[Dislocate]

Receiving packages from the US is always a treat here in Romania, particularly when they come to the normal post office and don’t require me to go down to the special customs office. Yesterday I received an unexpected bunch of contributor’s copies of Dislocate‘s newest, Issue #5. I thought my contributor copies were headed to my family in New York, so I was happily surprised to find them arriving here in Transilvania!

The issue is great, too. There’s a feature called “Grace House,” featuring nonfiction writing from women in a halfway house, responding to paintings by Jacob Lawrence. There’s also a debut English translation of Haitian poet Jacqueline Beauge-Rosier, photographs by Kyle Rand, and contributions from Tom Fleischmann, Joshua Ware, and others. Good company, if you ask me.

The best part of having my nonfiction piece, “Apotheosis,” in Dislocate, though, is appearing in the same issue as my good friend Jesse Donaldson. Since our days at Kenyon College, Jesse and I have had some excellent times outside the fishbowl, and he remains someone I enjoy talking to about writing, living in the American south, and choosing local roads over interstates. That both of us should appear together is a nice reminder of all those conversations, as is his short story, “I Thought Ohio Was Supposed to be Flat.”  As is evidenced in his story, Jesse has really honed the ability to give his characters genuine voice, meaningful experiences, and real lives: “Literalists of the Imagination” pay attention.

So, if you’re interested, I hope you’ll support Dislocate and check out the issue (it isn’t listed yet, but you can send them an email on the page listed to order it). Not only is the issue lovely, but the people who put it out are super nice.

Now I need to go back to reading the issue and listening to the new God Help the Girl single, “Come Monday Night,” on endless repeat.