spring 2009

Monarchs   Sarah J. Sloat
Two Poems   Arlene Kim
Naked Air   Carolyn Dille
Two Poems   Laura Donnelly
The Secret Language of Feet   Patrick Carrington
Two Poems   Roxane Beth Johnson
The Painter   Donna Lewis Cowan
By convention there is us   Asya Graf
Death and Birth in a Chinese Restaurant                            Kelli Russell Agodon
Three Poems   Peter Davis

Featured Poet   Bob Hicock

Visuals by 
Philip Rosenthal

from the ether

On Featured Artists

Over the eleven years that the DMQ Review has existed as an online journal, it has been one of the editorial staff’s great pleasures to feature the work of a visual artist alongside a variety of poems each issue. As you click through the pages, each blooms open with some remarkable image, whether painting, photography, sculpture, drawings or collage, leading into the poem(s) published below. Each page of the journal serves as a wall in a gallery where a few elements are grouped, held in some sort of conversation by virtue of shared space.

This isn’t something I thought up. I inherited the editorship of the DMQ Review in late 2003, with its name, acronym, Web site, mailing list (I hope you’re on it!) and publishing protocols from founding editor, J.P. Dancing Bear. While I am not, as my mother would say, a whiz-bang-boom when it comes to electronic media, I have managed to keep the journal alive and thumping through the essential talent and dedication of our fine editorial board and that of my dedicated webmaster who prefers to remain unnamed. And of course through the generous submissions of both poets and artists over the years.

The Featured Artist is as intrinsic to the journal as the presentation of gifted poets. In this respect, I took up the journal and never looked back. So I was pleased to have the opportunity to think through our practice when a recent artist asked what it means to be featured here, or rather, what our intent is. 

The aesthetic intent is to create an intimate place on the Web where a reader can retreat for a few minutes with a bit of poetry. The art is a magnet, an invitation to the reader that continues a collaboration first begun between contributing poets and the editors. The offerings, whether images or words, can be enjoyed here in their own right or as pastiche.

We hope to combine pieces that seem to speak to each other without reforming the essential works in the process. We don't try to illustrate one with the other, but to find these dialogs. Or encourage them. Through such synergy, as with metaphor, there is some third thing created, a dynamic enterprise between image and word that happens afresh in the imagination of each reader/viewer. 

I find the whole notion terribly exciting.

We’ve chosen to use one featured artist per issue rather than images from a variety of artists as a way to honor the artist’s unique contribution and to expose his or her work to a broader audience. We hope our readers take the time to visit the artists’ Web sites, check out their gallery showings, and inquire about purchase.

We’re very proud of what we offer here, top to bottom, and hope you enjoy being part of the DMQ Review conversation. And a special thanks to this issue’s Featured Artist, Philip Rosenthal.

Sally Ashton
Editor-in-Chief