Map Literary: A Journal of Contemporary Writing and Art
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    • Matthew Serback, "How to Make a Boulder"
    • Kathryn Holzman, "Eating Meat"
    • Pavle Radonic, "The Laboratory"
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    • William Cordeiro, "Selections from Whispering Gallery"
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    • Justin Meckes, "The Gash"
    • Reb Livingston, from "Bombyonder"
    • Craig Foltz, "Without Stigma"
    • On Experimental Fiction
  • Nonfiction
    • Scott Wordsman reviews Petter Lindgren
    • Alexander Clark, "Postdiluvian"
    • Diane Payne, "3 micro memoirs"
    • Luc Sante, "Flesh and Bone"
    • Isobel O'Hare, "Failure: A Love Letter"
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    • Yuji Hiratsuka, "Beet Meets Meat"
    • Fabio Sassi, "Rusted Link"
    • Kasey Ramirez, "Edifice"
  • Archives
    • 2017 >
      • Fiction 2017 >
        • Alexandra Renwick, "The Life of an Artifact in Duodecadal Glances"
        • Lizzi Wolf, "My Brother's Therapist"
      • Poetry 2017 >
        • Douglas Piccinnini
        • Matthew McBride
        • Jim Daniels
        • Sally Ashton
        • Raymond Farr
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        • Charlie Moses, "Dear Friend"
        • Pamela Woolford, "This Is What Happened"
        • Jennifer Martelli, "Phobiacompendia"
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      • Fiction 2016 >
        • Loie Merritt, "The Edge of the Sea is a Strange and Beautiful Place"
        • Mitchell Grabois, "i"
        • Kelle Groom, "25 Reasons to Attend the Gala"
        • Mike Shepley, "Killing Symbols"
        • Jody Azzouni, "Owning Things"
        • Dan Gutstein, "Like Airplanes and Stars"
        • Kate Imbach, "Diamondland"
      • Poetry 2016 >
        • Jeff Alessandrelli
        • Daniel Coudriet
        • Peter Leight
        • John Wells
        • Jenna Cardinale
        • Isabelle Shepherd
        • Michael Robins
        • Will Walker
        • Bridget Sprouls
        • Allan Johnston
        • Hugh Behm-Steinberg
        • Caroline Knox
        • David Dodd Lee
        • John Deming
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    • 2015 >
      • Poetry 2015 >
        • Adam Clay
        • Kyle Hemmings
        • Matthew Henriksen
        • Megan Kaminski
        • Emily Kendal Frey
        • Noelle Kocot
        • Katy Lederer
        • John Lowther
        • Nathaniel Sverloff
        • Franz Werfel -- James Reidel
      • Fiction 2015 >
        • Erin Bedford, "Riesenrad"
        • James Braziel, "Jick's Chevrolet"
        • James Braziel, "Vittate"
        • Adrian Class, "Or Flights"
        • Erica L. Kaufman, "It Buried Us"
        • Nolan Liebert, "Gravity of Hearts"
        • Heather Noland, "Cosmic Slump"
        • Tom Whalen, "In the Cathedral"
      • Nonfiction 2015 >
        • Rebecca Cook, "What the Hammer Said When the Hammer Hit the Girl"
        • Margot Kelley, "Companion Species"
    • Fall 2014 >
      • Poetry Fall 2014 >
        • Stephanie Anderson
        • John Buckley and Martin Ott
        • Vanessa Couto Johnson
        • John Estes
        • Anne Gorrick
        • Henry Israeli
        • Keegan Lester
        • John Loughlin
        • Douglas Luman
        • Danielle Mitchell
        • Alexandria Peary
        • Marcus Slease
        • Georg Trakl / James Reidel
      • Fiction Fall 2014 >
        • Matt Rowan, "Dog's Best Friend"
        • Kelli Anne Noftle, "Before She Was Olive"
        • Chris Okum, "Ratatat"
        • Jon Fried, "Cashing In"
        • Lisa C. Taylor, "Visible Wounds"
        • Sarah Kahn, "Break"
        • Rebekah Morton, "Big Sis"
      • Nonfiction Fall 2014 >
        • Stephen Benz, "Night Then Morning: Elko, Nevada"
        • Joseph C. Jiuliani, "Of Stealing and of Being Stolen"
        • Lindsay Chudzik, "Jailface"
        • Robert D. Vivian, "Just After Rain"
    • Spring 2014 >
      • Poetry Spring 2014 >
        • Simeon Berry
        • Molly Brodak
        • Wyn Cooper
        • Brian Foley
        • Tim Kahl
        • Caroline Knox
        • Rob MacDonald
        • Benjamin Paloff
      • Fiction Spring 2014 >
        • Gareth David Anderson, "Cupcake"
        • Halsted M. Bernard, "Your Hands"
        • Patrick Cole, "Pick-up Lines"
        • Joshua Graber, "This Fine Experience"
        • Lola Grace, "Natural Birth"
        • Robert E. Tanner, "Non-Disclosure Disagreement"
      • Art Spring 2014
    • 2012 & 2013
  • Pedagogy
Picture
Christopher Leibow

Excerpts from Riparia Suite

*

are in the amber color          of sap —                 

oozing from our
carved initials,         

laying on top
                     of each other. 

a talisman –                    

that expands
each year
marked; the white sycamore
at the bend of the river.                               

The River.







*

There are no 
roads to here. 
how did we… 

how did I end 
up on this side 
of the river? 

Are we two
migrating 
birds - did we 

get lost 
by a shift 

of constellations? 

Under a wet canopy 
I build a fire 

         under the skin. 







*

While you
sleep

I send you
            small birds

to weave
          words

into your
            hair

but the river
holds me

back -

    Instead she
weaves herself.

Did you wonder
    why on waking

     the damp
                     pillowcase?







*

She weaves red

thread into river-water

                      the dusk around her rests on rivulets,

alights on gold leaf spin

                      casts small shadows across bare skin

She now sings

                      Rocks a lullaby — rocks the river

On the shore a paper boat sitting on a bedside table

the bed and the child -
his eyes getting heavy

                             and heavier.







*

She is always
arriving

always
leaving

I am still
here

on the shore
throwing stones

over the river’s
undulating

body
This morning

did you
hear their

damp dead
thump

among
the damp fallen

leaves
calling 

to you?





Picture
Christopher Leibow is a poet, a visual artist and a performer of small slights of hand. He is an MFA graduate of Antioch and has been published in numerous journals and online, including  Circa, Interim, and Barrow Street and Likewise Folio with upcoming publications in 2 Bridges and the Sugarhouse Review.  His art has appeared in Lumina, 491 Magazine and has been a featured artist online with Cha: A Journal of Asian Writing and OFZOOs. He is a two time Pushcart Award nominee and a Utah Book Award Nominee and the winner of the Writers@WorkWriters Advocate Award in 2008.currently lives in Salt Lake City, with his cat Count Orly.




published by
The Department of English
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
The William Paterson University of New Jersey
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Map Literary

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