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Anna Romero

Born and raised in Manila Philippines, Anna Romero grew up as an expat in her own country. Her family is originally from the Philippines (the island of Cebu) and, naturalized Italian. She began an early career as a Classical Pianist which lasted between pre-school and high school, where she achieved First Place in a National Piano Teacher's Guild Competition as well as Semi-Finalist in a National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA), both held in the prestigious Folk Arts Theatre.

Wallace Stevens: Emperor of the Enigmatic

Essay —

Wallace Stevens:

The Emperor of the Enigmatic

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The poet Mark Strand has said that Wallace Stevens is “one of the most admired American poets of the twentieth century,” but at the same time, one of “the least understood.” Perhaps that is because Wallace Stevens wrote some of the most willfully obscure poems of the twentieth century.

The Emperor of Ice-Cream

Gary Lehmann

Gary Lehmann teaches writing and poetry at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and has been the Writer in Residence at Roberts Wesleyan College. His poetry and short stories are widely published -- about 60 pieces a year. He is the director of the Athenaeum Poetry group. When not writing or teaching, he works on becoming an amateur shoemaker.

Sunset

Sarah Skwire

Sarah Skwire lives and works in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has published poems in The New Criterion, WOE, Coracle, The Oxford Magazine, The Vocabula Review, and elsewhere. She has also published a range of academic work, mostly on 17th century literature.

A Painting of Saint Agnes

No one caught the beauty that went before
and after you: it fed the air like light,
invisible, life-giving. And your life,
it faded into darkness too, as might

a martyr unredeemed by others' faith.
And into view a painting of Saint Agnes
shimmers; she shares the small coals of your eyes,
that knack of distant gazing, as if kindness

was an amber where the passing life was held.
No surprise then that a dark glance can unman me
in corridor, on canvas; or those full