Delmarva Review

Anthology

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Published November 2024

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Every story, every poem, every essay in The Best of Delmarva Review contains much more than what appears on the page. Each of the 14 stories introduces another layer beneath the surface. Each of the 63 poems presents not only what is said, but what is not said, and the poet’s voice stirs new meanings with each reading. The 19 essays are relevant to you, and the personal ones will strike your emotional core with their honesty and authenticity. In all, there are interesting new worlds to explore or new ways to explore today’s world. Those are among the promises you will find in the following pages.

As we selected the writing for “The Best of” anthology, we were in awe of the creativity shown by the authors published over our sixteen-year history. Since the first edition in 2008, the editors have read thousands and thousands of submissions from aspiring and established writers. We decided to draw attention to the writing qualities that stood out. We hope that will be useful to other writers and interesting to readers.

Volume 16

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Published November 2023

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WELCOME TO THE Delmarva Review’s 16th edition. The writing of 72 authors was selected from thousands of submissions during the year. This annual issue includes 70 poems, 12 short stories, and 14 essays. In all, the writers come from 23 states, the District of Columbia, and four foreign countries.

This year’s cover photograph is called “Eye of the Beholder.” It is a fitting description for the Red-tailed hawk’s large “eye,” on the cover, that allows the raptor to focus on its prey with spatial clarity from great heights at high speed.

The stories or poems in this issue carry a unique message from each author, in her or his own words. Topics naturally include grief, death, pain, love, living, place, acceptance, and freedom, among others. Aging and the uncertainties in life are frequent subjects. All have a common challenge—facing change—and the uncomfortable feelings associated with change.

We are pleased to include a personal essay from the student winner of the Delmarva Review-Talbot County Youth Writing Scholarship award. In partnership with Talbot County Schools and supported by a grant from the Talbot Arts, the review selected Mia Mazzeo, a junior at Easton High School, in Easton, Maryland.

As an independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit literary publisher, we are greatly appreciative of the funding support we receive from individual tax-deductible contributions and a public grant from Talbot Arts with revenues from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Volume 15

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Published November 2022

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THROUGH THE AUTHOR’S VOICE, we discover qualities and truths about ourselves. Perhaps more than anything else this describes the strength of our connections with literature.

Welcome to the Delmarva Review’s 15th anniversary edition. Writing from 60 authors was selected from thousands of submissions during the year. This issue includes 78 poems, 11 short stories, and 12 nonfiction essays. In all, the writers come from 18 states, the District of Columbia, and 6 foreign countries. The review welcomes the best new writing in English from all writers regardless of borders.

This year’s cover photograph of an osprey, The Fisherman, tells its own story. The osprey, with wings spread exhibiting his power, has positioned himself high above the water on a storm-broken tree trunk, his talons clutching a partially devoured fish. The osprey’s purpose is not so much the fish as it is his desire to lure a suitable mate for the season’s nest. Thematically, the image exhibits the territorial imperative shared by most animals, including humans.

Each story or poem in this issue has its own message. No singular theme was selected for the edition. As a literary collection, we focus on the most compelling new writing and what is at stake or at risk emotionally or intellectually in the author’s work.

Popular topics include grief, death, pain, love, living, place, acceptance, freedom, aging, and the uncertainty of life, among others. They have one quality in common—change—and the uncomfortable challenges of dealing with change.

Spy Reprints “From Here” by Lillie Gardner

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LillieGardner-NF

Author’s Note: I started writing “From Here” years ago in Los Angeles, on the trip that the piece is about. I was processing a breakup, helping my sister move to a faraway place, and generally figuring out how to be alone. The piece is about gathering strength to live life for your own sake—and finding the courage to go forth into the unknown... [Continue Story]

Spy Reprints “What Makes a Home a Trailer” by Billie Pritchett

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Editor’s Note: The best “flash” or very short nonfiction connects with readers on several levels by compressing writing, inviting one’s imagination to expand meanings and feelings from the author’s evocative words. Billie Pritchett’s piece is a compelling example.

Author’s Note: In this story, I try to capture a little of what it was like when I was a boy growing up poor in western Kentucky. Material poverty created in me a poverty of psychology. Now I know the only way to combat the poverty mindset is whatever pride I can muster and proximity to good people. Father never discovered the second option for himself, unfortunately.

[Continue Story]

Billie Pritchett - Home Trailer

Spy Reprints “Pulling Salt from Water” by Kristina Morgan

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Author’s Note: Pulling Salt from Water was not an easy thing to write. I have never written about sexual abuse. I think this subject braids nicely with my youth and experience of schizophrenia. It’s a story that triumphs over tragedy. It’s a story that highlights my writing life and my need to be transparent. Yes, I have trauma in my past and yes, I have schizophrenia. Those two things no longer define me. I am at peace.

Editor’s Note: “Pulling Salt from Water” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in nonfiction, as published in the Delmarva Review, Volume 14 (2021). From the opening lines, we are invited into the mind of a courageous writer who is “best understood on the page.” She gives her voice to metaphors that “long to be set free, the paragraph that belongs to me, the one I decide to share as I try to touch my reader.”

[Continue Story]

Spy Reprints “Already Broken” by Irene Hoge Smith

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Author’s Note: My family lived on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, when I was born, and remained there for two years before beginning a series of moves that would take us to Maryland, California, Michigan, and New York. Between Michigan and New York before our mother left us with our father. My memories before that rupture became hard to hang on to, and impossible to corroborate... [Continue Story]

Volume 14

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Published November 2021

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Welcome to the fourteenth edition of Delmarva Review, an annual, independent, nonprofit literary journal. In this, our largest edition, we selected the new writing of seventy authors that stood out from thousands of submissions during the year. Volume 14 includes ninety-eight poems, thirteen short stories, twelve creative nonfiction essays, and seven book reviews. In all, the writers come from twenty-five states, the District of Columbia, and four foreign countries. About forty percent are from the Delmarva and Chesapeake region, though the review welcomes the best new writing in English from all writers, regardless of borders.

The cover photograph, Tangier Island Light, taken at dusk is by contributing photographer Jay P. Fleming. It was taken as part of Fleming’s work for his wonderful new narrative photography book, Island Life, capturing “a pivotal moment in time for Smith and Tangier.” Life on these isolated islands in the Chesapeake Bay—the largest estuary in the United States—is often considered frozen in time, but Fleming has delved deeper, documenting work and life on the islands “as the very forces that sustain them also threaten to take them away.” While not the theme of the book, or of the Delmarva Review, climate change remains highly concerning. There is no preaching here—just the facts, images, and human stories—and you are likely to learn something new from the content (see the book review in this edition). The rest is up to you.

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