A good literary anthology has much in common with the musical playlists we make for our love interests. Every inclusion is a clue to the compilers’ personality and our ambitions for the relationship...

This month we welcome renowned banjoist Bela Fleck into the fog to discuss his life and craft; showcase the music of a very talented young San Diego songwriter; debut new poems from Stephen Cramer and Rachael Lyon; feature original fiction by Dylan James Brock and Alan Drew; take a long look at the paintings of Robin Eley, and much, much more. Benjamin Evans Executive Editor, Fogged Clarity July 2011 Table of Contents Fiction Alan...

I have chosen to defer to the table of contents this month, as we continue preparations for Saturday, June 25th, a date which marks our largest concert ever. If you live within three hours of West Michigan, be certain you make it to this performance. Tickets are available here. Benjamin Evans Executive Editor, Fogged Clarity June 2011 Table of Contents Fiction Alan DrewAlan Drew‘s first novel, Gardens of Water, was published...

This month we are pleased to feature an interview with the masterful Mr. James Lasdun. Portland quintet Loch Lomond’s album, Night Bats streams all month, we debut a beautiful new piece of fiction from author Dan Forward, poems from Richard Foerster and Mark Vogel, beautiful and unique paintings from Michael Shapcott, more travel photography from Mike de Lange, and Scott Hightower reviews poet Julie Sheehan, along with much more....

Birds of Hoboken was published in 1995. Not Till We Are Lost, William Wenthe’s second collection, was published in 2004. The two books, end to end, read as a testament to craft and seasoned poetic vision. Both books use birds as vehicles. Poetic flight has long fired somber divinations and lyric contemplations. In Birds of Hoboken the vehicles give way to soliloquies concerned with time and cause and effect on...

Philip Clark and David Groff have just joined forces and edited an anthology of poems by poets lost to AIDS. The collection is entitled Persistent Voices and has been published by Alyson Books. Some of the forty artists featured are Tory Dent, Melvin Dixon, Tim Dlugos, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Essex Hemphill, Leland Hickman, David Matias, Paul Schmidt, Karl Tierney, and Assotto Saint. The span of voices is smart and exhilarating...

Suffering and poetic inspiration are complex traveling companions. Some poets rise out of inflicted harshness and physical deprivation. Inversely, physical comfort can deepen a writer’s sense of poetic urgency. We have proof of the latter in Patty Seyburn’s third title, Hilarity.

Ansen Seale was strolling in the alley behind his house one evening when he stumbled across an odd piece of trash. The red and yellow of a McDonald’s hamburger carton had bleached away, leaving only the shadow of the ‘M’ abstracted to black ink. Unsure of what he was seeing, he stopped. “Why,” he wondered, “is there a scrap of Arabic writing on the ground?”