By David Blomenberg
 Joe Hall’s second book of poetry, The Devotional Poems, is recently out from Black Ocean. While he was in the beginning stages of his book tour, I got a chance to ask him a few questions about it.
David Blomenberg: Congratulations on the second book! Tell me about the tour you’ve got going.
Joe Hall: I really wanted to make sure I could get the book out there and read to as many people as possible. I’ll be on the road for about five weeks, doing a reading just about every other day. I have over the course of the summer about 30 readings scheduled. I’m visiting Fayetteville Arkansas, and other places; I’m trying to get to all of those corners of America.
DB: That’s a lot more than you did with your last book
JH: I’m a bit nervous. There’ll …MORE
by Natalie van Hoose, Audio Archives Editor
 Spring is a stingy season in Indiana. After a night so balmy we left the windows open, Friday came as a real smack on the knuckles: mid-thirties, bracing winds, and Puritan rain (or is it sleet? Sheisse, it is).
This calls for a hot poem. What better example than “Stack Sex” by Issue 21.1 contributor Christopher Kempf, himself a native of Fort Wayne? He knows (he must!) what it’s like to love young in Indiana—the dearth of good make-out spots, the toxic rivers, and unwilling weather. Cornfields aren’t exactly beds of clover, either.
We cope/copulate as best we can, even if that means dropping our duds and raising some dust in the boonie back-aisles of the library—er, we mean via this steamy poem, of course, because to paraphrase Kempf, …MORE
By Natalie van Hoose, Audio Archives Editor
In honor of National Poetry Month, we will be spotlighting one poem each Friday from our Audio Archives.
 Today’s feature is Rasma Haidri’s “The Passion” from Issue 21.1. Buckle up for this one, audio fans. That Haidri manages to skate away with two-ton words like “soul,” “substantiation,” and “primal scream” may be nothing less than a miracle, but there is no denying that her punch-packing poem about a couple’s first fight—over Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ—will leave you stinging in the best of ways (just try to think of another poem in which “incarnation” occupies the same space as “shit”).
This poem comes armed with explosive and implosive potential, an “Upper Room oration” in a basement garage. In the gospel according to Haidri, redemption still comes at …MORE
by Natalie van Hoose, Audio Archives Editor
In honor of National Poetry Month, we will be spotlighting one poem each Friday from our Audio Archives.
Today’s feature is John Randolph Carter’s “Luggage” from Issue 25.1. A dizzying blend of quirk and wisdom, each thought in “Luggage” lies somewhere between aphorism and one-liner. Pick a few to pocket–our current favorite is “Dull spurs make a dull cowboy,” although the mental image of Patsy Cline needling out a mean argyle also has its appeal. Take a listen!
Feel free to visit our archives for another flight of fancy courtesy of John Randolph Carter, and be sure to pop in next Friday for a new selection.
by Alisha Karabinus, Managing Editor
Regular submissions in all genres will be closing a little early this year, on March 20 instead of March 31, due to the incredible volume received this year. Hurry and get those submissions in before Wednesday! We will be open again to regular submissions in the fall.
We are, however, pleased to announce that we will be extending the deadline for the 2013 Wabash Prize for Fiction, judged by the legendary Charles Baxter. The new deadline is March 31, by midnight Eastern time. Entries are $15 for the first story and $5 for each additional, and all submissions come with a complimentary one-year subscription to Sycamore Review, along with the chance to get your story in Baxter’s hands… and in the magazine as well.
Photo credit: Keri Pickett
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