I’m very pleased to announce the launch of Chicago Review 53:4 & 54:1/2, a 368-page triple issue with a spe­cial sec­tion ded­i­cated to the life and work of Bar­bara Guest. The issue costs $18 and may be pur­chased here, or you can sub­scribe to CR for a year–good for three issues–for just $25 here.

The Bar­bara Guest fea­ture includes three pre­vi­ously unpub­lished plays by Guest and a port­fo­lio (edited by Cather­ine Wagner) of five uncol­lected poems. The fea­ture also includes crit­i­cal and per­sonal responses to Guest’s work by Charles Altieri, Eileen Myles, Donald Revell, John Wilkin­son, Mei-​mei Berssen­brugge, Martha Ronk, Andrea Brady, Brenda Hill­man, Nancy Robbin, Patri­cia Dien­st­frey and Rena Rosen­wasser, and Gar­rett Caples.

The issue also includes:

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1/ “Signals at Sea,” a poem by Annie Dil­lard built of pas­sages from Cugle’s Prac­ti­cal Nav­i­ga­tion and pub­lished in Morn­ings Like This:

(If the flags in A’s hoist cannot be made out,
B keeps her answer­ing pen­nant at the “Dip”
and hoists the signal “OWL” or “WCX.”)

CXL Do not aban­don me.
A I am under­go­ing a speed trial.
D Keep clear of me - I am maneu­ver­ing
with dif­fi­culty.
F I am dis­abled. Com­mu­ni­cate with me.
G I require a pilot.

P Your lights are out, or burn­ing badly.
U You are stand­ing into danger.
X Stop car­ry­ing out your inten­tions.
K You should stop your vessel instantly.
L You should stop. I have some­thing
impor­tant to communicate.

R You may feel your way past me.

2/ “ROMEO AND JULIET,” a poem by Hannah Weiner built of pas­sages from the Inter­na­tional Code of Sig­nals and pub­lished in The Code Poems (now avail­able in Hannah Weiner’s Open House, a new selec­tion of her poems edited by Patrick Durgin):

MFD Juliet: Try to enter
KZU Romeo: I am in dif­fi­cul­ties; direct me how to steer
OOX Juliet: You should swing and enter stern first
HBK Romeo: What is the nature of the bottom or what kind of bottom have you?
HAY Juliet: Double bottom
FHR Romeo: Stern way. Going astern
LK Juliet: Go astern easy. Easy astern
ODI Romeo: I am going full speed
HC Juliet: It is not safe to go so fast
KZY Romeo: It is dif­fi­cult to extri­cate
BK Juliet: Is any­thing the matter
VLA Romeo: Cock broken or dam­aged
EHR Juliet: What do the cost of repairs amount to?
DF Romeo: With some assis­tance I shall be able to set things to rights