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Dear Dusk by Stephen Knauth

Stephen Knauth’s poems are unpretentious depictions of the poet’s life, punctuated with exhilarating flashes of transcendence: “A freight crosses the […]

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The Silent Conversation by Bruce Bond

Published by Cloudbank Books, The Silent Conversation is the Editor’s Choice for the Vern Rutsala Book Prize for 2025. “In

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Cover image of Michael Malan's new book of poetry Midnight at the Chevron Station

Midnight at the Chevron Station by Michael Malan

“In his new volume, Michael Malan’s lyrics and flash fiction perform acrobatic marvels wherein the real, magical, and surreal collide, yet they dance together…“

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La Sirena by Published by Cloudbank Books in 2024, La Sirena was a runner up for the Vern Rutsala Book Prize in 2023. “The beauty of Maurya Simon’s new book, with its lush textures and depths of language, is like an immersion in myth made fact.” —Mark Jarman, author of Zeno’s Eternity More Praise for La Sirena “Simon has gifted us with a truly fresh take on mermaid myths, drawn from across cultures, hybridizing and unifying them into a vivid tale for our time. The poems spin a beautifully imagined story, rich in particulars, that explores otherness, the allure of the sea, female power, the body, love, eroticism, destiny, family, language, voice and voicelessness with a luscious grace. Simon’s mermaid has real strength and agency! She owns a harpoon! As we follow her coming of age, ecstasies, sufferings, and transformations, we dive deep into a timeless archetype that’s magical, redemptive, and replete with spiritual meaning.” —Amy Gerstler, author of Index of Women “Wherever we grow up is a mythic place. If that place is beside the Pacific Ocean, among sandy little beach towns, it is numinous and profound in memory. Growing up there, the speaker of these poems knew herself and her sister to be magical sea creatures: mermaids. Much here confirms that fantasy, much reminds us they were simply human children, lucky to be in a place where they could dream.” —Mark Jarman, author of Zeno’s Eternity “Maurya Simon’s La Sirena: A Novella in Verse is more than a fanciful tour-de-force. It re-imagines the ethos of Southern California and the blithe companionship of two teen sisters in a lathering foam of magical realism, transporting the mundane into the chimeric, the everyday into whimsical sublimity. It is not only a joy to read, but the gift of a literary journey as though upon a green float of speckled glass, riding waves that comb the shore of the nearly real into a gentle harbor of charm.” —Garrett Hongo, author of Coral Road About Maurya Simon Maurya Simon’s previous volume of poetry, The Wilderness: New and Selected Poems, was awarded the 2019 Gold Medal in Poetry from the Independent Booksellers Association. Her poems, essays, and reviews have been published in an array of literary journals and have been included in several national multimedia exhibits and performances. She lives in Mount Baldy, California. Order Information Thank you for ordering from Cloudbank. Your receip

La Sirena: A Novella in Verse by Maurya Simon

Published by Cloudbank Books in 2024, La Sirena: A Novella in Verse was a finalist for the Vern Rutsala Book

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Cloudbank 18

Poems and flash fiction by Gerald Yelle, Maya Janson, Christine Potter, Nick Conrad, and many others.

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Constellation by H. L. Hix

Constellation by H. L. Hix is the. Winner of the 2023 Vern Rutsala Book Prize. “A brilliant and beautiful book

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Cloudbank 17

Poems and flash fiction by EG Cunningham, Bruce Bond, Phillip Sterling, Kerry Langan, Susannah Lee, Albert Garcia, Julie Gard, Justin Hunt, and many others.

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Cloudbank 16

Poetry and flash fiction by Joe Harper, Gabriel Spera, Gary Soto, Lynn Stearns, Marjorie Stelmach, Jody Stewart, Robert Stewart, Francine Witte, and many others.

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Work glove on a bronze metal background. Title on the left vertical side and author name running across top

The Scarecrow Alibis
Denver Butson

THE SCARECROW ALIBIS – “A Psalm for the Dispossessed” When “the scarecrow” first came to him in 2011, Denver Butson

The Scarecrow Alibis
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Deep Territory by Michael Malan

Poems by Michael Malan, published by Blue Light Press. These are visionary poems, and the world they envision is a shapeshifting realm where trees speak and rivers dream, where stones sing and the moon is “a broken compass in the heart of memory.”

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Book of Years by Doug Ramspeck

Praise for Book of Years The poems in Doug Ramspeck’s Book of Years explore, as one carefully crafted lineation effect

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Cloudbank 15

This issue includes new poems and flash fiction from Maya Janson, Mark Terrill, Fred Muratori, Gary Fincke, Nancy Keating, and

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Long Voyage Gathering Light by John Kooistra

Winner of the Vern Rutsala Book Prize 2021 Praise for Long Voyage Gathering Light from Dan Bourne Every line in

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Cloudbank 14

This issue includes new poems from Bruce Bond, Laurie Blauner, Gary Soto, Patrick Lawler, Leslie Ullman, Alice Friman, and many others. Also included are book reviews for Creatures Among Us by Rebecca Lilly, Tarzan’s Jungle Plane by Michael Malan, and One Small Sun by Paulann Petersen.

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