Since its founding at Northwestern University in 1964, "TriQuarterly" has remained one of the most widely admired and important literary magazines in the country. Under the editorial direction of poet Susan Firestone Hahn, "TriQuarterly" continues to publish the best work of both established and new poets and fiction writers."TriQuarterly 130" will feature new stories by David Baxter, David H. Lynn, Mary Morris, Deborah Greger, Vincent Precht, and R. T. Smith, along with poetry by Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Reginald Shepherd, Corey Marks, Amit Majmudar, Page Hill Starzinger, and an essay by Anne Harding Woodworth on W. D. Snodgrass' "The Fuhrer Bunker"....

In "The Scarlet Ibis", Susan Hahn has created an intricately structured sequence of interlinked poems centered around the single compelling image of the ibis. The resonance of this image grows through each section of the book as Hahn skillfully employs theme and variation, counterpoint and mirroring techniques. The ibis first appears as part of an illusion, the disappearing object in a magician's trick, which then evokes the greatest disappearing act of all - death - where there are no tricks to bring about a reappearance. The rich complexity multiplies as the second section focuses on a disappearing lady and a dramatic final section brings together the bird and the lady in their common plight - both caged by their mortality, their assigned time and role. All of the illusions fall away during this brilliant denouement as the two voices share a dialogue on the power of metaphor as the very essence of poetry. Bird Trick iv It's all about disappearance. About a bird in a cage with a mirror, a simple twist on the handle at the side that makes it come and go at the magician's insistence. It's all about innocence. It's all about acceptance. It's all about compliance. It's all about deference. It's all about silence. It's all about disappearance....

Hahn s new collection wrestles with the elemental and enduring challenges of the human condition: What can we use from our spiritual heritage? How should we find relief? How, after it all, do we live? The poems are presented as a letter to the world from a woman preparing to leave it. In four sections The Bells, The Crosses, Widdershins, and Afterwor(l)d she contrasts the hope against the dark that is embodied by an amulet or cross with the abased resignation of torture, failed prayers, and witchcraft. Though Hahn s vision is a dark one, its dramatic emotional depth speaks to a human power that, though damaged, can still engage....