Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty-year writer and the author of 11 published books of fiction and poetry and 5 stage plays. She has been nominated 21 times for the Pushcart Prize in both fiction and poetry. Her play ‘Crooked Heart’ concerning artist Jackson Pollock premiered on October 25, 2022 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Another play, LADY IN A POST BOX, co-written with poet and writer Ciaran O’Driscoll is moving toward production in Ireland. Tepper’s Novel satire titled ‘Office’ has been released as a Second Edition by Wilderness House Press. A new Novel ‘Hair of a Fallen Angel’ will be out in the winter.  Susan is a Brand Ambassador for The Galway Review. http://www.susantepper.com

Steel

By Susan Isla Tepper
 
This is all that’s left: who
is to stop us from
standing guard 
over the wild ferns,
the memory of secret loving
that went on
and on in the overgrowth—
Only those two, plus some deer
shared this wild patch. 
When she screamed
for mercy 
and the baby hatched 
they called it Doe.
There was more to us
then—
at least 
fifty feet of silent steel 
longing;
spiking the air.

Chad Parenteau hosts Boston’s long-running Stone Soup Poetry series. His latest collection is titled The Collapsed Bookshelf. His poetry has appeared in journals such as Résonancee, Molecule, Ibbetson Street, Pocket Lint, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, The Skinny Poetry Journal, The New Verse News, dadakuku, Nixes Mate Review and anthologies such as French Connections and Reimagine America. Chad serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine.