Water~Stone Review

08/07/2024

"Poetry demands that readers think and feel deeply, and you’ve got to believe that if we think and feel deeply we’ll advocate for the best, the most just, policies for everyone."

We discuss Albergotti's timely V26 piece, "On the Third Stanza of a Poem by F.S. Key" in our latest interview. We're thrilled to say that his newest book, Candy, was just released last week!

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Dan Albergotti by WaterStone ReviewJul 8, 2024 Your poem, “On the Third Stanza of a Poem by F. S. Key,” blends today’s history of the last election with the beginning of our country. What caused you to weave these two events together? What br...

26/06/2024

Volume 25 Contributor Nonfiction Editor, Juliet Patterson's week-long writing workshop starts in a month on July 21. Learn valuable craft skills to apply to your unique writing.

Link for details:
https://iowasummerwritingfestival.uiowa.edu/events/1316/art-making-scene-fact-story?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3sGck9IrbUlD2aG_Ay-YDwCyOV3l8lXveGTD5QEUs1j4DFxuOjCmy7jTk_aem_a9uxyTkfMa0IxsBV2RHpiA

One challenge of translating research into writing is building scenes or descriptive details from facts. How do writers of literary nonfiction and poetry create characters, places, and dramatic narratives rooted in true details?

24/06/2024

"For me the poem is about the push and pull, the defining and redefining. It is preoccupied by notions of totality or wholeness, in turn, nothingness, emptiness, or removal."

Our new interview with Joseph O. Legaspi is here! We spoke with him about his poem, "Weeding/Wedding," found in Volume 26. Read the full interview below.

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Joseph O. Legaspi by WaterStone ReviewJun 24, 2024 Your poem, “Weeding/Wedding,” is a beautiful twining of etymology and gardening. What inspired this poem? The poem was inspired by my actually gardening—weeding, to be more precise. I was at ...

10/06/2024

"I’m fascinated by the fallibility of memory, and the way that fallibility interacts with the act of writing something down..."

Read our latest interview with Jax Connelly about their nonfiction piece, "Not So Soft" in V26!

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Jax Connelly by WaterStone ReviewJun 4, 2024 Your nonfiction piece “Not So Soft,” which appears in Volume 26, weaves running, sisterhood, eating disorders, and loss together. Your work is uniquely descriptive—“The ground is violent with lea...

06/06/2024

"Spending days in isolation, I became fascinated by the birds outdoors... I had been inspired by the image of robins festooning a tree in the cold of winter."

Read our latest interview with Elise Paschen about her poem, "Divination," in Volume 26!

Link to interview below.

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Elise Paschen by WaterStone Review | May 28, 2024 | blog: all In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Elise Paschen by WaterStone ReviewMay 28, 2024 Your poem, “Divination,” is a gorgeous blend of imagery, myth, and spring welcoming...

16/05/2024

Overjoyed to see this advance copy of (WSR Assistant Editor) Mubanga Kalimamukwento’s book, “Obligations to the Wounded." We cannot wait for this to hit the larger world soon…

14/05/2024

"a lot of my writing is shaped by those pauses, the little moments of brevity in often hard truths or dense imagery."

New interview with poet luna rey hall (Luna Rey Hall) ! luna's poem, "wearing a dress for the first time," can be found in Volume 26!

The link to the full interview is in the bio.

07/05/2024

Looking forward to our next interview? Here it is! Jenifer Browne Lawrence spoke with us about her poem, "Reading Alone in a Square Room," in Volume 26. Read the article below.

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Jenifer Browne Lawrence by WaterStone ReviewMay 7, 2024 Your poem from Volume 26, “Reading Alone in a Square Room,” is a tightly-crafted, highly imagistic piece that leaves readers feeling refreshed. What was the inspiration behind this poem? T...

26/04/2024

As the last few days of poetry month wind down, we'd like to share Cherene Sherrard's vibrant poem "True North." (V22)

16/04/2024

"I can become lost in the beautiful weeds of music and imagery."

Our interview with Jennifer Martelli about her gorgeous poem, "The Hunter" is here!

Link to the full interview below!

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Jennifer Martelli by WaterStone ReviewApr 16, 2024 Picture by Clement Falize from Unsplash “The Hunter,” is a beautiful poem that uses many sensory images; you bring us to this ideal summer’s eve in the work. When did you first start writing ...

15/04/2024

Thrilled to share more of our poets' work! We love sharp poetry that stays with us. Tessa Livingstone's vivid poem, 💫The Mystic Explains,💫 can be found in V22.

10/04/2024

Continuing our celebration of poets this month—

Kathryn Savage's poem "We Met at Roosevelt Hospital," is filled with vivid imagery and appears in V25.

This year, Kathryn returns to WSR as our V27 Contributing Nonfiction Editor!

09/04/2024

"I have language I fall in love with in a poem and sometimes, when things go right, I can keep it."

We talked with🌟Teri Ellen Cross Davis🌟about her two brilliant poems, "River Phoenix at 46" and "The Brain Confesses About Those Six Weeks" that appear in V26. Read the interview below!

https://waterstonereview.com/in-the-field-conversations-with-our-contributors-teri-ellen-cross-davis/

02/04/2024

"Some poems seem to arise from a blank world, others in the middle of a river."

Our new interview with JC Talamantez is here! JC's stunning poem, "Learning to Live With a Clockwork Orange," speaks about assault in relation to Kubrick's film. It can be found in V26.

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—JC Talamantez by WaterStone ReviewApr 2, 2024 When did you first get the idea to weave your poem about sexual assault and r**e with the violent film, “A Clockwork Orange?” I suppose it’s partly because I’m fascinated with that film’s comp...

26/03/2024

Don't miss this online poetry class with Minneapolis Poet Laureate Heid E. Erdrich on April 20, through The Loft Literary Center!

21/03/2024

If you're on campus, head on over to the Anderson Center for this Storytellers event. WSR contributors Halee Kirkwood and Anthony Ceballos will be reading from their work!

This coming Thursday, don't miss former WSR contributors Anthony Ceballos and Halee Kirkwood read from their work at the Anderson Center as part of Hamline's Community Conversation.

18/03/2024

This coming Thursday, don't miss former WSR contributors Anthony Ceballos and Halee Kirkwood read from their work at the Anderson Center as part of Hamline's Community Conversation.

12/03/2024

🔥New Interview!!🔥

We interviewed A. E. Wynter about her poems, "Retching" and "Now & Later," gems found in V26.

These poems explore "the fear of what fractured histories our bodies may be housing."

Read the full interview here:

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—A. E. Wynter by WaterStone ReviewMar 12, 2024 Your two poems, “Retching,” which deals with generational trauma and generational choices that live within descendants, and “Now & Later,” which examines how people are taught to open themselves...

29/02/2024

Check out our latest interview with Danielle Lazarin. Her piece, The Math, is a bite-sized story with big emotions.

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Danielle Lazarin by WaterStone ReviewFeb 27, 2024   Your flash fiction piece, “The Math,” is a beautifully-crafted work that compiles so much emotion in just two pages. What prompted the creation of this piece? What made you juxtapose the narr...

21/02/2024

If you're looking for your next heartwarming story with a speculative edge, look no further than "Pennies Only" by Katie Yee (v26). Read our interview with Yee below where she talks about her inspiration for this piece and themes within her work.

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Katie Yee by WaterStone ReviewFeb 20, 2024 Image by swords4two Your piece, “Pennies Only,” blends the steady life of a relationship with a fantastical gumball machine. Where did the inspiration for this piece come from? Truthfully, the finding ...

13/02/2024

Poet Anthony Ceballos was wonderful enough to answer a few questions with us. Read the interview about his poem, "Glassful of Prayer," on our Water~Stone Review Blog.

Anthony's poem also carries the inspiration line for the title of this year's work—Wreckage of Once Was.

In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors—Anthony Ceballos by WaterStone ReviewFeb 13, 2024 Q: One of the lines of your poem, “Glassful of Prayer,” is used as the title of Volume 26—“wreckage of once was.” Where did your own title come from? What was the impetus for you to take r...

11/02/2024

Dan Albergotti, whose poetry appears in V26 stopped by yesterday!!! Good to see you Dan!

11/02/2024

So excited to see Libby Flores ( ) yesterday night!! Libby was our fiction editor for V26.

10/02/2024

So excited to see JP Howard, V26 contributor, this weekend!! Check our her panel today, Q***r Parenthood, at 1:45!

It was wonderful to stop by Water~Stone Review who is sharing table T1335 with The Creative Writing Programs at Hamline University here at Association of Writers & Writing Programs ! I have two poems in their latest issue Vol 26!

10/02/2024

Final day at AWP! Look for these panels with past contributors and editors:

🌟Grief: What is it Good For? with Kathryn Savage (V27 Nonfiction Editor) at 9 AM
🌟The Value of Co-Translating with Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello (V25 contributor) at 10:35 AM
🌟Kundiman 20th Anniversary Reading with Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello at 1:45 PM
🌟Q***r Parenthood with JP Howard (V26 contributor) at 1:45 PM
🌟Black History in Poetry - A. E. Wynter (V26 contributor) at 3:20

09/02/2024

Shane Seely (V26, The Excavator) dropped by our table to take a picture with us!

09/02/2024

Thrilled to see C. Fausto Cabrera, whose poem appeared in V22, stop by!

09/02/2024

It’s Friday! And you know that means another handful of amazing panels with some amazing people:

🌟Contradiction & the Prose Poem - Jose Hernandez Diaz (V25 contributor) at 10:35 AM
🌟Ekphrasis & Indigenous Poetics - Elise Paschen and Halee Kirkwood (WSR editor and contributor) at 12:10 PM
🌟Editing Behind Bars - Michael Torres (V21 contributor) at 3:20 PM