Susan Isla Tepper has a new Novel out titled “Hair of a Fallen Angel” from Spuyten Duyvil Books, NYC. A twenty-year writer, she’s authored 12 books of fiction and poetry and 5 stage plays. Honors include 21 Pushcart Prize Nominations. Her play ‘The 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. Susan is a Brand Ambassador for The Galway Review. A Youtube music video for her new novel at: https://youtu.be/W2HVIc4NrqY

With Grace

By Susan Isla Tepper

The little pool you made
out of nothing
takes on winter’s revenge
with grace—
tho’ its water
will be frozen and still
a while

Wind chimes endure
pealing a plea
endures forced silence
when ice drops from the sky

Beneath this pause
life pulses

promising to reappear
at the exact planned moment—
when the first crocus
struggles up
sun warming the ground

W.F. Lantry, a native of San Diego, is a widely published prize winning poet and fiction writer who has been featured in poetry journals and readings nationally and internationally. He currently lives in Washington, DC. He taught for eight years at L’Université de Nice in France, earning his License and Maîtrise in English Literature, Linguistics and Translation. During this time, he won the Paris/Atlantic Young Writers Award. Boston University awarded him a Fellowship to study with Derek Walcott and George Starbuck, who together directed his thesis. There he received an M.A. in English and Creative Writing. He holds a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston where he worked with Donald Barthelme, Ed Hirsch, Mary Robison, James Robison and Adam Zagajewski. He has taught at 12 different Universities on two continents in a variety of fields, most often Literature and Rhetoric, but also in History, Library Science, World Civilizations, and Information Technology. He served as Director of Academic Technology at a national research university in Washington, DC for 15 years.