Volume 40, Issue 1
editorial staff
readers
“Faces of Memory,” a silkscreen painting by Leo Adames
Francesca Leader
My darling daughters, if you should marry—as I did—someone who speaks another language, it will be, in the beginning, an adventure. Like bushwhacking through virgin forests, but in a safe way, because the person holding your hand has assured you there are no poisonous snakes here, no man-eating crocodiles, no active volcanos. This person—whose sensual, mysterious verbiage rustles like birds against your ears—will introduce you to their relatives. And their relatives will love you, at first, because they don’t understand a word you’re saying.
READ MORE>Nicole Yurcaba
for the lamp on the table beside your father’s favorite recliner
& you realize: only a few years ago you would have replied
Mamo, it’s stupid you called. Stop wasting my time.
I’m busy & she would have said Okay. Bye bye! or hung up
the phone without even saying Do pobacennja & now a green gecko
appears on the balcony where you’re sitting. You ask your mother
Mamo, what color is the lampshade & she announces Light blue.
Remember—my living room is blue & yes, you remember it’s blue:
sky-above-Kyiv-in-July blue & how well you know her living room
& Kyiv’s sky & now you’re mother’s saying Nika, your father visited
again today & you’re watching the gecko scurry at your feet & you
pose Oh, really? How? & the gecko is staring at you & when your mother
says The flameless candle, it lit itself you’re thinking about how, as a child,
you found your mother ridiculous
simple
overbearing
& now the gecko’s winking at you
turning toward the sea
scampering down the balcony wall
& you say Interesting. It seems these days
he’s everywhere
all at once.
Jacob Vaus
I can let the ring go. Would like to.
I like it when doctors are fast. You want to talk about your hair, but they say no. They have other matters to get to. I like it when they come in fast, like they’re out of breath. It makes you feel like a marble between gears. The madness is around you, but not within. You cannot get cancer, dear. Don’t even dream of it.
No. The ring will not come off.
Dr. Brandt says, “How long has it been on?”
That’s the funny thing. It’s only been two years, and I haven’t gained any weight. I imagine a tree growing around a ribbon. Can we change so fast?
READ MORE>With a background in Art Education, APSU graduate and Clarksville artist Leo Adames has continued to explore painting, printing, and, more recently, silkscreen mono prints. It is the experimental nature of this process that is the feature of his most recent art show. The actual process is a combination of painting and printing. The results leave a painterly effect on the paper or canvas with a touch of unexpected “visual flavor. “I paint with music in the background. Sometimes music influences the painting process, the brushstrokes, the colors, the theme. One dominant element in many of my works is the horizon line. Maybe it’s psychological, and maybe it’s emotional, or simply attitudinal. I feel the horizon line is a representation of what is now, and what is to be; maybe a symbol of optimism , from dark to light, or something to look forward to.
Leo Adames is also a songwriter, known locally for his original lyrical compositions and singing style. “Painting and songwriting have been a dominant part of my creative expression”.
“Faces of Memory,” a silkscreen painting by Leo Adames
news & events
contests
Zone 3 Press sponsors two book competitions: The Zone 3 Press First Book Award in Poetry and The Zone 3 Press Creative Nonfiction Book Award. Winners receive $1,000 and publication of their book, as well as an invitation to give a joint reading at Austin Peay State University with the contest judge.
Zone 3 Press publications are made available from the Zone 3 Store and your favorite booksellers.
Francesca Leader
Nicole Yurcaba
for the lamp on the table beside your father’s favorite recliner
& you realize: only a few years ago you would have replied
Mamo, it’s stupid you called. Stop wasting my time.
I’m busy & she would have said Okay. Bye bye! or hung up
the phone without even saying Do pobacennja & now a green gecko
appears on the balcony where you’re sitting. You ask your mother
Mamo, what color is the lampshade & she announces Light blue.
Remember—my living room is blue & yes, you remember it’s blue:
sky-above-Kyiv-in-July blue & how well you know her living room
& Kyiv’s sky & now you’re mother’s saying Nika, your father visited
again today & you’re watching the gecko scurry at your feet & you
pose Oh, really? How? & the gecko is staring at you & when your mother
says The flameless candle, it lit itself you’re thinking about how, as a child,
you found your mother ridiculous
simple
overbearing
& now the gecko’s winking at you
turning toward the sea
scampering down the balcony wall
& you say Interesting. It seems these days
he’s everywhere
all at once.
With a background in Art Education, APSU graduate and Clarksville artist Leo Adames has continued to explore painting, printing, and, more recently, silkscreen mono prints. It is the experimental nature of this process that is the feature of his most recent art show. The actual process is a combination of painting and printing. The results leave a painterly effect on the paper or canvas with a touch of unexpected “visual flavor. “I paint with music in the background. Sometimes music influences the painting process, the brushstrokes, the colors, the theme. One dominant element in many of my works is the horizon line. Maybe it’s psychological, and maybe it’s emotional, or simply attitudinal. I feel the horizon line is a representation of what is now, and what is to be; maybe a symbol of optimism , from dark to light, or something to look forward to.
Leo Adames is also a songwriter, known locally for his original lyrical compositions and singing style. “Painting and songwriting have been a dominant part of my creative expression”.
“Faces of Memory,” a silkscreen painting by Leo Adames
