from the editor
Welcome to the new website!
Martin Rock
There have been a lot of changes in the past few years at Washington Square, and this year we were lucky enough to receive a grant from CLMP for the development of this beautiful website, created by Erin Schell and Ivan Safrin. We plan to add new content to the blog as often as possible, and the feel and images of the site will change with each new issue. Be sure also to check out the AWARD page to view the winner of the Collaboration Award judged by Anne Carson. And subscribe to our RSS feed, if you’re into that kind of thing. Friend us on facebook and follow us on twitter! Join our mailing list! Repaint your house biannually to match the color of our most recent issue! Get Washington Square tattooed across your chest. SUBSCRIBE in order to read the absolute best of what contemporary literature has to offer. Order an issue for your friends and family! We’re here to stay readers, and we want to be a part of your lives.
Martin Rock
Editor in Chief 2009-2010
poetry
Adam, Where Are You?
Mathias Svalina
America is a lovely word. Adam found it
in his shoe, below the sole, which has a hole
the size & shape of a rib. Adam showed the word
to his mother. He held it in his hand. It curled
like a stray hair in his palm. She leaned close.
prose
Bobos
Glenn Kinen
I’m done with five dollar shoes. i’m just glad no one ever saw me and my mom buy them. she’d drive me to the pits of north Miami, a million miles away from the Miami of doctors and models and those gay guys who hang out with models. there’d be this old Cuban selling five dollar shoes on the side of the street, right out of his rusty station wagon. Maybe Castro kicked this asshole out because he hated his cheap shoes, too.
special feature
Washington Square
Poetry & Fiction Prizes
Two prizes of $500 and publication in Washington Square are given annually for a single poem and a short story. Submit up to 3 poems or a story of up to 25 pages with a $10 entry fee online at http://washingtonsquarereview.com/submit/. This year’s poetry judge will be Brenda Shaughnessy, author of Human Dark with Sugar and winner of the 2008 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. The fiction judge will be David Lipsky, contributing editor for Rolling Stone and author of the recent non-fiction work Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself.
special feature
The Art of Mixed Media
What Collaboration Can Do
As we move into the age of new publishing, when people read off of screens more than pages and have a greater interest in video and music, we at On Squ want to see what collaborative art is capable of. We have our first annual collaborative award, which will be judged by Anne Carson and will highlight a new work that incorporates both creative writing and some other medium, including video, art, graphic design, music, or all of the above. So that begs the question: what can mixed media do that a single medium can’t?