Editor's Note

Many critics believe that Cowboy (which is the cover of this issue and can be seen in Fairmount Park) is one of the greatest anatomical works of sculpture ever executed. The sense of furious movement, suddenly halted, is caught from the horse’s far-flung foreleg to its windswept tail. It is this captured motion that makes the statue so extraordinary. Mike Cohen, the SVJ cultural writer, presents the background story to the sculpture and the sculptor, Frederic Remington.

Joe Hauser, the film critic for the SVJ, provides an insightful and provocative essay on the theme of the cowboy in American film. The movie western is an American contribution to the art of the cinema. Ingrained in American culture the cowboy embodies rugged individualism. There is probably no other figure that is so closely allied to the American spirit than the cowboy. Hauser quotes an unforgettable line from the movie, The Man Who shot Liberty Valence. You will have to read the article to find the quote. It is worth contemplating how often myth trumps truth.

This year we celebrate the centennial of Mark Twain’s death in 1910 with two articles. Robert Regan, who is a Mark Twain Scholar, had read the Twain papers at the Library of the University of California at Berkley. He goes into the previous history behind the earlier filtered autobiographies. Regan claims that the new updated volumes will not reveal much more about Twain than what we know already and that the true genius of Twain lies in the vernacular of his characters. John Timpane, an editor with the Philadelphia Inquirer, provides a contemporary overview of Twain and delights us in showing what makes a Twainiac.

Terry Culleton, the featured poet of the issue, is a master of craft and a poet of exceptional range. Anna Evans writes that Culleton is “that rare bird, a poet who not only understands the proper mechanics of meter and form, but who can use them to produce great poetry.” Joe Chelius contrasts the connection between the proofreader and a lamp and how each are wedded faithfully to the page — such a fitting association. Susan Charkes memorably presents the experience of what it means to stop “In the Wawa.” It’s hard to believe but there are two poems that mention Wawa in this issue.

There is an article on Richard Moyer and his relentless pursuit of literature and the humanities. At the age of 69 he earned his M.A. in English and was the oldest student in the graduating class at Temple University in 2000. Moyer is a perpetual student who enjoys learning like others enjoy going out to dinner. He wrote a poem about a cow that asks something we should all ask, “What do you have to say for yourself.” It may be part of the reason why Moyer has never stopped taking classes.

Gary Percesepe uses a line at the end of his short fiction piece that stuck with me, “But they say every love affair has one moment that comes to represent all the others, one that will live with you if you let it.” Isn’t that what words and writing are all about – something that will stay with us whether or not we let it? Alisa Wolf offers a reflective essay on the nature of change in our lives and frames it around the title of the essay, “Question Seven.” The question is whether the respondent would be in favor of deregulation of the long distance phone service industry. As Wolf notes, since the deregulation we have seen many other dramatic changes in the telecommunication industry.

Loss is always with us – the loss of parents, of loved ones, of something or someone in the past. There is no getting away from loss. It is an indelible part of memory and a constant theme in literature and particularly central in this issue. The poems of loss are a way of remembering which Janice Stridick reveals in “The Hidden Side.” Bernadette McBride writes a memorial essay to the poet Allen Hoey who has appeared in the SVJ. She also wrote a poem about the death of Tim Russert, the Meet the Press host, conceding that “the loss of the boom of you” makes “the world cry.” Louis McKee extends that loss theme with his poem “Home Improvements” with the irony that the home is improved with his absence. Joyce Meyers who has written a review of David Kozinski’s chapbook, Loopholes, points out many of David’s poems grow out of a deep sense of transience and loss. She quotes Kozinski who describes his life’s work as “burying / the dead by the spoonful.” There are, indeed, other poems about loss in this issue.

Hayden Saunier writes a humorous poem about the unsuccessful attempt to poison a groundhog. McKee shows a touch of humor when it comes to walking the dog – and the question becomes who is walking who? As McKee observes both are at the end of a leash and for the two of them there are, “No masters, only mutual respect.” McKee in his essay, “Charlie: Wasn’t That a Time,” writes a homage to C.K.Williams and to the Philadelphia poetry scene of the 1970s when Williams ran a poetry workshop at the Jewish Y on Pine Street. It was a time when the Philadelphia poetry scene was in its literary heyday.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the SVJ and the Manayunk/Roxborough Art Center Humanities and Poetry series. The SVJ which started out as a local staple-bound publication of about 40 pages has grown into a perfect bound 125-page publication that is both regional and national in scope. It would be interesting to do a success ratio of all the magazines and reading venues that are still thriving after 20 years. My guess is that it would be in the single digit range. Frankly I too admit that I am surprised that the SVJ has been able to carry on so well over the years, but the journal could not manage without the essential support of its volunteer staff and the patronage of some invaluable friends and the good fortune of finding a place for the arts at the Manayunk/Roxborough Art Center in Philadelphia. Journals are a labor of caring for the word.