Whether we are moving

toward or away from our soul

is the acid test

of mankind’s state of civilization,

its smallest common denominator: me.

My blackness knows it is time to fight

I feel my blackness taping its hands,

exercising, getting in shape

to ensure it passes with distinction

the anticipated tests along the way.

My humanity knows it is time to unite,

oppose people in power

who control by dividing the multitudes

through racial myths based on contempt

for others surrounded by casualties

and pain, determined to survive, even thrive

along with the next wave of warriors

proud to stand together

to change the world for the better for all.

If there is a neck to be choked

be it on the body of racism

whose demise will help free

white people who accept the demands

of a myth, which to be kept alive,

requires that they hide

their fear

their guilt

their shame

their humanity.

Ron Howard is a photographer, painter, poet and the current President of the Manayunk-Roxborough Art Center (MRAC), an art and humanities center in Philadelphia, which hosts many SVJ events. Along with his talents as a photographer, visual artist and writer, and his appreciation of the arts, Howard has brought his non-profit organizational development and international institution building skills to the MRAC. He was Chief Operations Officer for the Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI) for more than thirty years and served from 2004 to 2007 as the organization's Acting CEO, prior to his retirement in 2007. The global OIC movement was started in Philadelphia by Rev. Leon H. Sullivan.

~ highlights and recommendations from recent issues of literary journals ~

by Mark Danowsky, Managing Editor for the Schuylkill Valley Journal

Waxwing (Fall 2018)

Kelli Russell Agodon – String Theory Relationships

http://waxwingmag.org/items/issue16/1_Agodon-String-Theory-Relationships.php

[excerpt]

The essential idea is this — all objects are composed of vibrating anxieties

— everyone wants a window or aisle seat and no one wants to sit

in the middle. Call it deniability.

Kelli Russell Agodon – American Snapshot

http://waxwingmag.org/items/issue16/2_Agodon-American-Snapshot.php

The Baltimore Review (Fall 2018)

Emily Paige Wilson – What I’ll Tell My Great-Great-Granddaughters

http://baltimorereview.org/index.php/fall_2018/contributor/emily-paige-wilson#What%20I%E2%80%99ll%20Tell%20My%20Great-Great-Granddaughters

Copper Nickel (Fall 2018, Issue 27)

Tony Hoagland – Achilles

http://copper-nickel.org/achilles/

diode (vol. 11, no. 3)

J.P. Dancing Bear – The Oracle of Liar, Liar

http://diodepoetry.com/dancing-bear_jp_2/

[excerpt]

I know you'll do your best
to misquote everything I've said, even
if I said it, it'll be out of context.

Boulevard (no. 100)

https://boulevardmagazine.org/

Cynthia X. Hua – Copy Machine

Suddenly you can see the man inside

for example how a three-minute song

can blur together the past ten years

The Georgia Review (Summer 2018)

https://thegeorgiareview.com/product/summer-2018/

Stephen Dunn – A Postmortem Guide

(reprint from The Georgia Review, 1999)

The truth is

I learned to live without hope

as well as I could, almost happily,

in the despoiled and radiant now.

Stephen Dunn – A Postmortem Guide (2)

(18 years later)

Tell them it was true, I did think I’d die at sixty,

in my prime, in love with mystery and its words,

someone who tried to listen to his inner voice.

The Iowa Review (Fall 2018 – 48/2)

https://iowareview.org/issue/volume-48-issue-2-%E2%80%94-fall-2018

Shane McCrae – The Brown Horse Ariel

Shane McCrae – The President Visits the Storm

Sixth Finch (Summer 2018)

Hanif Abdurraqib – How Can Black People Write About Flowers At A Time Like This

http://sixthfinch.com/abdurraqib1.html

Up The Staircase Quarterly (Issue #43)

Kai River Blevins – All Animals are Trans

https://www.upthestaircase.org/kai-river-blevins.html

Powder Keg Magazine (Issue 12)

Hillary Kobernick – In the End

https://www.powderkegmagazine.com/hillary-kobernick

BOAAT Journal (November 2018 issue)

Derrick Austin – The Witching Hour

http://www.boaatpress.com/boaat/#october-november-2018-issue-boaat

Nightjar Review (Issue 3)

Mary Kovaleski Byrnes – January

http://nightjarreview.com/issue3-594622-367940-511922-599318.html

Coal Hill Review (Issue 20, Fall 2018)

Gerry LaFemina – Wingtips

https://coalhillreview.com/wingtips/

Interim (Vol. 35, Issue 4)

Timothy Liu – No Man’s Land

https://www.interimpoetics.org/35-4/timothy-liu

32 Poems (Summer 2018)

Mark Wagenaar – The Book of Vigils

http://32poems.com/poem/mark-wagenaar/

Southern Poetry Review (Issue 72, 55:1)

Leatha Kendrick – Boundary Dispute

Kendrick’s short poem opens:

They say the line is somewhere else, / further in.

Shot Glass Journal (Issue #23, September 2017)

Le Hinton – Uses of Cotton (Grief)

http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/le_hinton1.html

Anton Yakovlev – Adorable

http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/anton_yakovlev1.html

Bob Lucky – The After-church Crowd Swarms the Free Cheese Samples

http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/issue23/bob_lucky1.html

Linda Conroy – Good Times

http://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/linda_conroy1.html