Mary Lou Buschi

Sonnet

Monsieur turned the altar into a round stage.

Covered the floors with a magenta and scarlet rug.

He left the pillars, stained-glass procession—The Agony

and The Ecstasy, and the confessionals, those dark rooms

where men hide behind a curtain listening to trembling women,

only to whisper into the naked ear, Three Hail Mary’s.

The sacristy full of blood and flesh stood with candles

dissolving in cylindrical glass tubes, donation boxes full.

The last time I stood in that arena—

I was listening to a soloist hit the high notes, Ava Maria. 

My right leg wouldn’t quiet, quaking beneath my skirt.

Her casket just inches away. The darkness surrounds us, I said to my dead mother.

When I return from a recent trip my autocorrect types, I am hope,

for I am home—and I am sick. My love replies, you are America.

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Mary Lou Buschi (she/her) authored 3 full length poetry collections. BLUE PHYSICS (2024) (Lily Poetry Review). PADDOCK (2021). Her poems appear in Ploughshares, Glacier, On the Seawall.

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HeadLines

We have several friends in Western North Carolina. I lived there for a couple years in the late 70s, teaching at a remarkable school called The Glade Valley School. If you haven't spent time in the Blue Ridge Mountains, you're missing out on one of the most beautiful places in the country. And the people are everything you may have seen on post-hurricane news and more, just open-hearted and friendly.

One of our editors, the wonderful poet, Michael Hettich, lives in Black Mountain. Other poets who've appeared in these pages–Marie Harris, Sebastian Matthews, and Eric Nelson, all live in the area along with so many other writers and artists.

The recovery will be long and hard. But we can help.

We encourage you to donate whatever you can to the Red Cross Special Fund for the people whose lives have been turned upside down.

Follow this link to help out: https://shorturl.at/Jt8QW

Thanks for your help, or as I said way back then, "Thanks, y'all!"

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editor's notes

A good half of writing consists of being sufficiently sensitive to the moment to reach for the next promise which is usually hidden in some word or phrase just a shift to the side of one's conscious intent. – Norman Mailer

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We're celebrating our 5th year and what an issue!

Really, it's a double issue–the regular monthly submissions and the top 25 submissions from the 2024 Charles Simic Prize for Poetry.

We started working on it in the spring when the Simic submissions started showing up, more than 350 of them. Editors went to work with the difficult task of whittling those submissions down to 25 to send along to this year's judge, Dana Levin.

And then the regular submission arrived. This is just to say we've been busy.

I believe poetry, fiction, art of all kinds serves as a firewall that can keep us from the hatred, anger, violence, racism, sexism we all deal or try to deal with every day. It's space to breathe and maybe find joy.

It's my hope that this collection gives that joy to you.

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$556.37, Herman Melville's total earnings from American sales of Moby Dick.

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Here's the location of every reader over the last 365 days.

As with every issue, I give thanks to the hard-working crew down at Hole In The Headquarters: Bill Burtis, Nancy Jean Hill, Marilyn A. Johnson, Jere DeWaters, Michael Hettich, Tom Bruton, and Mike Bove.

Special thanks to photographer Ed Valfre for providing the timely cover and to Dana Levin for selecting our Simic Prize winner.

I have scoured every name, every punctuation mark, every line break in every poem....and still I know those pesky typos, misspells, and quirky formatting issues are lurking. Think of this as an old Persian rug, most beautiful because of its flaws. And when you find one please let me know and I'll try to mend it. editor@holeintheheadreview.com.

One last thing. While you CAN view Hole In The Head on your phone, it's really not designed for that. For the full experience, please view on a computer screen or, even better, on a tablet.

We'll be back on Groundhog Day. Stay safe, be optimistic, grateful, and don't stop working for the good of all. And, as Kris Kristofferson said to Sinéad O'Connor, don't let the bastards get you down.

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What I've been listening to:

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