From the Editor

“A decent respect . . . .” by Margaret E. Wagner, Editor-in-Chief

NonFiction

The Noise of the Village by Jane Hale 🎧

My Brothers Haunt Me by S. Kellermann 🎧

Runaround by Julian Bentley-Edelman 🎧

Rest in Peach by Eileen Pollack

Blue Cars by Susan Zemelman

My Life in a Box by Catherine Bourassa 🎧

A Ritual for Soap by Jane Salisbury 🎧

In Our Hands by Laura Iodice

Fiction

Threshold by Ellen Beegel 🎧

Hell’s Kitchen by Miryam Sivan 🎧

Abscission by Susan Laurencot

Ida by Christine Vona 🎧

Cowgirls and Bullyboys by Claire Massey 🎧

Catwalk by Diana Lockhart

Secrets and Lies: Two Stories (The Criminal and Envy) by Zoe Burke

Poetry

Poets of the Western States: Vibrant, Full-throated, and Celebratory
Cynthia Hogue, Poetry Editor
Sarah Maclay and Holaday Mason, Guest Editors
Poems by Suzette Bishop, Barbara Blatt, Elena Karina Byrne, Lucille Lang Day, Marsha de la O, Edith Friedman, Celeste Goyer, Elizabeth Iannaci, Jude Kieda, Sarah Maclay, Janet MacFadyen, Holaday Mason, Sara McAulay, Judith Pacht, Laura Ann Reed, Aleida Rodriguez, Joannie Stangeland, Lynne Thompson, Leslie Ullman, Florence Weinberger, Hilda Weiss, Cecilia Woloch, Gail Wronsky
Art by Merry Song

Art

Color is the thing that talks about color and movement: Interview with Barbara Grossman by Greta Berman, Art Editor

Music

Clarinetist Ayako Oshima: Making Music, Mentoring, and Cooking by Gena Raps, Music Editor

Short Takes

“Mending the Breach—or Not”
Introduction by Linda Barrett Osborne, Short Takes Editor
Prose and Poetry by Margaret Chula, Judy Bolton-Fasman, Mandy Fessenden Brauer, Barbara Collentine, Janice Dilbeck, Marie Eaton, Barbara Felton, Glenda Ferguson, Sharon Lee Harkey, Nancy Haskett, Gillian Kelly, Jeanne Blum Lesinski, Mardith Louisell, Ann E. Michael, Lisa Moak, Pauline Núñez, Rosetta Radtke, Joan Hyams Schmitz, Connie Soper, Alison Townsend
Art by Cris Blackstone, Sharon Brandon, Carolyn Campbell, Elaine Croce Happnie, Niraja Lorenz, Carol Schoder, Judi Silvano, Merry Song

Persimmon Tree Forum

The United States at 250 and the World It Influences: Our Readers Comment
Introduction by Margaret Wagner, Editor-in-Chief
Entries by Ruth Beaumont Cook, S. G. Benson, Patricia Fuschetti, Susan K. Glassman, Alexandra Grabbe, Julia Griffin, Joanne Jagoda, Kwan Kew Lai, Julie Landsman, Paula Lechten, Lucia Lemieux, Rose Levinson, Ph.D., Kate Lucas, Dr. Nina Padolf, Susan Pollet, Rosetta Radtke, Sandy Reavey, Ellen Reichman
Art by Suzanne S. Austin-Hill, Jane Berger Herschlag, Martha H. Kennedy, Joan Mellon, Susan L. Pollet, Janice Lynch Schuster, Merry Song

Illustrations by Suzanne S. Austin-Hill, Paula Bernstein, Cris Blackstone [2], Sharon Brandon, Susan Burgess-Lent, Carolyn Campbell, elizabeth cassidy, Chea, Elaine Croce Happnie, Jane Berger Herschlag, Martha H. Kennedy, Niraja Lorenz, Moriat Gary McNamara, Fran McNeely, Joan Mellon, Jennifer Pratt-Walter, Susan L. Pollet , Carol Schoder [2], Janice Lynch Schuster, Judi Silvano, Alice Sherman Simpson, Merry Song [2] [3] [4], Kari Uhlman [2] [3]
Edited by Carrie Stein and Jean Zorn