to the new www.rattle.com

Welcome to the new Rattle.com!  All the same features of the old Rattle.com, but with a fresh face, simpler navigation, faster load-times, and a consistent CSS.  I won’t say this face lift has been long overdue, but the code’s become a hodge-podgy mess of bric-a-brac as we’ve kept adding new features over the years, and we’ve been looking forward to putting it all on the same platform.

The website isn’t the only face that’s changing, either.  If you look to the upper-left, the big R logo is derived from our new cover layout, which we’ll be debuting this summer with issue #37 (see below, cover photo by Jarrett Blaustein). Of a few dozen mock-ups that we did, this one was called “Classic Flash,” if you want a sense of what we’re going with. Clean and unobtrusive, basically. We like to stay out of the way of the poetry.

Anyway, we’re updating on the fly here, so if you notice something that doesn’t look right, please leave a comment below.  As of this posting, all of our back issues have pages, but most are missing tables of contents and links.  Those will be back up soon.  No need to change your bookmarks; everything should be forwarding.

Tomorrow we’ll return to our regular schedule, with a new poem or e-review every day.

Thanks,
TG

Hayden Saunier
Doylestown, PA
for
“The One and the Other”

For the first time in 2011 the Rattle Poetry Prize winner was selected from 15 finalists by subscriber vote.  To prevent ballot-stuffing, only those with subscriptions prior to the announcement of the finalists were eligible.  Of roughly 3,000 possible voters, 680 cast ballots, and Saunier’s poem earned 14.4%.   Here is what some of those readers had to say about their choice:

“In one sparse page, Hayden Saunier has let three nameless, wordless, ordinary people stir up in the rest of us a tart chaos of generosity, cheer, despair, shock, regret, and respect. I am deeply impressed by the skill with which she did that.”
–Anne Ward Jamieson

“I choose ‘The One and the Other’ by Hayden Saunier because of its telling details, its form (in contrast to the awful, out-of-order scene the child finds), its use of sound, including the irregular rhymes, and the fact it is one sentence, cascading downward to that placement of the cake. This is a poem that stays with me.”
–Mary Makofske

“It was a difficult choice, but ultimately the images of the boy with his lemon-glazed cake and the woman hanging from her chandelier refuse to leave me alone. The (relentless) repetition of the phrase ‘too late’ adds to the urgency/tragedy, and details like the boy ‘on tiptoes, avoiding the cracks’, are heartbreaking.”
–Sudasi Clement

“I vote for Hayden Saunier. What an ending! Wonderful that you guys have a prize like this.”
–Chase Twichell

“You know a poem is a winner when it makes you read and re-read it again and again and each time, you say ‘wow’!”
–Lynne Thompson

To read the poem, pick up a copy of Rattle #36, or wait to read it in our free supplemental e-issue this spring (e.12).  We’ll be reprinting the winning poem, along with our summary of the contest, our thoughts on the format and results, and more commentary from the voting subscribers.

Saunier’s “The One and the Other” was the clear winner, but all 15 of the finalist poems received a significant number of votes, and each had their own enthusiastic fans.  No one received less than 4.5% — 1 in 23 readers would have selected any of the poems a winner.  That’s a testament to both the subjective nature of poetic experience, and the quality of all 15 finalists.  Thanks again to each of them: Pia Aliperti, Tony Barnstone, Kim Dower, Courtney Kampa, M, Andrew Nurkin, Charlotte Pence, Laura Read, Diane Seuss, Craig van Rooyen, Bryan Walpert, Anna Lowe Weber, Jeff Vande Zande, and Maya Jewell Zeller.

More on all of this in the spring e-issue next month.

• Patricia Lockwood – “When We Move Away from Here, You’ll See…” (#35)
• Jan LaPerle – “She Rings Like a Bell Through the Night” (#35)
• Christopher Crawford – “So Gay” (#35)
• Heather Bell – “Love Letter to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill” (#35)
• M.L. Liebler – “Underneath My American Face” (#36)
• Dick Allen – “Knock on the Sky and Listen to the Sound: On Zen Buddhism and Poetry” (#36)

For more information on the Pushcart Anthology, and the nomination process, visit www.pushcartprize.com.

Pia Aliperti
Atlanta, GA
“Boiler”

.

Tony Barnstone
Whittier, CA
“Why I Am Not a Carpenter”

.

Kim Dower
Los Angeles, CA
“Why People Really Have Dogs”

.

Courtney Kampa
Oak Hill, VA
“Self-Portrait by Someone Else”

.

M
Portland, OR
“To a Husband, Saved by Death at 48″

.

Andrew Nurkin
Highstown, NJ
“The Noises Poetry Makes”

.

Charlotte Pence
Knoxville, TN
“Perfectly Whatever”

.

Laura Read
Spokane, WA
“What the Body Does”

.

Hayden Saunier
Doylestown, PA
“The One and the Other”

.

Diane Seuss
Kalamazoo, MI
“What Is at the Heart of It…”

.

Craig van Rooyen
San Luis Obispo, CA
“The Minstrel Cycle”

.

Jeff Vande Zande
Midland, MI
“The Don’ts (An Incomplete List)”

.

Bryan Walpert
Palmerston, New Zealand
“Objective Correlative”

.

Anna Lowe Weber
Altoona, PA
“Spring Break 2011″

.

Maya Jewell Zeller
Spokane, WA
“Honesty”

The 15 finalists will be published in Rattle #36, which releases in December 2011.  The $5,000 winner will be chosen by popular vote among eligible subscribers (those active prior to 9/15/2011), and announced on February 15th.

Another four Semi-Finalists were selected for standard publication, and offered a space in Rattle #37. These poets will be notified individually about details, but they are: Sarah Cortez, Patrick Dutcher, Christine Poreba, and Ali Shapiro.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition, which would not have been a success without your diverse and inspiring poems. We received a total of 1,670 entries and well over 6,000 poems, and it was an honor to read each of them.

• Mario Chard – “The Barrel” (#34)
• Ed Galing – “Nursing Home” (#33)
• Reeves Keyworth – “On Telling the Dying to ‘Let Go’” (#33)
• Andrew Nurkin – “The Contest” (#34)
• Matthew Olzmann – “Rare Architecture” (#34)
• Patricia Smith – “Tavern. Tavern. Church. Shuttered Tavern,” (#34)

For more information on the Pushcart Anthology, and the nomination process, visit www.pushcartprize.com.

Patricia Smith
Howell, NJ
for
“Tavern. Tavern. Church. Shuttered Tavern,“

Honorable Mentions:

Michele Battiste, Boulder, CO — “Once More, With Feeling”

Heidi Garnett, Kelowna, BC — “Sin of Unrequited Love”     

Valentina Gnup, Portland, OR — “We Speak of August”

francine j. harris, Ann Arbor, MI — “Katherine with the lazy eye. short. and not a good poet.”

Courtney Kampa, Oak Hill, VA — “Avant-garde”

Courtney Kampa, Oak Hill, VA — “The Miscarriage”

Devon Miller-Duggan, Newark, DE — “Old Blue”

Andrew Nurkin, Highstown, NJ — “The Contest”

Laura Read, Spokane, WA — “This Time We’ll Go to Kentucky Fried Chicken”

Scott Withiam, Cambridge, MA — “The Petty Snow”

The 11 winning poems will be published in Rattle #34, which releases in December 2010.

Another 12 poems were selected for standard publication, and offered a space in the open section of Rattle #35.  These poets will be notified individually about details, but they are: Amanda Auchter, Heather Bell, Christeene Fraser, Linda Gottlieb, Daniel Leamen, Alison Luterman, Megan Moriarty, and Terry Spohn, along with additional poems by Patricia Smith and Scott Withiam.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition, which would not have been a success without your diverse and inspiring poems.  We received a total of 1,697 entries and well over 6,000 poems, and it was an honor to read each of them.

• Heather Bell – “Love” (#31)
• Terrance Hayes – “Model Prison Model” (#31)
• Lynne Knight – “To the Young Man…” (#32)
• Howard Price – “Crow-Magnon” (#32)
• Alison Townsend – “The Only Surviving Recording…” (#32)
• Patricia Smith – “Motown Crown” (#32)

In addition to a chance at representing RATTLE in the anthology, each of their poems will be featured on our blog during the first week in January. For more information on the Pushcart Anthology, and the nomination process, visit www.pushcartprize.com.

Lynne Knight
Berkeley, CA
for
“To the Young Man Who Cried Out ‘What Were
You Thinking’ When I Backed into His Car“

Honorable Mentions:

Michelle Bitting, Pacific Palisades, CA – “Mammary“

Carolyn Creedon, Charlottesville, VA – “How to Be a Cowgirl in a Studio Apartment“

Mary-Lou Brockett-Devine, Niantic, CT – “Crabs“

Douglas Goetsch, Edmond, OK – “Writer in Residence, Central State”

David Hernandez, Long Beach, CA – “Remember It Wrong“

John Paul O’Connor, Franklin, NY – “Beans“

Howard Price, Morro Bay, CA – “Crow-Magnon“

Patricia Smith, Howell, NJ – “Birthday”

Alison Townsend, Stoughton, WI – “The Only Surviving Recording of Virginia Woolf’s Voice“

Emily Kagan Trenchard, Brooklyn, NY – “This Is the Part of the Story I’d Rather Not Tell”

The eleven winning poems will be published in Rattle #32, which releases in December 2009. Another 19 poems were selected for standard publication, and offered a space in the open section of Rattle #33.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition, which would not have been a success without your diverse and inspiring poems.

Short list this month, but we still have well-over 100 review copies looking for homes, so don’t hesitate to ask for several books at once.

To request any of these books, just write to:

New books in June:

• Robert Krut – The Spider Sermons
• Novica Tadic – Dark Things
• Cameron Mount – Evening Watch*
• Samiya Bashir – Gospel
• Mark Van Aken Williams – Circus by Moonlight

* = chapbook
# = uncorrected proof (i.e., softcover
books w/o cover art; may be typos)

Literary Magazines:

• Wisconsin Review – 43.2
• Quercus Review – 9
• Iconoclast – 102

The list is long this month, so don’t hesitate to ask for several books at once.

To request any of these books, just write to:

New books in May:

• Michele Battiste – Ink for an Odd Cartography
• Gaye Gambell-Peterson - Pale Leaf Floating*
• Jude Nutter – I Wish I Had a Heart Like Yours, Walt Whitman
• Peter Ludwin – A Guest in All Your Houses
• Theodore Deppe – Orpheus on the Red Line
• Rebecca Wolfe – The King
• William Archila – The Art of Exile
• Brent Goodman – The Brother Swimming Beneath Me
• Gardner McFall – Russian Tortoise
• Brian Walters – The Retreat from Moscow
• Joan I. Siegel – Hyacinth for the Soul
• Fred Merchant – The Looking House
• Bert Stern – Steerage
• Mark Sonnenfeld – Moscow-esque*
• Josie Sigler – Calamity,*
• Paul Fericano – It’s Not Enough of Elvis

* = chapbook
# = uncorrected proof (i.e., softcover
books w/o cover art; may be typos)

Literary Magazines:

• The Greensboro Review – 85
• CT Review – 30.2
• Poetry – 193.5
• Poetry – 194.3
• Epoch – 58.1
• Beloit Poetry Journal – 59.4
• AGNI – 69
• Indiana Review – 31.1
• The Broadsider
• Arkansas Review – 40.1