown

Poiesis Review #6 on Square

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Poiesis Review #6 on Square
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Praise for Poiesis Review #6


Poiesis Review is an important collection of the best and brightest writers of the small press. Frankly, it just doesn’t make sense not to own a copy. Dare I say it might be the only small press journal you need? Every issue is an event not to be missed.”
—J. Lewis Fleming,
author of Why Is My Lemon Tea Red?



Poiesis Review proves that there are wonderful editors left in the world. This journal has genuine heart and concern for its writers and the promotion of their work. That makes a big difference to me when I’m deciding which journals to promote and where to send my dollars.”
—Julie Buffaloe-Yoder,
author of Price Reduced Again



“Inside are some of the finest contemporary small press writers plying their trade in the independent scene today.”
—Doug Holder,
editor at Ibbetson Street Press and author of Eating Grief at 3 a.m.

About Poiesis Review #6

• Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
• Published by Alternating Current Press
• 5½” x 8½” Perfectbound Trade Paperback
• Cream Paper, 200 Pages
• Also available in PDF Digital Format
• Print ISBN-13: 978-0615927862
• Print ISBN-10: 0615927866
• Digital ASIN: TK
• Digital eISBN: TK
• First Edition: May 14, 2013
• Cover Artwork by Terry Fan
Permalink | Short URL: tinyurl.com/poiesis6
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Poiesis Review #6

Images for public use for Poiesis Review #6


Click to download high-resolution front cover artwork by Terry Fan.

Sneak Peek at Poiesis Review #6 (Scroll inside box if blank.)

Authors in Poiesis Review #6

• Leah Angstman
• Luis CuauhtĂ©moc Berriozábal
• Sean Brendan-Brown
• Harry Calhoun
• Paula Cary
• Alan Catlin
• CEE
• Christina Elaine Collins
• K. M. Dersley
• Doug Draime
• Aleathia Drehmer
• Michael Estabrook
• Terry Fan
• Jason Fisk
• Lawrence Gladeview
• Nathan Graziano
• George Held
• Kevin M. Hibshman
• Justin Hyde
• Merilyn Jackson
• Patrick Kindig
• Angela Consolo Mankiewicz
• Hosho McCreesh
• Frankie Metro
• Shauna Osborn
• David S. Pointer
• D. A. Pratt
• Misti Rainwater-Lites
• Charles P. Ries
• Christopher Robbins
• Robert James Russell
• Janette Schafer
• Angie Jeffreys Schomp
• Robert Schuler
• Neil Serven
• Denis Sheehan
• Jane Stuart
• William Taylor, Jr.
• Travis Turner
• Paula Anne Yup

2013 Luminaire Awards for Best Poetry and Best Prose

Best Poetry

1st Place: “No Sad Songs in the House of the Sun” by Shauna Osborn
2nd Place: “Influences of Light” by Charles P. Ries
3rd Place: “Another Birthday” by Sean Brendan-Brown
4th Place: “Waiting Tables in Reno” by Doug Draime
5th Place: “Low Tide” by Pete M. Wyer

Best Prose

1st Place: “Vandals” by Nathan Graziano
2nd Place: “Our Place” by Neil Serven
3rd Place: “Near to Him” by Charles P. Ries
4th Place: “An Inheritance” by Janette Schafer
5th Place: “Pea Soup” by Christina Elaine Collins







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