https://chestertownspy.org Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown Mon, 09 Dec 2024 16:09:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/07/delmarva-review-the-best-of-anthology/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/07/delmarva-review-the-best-of-anthology/#respond Sat, 07 Dec 2024 16:21:56 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/07/delmarva-review-the-best-of-anthology/ A notable new literary anthology, The Best of Delmarva Review 2008 – 2023, has been released for circulation worldwide in print and e-book editions.  “The anthology showcases ‘the best of the best’ short stories, poetry, and nonfiction published in the Delmarva Review during its 16-year history,” said Wilson Wyatt, the executive editor and one of […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/07/delmarva-review-the-best-of-anthology/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/30/delmarva-review-leitmotif-by-rita-plush/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/30/delmarva-review-leitmotif-by-rita-plush/#respond Sat, 30 Nov 2024 15:25:32 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181119 Editor’s Note: “Leitmotif” was first published in Volume 16 of the Delmarva Review in 2023 and was selected to be featured in the new anthology, The Best of Delmarva Review. Author’s Note: My daughter and I had breast cancer at the same time. Hers was more severe than mine and she didn’t survive. Writing, putting […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/30/delmarva-review-leitmotif-by-rita-plush/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/23/delmarva-review-arrogance-by-katherine-j-williams/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/23/delmarva-review-arrogance-by-katherine-j-williams/#respond Sat, 23 Nov 2024 17:00:38 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/23/delmarva-review-arrogance-by-katherine-j-williams/ Editor’s Note: This is one of Katherine J. Williams’s poems included in the new anthology, “The Best of Delmarva Review 2008-2023,” to be released during the holidays. Author’s Note: As children, whatever we observe becomes our definition of the world. Sometimes it takes years to understand the unacknowledged power of early assumptions. The significant losses […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/23/delmarva-review-arrogance-by-katherine-j-williams/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/16/delmarva-review-a-system-of-seeing-by-colin-jeffrey-morris/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/16/delmarva-review-a-system-of-seeing-by-colin-jeffrey-morris/#respond Sat, 16 Nov 2024 13:30:37 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=180849 Author’s Note: “A System of Seeing” recomposes John James Audubon’s proposal to the New York Lyceum of its collaborative investment in a book project that would eventually become– with largely British sponsorship—his masterpiece, The Birds of America. My poem amplifies the vocabulary of “vision” and “correspondence” that makes its music on the margins of the […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/16/delmarva-review-a-system-of-seeing-by-colin-jeffrey-morris/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/delmarva-review-the-end-of-the-story-by-patty-somlo/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/delmarva-review-the-end-of-the-story-by-patty-somlo/#comments Sat, 09 Nov 2024 13:22:53 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/delmarva-review-the-end-of-the-story-by-patty-somlo/ Author’s Note: After my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I believed I was preparing for his death. “The End of the Story” weaves together this period of caregiving, mixed with fear and love, with my work as a writer, who often has trouble ending stories. The End of the Story A NOT FAMOUS WRITER […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/delmarva-review-the-end-of-the-story-by-patty-somlo/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/02/delmarva-review-something-more-than-winter-weighs-upon-me-by-john-muro/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/02/delmarva-review-something-more-than-winter-weighs-upon-me-by-john-muro/#respond Sat, 02 Nov 2024 13:12:23 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/02/delmarva-review-something-more-than-winter-weighs-upon-me-by-john-muro/ Author’s Note: A constant source of inspiration for my poems remains, unabashedly, the natural world. Nature so often provides for poetic inspiration, insight and restoration of the soul and the creative spirit. Sometimes, too, it provides a sacred space to simply reflect upon memories and key events in our life that still affect us in […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/02/delmarva-review-something-more-than-winter-weighs-upon-me-by-john-muro/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/26/delmarva-review-unknowable-by-mary-cecile-gee/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/26/delmarva-review-unknowable-by-mary-cecile-gee/#respond Sat, 26 Oct 2024 13:58:12 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/26/delmarva-review-unknowable-by-mary-cecile-gee/ Author’s Note:  My mother died in my arms when I was in my early forties. She wanted to die at home, and my sister’s and my willingness to be her caregivers made that possible. Over the arc of my mother’s final weeks, she only uttered a rare few sentences, but each one took up resonance in […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/26/delmarva-review-unknowable-by-mary-cecile-gee/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/18/delmarva-review-traumas-by-andrew-payton/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/18/delmarva-review-traumas-by-andrew-payton/#respond Fri, 18 Oct 2024 12:00:39 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/18/delmarva-review-traumas-by-andrew-payton/ Author’s Note: I find it a terrifying thrill that as a parent I am responsible not just for a child but a childhood, and whether or not she remembers these days with love or venom, the days proceed. Even my best self with my best intentions make mistakes. And yet, there is so much sweetness, […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/18/delmarva-review-traumas-by-andrew-payton/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/12/delmarva-review-chopins-ghost-by-bethany-reid/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/12/delmarva-review-chopins-ghost-by-bethany-reid/#respond Sat, 12 Oct 2024 12:30:46 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=179916 Author’s Note: As a child I took piano lessons, but they left me only with a life-long aversion to the piano. When I retired from full-time teaching, I decided to see if I could get over that aversion. My introduction to “Chopin for Beginners” in 2020 led me to reading a biography of Chopin (whose […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/12/delmarva-review-chopins-ghost-by-bethany-reid/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/05/delmarva-review-dry-eye-by-jean-mcdonough/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/05/delmarva-review-dry-eye-by-jean-mcdonough/#respond Sat, 05 Oct 2024 12:30:45 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=179727 Editor’s Note: Jean McDonough’s personal essay, Dry Eye, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Nonfiction and was selected for inclusion in the forthcoming anthology “The Best of the Delmarva Review.”  Author’s Note: While I was suffering from the effects of a chronic dry eye condition during the last few months of my father’s life, […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/05/delmarva-review-dry-eye-by-jean-mcdonough/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/28/delmarva-review-cadence-by-k-alma-peterson/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/28/delmarva-review-cadence-by-k-alma-peterson/#comments Sat, 28 Sep 2024 12:30:31 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=179602 Author’s Note: I wrote the poem “Cadence” with recollections of mythology where a small bird sits on our shoulders to remind us of our death. I had also been diagnosed with an aortic thoracic aneurysm which seemed like a small bird caged, waiting to break free, where death is the freedom it seeks. These two […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/28/delmarva-review-cadence-by-k-alma-peterson/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/21/delmarva-review-you-learn-transaction-before-anything-else-by-marlowe-jones/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/21/delmarva-review-you-learn-transaction-before-anything-else-by-marlowe-jones/#comments Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:20:17 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/21/delmarva-review-you-learn-transaction-before-anything-else-by-marlowe-jones/ Author’s note: This poem spurred several conversations among my classmates about the ethics of writing about one’s family. To me, it’s about nostalgia and childhood innocence, how innocence is another word for ‘ignorance’, and how childhood nostalgia doesn’t discriminate between negative and positive experiences. I attempt to communicate this disconnect between reality and memory with […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/21/delmarva-review-you-learn-transaction-before-anything-else-by-marlowe-jones/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/14/delmarva-review-now-dimming-by-mercedes-lawry/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/14/delmarva-review-now-dimming-by-mercedes-lawry/#comments Sat, 14 Sep 2024 12:30:59 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=179292 Author’s Note: Dusk is my favorite time of day. While I don’t have a direct view of the sunset from my house, I can often see swathes of various colors streaking the sky and a commotion of clouds. I find the quieting of the world leads to quieting of the spirit. The intersection with night […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/14/delmarva-review-now-dimming-by-mercedes-lawry/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/07/delmarva-review-un-bouquet-de-debra-a-story-by-curt-saltzman/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/07/delmarva-review-un-bouquet-de-debra-a-story-by-curt-saltzman/#respond Sat, 07 Sep 2024 13:14:50 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/07/delmarva-review-un-bouquet-de-debra-a-story-by-curt-saltzman/ Author’s note: “It’s a weary psychological truth that one is often one’s own worst enemy. It is also true, to paraphrase Proust, that the only veritable voyage is that which is undertaken within the Self, though in a foreign land, absent the habitual repères, these aforementioned truths may impose themselves upon the consciousness with an unfamiliar […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/07/delmarva-review-un-bouquet-de-debra-a-story-by-curt-saltzman/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/31/delmarva-review-on-the-day-i-rehome-our-dog-mello-by-noel-sikorski/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/31/delmarva-review-on-the-day-i-rehome-our-dog-mello-by-noel-sikorski/#respond Sat, 31 Aug 2024 13:39:55 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/31/delmarva-review-on-the-day-i-rehome-our-dog-mello-by-noel-sikorski/ Author’s Note: Rehoming my dog Mello after having had her as best friend for three years is one of the most painful decisions I have ever made. A grief compounded by the fact that Mello, my dog, was also my elderly mother’s dog. My mother and I have had a complicated relationship, filled with lots […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/31/delmarva-review-on-the-day-i-rehome-our-dog-mello-by-noel-sikorski/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/24/delmarva-review-last-swim-class-by-pam-crow/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/24/delmarva-review-last-swim-class-by-pam-crow/#respond Sat, 24 Aug 2024 12:00:19 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=178818 Author’s Note: I watched my daughter teach a swim class at the local high school pool and was struck by her combination of beauty and ridiculousness. There is a goodbye that comes after high school for many parents, when we realize things will never be the same. This moment felt like a turning point, and […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/24/delmarva-review-last-swim-class-by-pam-crow/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/17/delmarva-review-petrarchs-cat-a-story-by-john-j-mckeon/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/17/delmarva-review-petrarchs-cat-a-story-by-john-j-mckeon/#respond Sat, 17 Aug 2024 11:53:44 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/17/delmarva-review-petrarchs-cat-a-story-by-john-j-mckeon/ Author’s Note: “Petrarch’s Cat” sprang from my experience of trying (trying!) to learn a piano piece by Franz Liszt, based on one of the poet’s sonnets. I had to dig for an English translation, in the process learning a lot more about the poet’s life and stumbling on a description of the supposed cat mummy. […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/17/delmarva-review-petrarchs-cat-a-story-by-john-j-mckeon/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/10/delmarva-review-revision-by-kathy-nelson/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/10/delmarva-review-revision-by-kathy-nelson/#respond Sat, 10 Aug 2024 11:53:21 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=178303 Author’s Note: “Revision” appears in my poetry collection, The Ledger of Mistakes (Terrapin Books, 2023), about caring for my mother during her decline and death. Having worked as a hospice chaplain, I am well aware that the death of a family member often brings up what is left unresolved. In fact, sometimes the urge to […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/10/delmarva-review-revision-by-kathy-nelson/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/03/delmarva-review-on-making-marmalade-by-erin-rose-belair/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/03/delmarva-review-on-making-marmalade-by-erin-rose-belair/#respond Sat, 03 Aug 2024 12:41:51 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/03/delmarva-review-on-making-marmalade-by-erin-rose-belair/ Author’s Note: “On Making Marmalade” is an excerpt from my lyrical essay collection, The Blue Years. I wrote it as a love letter, or meditation, on taking our time to do things right. I had never made marmalade before, and something about the process was so beautiful to me. How do we show our love? […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/03/delmarva-review-on-making-marmalade-by-erin-rose-belair/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/27/delmarva-review-staging-a-plantation-home-by-susan-bucci-mockler/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/27/delmarva-review-staging-a-plantation-home-by-susan-bucci-mockler/#comments Sat, 27 Jul 2024 12:31:36 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=178066 Author’s Note: This poem was inspired by the time I spent as a writer in residence at the Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Virginia (sponsored by the The Inner Loop literary group in D.C.). While I was at Woodlawn, I learned that the enslaved quarters and much of the evidence of their work no longer existed. […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/27/delmarva-review-staging-a-plantation-home-by-susan-bucci-mockler/feed/ 1