The 1998 Pushcart prize XXII best of the small presses_nodrm

Pushcart Prize XXII continues as a testament to the flourishing of American literature in our small presses. Edited with the assistance of over 200 distinguished contributing editors--including Andre Dubus, Joyce Carol Oates, Rosellen Brown, Rick Bass, Carolyn Kizer, Edward Hoagland, Rita Dove, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sandra Tsing Loh, and Sharon Olds--this volume celebrates over 60 stories, essays, and poems from dozens of little magazines and small presses. It seems that the more commercial publishers consolidate into a few companies, the more small presses capture and encourage what is truly lasting and important in our literary culture. Each edition of The Pushcart Prize has increased from strength to strength as the small presses expand in influence and energy. The reviews and features for last year's edition confirmed this strength. "A generous and stimulatingly eclectic selection of fiction, poetry and essays--the biggest anthology in the 21-year history of the Pushcart Press," said Publishers Weekly in a starred review. "The largest and most adventurous volume so far," commented Booklist. "The Pushcart Prize has become a literary institution . . . perhaps the single best measure of the state of affairs in American literature today," noted the New York Times. Books in this series have been named "a Notable Book of the year" several times by the New York Times Book Review; winner of the Publishers Weekly Carey-Thomas Award. Introduction -- Bill Henderson Courting a monk -- Katherine Min Demonology -- Rick Moody Elegy ending in the sound of a skipping rope -- Larry Lewis The beauty treatment -- Stacey Richter Ode to meaning -- Robert Pinsky Grounded -- Claire Davis The balloon -- Mary Ruefle Preacher -- Steve Yarbrough Stonehenge -- Albert Goldbarth Women dreaming of Jerusalem -- Rachel Kadish Atomic bride -- Thomas Sayers Ellis Give the millionaire a drink -- Mike Newirth What the water knows -- Sam Hamill Jessica, the hound & the casket trade -- Thomas Lynch Living with stripes -- Kay Ryan Oxygen -- Ron Carlson Blacklegs -- Brigit Kelly Not the plaster casters -- Janice Eidus What the animals teach us -- Chard de Niord New York days, 1958-1964 -- Charles Simic Karma Lollipop -- Albert Saijo Out of the woods -- Josip Novakovich Missing it -- Dan Brown The twelve plagues -- Gerald Shapiro Matinée idylls -- Molly Bendall We have time -- Paul L. Allman Door -- Dana Levin Knowing your place -- Sylvia Watanabe Executive suite -- Michael Heffernan Carp -- Jessica Roeder No turn on red -- Richard Jackson The kiss -- Pamela Painter Troubadour -- David St. John For the relief of unbearable urges -- Nathan Englander Davy Cricket -- David Hayward Umbilicus -- James Alan McPherson That half is almost gone -- Marilyn Chin The forest -- Andrea Barrett Fragments from the burnt notebooks of O. Fleming -- Frank Polite Civilization -- Tomʹas Filer Oysters and other workers -- Turner Cassity The wings -- Kristin King For the young men who died of AIDS -- Julia Vinograd Rhyming action -- Charles Baxter The lipstick tree -- Kiana Davenport Souls -- Dannie Abse Dentaphilia -- Julia Slavin L.A. dream #2 -- Maureen Seaton Native daughter -- Lee Smith Breathing lessons -- Rane Arroyo Two accidents : reflections on chance and creativity -- Lewis Hyde On the failure named Bosnia -- P.H. Liotta The famous torn and restored lit cigarette trick -- Elizabeth Gilbert Invierno -- Junot Diaz Sparrow -- Reginald Gibbons Return of the Boyceville flash -- Gordon Weaver Old Woodrat's sticky house -- Gary Snyder Jamming traffic -- Rita Ariyoshi Van Leeuwenhoek : 1675 -- Linda Bierds The appropriation of cultures -- Percival Everett Some information about 23 years of existence -- Jeff Clark The secret names of whores -- Donald Rawley Body parts (1968) -- Bin Ramke Killer whales -- Susan Daitch El Perifʹerico, or sleep -- Joshua Clover Zenobia -- Gina Berriault The man who wouldn't plant willow trees -- A.E. Stallings At least thirteen ways of looking at look -- Gordon Lish g The nude detective, a complaint -- Dorothy Barresi Gooseberry marsh -- Gretchen Legler Vous etes plus beaux que vous ne pensiez -- Kenneth Koch Jaget -- Anne Carson Scar Vegas -- Tom Paine The coat -- Flannery O'Connor Special mention -- Contributors' notes -- Presses featured in the Pushcart Prize since 1976 -- Contributing small presses -- Index. Pushcart Prize XXII continues as a testament to the flourishing of American literature in our small presses. Edited with the assistance of over 200 distinguished contributing editors--including André Dubus, Joyce Carol Oates, Rosellen Brown, Rick Bass, Carolyn Kizer, Edward Hoagland, Rita Dove, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sandra Tsing Loh, and Sharon Olds--this volume celebrates over 60 stories, essays, and poems from dozens of little magazines and small presses. It seems that the more commercial publishers consolidate into a few companies, the more small presses capture and encourage what is truly lasting and important in our literary culture. Each edition of The Pushcart Prize has increased from strength to strength as the small presses expand in influence and energy. The reviews and features for last year's edition confirmed this strength. A generous and stimulatingly eclectic selection of fiction, poetry and essays--the biggest anthology in the 21-year history of the Pushcart Press, said Publishers Weekly in a starred review. The largest and most adventurous volume so far, commented Booklist. The Pushcart Prize has become a literary institution . . . perhaps the single best measure of the state of affairs in American literature today, noted the New York Times.