Muddy Bank

It’s September in St. Louis, where the midwest heat is starting to fade like a late summer day, a sure sign a cool Fall issue of The 2River View is just down the road.

So a friendly reminder: hit 2River on the first day of fall for the 20.1 (Fall 2016) issue of The 2River View, where you’ll find new poems by Scott Edward Anderson, Walter Bargen, Lana Bella, Michelle Brooks, Vincent Casaregola, Ja’net Danielo, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Christien Gholson, Vincent Poturica, William Rector, and Amanda Wells.

So what if it’s mid-spring. Jump over to 2River for the summer issue of The 2River View, with new poems by Jo Ann Baldinger, Taylor Bond, Matthew Scott Freeman, Guiseppe Getto, Alex Greenberg, M. Nassori Pavone, Carlos Reyes, Jane Stephens Rosenthal, Danielle Sellers, William Waters, and Wendy Wisner. 2River is also now reading for the 21.1 (Fall 2016) issue of 2RV. Read the guidelines.

The 20.4 (Summer 2016) issue of The 2River View is just a few days away. Anticipate new poems as hot and crazy as this teaser:

Matthew Scott Freeman

My God is Not a Platonic God, Though

I was walking up Delmar out of lockdown
to get my beautifully meaningful
soda when I saw
a pretty girl coming out
of the light and into the shadow
and I passed her by
and when I came into
the soft light I stopped
and knelt and prayed for mercy

and I was not quite actually
a part of the real world
and talk about the failure
to reach the impossible thing
like catching a catnap on my
ex-girlfriend’s grave and an evil
spirit coming in and out of me
and body language and the CIA
and the mirror and trying not
to be a loser and gone beyond girls
and I said this to the mirror
I said Father Good when Lesbia
comes back I promise to
love her just like an angel would.

Matthew Scott Freeman holds an MFA from the University of Missouri–St Louis, where he was given the graduate poetry prize. His fifth book, Everything I Love Restored, was recently published by Coffeetown Press.

Visit 2River late next week for the 20.4 (Summer 2016) issue of The 2River View, with hot new poems by Jo Ann Baldinger, Taylor Bond, Matthew Scott Freeman, Guiseppe Getto, Alex Greenberg, M. Nassori Pavone, Carlos Reyes, Jane Stephens Rosenthall, Danielle Sellers, William Waters, and Wendy Wisner.

Cover photo of Summer issue by Sarah Katharina Kayß