August 1, 2016





Happy 3rd Birthday, IVJ! With the release of this, our 25th issue, we begin our third year of publishing Indiana Voice Journal. It's been a wonderful collaborative effort put forth by many creative and talented individuals--poets, writers, visual artists, editors, readers and supporters--our community. We've grown way beyond my wildest expectations when I humbly and yes, somewhat fearfully, published the first little edition just two short years ago.  Thank you for writing "life" into these pages by contributing your wisdom, your wit, and your words. Special thanks to DH Allen for letting us use his photography to illustrate many of the features this month. His work can be seen at https://www.instagram.com/braintissue/

In this issue, we have a true eclectic mix. A smorgasbord of poems, essays, and fiction by today's most highly read authors. Just to highlight a few: In C.B. Anderson's poem, "Dyed in the Wool, and Cut from the Whole Cloth" we learn what the author knows about Indiana poet Jared Carter, and Jared Carter replies with a surprise poem of his own. Check out (and fall in love with her...we did!) Gloria g. Murray's set of humorous poems with titles like,"Damn, You Facebook" and "Letter to a Deceased Husband".  In Ananya S. Guha's poem "Children (After Kashmir)" we are shown horrifying news coming out of India. Every poem, essay and story in this issue is worth highlighting but I want to stop talking so you can get to the feast! Take your time. Fill up. Enjoy. ~Janine Pickett

POETRY: 

Three Poems by C.B. Anderson: "Dyed in the Wool, and Cut from the Whole Cloth - For Jared Carter," "Mortal Fatigue," and "Harder than Ever"
Four Poems by Jared Carter: "Reply," "Tradition," "Kafka," and "Deposition"
A Poem by Anna Keeler: "Boys Like Hym(n)"
Three Poems by Blanca Alicia Garza: "A Bed of Earth," "My Dear Me," and "Selfishness"
Three Poems by Christie Luke-Jones: "Urban Fox," "The Lonely Desert," and "Opal Coast"
A Poem by Phillip Brown: "Psychotic Praxis"
Three Poems by Don Mager: "May Journal: Thursday, May 9, 2013,"  "August Journal: Sunday, August 11, 2013," and "August Journal: Friday, August 23, 2013"
Two Poems by Alex DeBonis: "Dragon" and "Underwater on the House"
A Poem by Claire Butler: "Separation"
Three Poems by Billi MacTighe: "Zemblanity,” “Sophrosyne,” and “Querencia” 
Five Poems by Dane Cobain: "Fingers," "Views from the Airing Cupboard," "Bending Spoons in the Face of Death," "A Monster Truck in the Middle of Nowhere," and "Seasons Come and Seasons Go."
Three Poems by Jim Boswell: "Exponential Reality," "The Primal Force," and "Loose Ends"
Two Poems by Edilson Afonso Ferreira: "Old Summers," and "Memorabilia"
Three Poems by John Grey: "Spring," "Those Were the Days," and "Trying to Appear Tougher than I Am"
Four Poems by Gloria g. Murray: "At Seventy," "Life," "Damn You, Facebook," "Brown Bag Lunch"  and "Letter To A Deceased Husband"
Three Poems by E. A. Feliu: "Broken screen window," "American psycho,' and "The cannabis machine"
Two Poems by Joan Payne Kincaid: "Time to Reorder," and "The Trees are Taking Over II"
Two Poems by Krista Genevieve  Farris: "Before the Fireworks: Langston at 2" and "Interpretive Dance with Apple"
A Poem by Sudeep Adhikari: "Speaking Novacaine and Aches"
A Poem by Ananya S. Guha: "Children (After Kashmir)"
Two Poems by Soodabeh Saeidnia:  "Darwin Theory and ME" and "Borderline"
A Poem by Sunil Sharma: "Cognition: Self and the Universe"
Three Poems by Stefanie Bennett: "STEALTH," "WINGS," and "EXIT"
Three Poems by Melissa Fitzgerald:  "An eviction notice," "Gladiators," and "A love rant"
Three Poems by Nicole Surginer:  "Invisible," "Bleeding Heart"' and "Drifting"
Two Poems by Tamsen Grace: "The Ravages of Divorce" and "I Remember Me"
Three Poems by Samuel Franklin: "Spring Break 2010," "Coffee Nights," and "Some Summer Work"
Three Poems by Richard L. Ratiff: "Burma Shave,"  "Aging Gracefully Ha," and "Prostate"
Three Poems by Ross Polen:  “Homemade Wine”, “Kids at Trampoline” and  “High School Runner”
Three Poems by Kristen Williamson: "Chaos," "Daisy," and "Falling Apart"
A Poem by Lakesha Landrum: "What do you see?"
Three Poems by Timothy O'Grady: "From Walks Along the Eno River,"  and two translations from the Korean, "Vase," and "Here and Now"

CREATIVE NONFICTION/ESSAY

Essay by Scott Thomas Outlar: "The Opening Salvo"
Essay by Adreyo Sen: "Lokhi"
Essay by Susan P. Blevins: "There's a Bear in my Apple Tree"
Essay by Steve Colori: "Who's to Help?"
Essay by Connie Bedgood McWilliams: "Sam the Man"

FICTION

Fiction by Susan Duke: "Ruby"
Fiction by Charles E.J.Moulton: "Whenever He Thinks of Home"
Fiction by Arthur Powers: "Venus If You Do"
Flash Fiction by Stuart Luke: "San shi wu"
Fiction by Christopher Hivner: "One for the Thumb"
Fiction by Philip Matthew Butera: "The Shiny Blue Button"
Fiction by Jim Boswell: "Hunting for Turtles"

C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden. His book of poems, Mortal Soup and the Blue Yonder, was published in 2013 by White Violet Press.


Jared Carter grew up in Elwood, Indiana

Anna Keeler is a poet and fiction writer attending Rollins College.    She is currently a columnist for The Odyssey Online, as well as the poetry editor for Brushing Literary Magazine. Her work has been published or is upcoming in Crab Fat Literary Magazine and Red Fez Literary Journal. She lives in Winter Park, FL.

Blanca Alicia Garza is from Las Vegas, Nevada. She is a nature and animal lover, and enjoys spending time writing. Some of her poems are published in the new Poetry Anthology, "Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow Haze", now available at Amazon.com. Other published work can be viewed at: www.thepoetcommunity.com, www.whispersinthewind333blogspot.com, www.winamop.com, http://www.indianavoicejournal.com, http://tuckmagazine.com

Christie-Luke Jones is a poet, fiction writer and actor from Oxfordshire, England. His writing is strongly influenced by the Gallic blood that courses through his veins, as well as his interest in the more macabre aspects of the human condition. To see more of his work, visit www.christielukejones.com


"Psychotic Praxis" by Phillip Brown

Don Mager is a retired university professor who has published several books of poetry.  He was the Mott University Professor of English at Johnson C. Smith University from 1998-2004, where he served as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters (2005-2011). He has published more than 200 poems and translations from German, Czech and Russian poets, including “Us Four Plus Four,” an anthology of translations from eight major Soviet-era Russian poets..  He lives in Charlotte, NC. 

Alex DeBonis's work appears in Yellow Chair Review, Parade Magazine, Ilanot Review, Esquire.com, American Book Review, and Small Press Book Review. He teaches creative writing, literature and composition in West Tennessee, where he lives with his family.

Claire Butler resides in Cincinnati.  She has been writing for almost 50 years, since the age of twelve, when she discovered journaling. She attended Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, for two years, and then transferred to the University of Cincinnati. She writes for JenningsWire.com, a blog site covering a whole range of subjects. Her blog is "Conversations with the Tuesday Night Girls," conceived from her weekly visits with 10 of her best girlfriends. She is also a French cook and an artist painting oil on linen. This is her first published poem.

Billi MacTighe is a poet from Eastern Mass., currently pursuing two graduate degrees at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. She is a memoir poet with a passion for twisting forms. Her previous works have appeared in Rock&Sling (twice featured on Verse Daily), Blood and Thunder: Musing on the Art of Medicine, Free State Review, Words Dance, Mock Orange, Rock&Sling, Paper Nautilus, Prairie Margins, Squalorly, and Cease, Cows

The following poems are part of a larger collection that uses foreign words (for which there is no English equivalent) as titles. Each poem attempts to elicit the emotional response the foreign word would in its native tongue.

Dane Cobain, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK, is an independent poet, musician and storyteller with a passion for language and learning. When he’s not in front of a screen writing stories and poetry, he can be found working on his book review blog or developing his website, www.danecobain.com. His first collection of poetry, Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home, was released by Booktrope Editions in March of 2016.

Jim Boswell calls himself "a writer of the spirit from the heartland." A native of Culver, Indiana, he now lives in North Carolina, but continues to write stories and novels that take place in a the fictional Indiana town. He is the author of one published novel, "The Sower's Seeds." More of his poems can be found on his blog at: www.indyboswell.com.

Edilson Afonso Ferreira is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than Portuguese. Recent works have appeared in Red Wolf Journal, Right Hand Pointing, Creative Talents Unleashed (Featured Poet), Indiana Voice Journal, The Lake, Young Ravens, Synesthesia, Every Day Poems, and Dead Snakes. His works can be seen at www.edilsonmeloferreira.wordpress.com.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in New Plains Review, South Carolina Review, Gargoyle and Big Muddy Review with work upcoming in Louisiana Review, Cape Rock and Spoon River Poetry Review.

Gloria g. Murray has been published in various journals including The Paterson Review, Poet Lore, Bardic Echoes, Third Wednesday, The Ledge, The Literary Quarterly and others. One of her poems was honored by Ted Kooser in his on-line column American Life in Poetry. She is the recipient of poetry awards, including the 2014 first prize Anna Davidson Rosenberg award from Poetica Magazine. She writes stories and essays, as well as one-act plays, two of which have been performed on Long Island and off-Broadway and is an active member of PPA and Poets & Writers, Inc.

E.A. Feliu is an author, artist and journalist in San Diego, CA. He is the author of "Postcards from the Tattooed Man's Chest." He is working on a book of tankas titled " Handlining Telegraphs."

Joan Payne Kincaid Lives with Rod, a Rescue cat named Cordelia, and Fox Terrier named Fancy She writes and paints in Sea Cliff, Long Island. Her work has been published in The Wallace Stevens Journal, Clackamas, Comstock Review, Gargoyle, Hawaii Review, Paris Atlantic, Limestone Poetry Review, Licking River Review, Iodine, Hampden.Sydney Poetry Review, and other journals. Once upon a time she was an Opera and Concert Performer. Her latest book, "Being Here: New and Selected Poems 1988-2012," is available at Amazon.

Krista Genevieve Farris grew up a Hoosier, but now lives in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley with her husband and three sons. She has an MA in Anthropology from Indiana University and a BA in English and Anthropology from Albion College. Links to her recent writing can be found at her writer's website https://kristagenevievefarris.wordpress.com/ .

Sudeep Adhikari lives in Kathmandu with his wife and family and works as an Engineering-Consultant. His poetry has been published in many online literary journals and magazines, the recent being Kyoto (Japan), Scarlet Leaf Review (Canada), Red Fez (USA), Zombie Logic Review (USA), Uneven Floor (Australia), Dark Matter Journal (USA) and Open Mouse (Scotland).

Ananya S Guha lives in Shillong in North East India. He has been writing his poetry for over thirty years. He has four collections of poetry and has been published in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies in India and abroad. He is a senior academic in India's Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Soodabeh Saeidnia was born in Iran and now lives in New York with her husband and nine year-old son. Her poetry has been previously published in Indiana Voice Journal and othe journals. Most recently, her poem "Magic list" passed semifinal contest of PoetryNation and has been accepted to be published in their book "The Dwells of Minds". Her newest book, "Street of the Ginkgo Trees" is available online. She received a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. She has written roughly 150 scientific papers for various academic journals, as well as books in both English and Farsi.

Mumbai-based, Sunil Sharma, lives in Mumbai, India, has published three collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction, one novel and co-edited six books. He is a recipient of the UK-based Destiny Poets’ inaugural Poet of the Year award for 2012. He has also had poems published in the UN project: Happiness: The Delight-Tree. His blog is at : http://drsunilsharma.blogspot.in/

Stefanie Bennett has published several books of poetry and had poems appear in Dead Snakes, IS&T, The Galway Review, Boston Poetry Magazine. Illya’s Honey, Shot Glass Journal, The Paterson Literary Review, High Coupe, Mad Swirl, and others. Of mixed ancestry [Irish/Italian/Paugussett-Shawnee] she was born in Queensland, Australia. Stefanie’s latest poetry collection “The Vanishing” is published by Walleah Press and available from Walleah and Amazon.

Melissa Fitzgerald is a daydreamer masquerading as a student at Northeastern University. She has an imaginary website that is super cool and gets tons of web traffic and hopefully will exist in material form one day.

Nicole Surginer resides in the small, country town of Lockhart, Texas. She currently has pending publications with anti-heroine Chic as well as one recent publication with Tuck Magazine. She constantly finds inspiration to write through the enchantment of nature, the passion to create beauty with words and the desire to express powerful, raw emotion.

Tamsen Grace is a published author and poet, inspirational speaker, martial artist,  and a cancer survivor. She lives in the Midwest with her three children. She enjoys reading, writing, spending time outdoors and teaching children Martial Arts.

Samuel Franklin lives in Bloomington, Indiana. He's a tech writer by day and a poet by night. His first poetry book, The God Of Happiness, is forthcoming.

Richard L Ratliff is a baby boomer, born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, his Midwest ties have built the foundation and setting for his poetry. He is a Purdue University graduate with two years of engineering turned into a degree in English Literature; along with being a two year letterman in wrestling. All of these eclectic combinations have given him a career as a boiler and combustion expert and poet.He has two published books: It’s About Time and 3420:Backyard conversations, both available on Amazon.

Ross Polen is a high school English teacher and adjunct college composition instructor in Jasper, Indiana. He says poetry is his greatest content passion. His work has appeared in The Poet’s Haven.

Kristen Williamson is currently a Graduate in English Literature and Creative Writing at Binghamton University In New York, where her fields of study include poetry,and fiction. She has been featured in: Slink Chunk Press, The Stray Branch, The Zine and others.



Lakesha Landrum lives in Atlanta, GA.


After thirty-five years, Tim has finally retired as a college English instructor, most recently with the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. He has written a fair amount of poetry and fiction in his life but has seldom ventured to get it published. Maybe that will change, now that he has even more time to scribble.

Scott Thomas Outlar hosts the site 17Numa.wordpress.com where links to his published poetry, fiction, essays, and interviews can be found. His chapbook "Songs of a Dissident" was released in 2015 through Transcendent Zero Press and is available on Amazon. His poetry collections "Happy Hour Hallelujah" (CTU Publishing) and "Chaos Songs" (Weasel Press) are both forthcoming in 2016.


Adreyo Sen is pursuing his MFA at Southampton College. 




Susan P. Blevins was born in England, lived 26 years in Italy, and has now resided in the USA for the past 24 years, first in Taos, NM, and currently in Houston, TX.   While living in Rome she had a weekly column in an international, English-language newspaper, writing about food and restaurant reviews primarily, though not exclusively. Since living in the USA she has written pieces on gardens and gardening for N. American and European publications, and she is now writing stories of her life and travels and gaining traction in various literary publications. She loves reading, writing, cats,  classical music, and stimulating conversation.

Steve Colori has had schizoaffective disorder since age 19 and is currently 29. He has eight articles published with Oxford Medical Journals and has been authoring essays for Mclean Hospital since 2011. He has also been lecturing Mclean Hospital’s Harvard Residents since 2012, he lectures regularly at Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work, has lectured at Mass General Hospital’s Schizophrenia Day, and has lectured at NAMI GBCAN. He regularly writes for the Health & Wellness and Social Justice Sections of The Good Men’s Project. He also has a memoir titled "Experiencing and Overcoming Schizoaffective Disorder". He has a website with links to all my publications and more info about me @ SteveColori.com.

When Connie’s grandson, Sam was three years old she took him to a Luau for a night of entertainment and food.  This is the short short of the beginning of that trip.
 The Gem, Woman’s Touch, White Harvest Church Newsletter, Read Me, Christian Single, Writer’s World and a newspaper for Northwest Houston how being single called Today’s People published her writing.

Connie was published in Gotta Write, Working Woman and Sagacity magazines

Soon she will be published in Good Old Days, Screamin Mamas and Conceit Magazines.

Susan Duke has had stories published in Timber Creek Review, Straylight, The Griffin, The MacGuffin, Downstate Story Magazine, New Author's Journal, Nostalgia, The Storyteller, Clackamus, The Advocate, Thema, Bloodroot, Evening Street Press, Talking River, Chaffin Review, Whetstone, Oracle, Conceit, and The Santa Fe Review.
Retired from teaching children with special needs, I enjoy morning walks, reading, and writing, and treasure time spent with my husband, three adult children and two grandsons.


CHARLES E.J. MOULTON has been a stage performer since age eleven. His trilingual, artistic upbringing, as the son of Gun Kronzell and Herbert Moulton, lead to a hundred stage productions, countless cross-over concerts, work as a bandleader and as an acting teacher. He is a regular contributor for Idea Gems, has written for Shadows Express, Cover of Darkness, Vocal Images and Pill Hill Press. He is a tourguide, a big-band-vocalist, a filmmaker, a painter, a voice-over-speaker, a translator, is married and has a daughter. Charles E.J. Moulton's passion is creative versatility. His short story collection, Aphrodite's Curse: 21 Tales of Love and Terror can be purchased by clicking the link. Homepages: http://www.reverbnation.com/charlesejmoulton/ 




Arthur Powers is from Illinois.  In 1969 he went to Brazil as a Peace Corps Volunteer and lived most of his adult life there.  From 1985 to 1992 he and his wife lived in the Brazilian Amazon, working with subsistence farmers in a region of violent land conflicts; through his experience with the farmers, Arthur came to appreciate more deeply his own Midwestern heritage.

Arthur received a Fellowship in Fiction from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and numerous other writing awards.  He is author of two books of fiction and of a poetry chapbook, Edgewater.  His poetry has appeared in many anthologies & magazines, including America, Chicago Tribune Magazine, Christianity & Literature, Hiram Poetry Review, Kansas Quarterly, Main Street Rag, Roanoke Review, South Carolina Review, & Southern Poetry Review. www.arthurpowers.com



Stuart is an artist, musician and writer with a fondness for comic books and travel. He is a Mario Kart champion and a fan of whiskey. His favourite colour is green.

Christopher Hivner writes from a small town in Pennsylvania surrounded by books and the echoes of music. He has recently been published in Illumen, Dead Snakes and Jitter. A collection of short stories, “The Spaces Between Your Screams” was published by eTreasures Publishing. website: www.chrishivner.com, Facebook: Christopher Hivner - Author, Twitter: @Your_screams

Philip Matthew Butera grew up in Buffalo, NY, earned a BS degree From Gannon College in Erie, PA, went on to serve in the US Navy then received a MA in Psychology from Simon Fraser U. in Vancouver, Canada. He expanded his education with post graduate courses in Psychology and Creative Writing. He is the author of two books of poetry, “Mirror Images and Shards of Glass” and "Dark Images at Sea." His first novel, “Caught Between” – the true story of an off duty NYC cop who killed a mafia leader’s son is due out shortly. He is a contributing editor who writes a weekly Art and Literature column for EatSleepWrite.net. He also has a column in the quarterly magazine, Per Niente. He lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Jim Boswell calls himself "a writer of the spirit from the heartland." A native of Culver, Indiana, he now lives in North Carolina, but continues to write stories and novels that take place in a the fictional Indiana town. He is the author of one published novel, "The Sower's Seeds." More of his work can be found on his blog at: www.indyboswell.com.

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