From the Editors
This issue of Cirque is varied and ambitious with an overlay of darkness suitable for the deep of winter. Craig Smith, a retired Seattle Times sportswriter, publishes his first poem, “Pizza Dude.” Tom Sexton, Alaska’s former Poet Laureate, thinks again of those ancient Chinese poets. Tony Mares offers a group of poems, each referring to a member of the firing squad that executed the poet, Federico Garcia Lorca. He writes (p. 65), When I learned from recent discoveries who were the actual members of the firing squad, I was moved to write these poems. All the poems have Spanish versions, we published the first poem of the group, in both languages. More: Julius Rockwell recalls WWII. Jana Ariane Nelson tracks her father up the Alcan in the 1940s. Nathan Shafter brings a future world of cross-cultural Gamers. In 1967, a very young Gretchen Brink was the lone social worker for a remote part of Alaska, as big as Oregon. “Jimmy John’s Baby” tells the story of a Native family’s quest to adopt a child, before the protections of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Art: We learned of the Irish painter Josie Gray through a visit to poet, Tess Gallagher, in Port Angeles, WA where Gray has his American studio. In the West of Ireland the pair are neighbors, and, according to Gallagher, they are also collaborators, friends and the best of companions for 22 years. Internationally revered artist, Katherine Coons, has several pieces in the issue. We thank Kate Worthington for our cover. AWP: Late February, in Seattle, Cirque will share a Book Fair booth, at the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) conference, with the UAA Creative Writing MFA program and with VP&D publishing house. On February 28, Cirque will present “Seattle to Saginaw: The Reach of Theodore Roethke,” a multimedia event held at ACT (See p. 40). We will host the “Friends of Theodore Roethke” from Saginaw, MI, as well as invited guests, David Wagoner, Tess Gallagher, and Joan Swift. Thanks: Cirque is supported by your donations. Thanks to all who have contributed. This issue was sponsored by Doug and Beth Pope, Jeff Fair (of Lazy Mountain, AK), Elaine Shea, Paul Winkel and Sherry Eckrich. As Michael Burwell and I finished compiling this issue, I worked in the hollow silence of a village clinic on remote Prince William Sound. In the dark of near midnight, the village seemed to sleep. I sat with spirits. Held in that region of oil spill, earthquake, and tsunami, embraced by beautiful, marked, Alaska; I was in the right place, doing something important.
Cirque: A Literary Journal for the North Pacific Rim Sandra Kleven and Mike Burwell, Editors Paxson Woelber, Designer Published twice yearly on the Winter and Summer Solstices Anchorage, Alaska Kellie Doherty, Intern Erin Monahan, Intern
Poetry Editors Alexandra Ellen Appel Emily Kurn
Fiction Editors Gretchen Phelps Kellie Doherty
Nonfiction Editors Cynthia Sims Douglass Bourne