Fall Newsletter
"Hello. I’m nobody. Can we talk?" —Dennis Finnell, Test Site Poetry Series Finalist
In the midst of everything, poetry remains.
In the midst of everything, poetry remains. And so, even in a season of uncertainty, and loss, we are deeply grateful to publish an issue dedicated to the finalists of our most recent Test Site Prize. Every year, we receive an over-abundance of beautiful manuscripts full of brilliant poems—last year was no exception. We’re proud to share a small selection of this beauty with readers.
“The word does not follow its routine…”
Associate Editor, Andy Nicholson, introduces the issue: “The word does not follow its routine. And as the word does not follow its routine, in the poem, we readers are thrown from our own routines and follow the venturing word, listening to how, this time, it sings, listening to now, uniquely now, it speaks of the world.”
From Joseph Lease’s “Self-Portrait as the Downhill Slide”, to Stephanie Strickland’s “History of Knowledge”; from Kimberly Ann Priest’s “The Storyteller Speaks to a Bird about Dying”, to Dennis Finnell’s “What I was told"; from Nancy Eimers’ “A Whole Season of Lamination and Snow”, to Michael Tod Edgerton’s “Missing You”, from Ned Balbo’s “Memory and the Hive”; to Robert Gibb’s “Invasive”… Above all else, these poems do speak to the world.
We hope you’ll make space for a small interruption to your usual routine and take a closer look at this issue. It features work from all of the aforementioned writers, along with, of course, poetry from the winners of both the Test Site Poetry Award and the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Award; Jamy Macarty and Geoffrey Babbitt, respectively. Furthermore striking images abound from Caroline Skinner (whose visual art is also featured in this newsletter).
Calling all writers
Interim is actively seeking submissions for two upcoming issues. The first of which is a commemoration and celebration of Las Vegas beyond the strip. Writers who have made a life in Las Vegas are especially encouraged to submit in celebration of the city’s connection with the arts. Furthermore, in this issue we are especially concerned with the shooting which occurred at UNLV last December.
Our second call is for work which is palimpsestic. We're eager to consider submissions of creative translation projects, ekphrastic fiction, erasure poetry, work that's aware of what it's been made on top of, work that renders history's constant company onto the page. Submit your best work here!