My Father wrote
His A History of the War
For years on yellow legal sheets in green ink
And kept it in a closet
200-300 pages in a binder
Detesting I am sure Every single move
By FDR Not a single scrap remains We were just kids
Who’d later use each priceless page for notes
Math & science homework grocery lists letters paper planes
***
John McKernan is now a retired comma herder. He lives--mostly--in West Virginia where he edits ABZ Press. His most recent book is a collection of selected poems titled Resurrection of the Dust.
dislocate.org's Monthly Short-Form Contest accepts previously unpublished submissions of literary prose or verse under 300 words. Winners are published on the website, receive a copy of dislocate issue 6, and are considered for publication in the next print issue of dislocate.
Submit to our August contest: see our submission guidelines.
784 pp., Ballatine, $27
Reviewed by Sara Joy Culver
1.
The important thing to understand before you read this review is that I am not a snob.
This excerpt from the diary of Eric Murphy, dated 24 June 2010, is currently on loan to dislocate.org from the British National Museum for Literature.
24 June 2010
As I find myself in the middle of an extended stay on a peculiar, far-flung Island which has no access to Taco Bell and whose barbaric entertainment systems are incompatible with my 30 Rock digital versatile discks, I need something to occupy me throughout the evening and night.
I write this while sitting underneath a small, window air conditioner, one that barely cools the space around me, not to mention the entire room. Outside, the temperature clocks in at 91 degrees with humidity somewhere between 70 and 80 percent, the heat index somewhere in the triple digits, completely obscene.
[read]9.01.10I'm visiting my hometown in rural northern California, and as I write this I'm sitting on an ocean bluff in fog so thick I can't see the water. I am told that this particular bluff is home to the southernmost individual Sitka spruce on the west coast, but the tree is allegedly nestled in a hidden rocky crevice and I haven't located it yet. The fog doesn't help, of course.
[read]8.24.10Attention writers and readers: We are now accepting poetry, fiction, and nonfiction submissions for our Issue 7 reading period, July 15 to November 15, 2010. This year we have transitioned to an online-only submission policy: submit your work via Submishmash. This will streamline our reading process and expedite responses to our prospective contributors.
[read]7.14.10Didn't get a chance to attend dislocate's annual shindig, celebrating the new issue release and the launch of the website whose site tracker statistics you are at this very moment improving? We made a slideshow for you so that you would make sure to clear your calendar and book plane tickets to Minneapolis for next year.
[read]5.16.10