May 9, 2017


     "On The Edge" Painting by Artist Carlos Franco-Ruiz

Welcome to the 34th issue of Indiana Voice Journal.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful people raising, nurturing, and caring for our children. You are a blessing! This issue reminds me of a spring flower garden. It shimmers, shakes, shines, and is absolutely blooming with poetic beauties!  Grown and tended with love. Enjoy, and let us know what you think. ~Janine Pickett


"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin


POETRY




VISUAL ART

Visual Art by Carlos Franco-Ruiz



CREATIVE NONFICTION/ESSAY



JD DeHart is a writer and teacher.  He blogs at jddehartpoetry.blogspot.com.

Adreyo Sen recently finished his MFA from Stony Brook, Southampton.  His interests lie in magic realism, fantasy, and Victorian Literature.

Andrew Hubbard recently moved back to Indiana after ten years in Houston, Texas. He has had five books published, including, most recently, his first book of poetry, "Things That Get You," which was produced by Interactive Press. He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2015. His new book, The Divining Rod, is available at: http://ipoz.biz/portfolio-single/the-divining-rod/

Ann Christine Tabaka, is better known by her middle name, Chris. She has been writing poems and rhymes since she was fourteen. She was an artist, a chemist, and a personal trainer. She recently had 4 poems accepted into the upcoming Contemporary Group’s anthology “Dandelion in a Vase of Roses,” and 2 poems accepted by “The Society of Classical Poets,” and will have poems in the summer 2017 issue of “Halcyon Days Magazine.”

Sarah Henry is a former student of two U.S. Poet Laureates at the University of Virginia. Today she lives near Pittsburgh, where her poems have appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Poetry Review and The Loyalhanna Review. Farther afield, Sarah's work was published by Soundings East, and The Hollins Critic. Her poems have been included in six recent anthologies. CheapPop and Donut Factory featured her humorous prose.

Bevan Boggenpoel is a South African poet. Although his poetry is written in a South African context that covers different issues in daily life, his writing also strives to tell a story or teach a lesson that will inspire and motivate readers globally. He completed a Baccalaureate in Education at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and currently teaches in Port Elizabeth. His poetry has been published in Dissident Voice, Indiana Voice Journal, The Poetry Community, The Voices Project, Whispers, Prachya Review, Dead Snakes, Tuck Magazine, Visual Verse, Section 8 Magazine and Syzygy Poetry Journal. A recent anthology, "Shades of the Same Skin" was published by Creative Talents Unleashed.

Cydney Clouse is a twenty year old from Inidnapolis, Ind., with a passion for writing, but never having enough courage to share it. You can either find her on Tumbler at Sincerely-Cydney posting nightly using #CydClo, or eating Sherbet ice cream… probably both.

Michael Lee Johnson is a poet, editor, publisher, freelance writer, amateur photographer, small business owner in Itasca, Illinois. He has been published in more than 915 small press magazines in 27 countries, and he edits 10 poetry sites. His author's website is at: http://poetryman.mysite.com/. Michael is the author of several chapbooks of poetry and has more than 108 poetry videos on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/poetrymanusa/videos). He has been nominated two Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net 2016. He is also the editor/publisher of anthology, Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow Haze, available at Amazon. A second anthology, Dandelion in a Vase of Roses, Editor Michael Lee Johnson, is available on Amazon.

Cynthia Eddy lives on the eastern shore of Virginia and holds a BA in Art History, Her poetry has been published in Willard and Maple, Emerand several other journals. She has been published in Third Wednesday, Eunoia Review, Epiphany, Z-composition, Deep South Magazine and in Emerge Literary Journal.

David Lohrey grew up in Memphis. His poetry can be found in Otoliths, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Easy Street and Quarterday. In addition, recent poems have been anthologized by the University of Alabama (Dewpoint), Illinois State University (Obsidian) and Michigan State University (The Offbeat). Work can also be found in The Stony Thursday Book (Limerick) and Hidden Channel Zine (Mall Sligo). David is a member of the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective in Houston. Recent fiction can be read in Crack the Spine, Brilliant Flash Fiction and inshadesmag.com. He teaches in Tokyo.

David Rodriguez is a writer and teacher with an MFA from Florida State University. He has previously been published in the New Orleans Review, The Southeast Review, Poetry Pacific, The Literateur, and The Double Dealer Redux, among other places.

Edilson Afonso Ferreira, 73, is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than Portuguese. His poetry has appeared in Right Hand Pointing, The Lake, Spirit Fire Review, Young Ravens, Indiana Voice Journal, Creative Talents Unleashed, Algebra of Owls and others. Ferreira lives in a small town with his wife, three sons and a granddaughter and, unhurried, is trying to publish his first Poetry Book. He began to write at age 67, after retirement as a Bank Manager. He was nominated for The Pushcart Prize in 2016.

Faleeha Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, and writer born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1967. She now lives in the United States. She is the first woman to write poetry specifially for the children in Iraq and was part of the feminist movement in the holy city of Najaf. She is considered one of Iraq's most celebrated poets and her work has been heavily awarded and translated into dozens of languages. She has a master's degree in Arabic literature, and published sixteen collections of poetry in Arabic. Hassan emigrated to the US in 2012 after her books of poetry landed her on "death lists" published by radicals. Her poems and short stories have been published in several American magazines, such as The Galway Review, Words Without Borders, Scarlet Leaf Review, and the Inner Child press. The Guardian published this interview of Hassan in 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/oct/04/faleeha-hassan-iraqi-maya-angelou-refugee-us-video.

James D. Casey IV  is a published author of two poetry books: "Metaphorically Esoteric"’ & "Dark Days Inside the Light While Drunk on Wine." He is also working on his third under the title “Tin Foil Hats & Hadacol Coins” that is expected to be published within the next few months. Mr. Casey’s writings have been published in international ezines and on several websites. Poetry Life & Times, Artvilla, Realistic Poetry International, and Poetry Super Highway have him listed in their poet archives as well. You can find links to his books, social network profiles, and other projects on his website at http://louisianakingcasey.wixsite.com/big-skull-poetry.

Joe Gianotti grew up in Whiting, Indiana, an industrial city five minutes from Chicago. He currently teaches English at Lowell High School. He is a proud contributor to Volume II of "This is Poetry: The Midwest Poets." Among other poets, he represented Northwest Indiana in the 2014 Five Corners Poetry Readings. His work has been published in Blotterature, The Chaffey Review, Folly, Mouse Tales, Steam Ticket: A Third Coast Review, This, Yes Poetry, and other places. You can follow him on Twitter at @jgianotti10.

David Allen is a freelance writer and poet now living in Central Indiana. He is the poetry editor of the online Indiana Voice Journal and vice president of the Poetry Society of Indiana . A native of Long Island, he is retired journalist, reporting for papers in Virginia, Indiana and the Far East. He was part of the “Eat Write Café and Traveling Poets Society” on Okinawa, doing open mic readings and publishing an E-zine. His poems and short stories have been published in several journals and he has two books of poetry, "The Story So Far," and "(more)," both available from Amazon. He has a blog, “Type Dancing,” at https://davidallenpoet.net.  Here's some poems for Mother's Day.

Lois Greene Stone, writer and poet, has been syndicated worldwide. Poetry and personal essays have been included in hard & softcover book anthologies. Collections of her personal items/ photos/ memorabilia are in major museums including twelve different divisions of The Smithsonian.

Milt Montague was born and raised in New York in the 1920’s, fought in world war ll, graduated as an engineer, was in several businesses, found love, marriage, raised three lovely daughters, while pursuing a career, with his wife, in high fashion ladies clothing. He has recorded many tales from a long and busy life, all true. So far, 15 of his memoirs and 118 of his poems have been published in under 4 years.

Nan Friedley was born in Huntington, Indiana, but spent most of her formative years in the Fort Wayne area. She graduated from New Haven High School and received a BA and MS degree from Ball State University in the area of Special Education/Deaf Education. She retired from a 30-year teaching career in Indiana and California. She has published a poetry collection related to teaching special kids called "Short Bus Ride" by BadKneePress. Her poetry has  appeared in the Inlandia Institute's Anthology, "Orangelandia," and PushPenPress.

Shelley Converse-Rath attended Whittier College and graduated in 2010 with a major in English and a minor in Sociology. She is an active member of Sigma Tau Delta and Alpha Kappa Delta. She was the President of the Creative Writing Society at Indiana State University, where she received her Master's in English and was a Teaching Assistant for the English Department. She was also Editor-in-Chief of Indiana State University's Allusions Magazine.



Carlos Franco-Ruiz (°1987, Managua, Nicaragua) is an artist who mainly works with painting. In 1988, as the civil war was winding down his parents immigrated to Miami, FL.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Miami in 2011. In 2013, he moved to Uruguay and continues to follow his passion for painting where he recently had a group exhibition "La Mirada del otro" at Museo de las Migraciones to showcase his latest body of work. Currently lives and works in Sauce, Uruguay.



Lois Greene Stone, writer and poet, has been syndicated worldwide. Poetry and personal essays have been included in hard & softcover book anthologies.  Collections of her personal items/ photos/ memorabilia are in major museums including twelve different divisions of The Smithsonian.

Janine Pickett is Founding Editor of Indiana Voice Journal and Spirit Fire Review. Her work has been published in various online and print journals, and commercial magazines.

Nancy de Guerre is a freelance writer and editor happily pursuing her passion for creative writing. While her degree in English Literature and French has taken her in many directions, she is delighted to come back to what she loves most. She writes short stories, poetry and creative non-fiction and has been published in the Globe & Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, among others. www.wordwise.ca

Mumbai-based, Sunil Sharma is a widely-published Indian critic, poet, literary interviewer, editor, translator, essayist, freelance journalist and fiction writer. He has already published 14 books: four collections of poetry, two of short fiction, one novel, one a critical study of the novel and co-edited six anthologies on prose, poetry and criticism. His six short stories and the novel Minotaur were earlier prescribed for the undergraduate classes under the Post-colonial Studies, Clayton University, Georgia, USA. He is a recipient of the UK-based Destiny Poets’ inaugural Poet of the Year award---2012. Another milestone is that his poems were published in the prestigious UN project: Happiness: The Delight-Tree: An Anthology of Contemporary International Poetry, in the year 2015.

Sunil edits the English section of the monthly bilingual journal Setu published from Pittsburgh, USA:
 http://www.setumag.com/p/setu-home.html

For more details, please visit the blog:
http://www.drsunilsharma.blogspot.in/

DC Diamondopolous is an award-winning short story and flash fiction writer published worldwide. DC’s short stories have appeared in online literary magazines: Antioch University’s Lunch Ticket, Fiction on the Web, Eskimo Pie, Five on the Fifth, Five 2 One and many more. DC’s stories are also in print anthologies: Crab Fat Lit, Blue Crow and Scarborough Fair. DC won second place in the University of Toronto’s Literary Contest for 2016 for the short story, Taps, and won two Soul Making-Keats honorary mentions in 2014 for the short stories,The Bell Tower and Taps.

Robert Wexelblatt is professor of humanities at Boston University’s College of General Studies. He has published the story collections, Life in the Temperate Zone, The Decline of Our Neighborhood, The Artist Wears Rough Clothing, and Heiberg’s Twitch; a book of essays, Professors at Play; two short novels, Losses and The Derangement of Jules Torquemal, and essays, stories, and poems in a variety of scholarly and literary journals. His novel Zublinka Among Women won the Indie Book Awards first-place prize for fiction.  A collection of essays, The Posthumous Papers of Sidney Fein, is forthcoming.

I am an author of short and long form fiction.  I have earned degrees from the Community College of the Air Force, Liberty University, and Denver Seminary, and am currently in the Creative Writing Graduate program at the University of Denver.  My wife and I reside in Colorado with our four children where we enjoy hikes, camping, and many other outdoor adventures. @zsdiamanti

Zimbabwean poet and prose writer of Malawian extraction (b. Harare,Zimbabwe, 1959). Published in Australia, The US, Germany, Ireland,Ghana, Malawi and South Africa among other places in the English-speaking world. Studied at the University of Malawi,Chancellor College. Briefly at Dalhousie in Nova Scotia for Graduate Studies. New Leftist by inclination. Interested in Poststructuralist Theories and Children’s Literature. Taught in Zimbabwean high schools and the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU). Now an independent researcher.

Colin Dodds is the author of  four books, Another Broken Wizard, WINDFALL, The Last Bad Job, and Watershed.  His writing has appeared in more than two hundred publications, and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Anthology.  Colin’s book-length poem That Happy Captive was a finalist for the Trio House Press Louise Bogan Award as well as the 42 Miles Press Poetry Award in 2015. His his screenplay, Refreshment, was named a semi-finalist in the 2010 American Zoetrope Contest. Colin lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and daughter. See more of his work at thecolindodds.com.

This month, we are once again featuring a few books written by authors published in IVJ. We've also opened an amazon bookstore page where you can purchase these books, and many more, written by our authors. If you have published content in Indiana Voice Journal, and you have a new book out and would like it listed in our bookstore, please let me know and I will add your book to our Bookstore page.





Setu, a monthly journal is edited by an international board of talented Hindi and English authors, poets, journalists and critics from across the planet.


This artistic venture focuses on diasporic writings in Hindi and English and features most happening, cutting-edge works in both the important languages.




We are currently closed to submissions. We hope everyone has a great summer. See you in September! We will announce when we are reading again for the September/October issue.

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