December 16, 2008

Happy Holidays from Weave!

We here at Weave are gearing up for the holidays, like we expect many of you are, but just wanted to send out a reminder that we are still open for submissions for issue 02 and will be through the end of January. A lot of lovely work has been sent to us this round and we have truly enjoyed reading everything sent to us. Right now we're especially interested in reading more poetry for issue 02. As for fiction, we're just about full up, but still welcome more submissions, of course.

Also, thanks to everyone who has applied for a fiction reader position. We are humbled by the interest that has been shown and hope to get to work with some of you soon!

Issue 01 is still for sale here! We'd love you to take a look at it, especially if you plan to submit or apply for a fiction reader position here at Weave.

December 15, 2008

Pittsburgh Poetry Events Dec 15-21

Hungry Sphinx Reading Series
Tuesday, Dec 16 @ 8pm
The Sphinx Cafe
401 Atwood St Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Poetry Caravan Series
Thursday Dec 18 @ 8pm
feat Lori Wilson and Sheryl St. Germain
Your Inner Vagabond
4130 Butler Street, Lawrenceville, PA 15201

Eastside Poetry Gathering
Saturday Dec 20 @ 7pm
From slam to literary poetry to everything in between
Borders Books Pittsburgh, EastSide
5986 Penn Circle South Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Sunday Poetry and Reading Series
Sunday Dec 21 @2pm
feat. Angele Ellis
Carnegie Library Quiet Reading Room - Main Library First Floor
4400 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15213

December 10, 2008

POETSBURGH this Friday, Dec 12th (plus two more events!)


Additional Events this week:

The International Poetry Forum Presents "The Apology Project"
December 10th
Featuring Yannis Simonides
Carlow University, Grace Library
3333 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Contact venue for time and price of admission (412) 621-9893

Weave Poetry Workshop
December 14th 3 - 5pm
Your Inner Vagabond
4130 Butler Street
Lawrenceville, PA 15201
Bring copies of a poem to workshop!
RSVP if you can

December 8, 2008

Weave Wants You...

...to read fiction submissions!

Weave Magazine seeks a few fine persons to become fiction readers for our fine journal.

The reader(s) will be given a short questionnaire to fill out for the story/stories they are given to review.

If you wish to apply for a fiction reader position, please send an email to weavezine@gmail.com with "Fiction Reader Application" in the subject line and let us know a little bit about yourself. Who you are, where/if you have been published, what kind of fiction you tend to like, what kind of pie is your favorite pie (non-pie lovers need not apply), and what you think of the state of the world today might be good places to start.

If you wish to apply for this position, it would behoove you to read an issue of Weave first. If you haven't already, you can do so by ordering a copy here.

This will not be a position that pays in money, but rather in gratitude and perhaps the occasional pie.

Pittsburgh Poetry Events Dec 8-14

Hungry Sphinx Reading Series
Tuesday, Dec 9 @ 8pm
The Sphinx Cafe 401 Atwood St Pittsburgh, PA 15213

POETSBURGH @ Nationality Rooms
Friday, Dec 12 @ 7pm
Cathedral of Learning, English Room
$5 suggested donation


(events listed at the Pittsburgh Poetry Calendar)

December 4, 2008

Weave Poetry Workshop - Dece 14 @ 3pm

Poetry Workshop!

December 14, 2009 - 3pm
Your Inner Vagabond
4130 Butler St
Pittsburgh, PA 15201

We hope to see you there!

RSVP on Facebook


December 3, 2008

POETSBURGH @ Nationality Rooms!

Open Thread and Weave Magazine are back with another edition of POETSBURGH!

December 12, 2008 7pm - 9pm


Come hear Tom Laskow, Molly Prosser, Dan Shapiro, and Michelle Stoner share some of their latest work! It's all going down in the fabulous English Nationality Room, the largest of those famed spaces in the Cathedral of Learning!

Doors open promptly at 7pm. $5 suggested donation.
Cathedral of Learning
English Room
4200 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA‎

December 1, 2008

Pittsburgh Poetry Events Dec 1-7


Hungry Sphinx Reading Series
Tuesday, Dec 2 @ 8pm
The Sphinx Cafe 401 Atwood St Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Gist Street Reading Series
Feat Robert Marshall & Anne Marie Macari
Friday, Dec 5 @ 8pm
305 Gist Street, Pittsburgh, PA



(events listed at the Pittsburgh Poetry Calendar)

November 26, 2008

On Theme

To be perfectly honest when Laura and I began to put together Issue 01 of Weave, we were not sure how it would turn out. We knew, of course, what we liked in writing, what we didn't like, and where we diverged, but it was the contributors who truly shaped what became the first issue of Weave. In this first issue much of the work is about the cycle of life and death; J.R. Pearson reflects on the killing of an ant, Nashay Jones depicts pregnancy, Heidi Evan's cover art is skeletal, Rachel Bunting rewrites the story of Lazarus, and Sarah J Sloat asks the question "What on earth doesn't end up in tatters?". It is a truly lovely collection of work.



As our second issue shapes up, we are beginning to see a theme emerge in it as well -- more by happy accident than design. Issue 02 will show you science versus fairytale, and where the two may meet. The characters are diverse; a man working in an asylum in the 1960's, the monsters in your closet, and a princess who'd rather be a mad scientist, among others, all equally colorful. We're excited to see how it is shaping up and hope you will take a look at the lovely Issue 01 while Laura and I are hard at work on Issue 02.

- Margaret

November 24, 2008

Pittsburgh Poetry Events Nov 24-30


Hungry Sphinx Reading Series
Tuesday, Nov 24 @ 8pm
The Sphinx Cafe 401 Atwood St Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Discussion of Wislawa Szymborska, Poems New and Collected
Conducted by Michael Wurster
Wednesday, Nov 25 @ 7:30 pm
Borders Books, Northway Mall, McKnight Road

(events listed at the Pittsburgh Poetry Calendar)

November 17, 2008

Pittsburgh Poetry Events Nov 17-23


Warhol-O-Rama with Peter Oresick
Tuesday, Nov 18 @ 7pm
Whitehall Public Library 100 Borough Park Dr Pittsburgh 15236
Registration is required: Call 412-882-6622

Hungry Sphinx Reading Series
Tuesday, Nov 18 @ 8pm
The Sphinx Cafe 401 Atwood St Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Te Cafe Reading Series feat. Jill Khoury and Joan E. Bauer
Thursday, Nov 20 @ 8pm
Te Cafe 2000 Murray Ave Squirrel Hill

Cave Canem Reading Series feat. Ronaldo V. Wilson
Friday, Nov 21 @ 6:30pm
the Mattress Factory Sampsonia Way North Side Pittsburgh

(events listed at Pittsburgh Poetry Calendar)

November 1, 2008

Weave Sponsors

Weave Magazine would like to take the time to thank the following individuals and businesses who have extended their support to our project.


THANK YOU.

October 30, 2008

Between Liberties and Weave Magazine Celebrate on Nov 9th!

Weave Magazine is very pleased to announce that our release party will now feature a musical performance by Between Liberties. Between Liberties rocketed onto the scene in Pittsburgh late in 2007, quickly garnering a dedicated underground following with emotionally charged songs that surpass their years. The event is being held November 9th at 5pm at Your Inner Vagabond in Lawrenceville, PA.

We are so honored to have Between Liberties as part of our celebration for the first issue of Weave Magazine. This party promises to be a magical evening filled with music, art, poetry and of course, excellent company that we hope includes you! If you haven't already, be sure to RSVP to our Facebook event.

Here is a lovely music video performance by Between Liberties.

October 21, 2008

Weave Magazine Release Party!


Weave Magazine is pleased to invite you to an evening of poetry and music to celebrate the release of our inaugural issue hosted by Your Inner Vagabond Coffeehouse & World Lounge on November 9th, 2008 beginning at 5:00pm.

The event should be a splendid evening (especially if YOU are there!) and will include poetry readings from the first issue, silent auction, musical performances and the sale of works by local artists. The event is free and open to the public.

The first issue of Weave Magazine will also be for sale.

Sunday November 9
Begins 5pm / Free
Your Inner Vagabond Coffeehouse & World Lounge
4130 Butler St. @ 42nd, Lawrenceville,
Pittsburgh, PA 15201 / 412-683-1623

October 13, 2008

Review: Flats and Riots by Michelle Stoner

Michelle Stoner’s first book Flats and Riots is a provocative journey that is both political and personal. A quick flip through the pages of this book and you’ll see that Stoner is most comfortable with a brief style, with most poems averaging less than ten lines. But it is her brevity that makes each poem so hearty; each word, phrase and line break is carefully crafted so the reader follows her through both the “flat” and the “depth” of each poem.

Each of the four sections includes snapshots of emotional experiences, wandering travel, and portraits of characters the narrator meets along the way. In the first section, Provocation, you get a feel of wanderlust, a fascination with movement and a curiosity of the role of a world traveler. In this section, an untitled poem showcases these themes through Stoner’s economy of language:

You whistle,
you eat fruit,
you go West, you try.

Stoner’s work also serves as political, both as a whole and as a more focused effort in certain poems. Throughout the book, the reader experiences the narrators growing desire for movement, both physically and socially. She often expresses the narrator’s frustration with seemingly fruitless attempts to use art for political and social change. This frustration is best showcased when Stoner comments on American culture. In her third section, Polimerica, Stoner’s words are a brief but biting commentary on Americans, like the line in her poem “Dirty Face”

dig at it
until it is just red and swollen and
empty, like an American.

This bubbling momentum builds to the fourth and final section called The Flagstaff Poems, written during Stoner’s experiences while living in Arizona. This focus does not signify a settling in the emotion or limit her subject matter but continues to build on her themes to demonstrate that the personal is political, that artistic expression can be activism. In the poem “Going for ice cream in an Arizona winter with the boys” Stoner comments on poverty,

We blew through the cop-proclaimed “crack” hoods;
ain’t no ghetto here

and also on the lifestyle choices of modern women;

“You live with these two guys?”
I sure do.

Flats and Riots is a powerful and moving book of people, places and things. Whether commenting on sexual politics or expressing homesickness, Michelle Stoner’s Flats and Riots delivers an emotional (and sometimes physical) punch-in-the-gut that will make you laugh, cry and think all at once.



Flats and Riots by Michelle Stoner was published by CustomWords in 2008 and can be purchased via their website.

October 2, 2008

Review: Forms of Intercession by Jayne Pupek

Forms of Intercession by Jayne Pupek is a collection as unsettling as it is beautiful. In (I) Forms of Intercession, the first of three sections in this imagistically dense, narrative work, we are introduced to gentle-seeming female narrators with a desire for an almost violent rebellion. The women (or woman) in these poems are aware of a magical property in their own bodies, watching the lifeline in their hands deepen or making a potion of hair and feathers with a sense of both longing and simultaneous understanding. This, combined with the sexual, but not at all titillating element the poems often take on, gives the characters in them a shamanistic, earth-mother quality.

In the second section, (II) What If?, there is an increased sense of the magic of the female body with the narrator becoming a mermaid and the lines between waking and dreaming life, between real life and fantasy, blurring even further. This section also offers up my favorite poem of the book, Withholding, where Pupek writes,

“Set in fields, poppies survive.
Nature strengthens by withholding.

Perhaps it’s the same with a woman.
Withhold love, watch how far she’ll go to find it.”


This section shifts to a tone of uncertainty and doubt, even fear as Pupek’s narrators, always in the intimate “I”, speak of cheating spouses, of children dead of stillbirth, infanticide, or abortion, always with a hauntingly beautiful voice and the ear for soft, low sound that Pupek maintains throughout the book.

In the final section, (III) Slivers, the tone shifts again to one of persistence and belief. Men become impotent and weak rather than having the delicate balance between equals and prey demonstrated in the first section or as perpetrators of harm as they are presented in the second section. In this section there is also a movement from simply understanding and consciousness of the magical quality of the female body to an attempt to utilize that quality with an element of openness and power as in Scoliosis where she writes,

“I turn, raise my dress
shoulder-high
and show my spine,
a curved snake
hissing inside bone.”


Indeed, there is still a darkness to Pupek’s writing, even in this section, but as she closes the book in the poem Sliver,

“Life is full of broken combs and blisters. Still we go on
because it is in us, the need for continuance,
that sliver of persistence inside every cell.”



Forms of Intercession by Jayne Pupek was published by Mayapple Press in 2008 and can be ordered from them or on amazon.com.
Jayne Pupek's website may be found here.
She has also recently published a novel, Tomato Girl, which may be found here.

October 1, 2008

Weave Issue One Preview!

We are very pleased to announce that we have published some sample works from Weave's premier issue on our website. Our contributor list has been updated to include the titles of all pieces being published in issue one. We have included fantastic poetry from both Molly Prosser and Dana Guthrie Martin. For fiction, we do hope you'll enjoy Jack Swenson's piece as much as we do. For artwork, be sure to check out the lovely Nashay Jones and the amazing cover art by Heidi Richardson Evans.

We are so very excited and honored to include all the work of our contributors and we do hope that these samples will whet your appetite for a bigger taste of what's cooking in Weave's first issue. We also hope that if you are considering submitting to Weave for consideration in future issues, that you'll take a gander and these pieces to gain a clearer picture of our aesthetic.

We will soon be open for pre-orders for issue one and will thank you in advance for your support. Be sure to check back - or better yet, sign up for our mailing list or subscribe to our blog (see right side column). That will ensure you have the latest news for all things happening with Weave.

September 29, 2008

Subscription Swap

With the first issue of Weave about to go to print, Weave would like to offer up 5 subscription swaps. We'll send you the first two issues of Weave (a year's subscription), you send us a year's worth of new issues of your journal.

E-mail us at weavezine@gmail.com if you're interested in making a swap!

September 16, 2008

Reminders from Weave

With all the success we have seen, with our grant funding and amazing contributors for issue one, it's hard to believe that Weave Magazine is barely six months old. Sometimes when you are a fledgling journal, it can be difficult to keep the momentum going with regard to submissions and inquiries.

While we will be very busy over the next two months with preparation for the issue one release, we absolutely love seeing new submissions in our inbox. We are still open for submissions for issue two until January 31, 2009. Please see our submission guidelines to stay up-to-date on any changes.

We hope you have enjoyed our first two reviews from this summer - we have three more reviews lined up for the fall. If you have a chapbook or a book coming out this winter, please contact us at weavezine@gmail.com to request a review.

September 15, 2008

Weave Contributors Read This Week!

Two of Weave's first issue contributors will be doing readings this week. We are a little late in announcing the first one, Molly Prosser, who will be reading TONIGHT TUESDAY:

Do you have a love for poetry with a little hookah on the side? Then come to the Sphinx Poetry readings, where local poets share their writing in a comfortable and relaxed setting.

Molly Prosser and Michelle Stoner will be reading. Open mic will follow.

The Sphinx Cafe
401 Atwood St
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Michelle is also a good friend of ours and we're excited to hear both of them read.

Later this week, Jason Kirin will be reading at Your Inner Vagabond's Poetry Caravan Series:

Your Inner Vagabond discovers its Inner Beatnik as we continue our FREE monthly poetry & literature series on with a poetry reading that will feature Jason Kirin. Following the reading, other poets, writers & artists are invited to take the Vagabond stage to present their work. To be held every Third Thursday in Pittsburgh's most eclectic coffeehouse & performance venue, the Poetry Caravan is a place for new and emerging writers from all literary disciplines to hone & showcase their writings in front of an appreciative & supportive audience. Interested writers should contact YIV to reserve a time-slot. Cost: FREE & BYOB! All Ages.

Your Inner Vagabond
4130 Butler St
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
(412) 683-1623

We hope you can make it out to support the local poetry scene! If you are one of our contributors and you have a reading coming up, feel free to contact us and we'll add it to our calendar and try to include it on our blog.

September 12, 2008

Weave Thanks the Sprout Fund!

Weave Magazine would like to express the most sincere gratitude to The Sprout Fund Board of Directors for generously approving our grant proposal. The Sprout Fund is a nonprofit organization supporting innovative ideas and grassroots community projects that are catalyzing change in Pittsburgh.. The first issue of Weave promises to be a beautiful collection of art and writing. Now we can also expand our efforts into the community by participating in conferences and providing support through informational and creative workshops. Weave strongly believes in the power of engaging the community and thankfully those at The Sprout Fund agree.

Thank you, Sprout Fund, for believing in Weave Magazine!

August 18, 2008

Review: Poemergency Room by Paul Siegell

Before I even held Paul Siegell's Poemergency Room in my hands I was impressed by him; if anyone wants you (yes, you) to read their book, by god, it's Paul Siegell. The Facebook group alone for his book has over 700 members and is constantly being updated with events, news, and articles.

There is a high level of energy here -- sometimes an almost manic one. Siegell bounces from word to word, line to line with a fantastic momentum, and this momentum often manifests in repetition emphasized by italics or capital letters. His poetry feels as though it almost literally pulls you from one line to the next, from one poem to another.

Poemergency Room is full of short statements, fancy line-work, and carmen figuratum or shape poems. The language is a mix of the high and low cultures, making a pop culture reference juxtaposed with a literary one. There are many places where Siegell pulls this mix off brilliantly.

Siegell utilizes the visual in his poetry throughout Poemergency Room -- and again, there are places where this works to his advantage - the poem Zephyr Kayak Embryo is a lovely example of this - and others where I personally do not feel as though the visual added to the poem.

All his poems do not contain this shaping element to them, however. In fact, one of the pieces I came back to a number of times in the book, a found poem titled Suicide in the Subway, is simply centered on the page, so I was not left feeling that Siegell relies too heavily on the visual.

One of the things I appreciate about Siegell's writing is his willingness to take his chosen style and push it to its limits. Pushing his chosen style as far as he can does, every so often, make his writing uneven, but it is clear that he is conscious of what he does and that he takes care in crafting his work in such a way that he steps up to the boundary, and sometimes even beyond it. I firmly believe that it is only by doing this that a writer may discover what they are truly capable of in their craft.

Siegell’s book was a crash course for me in his style. I am very glad I got the chance to read it. Poemergency Room may not be the best place to start if you are not familiar with the style that Siegell works with (to get an introduction, I might point a Weave reader to Coconut Poetry, who, Google has revealed, published Siegell in their 10th issue), but for anyone who is perhaps even a little bit familiar with his style, Siegell’s book is a fun ride.



Poemergency Room by Paul Siegell was published by Otoliths in 2008 and may be purchased here
Paul's website, where you can also order copies directly from him, may be found at http://paulsiegell.blogspot.com/

August 6, 2008

Review: Threat of Pleasure by Phil Memmer

Threat of Pleasure, Phil Memmer’s second book of poetry, expertly showcases his range of voice taking the reader on a journey from the personal to the mythical and finally, the philosophical. He begins with the title poem which encompasses aspects of all three of these themes and poses the question, “Isn’t it enough?” It’s as though he opens the front door to a familiar home where we are compelled to sit and chat with him a while.

Threat features three distinct sections of Memmer’s poetry; the first subtitled “Swelter” mostly tackles the often seemingly uneventful moments of home and family life. However, the juxtaposition of the soft and gentle against the harsh realities of the outside world makes this section stand out and keep its pace. A perfect example of his stealthy imagery is the poem “Watching the Baby Sleep” which begins,

As each just-audible breath
lifts the small weight of his chest

A militia-man’s bayonet
throws him into a ditch.

This positioning of the unexpected continues when comparing the theme of the first section with the second, subtitled “The Ventriloquist’s Ex.” Here characters are created and a voice is given to those often without. The voice heard most often is wife or former lover, giving us a glimpse of their partner through their filter. His characterization is clever and haunting, particularly in poems such as “The Murderer’s Wife” and, my personal favorite, “The Magician’s Assistant”

In his third and final section “Speeding and Lost” Memmer tackles bigger ideas such as the religious and philosophical. Themes such as losing one’s faith God - or questioning whether one’s faith ever existed in the first place – are grounded in real life images. These poems stay true to Memmer’s style; they transport you to a specific time, place or conversation and take you one step further. Whether his characters are pondering a pro-life bumper sticker or having a beer with a friend, through this universal imagery Memmer reveals the layers hidden beneath.

With each poem, the reader is compelled to see what trick Memmer has up his sleeve on the next page. In case you can’t tell by now, I really enjoyed reading Threat of Pleasure and I highly recommend checking it out for yourself.

Laura Davis

Threat of Pleasure is available for purchase at Amazon.com or by contacting Phil Memmer directly through his website: philipmemmer.com

July 21, 2008

Weave's Website Makeover!

As you can plainly see, our website has gotten a fantastic makeover. We have a logo and a sweet layout that is both simple and aesthetically pleasing. We're really excited about our upgrade and we want you all to know that we couldn't have done it without the help of our good friend Heidi. We asked her for the logo design and were so happy, we begged for her to also upgrade our site. Her work is so professional and beautiful. We are also happy to have her artwork on the cover of our first issue (due out October 2008!) and we can't wait to share it with our readers. Please check out the link to her blog to view more of her art and then after that, go to her Etsy.com shop to purchase one of her amazing prints.

Thank you Heidi, we could not have done this without you!

July 15, 2008

Poetry Caravan Series

Margaret and I were invited to read this Thursday, July 17 at 8pm at Your Inner Vagabond at their Poetry Caravan Series.

"...the Poetry Caravan is a place for new and emerging writers from all literary disciplines to hone & showcase their writings in front of an appreciative & supportive audience."

Cost: FREE & BYOB!
All Ages.

If you are in the Pittsburgh area and feel like stopping by, please be sure to say hello to us! We're very friendly gals.

July 9, 2008

Issue #1 of Weave is Complete! (almost)

The day I am sure you have all been waiting for has finally arrived; the lovely Laura Davis and I have pretty much finalized our contributors list for the first issue of Weave Magazine!

Once again, if you are one of our contributors and you have a blog or a website or a bomb ass poem out there on the web that you would like us to link to, drop us an email; weavezine@gmail.com!

We're taking submissions for our second issue right now! Issue #2 is slated for publication in April of 2009.

If you're wondering what we like, just take a look at the contributor list for issue #1! Many of our fine contributors' names are linked to their work.

July 7, 2008

Weave at Ligonier Valley Writers' Conference

Margaret and I have been invited to participate in the 21st Ligonier Valley Writers' Conference on Saturday, July 26 at the Ligonier Valley Library. From their website:

Ligonier Valley Writers is a non-profit writers group in Southwestern Pennsylvania which encourages interest in the written word and the continued perfecting of the art and craft of writing.

We will be participating with three other SWPA literary journals in a feedback workshop with potential submitters. Margaret likened it to speed-dating, which I thought was a rather accurate comparison. Speed-feedback will give writers the opportunity to discuss their writing face-to-face with journal editors, as well as get the opportunity to ask questions about the submission process in general. We are very excited about this opportunity to work with local writers and encourage a dialogue between writers and editors. Additionally, there are a number of established writers that will be speaking about various genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction as well as mystery.

If you are interested in attending the 21st Ligonier Valley Writers' Conference please check out their website and download the brochure. You also might consider joining the group as they have a regular calendar of informational events this fall. We would love to meet any of you from the area and work with you on your submission to Weave.

July 1, 2008

Issue #1 is closed, baby...

...but that doesn't mean that we won't still accept your lovely, lovely e-mail attachments of poetry and prose for Weave Magazine #2 (which, as luck would have it, will probably be coming out right around the time of that big ol' writer cuddle-party, the AWP!)

We here at Weave usually pride ourselves on our speedy response time (we don't care what it says on Duotrope -- we sent that response within 30 days!), but we may have to gently, gently let go of our hubris and send out issue #2 responses a little bit more slowly. There's layout to be worked on and chinese take out to be ordered and quite frankly, we want to make sure that issue #1 rocks as much as it possibly can (which, we assure you, is quite a lot).

So, keep an eye out for our final contributor list to be posted within the next few weeks after we make our final decisions!

Many many thanks to everyone who submitted for issue #1. There should be an awesome party here in the 'burgh come October.

June 28, 2008

Just a reminder...

Monday, June 30th is the FINAL DAY to submit to Weave if you want to be considered for our first issue!!

Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis, but there will be a bit of a time lapse before we begin to reply to submissions for our second issue while we put together Issue #1.

So, submit today! (or tomorrow. Tomorrow is okay, too.)

June 22, 2008

Weave Staff

Margaret Bashaar
Co-founding Editor, Weave Magazine
Submissions Manager

Margaret Bashaar's poetry has been published in such journals as Caketrain, Pank, The Pedestal Magazine, Arsenic Lobster, and Boxcar Poetry Review, among others, as well as in the anthology Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets Under 25, edited by Naomi Shihab Nye. Her first chapbook, Barefoot and Listening, was released from Tilt Press in late 2009. When she isn't editing Weave Magazine she can be found playing with her four-year-old son, writing book reviews, or co-hosting and serving as the developmental director for Pittsburgh's only poetry cabaret, The Typewriter Girls.



Laura E. Davis
Co-founding Editor, Weave Magazine
Sales and Distribution Manager

Laura E. Davis is a poet, editor, teacher, freelance writer and performer from Pittsburgh, PA. She was recently a featured reader on Prosody, a weekly radio show for writers and poets. She is currently pursuing a Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Chatham University. Laura serves as Cofounding Editor of Weave Magazine and writes for her personal blog, Dear Outer Space.




Joel W. Coggins
Editorial Assistant
Advertising Manager
Cover Design, Issue 03

Joel W. Coggins was raised in northeast Ohio, and graduated from Euclid High School in 2006. He is currently a Senior at the University of Pittsburgh, where he studies English Writing. In addition to working for Weave, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Three Rivers Review of Undergraduate Literature, a regional publication sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Honors College.


Robyn Campbell
Intern

Robyn Campbell is a soon-to-be graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, studying English Writing and French. She is also a member of the fiction staff for the Three Rivers Review. Any of her time spent not reading stories for Weave or TRR is spent reading other stories. She grew up in and swiftly left North Wales, Pennsylvania, though she would like to thank it for raising her right.




Andrew Mulvania
Literary Review Coordinator

Andrew Mulvania is an Assistant Professor of English (Creative Writing) at Washington & Jefferson College. His first book of poems, Also In Arcadia, was published by The Backwaters Press in Omaha in August, 2008. His poems have appeared in Poetry, North American Review, Southern Poetry Review, Green Mountains Review, Bellingham Review, and Weave, and new poetry and prose is forthcoming in The Southwest Review and Missouri Review. He was the recipient of a 2008 Individual Creative Artists Fellowship in Poetry from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.




Heidi Richardson Evans
Website Design & Art Consultant


Heidi Richardson Evans is an artist, blogger, mama, and a poet during the occasional full moon. She also works part-time in non-profit. Heidi lives in her thrift clothes and tattoos in Charleston, WV. She has a degree from WV State University and studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. You can buy her fine art here, or commission a wicked banner for your blog and read her life at Daisybones.com.

June 11, 2008

Contributor List



Weave Magazine: Issue 01 Contributors & Titles



*Poetry*

Ivy Alvarez
Everyday English Dictionary: S
Mary Biddinger
Once I Ended up in Wisconsin
Seven and Counting
Rachel Bunting
Snake Oil
Juliet Cook
The Circus Girl Sucks in Her Breath
Brooklyn Copeland
Goes Without Saying
When I Am Not an Amalgam
Crystal Hoffman
Black Snake
Three Lovers in Beirut
Two Portraits of New Orleans' Ghosts
Tom Holmes
Footnotes to Patience
She's Grounded 'til War Commences
D.M. Huneke
On Spontaneous Human Combustion
Jason Kirin
Among Machinery
Dana Guthrie Martin
Jesus Waits
Parasitic Cloaking
Table 1. Experiments with Hanging
Carol McCarthy
[Symbosis, or women are vigorous and need to be tied in]
[You say lime, I say kumquat]
Khrys Myrddin
orthopaedic surgery

David McLean
we regret to inform you
Michael Constantine McConnell
Water Leashing Wind
Phoebe North
Body, Decomposing Under Twigs and Leaves in a
Gully in Grantwood, Speaks
Ford Limited
Michael Ogletree
Apogee, Abridged
J.R. Pearson
Ants
Molly Prosser
Almost
Battle at Breakfast
Jay Robinson
Grand Haven
Daniel M. Shapiro
The Silent Circle
Susan Slaviero
Aurora Contemplates Seven Years of Marriage
The Queen of Staves Imagines Leaving Her Day Job
Sarah J Sloat
Dear Scum
Ground Shadow
To The Benevolent State
Ringa Sunn
Sunlight in Her Hair
Frank X. Walker
Harriet Tubman as Villian
Swamp Thing

*Fiction*

Jack Cobb
Foreigners
Stephen Dorneman
Burning Hills
Mehgan McKenna
Candiru
Jack Swenson
Only A Memory Away
Jared Ward
Making Weight

*Art*

Angela Bayout
convent
Sofija Canavan
laundry
Sarah Greenwood
No Shades of Gray
Seahorse
Nashay Jones
Asase Ye Duru: From the Earth We Arose, to the Earth We Shall Return
Gye Nyame: A Celebration of Birth... Of Life
Untitled (Found Voice)
Bonnie MacAllister
Scholastic
Heidi Richardson Evans
Cradle (cover art)
Cultivating Shadows
My Own

Cover Art: Issue One

Fiction: Issue One

Only a Memory Away

By Jack Swenson

When Uncle Dan got sent to the Alzheimer's ward, the ladies licked their lips. Fresh meat. A handsome fellow, too, they all agreed. And nice; very friendly. And, oh, when he sang and played his ukulele, they came from upstairs and down. He knew all the old songs, all their favorites: "Skip to My Lou," "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," "Love Is Just Around the Corner," and many more. They were enchanted; they were smitten; they wanted his body.

Hoity toity Claudia invited him to tea. Carlotta tried to lure him to her room, promising to show him old photographs of herself when she was Miss Cedar Falls. Unsubtle Josie threw her arms around his neck and wouldn't let go. They had to call the charge nurse to get her loose.

To Dan it was all very bewildering. He liked the attention, but he didn't understand why they were making such a fuss over him. His family didn't understand, either; his wife and daughter were shocked one day when they were visiting to see one the elderly women headed down the hall carrying Dan's laundry bag. Alice, his wife, recognized it because, as she told her daughter, she had embroidered it herself. She popped to her feet, chased the woman down the hall, and took the bag away from her. When she examined the contents, she found Dan's socks and shorts mixed in with the lady's under things.

Another time when they got there they found Dan sitting on the floor outside his room. They asked what he was doing, and he said he couldn't get in. The door was locked, he said. Alice tried the door, and sure enough, it was locked. They had to get one of the staff members to unlock it. When they got the door open, one of the other male patients was in his bed. Rousted, he wandered out into the hall mumbling to himself. "He don't use it anyway," the man said as he shuffled from the room.

Neither the wife nor the daughter put much stock in the old man’s complaint. After all, consider the source. And after the younger woman told her mother the joke about the old lady in the wheelchair advertising “super sex,” and the old man replying that he’d take the soup, her mother laughed until she cried.

When Dan died just before Christmas, that put the kibosh on the annual Christmas party. Nobody felt much like partying. Mort sang Christmas carols in his quavering tenor, and Chester kept trying to grab the microphone away from him, but Mort kept it just out of his reach and went right on singing.

Then Dottie started to cry. Claudia, too. Then the dietitian wheeled in a cart with the ice cream on it, and everybody cheered up.

Poetry: Issue One

Molly Prosser

The Battle at Breakfast

Debbie stacks the toast and carefully cuts the pile into four thick strips. I don’t want
butter this morning – I want my soldiers sharp. It’s the first time I’ve waged war with
a soft egg.

Debbie shows me how to decapitate the head, how to firmly hold the egg cup and whack
off the top of the shell, jam my knife into the albumin and disrupt the yolk. Her thick
Glasgow accent pours over the carnage.

Sometimes, she tells me, she chips away at the outside peeling back layers to expose the
soft core, attacking where the egg is exposed and vulnerable.

Slitting my way through the firm white with my first soldier, I slowly probe the yellow
center. He cuts a path that others will follow. The incision widens as one by one my burnt
battalion gradually descends to the center, absorbing the wreckage, erasing
the traces of war.

Artwork: Issue One

Asase Ye Duru: From the Earth We Arose, to the Earth We Shall Return

By: Nashay Jones

June 10, 2008

Poetry: Issue One

Dana Guthrie Martin
Parasitic Cloaking
—for B.C.


What we hide:
cotyledons   villi   intervillous spaces


What was empty in you
fills with your blood


decidua basalis   chorion frondosum:
nicotine, opiods, alcohol, birth defects


What we can’t use, you must eat
or carry until it rots and falls off


placenta accreta   how it clings

The extraction must be manual
and leave no traces

Tech Update: weavemagazine.net!

Margaret and I had a nice weekend get-a-way with other writers and artists this weekend. In between the intellectual discourse, delicious meals and general merriment, we did manage to sit and talk about Weave and our upcoming endeavors. We have gotten a lot of review requests and we're very excited about the opportunities. Be sure to check the Weave blog often for the reviews, as well as updates and deadlines. In fact, you should consider subscribing to Weave's blog using our RSS feed. It will walk you through adding Weave to your blog feed like Google Reader so you can stay in the know.

In other technical news, we are proud to have our own domain name now:

www.weavemagazine.net

How exciting! There is something very official about having your own spot on the internet. It's kind of like when you first move into a new place and you can start unpacking the fun things like your curtains or Christmas decorations. While we still have some more unpacking to do, soon Weave will have a logo and the site will (hopefully) have a redesign. It should be rather cozy so we hope you'll stop by and visit us often. Be sure to tell a friend about the great things going on here at Weave Magazine!

June 6, 2008

DEADLINE UPDATE

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response that we have received here at Weave Magazine, we will be closing our open submissions period for our first issue a little early, and by a little early we mean two months early.

The deadline for the first issue of Weave Magazine has been pushed up to June 30th.

Anything received after June 30th will be considered for our second issue which we plan to publish in early Spring of 2009.

We are still accepting requests for poetry book and chapbook reviews for the blog. We have a couple books we've requested already that we are really excited to start reading!

So check out our submission guidelines and send us your work! weavezine@gmail.com

June 5, 2008

Weave's Fearless & Silly Editors

While we take our submissions seriously, we often don't take ourselves too seriously. This is evident by this silly photo post we hope you enjoy.



Margaret is contemplative (ooooh -- that's a big word)




Updating the Blog.



Laura gets so excited to read Barn Owl Review. Snazzy!



Death by Submissions.



Whichever lands first will get published...



Just kidding, we work HARD. Really.




See how hard Laura reads the first issue of Warbler!




Margaret also reads. And enjoys gunbirds. yay.

The end!

June 4, 2008

A Few Notes on Fiction (and a couple on poetry, too)

We here at Weave Magazine would like to take a moment to give you, the blog readers, a few little insights into our preferences regarding fiction (and poetry, too).

  • We tend to prefer short fiction, and by short fiction, we mean flash fiction. As ladies who, admittedly, are primarily poets, flash fiction appeals to our desire for economy in language. Also, to our short attention spans.

  • Endings are key. This may seem like common sense, but we've found that the thing that most often kills a piece of fiction for us is the ending.

  • We genuinely want to see your character grow, even if it is just in the space of 900 words.

  • We're finding that we are getting a lot of similar plot themes in the various fiction submissions we've received. One thing we want from fiction, which is also something we want from poetry, is to be hit with something we don't expect. This doesn't mean we don't want consistency -- we do. We just don't want to feel like we're reading the same submission over and over.

  • Before you send us your work, please, at least use the spell check function on your computer.

  • If no one other than you and your mom has looked at your piece, chances are, it's really not ready for submission. We have read more poems and fiction pieces than we care to count that, with a little bit (or a lot a bit) of editing, would have found publication with us.

We hope this is helpful! Happy submitting!

Weave Blog Now Open for Reviews!

We at Weave Magazine have decided to start reviewing poetry books and chapbooks here on our blog. If you would like to have your collection of poems reviewed by us, drop us an e-mail over at: weavezine@gmail.com

May 28, 2008

Being Friendly

I have this really great hair stylist who is also my friend and his name is Mark. He comes to your house or you can go to his, get your hair done, have some coffee, check out the new flowers he's planting in his garden. It's always a fun time and I end up with really cute hairstyles too.

Recently, he and I had a conversation about how young people today are so connected. Phones, computers, email, text messaging - we are all networking. I said something about how the word "networking" always ends up sounding cold and overly professional. That's when he said, "Networking? Back when I was younger networking was just called being friendly!" Some serious words of wisdom there I believe.

Weave Magazine likes being friendly. There is warmth in that word, community and real connections. So in the interest of being friends, we'd like all of you to look us up on Myspace, as well as Facebook. It seems those are the most popular "friend-making" sites on the web so be sure to stop by and leave us a friendly comment or message. Weave looks forward to being your friend!

May 22, 2008

Coming Soon!

We are still alive here at Weave Magazine; it's been a busy week for me but Margaret and I still managed to do some phone conferencing even though our schedules didn't quite match up. I'd like to say I was busy doing some reading and other artsy/cultural/humanitarian things, but to be honest, I was caught up in the American Idol finale. Plus, this weekend is Memorial Day, and like any good American I plan eating something grilled and getting a little tipsy with family members.

In that vein, I wanted to share some of the things we plan on posting about soon. Margaret and I want you to get to know us better and therefore know what we might be looking for in terms of submissions. We also have some fun ideas for ways to keep both us as editors and writers/artists motivated and excited about our little publication here. Here are some of the things you can expect to see from Weave online in the near future:
  • Online publishing of writing and art right here on Weave's blog
  • Interviews with Weave's editors (hey that's me!)
  • Fun photo and (maybe) video posts about the editing process
  • Analysis of submissions and gender
  • Advice for writers/artists who are submitting for the first time
We hope you can tell that while we take our roles as editors and the submission process very seriously, we both have a playful sense of humor. For all you Americans, enjoy the holiday weekend - and for those of you outside the US - do you really need an excuse to have a barbecue? Have fun and be safe.

May 13, 2008

Weave's First Week

It's been an amazing first week here at Weave Magazine. Margaret and I are humbled by the response from both old and new friends and we'd like to thank a few people who have really spread the word. Thanks so much to Brooklyn Copeland-Johnson of Taiga for not only linking to Weave on the Taiga website, but also for writing up a nice little intro on her personal blog. Also for sending so many people over to our Facebook group. Many thanks also to Emily of Warbler Zine for linking to our site from theirs! I think making these kinds of connections, however virtual they may seem, can only improve and strengthen the artistic community.

We are also somewhat overwhelmed (in a good way!) by the number of submissions we've received in just the first week. I know I get excited to just check the weavezine@gmail.com inbox each day to see what new literary nuggets we have waiting for us. Keep them coming - feel free to pass along the submission guidelines to friends and family.

We hope to update the blog often so you can feel a part of our transition into the new world of literary mag editing. As editors of Weave, we really want you to get a feel for our personalities and tastes to better help with the submission process. We also want you to know that we are an open community here; Weave wants to build connections between artists, writers, and readers. That is our mission and we hope that you'll contact us if you have any questions.

So thanks again to everyone out there who has supported our fledgling magazine and we look forward to future submissions.

Laura and Margaret
editors, Weave Magazine