The Rialto Books Review Vol.030--AVAILABLE NOW
The Rialto Books Review Vol.030 is now available for purchase. This Winter, we have four pieces to offer for your enjoyment.
“O My Daughter! I’ve Seen You in My Mind” by Casey Dwyer starts us off, an exquisite poem looking forward to the birth of a first child.
“The Imposition” by Kevin LaTorre follows, a dark study of a man whose relationships, with self and others, hide beneath orderliness, chaos and a relentless thirst for retribution.
“Mr. Bland Goes to the Office” by Anthony Ranieri takes us on a romp through philosophy and prehistory, all in a six-block walk to the office.
Lastly, we offer the third book of “Beauty and the Beast”, a new narrative poem by Alexandra Block.
Our thanks go out to Molly Tyre for editing this issue.
We hope you enjoy these excerpts from Vol.030 of The Rialto Books Review.
O My Daughter! I’ve Seen You in My Mind
by Casey Dwyer
O my daughter! I’ve seen you in my mind,
Walking in the misted air of the morning,
Passing beneath the bulking twists of oaks,
That turn in knotted lines of bark, and time
The forest’s heart, and age in rings that pulse
Out, hidden deep from those who swing the axe—
And the axe-men are still asleep. …
The Imposition
by Kevin LaTorre
September 9, 1974
9:47:02 a.m., EST
In a basement classroom which perfectly fits his diminishment since 1972, Jeremiah Bick is lecturing thirteen female students in the skill of composition. He stands before them, somewhat short. His graying sideburns and mustache were trimmed into trapezoidal precision this very morning, his gray Montague Burton suit impeccable for 1967. These girls before him are receiving their most crucial experience of the elements of composition, their first-ever introduction; these are mere first-year students only in their second week of classes here at Appalachian State University, itself a mere third-year member of the University of North Carolina system. All is new, here. All is still to be learned. …
Mr. Bland Goes to the Office
by Anthony Ranieri
It was spring again. That was the first thought that crossed Bland’s mind as his eyelids fluttered him into awareness. It was spring and it was Friday. Only one more day left to be brutalized by his overbearing, cruel, cheap, vindictive and incompetent boss—Mr. Peters. …
Beauty and the Beast, Book III
by Alexandra Block
I.
I left my Beauty sleeping—and what dread,
What foul thing has found her in her bed?
What nightmare, or what misty prophecy
Has from her heart made courage fast to flee?
Why, only this—dreamer’s forgetfulness—
For when the sun her waking eyes doth bless,
She knows her dreams were pleasant, but their kind
Resists all prying from her eager mind.
The room in which night-blinded she had slept,
Now stands revealed; its lucid window kept
A vista of the woods in Eastern sun,
Whose morning light across the floor doth run
In silent hurry; nor no dungeon drear,
But bright and warm her chamber doth appear,
While every comfort for her was outlaid—
But yet by whom these comforts all were made
Untold remained. Nor when she dressed, and walked
To see how January’s bowers were stocked
In these strange gardens, did she creature see
But for wild beasts, that from her step did flee. …
You can read this journal with others on Papertrail.
