from Pontoon 10

now Available from Floating Bridge Press, Pontoon 10. The following poem is by John Glowney, one of our chapbook finalists for 2007.


MY FATHER GOES SWIMMING IN THE AFTER-LIFE

This is how I see him now,
wading
into that pinkish beach of clouds
covered with angel footprints,

as I remember the one and only time
he went swimming with us

Mom somehow dragging him out of the fields

and away from his prized
herd of milk cows
for a hot Sunday afternoon in early August
at Moore’s gravel pit,

and he waded in,
his thick farmer’s torso stripped down
to an old pair of swimming trunks
dug out of the bottom of the dresser,

burned red at the neck and wrists
where the plaid shirt-sleeves stopped,
red and worn where weather

and baling twine and busted combines,
rusted bolts and dry spells
and lost calves, smashed him up,

he shuffled
into the spin and slop of sun
spread across silted water
like butter gone bad
where kids shouted and played—

and how we stared, amazed
at his great glossy bulk,
soft, spoiled white of banker’s hands,
the sickly white of the larva of flies
—white, white, white—

a purity we had never suspected.

Pontoon 10 is Here!

...and it's beautiful.

You will not find a better record of poetry in the northwest corner of the US, no better document of the diversity of poetic talent here.

Our Pontoon 10 contributors include:

Sally Albiso, Emily Benson, Laurie Blauner, Allen Braden, Ronda Broatch, Donna Mae Brown, Jennifer Bullis, Gabrielle Dean, Anita Feng, Patrick Forgette, Kent Fortin, Anne Fraser, Arthur Ginsberg, John Glowney, Felicia Gonzalez, Carol Gordon, Cora Goss-Grubbs, Thomas Gribble, Iris Gribble-Neal, Jeremy Halinen, Kayt Hoch, Holly J. Hughes, Cal Kinnear, Janet Norman Knox, Jeanne Lohmann, Joanne Barrie Lynn, Erin Malone, Marjorie Manwaring, Natasha Kochicheril Moni, Elizabeth Myhr, Rosanne Olson, Leonard Orr, Thomas Pfau, Dave Rea, Bethany Reid, John Sangster, Amy Schrader, Judith Skillman, Ann Spiers, Holly Thomas, Jeremy Voigt

Under the same beautiful cover, our retrospective section includes:

Kelli Russell Agodon, Sally Albiso, Jeannette Allée, Thomas Aslin, Greg Bachar, Bart E. Baxter, James Bertolino, Lillias Bever, Laurie Blauner, Michael Bonacci, Ronda Broatch, Crysta Casey, L. A. Christiansen, Martha Clarkson, Kevin Coyne, Kevin Craft, Larry Crist, John Davis, Dana Elkun, Jon Fischer, Chris Forhan, Laura Gamache, Pesha Gerler, John Glowney, Chris Gompert, David Gravender, Joseph Green, Iris Gribble-Neal, James Gurley, Mark Halperin, Justin Hart, Esther Altshul Helfgott, Michael G. Hickey, Gregory Hischak, Johnny Horton, Holly Hughes, Kathryn Hunt, Paul Hunter, Rob Jacques, Sybil James, Timothy Kelly, Joannie Kervran-Stangeland, Janet Norman Knox, Sigrun Susan Lane, Erin Malone, Blas Manuel De Luna, Marjorie Manwaring, Martin Marriott, Carlos Martinez, Maureen McQuerry, Lenae Nofziger, Eva M. Olson, Leonard Orr, Nancy Pagh, THomas Pfau, Geoff Pope, Bethan Reid, Mark Reimer, Eli Richardson, Lisa Roullard, John Sangster, Derek Sheffield, Martha Silano, Mark Simpson, Annette Spaulding-Convy, Molly Tenenbaum, Gerald E. Tiffany, Donna Waidtlow, Cody Walker, Kary Wayson, Karl Weyrauch, Josua Marie-Wilkinson, Shari D. Willadson, John Willson, John L. Wright

We will be sending copies of Pontoon to subscribers and contributors over the next weeks. And we are very happy to take orders from interested readers via our website order form and paypal!